After all, the karate-master-turned-TV-star-turned-living-legend inspired an entire genre of “Chuck Norris facts,” each playing up the idea that he was a singular force who seemingly stood above the laws of nature.

A sampling:

“When Chuck Norris plays dodgeball, the balls dodge him.”

“Chuck Norris has a polar bear rug at home. It’s not dead; it’s just scared to move.”

“Chuck Norris doesn’t do push-ups. Chuck Norris does earth-downs.”

“The flu gets a Chuck Norris shot every year.”

And, “Chuck Norris counted to infinity — twice.”

But alas, the legendary status that the “Walker, Texas Ranger” star reached on Earth was not enough to avoid the outcome that waits for us all. On March 19, Norris died at age 86.

Obviously, Norris was not immortal. But instead of dismissing the “Chuck Norris facts” as pure silliness, it might be worthwhile to reflect upon something that they allude to: humanity’s very real desire to overcome the forces of nature and live forever.

Immortality has been a human preoccupation for ages. Ancient Greek philosophers like Plato, for instance, believed that our best shot at being immortalized was to produce “children of the soul,” great ideas or works of art that would be passed on in civilization even after we had passed away.

The yearning to live forever lives on in contemporary pop culture. In the song “What Do It Mean” the band Lord Huron ponders what the point of life is if it isn’t eternal. After all, if we cease to exist, what is the significance of all the ways we’ve grown and loved? Unfortunately, the lead singer denies the existence of God as part of a solution but still insists that he will “get it together and live forever.”

But this is mere cotton candy nihilism. Man may desire to live forever, but we have no way of transcending death on our own. Even the idea of transhumanism doesn’t solve the reality of death; it just extends life horizontally. It seems that if man is to realize his desire of living forever, he must look beyond himself.

Of course, Norris knew this. Despite his stupendous roundhouse kick, he never thought of himself as self-sufficiently immortal. He was, after all, a devout Christian. And while he found the “Chuck Norris facts” amusing, he also used them to draw attention to the lone “superman” — Jesus Christ.

For instance, in a 2006 column, Norris responded to some of the “facts,” such as one that claimed that his tears cured cancer (with the addendum that he had unfortunately never cried in his life).

Pointing out that sin is the cause of all illness and death, Norris said that “If your soul needs healing, the prescription you need is not Chuck Norris’ tears, it’s Jesus’ blood.”

Norris gets at an essential truth. Our desire for life eternal is legitimate, but it is something we can never achieve on our own. Instead, eternal life is a gift, one that we receive only by being in union with God, who is “being” itself.

In the words of the Old Testament prophet Malachi, those who are separated from God will be burnt up like stubble. The lesson is clear: no matter how great our earthly accomplishments, we have no root or branch that will allow us to endure without God, the eternal one.

And St. Athanasius, in his work “On the Incarnation of the Divine Word,” teaches us that Christ’s incarnate life, death and resurrection is what saves mankind from this slide into non-being, precisely by being united to Jesus, the word of God:

“For of old, before the divine sojourn of the Saviour took place, even to the saints death was terrible, and all wept for the dead as though they perished. But now that the Saviour has raised His body, death is no longer terrible; for all who believe in Christ tread him under as nought, and choose rather to die than to deny their faith in Christ. For they verily know that when they die they are not destroyed, but actually [begin to] live, and become incorruptible through the Resurrection.”

During this Easter season, we celebrate Christ’s victory over death — and our participation in it. And so we have cause to hope that Chuck Norris is living forever right now. Not because of his karate skills or his masculine energy. But instead, because he placed his faith in Jesus Christ, the word of God who saves us from nothingness.

And in the end, that may be the greatest “Chuck Norris fact” of them all.

Liedl lives in South Bend, Indiana, and is senior editor for the National Catholic Register.

What’s more Minnesotan than having your likeness sculpted in butter?

Since 2020, Gerry Kulzer has created the butter sculptures of the Minnesota State Fair dairy princesses that Minnesotans are so familiar with. Hundreds of people line up to watch him create his masterpieces live each year during the fair.

