NICK & LIZ | KAIROS GLOBAL | APRIL 2019

Author: Sharon Siby

Liz: Hey what are you doing next weekend? Pat is having a resurrection party. It’ll be so cool. You wanna come?

Nick: Nah fam, I don’t think I can. I have to go to church in the morning.

Liz: Why? I mean it’s just Easter, it’s not even Christmas or anything.

Nick: Dude, Easter is so important, it’s the day of Jesus’s Resurrection.

Liz: Is that important? I mean, didn’t he do it again? Or was that ascension? Why is Easter so important?

Nick: Fam, first of all, no, they are not the same thing. But let me tell you the importance of Easter. 

Liz: Shoot.

Nick: Okay, according to the CCC para 638, “The Resurrection of Jesus is the crowning truth of our faith in Christ, a faith believed and lived as the central truth by the first Christian community; handed on as fundamental by Tradition; established by the documents of the New Testament; and preached as an essential part of the Paschal mystery along with the cross”.

Liz: So, what I’m getting is that the Resurrection is the cornerstone of Christianity? And dude is CCC the Catechism of the Catholic Church? I’ve heard about it but I don’t really know what it’s about.

Nick: Yeah, yeah, that’s it! And yeah, dude it’s a really good book to have cause you can look in it if you have any question about our faith. The YOUCAT is also really good. 

Liz: Oh okay. Back to the topic of the Resurrection tho, how do you know that it actually happened? I mean like can you find the bones of Jesus like you can of some of the saints?

Nick: Nope, no, that’s not it. First of all, you can’t find the bones of Jesus on Earth because he ascended into Heaven and the Resurrection is a real event cause there are witnesses and it’s historically verified. St. Paul talks about how Christ died for our sins and that he was buried and rose up on the third day. Jesus then appeared to the disciples in Cephas and to the apostles (CCC 639). 

Liz: So, they saw a ghost of Jesus?? Dude that is so creepy! I would have screamed and ran away if I saw that.

Nick: Dude what??? Of course, they didn’t see a ghost of Jesus! He appeared to them in flesh. Don’t you remember the story of St. Thomas? 

Liz: No fam. What happened?

Nick: Well, he was not with the other disciples when Jesus appeared and so when the other disciples told him that Jesus appeared, he said that he wouldn’t believe it until he saw and felt the wound of Jesus.

Liz: Man, he sounds like he really didn’t believe them and was calling them out.

Nick: Yeah, he really didn’t. But Jesus did appear again, and this time St. Thomas was with the other disciples and Jesus told St. Thomas to put his finger in his wound and told him “Because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed” (John 20:29). 

Liz: Ohhhhhh, so Jesus was really there!! Dude that’s so cool. So, I get that Resurrection is important but why tho?

Nick: Well one of the big reasons why its so important is because through the Resurrection, Jesus liberates us from our sins. Through Resurrection, we are able to enter into the new life and it is the source of our future Resurrection (CCC 654-655). 

Liz: I get it, the Ascension of Jesus is really important.

Nick: No, we were talking about the Resurrection of Jesus.

Liz: Aren’t they the same thing?

Nick: Nope! They are two very different things. The Resurrection of Jesus is Jesus overcoming the bonds of death and corruption (CCC 657). The Ascension of Jesus is the entrance of Jesus' humanity into God's heavenly domain (CCC 665).

Liz: Is that important too?

Nick: Of course, fam! The Ascension is Jesus being taken up to heaven and being seated at the right hand of God the Father. It shows that Jesus, as the head of the Church, precedes us, the members of the Church, to enter into the Kingdom of God. Through this we have hope of entering the Kingdom of God and being with Jesus. Entering into heaven, Jesus plays the role of the mediator and constantly intercedes for us and sends the Holy Spirit to guide us (CCC 666-667).

Liz: I remember that part in the bible! Jesus tells the disciples that there are many rooms in his Father’s house and so he will go and prepare a room for them (John 14: 2-3).

Nick: Yeah, exactly!

Liz: Wow! I just realized the importance of this, I guess I’ll have to skip the party. I have to go to church.

Nick: Great fam! See you there! 

Liz: Bye dude!

Nick: Bye!

Author: Sharon Siby