THE GOOD NEWS
ARCHBISHOP BELTRAN

April 15, 2007

The Good News

...Easter Blessings!

Once again, with great joy, I extend my sincere wishes to you and your families for a very blessed Easter season. May the Risen Lord Jesus bless each of you in a very special way.  May you and I and all other people discover the meaning of Easter in our lives. May we appreciate the fact that Jesus is risen from the dead. Alleluia! Alleluia!

The Easter message is the most exciting and most realistic message there is. This is Good News “par excellence.” This is the answer and the key to all human longing or desire. The Resurrection of Jesus is God’s response to us in the “vale of tears.”

Jesus is the Eternal Son of God.  He is true God and truly human. Therefore, the Easter event is the greatest event in all of human history.  The death and resurrection of Jesus is the Paschal Mystery which is universally necessary for ultimate human fulfillment.

Daily, each of us goes about our routine duties and obligations according to our lifestyle. We pick and choose, sometimes thoughtfully, sometimes  haphazardly.  Thus  we become doctors or lawyers, computer  programmers, maintenance people or whatever other attraction or vocation to which we respond. For fun or recreation, we golf or fish, visit friends, travel, celebrate special occasions or attend plays, sports, shows or other entertainment. When we are tired, we rest. When ill, we take measures to regain our health. All these are ordinary aspects of our daily human existence. All these are necessary realities and options. But all these together do not adequately answer the first or the final question of human life, namely, “Why are we here and where are we going?” Only the Paschal Mystery encompassing the life, the death and the resurrection of Jesus can adequately answer these fundamental questions of life.

God, in His goodness, speaks to us in countless ways but most especially through His Son Jesus who lived among us. He reveals the true nature of the human person. God tells us that He created us in His own Image and Likeness. He made us for a purpose.  He was not compelled to create us. He did so totally out of love. He made us so that we could share His love with us.  We were made in such a fashion that we are able to receive His love and to love Him in return. Through Revelation we learn that we are to come to know, love and serve God now on this earth so that someday we can live with Him forever in heaven. This is the reason for our existence.  This is the only way we can ever be fulfilled.

This plan of God is gratuitous and free. It is a beautiful plan based on love. When human beings first sinned, it was a deliberate refusal to accept God’s plan, His offer, His love. Once we were separated from God, we literally were doomed.  There was no hope for us because we failed to accept God’s love. In that tragic moment of human failure and sin, God said:  “I will send My Son and He will save you.”

Jesus, the Eternal Son of God, came then to restore God’s plan for us.  He came that we might have life and have it more abundantly. Jesus, true God and true man, lived, suffered and died. He rose from the dead, thereby redeeming us from our sins. This life, death and resurrection of Jesus is the Paschal Mystery. It is the restoration of God’s plan for us. This is what we have just celebrated at Easter.

As human beings then, why do we shortchange ourselves? Why can’t we see and accept God’s beautiful plan for us? Why do we limit ourselves and still remain victims of sin?

Remember — Christ has died for us. He rose from the dead and He sets us free! This is the Easter message. This is the Good News of God’s  presence and love. It is in Him, and in Him alone that we shall have peace and joy and life everlasting in heaven. Happy Easter!