In the darkest times, when it seems that the world has fallen from grace, and the way out has been obscured so densely that hope appears extinguished, miracles can occur. We live in such times, but these are not the first of those times.  Finding a way out of the morass is often predicated upon pressing onward, and having faith.

Evil feeds upon the angst and weakness that lies in the absence of faith.  It looks to declare the absolute certainty of a future, to remove all hope, and to force compliance.  Faith secures the ultimate freedom, elevated from the native fears and doubts that can bring such turmoil to human existence.  The faithful don’t need reassurance, because the present holds no sway over an ultimate truth.

The tests are everywhere among us.  A muslim shopkeeper seeks to bridge the cultural divide with simple respect for those who see things differently, and is killed for his generous spirit.  The President of the United States participates in a press conference with a Cuban dictator, standing by passively as Raul Castro denies keeping any prisoners of conscience.  The long hand of the current Russian czar snuffs out any opposition to his worldview.  Innocents are brought to slaughter to serve as examples of evil’s inevitable march.

A transcendent faith is the gift of that day so many years ago when the tomb was visited on the first day after the sabbath, the stone was found shunted aside, and the inhabitant of the tomb was nowhere to be found.  Those that gazed in and were dumbfounded showed expected human reactions, worrying where the body was taken and who would have removed it.  The truth was of course greater than any perceived before in human existence, in that the truth was amongst them as they wondered, and had been all along.  Those of the greatest faith could see the truth, and those who would doubt but were open to a better world, could still receive the truth.

The realities of our days bring doubts, but not certainties. The faith that good will triumph over evil speaks to the enormous power of good and the inherent weakness of evil.  In good is the future of enlightenment, love, and paradise.  In evil, lies the empty blackness of a world devoid of meaning.

The miracle of Easter morning is not only that it happened, but that it happens continuously, through the breath of spirit that infuses people with the strength to carry on through the darkness, and never given in to those who would surrender or desecrate our goodness.

Have faith. With it, all things are possible.

Happy Easter.