By Mudita Menona Sodder
Mumbai, April 7, 2025: Christ saved all of us once and for all. Let us not be afraid to die, but be afraid to live for we are called to live the Gospel values and be the walkie-talkie Jesus today.
To be a true disciple of Jesus is a big challenge, but when we surrender to His Holy will and live a Christo-centric life, it is possible, a cake-walk in reality, because we only have to take the first step. God does the rest. Even when we falter and disconnect from the Holy Spirit, which He has left behind for us; all we need to do is to ask for forgiveness like Peter did.
The Paschal Mystery — the life, death and Resurrection of Jesus — is the central message of Easter and Christianity. This extends to the Ascension and to Pentecost signifying that the power of God is certain, for Christ lives now and forever. The justice of the Father who exalted Christ His Son to a life of glory, is now accomplished. We are now an Easter people and Alleluia is our song.
Christ is risen. We are in Christ, which reveals the complete plan of God i.e., Revelation of His universal kingdom, pardon for all our sins and freedom from the fear of death. To actualize this in our lives here on earth, we need to re-look at our life-style and the way we live. Created in the image and likeness of God and raised with Christ, we are called to experience this risen life in its fullness here and now by “seeking what is above, not of what is on earth”.
Jesus has shown us the way through the Resurrection. We need to comprehend this by understanding the scriptures (Jn 20:9). Risen with Christ we need to shout it from the rooftop, “rejoice and be glad” (Ps 118:24) because we now share a NEW life in Christ with our past deleted, and our sins forgiven. With the empty tomb strengthening our faith in our Risen Lord, we need to tread this risen path each day, with renewed energy and enthusiasm.
The secret of true life is to believe, and to make this real in our life we need to have a pure desire for grace, fidelity in times of darkness and the need to move beyond our mind and reason. In order to experience true life or life to its full, we need to have Christian courage which arises from His presence, to recognize the true Master, realise our love for Jesus and reclaim our freedom to care, dare and take risks.
Easter is about deep and intent listening i.e., to our own inner voices, the voices of the unborn children, the pleas of the poor and the marginalized, the subtle voices of Mother Earth, the unspoken words of our own, especially the old and elderly, or the words of those in authority. Listening is an important element in any relationship because it is the response of our inner world to our outer world, in order to understand better.
Every Lent is an opportunity to slow down for 40 days and 6 Sundays in Lent, to listen to our own restlessness and find our rest in God. It is a time to get revitalized, in order that creativity flows out of our life. When we are in the active mode of listening, we are deeply connected with our own journey of seeking and understanding ourself and God, in the presence of Christ the Light.
Graced in the Divine Presence, in front of perpetual eternity, our horizons expand and we grow in intent and listening, amidst our everyday life. Emptying the self of our thoughts, ideas, ideologies; giving up control i.e., total surrender, for God knows better than us; and seeking God i.e., communicating with God in prayer or communion, facilitates this process and refreshes us.
God loved us with an everlasting, infinite, eternal love, which is the distinguishing mark, identity and uniform of every Christian. The newness of the commandment of love is, “Love one another as I have loved you” (Jn 13:34). This radical following of Christ calls for an abandoning of ourselves completely to God, in order to be able to break boundaries and reach out in love in toto i.e., accepting hardships that come along the way, reaching out to others in freedom.
God has always been simple, presenting her/himself to us in myriad forms. It was God who in His amplified love took the initiative to reach us first, by bringing redemption to us. We are able to experience God because of grace given to us. Simplicity comes only with openness to embrace change and be surprised. Staying simple which is paramount to achieving true happiness, peace, life and transcendent knowledge is difficult, for it means shedding off attachments to material things and to stability. However, it is only when we walk on the path of simplicity, that we discover ourselves and God.
We are all interconnected. Loving till the end, results in the transformative power of oneness. When we are filled with a sense of oneness with God, our love will expand to our fellow beings, the poor and to all of creation, for oppressing the other is in reality, insulting the Maker. Now with a total engagement of God in the world, through the Holy Spirit, we are certain that God will raise us up to glory. God is also present to us in the Eucharist. Faith is relational. Today we know that God truly reigns over the earth and the heavens thus filling us with untold joy.
This Easter let our hearts be raised with Christ, as we awaken to the fullness of life, which is the Path to Enlightenment. On the Path of Liberation, with deep respect for diversity and emphasizing its reality, let us set out with concrete actions to discover the redemptive plan of God. A happy risen Easter with Christ.
(Sister Mudita Menona Sodder is a member of the Society of the Sacred Heart, residing in the Sophia College Campus, Mumbai.)