Now, though he probably will never see it, Pope Leo XIV’s likeness has been enshrined in the dairy staple. Kulzer spent the first day of the National Catholic Educational Association (NCEA) convention, which was held at the Minneapolis Convention Center April 7-9, sculpting a bust of the pontiff live among the event’s exhibitors.

“I get some pretty random commission requests, but when the National Catholic Educational Association contacted me about doing a live butter sculpture during their conference this year, I was interested,” Kulzer said. “After working out the logistics of keeping the butter cool, they decided they wanted a bust of Pope Leo and another butter block carved into their logo.”

Aside from being able to bring a very Minnesota feel to this year’s conference, Kulzer, who is a teacher himself, was happy to spend time with Catholic educators.

“As a former Catholic school teacher, Catholic education is close to my heart,” he said. “I loved being able to share artwork and my faith with my students at Holy Trinity in Winsted. It was similar at the conference. It was so fun to be surrounded by fellow educators who also were Catholic.”

Kulzer has been an art and industrial tech teacher for more than 30 years and currently teaches grades 7-12 art at Eden Valley-Watkins Schools. He fell in love with ceramics while attending the University of Minnesota-Duluth, so he said he’s been sculpting clay even longer than he’s been teaching.

He was blessed to be able to do an internship with master potter Robert Eckels at Eckels Pottery in Bayfield, Wisconsin.

“That experience gave me different clay skills that I could use in sculpting and bring back to my classroom.”

Kulzer, who is a member of St. Philip in Litchfield, part of the Shepherd of Souls Faith Community in the Diocese of New Ulm, said he appreciates that his students are not afraid to talk about their faith in class, even in a public school.

“Assumption Church (in Eden Valley) has daily Mass at 7 a.m. on Wednesdays and Fridays and I always see students at Mass,” he said. “I counted 16 students one Friday morning.”

As a fellow sculptor and a fair-goer, Kulzer watched Linda Christensen carve Princess Kay busts at the Minnesota State Fair in the 1990s. He contacted Midwest Dairy, hoping they would consider him to replace her when she retired.

“I’m a ‘people watcher’ and love observing faces,” he explained. “Everyone has a different look and it’s fun to try capturing that look in clay — or butter.”

In 2018, he was offered the opportunity to audition for the position, one of five potential replacements.

“I was given a 90-pound block of butter and some pictures of one of the Midwest Dairy princesses,” he remembers. “Apparently, they liked the portrait I carved because they called me back the next year to ‘apprentice’ under Linda. She and I worked on a bust together and when it was finished the sculpture looked like one person had done it, not two.”

He was offered the job and in 2020 the plan was to work with Christensen doing a couple of the princesses while she did the others. But then came the COVID-19 pandemic and she couldn’t get to Minnesota from her home in California.

“I had to do them all,” he said. “A trial by fire in a way. But the only audience I had while I worked was the family of the Princess Kay finalist, so at least there wasn’t the pressure of thousands of people watching.”

Kulzer said he hopes people know that one of the reasons they do the butter sculpting at the fair is to promote the work of dairy farmers in Minnesota.

“I hope that my work in butter brings recognition to the hard work that farmers do to produce such yummy foods like butter, cheese and ice cream,” he said. “I grew up on a farm and know that central Minnesota is filled with dairy farms. I always feel honored to be able to do a little something to bring more recognition to the work they do.”

And he was happy to bring his skills to the NCEA convention.

“I could share a little of my faith with participants while I worked and was able to attend Mass both days I was there,” he said. “It was an incredible experience to be with so many like-minded people.”

One teacher standing in the front of a classroom with the knowledge of Christ can bring more “hope and joy into this world than the most dynamic and savvy influencers,” Sister Mary Grace, a Sister of Life in Toronto, said at the conclusion of the National Catholic Educational Association (NCEA)’s annual convention in Minneapolis April 9.

