Easter Sunday 2009

EASTER MORNING 2009

Today, we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. He has risen as He said He would. Today we are not just remembering an empty tomb, or the words of those who saw Him after He rose, rather we are celebrating the fact that the Risen Jesus lives among us now and gives us new life now with the warmth of His love and compassion for all persons. In the sacrament of Baptism we were initiated into the life of the Risen Lord Jesus, we were Christened, that is, made one with Jesus the Christ. Just as the light of the Easter Candle spread from person to person here in the darkened Church at our vigil service last night, so each of us is called by reason of our baptism to spread the Good News that Jesus Who is our light is Risen. We are also called to spread the warmth of His love and compassion to others so that they may know and experience His love also in their lives.

In Sacred Scripture Jesus is referred to as the "firstborn from the dead." He is truly the firstborn, and as His disciples, we are called to follow Him through death and into the glory of eternal life with God in heaven. Jesus said, "he who believes in Me, even if he dies, will live, and whoever lives and believes in Me will never die."

In the prayer of the Church, the liturgy of the hours for morning prayer on Holy Saturday gives us an ancient homily in which the author describes how Jesus, after His death on the Cross, goes to the place of the dead in search of Adam and Eve, as though searching for lost sheep. He goes there to set them free from the grip of sin and death. In the homily, Jesus approaches them carrying His Cross, the weapon by which He has conquered death, and conquered Satan, the father of lies. He says to Adam and Eve, "I am your God Who for your sake have become your Son. I did not create you to languish in the prison of death: rise and come forth from the dead, for I am the life. Let us leave this place together, for from now on, we are to be one. The enemy, Satan, led you out of earthly paradise. I will not restore you to that paradise, but instead, I will enthrone you in heaven. Come with Me to the kingdom of heaven, which has been prepared for you from all eternity." Listen to these even more astonishing words Jesus addresses to Adam and Eve in this homily: “I appointed cherubim to guard you as slaves are guarded, but now I make them worship you as God.” These words are also meant for us, for the Lord Jesus wants us, each one of us, to reign with Him in the glory of heaven.

The first disciples of Jesus came to know that He had risen from the dead, not so much because His tomb was empty, His body gone, but because they encountered Him personally in their lives after He had risen; they experienced His presence and His power following that first Easter day. We are also invited to experience Jesus' Risen life in us, and to receive the power He gives us when we freely and completely turn our lives over to Him, surrender our lives to Him as His disciples. When we call Jesus “our Lord”, that must not just be a name, a title, a meaningless phrase we use, but it must express a reality for us. The Risen Jesus wants to reign in our hearts as King and Lord. He deserves and wants to receive our obedience our of love, and He will reward our fidelity by raising us up to eternal life at His side in the kingdom of heaven.

Shortly, we will have the opportunity to renew our baptismal promises to the Lord. In his letter to the Romans, Paul reminds us that "all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus, were baptized into His death. Therefore, we have been buried with Him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life." As followers of Jesus, therefore, we must strive always to die to sin in our lives, and to live with Jesus. He calls us to share His life now and to love Him now by loving one another.

Easter challenges us to bring the warmth of God's love into a cold, and indifferent world. It challenges us to bring the light of the Gospel of Jesus where there is darkness, where there is doubt, where there is confusion, and blindness. Easter challenges us to live the new life Jesus has given us in baptism, filled with joy and enthusiasm for Him. All this we can do, because Jesus has risen and He lives in us now. In the sacrament of the Holy Eucharist, Jesus feeds us with His Risen Body and Blood. He strengthen us on our journey through life. St. Augustine once said that Christians are Easter people and “Alleluia” is our song. May we always keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, the Risen Lord, who will lead us surely and safely on our journey through this life. As we begin each new day, may our prayer be: "This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it." On behalf of Fr. Joe, and Deacon Roger, I wish you and your loved ones a very happy and blessed Easter season.