SundayGospelReflection.org

Gospel Reflection 20070408

Giving sin and evil no room in your life is essential to being Catholic.
When you renew your baptismal promises, you are asked to reject Satan and sin. Rejecting Satan sounds very dramatic, but if you take a good look at the questions, they really ask you to reflect on how you reject invitations that trick you to focus on things that don't really matter: money instead of friendship, casual sex instead of a loving commitment, fame and career highlights instead of spiritual progress and family loyalty. By eliminating the place of sin and evil in your life, you are doing the necessary preparation to make plenty of room for doing good.

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Easter Sunday
The Resurrection of the Lord


Gospel
Jn 20:1-9

On the first day of the week,
Mary of Magdala came to the tomb early in the morning,
while it was still dark,
and saw the stone removed from the tomb.
So she ran and went to Simon Peter
and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and told them,
“They have taken the Lord from the tomb,
and we don’t know where they put him.”
So Peter and the other disciple went out and came to the tomb.
They both ran, but the other disciple ran faster than Peter
and arrived at the tomb first;
he bent down and saw the burial cloths there, but did not go in.
When Simon Peter arrived after him,
he went into the tomb and saw the burial cloths there,
and the cloth that had covered his head,
not with the burial cloths but rolled up in a separate place.
Then the other disciple also went in,
the one who had arrived at the tomb first,
and he saw and believed.
For they did not yet understand the Scripture
that he had to rise from the dead.





Today is the great feast that makes everything in our faith suddenly make sense. Those philosophers who go by the name of existentialists are actually right in a way, when they say there is no meaning at all to human existence. There wouldn't be, if there were not a resurrection. What an awful thing it must be to go through life with an unshakable conviction that when our last breath is taken, that is the end. We often call the resurrection the feast of hope, because it gives hope to you and me that we will follow our leader, not only through a painful experience of suffering, but through a joyful experience of new life.

The gospel reading tells how the several of the first Christians learned the news of Jesus' resurrection from the dead. First, Mary Magdalene discovers that the stone closing the entrance of Jesus' tomb had been removed. She runs to Peter and John (who is referred to here as elsewhere in his gospel as a "disciple", to call attention to his role as disciple under the cross) and tells them that someone has removed "the Lord" from the tomb. Thus she gives a natural explanation for the empty tomb, implying that she has not yet believed in the resurrection. Peter and John run to the tomb, with John arriving first. He defers to Peter with regard to entering, thus showing that he thought Peter had some right to precede him. First Peter enters and then John, and they see the burial cloths of Jesus. No mention of Peter's reaction is given, but John is mentioned as seeing and believing. Thus he presents himself as the first Christian believer. And since neither he nor Peter was prepared for the resurrection of Jesus on the basis of Scripture (v. 9), John presents himself as believing on the basis of what he has seen, not on the basis of any biblical text. Christian faith in the resurrection of Jesus is thus born, and it is a faith based on the testimony of an eyewitness of what actually had taken place, and not on any prophecy contained in the Bible.
Initial blindness to the reality of Jesus’ resurrection is seen especially in Mary Magdalene. She is sentimentally and emotionally attached to her memory of Jesus. Such is the sense of her words: “They have taken the Lord from the tomb.” At this instant she cannot look beyond and see that her master has moved on to a new life. Are we immune to falling in this rut? We too have to look beyond the trials, disappointments, and hard knocks of daily life to know that Jesus always wants us to look higher toward the everlasting joy and peace that he promises will be ours one day.