“The children need you; they need your presence,” Sister Mary Grace told the 3,800 educators on the final day of the convention. “They need your attentiveness, your goodness, your faith.”

Sister Mary Grace recalled a teacher she knew who got down on one knee each day and attentively listened to a young student talk about a slug she saw every day before class.

“For months, (the student) only had a slug story to tell,” Sister Mary Grace said. The teacher bent down each time and listened.

“It wasn’t until about a year (later) that (the student) came in and said something totally different, and it wasn’t about the slug,” Sister Mary Grace said. She “was now ready to trust her teacher with big news. (The student) was being abused, and she was trying to find a person in her life that she could trust. … After the family home, the classroom is the most formative influence in our lives by far.”

Sister Mary Grace said people are hardwired to find meaning in every moment because “deep down, we know that we matter.”

Meaning cannot be manufactured, Sister Mary Grace said, and “God provides even before we can perceive our needs.”

“I think that the issue of our times isn’t so much about doing less or more in our workplaces, but that we’ve attempted to live a subtle agreement to the lie that we’re worthless, that we don’t really matter, that there isn’t really more, that this is as good as it gets. … The opposite of hope isn’t despair; it’s cynicism. … The dark chapter does not have the right to conclude our stories.”

Catholic educators can offer children a safe place and an encounter with divine love first received in the educators’ hearts, “giving (the children) the love that they would otherwise be deprived (of).”

“I don’t think there’s ever been more of a need for real teachers, teachers (who) believe, teachers (who) … not only teach but testify to the life of Jesus Christ and the real difference he makes,” Sister Mary Grace said. “Far greater than the efforts of the finest human progress, incomparable to the proclaimed feats of (artificial intelligence) that are helping us, every single child, every single human heart, needs another person. They need a real person of the world, just like you, in their real world, in their normal life, showing up day after day, who refuse to give up on the goodness in them.”

Mary Carlson, a middle school science teacher at St. Joseph in West St. Paul, said the three-day conference helped her realize that being a teacher is a calling more than a career, one that “restores and gives life,” she said.

“God wants to love the world,” Carlson said. “Not only was it super inspiring that we’re teaching heart-to-heart (relationships) but then (also) increasing our skills. At the end of the day, what it is, is an encounter (with Christ).”

Carlson said she felt energized about Catholic education, not just for today or tomorrow, but “as it goes on for weeks, years, just that we have been given this great gift of being able to educate in the whole truth of the whole child.” Her experience at the convention was a “beautiful and authentic witness of life with Christ” as a Catholic school teacher.

“It’s a unique path, and God blesses it abundantly,” she said. “What does it look like to live more vitally? Like at St. Joe’s, we have so much joy. And what I feel at this conference is an invitation to live more deeply.”

Brian Shriver, a teacher at St. Ambrose in Woodbury, said the conference was a perfect blend of education and the Catholic faith. Particularly, Bishop Andrew Cozzens of Crookston in his keynote address April 7 and Sister Mary Grace provided useful tips and guidelines that Shriver hopes to use in his classroom.

“You may not see the impact of your work … but God sees it, and he sees every act of love,” Sister Mary Grace said. “Nothing is unseen and nothing is unemptied. What do our schools need now? We need teachers like you, teachers (who) are willing to take days (at the conference) to be formed.”

As U.S. Vice President JD Vance visited Hungary to support its government ahead of April 12 parliamentary elections, local Catholics voiced anxieties about their country’s future after a bitterly fought campaign.

“Both the Catholic and reformed churches have claimed complete neutrality — however, given their political entanglements, no one has taken this seriously,” explained Tibor Görföl, editor of Hungary’s Catholic Vigilia monthly.

“If you’re a Catholic and you don’t fully back the government, it’s seen as grave disloyalty. This is why we face serious problems here,” Görföl said.

The lay Catholic spoke as the preelection battle climaxed between veteran Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and his challenger, Péter Magyar, amid signs that Orbán’s national-conservative Fidesz party could be ousted after 16 years in power.

