Resurrection Power
Fr. Robert M. Garrity, J.C.L., S.Th.D.
Thanks to the decree of our Holy Father Pope Francis, we are in the Church’s 2025 Jubilee Year of Hope. It is indeed healthy for us to form a confident attitude toward the future, an attitude of positive anticipation which encompasses all things—joys and sufferings alike. It is entirely appropriate for followers of Jesus Christ to have a hopefilled expectation toward what is yet to occur as we await the rest of today and the beginning of every tomorrow. For we are a Resurrection people, a hope-filled people.
As St. Paul s ays, following the risen Lord Jesus Christ will enable us to radiate the fruits or signs of the presence of the Holy Spirit—God among us in today’s hurting world— especially in the visible signs of His presence in us as “love, joy, peace, [and] patience” (Gal 5:22). These positive signs of God flow from the risen Christ. But where, specifically, do we place our hope? Or better yet, in whom do we place our hope? We place our hope specifically in Jesus Christ and in His Resurrection power.
The Wisdom Papers
One as pect of our divine and Catholic faith that we do not think or pray about often enough is the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. That is where, that is the One in whom, we actually place our trust—in the risen and glorified and exalted Lord Jesus Christ, specifically in “the power of his resurrection” (Phil 3:10). Surprising as it may seem, the Resurrection and our part in it is at the very center of our affirmation of the reality of God and of the inherent hopefulness of our world since Christ conquered death and sin by dying and rising. Again, St. Paul says that he himself wants to “know [Christ] and the power of his resurrection” (Phil 3:10). And so do we.
St. Paul is the best witness to the reality of the bodily death and bodily Resurrection of Jesus
In fact, St. Paul is the best witness to the reality of the bodily death and bodily Resurrection of Jesus Christ. Paul is the one and only first-person writer in the entire Bible who says: “He appeared to me” (1 Cor 15:8). More precisely, Paul says “Christ was seen by me.” Christ has made Himself known to Paul and to the other apostles (and to us), yet uniquely to Paul, who would change the world by preaching to the nations Christ’s Resurrection as the
ultimate victory of our Creator over death and sin.
Chris t was raised up to the fullness of unconquerable life on the first Easter Sunday, and Paul wants everyone to know about this Good News. In fact, Christ’s Resurrection has lifted up all of humanity in this life and the next, even though we may not always be aware of this Resurrection power. Recall that Paul was blinded by the “brilliance of the light” of the glorified Lord Jesus, as Paul was traveling to Damascus to arrest Christians some four years after Jesus had died and risen (Acts 22:11). Paul’s life was radically changed, transforming him from a persecutor of Christians, into the greatest of all preachers of Christ’s victory, for Him and for us, over death and sin. What was Paul’s message to the nations? It was nothing less than the truth that in Jesus Christ the very meaning of life has been revealed. We humans are created to share in Christ’s victory over death and sin, and thus to have union with God, which is holiness in this life and neverending glory in the next.
This is the tim e of year when my students get to share their insights on the meaning of St. Augustine’s “restlessness” in his Confessions (“Our hearts are restless until they rest in God”). How can we today rise above or at least minimize our own restlessness and anxiety and fear, in a society where anxiety seems so rampant? One
Christ.
student quoted Philippians: “Have no anxiety at all” (4:6), challenging us to push back against unhealthy restlessness through a daily upward-bound act of the will. Another student quoted Matthew: “Come to me…and I will give you rest” (11:28), reminding us that simply turning to Christ for even a brief moment of prayer can diminish our anxiety and empower us to assist others toward a greater interior peace in their hearts. Both were very fitting quotes, emphasizing that there really are spiritual solutions that can help us to navigate the move toward rest and tranquility in Christ the Victor when times are tough.
“There is no better place to find peace than to be with Jesus.”
Thomas à Kempis says in his classic The Imitation of Christ that “there is no better place to find peace than to be with Jesus.” And there is no better way to “be with Jesus” than making a good confession, receiving Him in Holy Communion, and being quiet with Him in prayer such as Adoration or the daily Rosary or the Jesus Prayer of “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me, a sinner!”