This Easter morning we journey with Mary Magdalene to the tomb in search of Jesus. What does she find? The stone moved away, an empty tomb, and her Lord has been taken away. What to do? She makes haste to tell Peter and the Beloved Disciple what has occurred. They run to the tomb in order to see for themselves. The Beloved Disciple reaches the tomb first. At last Peter arrives. Peter enters the tomb and finds the burial wrappings of Jesus. Finally the Beloved Disciple enters. The Fourth Gospel tells us: "He saw and believed."
This is the essence of what it means to be a true disciple of Jesus. The ability to see with faith opens one up to understand the real meaning of situations. The true disciple is able to see and understand the real meaning of the empty tomb. The body of Jesus has not been stolen. The crucified Jesus is now the Risen Lord. A true disciple of Jesus is one who can discern the presence of Jesus in every situation. Even in the midst of death, the Beloved Disciple of Jesus is able to see and believe. Our Easter celebration requires more of us than a mere journey to the empty tomb. It requires more of us than a mere repeating of the words of faith. Paul writing to the Colossians puts it this way: "Since you have been raised up in company with Christ, set our heart on what pertains to the higher realms where Christ is seated at God's right hand."
Notice that the Apostle places resurrection in the present moment. We are now raised up with Christ. The death and resurrection of Jesus affects the whole of creation and humankind in this very moment of our existence. Each day we are to live, celebrate, and share the joys and blessings of the new creation affected by the resurrection of Jesus.
Paul is calling us to live in the present moment the reality of new life. We are not to wait until he comes again at the end of time for new life. We are already called to live in such a way. We set our hearts on heaven and life with Christ. Yet we do not avoid living as a people of the resurrection in the here and now.
Naturally there is a gap, a tension, between our present experience of the resurrection and the fullness of glory at the end of time. There is a significant part of our lives which remains hidden, mysterious, and obscured. We still look through a glass darkly. The reality of sin and the weakness of our human condition are very evident.
However, we are to live each day in hopeful anticipation of his return in glory. Each day is that gift to be used so as to set our hearts on the things above but also living faithful with the things of today. Through connecting our everyday living with our blessed hope of resurrection we are those wise stewards ready to meet Jesus. In the words of Paul: "When Christ our life appears, then you shall appear with him in glory."

