I have three psychiatrist friends with whom I have been working for about 25 years. Two are of the Jewish faith and one is a Christian. The two Jewish psychiatrists, who are very skilled, psychiatrists have a consuming belief in the resurrection of their bodies. There is no doubt about it in their minds that they will experience a resurrection similar to the resurrection. we, as Christians, experience after our death. The Christian psychiatrist has no belief whatsoever in life after death or anything pertaining to the resurrection of Christ. And this attitude of believers and non-believers has been a constant attitude in the Church ever since the Resurrection of Christ on that first Easter Sunday. The theology of Christ, the theology of the Church is very clear: that after our tour of duty on this earth is over, we will experience a life that Christ has prepared for us. If you read the gospels, Christ, the son of God, who could not lie or deceive told us that He must go to His father in heaven and prepare mansions for those who have loved and served Him on earth. If you read the theology of St. Paul where he speaks so profusely about the Resurrection that follows each one of our fives, there is no doubt in his mind that when Christ said "I am the resurrection and the life, he who believes in me even if he is dead will rise again", that a future life awaits all of us. If you read the New Testament there are over sixty-one different references to the life of eternal peace that awaits all of us who have loved and served God.

I am sure anyone who does any thinking often wonders about the life of their grandparents, people in our own history like Abraham Lincoln who died well over 100 years ago, what kind of existence they have living in the mansion or the kingdom that God has prepared for us. St. Paul reminded us, "your eyes have not seen nor your ears heard what God has in store for those who have served him on earth". St. John continued the same theme in the New Testament when he said, "in heaven there will be neither mourning nor grieving for the former things of this world that have passed away". He could have added, in heaven there will be neither cancer nor Alzheimers or any of the unhappy experiences we have gone through in this life.

Often throughout the course of our lives especially in television you will see programs and read books about life after this life is finished. It is a scientific approach. It is a mathematical approach as to what kind of life awaits us. But in the language of the bible, both the Old and New Testaments, it is a place of joy, a place of happiness and a place of serenity. From time to time all of us have to keep in mind as we reflect on the Resurrection of Christ on Easter Sunday that our body was never made to last forever on this earth. While we are on this earth we are renting space for "x" number of years, whatever God decides we are going to have. When you think of the beautiful Catholic tradition of good Friday and Easter Sunday, that is a tremendous reminder of what we as Catholics hope. Think of it this way. We believe in the God who put the sun and the moon into the heavens. He put all the planets in perfect harmony, all the stars in perfect coordination. Do you think that the God who made all of these things made a mistake in allowing his son to suffer and die on the Cross on Good Friday? Do you really think that the God who made all the planets and stars without one single mistake, do you think that same God allowed his son to suffer and die for something that did not matter? You know the answer to that as well as I do. Christ came so that you and I would not only have a life on this earth, but have a better life in the kingdom of heaven that he has prepared.

Easter Sunday is a reminder that we all have a date with God, that we have a divine destiny in the kingdom of God, and that one day because of the victory of Christ over death, one day because of his Resurrection you and I will experience a similar Resurrection and one day we will go out beyond the stars, out beyond the planet mars into the arms of God. That is what Easter Sunday is about.

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