Beloved Brethren:

This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad...The Lord is risen, indeed, Alleluia! Alleluia!

For three days a mighty battle was in progress; life and death, light and darkness are contending for survival. On the day of the Resurrection, Our Lord wins. Some may ask, "Why should Easter be such a great day? Why should it be something special? Isn’t the bitter passion and death of the Lord much more important?"

In answer to those questions, may I say that in the mind of the Church Easter is the feast of Christ’s full triumph. Rather than single out isolated events or acts from Our Savior’s earthly life. She prefers to view the work of redemption as a completed whole. Today, Easter, the incarnate Son of God has finished His redemptive work; He has triumphed over the prince of this world; by rising from the dead He has authenticated His victory and as booty claims redeemed mankind. Such is the fundamental message of Easter.

The early Christians kept but one feast, Easter. They were right in doing so, for the Easter solemnity embraces all the events in the life of the Lord. His birth, baptism, passion, and death are all segments of His great task, the work of man’s redemption. At Easter, this work reaches its full and final stage. At Easter, the Lord becomes the Redeemer, the Conqueror, the Father of a new family of human beings, His brothers and sisters in the Mystical Body, the Church. At Easter, He becomes the glorified Head of the mystical Body; that Body can now expand into its predestined fullness; it may now sanctify and make God-like all of its members. We should all look upon Easter as our common spiritual birthday as children of God.

Let us rejoice with the entire Church and shout Alleluia! Alleluia! The Hebrew word Alleluia means simply, "Glory be to the eternal God." The word is a summary of our entire purpose in life which is to give honor and glory to God. "Glory be to the eternal God!" Alleluia – Alleluia!

If we but hold fast to the Lord, His Resurrection is the absolute guarantee of a tremendous, unbelievable, unimaginable future for every one of us. When I think of heaven, I often think of the old Irishman who said that when we get to Heaven there will be three surprises:

(l) The first surprise will be that we are there and everything is over; (2) We shall be surprised at the number of people who are there whom we never expected to see there; and (3) We shall be surprised at the number of people who are not there whom we expected to see.

Yes, the Resurrection means Heaven for all of us if we but hold fast to Our Blessed Lord’s teachings. This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad!