Easter is many things to many people, as are Passover and the crucifixion of Good Friday. That is the power of religious belief when it is not hardened into iron-clad dogmas, but is allowed to breathe. It speaks to us of universal longings, passions, and fears.
When its symbols are not owned by an ego consciousness and are applied to the whole, the community and communities to which we belong become regenerated. Archetypes are a universal language; they speak to oneself and everyone if we allow them to.
The suffering signified by the cross, and Good Friday, is a profound archetype or universal symbol, for we all taste of suffering, evil, and injustice in our lives and societies. All who are weary and angry and torn apart by war after war and lie after lie and killing of innocents, such as is going on in Gaza, Ukraine, Iran, and Sudan today, have tasted of the crucifixion.
The resurrection is also a profound archetype or universal symbol and story that cannot—and ought not—go away. We need it to be our better selves and to carry on and remake our world and worlds, so they better mirror our deepest selves and surest yearnings—our common quest for a beloved community or “kingdom/queendom of God,” where peace, justice, and beauty are alive and well, shining and shared.
A resurrection story can be distorted if it is presented exclusively as a promise of life after death and not seen for what it is: An invitation to rise daily from sadness, weariness, despair, depression, or nihilism in this lifetime. Easter is an invitation to live fully now in love and for love while not being in denial about the multiple crucifixions that nail us to crosses on a daily basis.
Resurrection gives us a perspective by which to see the world and our role in it, our work and relationships and communities and citizenship, as an invitation to generosity and gratitude and reverence for our gratuitous existence.
An opportunity to share the goodness and beauty and grace that we have received from others, from our ancestors, including those more-than-human ancestors that have brought us here over a 13.8-billion-year journey. How grateful are we for the fireball and supernovas that birthed our sun and planets, and this special planet we call Mother Earth, our home?
The trinity of Existence/Destruction/Rebirth or Life/Death/Resurrection is a habit of our universe—all beings participate in it willingly or unwillingly, consciously or unconsciously. That is the Story of Resurrection and Rebirth of Easter.
It is a cosmic story, and Christians call it the “Paschal Mystery.” Jesus went through it in a most dramatic way in the gospel stories, but all beings, and surely all humans, undergo it.
It is a cosmic story and history as well as a personal one. It arouses immensity, intensity, and intimacy. When a supernova dies, it spews its elements into time and space, and from its death, new galaxies, planets, and beings are birthed. That is resurrection also.
Cosmogenesis. Birth happens out of death and destruction.
The Last Supper story renders this immense happening that is both cosmic and intense in scope, especially intimate. What is more intimate than eating and drinking? This way we carry on life and resurrect still again and now.
Resurrection is a daily thing; we all rise from our tombs daily, tombs of fear and tombs of hurt. If we yield to the resurrection story, we learn not to project our fears and hurt onto others, but to join the spiral of life in a continuous unfolding and unveiling. Revelation and resurrection accompany one another. We become an Easter.
Banner Image: Earth returning to life after devastation: regrowth on Norse Peak, Cascade Range, 4 years after wildfire near Mt. Rainier. Photo by Chiwauk on Wikimedia Commons.
Queries for Contemplation
What do Easter and Resurrection mean to you in 2026? How does it apply to current human history and to the cosmic unfolding of 13.8 billion years that birthed us and our Earth?
Related Readings by Matthew Fox
Original Blessing: A Primer in Creation Spirituality
The Coming of the Cosmic Christ: The Healing of Mother Earth and the Birth of a Global Renaissance
Julian of Norwich: Wisdom in a Time of Pandemic—and Beyond
Meister Eckhart: A Mystic-Warrior for Our Time
Christian Mystics: 365 Readings & Meditations
Hildegard of Bingen, A Saint for Our Times: Unleashing Her Power in the 21st Century
Creation Spirituality: Liberating Gifts for the Peoples of the Earth
A Spirituality Named Compassion: Uniting Mystical Awareness with Social Justice
Charles Burack, ed., Matthew Fox: Essential Writings in Creation Spirituality
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7 thoughts on “Easter, 2026”
The mystery of Birth Life Death and Rebirth is our personal unique eternal soul microcosmic story and we’re intimately connected in Our Loving Diverse Oneness with the macrocosmic story of Our Human Evolution with-in Our Eternal Co-Creation Evolving Cosmos in All sacred physical/nonphysical spiritual dimensions….
The cosmic perspective or wisdom concerning the downs and ups of life is a great vision. For Christians and other people of faith, it anchors us in God’s intention and at the same time stirs us to see beyond our particular situation.
Security, stability spiced and invigorated with inspiration and challenge. We are not just not alone, we each are unique elements in an evolutionary energy toward fulfilment, life to the full, where no evils make us afraid to live in perfect love. The song from Jacques Brel “If We Only Have Love” can be sung by a soloist, but it sounds better sung by a group. The song has a cosmic climax, and even though the word “conquer” is used, humanity is thereby lovingly charged to love, which overcomes all obstacles in finality, which is eternal life with and in God.
Thank you for the images created by Simone Gomes yesterday and Katy Perry today. Far better than words, the images and music invite us into a place where by following the suffering of others, we can feel our own suffering and by facing it have the chance to overcome it and rise again. Ahhh…the arts. Intellectual study is a good thing, but unless we enter life and spirituality on a visceral level, none of us with ever really understand “this one wild and precious life”* we have been given and the universe in which we live, breath, and have our being.
*Mary Oliver
He Is Risen
They tell that a man
so loving & just
that many take him
for benevolent god
was killed because his teaching
so loving & just threatened
the very foundations of empire
& that against all law of life
three days later resurrected,
not unheard of in myth
but wondrous still.
His teaching still threatens empires
& many who dare follow it
are persecuted & killed,
& his resurrection is nothing
less than our revolution.
© Rafael Jesús González 2026
“We become an Easter.” I like that, thank-you, Matthew.
You often recommend the book The Coming of the cosmic Christ. It was a major turning point for me when it was first published and has made me a follower of Michael Fox ever since. Now I am 81 and don’t see very well so I read most books on Kindle. Would it be possible to make it available as a Kindle book? It is such a wonderful book that should be made available to everyone.
Many blessings, Jaqui
Dear Fr. Matt,
Happy Easter. Thanks for the beautiful meditation. This afternoon, the news was finally shared that DT backed down from saying he would wipe out the whole civilization of Iran. I give thanks to God, and pray that in the next two weeks we can find the path to peace, and force the Congress to stick to it. Learning to be a person of nonviolence and not bullying or trying to control others is so hard, especially when we see all of the destruction DT has caused this past year. I pray for patience and endurance, for the nation as well as myself. I was so glad they read the whole Gospel of John, with the central role of Mary Magdalene in the Resurrection and the meeting in the garden. It has been a long time coming, to hear that full reading at mass. May we all continue to find joy and peace and compassion in these days!