Florida Catholic | Live Up To God’s Gift

Live up to God’s gift

Published: 03.21.08

A good, honest and sincere confession of sins is where the Easter new life begins.”

My dear friends,

Have you ever received a gift you truly felt you did not deserve? I hope you feel that way this Sunday.

I know our catechumens will. They will be crying tears of joy after their baptism this Easter Vigil because they know and appreciate the gift they have been given.

Jesus Christ has risen from the dead. His passion and death have reconciled us to the Father. We are no longer slaves to sin and death, but beloved children of God, entitled to his inheritance of eternal life.

God has died for us. God has forgiven us.

We do not deserve such generosity. We do not deserve such mercy. We do not deserve such love. Yet God has granted us all three.

Imagine Peter’s joy at seeing Jesus again after having denied him three times. That should be our joy this Easter.

Imagine the apostles’ elation at seeing the risen Jesus after mourning his ignominious death. They who had abandoned him now found him in their midst, saying, “Peace be with you.” Teaching them again on the road to Emmaus. Breaking bread with them as he did at the Last Supper.

The message was clear: All is forgiven. God does not hold grudges. God loves you that much.

We should be as elated as the apostles were this Easter, for we have been forgiven as well — we who doubt and run away from God just as the apostles did; we who deny him by our actions every day; we who continue to crucify him when we sin against our neighbor.

All is forgiven. God does not hold grudges. God loves us that much.

Those entering full communion with the church this Easter understand and appreciate the magnitude of God’s gift to us because their journey from spiritual death to new life is fresh in their minds. They made a conscious decision to return to God.

The same is not always true for those of us who were baptized as children. We tend to take Easter for granted. After all, we always assumed we were saved. Our parents and godparents guaranteed our salvation when they had us baptized as infants.

Easter, for many of us, may seem like just another Sunday. If that is all it is, however, we have missed the point. We have not appreciated the magnitude of the gift. Our sins have been forgiven. We were dead but now live in Christ. God has gained for us new life.

That is why the church’s precepts require us to go confess our sins at least once a year to experience that forgiveness from our loving Father, and to receive Communion during the Easter season to experience the life of grace in God through the holy Eucharist.

These precepts remind us, like the catechumens, that all is forgiven. God does not hold grudges. God loves us that much. We, too, do not deserve this.

A good, honest and sincere confession of sins is where the Easter new life begins.

May that realization of God’s awesome goodness and infinite love for us take hold of our hearts this Easter. And may we show our gratitude by living as a people redeemed, a holy people, a joyful people, a people of love, willing to share with others the great news of our salvation and willing to do for others what God has done for us.

Happy Easter!

Live up to God’s gift

Precepts of the Church

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