In an early April report, Hungary’s Christian Axioma Center said Fidesz had “followed Christian values” more closely than Magyar’s Tisza (“Freedom and Respect”) party on issues from abortion and euthanasia to marriage, family and gender.

However, in an OSV News interview, Görföl said Fidesz had used AI-generated videos and stories to “spread fear and anxiety,” leaving many Hungarians unsure “what’s real and what is fake.”

Meanwhile, another prominent Catholic agreed the campaign had been “full of hatred and misrepresentation,” and told OSV News there were signs of growing Catholic resistance to the acerbic style of Hungarian politics.

“Although the government has attempted to portray its opponents as anti-Christian, Magyar has sent clear messages, publicly and privately, that he’ll maintain a positive attitude to the churches,” said András Máté-Tóth, a religious studies professor at Szeged University.

“Far from instrumentalizing them, he’s promised they’ll be able to work autonomously, free from the direct government interference of the Orbán era. Although not a practicing Catholic, he’s closer to Catholic social teaching than Orbán,” he said.

Heading Fidesz since 1993, Orbán has been widely accused of authoritarian governance after four successive election wins since 2010, and has defied Western sanctions by buying Russian oil and refusing aid to neighboring war-torn Ukraine.

He’s also gained prominence in some Church circles for claiming to defend Europe’s Christian traditions — with restricting LGBTQ groups’ rights being one of Fidesz’s most visible slogans — at the same time using wide powers granted by the Fidesz-dominated parliament to block media freedom and migration.

Pope Francis criticized such politics during his May 2023 visit to Hungary, saying it was “sad and painful” to see doors closed to people who were “unlike us,” including “migrants or the poor.”

Magyar has challenged Fidesz’s domination as leader of Tisza since 2024, and has pledged to tackle corruption, restore legality and return Hungary, a NATO and European Union member, to a more pro-Western path.

The Catholic-educated Magyar has used St. John Paul II’s invocation “Be not afraid” as a campaign and social media slogan, and has pledged to maintain public funding for churches, while ensuring greater fairness and transparency.

With faltering public services and rampant inflation dampening support for Fidesz, Vance vigorously reiterated U.S. support for Orbán after arriving in Budapest April 8.

However, Görföl said Vance’s visit appeared to contradict Orbán’s insistence of Hungarian sovereignty and noninterference by outside powers, adding that he doubted the Catholic U.S. vice president was sufficiently “known and heard” to affect the prime minister’s chances.

Hungary’s Catholic bishops pledged in October 2025 to avoid the election campaign, noting that public discourse had “become extremely crude, often involving baseless sensationalism and slander.”

No mention was made of the ballot at the bishops’ March 3-4 spring plenary in Budapest or in Easter messages carried by the Church’s Magyar Kurir news agency.

However, Fidesz’s campaign was criticized by Bishop Asztrik Varseghi, retired archabbot of Pannonhalma, in a statement to the religious portal Szemlélek, as well as by Hungary’s Military Bishop Tibor Berta, who said he had recently declined a government honor to avoid claims of “a merger of government and Church.”

Meanwhile, the historic Pannonhalma monastery’s current archabbot, Benedictine Bishop Cirill Hortobágyi, warned many Hungarians had been shocked by methods used to “discredit, destroy and morally nullify” political opponents, and looked “to the future with tension and anxiety,” fearing the erosion of “community, nation and homeland.”

“A person with Christian values ??cannot approve of such methods, cannot consider those who hold different opinions as enemies,” the archabbott said in his Easter message.

Hungary’s 3,000-member ecumenical Association of Christian Intellectuals issued voter guidance April 7 on evaluating election candidates, urging Hungarians not to “make an idol of politics”, but to remember the “ultimate point of reference” for Christians was “not a political leader but Christ.”

Asked about the post-election prospects for Catholics, Görföl told OSV News the Hungarian Church “completely lacked” a “public culture,” leaving no possibilities to discuss rival ideas and disagreements.

However, Máté-Tóth said he believed the church’s official silence during the campaign, in contrast to previous elections, could be interpreted as “criticism of Orbán’s political style.”