In the gospel of St. John this morning three characters play a part: Mary Magdalene, the beloved apostle John (by the way he is not named, he is called simply "the other disciple, the one Jesus loved." Everyone knows that John was so ashamed of how he acted at the crucifixion that he wouldn't even use his name). The third character is Peter.
Reading last Sunday’s Passion and today's Gospel, which of the three would you have picked to become the head of the new church?
Mary Magdalene is a likely candidate. No one was more devoted to Jesus; no one repented more for her misdeeds; all four gospels report the fact that she was the first to see Jesus after his resurrection--not even his mother saw him before Magdalene.
John is a likely candidate. Younger than both Peter and Magdalene, he was in the courtyard of Pilate with Jesus and did not disown him. He was the only apostle to stand under the cross while the others fled. Jesus sat next to him at the last supper. He was call the disciple Jesus loved. He outran Peter to the tomb and was the first to look inside.
Peter is not a very likely candidate. He denied Jesus 3 times; he fled from the scene, and did not stand with Mary and John and Mary Magdalene under the cross; he was always making foolish statements denying that he would ever let Jesus suffer. He was the last, save for Thomas, to see the risen Christ. And look what he did when the apostles, fishing after the resurrection, saw Jesus on the shore of Galilee. He put on his clothes and jumped into the lake. Anyone who knows anything about swimming knows that you do not put on clothes, then jump into the water, unless you want to drown.
Yet Peter had his good points. It was he who made the first act of faith in Jesus; "you are Christ, the son of god". He was the one who tried to defend him in the garden. And he did his penance for his denials when Jesus asked whether he loved him more than the others.
Peter is a curious mixture of doubt and faith, dreams and practical decisions, a mixture of cowardice and courage. He was, in a way, a replica of many of us. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, in his book "The Gulag Archipelago" wrote that the dividing line between good and evil courses through every human being. At times he is close to being a devil, at times close to sainthood.
Such a man was Peter. And Jesus was able to penetrate behind his peccadilloes and to see in Peter the kind of simple faith, loyalty and basic courage that made him, in spite of his failings, the perfect man to head up his church. Perhaps he will judge us in the same way. And because Jesus chose Peter, not someone else, we still today in the year 2007 have the mass and the sacraments, we still have the church which Jesus founded on a rock, the rock of Peter.
Today we celebrate the greatest mystery in our faith ... the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Do you understand how anyone could rise from the dead? I don’t. I could quote passages from the old and New Testament but even then we wouldn’t understand how such an event could happen. It remains a mystery.
So, let me ask you a question. Don’t answer aloud but answer in your mind and your heart. "Do you really believe that Jesus rose from the dead?" Be careful because your answer carries profound implications.
Other than Jesus raising Lazarus, the widow's son, and the Jewish official’s daughter from the dead, have you ever heard of anyone else who was raised from the dead? I have discussed this question with a few Catholic experts and there doesn’t seem to be any record of it happening. Moses didn’t rise from the dead, Julius Caesar didn’t, Muhammad didn’t, Gandhi didn’t and Mother Teresa didn’t. The simple truth is that Jesus, and the other two individuals I mentioned, were the only people in history to rise from the dead. Therefore, the significance of our presence here today is that we believe He rose from the dead and proved that He was God. And so our answer to the question would be, "Yes, I believe Jesus rose from the dead."
In saying that, however, we must recognize there is another fact that we must believe. If He rose from the dead then everything he taught during His life was TRUE!!! Before He rose from the dead He said, "I am the way..... the truth ......and the light". He indicated that His teachings are what we must follow to gain Heaven. Now we might say, "Wait a minute, I didn’t think His resurrection meant all that." Yes, it does. That’s why He rose. Nothing could be more convincing.
What is the most important implication as far as we are concerned? The answer to that is simple.... WE ARE RIGHT ... being here this morning to worship Jesus and His Father.
A large section of our society here in the United States and throughout the world constantly tells us, "Jesus Christ was not God and I don’t have to follow His commandments or His teachings." Well, whose teachings should we follow? Is there any other individual who has given such proof that his or her teachings are authentic? Has any one else ever risen from the dead? The answer is "No".
I don’t mean to be judgmental or mean spirited when I say that everyone must follow the teachings of Jesus Christ. In today’s society many say, "Don’t bother me with facts. You believe in Jesus if you want to but don’t impose your views on me!"
Well, that’s fine except that if we have this discussion with someone, we both can’t be right, can we? So, therefore, we need not chastise others for their beliefs but we know, in our minds and in our hearts, that the way we have chosen is the right way.
But are we really convinced? I’ll ask the young people here this morning? Do you believe that by His resurrection Jesus proved, beyond any doubt, that He is God and we should abide by His teachings? Do we as young adults, middle-aged individuals or senior citizens really believe that He rose from the dead?
That’s the basic decision every individual on this earth must make and there’s a strong indication that everyone here this morning has made that decision. But it’s not something we can celebrate just on Easter Sunday or on Christmas. If Jesus is God, then we must recognize that fact every day of our lives. We recognize it because of the joyful message He brings us.
There is a second implication in His resurrection. He also said, "If you love Me, you will keep My commandments." Is it easy to keep His commandments? No! Is it easy to love others as He loved us and share our time, treasure and talent with those in need? Was it easy for His disciples to accept the proof of His resurrection? No. They spent three years with Him, they heard Him say He would rise but still, after His crucifixion, they huddled together in the upper room, afraid to go out among the Jews for fear they too would be martyred. Today’s gospel indicates they couldn’t understand what was happening.
True, there are conditions we must fulfill to join Him for eternity. The fact that Jesus rose from the dead proves, beyond any reasonable doubt, that everything He asks of us in perfectly reasonable.
But as we consider what He asks that we do let us also consider the rewards He promises. "The mind of man cannot even comprehend what My Father has prepared for those who love Him." This is why Jesus came to earth, was crucified and rose from the dead.
Listen to the words of His Father, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him might not perish but might have eternal life." Eternal life!!!! That’s the promise Jesus gives to us.
And that’s not all. Later this morning we will experience another great miracle. We will receive His body and blood. We may not fully understand how this miracle happens at each Mass but we remember His words. He said, very clearly, "This is My body and this is My blood." He didn’t say, "This REPRESENTS my body and my blood," and then He added, "Do this in memory of Me." I don’t understand how He could rise from the dead and I also don’t understand how bread and wine can become His body and blood. However, because of His resurrection, I do believe that He is God. When I contemplate that many in our modern culture look upon us as misguided zealots, I know we are not. We can be confident we really have been given the way, the truth and the light.
We know this because JESUS CHRIST HAS RISEN. ALLELUIA!!!!

