And if Christ has not been raised, then empty [too] is our preaching; empty, too, your faith. Then we are also false witnesses to God, because we testified against God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if in fact the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, neither has Christ been raised, and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is vain; you are still in your sins.

1 Corinthians 15:14-17:

The Resurrection is the single most important moment in the history of salvation. Without the Resurrection, sin and death would have won. We would still be sinners and still be enslaved by sin and death. There would be no hope of heaven and no hope of salvation. But Jesus did rise from the dead on the third day. He did defeat death and sin. And we do have hope of salvation and hope that we too will share in Jesus’ Resurrection. This is the Paschal Mystery: how Christ’s Passion, death, and Resurrection saved us from sin and death for new life as sons and daughters of God.

We come in contact with sin, suffering, and death on a daily basis. “Death” does not necessarily have to mean an actual end of life. It could also refer to the end of something else, such as a school year, or moving to a new house or city, or losing a friend, and so forth. Any time one thing ends in our lives, it’s a kind of death and is often something we mourn.

Amen, amen, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit.

John 12:24: