Editorial

Are you open to surprises—and to allowing Jesus to change your heart?

We are more than a week into Easter, the second-longest liturgical season in the Church, which we will celebrate for 50 days until we mark Pentecost the last weekend in May.

As the Catechism of the Catholic Church notes, “The resurrection of Jesus is the crowning truth of our faith in Christ, a faith believed and lived as the central truth by the first Christian community; handed on as fundamental by tradition; established by the documents of the New Testament; and preached as an essential part of the Paschal mystery along with the cross” (#638).

The catechism goes on to say: “Therefore, Easter is not simply one feast among others, but the ‘feast of feasts,’ the ‘solemnity of solemnities,’ just as the Eucharist is the ‘sacrament of sacraments’ [the Great Sacrament]” (#1169).

The Gospels in the first days after Easter Sunday recounted how the resurrected Christ appeared to Mary Magdalene, two disciples walking to Emmaus and initially to the Apostles—minus Thomas—who were locked in their room for fear of the Jewish authorities.

Although Thomas initially refused to believe the risen Lord had appeared to his fellow Apostles, a week later Jesus appeared to them again with Thomas present. The transformation of Thomas’ unbelief to his belief—“My Lord and my God” (Jn 20:28)—offers us a witness of discipleship in action. As the Gospel continues, Christ tells Thomas, “Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed” (Jn 20:29).

We are not like that first generation of believers who saw the risen Christ. But by the grace of God, we believe in him, nonetheless. We walk by faith and not by sight. And like the earliest members of the Church, we are each called to go out and share the Gospel with others and be witnesses of this truth.

During the Easter season, our mantra is to proclaim Jesus is risen, that he is alive and that he loves and heals sinners. As missionary disciples, we should not be afraid to go far and wide—including to the peripheries—and share that good news.

Pope Francis said as much during his weekly audience on April 12 in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican. He implored people of faith to not be “keyboard warriors” who sit at home and argue with others online.

“One does not proclaim the Gospel standing still, locked in an office, at one’s desk or at one’s computer, arguing like ‘keyboard warriors’ and replacing the creativity of proclamation with copy-and-paste ideas taken from here and there,” the pope said.

We must have an “evangelical zeal,” the pope noted, and be ready to set out and to be open to exploring new paths as we seek to share the Gospel through word and deed.

“I exhort you to be evangelizers who move, without fear, who go forward to share the beauty of Jesus, the newness of Jesus, who changes everything,” Pope Francis said.

The Easter season is an opportune time to allow Jesus to change our hearts, but we must be willing to allow him to do that.

“… Are you a lukewarm Christian, who doesn’t move? Think about it a bit,” the Holy Father said during his audience. “Are you enthusiastic about Jesus and go forward? Think about it.

“A herald is ready to go and knows that the Lord passes by in a surprising way,” the pope continued. “He or she must therefore be free from schemes and prepared for an unexpected and new action: prepared for surprises. One who proclaims the Gospel cannot be fossilized in cages of plausibility or the idea that ‘it has always been done this way,’ but is ready to follow a wisdom that is not of this world.”

Because of the chaos so prevalent in society, we would do well to explore new paths and not to follow the status quo in so many areas of life.

As missionary disciples, we are called to be different. During this Easter season, may we have the courage to proclaim our unwavering belief that Jesus is alive and that the Risen Christ lives forever. Amen!

—Mike Krokos