Remember the Resurrection!

"...when these signs begin to happen, stand erect and raise your heads because your redemption is at hand." -- Luke 21:28 (NAB)

Earlier this week, I was reflecting on these words of our Lord while considering the increasing darkness in the world. As I did so, these words started rising up in my heart: "Make this your rallying cry: Remember the Resurrection!"

When the darkness and fear of the Garden of Gethsemane starts pressing in on every side, Remember the Resurrection!

When your friends abandon you, as they did Jesus, Remember the Resurrection!

When people mock you and persecute you for your faith, Remember the Resurrection!

When you have fallen under the weight of your cross and are struggling get up and go on, Remember the Resurrection!

When you are nailed to the cross yourself, or standing by the cross of a loved one, going through the agony as death approaches, Remember the Resurrection!

When you, like the Blessed Mother, are cradling your dead loved one in your arms, heart broken with grief, Remember the Resurrection!

And today, when a score of innocent children and a number of adults are brutally killed by a gunman, leaving behind hundreds of traumatized and grieving students and teachers and family and friends; when a nation and a world that in many ways has become calloused to loss of life is stunned; when people in shock and anger and despair ask How? and Why? and Where is God?...

...then hold each other tight, and cry together, and then gently and lovingly whisper to each other the words, Remember the Resurrection!