In my reflections about the Resurrection I have often wondered: Wouldn't it have been wonderful if Christ would have remained with us in visible form after His Resurrection? Imagine:

a- No division of Christian churches and groups and sects. He would tell us exactly what His Church should be like.

b- No wars in His name. He would tell us exactly what to do.

c- No racial discrimination: He would receive and listen to all peoples with the same love and care.

d- He could have a daily hour on TV to preach to the whole world!

e- He could be answering my and everybody else's questions on the Internet.

f- What a surprise it would be to meet Him at the corner store, at the bus station, at the airport, at the soccer stadium.

g- Occasionally He could be invited to sit with our family for dinner and have a long chat with Him. (imagine Him commenting on the TV news after dinner).

h- and so on and on......

I know I'm dreaming, but still I think it would be wonderful.

Nevertheless a doubt remains: "even if one of the prophets were to rise from the dead-....thy would not believe him".

Happy Easter to all.

Enrique

-- Enrique Ortiz (eaortiz@yahoo.com), April 22, 2000

Answers

Christ in the parable of Lazarus and the beggar said: Lazarus looked up at Abraham in heaven (with the beggar Dives at his bosom)-- and asked for water from the finger of the beggar. He was refused, Then he asked, ''Let him then go and warn my brothers. They might not know of this place. (Hell) / And the answer was, ''They already have Moses, and the Prophets. But they will not listen to them. Indeed, even if a man (Jesus resurrected) were to come back from the dead-- They shall not listen to him.'' Jesus was speaking of the Jews.

Today we have the leaders of Judaism; rebuking the Church of Christ for complicity in the Holocaust! You can see His prophesy fulfilled; they won't hear Him-- though He arose from the dead!

I have a simple response to give my Jewish friends, if any of them ever deny Christ is their own Messias-- and truly risen from the dead. The day is coming, when Jesus Christ shall judge Jews, gentiles, Nazis, Catholics, Palestinians and Israelis / ALL the living and the dead. Whether it's the Holocaust or the Inquisition, the Pope, or Mother Theresa. He shall judge all of us. Until then, don't ask for an accounting from anyone. Learn to forgive, as He forgave you.

-- Eugene Chavez (rechavez@popmail.ucsd.edu), April 22, 2000.

Dear Enrique-- All you've said in your contemplation of a Jesus who is present every day, in ''visible'' form, is ingenuous; a day-dream. Not really reprehensible, but just consider: Only after our deaths are we assured of Jesus' loving presence in visible form.

The price of our glorious afterlife in His Divine Presence for eternity-- is our own individual suffering and death! We have to surrender to this condition, in order to attain the new, eternal condition. Because what you have described is: Paradise. Heaven itself!

-- Eugene Chavez (rechavez@popmail.ucsd.edu), April 23, 2000.

He did...

Just look at John Paul...

God bless you Atila

-- Atila (atila@none.com), April 23, 2000.

Dear Enrique,
Please let Our Lord respond to your thoughts ...

From John 16:
5: But now I am going to him who sent me; yet none of you asks me, 'Where are you going?'
6: But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your hearts.
7: Nevertheless I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.
8: And when he comes, he will convince the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment:
9: concerning sin, because they do not believe in me;
10: concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no more;
11: concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.
12: "I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.
13: When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.
14: He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you.

Amen. Feliz Pascua!
John

-- J. F. Gecik (jgecik@desc.dla.mil), April 27, 2000.