Having celebrated, in orderly sequence, the last supper, the arrest and crucifixion of our Lord Jesus Christ, and now his resurrection from the dead, we can naturally consider these as simply past events, annually recalled, and reverently honored. However, the truth is that they are not merely past events; instead, all the saving acts of Christ are eternally present and together constitute the great eternal plan of our salvation in him. Now, as Saint Paul explains, we who have answered God’s call to follow Christ have also been called to know him and the power of his resurrection. He then goes on to add: [for through] the sharing of his sufferings [and] being conformed to his death, we will attain the resurrection of the dead (Philippians 3:10-11).
Here, too, there seems to be a definite chronological progression of events that lead to our own resurrection to eternal life—namely suffering, conformity to Christ’s death, and then resurrection. Accordingly, our resurrection can be thought of as a purely future reality awaiting us at the end of our earthly life. This suggests that our present experience is fundamentally one of sharing in Christ’s sufferings and being conformed to his death in preparation for our resurrection. However, just as all the saving acts of Christ are not simply past events but also eternally-present realities, so too in our lives suffering, being conformed to Christ’s death, and sharing in his resurrection are simultaneously operative in our daily lives.
So, although we will only experience the fullness of our resurrection upon departing this life, that final resurrection will be the culmination of what, for each of us, began with our Baptism, was strengthened by our Confirmation, and is constantly sustained by the Holy Eucharist, which offers us an increasing share in Christ’s own resurrected Life. The word “offers” is appropriate, because the process initiated in baptism does not automatically lead to resurrected and eternal life. Since it is only offered and not imposed, it is we who have to gratefully accept this gift and allow it to transform us. Furthermore, each person’s acceptance of the gift of resurrected and eternal life is not uniform and some open their hearts more fully to receive it, while others do so only halfheartedly, and some not at all.
Our monastic life is intended to create and sustain an optimal spiritual environment in which suffering, conformity to Christ’s death, and sharing in his resurrection are constantly interacting with one another and transforming us. And although we do spend much of our time in suffering and being conformed to Christ’s death, we also periodically catch glimpses of the resurrection underway within us. Indeed, sometimes it is exactly following a period of acute suffering and being conformed to Christ’s death, that we experience a breakthrough and a growth in greater inner wholeness and freedom, as our participation in Christ’s resurrection progresses. In those we consider saints, this inner transformation becomes externally manifest as their entire being radiates the Christ in whose resurrected life they share almost completely. Indeed, more than a few saints manifested this intensifying inner resurrected life in the form of resurrected light that emanated from within them.
Speaking of the radiant light emanating from within reminds us, though, that the body while integral to our being transformed while in this earthly life, does have to first experience actual death before it too can be raised incorruptible. Thus, Paul feels the need to reassure us that although our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. However, he goes on to add that this momentary light affliction—that is our sufferings and ultimate physical death—is producing an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison (2Cor 4: 16-17). And thus, he is confident in reassuring the Romans that the sufferings of this present time are as nothing compared with the glory to be revealed for us (Rom.8:18).
Therefore, on this holy night we are not only celebrating the Resurrection of Christ but, even now, the mysterious and mostly hidden resurrection that is underway within our hearts and minds. Let us therefore not shy away from the path to full resurrection even when this calls us to follow in Christ’s footsteps through suffering, the cross, and the death—that through and in Christ—leads to the glory of Resurrection and the ineffable Joy and Peace of Eternal Life in the heart of our Triune God.