C. CHRIST AS OUR SAVIOR AND REDEEMER

7. HIS RESURRECTION

ON THE THIRD DAY after His death Christ rose again. His soul was reunited with His body and He rose from the tomb glorious and immortal. He waited three days to convince everyone that He had really died. He rose from the grave to confirm our faith in His Divinity. Because He has risen, we can also hope to rise again at the end of the world. Because He has risen from the grave, the new life of grace is given to our souls. Because He was God, He gave to His body and soul the power to unite with one another again. By the power of God Christ, Who had died on Calvary, rose again on the first Easter Sunday.

CHRIST ROSE again in His own human body. His body still bore the scars of His Passion. He could have removed these scars, if He had wished. But He chose to retain them. In this way He could prove to men that it was really Himself who had risen. Besides, He was to ascend into heaven to plead with His Father for the salvation of men. In heaven His scars would be a perpetual reminder to the Father of His suffering for men. In Heaven, too, the marks of His wounds would be an everlasting trophy of His triumph over the world, the devil and sin. But though He still bore the marks of His wounds, His risen body was glorified. It was immortal. He could never die again. The glory of His soul, united to God in the beatific vision, flowed over into His body and made it shine with a Divine light. His body was completely under the control of His soul.

 AFTER HIS RESURRECTION He appeared to His Mother, His Apostles and to His disciples. He walked with them, talked with them, ate and drank  with them. In this way He gave them convincing signs of the reality of His Resurrection. Through their testimony the truth of His Resurrection has been given to the world. Those who believe in Him and in His resurrection can hope to rise again also.

THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST is the cause of the resurrection of all men. Only God has the power to make men rise again. But Christ is God. And God intends to make the Resurrection of Christ the efficient cause of the resurrection of all men. At the end of time it will be the risen Christ who will make all men rise again. His risen human nature will be the instrument by which His Divine power will reunite the souls of all men to their bodies.

THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST is also the model or pattern according to which the souls of the just  shall rise on the last day. Christ will make sinners rise, but to their condemnation. Because they have no faith in Him nor love for Him, they can have no part in His glory. But the just will rise in the likeness of Christ. His body is now glorious and immortal. The bodies of those who had faith in Him, who loved Him and kept His commandments, will be glorious and immortal, too. The Resurrection of Christ is both the pledge of the future resurrection of men, and the model of the resurrection of the just who die in the grace of Christ.

FORTY DAYS after His Resurrection Christ ascended into Heaven. He went to Heaven to receive the glory which was due to Him. There He pleads with His Father always for the souls of men. In Heaven He sits at the right hand of God. As God He is equal to the Father and to the Holy Spirit. As man, as the perfect man, possessing the absolute fullness of God's grace, and as the glorious Head of the whole human race and of the angels, He sits at the right hand of His Father, that is, He has been given the power to judge all men and Angels. At the General Judgment it will be Christ Who makes the final truth known --- the true character and the true meaning of the actions of men and angels. At this judgment it is Christ Who will give the final decision. At His word the damned will go into Hell forever to satisfy the justice of God, and the good will enter forever into the bliss of Heaven to manifest the mercy of God.

THE HUMAN RACE TODAY needs a Savior. Men are seeking salvation in ideas, in fascism, in nazism, in communism. Men are seeking salvation in science, in electronics, in atomic fission, in dreams of flights to the moon or Mars. Men look for the promise of strength in dictators or military geniuses or financial wizards. But there is no salvation for man except in Christ the Savior. It is Christ Who has re-established order in the world. Man introduced chaos into the world by disobedience to God. Christ has reintroduced the principle of obedience to God. By His obedience He has opened the floodgates of Heaven to the world of men. Because He died on the Cross out of love and obedience, the living waters of God's grace are ready to quicken the parched souls of men. Because He was humble, even unto death, men can be raised up to the dignity of sons of God. Because He loved both God and man, it is possible for men to love God and one another.

BUT CHRIST SAVES no one against his will. He can give salvation only to those who believe in Him, hope in Him and love Him. He has merited grace for all men. But men must freely accept this grace and use it for their salvation. We are all saved in Christ, our Head and our Savior. Butonly on condition that we freely unite our minds and hearts with His. Christ is not a dictator. He does not bend men to His will with guns and secret police and concentration camps and slave labor. He is a loving Savior. He compels no one to march with Him or for Hint. He hangs on a Cross between earth and sky, between men and God. He has nothing to recommend Him but humility and a great love. Yet His outstretched arms are big enough to hold the world. The road to happiness lies through His Cross. If any man will save his life, he must first lose it. He must deny himself and follow Christ.