Our Lord Jesus Christ, when resurrected from the dead, did not simply return, as if recovering the old body of death with which he suffered for our sins;

Our Lord Jesus Christ, when resurrected from the dead, did not simply return, as if recovering the old body of death with which he suffered for our sins; on the contrary, coming back to life, what He did was take his transformed, divinized, glorious body, now impassible and no longer subject to death — which was conquered, and once and for all. Therefore, what the prophet Isaiah predicted about the glorious end that the Suffering Servant would enjoy is fulfilled in the early hours of Saturday to Sunday: “Behold, my Servant will be successful; His ascension will be to the highest degree. Just as many were amazed to see him - he was so disfigured that he did not appear to be a man or have a human appearance -, in the same way he will spread his fame among the people. Before him, kings will remain silent, seeing something that has never been told to them and knowing things they have never heard.” (Is 52, 13-15) This very same prophecy is repeated by the Apostle, in his Christological hymn to the Philippians, when he says — after indicating the same route as the Cross of Our Lord — that “God exalted him exceedingly and gave him the most exalted, most sublime name, and exalted far above every other name” (Phil 2:9). Considering that Jesus was true God and true man, it is evident that the Scriptures are speaking, in these passages, of the way in which the Savior's humanity would be glorified, since, through his divinity, Christ had always conquered death, the sin and Satan. It was necessary, however, that in the fullness of time the victory of Heaven over Hell would also be manifested in the flesh of Adam, since the entire human race had fallen into disgrace through it. What does the Lord do, therefore, with his Resurrection, if not to give us back the grace, the divine life that we had miserably lost through our sins? In fact, Saint Paul teaches us, in a scathing passage from one of his letters, “if Christ has not been resurrected, your faith is of no value and you are still in your sins” (1Cor 15, 17). Clearly overcoming death, which was the punishment inflicted on our parents for sin, what Our Lord actually did was step on the head of the evil serpent, destroying, at one and the same time, the evil of sin, its author and its deadly consequences. Just as, however, a medicine only brings health to those who drink it — and the cup of salvation only saves those who take part in it (DH 624) —, the mystery of the Resurrection needs to be applied concretely in the life of each baptized person, as only this way it can bear fruit. Our Lord truly died and rose again for our salvation (propter nostram salutem, as we pray in the Creed), but, as He Himself says, “whoever does not believe is already condemned” (John 3:18), so only through faith, because the righteous of God live by it (cf. Rom 1:17), we can truly come into contact with the glorious flesh of the Lord and receive his grace, his virtue, his strength.  

It is precisely to revive faith in his disciples, a virtue that was buried in them with the body of Christ on the evening of Good Friday, that the Resurrected Jesus appears to them, still for forty days, before ascending to heaven and sitting on the right hand. of the Father. During this entire period, to which the Church's liturgy extends the celebration of the Lord's Easter, the great lesson that remains for us, Christians apparently far removed from the 21st century, is that the presence of Christ through faith and the sacraments is much more powerful and effective than any merely physical interaction with the Savior. When we commune with Him, for example, or make an act of faith in Him, let us be sure, His most holy humanity truly and deeply touches the most intimate part of our being, elevating us more and more to participation in the Trinitarian life, in the nature of God Himself. (cf. 2Pt 1, 4).

 Our Lord Jesus Christ, when resurrected from the dead, did not simply return, as if recovering the old body of death with which he suffered for our sins; on the contrary, coming back to life, what He did was take his transformed, divinized, glorious body, now impassible and no longer subject to death — which was conquered, and once and for all. Therefore, what the prophet Isaiah predicted about the glorious end that the Suffering Servant would enjoy is fulfilled in the early hours of Saturday to Sunday:

“Behold, my Servant will be successful; His ascension will be to the highest degree. Just as many were amazed to see him - he was so disfigured that he did not appear to be a man or have a human appearance -, in the same way he will spread his fame among the people. Before him, kings will remain silent, seeing something that has never been told to them and knowing things they have never heard.” (Is 52, 13-15) This very same prophecy is repeated by the Apostle, in his Christological hymn to the Philippians, when he says — after indicating the same route as the Cross of Our Lord — that “God exalted him exceedingly and gave him the most exalted, most sublime name, and exalted far above every other name” (Phil 2:9). Considering that Jesus was true God and true man, it is evident that the Scriptures are speaking, in these passages, of the way in which the Savior's humanity would be glorified, since, through his divinity, Christ had always conquered death, the sin and Satan. It was necessary, however, that in the fullness of time the victory of Heaven over Hell would also be manifested in the flesh of Adam, since the entire human race had fallen into disgrace through it. What does the Lord do, therefore, with his Resurrection, if not to give us back the grace, the divine life that we had miserably lost through our sins? In fact, Saint Paul teaches us, in a scathing passage from one of his letters, “if Christ has not been resurrected, your faith is of no value and you are still in your sins” (1Cor 15, 17). Clearly overcoming death, which was the punishment inflicted on our parents for sin, what Our Lord actually did was step on the head of the evil serpent, destroying, at one and the same time, the evil of sin, its author and its deadly consequences. Just as, however, a medicine only brings health to those who drink it — and the cup of salvation only saves those who take part in it (DH 624) —, the mystery of the Resurrection needs to be applied concretely in the life of each baptized person, as only this way it can bear fruit. Our Lord truly died and rose again for our salvation (propter nostram salutem, as we pray in the Creed), but, as He Himself says, “whoever does not believe is already condemned” (John 3:18), so only through faith, because the righteous of God live by it (cf. Rom 1:17), we can truly come into contact with the glorious flesh of the Lord and receive his grace, his virtue, his strength. It is precisely to revive faith in his disciples, a virtue that was buried in them with the body of Christ on the evening of Good Friday, that the Resurrected Jesus appears to them, still for forty days, before ascending to heaven and sitting on the right hand. of the Father. During this entire period, to which the Church's liturgy extends the celebration of the Lord's Easter, the great lesson that remains for us, Christians apparently far removed from the 21st century, is that the presence of Christ through faith and the sacraments is much more powerful and effective than any merely physical interaction with the Savior. When we commune with Him, for example, or make an act of faith in Him, let us be sure, His most holy humanity truly and deeply touches the most intimate part of our being, elevating us more and more to participation in the Trinitarian life, in the nature of God Himself. (cf. 2Pt 1, 4).