“Change is never rapid or total in the Church,” the religious studies professor, who is also a faculty member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, told OSV News.

“But the silence of Catholic bishops and priests, associations and publications, carries its own significance, as many express negative feelings against this long-established government.”

Jonathan Luxmoore writes for OSV News from Oxford, England.

The Visitation Sisters in north Minneapolis will be honored for their 26-year partnership with Lundstrum Performing Arts’ mission to inspire children through musical theater when the center holds its annual gala May 9.

Titled Out of the Ordinary, the event will include a cocktail reception with hors d’oeuvres followed by a musical review featuring Lundstrum students alongside Broadway performers and professionals from the Twin Cities theater community.

Rooted in north Minneapolis since 1927, Lundstrum Performing Arts grew out of the Ascension School of Dance. It is led by Amy Casserly Ellis and four of her sisters who attended Ascension Catholic School, gained national performing experience and inherited the studio from its founder, the late Dorothy Lundstrum.

Tickets for the event can be found at lundstrum.org/2026-lundstrum-annual-gala.

As the death toll in Lebanon continues to rise following devastating strikes by the Israeli military, the Vatican’s representative in the country said the bombardment “is not the right path.”

In an interview with Vatican News published April 8, Archbishop Paolo Borgia, apostolic nuncio to Lebanon, who visited southern Lebanon with Cardinal Bechara Rai, patriarch of the Maronite Catholic Church, called for a “ceasefire here and the start of negotiations to stabilize Lebanon in relation to Israel.”

“The conflict situation is not easy and only serves to deepen divisions, as well as to sow death and destruction. As is well known, what Israel wants is the disarmament of Hezbollah, and this goal has not been achieved. A truce would reopen the door to diplomacy,” he said.

Israel pressed on with its April 8 attack on alleged Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, killing at least 254 people and wounding hundreds more.

In an April 8 report published by Avvenire, the newspaper of the Italian bishops’ conference, Beirut correspondent Nello Scavo said the aftermath of the Israeli attacks in Beirut were “pure horror.”

According to multiple news reports, Israel forces hit more than 100 targets across Lebanon, including in Beirut, the Bekaa Valley and southern regions, prompting disagreements between the U.S. and Iran on whether Lebanon was included in the ceasefire agreement.

In response to the Israeli attacks on Lebanon, Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz, while both the United States and Israel argued that the Pakistani-brokered ceasefire did not extend to Lebanon, The Associated Press reported.

After the ceasefire was announced April 8, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu contradicted claims by Pakistan that Lebanon was included in the agreement. U.S. Vice President JD Vance also told journalists during his visit to Hungary that Lebanon was not included in the deal and that it was a “legitimate misunderstanding.”

“Neither us nor the Israelis said that that was going to be part of the ceasefire,” Vance said, according to ABC News.

Avvenire’s Scavo reported that buildings where mostly Sunni and Christian residents lived were “pulverized” and disputed claims by the Israeli Defense Forces that it targeted Hezbollah headquarters and military systems.

“With our own eyes, we see the destruction in working-class neighborhoods, streets where children used to play, and buildings near hospitals and schools,” he wrote, noting that in the southern Lebanese city of Sidon, about a dozen young people were killed while at a restaurant.

Scavo called Israel’s assurances that it would minimize civilian casualties “a mockery.”

Regarding the Israeli attacks, Archbishop Borgia told Vatican News that “there has never been an attack like this” and that the death toll may be even higher “because many may still be under the rubble.”

“Lebanon has experienced so many wars that I don’t know if this is the darkest hour. Every hour is difficult and involves different people and circumstances,” he said. “Every war is unique, yet all bring pain and increase destruction. I don’t think one can say this is the darkest moment or not, given that Lebanon has lived through war for more than 50 years.”

Archbishop Borgia said there was “much suffering” in Beirut and in southern villages, and there “is a lot of anxiety and uncertainty about the future, as well as a sense of loneliness due to the isolation they are experiencing.”

