Article By: Iyo_Embong

Question: Is there anyone, anyone at all in your life, who is willing to die for you? Maybe your husband, wife, girlfriend or boyfriend is with you right now. Ask him/her, if he/she is willing to die for you. I’m sure that their reply will certainly disappoint you.

It is Easter again. This is the most important days for us Christians. In fact, it is more important than Christmas because if Christ did not suffer, die and rise again, then there would have been no salvation. For us Christians, death is not the graduation but a commencement. Just the thought that death is not a closure but an opening is a tremendous source of hope. Sad to say, for some it meant nothing at all. In John 20: 1-9, the disciples saw an empty tomb, and their whole lives took on a new meaning from then on. The Resurrection was the pivotal event that changed their lives forever. The resurrection gave them power and strength, and transformed them from timid and fearful cowards to dedicated and committed disciples.

Easter gives us hope. Easter should also make us agents of hope and joy. We often forget that because we are so entombed in our own problems and concerns. A joyful person empowered by the Risen Lord is one who says: “Hey, look! I have big problems, but my God is bigger than my problems! I have sins and failures, but my God is a God who loves me and forgives!” More than ever, we need joyful people who continue to point to the Risen Lord.

“They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we don’t know where they put Him.” This best describes what happens to many of us: after we spent some holy moments with the Lord during the Holy Week, we don’t know where to put Him when we go back to our ordinary weeks. In the Holy Week, we put Him in the center of our hearts, but after that He is nowhere in our sight.

The Way of the Cross, the Crucifixion and Death and Easter itself have only one clear message: YOU AND I ARE SO MUCH LOVED PERSONALLY BY GOD THAT HE GAVE HIS ONLY SON TO DIE ON THE CROSS.

As Easter unfold, let us not just be bystanders or onlookers. Let us be a part of it all. Here are some suggestions to make Easter holy. They are all doable, all valuable.

RELAX: Many of us are overworked and overstressed. We need to rest our bodies and our minds so that we can “fine tune” with ourselves, with other people and with God. Take a break. Take a walk. Commune with nature. See the sunset. Enjoy the moon. Close your cellular phone and just allow yourself to be open to the Divine. Let go. Let things be. God is in charge. Experience the resting power of sleep and rest. Smile at the sky. Walk the earth. whistle a happy tune, or hum a favourite melody. Just thank God you are still alive.

REFLECT: Find time to relax so you can reflect. Don’t end up just relaxing. Don’t end up tired and empty because you were too busy to relax and thus found no time to slow down and reflect. How long has it been now since you have been in this world? What have you done? You have work, but do you have a life? What is really important for you? What do you still want to do or accomplish? How is your family and relationships? Is there excess luggage in your heart? How would you like to be remembered after you are gone? Questions. Questions. Allow yourself to be questioned by life itself.

REPENT: We all fall. We all have mistakes and weaknesses. Accept your limitations. Welcome to humanity! Be humble. Find time to say sorry to people you may have hurt or just taken for granted. Make time to visit, to write, to call, to text, to email anyone you need to say sorry to. Is there one bad habit you need to give up? Is there one good habit you need to take up? This is the time for soul-searching. Promise yourself not to go back to the pit of selfishness.

RENEW: Take time to recharge and just be filled up. Don’t just sit in the comforts of your home and watch your favourite television shows/movies. Renew ties with your immediate family. Make yourself available and vulnerable to them. Tell them in so many ways that you really care. The world is not just you and your family. Reach out. Give and share. The time to give is always now and it is never too late, never too much. Go and visit a hospital, an orphanage, an old people’s home or a sick person. Renew your contact with yourself. Go over old pictures, old letters and files and remember who you were and what you wanted to be. Clean your room and clean your heart of all the “could-have- beens” and “should-have- beens” and accept yourself. Embrace yourself for what you are and what you still can be.

RESIGN: That’s right, resign. Resign from places and people which and who do not bring out the best in you. Resign from vices that are slowly but surely eating you up. Resign from falsehood and pretenses. Be true. Have substance. Just give your best and God will take care of the rest and you will have peace – that peace – which the world cannot give or take away.

On a personal note, Easter gives meaning to what I do in life. I chose to give up the things and people that I could have and hold in this world. I chose, too, in going beyond my personal needs and agenda to respond to people’s needs; and all these I do joyfully, humbly and gratefully.

The road that leads to true life is never easy, but the assurance is there. May Easter be for each of us a week of cleansing, a week of renewal and strengthening of our faith – with HOPE and with LOVE.

Article By: Iyo_Embong