Launched on Easter: How God Uses Suffering to Prepare Our Greatest Victories

 

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Bound or Free: The Difference Between Lazarus and Jesus

Think about Lazarus. He came out of the tomb still bound, still wrapped in all his bandages. That image carries something. You can be alive and still feel completely trapped by your past, by what has happened to you, by everything this world has piled onto you.

Jesus came out loose. Completely free.

A Pilot, a Slingshot, and King David

After the Easter Vigil, a three-hour ceremony that ended around one in the morning, the very first thing on the agenda when getting home was checking the news. Specifically, whether the F-15E pilot shot down over Iran had been found.

The relief was real. Both pilots were rescued. Everyone is out of Iran.

That pilot’s story is not so different from Easter Sunday. And to explain why, it helps to start with King David.

A week before Easter, an advertisement for a King David movie appeared on Netflix. The question that came up was simple: what does King David have to do with the resurrection? What do any of the figures in the Bible have to do with it?

David was a shepherd. He was the youngest child. He was, by every outward measure, a nobody. He had older brothers who were better looking, stronger, wiser. And the Lord picked him to be king.

Then consider Jesus.

• Betrayed.

• Denied three times by his closest friend.

• Arrested.

• Judged.

• Beaten and scourged.

• Crowned with thorns.

• Ridiculed and stripped.

• Put to death on a cross.

• Buried.

Before he died, he said, “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?”

Then: the resurrection. God launched him.

Suffering Is Not Punishment. It Is Fuel.

Whatever you have gone through this year, the pain, the fear, the doubt, the moments when you asked whether God still loves you or still cares, that is not punishment.

He is preparing to launch you.

He is preparing to lift you up, raise you from the dead, and send you forward. That is the pattern. It is the pattern in David’s life, in Peter’s life, in the lives of the hundred people who walked into the Church last night. Every single one of them had their own holy week before they arrived.

That is also why the crucifix matters. Some traditions prefer to skip past the suffering and focus only on the resurrection. But you cannot separate the two. The cross is the fuel. The pain and the agony are not obstacles to God’s plan. They are part of it.

When that rescued pilot gets home and holds his family, that man will be more alive than he has ever been. And here is what is important: if he ever forgets what he went through, he will lose the trajectory toward greater and greater things. The memory of the hard thing is not a burden. It is the engine.

Newton’s Third Law and the Logic of the Resurrection

This is the Third Law of Newton. For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.

Do you think the God who created the laws of physics would apply that principle to physical objects but not to people? Of course he would. We are his creation. We are loved by him.

The chaos, the suffering, the difficulty, it all feeds an equal and opposite response. A launch.

What to Do When Things Are Good

Right now, for many people, things are going well. But good times carry their own risk. Comfort makes people weak. Unfocused. We start to slack off.

The answer is not to wait for the next hard thing. The answer is to keep challenging yourself. Set goals so difficult that people around you say you are crazy for even trying. Go after the hard things in life. Be the person God created you to be. Set a challenge so steep that only with God’s help can you clear it.

That is the fuel. That is what sets you apart.

Every Sacrament Is a Launch

In the Catholic Church, every sacrament carries this same logic.

When you are baptized, you are baptized into the death of Christ and into his resurrection. When you go to confession, remember what Peter said: “Lord, depart from me. I am a sinful man.” And what did Jesus say back? “From now on, you will be a fisher of men.”

The Lord loves to launch people. Your worst day becomes your greatest moment.

Do not be embarrassed about your past. Share it. Let people see what God does so well. He transforms lives. 

That is exactly what happened on Easter. 

That is exactly what is still happening.

One Week. Zero Sins.

 

One Act of Love

We begin Holy Week, the holiest week in the Catholic and Christian calendar. This is the week where we see, in full, the tremendous love that Jesus has for us.

In the Gospel reading, there is one act of love that stands out. A woman breaks a jar of costly perfume and pours it over Christ’s head. This was not a casual gesture. When a king or queen was crowned, oil was poured over their head as a symbol of strength and authority. This woman does exactly that for the Lord.

What does Jesus say in response? “Amen, I say to you, wherever the Gospel is proclaimed to the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her.” One act of love. Remembered forever.

A Challenge Born in the Confessional

A few days ago, during confessions, something came out that was never planned. Listening to that first confession, these words came forward: starting today, the beginning of Holy Week, try not to commit any sins. No sins. From now until Easter.

After saying it once, it felt right. Every person who came to confession that week received the same penance. Now the challenge extends to everyone.

You might say that sounds impossible. It is not impossible. It is difficult. But consider the Act of Contrition that every Catholic prays at the end of confession:

“Oh my God, I am truly sorry for all the wrong I have done. In choosing to do wrong and failing to do good, I have sinned against you, whom I should love above all things. I firmly intend, with the help of your grace, to sin no more and to avoid the occasions of sin.”

We say those words. This week, let’s mean them.

What a Pure Heart Actually Feels Like

Think about what it would feel like to go to bed every single night with a pure heart. Completely united with God. At peace with your soul and your mind.

Most of us do not know what that feels like. That is exactly the point of the challenge. From Palm Sunday to Easter, try not to sin each day. Go to bed and find out what that peace actually feels like.

Is it going to be difficult? Yes. Is it going to be a challenge? Absolutely. But what a beautiful way to show love for the Lord, who in today’s reading showed how much he is willing to suffer, sacrifice, and give for us.

Why We Will Forget (And What to Do About It)

Here is the honest truth about why this is hard. We are going to forget.

As soon as we pull out of the parking lot, someone will cut us off. We will wake up tomorrow morning and forget. We will get to work and forget. We will sit down in the office and forget. We will be with the children and forget.

That forgetting is what makes it difficult. If we can keep the challenge in mind, just remember what we agreed to today, it becomes so much easier to catch ourselves before we slip.

Starting Over With an Act of Contrition

One final note. If there is a slip-up, do not give up. Before going to bed, say an Act of Contrition. That brings you back to zero. Back to a clean slate.

So the challenge is on the table. From today until Easter, try not to commit any sins. Try to go to bed every night with a pure heart. And if you fall, get back up before the night is over.

Amen.