Today, the Apostles are witnesses of a reality that completely transformed them: Jesus —as stated in the Sacred Scriptures— has been raised. The Christian faith stands or falls with the truth of the testimony that Christ is risen from the dead. "If Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith", says St. Paul (1Cor 15:14).

If this were taken away, it would still be possible to piece together from the Christian tradition a series of interesting ideas about God and men, about man’s being and his obligations, a kind of religious world view: but the Christian faith itself would be dead. On the other hand, whether Jesus merely was or whether he also is, this depends on the Resurrection. In answering yes or no to this question, we are taking a stand not simply on one event among others, but on the figure of Jesus as such.

—In Your resurrection, O Jesus, we have reached a new possibility of becoming men and a new future for mankind.