Alex Swain

Beloved in Christ,

It is Eastertide, and God has raised up Jesus Christ, Alleluia!

In the Gospel reading today, Jesus comes to his disciples and says, “Peace be with you!” Therefore, let us rest in this peace given to us, knowing that God, through Jesus Christ, will resurrect us whole, in our very bodies which God so lovingly crafted, Alleluia!

We can be sure that God will not abandon us to the grave. As the Psalmist says, “you will show me the path of life, in your presence there is fullness of joy, and in your right hand are pleasures for ever more.” And what is this path of life if not the very salvation of our souls, of which the first Epistle of Saint Peter testifies: “Although you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy, for you are receiving the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.”

We love Jesus. We strive, by and with God’s grace, to cede our lives to Jesus. We return to the altar in humility and joy and sorrow and jubilance each week and perhaps the altar of our hearts each day in prayer. In these revolutions with God, we hallow each and every moment as we step with God through life. In this path, in this walk, in this love of Jesus and in our faithful belief in Jesus we see the fruits of the very salvation of our souls.

This is good news! This is the Gospel message that Saint Peter proclaims, “By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who are being protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”

And though as of yet we do not see Jesus, though we love him, and as Saint Thomas was blessed with, one day we shall see God in the flesh, risen, resplendent in glory, and every tear from our eyes will be wiped away by the very hands of a creator who fashioned our bodies that will be made whole in the very same resurrection of our Lord, Alleluia!

Let us therefore echo what the Psalmist cries:

“My heart, therefore, is glad, and my spirit rejoices; *
my body also shall rest in hope.”
Alleluia, thanks be to God.

Alex Swain
BITD Corps Member