But we still may have questions about the Resurrection power of Jesus Christ and how it applies to our lives today; here are a few final thoughts.
What exa ctly is the “Resurrection power” of Jesus Christ? It is the power or strength that raised up Jesus after He had been executed and placed in the tomb on Good Friday. Actually, the Resurrection power of Jesus Christ is both a created power and an uncreated power. Much more than a mere resuscitation, the Resurrection power of Jesus at His tomb was a special created vitality or life-force that was placed in Jesus to bring Him, Body and Soul, into the absolute fullness of life, into eternal life. And this Resurrection force that raised Jesus up was also an uncreated power, for it was God Himself who raised up Jesus. For “the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead” is no less than the Holy Spirit, the mysterious third Person in the living God (Rom 8:11). In other words, Christ has been raised up, not only by a created grace from God but also by an uncreated Grace, namely, the Holy Spirit Himself. When we turn to God’s Resurrection power in Christ, we enter into an infinitely graced reality, for victorious living for ourselves and for everyone around us.
What difference does the Resurrection of Jesus make in our daily lives today? All I can say is that in my own life, when the truth of the Resurrection finally began to “dawn” on me in my youth, my life was changed forever, for the better. I began to be more joyful when I realized
that the Resurrection of Jesus is one of the most certain historical facts in all of human history, with eyewitnesses who were willing to die for the truth that they had seen Jesus alive after He was executed. The positive attitude toward the future and toward human dignity that flowed from the Resurrection of Jesus has changed the world; it has been the driving force of Western civilization and its emphasis on human rights, economic freedom, political stability, and the value of the arts and sciences when people use well their Godgiven talents to serve the common good. In short, the Resurrection of Jesus makes all the difference, because through Jesus, something infinitely positive and hopeful has been given to us, to help us to be who we are called to be for God and neighbor and country. Once a person encounters the Resurrection of Jesus, once a person understands even a glimpse of the meaning of the Resurrection power released by Jesus, that person can never be the same.
How ca n we “tap into” Resurrection power? Again, it is just about as easy as asking for it! Simply say a prayer in the name of Jesus Christ, asking the Holy Spirit to give you a share in the Resurrection power of Jesus Christ. And do not forget to ask Our Lady to be your special helper and secondary intercessor as well, and know that Confession and Communion will complete your ever-closer union with Jesus Christ for your victorious living today and every day. May the Resurrection power of Jesus Christ help us all to have victorious life in Christ, to be “sharers in the divine nature” (2 Pet 1:4), and to pass on to others through generous service the Resurrection life that has been given in Christ.
Blessed East er to all for 2025, the Jubilee Year of Hope in the Resurrection! I will be offering Holy Mass for all our readers and their families.
An Introduction to Sacramental Theology
Fr. Robert M. Garrity, J.C.L., S.Th.D.
Fr. Robert M. Garrity, J.C.L., S.Th.D., a priest of the Diocese of Rockford, Illinois, is associate professor of Theology at Ave Maria University, where he has served for 21 years in teaching and as the former director of Campus Ministry.
Over the years, he has authored several published works in The Jurist, Studia canonica , The Heythrop Journal, and The Homiletic and Pastoral Review, along with several books, including Resurrection Power: Spiritual Solutions for an Anxious Age
(Lectio Publishing, 2015), Mother Teresa’s Mysticism: A Christo-Ecclesio-HumanoCentric Mysticism (Lectio Publishing, 2017), and O Happy Fault: Personal Recovery through Spiritual Growth (Paulist Press, 1994). His undergraduate degree was in English literature from Aurora College (now University) near Chicago, and his canonical licentiate and theological doctorate were from The Catholic University of America.
He was the founding coach of the AMU Men’s Golf team in 2005. It is his special joy to share resurrection power with the next generation at Ave Maria University.
The Wisdom Papers is a series of relevant reflections on contemporary conversations from the faculty of Ave Maria University.
EDITOR
Neil Watson
Sarah Chichester
ART DIRECTOR
Balbina O’Brien
MANAGING EDITOR
Susan Gallagher
STAFF ASSISTANT
Katherine Arend