Homily for Easter Sunday: April 8, 2007

Given by the Most Reverend Stephen E. Blaire at the Cathedral of the Annunciation in Stockton.

The celebration of Easter is filled with images of new life: a beautiful sunrise; flowers in bloom; the new Easter candle just beginning to burn; newly blessed water and the newly baptized. Christ has conquered sin and overcome death in the new life of Resurrection. He is the first born in the new kingdom of God and through baptism we embrace this new life in Christ. Everything about Easter is fresh and new. Those being baptized make a complete break with their former way of life. They now live as disciples of Christ in a new way. Their prayer is found in Psalm 51: “A pure heart create for me, O God, put a steadfast spirit within me.”

Baptism is THE sacrament of faith. In baptism we enter into the passion, death, resurrection and glorification of Jesus. The Letter to the Hebrews exhorts us “to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, who inspires and perfects our faith” and not “to abandon the struggle” in the fight against sin. In the sacrament of baptism one is born again into life as a son or daughter of God.

But what about us who were baptized as infants, born into a family of faith and raised in the faith? Why can we not be re-born again in the waters of baptism? It seems like we need re-birth. The answer in the tradition of the Church from earliest times is this: There is only one death and one resurrection of Jesus for salvation and therefore only one baptism into the salvation of Christ. What we must do is reaffirm our baptism – ask the Holy Spirit to bring it to life if it has been lying dormant. We cannot be passive Christians. We need to be serious about living our faith. If we have been in grave sin, the healing sacrament of Penance (Confession) reawakens our baptismal grace within us. It is not pleasing to God for others to be practicing Catholics, devout Catholics, but not ourselves.

Everything that has been said about the newly baptized we can apply to ourselves in the renewal of our baptismal promises.

To live as a baptized Christian is to make a compete break from sin and live a new life. Again Psalm 51: “O purify me, then I shall be clean; O wash me, I shall be whiter than snow.”

To live as a baptized Christian is for me to pattern my life on Christ: to be slow to anger; to be gentle and humble of heart; to offer my life to God and live it for others. Christ said that He dwells within us if we keep his commandments, and his commandment is to love one another as he has loved us.

To live as a baptized Christian is to fix our eyes on Christ and to embrace the struggle to be faithful to Christ day in and day out. This is how we take up the cross which leads to the glory of the Resurrection.

The Lord is risen! The Lord Jesus reigns in the glory of heaven at the right hand of the Father. By the power of the Holy Spirit this same risen Jesus lives in the Church for we are the living body of Christ in the world. This same risen Lord dwells in our hearts. We rejoice. We are glad on this Easter Sunday – a new day and a new beginning in the Lord for all of us who believe and are baptized. Our Easter song is: ALLELUIA!

Last Update April 8, 2007