April 5 1999

ARTICLE TOOLS

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Rise heart; thy Lord is risen. Sing His praise
Without delays,
Who takes thee by the hand, that thou likewise
With Him mayst rise:
That as His death calcined thee to dust,
His life may make thee gold, and much
more, just.

Awake, my lute, and struggle for thy part
With all thy art.
The cross taught all wood to resound His Name,
Who bore the same.
His stretched sinews taught all strings what key
Is best to celebrate this most high day.

Consort both heart and lute, and
twist a song
Pleasant and long:
Or, since all music is but three
parts vied
And multiplied,
O let Thy blessed Spirit bear a part,
And make up our defects with His sweet art.

Easter means—hope prevails over despair. Jesus reigns as Lord of Lords and King of Kings. … Easter says to us that despite everything to the contrary, his will for us will prevail, love will prevail over hate, justice over injustice and oppression, peace over exploitation and bitterness.

The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the glorious manifestation of the victory of love over death. The same love that makes us mourn and protest against death will now free us to live in hope. Do you realize that Jesus appeared only to those who knew him, who had listened to his words and who had come to love him deeply? It was that love that gave them the eyes to see his face and the ears to hear his voice when he appeared to them on the third day after his death. Once they had seen and heard him and believed, the rest of their lives became a continuing recognition of his presence in their midst.

The risen life is not easy: it is also a dying life.

Christ gave us proof of immortality, and yet it would hardly seem ...