"Christ is Risen! Indeed, He is Risen!" It is thus that Christians of the East, those Churches that trace their origin back to Constantinople, Alexandria, and Antioch, greet one another during the Easter Season, with one person proclaiming the Good News that "Christ is Risen!" and the other person responding in joy with the reply, "Indeed, He is Risen!" This is the heart of our faith; it is this reality that shapes our lives as Christians, for as St. Paul says, "if Christ has not been raised, then our proclamation has been in vain and your faith has been in vain" (I Cor. 15:14).

In our first reading we hear a concise summary of the faith we proclaim as preached by Peter in the first days of the Church, and in our second reading we hear Paul encourage us to celebrate our feast by ridding ourselves of everything that does not harmonize with the Christ we have come to know and profess. Our Gospel proclamation reminds us that this faith which we celebrate today came first to those who encountered not the risen Lord, but rather an empty tomb. And so faith comes even today to those who may not have the privilege of a personal encounter with the risen Lord, but who discover their Lord in the hints and signs of his continued life with us, even in those corners of death and darkness in our lives.