Pope Benedict in his Easter Message to the World invites us to ponder anew the resurrection as our hope,
"Easter does not signal a moment in history, but the beginning of a new condition. Jesus risen is not simply a memory that lives in the heart of the disciples but He himself lives in us."
What is that new condition?
"God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life."
That new condition that rises from the empty tomb is the gift of everlasting life. We shall not perish.
Jesus does preserve us, he doesn't increase our shelf life. When John speaks of not perishing, he is speaking of a new reality, a new gift, a new way of living that is no longer bound or limited between the womb and the tomb.
By our belief, we become the glory of God as sharers in Christ's victory over death.
The resurrection stands as the defining distinction between having just a memory alive in our hearts and having a true reunion of persons.
As Christians, memory gives way to reunion and thus 'we shall not perish' points us to the truth that those who believe shall be reunited in the Person of Christ who is risen and who brings about the communion of saints.
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