What the Church teaches
The Resurrection is a real event attested by the disciples, and a transcendent act of God: the same Jesus lives in glorified humanity.
Easter is not only the survival of Jesus’ teaching, the memory of a beloved teacher, or a symbol of spring. The apostles proclaim that the one who was crucified has risen. The empty tomb and encounters with the risen Lord belong together in their testimony.
His risen body is truly his own — the wounds remain — but he does not return to ordinary mortal life as Lazarus did. He enters a new mode of bodily existence beyond death. The event exceeds what any witness could observe directly: no Gospel claims someone watched the instant of the Resurrection.
The Resurrection vindicates Jesus’ identity and promises, gives us new life in grace, and pledges our bodily resurrection. Christian hope therefore concerns the whole person and renewed creation, not escape from the body. Every Sunday celebrates this Paschal mystery.
Sacred Scripture
1 Corinthians 15:3–8, 14–22
Paul hands on the early confession of Christ’s death, burial, Resurrection and appearances. If Christ is not risen, faith is empty.
Luke 24:36–43
Jesus shows his hands and feet and eats before the disciples: he is not a ghost.
John 20:19–29
The risen Lord brings peace, shows his wounds and calls Thomas to faith.
Church documents & Catechism
The historical and transcendent character, appearances, glorified body and saving meaning of Easter.
The resurrection of the dead and Christian hope for body and soul.
With the saints · East & West
“the flesh of our Saviour Jesus Christ, which suffered for our sins, and which the Father, of His goodness, raised up again”
This early Eastern witness joins Eucharistic faith to the reality of Jesus’ flesh, Passion and Resurrection. The sacrament is not detached from the person of the incarnate Lord.
“For He was made man that we might be made God.”
The Eastern language of divinization means sharing in God’s life by grace, not becoming another god by nature. Only the truly divine Son can give this participation in divine life.
Questions & Catholic answers
Was the Resurrection merely spiritual?
No. The same Jesus rises in his body, now glorified. It is not the abandonment of his humanity.
Is Christian hope a denial of grief?
No. Christians may mourn deeply while trusting that death does not have the final word. Hope does not require pretending that loss is painless.
Risen Jesus, bring your peace into my fear and sustain all who grieve with the hope of eternal life. Amen.