Each of us must ask ourselves, "Do I believe He rose from the dead?
That's the tough question!!! If I say, "No, I don't believe it ever happened.", then I may have a problem if it really did happen. If I answer "Yes", it means that I admit Jesus was Divine and therefore I will live a life that indicates I believe in all of His teachings.
We may think that's too difficult. But, what if I asked myself and all of us here, "Do I believe that other people should follow His teachings?" Do I believe others should love me? Do I believe others should not steal from me, lie to me, kill me or harm anyone in my family? I think all of us would answer that question by saying, "Of course, no should treat me that way!"
Because Jesus rose from the dead He is divine and His words apply to each of us. And that's wonderful because that's the way He wanted everyone to live. Keep my commandments, love one another as I have loved you, do not commit sin.
His resurrection also confirms the reason we are all alive. The reason is simple. We are here to KNOW GOD, LOVE GOD and to SERVE GOD so that someday WE MAY ALL BE WITH HIM IN HEAVEN.
If we believe Jesus died and then rose from the dead, then today we are celebrating the anniversary of the most important event the world has ever known.
No one else has done it, not one else will ever do it. We rejoice and our lives have meaning because we do believe that JESUS HAS RISEN!!!!!

This Easter season has been much different than many in the past. Usually the feast is only a religious event but this year, because of Mel Gibson's controversial film, Because of the Passion of the Christ, the Lenten season has received more attention than usual. As is the case when a religious film is popular, there has been criticism of the producer and those responsible for the authenticity of the story line. Some critics have accused Gibson of emphasizing the violence of Christ's passion. Others have indicated the film blames the Jewish people for Christ's death.
There are a couple of points to be made here. First, Christ gave His life and willingly suffered for the sins of all mankind. Second, He did suffer a great deal of pain. When you stop and consider the event, Christ's suffering only lasted a relatively short period of time. He was arrested on Thursday night, possibly about 9 to 10 o'clock and He died Friday at 3 p.m. Obviously, the exact times may not be totally accurate but, it they are, that's a span of only 17 hours. So, if He were suffering for the sins of all mankind, it would be logical that His suffering be extremely intense.
Did the Jews kill Jesus? No, they didn't. Only the Romans had the power to do that. Furthermore, He died for our sins, everyone's sins. And finally, He is not dead ... He rose on Easter Sunday.
The controversies about the details of His suffering and crucifixion also tend to draw our attention away from the central fact of His death, resurrection and eventual ascension into Heaven. The central fact is that His example was given so that each of us would understand that we, too, can share in His suffering, His death and also in His final victory over sin.
Think about it. Don't all of us go through this same process from time to time?
Of course, it is not as violent a sequence as Christ endured but aren't we all battling against the forces of evil? Christ died to redeem us and give us the opportunity to save our immortal soul. Aren't we involved in a similar struggle every day of our lives? Don't we suffer as we walk our path to Calvary?
Let's consider a few examples. I believe the young people here, possibly from the ages of 12 to 25, are undergoing a type of suffering that compares, not physically but certainly spiritually, to the same struggle that Christ faced. Christ died because of our sinfulness. As I think of the young struggling against the forces of pornography, pre marital sex, drugs, alcohol and a host of other sinful activities, I believe can be compared to the mental stress Christ underwent. Was it easy for Jesus to feel His skin torn apart by the scourging at the pillar? Was it easy for Him to carry a cross for a 3-hour period? Did the nails tear at the flesh in His hands and feet? There is no doubt ... it was unbelievably painful. But, remember, He accepted that pain willingly. Finally, in the end, He conquered the forces of evil, he washed away our sins because He went through those terrible hours of torment. And then, He rose from the dead to prove al the words He had spoken and all of His teachings were true. He did not die but after 40 days He rose to Heaven and, as He told us,
He is there to help each of us as we travel our journey to that same destination.
Is it easy growing up in our society today? Not at all! The young must battle constantly to keep His commandments and many will probably suffer in many ways to obey His teachings. It won't only be the young. Aren't we all tempted and aren't we all bombarded by the enticements of our modern society and told that in order to really live life to the fullest we must accept concepts that are diametrically opposed to what Christ taught us as He painfully made His way to his final destination ... death on Calvary.
If we ignore Christ's teaching and use less that honest tactics, couldn't we possibly make more money? Must we endue the slings and arrows of others because we believe abortion is wrong? As parents, do we enjoy disciplining our children or constantly warning them of the dangers they face believing in the morals taught by the music they hear? Wouldn't it be better if they were all "little angels"? Of course it would be better. However, we all have our crosses to bear and that's the lessen of this Easter Sunday. Christ suffered for us, died for us so that by His example we would realize we too must walk the walk to Calvary.
I, as a (priest/deacon) must share in Christ's suffering. The recent scandals in our Church have an effect on all of us. Being a priest is more difficult now. Many Catholics in some areas of the country do not attend Mass or support their parish any longer. So, we are all together in the fact there are difficulties when we choose to follow Christ's example.
However, the rewards are worth the difficulties we face. He has promised us eternal salvation ... and Jesus Christ keeps His promises. Therefore, today is a day of rejoicing. We rejoice as we read of His Resurrection. We should also rejoice in the knowledge that by His birth, death and resurrection each of us has been given the strength to face our own "crucifixion" and someday join Him in His glory.