“They can’t go anywhere,” the archbishop said. “They feel they are carrying a burden alone. That is why we go to visit them: they must feel the presence of the universal and Lebanese Church, especially the presence of the Holy Father, as well as many people of goodwill who help and support those living through these tragedies.”

The escalation drew strong international reaction, including from European leaders. Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez of Spain said that Netanyahu’s “contempt for life and international law is intolerable.”

“It’s time to speak clearly: Lebanon must be included in the ceasefire; The international community must condemn this new violation of international law; the European Union must suspend its Association Agreement with Israel; And there must be no impunity for these criminal acts,” he wrote April 8 on X.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni issued a statement after Israeli forces fired warning shots at an Italian military convoy operating under the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, or UNIFIL.

Echoing Sanchez’s call for Lebanon’s inclusion in the ceasefire agreement, Meloni said that although Hezbollah’s “decision to drag the nation into this conflict was irresponsible,” Israel’s attacks on Lebanon, “which have already resulted in too many deaths and an unacceptable number of displacements, must end immediately.”

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani summoned Israel’s ambassador to Italy and, in an address to Parliament, reiterated that “Italian soldiers in Lebanon are off-limits” and that Israeli armed forces have no authority to even “touch the Italian military.”

Amid these international condemnations of the recent strikes, Netanyahu said in a statement, published on X April 9 at noon EDT, that Israel will begin “direct negotiations” with Lebanon “as soon as possible,” which would focus on “the disarmament of Hezbollah and the establishing of peaceful relations between Israel and Lebanon.”

The chairman of the U.S. bishops’ Committee on International Justice and Peace said in an April 9 statement he joined in the pope’s “Easter message of consolation and strength to the people of Lebanon.” Bishop A. Elias Zaidan of the St. Louis-based Maronite Eparchy of Our Lady of Lebanon of Los Angeles, the chairman, also called on U.S. President Donald Trump and the international community “to ensure that the people of Lebanon receive greater access to humanitarian assistance, including food and medical supplies, especially in the south.”

Earlier, when asked about his prayer for Lebanon as Pope Leo XIV prepares to lead a prayer vigil for peace April 11, Archbishop Borgia prayed that “peace may be achieved, and that people may live calmly and serenely.”

“Peace is just; it is something that gives the possibility, through reconciliation, to open oneself to life. War is only death,” he said.

Junno Arocho Esteves is an international correspondent for OSV News

The 8:30 a.m. to 11 a.m. breakfast and presentation — titled Walking Alongside Our Schools: Students, Families, and Solidarity in Times of Uncertainty — was to have been held in the atrium at the University of St. Thomas School of Law in Minneapolis.

“We believe it is important to step back and regroup so we can more thoughtfully discern how best to support our schools and their families during this moment and in the months ahead,” the Catholic Coalition for Human Dignity and Solidarity told its supporters in an email about the cancellation.

Leaders of several Catholic schools were lined up to share the impact of federal immigration enforcement on their operations. The coalition — which recently changed its name from the original Catholic Racial Justice Coalition — includes the archdiocese, Catholic Charities Twin Cities, the Catholic Community Foundation of Minnesota (CCF), Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet, St. Catherine University, the University of St. Thomas and St. Mary’s University.

On Dec. 1, 2025, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) began what became an effort to arrest and deport undocumented immigrants with as many as 3,000 federal agents in Minnesota. U.S. Border Czar Tom Homan announced Feb. 12 a drawdown of what DHS called “Operation Metro Surge” and described as its largest immigration enforcement ever.

The coalition is encouraging people to help Catholic schools and parishes by donating to a Minnesota Catholic Relief Fund set up through CCF at ccf-mn.org/relief.

The front bronze doors of the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis were sealed and the upper nave will be closed for the coming year after an Easter morning blessing and ceremony with Archbishop Bernard Hebda April 5.

Comprehensive interior work is underway to help preserve and renew America’s first basilica. The effort is part of the church’s multi-phase restoration project outlined in a $45 million capital campaign titled Restoring Beauty, Inspiring Hope.

