Could we endure Christ's death without knowing about Christ's resurrection? Just as sin can only be fully understood in the light of the grace of forgiveness, so too can we face death with confidence only in the light of new life, which can be reached through it. Part of the historical reality in which we live is not only Christ's death but also Christ's resurrection. Perhaps we should say that we are capable of confronting human suffering only in the context of the new life that is born out of this suffering.
“Christ has risen!” This means that guilt, loneliness, hunger, poverty, war, and destruction no longer have the final word. Death and all its symptoms in our individual and social lives no longer represent the ultimate reality. Depression, bitterness, outrage, a desire for revenge, and hatred are all consequences of yielding to the power of death and our inability to understand that in Christ and through Christ, death has lost its ultimate power.
(Henri Nouwen /1932–1996/, excerpt from the essay Christ of the Americas)
