"Christ is risen!" - "He is truly risen. Hallelujah!" This is the old greeting at Easter, in Latvia it is still quite common. I love this little dialogue! It says so much more than just "Happy Easter." On the one hand, this greeting contains the confession of faith: Jesus is the Son of God, and His love is stronger than death. On the other hand, this dialogue is also an expression of how our faith as a whole works: through tradition. One tells the good news to the other, from the women at the tomb, to whom Jesus himself appeared, to us today. We know about the resurrection only through testimonies, not to say from hearsay.

"Hearsay" doesn't sound so great now, of course. "Silent mail" over 2,000 years... who knows what will come of it?

If it remained hearsay, the message would probably not spread either. Between the "hearing" and the "telling" something else must happen. The disciples of Emmaus are a good example of this (on Easter Monday we always read this Gospel, Lk 24:13-35): They have already heard from the women that the tomb was empty, and that there an angel should have said that Jesus was alive. But they cannot believe it. Then Jesus himself explains the Scriptures to them, but they do not understand "the stranger". Only when he eats with them do they recognize him. They have experienced him. It is not the words that convince, but the deed.

I think this is still the case today: we hear about God from someone, from our parents, a religious teacher, a friend, a counselor, someone in the parish... But it is only when we have an experience that the Gospel, the Good News of the Resurrection, can change us. When we realize that God with his word becomes relevant in our lives, that it has practical consequences, only then will we begin to tell others about it. We ourselves become witnesses of the resurrection.

Our countdown has counted down to zero: it is Easter. I wish you and yours a blessed feast of new life, the feast of love that is stronger than death. Christ is risen!