Raised from the Dead (SERMON/HOMILY FOR EASTER SUNDAY YEAR A APRIL 2023

Homily for Easter Sunday. Year A. 

Acts 10:34a,37-43. Psalm 118:1-2,15c-17,22-23. Colossians 3:1-4. John 20:1-9.

Theme: Raised from the Dead

Today, we celebrate the central fact of history, namely, the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. Easter is the greatest feast of the Christian year. There is none like it. The birth of Jesus at Christmas is incredibly magnificent. But Christmas is only "mission begun," while Easter is "mission accomplished."

"Therefore, Easter is not only one feast among others, but the "Feast of feasts," the "Solemnity of solemnities," just as the Eucharist is the "Sacrament of sacraments" (The Great Sacrament). St. Athanasius calls Easter the "Great Sunday," and the Eastern Churches call Holy Week the "Great Week." The mystery of the Resurrection, in which Christ crush death, permeates with its powerful energy our old time, until all is subjected to him" (CCC 1169).

As Jesus emerges from the tomb, victorious, He seems to cry out: "This is what my life was meant to say." Easter tells us that after darkness comes light, after the heartbreak, the day break; after the struggle, the victory. Every day, the sun goes down in the evening, but the next day, it rises again. In every cold climate, nature lies for many months under the spell of winter. But the spring comes once again, and the birds begin to sing, and nature puts forth its garment of greenery, and the flowers appear in the land.

In the first reading, St Peter, in his first discourse to the Gentiles, makes the Resurrection the basic doctrine and the crowning proof of the truth of the Christian faith. As St Paul says: "If Christ has not risen, vain is our preaching, vain too is your faith" (1 Cor.15:14). Just like St. Paul, St. Peter stresses the truth of the Resurrection by citing witnesses, including himself, who had not only seen Christ but had spoken with him and actually eaten with him.

St. Paul tells us in the second reading that we must "set our minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth." (Col.3:2). Does it mean we must do away with earthly things? No, we are not forbidden to have the lawful pleasures of life. All we are forbidden is the unlawful use of the things of this world.

In today's Gospel, we are told that Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early on Sunday morning to anoint the dead body of Jesus with spices to preserve it. On seeing an empty tomb, she thought somebody had stolen the corpse. She went in haste to tell the disciples. Peter and John ran to the tomb. Later that day, Jesus appeared to Mary Magdalene, to ten of his Apostles, to Peter separately (cf.1 Cor.15:5), to two disciples on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13); and later on, He appeared often to the Apostles and disciples in  Galilee, for a period of days.

The Resurrection of Christ is a powerful call to apostolate: to be light and to carry the light to others. To do this, we must be united in Christ.

The Resurrection is so indispensable to the Christian religion that from the earliest times, the Church  chose to commemorate it every Sunday. Resurrection celebrates victory over death. It proclaims the paradox of life, namely, that by losing our life, we find it, by dying we rise again, and through apparent failures, we achieve eternal success. Easter teaches us that there is no life without death, no gain without losing, no receiving without giving, no Easter without Good Friday.

May God grant all of us celebrating this Easter the joy to live to enjoy our own resurrection at the end of time through Christ our Lord. Amen