Beginning April 11, the Basilica community will relocate liturgical celebrations to the lower level of the church for approximately one year while the restoration work is completed.

The Basilica and the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul are also part of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis’ Lord, Renew Your Church campaign, with funds being raised to help with facility updates and conservation at both buildings. With help from the archdiocesan campaign, the Basilica has $35 million committed to its $45 million goal.

Effective March 3, 2026

Reverend Il Sup (Augustinus) Shin, granted faculties of the Archdiocese and assigned as pastor of the Church of Saint Andrew Kim in Minneapolis. Father Shin is a priest of the Diocese of Incheon.

Effective April 6, 2026

Reverend Ryan Sustacek, assigned as parochial administrator of the Church of Saint John Neumann in Eagan while the pastor, Reverend Anthony O’Neill is on sabbatical. Father Sustacek has currently been serving as parochial vicar of the same parish.

Reverend Timothy Wozniak, assigned as temporary canonical administrator of Faithful Shepherd Catholic School in Eagan, while the current canonical administrator, Reverend Anthony O’Neill, is on sabbatical. This is in addition to his role as pastor of the Church of Saint Thomas Beckett in Eagan.

Curious about the meaning of a clerical title and the responsibilities its role entails? Visit TheCatholicSpirit.com/titles.

Every year in Minnesota, what begins to happen outside — warmer temperatures, budding trees and bushes, and an increase in green — reflects what is happening spiritually. For my brother and me, getting outside was an experience of new life, maybe even a resurrection of sorts for that warm weather activity we had said goodbye to six months before. It was a boy’s experience of abundant life.

Now, as a 59-year-old, my perspective is a little different. I’m not bolting outside with a push broom every time the snow starts melting. But I still notice the connection between nature and the spiritual life. I’m blessed to live at a rectory in an area where there is no shortage of wildlife. In my relatively small yard, I have seen deer, foxes, raccoons, opossum and — this time of year — plenty of rabbits. If you’ve ever wondered about the connection between rabbits and Easter, I cannot claim to have the definitive answer, but there seems to be evidence for a theory. We always see more rabbits around Easter and so we associate them with Easter. The association becomes more than just a coincidence when we consider rabbits’ reputations as prolific breeders. We make a connection between rabbits and fertility and new life. They are a symbol of abundant life. We begin to see the connection between the abundance of natural life and the abundance of spiritual and eternal life that Jesus promises us in the resurrection. Jesus’ resurrection itself confirms God’s promise that he desires that we have life and have it to the fullest.

Bunnies and basketball — maybe there is a connection to Easter and new life. Every year, around this time, what begins to happen outside — the warmer weather and the budding foliage — reflects what is happening for us spiritually. There is new life, there is excitement and there is the Resurrection. Even the word Lent means spring — new buds, new growth. Just look around in this season and we are reminded of what matters.

The flipside to this correlation would be to consider the outlook of an atheist. An atheist is like a person in Minnesota who in January or February gets so depressed about the cold weather that you’d think they don’t believe it’s ever going to warm up. But it always warms up.

This time of year, there are some subtle hints in the Gospels to this relationship between the natural life and the divine life. The Gospels of the Easter Vigil and Easter Day use phrases like “at daybreak” and references to the sun just starting to rise. The Son has also just risen.

The Resurrection and Easter had to happen, just as surely as spring must happen every year. Rabbits represent new life. Young boys and girls playing outside after months of being constricted is a sign of abundant life. We believe that, and we celebrate that during this season, because our Lord’s resurrection is our resurrection. Jesus’ resurrection wouldn’t mean much to us if it didn’t include the possibility of our resurrection. His new life doesn’t help us if it doesn’t include our opportunity for new life. Jesus has opened the gates of eternal life. Easter means that love now reigns definitively. Death and sin are overcome. The dark cold tomb does not get the last word. The Son — and the sun — have risen.

La primavera y la nueva vida en Cristo