Mabuhay! In that one outstanding Filipino word the essence of Easter is captured, cherished, and forever more will be our battlecry against Death. Christ’s resurrection is our SUMMUM BONUM that we His creatures are forever more the inheritors of. We cannot shout it full-throatedly enough to do justice to its true meaning and worth in our lives as Christians. It’s here on offer for all of us, an embarrassment of riches appropriatable by us IF ONLY WE KNOW IT AND IF ONLY WE KNOW HOW! The french have a saying which touches on the pitiable status of most of us who are confused, perplexed, unable to make head or tail of our bewailable plight before the grace of Christ’s resurrection burst into our consciousness; “If the young only knew! If the old only could!” But we need not remain stuck in this catch-22 predicament!
The resurrection is for all of us, young and old, white, brown, yellow or black. Now who wouldn’t become depressed in a world slipping in materialism with each passing moment under the nagging pressure and stress of constant wrong-doing on all levels of governance, of lifestlye, of day-to-day making-do? And when the prospect of death loorns before us we are wilfully helpless- as if our sole excuse was: IF ONLY WE COULD! Willy-willy we accept death in a materialistic vein though pay lip-service by mouthing wishful thinking platitudes like, “We shall conquer” as we march, stumble, and generally middle through the valley of death. Death which is in this view merely the absorption of phenomenality into the UNDIFFERENTIATED ground. Wake up, Christians, Christ’s resurrection already unmasks Death and shows him to be nothing but the bogey of an Unchristian mind. Wake up and partake of the grace of Easter! Mabuhay!
Would that this message or whatever you may call it were ended by the joyful Easter shout of MABUHAY! But something more have got to be said about the Great Drama of Easter.
Where there is no belief in the soul, there is very little drama either, one is serious about salvation, or one is not. The maximum amount of comedy. Only if we are secure in our belief can we see the comical side of the universe and we become then exuberant creatures, an exuberance that incorporates the tragic (pre. Resurrection) in life. As simple as that but by no means simplistic. Thus we should be laughing out loud at an epitaph like A SIMPLE MAN DIED IN COMPLICATIONS. You see, we begin to see the comic side of the universe, we are not any more in mind-numbing fear of death- or should we not say of “death.” Perhaps we should keep in mind too St. Paul’s insight into the character of God, when he said: “The gifts and the call of God are irrevocable.” (Romans 11:29).
Mainly, that’s the Resurrection, MABUHAY!
Yes, it’s for all.
Bill Gates communicated with Steve Jobs one day.
“Hey, Steve, what’s it like over there?”
“Well Bill, there’s no roof here, no walls, no floors- and I’m sorry to tell you, no gates as well.”
“Crap, Stevie, how you become so unchristian as to overlook the Pearly Gates? Maybe it’s you who should by delicadeza be inhabiting yourself because as I understand Heaven there are NO jobs there or if there are, they must be non-paying jobs.”
“Well, Billyboy, if they are non-paying jobs, there must be no BILLS here.”
As you see, God’s grace is for all of us.
END OF STORY
