The Resurrection of Christ for Today's Children

In June 2013, the Jesuit scholar Fr. Henri Boulad, S.J. gave a lecture on “Theosis” or divinization of Man at St. Elizabeth of Hungary Church in Toronto. He reminded his audience of St. Peter's Second Letter "by which [Christ] has granted to us his precious and very great promises, that through these you may escape from the corruption that is in the world because of passion, and become partakers of the divine nature." (2 Peter 1; 4). While the Christian West emphasized the Cross, the Christian East emphasized the Resurrection, Henri Boulad said. In the Byzantine hymn of the Resurrection of Christ, the Church sings "Christ has risen from the dead, and by his death he has crushed death, and has given life to those who are in the tombs." Near the end of the Creed which is recited every Sunday in Mass in both East and West, we find the words "We await the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come." As much as carrying the cross with Christ is fundamental to our redemption, the resurrection with Christ is the purpose of our lives. Man is created for a purpose and that is to live eternally in a state of joy which can only be found in union with God our father who loves us. Death is only a passage. Theosis (to be one with God) is the basis of Christian Hope. Not the Augustinian pessimistic view of the evil person, but a Biblical view that God created humans in his image of goodness (Gen. 1, 27). In modern psychology Carl Jung and others found that deep down the human soul the person is good. Fr. Boulad quoted St. Paul “Where sin increased, grace abounded all the more”(Rom 5: 20). “Sensuality, pride, hate, and refusal of the other exist in the person as a layer, but deeper than evil, grace and goodness exist in the foundation of every person. I believe in the goodness of Man, even if he shouts and rebels.” Sin is a wound in humanity which Christ heals.

Since Jesus considers us not slaves but children of God, Fr. Boulad talked too about his encounter with children such as Marco who was a young student but felt he was left behind in playing with other children since he had a handicap. As a revenge Marco would pull his ears...”I called him to my room. He was surprised that I hugged him rather than rebuking him. Marco changed.” He found his essential goodness - a human person who is loved. “What Jesus is by nature, we are by grace.” He recalled the “beloved Son” the Father uttered to Jesus and said that the Father looks to you and me as beloved sons! He remembered seeing a man playing with his son pulling his father's noze and ears and thought “And my father in heaven surely welcomes me and loves me”. In his recent talk in Toronto, Most Reverend Bishop Ibrahim emphasized our need to make room for our children even if they cry or shout in church. They are our beloved children and God's children!

When a friend died a couple of weeks ago in Toronto and his wife and children were in tears, we could only remember the tears of Christ our God on the cross and the tears of Mary his mother. Jesus tears brought the Resurrection. There is no fear of death but only love in Christ. In the 2nd century St. Irenaeus of Lyon declared that "The glory of God is Man fully alive." In St. Athanasius, the great Alexandrian Father in the 4th century, "God became man so that man may become God." This is the Resurrection!

Today, we need to find the goodness within us and love each other as God himself loves us, because only then can we hope for our resurrection. How can we open ourselves to the goodness that God implants in us? Can we listen to the Spirit of Christ and follow him in our conscience? Can we approach those whom we neglected at home and in the community, ask forgiveness from those we hurt, and find the good in people around us? Can we kindly understand why our young teenagers and children rebel? Our children are precious like we are in God's eyes. They need us but we to need to listen to them. St. Pope John Paul II said “Open the doors “ to Christ! Open the doors of Christ to the young ones for they are the future - our future!