EASTER'S TWO MIRACLES

Easter is upon us.

It is Christianity's most important day.

On it, we celebrate the resurrection of an itinerant Jewish preacher who roamed Galilee in the first century of the so-called Common Era.  

We claim a man was risen from the dead.  

We believe it was an act of God. 

It is Christianity's fundamental miracle.

Without it, there is no "Christ".  

Christ is a word, not a name.   

It is a transliteration of the Greek word christos. 

Christos in Greek  means "anointed one". 

It was used to translate the Hebrew word for "one who is anointed".  

That Hebrew word is  "Messiah."

We believe the miracle was witnessed.

Shortly after it happened. 

By followers -- women and then men -- who carried that witness to the edges of their known world.   

Without them, there is no Christ either.

No messengers.

No good news.

No new commandment of love.

It is Easter's other fundamental miracle.

The one that turned a rag-tag group of frightened followers . . .

Into a committee of the courageous.

On Easter, we celebrate Him for saving the world with His Gospel of love.

And Them for letting the rest of us know.

Teilhard De Chardin was a French paleontologist and Jesuit priest.

"Someday, after mastering the winds, the waves, the tides and gravity," he said,  "we shall harness for God the energies of love".

"And then," he continued, "for the second time in the history of the world, man will have discovered fire."

None of us can be God.

But all of us can be disciples.

Happy Easter.