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Homilies are posted no later than during the week
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Easter
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Easter
Sunday, the Resurrection of the Lord
Cycle C - John 20, 1-9
Diphtheria once was common in the United States. A tale speaks of a
couple having the horror of seeing three of their children die from the
foul disease. The parents were the directors of the Sunday School. It
fell to them on Easter Sunday to read the Gospel of the Resurrection
shortly after their children's death.
There were many tears in the congregation from those knowing of their
loss. But the parents never lost their composure. After the Liturgy, a
boy said to his father, "Dad, they must really believe in the
Resurrection." The father said, "Son, every Christian does." And the
boy responded, "But not the way they do, Dad."
My favorite Easter announcement I found in the National Catholic
Reporter. It read in bold, large letters: "Something happened that
Easter morning that makes our bad Fridays good and our lives a risk
worth taking."
Indeed we come here today to celebrate what one preacher has correctly
called "the Greatest Show on Earth." Easter is God's way of saying to
each of us with a very large smile, "Let's party!" And of course we
should.
I heard of a TV reporter interviewing a group of properly excited
youngsters in New York City's Rockefeller Center. He chose one six year
old and asked patronizingly, "What does the Easter bunny mean to you?"
The boy without a second's hesitation replied, "Jesus died for our sins
and then rose from the dead." The stuttering reporter quickly asked,
"But what does that have to do with the Easter bunny?" The boy said
very simply, "Nothing."
The interview had not been live but obviously taped earlier in the day.
One wonders why the TV channel chose to show this particular segment
almost proudly on the evening news. One would think the reporter would
like to hide a knockout punch from a mere child. The only plausible
explanation is that the TV people in their wisdom wanted to reveal to
their enlightened listeners how Christians, even the youngest among us,
miss the real meaning of Easter.
Such a worthy as Winston Churchill had no doubt on the subject of the
Resurrection of the Christ as well as his own. I learned this from
watching the 1994 funeral services for President Richard Nixon in
California on the television. Billy Graham was one of the speakers. Dr
Graham reported on one of the lines in Sir Winston's will. England's
one-time Prime Minister stipulated that he wished one bugler to stand
in a tower of St Paul's Cathedral and blow taps. In another tower, he
wanted a second bugler to respond by blowing reveille.
Nor did America's own Ben Franklin entertain anything but certainty on
this question. This was the splendid epitaph he wrote for
himself: "The body of B Franklin, printer, (like the cover
of an old book, its contents torn out and stripped of its lettering and
gilding) lies here, food for worms. But the
work shall not be lost; for it will (as he believed) appear once more,
in a new and more elegant edition, revised and corrected by the
Author."
Mr Franklin was simply exulting in what the Jesuit poet Gerard Manley
Hopkins would later call "the glory of Christ's body risen."
The Easter Sunday sequence from the Roman Missal sums up the entire
scene in beautiful language. "Death and life were locked together in a
unique struggle. Life's Captain died: now He reigns, no more to die."
Henry Van Dyke has penned, "Some people are so afraid of death that
they never begin to live." Hopefully, that will never be said of anyone
of us here. For "faith in Christ knows that the best is yet to come."
This Easter take time to think; it is the source of power. Take time to
read; it is the source of wisdom. Take time to pray; it is the greatest
power on earth. Take time to love and be loved; it is God's gift to
you. Take time to be friendly; it brings happiness. Take time to laugh;
it is music for the soul. Take time to give; it is too short a life to
be selfish. Take time to work; it is the price of success. Take time to
help the poor; it opens the door to Heaven. Take time to listen; it may
be God speaking. (Author unknown)
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http://www.st.ignatius.net/pastor.html
Easter
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Easter Sunday: The Resurrection of Hope
It
is finished. His passion is over.
Almighty and Eternal God, on the edge of sadness when all seemed lost,
You restored to us the Savior we thought defeated and conquered.
Help us, we beg you, to empty ourselves of self concern that we might
see your hand in every failure and your victory in every defeat.
We
will always remember the Passion, but we are not people of suffering,
and torture and death. We are people of life and of hope.
Jesus Christ has risen from the dead.
On
October 22, 1978, Pope John Paul II began his pontifical ministry
with these words: “Be not afraid. Be not afraid to welcome Christ
and accept his power.” The world, he reflected, was afraid of
itself and its future. To all those who were afraid, to all those
who were caught up in the great loneliness of the modern world, the
Holy Father said, “I beg you, let Christ speak to you. He alone
has the words of life, yes, eternal life.”
