From Brazil, With Love: Easter: "Hey! Where'd the body go?" Day

Alma 7:11-13

And he shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people.

And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities.

Now the Spirit knoweth all things; nevertheless the Son of God suffereth according to the flesh that he might take upon him the sins of his people, that he might blot out their transgressions according to the power of his deliverance; and now behold, this is the testimony which is in me.

Easter: "Hey! Where'd the body go?" Day (thank you Urban Dictionary)

I also learned through Urban dictionary that if something is like, REALLY awesome, you can say, "That's so Easter!" instead of "Wow, that's like, really awesome." (get it!?)

Yeah, Easter is a Pagan Holiday...but it's also in remembrance of the suffering, death, and life of Christ. This experience that Christ went through is called the Atonement and is

the most important event

that has e v e r happened

He overcame all death, and He lives for each of us.

Think right now about the most physical pain you've ever been in. Think of the most emotional pain you've ever felt. And the hardest spiritual suffering you've ever experienced.

Christ suffered all of that!

"We talk in great generalities about the sins of all humankind, about the suffering of the entire human family. But we don't experience pain in generalities. We experience it individually. That means He knows what is felt like when your mother died of cancer- how it was for your mother, how it still is for you. He knows what it felt like to lose the student body election. He knows that moment when the brakes locked and the car started to skid. He experienced the slave ship sailing from Ghana toward Virginia. He experienced the gas chambers at Dachau. He experienced napalm in Vietnam. He knows about drug addiction and alcoholism. Let me go further. There is nothing you have experienced...that He does not know and recognize.

"He understands your...pain when your five-year-old leaves for kindergarten, when a bully picks on your fifth-grader, when your daughter calls to say that the new baby has Down's Syndrome. He knows the pain you live with when you come home to a quiet apartment where the only visitors are children, when your fiftieth wedding anniversary rolls around and your husband has been dead for two years.

He knows all that.

He's been there.

He's been lower than all that.

"He's not waiting for us to be perfect. Perfect people don't need a Savior. He came to save His people in their imperfections. He is the Lord of the living, and the living make mistakes. He's not embarrassed by us, angry at us, or shocked. He wants us in our brokenness, in our unhappiness, in our guilt and our grief.

"You know that people who live above a certain latitude experience very long winter nights and can become depressed and even suicidal, because something in our bodies requires whole spectrum light for a certain number of hours a day.

"Our spiritual requirement for light is just as desperate and as deep as our physical need for light. Jesus is the light of the world. We know that this world is a dark place sometimes, but we need not walk in darkness. The people who sit in darkness have seen a great light, and the people who walk in darkness can have a bright companion. We need him, and He is ready to come to us, if we'll open the door and let him in."

-Chieko Okazaki, "Lighten Up!"