Somebody once defined religion as “the unshakable conviction, despite all evidence to the contrary, that life is not absurd.”
Today Mary makes a most unpleasant discovery: the stone has been moved! Her sense of how things have been going leads her to conclude that the body has been stolen away. Now she is deprived even of the cold comfort of paying her respects properly. Absurd!
Is this how the story of her beloved Jesus would end? All that promise, all that power for good, all that energy for transforming people’s lives simply vanished, without even his body left as a reminder? Could the situation have been more hopeless?
The Easter story is essentially about how Mary and the other disciples, despite all evidence to the contrary, continued to hope and believe. What else can explain the way they chose to interpret the “evidence” that was before them without some glimmer of hope in their hearts, the only conclusion they could have drawn from the empty tomb was Mary’s initial reaction: grave robbing.
To say that hopelessness precludes hope is a bit of a paradox, but it’s true that the disciples had to have at least a little hope that the empty tomb meant something more promising than the theft of Jesus’ body.
The great hope of Easter is found in an empty tomb that promises new life.

That’s the Easter message! We have faith because of Easter. We have faith because Jesus Christ rose from the dead. And we believe – you believe and I believe – that for a good person, we know that no death – even a tragic death – is really and truly a loss. Our grief is real, but because of Easter, we know that death is not our enemy, and death doesn’t have the final word.
Easter is more than a day – Easter is a way of life for us who believe. Because of Easter, our whole lives are changed! Because of Easter, we don’t fear death! We know that because of Easter, our lives here are preparation for something bigger and better. As the Scriptures say, “Eye has not seen nor ear heard, nor has it entered into our hearts what God has prepared for us who love God.” Because of Easter, our whole lives are filled with hope. We are a people of the promise, and we are a people of hope.
And yet, at so many funerals, it’s as if something terrible has happened. Even when an elderly person dies, someone who has led a beautiful and holy life, sometimes there is almost despair. We even go to pay “our last respects.” “Last respects -- now that’s hopeful! Although funerals are often marked by sorrow and pity for the deceased, the deceased is in no pain at all. Remember that the priest wears white vestments for funerals. We call it “The Mass of the Resurrection” because we are a people of hope.
Father Edward Steiner of Nashville is a writer and a preacher. In one of his homilies he tells the story of an eleven-year-old boy named Tim, who had lost a childhood friend. In this story, Tim was not grieving “properly”; he wasn’t crying. So someone went up to him and said, “Are you OK? Do you know what’s going on here, Tim?” And he replied, “Why are we so sorry when someone gets to heaven so soon?” From the mouths of babes! And then he asked, “Are we sorry that he got there before us?” You know, the kid understood! Indeed, “a little child will lead us!” Children understand. They believe us when we tell them about heaven. But it often seems as if we adults don’t believe.
St. Paul said much in one sentence: “Death, where is your victory? Death, where is your sting?” No, death is not our enemy. Not if we love God. God is stronger than death. St. Francis of Assisi said he loved death. He called death “sister death.” He said, from the Canticle of the Sun, “Blessed are those who endure in peace, for by You, Most High, they shall be crowned. Praise to you, my Lord, through our sister, bodily death, from whom no living man can escape. Woe to those who die in mortal sin! Blessed are those whom death will find in Your most holy will, for the second death shall have no power over them.”

