In the prayer and reflection of the Church during the Easter Season, we regularly encounter the words of St. Paul written to the young Church in Colossae. He told them, “If then you were raised with Christ, seek what is above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Think of what is above, not of what is on earth.” (Col 3: 1-2).

 

Paul was writing in the context of the faith of the Church, our Catholic faith, that Jesus truly rose from the dead. Our belief, based in the testimonies of those ancient witnesses who were recorded in the Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles, is that Jesus truly showed Himself in His body to His disciples. 

 

That resurrected body, however, was glorified. It was the body of the Jesus that they had known and loved. But now having entered into new and fuller union with the Father, it was no longer subject to death and to other limitations of our current existence. Still, it was truly Jesus.

 

Our faith teaches us that the resurrection is an event that is rooted in human history, having truly occurred in a specific time and place. The Gospel accounts are not merely pious reflections of a group that wished to justify their continued life together or express their love for their great but deceased friend. They are the testimonies of witnesses about what they saw and experienced. In some cases those witnesses even gave their lives in martyrdom rather than deny or retract what they had experienced.

 

But the resurrection goes beyond embracing in our minds and hearts that Jesus truly rose from the grave, never to die again. Because Jesus shares human nature with us, especially in His body, our humanity has a share in Jesus’s resurrection already. We are already shown the open door that we are called to pass through. 

 

This is why the words of St. Paul are so urgent for every age. They help us make fuller sense of Easter and the resurrection of Jesus from the tomb. Every human being is offered the possibility of joining in the resurrection of Christ. 

 

That share, however, is not simply our spiritual or intellectual embrace of the truth of the resurrection. It involves as well, conforming our lives to Jesus and His teaching so that the fullness of our humanity is joined to the perfect human nature of Jesus.

 

We are called, then, to think at every moment and in every decision of what is above. We are to keep our minds and hearts at all times on heaven itself. How different we and the world would be if we did so!

 

Think of how often we hear or perhaps even express harsh and angry words with others. The number of times in our coarsening society we encounter insulting and even profane conversations or arguments, we should be reminded of Paul’s words. In such moments are we thinking of the resurrection, of what is above?

 

To be marked as people awaiting our own resurrection, we should be people of prayer, of moral life and patience and forgiveness even toward those who have greatly wronged us.

 

In the end, our share in the resurrection to glory is not automatic. We must make the choice of faith, of loving Christ in our bodies and in our lives as He has taught us.

 

Life in this world offers us many distractions and temptations. Faith teaches us the hope and joy of living for the day when we are called forth from our own tomb. Our eyes and hopes should always be focused on that moment.