We
celebrate Easter this year full of fear for the future. Our young
people are dying in a war in a distant part of the world. Sadly,
more will probably die there. We Americans are engaged in a war
with terrorists who are looking for opportunities to kill us.
Within our country morality is presented as an option. A higher
percentage of Americans are suffering from sexually transmitted
diseases than ever before. The porn industry is dominating
cyberspace. The tupper-ware model of sales through neighborhood
parties has moved from plastic containers to plastic like faces to that
which, St. Paul says, should not be mentioned among us. And then there
is the economy.
It
is no wonder that we also have reason to fear for the future.
We
come to Church this Easter full of fear, but seeking hope. Hope
is here. Jesus Christ has risen from the dead. All is not
lost. All is won. He has won. We have won.
Death has been conquered. The new world has begun. United with
Christ, nothing can destroy us. The worst pains of life cannot
rob us of the hope of Christ's life.
The
celebration of the Resurrection of the Lord is the celebration of our
hope, our joy, our sharing in the New Life of Christ.
Almighty and Eternal God, on the edge of sadness when all seemed lost,
You restored to us the Savior we thought defeated and conquered.
Help us, we beg you, to empty ourselves of self concern that we might
see your hand in every failure and your victory in every defeat.
Perhaps we should not be so concerned over all the negatives of the
world and be more concerned over the one overwhelming positive which we
celebrate today. Jesus Christ is Risen from the dead.
Jesus Christ is Risen from the dead, and so are we! The first Christian
reading of the Easter season is from St. Paul’s Letter to the
Romans. It proclaims our hope. “Are you unaware that we who were
baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were indeed
buried with him through baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was
raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might live in
newness of life. For if we have grown into union with him through a
death like his, we shall also be united with him in the resurrection.”
At
our baptism we accepted the New Life of Christ. Our washing was
itself a symbol of dying to a dead world and rising to a new
life. We took upon ourselves the commitment to live this new
life. We took upon ourselves the responsibility to spread this
new life. We took upon ourselves the obligation to allow Christ
to use us to transform the world.
Jesus has called us out of this darkness and death and given us each
the ability to make his presence real for others. If we just
allow God to work through us, if we just strive to be that unique
reflection of his love he created each of us to be, then we will come
out of the tomb with Him and live eternally. Our lives have meaning,
and purpose and beauty when they are united to His Life.
The
deaths in Afghanistan & Iraq, the dissipation of our society, the
negatives of our world, all tell us that we must fight for the kingdom
of God. We must fight to allow the New Life of Jesus Christ to
destroy the powers of death within each of us as well as within our
society. We must fight for the Lord.
The
tomb is empty, Mary. But the world is full. The Savior
Lives. May His Life change the world. May we let His Life
change the world.
“Do
not be afraid,” John Paul II asserted. There is great reason to
hope. Jesus Christ, our hope, has risen from the dead.
Alleluia.
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http://www.geocities.com/seapadre_1999/
* available in Spanish - see
Spanish homilies
Easter
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http://www.agreeley.com/homilies.html
Easter
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http://www.saintvincentarchabbey.org/homilies/index.lasso
Easter
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Gospel
Summary Return to All Homilies
Apr, 04, 2010
John 20:1-9
Campion P. Gavaler, O.S.B.
Easter Sunday
Gospel Summary
On that first Easter Sunday, Mary Magdalene goes to the tomb of Jesus
early in the morning and sees that the stone had been removed from the
tomb. She runs to get Simon Peter and the disciple whom Jesus loved,
and tells them what she saw. Simon Peter and the other disciple enter
the tomb to find burial cloths there and the cloth that had covered the
head of Jesus. The beloved disciple sees and believes. The gospel
passage continues, reaching its climax in subsequent verses with the
appearance of the Risen Lord to Mary Magdalene after the two other
disciples had gone home.
Life Implications
Today is the day of Easter joy. Yet, even as we celebrate we are
painfully aware that for many people it is still Good Friday. Every day
it seems there is something to remind us of the poverty, injustice, and
violence of our world. Reflecting on his own experience of life, Pope
John Paul II in an address to pilgrims in Rome used apocalyptic images:
"If we cast a glance at the world...it seems that horsemen are riding
through the barren lands of the earth, bearing now the crown of
victorious power, now the sword of violence, now the scales of poverty
and famine, now death's sharp sickle." We are aware that our Easter
celebration is an affirmation of hope in a world that appears to
experience the pain of Good Friday more than the joy of Easter Sunday.