At the Mass of Christian Burial, the opening prayer says that the person at Baptism died with Christ and rose with Him to new life. That is what today is all about. Just as Christ died for our sins, we also die to sin. But just as He rose from the death of sin, we also rise with Him to a newness of life in Him. He has earned salvation for each one of us, if only we ask for it. If only we reach out to Him and accept His love and life. He embraces each of us in love and care. He is a God that pursues us and, just like the lost sheep, He goes in search of us until He finds us and brings us home. Perhaps He has brought some of us here home today.

Today is a day of great rejoicing. Today in this Church and at this Mass, Jesus reaches out to each of us and offers us eternal life and happiness with God. Let each of us respond to that invitation. Let each of us respond today and every day, "Here I am Lord, I come to do Your will."


In all honesty, I find it difficult to preach on the Resurrection of Jesus. Not because I don’t believe it – it’s the only reason I am here!
Making doctrinal statements about the Resurrection is easy enough, even if it is just to say, “the Lord is truly risen.” Hopefully you already know these statements, and although it does no harm to repeat them frequently, I am always left with some uneasiness when it comes to trying to “explain” the Resurrection.
It is like trying to grasp a square circle: He is truly dead, yet He truly lives!
I don’t think I am alone in this.
Mary of Magdala, Peter, and later, Thomas and probably others were somewhat bamboozled by the notion.
The Magdalene was sure the body had been stolen. Peter was initially silent. Thomas and the others were, to put it mildly, a little skeptical.
Later on, in the mission of St. Paul, the Greeks would burst out laughing when he talked of Resurrection. Some of the Jews dismissed the whole “Jesus-thing” as sacrilegious.
Philosophers throughout history have baulked at the notion. I have even heard of one Anglican bishop who does not believe in the Resurrection! Now there is a square circle!
Hopefully, all of us here believe without hesitation in the Resurrection. The Lord is indeed truly risen! But do we really understand it?
Suffering and death: now there’s something we understand - in a sense. We don’t like them, and we certainly don’t want them, but somehow they form part of our experience.
But Resurrection is quite different. We do like the idea and we probably want to experience it, but it is frankly a great unknown and perhaps, therefore, even a little frightening.
Could this explain why people seem to love Good Friday, but find the Easter Vigil and Sunday a little less attractive?
The dead Christ we can hold in our arms; but the risen Christ ...?
In the Gospel, Jesus raises three people we know of: the daughter of Jairus, the son of the widow of Naim and Lazarus. All three of these, however, are restored to the mortal life they had before dying. It’s a turning the clock back.
And there is not one of us here who would not want to have back a close relative or friend who has died. That’s the kind of resurrection we like. But we would want them back as we knew them. We would want them back almost in a selfish sort of way.
Jesus understands this. He restored those three people to life, partly to assuage the grief of those left behind, but partly, and more importantly, as a sign of his own Resurrection.
I say a sign, because their resurrection was only a pale shadow of that of Jesus.
Jesus’ Resurrection was the real thing.
Jesus is not restored to the Apostles in the same way as Lazarus was restored to Martha and Mary. He does not rise only to die again, as did Lazarus.
We must try to understand that Jesus rose to a kind of life which is deathless – immortal. His very body, though the body in which he was born and crucified, no longer breathes the air of this planet or of any planet in order to live.
The risen Jesus breathes the “air of God”, the Holy Spirit.
His risen body contains within itself no seed, root or cause of decay. It is subject neither to space nor to time as we know them. That is why it can be bread and wine; that is why, somehow, we can eat his body and become his body, the Church!
This is something beyond our experience, which defies our microscopes and our science and technology. Immortality is not a gene as yet undiscovered in our DNA. It is not some supreme version of the molecules which make up our mortal body.
The Resurrection “busts” all our categories. It implodes and explodes them. It is the bursting into creation of an absolutely new beginning. It is the new “big bang.” It is, in effect, the birth of the new creation.
My friends, the Risen Body of Christ belongs to a completely different order of reality from the one perceptible to our senses. This may explain why the Risen Jesus did not, as it were, “stay with us” in the kind of visible form we are used to.
In those brief forty days after Easter Sunday, as St. Peter says in the Acts of the Apostles, it was “granted that he be visible, not to all the people, but to us, the witnesses chosen by God in advance.”
Those forty days were a kind of divine pedagogy, “classes” which God gave, if you like, to ensure that the Apostles would gradually grasp the astounding truth that the God-man Jesus had conquered death in his flesh.
Why did the Apostles get this special treatment? Certainly not for themselves only, but for our sakes, for the sake of humanity, so that in believing in the risen Jesus we, too, would be able to share in his risen life, provided we try to share also in his freedom from sin and in his suffering and death.
We believe in the Resurrection of the body!
Perhaps you noticed that, in our Gospel reading from John today, the risen Jesus does not even appear! Reading beyond that passage Jesus does gradually appear to his chosen witnesses, as if respecting their weakness in grasping that he was risen.
Jesus also gradually renews to them their vocation to follow him and their mission to preach the Gospel to all nations before leaving them. And once he has gone, he sends forth (in a different manner and degree) that same Holy Spirit in which he lives upon them and upon all who would believe in Jesus because of their words.
The text I quoted a moment ago is also instructive.
It reads, “This man God raised on the third day and granted that he be visible, not to all the people, but to us, the witnesses chosen by God in advance.”
What does it mean that “God granted that he be visible”?
It means quite simply that our mortal eyes are not of themselves able to see the risen Lord. They are blind to that dimension of reality, heaven, in which Jesus now lives.
In fact, in the Gospel, the evangelists use two verbs for “to see”: one verb is used of the Apostles when they see Jesus before the Resurrection, as it is used for all other references to people seeing; but the other verb is used only of those who see the risen Jesus.
This was the evangelists’ way of conveying the truth that the eyes of the apostles had to be enabled by a special grace to see the risen Lord.
We might say that, during the time they see him as risen, Jesus draws them momentarily into his own risen milieu. This grace, this gift is among the core graces which qualify the apostles as witnesses of the resurrection.
Our faith, rooted in the Resurrection, is the gift which enables our mortality to see the immortal Christ, but only through a dark glass. That dark glass will be broken when we die and our faith will give way to clear unadulterated vision of the beauty of the Risen Lord.
All our friends who have died and have been pleasing to Jesus now share in that glorious vision. Even if they could, they would not want to come back to us.
Their mortality has been swallowed up in immortality.
If our love for them is not selfish, we should rejoice that they see God face to face.
They will not return to us, but we will go to them, and one day the Christ this world does not, cannot, see will emerge from his invisible presence for every eye to see.
Those who have loved him in this life will be reunited and immortalized in their bodies and, from their risen flesh, all redeemed humanity will gaze upon God.
The Resurrection will be complete; the circle will be squared.


