Jesus Christ: The Eternal Conqueror

May you experience renewed faith with the hope Easter brings. 

May your Easter be filled with renewed love for our risen Savior. 

He has conquered death and is risen indeed!

Celebrating the miracle of Easter, the beauty of God’s creation and the blessing of belonging to God in this season of resurrection, may you feel your faith renewed and your heart made new with the hope Easter brings.

On the cross, one of the thieves crucified next to Jesus said to him, “Remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in Paradise” (Luke 23.42-43). Then what is Paradise? Paul Pearson's edifying book Spiritual Direction from Dante: Yearning for Paradise is spiritually edifying. Reading it can make our hearts listen, ready to be inspired and ready to change. “Paradise begins with God's glory”, writes Pearson, “Heaven is not so much a place as a relationship. Its splendor comes from only one source: God himself. He is what makes paradise be paradise.”  

Paradise is an invitation to the relationship we desire, whether we know it or not. We are called to remember our dignity as spiritual beings called to life with God in heaven and the eternal consequences of our choices. Remembering heaven lifts our hearts with hope and opens our minds to the possibility of a new sort of happiness. 

“What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him, God has revealed to us through the spirit.” (1 Cor 2:9).

Heaven is not merely God’s home and the dwelling of the angels and saints. It is our intended home, too. God created each of us individually with heaven in mind. Saint Augustine wrote in his Confessions, “You have made us for Yourself, and our hearts are restless until they rest in You.” Therefore, heaven is a homecoming. “You might not see the possibility of holiness within you, but God does. He has seen it for all eternity”, writes Pearson. Heaven should be the goal of our lives and the motive for our actions. Our souls yearn for paradise. Earthly life has a purpose far exceeding time and space. This world is our entry into a world that never ends. It is a portal to our eternal destiny. Like St. Therese of Lisieux said: “I am not dying; I am entering life” (The Last Conversations). 

It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me; and the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Gal. 2:20) … “If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God” (Col. 3:1).

“We know that everything God works for good with those who love him, who are called according to his purpose” (Rom 8:28). We must be willing to stand at the foot of the cross, to take up our cross, and to embrace the suffering in our own lives. I pray with Pearson that every soul's burning desire for paradise is enkindled. We need that spark now more than ever.

Pearson affirms that for souls in paradise, happiness consists of resting in God’s will. Willing what God wills is not an act of self-sacrifice for them. They are not offering up their happiness for God. They know they are being cared for by God and that only in Him is true happiness. 

Happy Easter, beloved sisters and brothers in Jesus Christ, the Eternal Conquerer

On behalf of SDE’s EC, Antoinette, Sirkka-Liisa and Ulla

SDE chair

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