Happy Easter to all! Christ is truly risen, never to die again. We are now a new creation. Alleluia, hosanna, praise the Lord! Sin and death have been conquered by Christ's cross.

We have reason to be happy and hopeful, no matter how dark our earthly situations may be. We have to remember, though, that our own resurrection in Christ always has to pass through the cross, through suffering.

Our death is not forever. Our pain and sorrow here are emptied of their sting. With Christ's resurrection, we have hope of the kind that does not defraud, to live on and conquer evil. Sadness should not stay with us for long.

All this translates to the truth that Easter is the celebration of our new, redeemed life in Christ in the Spirit. It's not just human life - biological, physical, professional, social, etc. It is supernatural life, the life really meant for us. Let's be more conscious of this wonderful albeit demanding truth.

This is the life that can contend with any situation in our earthly affairs. It has the capacity to go beyond death, beyond sin. It has tremendously healing, strengthening and purifying powers.

For this to happen, we have to follow Christ. Of course, not only in the physical or emotional sense. We follow him through faith, hope and charity, supernatural virtues that connect us vitally with him.

We follow him when we cling to his teaching, now the doctrine also of his Church. When we assimilate his teaching and make it our own, we unite ourselves with his will. We will be in the same wavelength with him.

We follow him when we avail ourselves of the sacraments, his continuing presence and action. Christ continues to live on. Precisely he resurrected. Death has no dominion over him. And though he already sits in the right hand of his father, he makes himself easily available to us. He in fact wants to enter our life.

We follow him when we make ourselves active and living members of his Church, allowing ourselves to be governed pastorally by his ministers, the clergy and the hierarchy, from the Pope down to the last priest and deacon. Christ leads us through them.

We need to have the necessary dispositions to achieve all these requirements for following Christ. We need to be humble, docile and obedient, completely free and responsible which should go together always.

And given the complicated conditions of our life today, we have to be shrewdly prudent. We need to have the prudence of the spirit, never of the flesh, no matter how attractive the latter tries to make itself up.

Right now, with the elections coming, we need to be very discerning in choosing our leaders. If we truly live the spirit of Easter, then we have to choose leaders who are clearly pro-life, not pro-death nor anti-life.

We may have varying opinions "valid and with their advantages and disadvantages" with respect to purely political, economic and social issues. In these issues, we have to learn to dialogue civilly, respecting one another's opinions.

But when it comes to matters of faith and morals, like what the life issues are all about, then we should try to choose what promotes life over death, what favors true good over attractive evil, doing this always with charity.

Anti-life politicians, simply put, are those who are for contraception, divorce, abortion, same-sex unions, immoral family planning methods, etc. We have to expose them.

Since many of these anti-life politicians usually crow that they are actually for life, then we have to examine whether they follow truly Christ. Thus we have to see how closely they follow Christ's doctrine, his sacraments, and his Church.

We have to be wary of politicians' and ideologues' charming ways. We have to assess their views and positions according to the sure touchstones of prudence.

This is, of course, a very delicate task. It should be done with utmost respect for freedom and in utmost charity. This is because the truth can only be properly affirmed and defended in charity.

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Fr. Roy Cimagala is the Chaplain of Center for Industrial Technology and Enterprise (CITE) in Talamban, Cebu City. You can email him at:Email: roycimagala@boholchronicle.com