Brothers and sisters, we are the people of the Resurrection! If we would rouse our faith to believe it, there is ultimately nothing to fear. Our fear, however understandable, shows that we lay greater stock by death than by the Risen Jesus. Today is the day for faith to be strengthened, never again to be weakened. Today is the day to allow the reality of Christ’s victory to smash the tombstones we erect around our ways of thinking, feeling and loving. The last place Christ wants us to be today is in the caves of our false values and priorities, of our small-minded and petty attitudes. Our moral graves will be burst open only if we listen to the powerful voice of Jesus speaking the life-giving word of forgiveness. He challenges us to have great desires for good and holiness, to entrust to him without fear or reserve all that is in us. What use will our worldly trappings be in the face of death and judgment? “What use would life have been to us if Christ had not risen from the dead?” What, indeed, is the glory of the world in comparison with the glory of the Resurrection? Yet, we are not to abandon the world, but to bring it to Christ, to be purified of death, sin and sickness!
As Easter day passes, then, do not fall asleep again in spiritual and moral mediocrity. Because the truth is that Easter never passes. Victory over all and any shadow of death in your life is possible every day, because every day of human history has been swallowed up by the eternal day of Christ’s victory. So, take great courage, and be resolved! Pray with all your might, believe with all your heart! Even if man could eliminate all sickness, all sin and all death by some global panacea, his life can never be fulfilled until it is invaded by the Spirit of the Risen Jesus. Death, disappointment, failure and decay, painful though they may be, are but stepping stones to the empty tomb, your empty tomb. Live now in the certain knowledge that the Resurrection is your destiny, and be forever comforted and exultant with joy in proclaiming: the Lord is truly risen, alleluia!

posted by Mike Young @ 2:39 PM