Easter comes early in spring this year, but not too early. We are always in need of the new life, renewal and hope that Easter brings. For if we look at the world around us, we can find many reasons to be afraid.

The economy is facing uncertainties, and the stock market has been fluctuating like a yo-yo. The price of oil continues to rise and with it the price of gasoline that seems to fuel our lifestyle. We are a nation still at war in Iraq and Afghanistan and with no end in sight. And far too many people in our country and throughout the world are living on the margins of society with a sense of hopelessness.

Where does the hope of Easter fit into this picture? How does the resurrection of Jesus make a difference?

Pope Benedict XVI addressed these questions in his 2006 and 2007 Easter messages. And the answers are as relevant today as they were then.

“Through the wounds of the risen Christ we can see the evils which afflict humanity with the eyes of hope,” the pope said last year. “In fact, by his rising the Lord has not taken away suffering and evil from the world but has vanquished them at their roots with the superabundance of his grace. He has left us the love that does not fear death as the way to peace and joy.”

He pope continued: “Christ is risen, and he is alive among us. It is he who is the hope for a better future. ... United to him and ready to offer our lives for our brothers, let us become apostles of peace, messengers of a joy that does not fear pain — the joy of the resurrection.”

At Easter two years ago, Pope Benedict said: “(Christ’s) resurrection becomes our resurrection, through baptism which ‘incorporates’ us into him. ... Today, even in the modern age marked by anxiety and uncertainty, we relive the event of the resurrection, which changed the face of our life and changed the history of humanity. From the risen Christ, all those who are still oppressed by the chains of suffering and death look for hope.”

The pope added: “Jesus is risen, and he gives us peace; he himself is peace. ... Let the people of the third millennium not be afraid to open their hearts to him. His Gospel totally quenches the thirst for peace and happiness that is found in every human heart. Christ is now alive, and he walks with us. What an immense mystery of love.”

The hope of Easter can be summarized in what has become a central theme of Pope Benedict’s papacy: humanity is in need of God; otherwise, there can be no hope. This was addressed in his 2007 encyclical, “Spe Salvi,” on Christian hope.

The pope wrote that Jesus brought us something different: “an encounter with the Lord of all lords, an encounter with the living God and thus an encounter with a hope stronger than the sufferings of slavery, a hope which therefore transformed life and world from within.”

Christ shows us the way, and his way is the truth, the pope says in the encyclical. “He himself is both the way and the truth, and therefore he is also the life which all of us are seeking. He also shows us the way beyond death.”

The message of Easter is to recognize that the light of Christ and the way of his Gospel are the ultimate hope for us and all humanity. Our tasks as his disciples are to be his light in the world and to spread the Gospel’s good news to others so they also can experience the same hope and renewal.

As Pope Benedict said in his encyclical: “As Christians we should never limit ourselves to asking: how can I be saved? We should also ask: what can I do that others may be saved and that for them, too, the star of hope may rise?”