“If any man is devout and loves God, let him enjoy this fair and radiant feast ...”

Jesus' redemptive death on the Cross and his glorious Resurrection from the dead will always remain the center of the Christian faith. St Paul says that if Christ is not raised from the dead, then our preaching and faith are in vain (I Cor. 15:14). Indeed, without the resurrection, there would be no Christian preaching or faith. The disciples of Christ would have remained the broken and hopeless band which the Gospel of John describes, those who cowered behind locked doors for fear of the Jews, and although no detailed, fear of everything else. They went nowhere and preached nothing, until they met the Risen Christ, the doors being shut ... (John 20:19).
 
Without the Resurrection, life has no meaning and we will continue to wander aimlessly, looking for some false sense of joy, which is always temporary and most often replaced by other 'joys' several times over the course of a day. The Resurrection provides eternal joy, the joyful promise of the Kingdom and all that which is truly essential for mankind.

- Fr Marc Vranes