Homily for Easter Mass: March 23, 2008

Given by the Most Reverend Stephen E. Blaire at St. Mary's High School in Stockton.

Easter Sunday is the one day of the year along with Christmas, when our Churches are filled. Why is that?

Looking out over this congregation gathered together this morning I am sure that some of you are very strong in the faith, some may be experiencing only a residual seed of faith in their lives, others of you may be deeply committed to the practice of the Catholic faith, some of you may be disenchanted with the Church, some of you may just have come to be with the family, and there may even be a non-believer or two present.

Why are so many gathered here this day?

I would suggest that the Feast of Easter is attractive because it celebrates life; there is a new springtime; it gives expression to the belief that there is some meaning and purpose to our lives; it says that the good within us has a chance to win out over our bad or shadowed side.

I would suggest this morning that there are three profound dimensions to the celebration of the Lord’s Resurrection by the Church on the Feast of Easter, and I will comment briefly upon each of them in terms of our lives and a spring time of grace for each of us. First the resurrection is a reality of faith. Jesus Christ who came as the Incarnate Word of God, who lived, preached the Kingdom of God and healed the sick and infirm, suffered and died and has been raised up by God as Lord and Savior of the world. Our God is not a God of the dead but a God of the living. I am amazed at the expanse of the universe and the deep emerging conviction that only God can be the creator of all that exists and that He holds in being all by His power and His love. Jesus who has come from God, in his resurrection from the dead lifts us up and transforms us by the grace of salvation so that we can become what we are meant to be as the sons and the daughters of God. All creation is good and beautiful but it has been marred by sin. The risen Lord dwells in our midst as a sure sign for us of the victory over all that is evil and destructive.

Secondly the resurrection of Jesus offers us a vision of what will be. Jesus in the scriptures is presented as first fruits to rise from the dead and we at the end of time also will be raised up when Jesus comes in His glory as the Son of Man to judge the living and the dead. The just will be raised up to eternal glory for the good which they have done and the love which they have shown to the least of the brothers and sisters of Jesus. And evildoers will be raised up to bear the consequences of all their actions in this great final separation. St. Paul has said it well. Why would we believe in Jesus Christ if He had not been raised from the dead? And by implication why would we want to live lives of fidelity to God if we would not be raised up on the last day in glory? We have a vision as Christians. We have an Easter faith. Our eyes are fixed on the risen Jesus and the glory of heaven.

Thirdly Easter is a sign of great hope for us and for all the world. With so much violence and suffering and evil it would be so easy to become discouraged, despondent and to see ultimately a uselessness in life. But the risen Christ, our sign of hope, stands as a great source of encouragement and a reason for living. The Christian finds a home not only in the community of a believing Church, the Body of Christ, but also in a mission to transform the world into a human family built upon justice and righteousness and human dignity. The hope of the Christian resting in the risen Christ is that nothing is so bad, nothing is so evil that good cannot prevail, that Jesus cannot overcome death, that Jesus cannot conquer all that is sin and evil.

Yes, without the resurrection, our faith would be useless and would lead nowhere. Each of us has a reason for living, each of us has a place in the plan of God; each of us in our own way is an instrument of God’s grace in this world.

Our Easter song is an alleluia and a firm conviction in the words of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior: I am the resurrection and the life. If you believe in me, even if you die, you will live forever.

Last Update March 23, 2008