On Friday evening, May 17th and Saturday the 18th, I attended a conference where Fr. Stephen Freeman was one of the keynote speakers. He is the author of Everywhere Present and a blog and podcast called Glory to God for All Things at Ancient Faith Radio. Dn. James and I were excited to hear him speak because we have learned so much from his book and blog.
On this evening I was struck by how much Fr. Stephen emphasized the need for us to focus on the Resurrection of Christ…all the time. Suffering will never go away. We will constantly have it, “we can’t make the world a better place, but we can do good.” We will never be able to eliminate suffering, but we can do good within it.
Throughout both of his talks there seemed a theme…
Life is hard, but Christ is Risen!
Christ has conquered death. He has eliminated the sting. He has won the battle!
Life is hard, but Christ is Risen!
My goal since I started this blog has really been about trying to wrap my mind around this very exclamation. I want the Resurrection of Christ to be my focus so that others can see Him and His love.
Life is hard, but Christ is Risen!
What does this look like and how can we make it really a part of our lives so that others can see Christ in us? So that no matter what we are kindling the pure joy of the Resurrection always?
I was struck with how quickly it was the answer in all Fr. Stephen Freeman talked about.
Life is hard, but Christ is Risen!
We must focus on the conquering of death, the triumphant and glorious Resurrection of Christ.
And lastly, that first evening, Fr. Stephen said, “When we stand in the Church & sing, proclaim, ‘Christ is Risen from the dead, trampling down death by death and upon those in the tombs bestowing life’, all of creation agrees with us!”
Do you see it!?
Christ is Risen, my joys!
Let us go and proclaim it!
Kindler of Joy! 