Behold the Truth of Christ’s Resurrection with the Eyes of Heart
Whereas in his nativity Christ demonstrates the mystery of his own virgin birth, in the resurrection he gives a pattern to all who are to be resurrected on the last day—a pattern of new life after death. These two miraculous events, which are peculiar and proper to Christ our Savior, have never stop resounding in the world over the past two millennia. The belief in Christ’s victory over death, which is the Easter faith and which fashions the Christian identity, has been the crux of the apostles’ kerygmatic teaching and the Church’s proclamation to the world. However, not all people are willing to accept the truth of Christ’s resurrection together with all that it implies and promises. The tension between faith and intellect has become a stumbling block to their search for the solid foundation of truth. They believe in the light of their own mind and turn their face away from the Light from which the truth is learned (cf. John 1:17). They refuse to go out of the cave of shadows, positing that the shadows they see on the cave walls are all true to them.
St. Augustine admonishes us to watch with unceasing vigilance lest a semblance of truth might mislead us (City of God, XXII.24). Christ’s resurrection—his victory over death—is a credible historical fact to which many people have testified. Concretely, holy martyrs and saints of the Church have bravely and faithfully professed their belief in Christ’s death and resurrection, despite terror of grave persecutions. Their noble blood has spoken out loud to the world the truth of the Easter faith which, first of all, is the truth of the divinity of Christ who is the Truth from God (cf. John 14:6), and then the truth of the human resurrection that Christ promised.
As the progeny of holy saints, we are heirs of the treasure of true faith. St. Augustine remarks: “We can’t see [Christ’s ascension into heaven] with our eyes, just as we didn't see him hanging on the cross, nor observe him rising from the tomb. We hold on to all of this by faith, we behold it with the eyes of the heart” (Sermon 263.3). Faith, as St. Paul said, comes from what is heard (Romans 10:17), that is, from the Church’s faithful teaching and fearless proclamation of the truth coming from the word of Christ. Together with St. Augustine and the universal church, let us behold the truth of Christ’s resurrection with the eyes of the heart.
Rev. Br. Phong Nguyen, O.P. | Meet the Brothers in Formation HERE
