by Fr. John Martin Shimkus, O.S.B.

      The readings of Easter morning are all about faith.  In John’s gospel, the beloved disciple, entering the empty tomb, “saw and believed”.  Likewise in the reading from Acts, Peter expresses his own faith in Jesus with great conviction and enthusiasm.  But what exactly does it mean to believe, to have faith?  Certainly it starts with an intellectual assent to something we accept as true, for example, “Jesus is our Risen Lord”.  Yet from there our faith is meant to grow into a real, living relationship with the Lord, to be as much something we do, a way that we live, as it is something we simply believe.

     When the neighbor down the street needs a lift to the store and we take them – that is part of faith.  When someone at work tells us to sign something that is not true and we refuse because we know lying is wrong – that is also part of faith.  When our spouse or children or parents do something unkind or rude because they’re having a bad day and we forgive them, that is part of faith.  When it’s 9:00 on a Sunday morning and we want to stay in bed but we get in the car and drive to Church to worship God – that too is part of faith.

     Faith is a total way of life that influences how we spend our time, our energies, our gifts.  Faith is a living relationship with Jesus that makes us want to live the way he did, to show his love and goodness to all the people in our lives.  It is that kind of faith that washes us clean of sin.  It is that kind of faith that leads us to eternal life.

     And it is to nourish that faith that the Church gives us the liturgical seasons of the year.  Lent and Easter are extended times for us to reflect on who Jesus is and what following him really means.  Lent and Easter both invite us to make our faith “real”, by first making the effort to be united with Jesus in his self-sacrifice and generous love, and then by contemplating the fruits of that love as we consider what his Resurrection means for us.

     Easter is, in fact, just as important as Lent when it comes to growing in our faith.  Without Easter, our Lenten sacrifices would have no point and no lasting effect.  The joy and faith we experience as we ponder anew the reality of Christ’s Resurrection are what help us to rediscover and strengthen our belief in his abiding presence with us.  And that abiding presence gives us the grace to persevere in bearing witness to him – as Peter taught – so that others will come to believe in the forgiveness and life that comes only through his name!

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