The day after I set a lovely potted geranium outside, I found that deer had eaten it. Weeks passed and then one day I noticed that the plant bore five buds. Maybe you’ve had the experience of seeing a plant that was apparently dead spring into life.
In this world there are hints of our own resurrection. Every winter trees and bushes are black skeletons, but then in spring they burst into lush greenery. Every night we crawl into bed and become “dead to the world” for several hours, but then in the morning we awake to another day. The sun too disappears, but then rises again with its life-giving rays. Caterpillars form “tombs” around their bodies and then emerge as lovely creatures capable of flying.
Of course, after Jesus predicted that we would rise from the dead, the greatest sign that this was true was his own Resurrection. His empty tomb was the first of what will be a multitude of empty tombs and graves someday. Jesus conquered death once and for all. He is our resurrection and our life. We believe in him and we believe him.
Respond: Jesus, I trust in your words. I look forward to the day I will be united forever with you and with all my faithful family members—those who have already died and those still on earth with me.
—Excerpted from Cherished by Jesus by Mary Kathleen Glavich, SND