Jean-Paul Sartre, a much-read atheist philosopher of a few decades ago,
in his play No Exit gives us one of the most tragic images of what it
means to live in a world without hope and without joy. Three characters
of his play, having been condemned to hell, are led by a valet into a
pleasant drawing room. Surprised by the absence of fire and brimstone,
they remark how nice a place hell has turned out to be. Gradually,
however, they begin to get on each other's nerves and at each other's
throats. They decide not to speak to each other, but they are stuck
with each other. There is nowhere else to go. Finally they realize that
they themselves are each other's hell. "Real torture is having no
escape, real hell is having no hope."
The three characters of the Easter gospel, representing all of us,
experience Jesus, not as the “other” who is their hell, but as their
friend who knows them and loves them beyond measure. Mary Magdalene
remains at the tomb after the two other disciples went home. Jesus
appears to her as she weeps, and says to her, "Mary!" She turns to him
and says, "Rabboune" (which means My Teacher). The tender exchange of
recognition between Jesus and Mary Magdalene is the Easter revelation
of authentic human existence.
We can celebrate Easter in hope and in joy because Jesus, the Risen
Lord, is with us. He knows us, and with affection calls each of us by
name. Through the Easter gift of sharing his new life and liberating
love, we too can recognize and treat each other with justice and with
affection. Easter means that we can be heaven for each other, a source
of hope and joy in our No Exit world. We can thank God and sing the
Easter song together: “Yes, Christ my hope is arisen…our new life
obtaining.”
Campion P. Gavaler, OSB
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http://www.christusrex.org/www1/mcitl/lowhome.html Meeting Christ in the Liturgy
Easter
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EASTER
Sunday
Acts 10, 34. 37-43; Psalm 118; Col 3, 1-4; John 20, 1-9
Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Resurrexit sicut dixit! Alleluia! He is risen as he said! Alleluia!
This day is the Sunday of Sundays. On this and every Sunday we identify
ourselves as members of the one Body of the risen Lord, the Church, by
worshipping as one people in the Eucharistic sacrifice.
The early Christians called this day "the Day of the Sun" as did
everyone else in the Roman Empire. What they meant by that was much
more than could be said for the typical Roman, for whom the day marked
merely one more rising and setting of the fiery orb that coursed
through the skies. For Christians this was the day on which the rising
of the "Sun" ever reminded them of the glorious rising of the "Son" of
God. Many today habitually profane the Lord's Day, going about their
business with no thought of the Lord's Resurrection.
If we desire to live forever in light and love we must share now in the
new dawn of the Lord's Resurrection. We do so when we learn to
celebrate the Lord's Day in a worthy way, and according to the ancient
discipline of the Christian communio, or communion, and the law of
Christ.
In the Eucharistic Sacrifice we offer the perfect prayer of Christ, the
perfect means of keeping the Lord's Day holy. Our indifference to the
Mass condemns us as indifferent to Christ Himself. Worship with the
Christian communio is not an option among options. It expresses and
makes present the core reality of our identity as Christians. Without
the Lord, as he manifests Himself in Word and Sacrament, it is
impossible for us to look forward to heaven and eternal joy. "Without
me," he warns, "you can do nothing."
The Catechism teaches that the day of the Resurrection is the beginning
of the new creation.
Jesus rose from the dead 'on the first day of the week.' (Jn 20:1)
Because it is the 'first day,' the day of Christ's Resurrection recalls
the first creation. Because it is the 'eighth day' following the
Sabbath, (Mk 16:1) it symbolizes the new creation ushered in by
Christ's Resurrection. For Christians it has become the first of all
days, the first of all feasts, the Lord's Day (he kuriaka hemera, dies
dominica) - Sunday:
We all gather on the day of the sun, for it is the first day [after the
Jewish Sabbath, but also the first day] when God, separating matter
from darkness, made the world; on this same day Jesus Christ our Savior
rose from the dead." (St. Justin, Apology) (CCC 2174)
I look forward to meeting you here again next week as, together, we
"meet Christ in the liturgy" -Father Cusick
(Publish with permission.) www.christusrex.org/www1/mcitl/
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http://www.ctk-thornbury.org.uk/
Easter
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Father Bonar will not be posting homilies for Cycle B to allow himself
time for other projects. His collection of homilies (including homilies
for Cycle B) is available at www.clydebonar.com.
Easter |
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These
homilies may be copied and adapted for your own use;
however, they may not be commercially published without permission of
the author. |
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