Dcn. Tom McClelland's Homily:
        Easter Sunday, March 23, 2008

The Lord is risen.  Alleluia!

How good it is that we are all here this Easter morning!  Unlike Peter and John in this gospel, who were trying to sort out what had happened in the tomb, we understand what Jesus did for us!  < >  May the spirit of the Risen Christ fill you!  He is not on the cross, nor in the tomb!  < >  Be excited!  In the first reading, St. Peter has been out baptizing Gentiles!  This was unheard of!  God is reaching out to everyone!  < >  May God's great love for you overwhelm you today!  May your whole being be bubbling with joy this whole coming week!  < >  Do something in your homes, something in your lives today and all week long, to celebrate Jesus' triumph in the greatest act of love that ever occurred in human history!  < >  Really go wild — you know, when you reach for one jellybean, take three or four!  < >  Make your celebration last every day this coming week, which is called the Octave of Easter— the eight days of celebrating our Lord's Resurrection.  Pray out loud from you heart before every meal this week and tell God of your sincere gratitude for His great love and mercy.  < >  Today is Easter!  It is the greatest of all days when we celebrate the resurrection of our Lord, Jesus Christ.

What was it that Jesus accomplished?  He redeemed us from our sin.  He opened the door!  He opened the door to eternal life for us!  Easter is about life!  It is about life everlasting.  < >  Christ overcame death.  He set us free from slavery to sin.  Easter is Christ's victory over death and his rising to new life.  St. Paul tells us that everyone who is baptized into Christ Jesus is baptized into his death, and because we are baptized into his death, we were buried with Jesus, so that, just as Jesus was raised from the dead, we too might have a new life.  < >  We   have   new   life   because of Jesus!

In a few minutes, we will all renew our baptismal promises.  You know that a person can only be baptized once — either you are baptized or you are not — but at least once a year and on certain other solemn occasions, we renew the promises made at our baptism.  We reaffirm that we reject Satan and his empty promises, because his ways lead to eternal death for our souls.  Jesus died to overcome that death, and by our refusing and rejecting the glamour of evil, we also overcome death and rise to new life in Jesus.  Easter and the resurrection are about life!  They are about our life!  < >  Isn't it great to be alive?

Easter is for everyone—except those who refuse to believe in Jesus Christ.  < >  What was one of the greatest revelations to the Jews of Jesus' time?  It was that God was calling everyone to new life!  Prior to this, the Jews saw only themselves as the Chosen People—but Jesus was reaching out also to Gentiles (non-Jews).  In today's First Reading, which takes place a goodly amount of time after the resurrection, maybe a year or more, Peter has been passing through every region around Jerusalem [Acts 9:32], and he has just been called to Caesarea to the house of a Roman centurion, Cornelius, to bring the word of God to him.  And in this reading we hear Peter's speech to Cornelius and all who were with him.  Peter summarizes Jesus life — and his death — and his rising from the dead —and Peter tells of his personally eating and drinking with Jesus after he rose from the dead.  Peter concludes by saying that all the prophets bear witness to Christ—and Peter says, "everyone who believes in [Jesus] will receive forgiveness of sins through his name."  < >  The converse obviously is that anyone who does not believe in Jesus will remain a slave to sin and death.

As Peter finished his speech to Cornelius and those with him, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who were listening [Acts 10:44].  The Jews who were there with Peter were astounded that the gift of the Holy Spirit would be given to Gentiles as well.  < >  So you see, Easter is for everyone who will accept it.  < >  And then Peter proceeded to baptize them in the name of Jesus Christ.

What an incredible parallel with what you and I are doing this minute!  You are listening to me preach about Jesus and his resurrection, and when I finish my "speech" you will renew your baptismal vows.  Do you see how much you are a part of this story?  St. Peter is here with us.  The Holy Spirit is here with us.  This is real, and it's happening here right now, just like Jesus' one great sacrifice of himself happens here on the altar — not over and over again in each Mass, but the Eucharistic sacrifice is the one and the same sacrifice of Our Lord on Calvary.  We are there!

Today, we focus on Jesus resurrection.  His body is not on the cross.  It is not in the tomb.  < >  None of the gospels describes the details of how Jesus arose.  There is no description of how Jesus' human body of earthly flesh and bones became his glorified body, or how his glorified body left the tomb.  But all the gospels attest to the emptiness of Jesus tomb.

In today's gospel, Simon Peter went into the tomb and saw the burial cloths there.  < >  The cloth that had covered Jesus' head was not with the other cloths but was rolled up neatly and lying in a separate place.  This was not the work of grave robbers, who would be in haste, and who would have taken the burial cloths with them.  Besides, the entrance to the tomb had been heavily guarded to prevent this.  Jesus had told his apostles three times he would rise from the dead.  And Jesus, as we know so well, always fulfills his promises.

After seeing the empty tomb and burial cloths, Peter and the other disciple left the tomb.  But Mary Magdalene stays behind, weeping outside the tomb.  Then, when she turns, she sees Jesus, who speaks her name, and she recognizes the risen Lord.  < >  Christ has indeed risen.  Alleluia!

The good news is that each of us will die someday.  On some future day that we don't know, our fleshly bodies will cease to function.  No one in history has yet to be cheated out of it.  < >  Our souls will then be judged.  < >  That moment of death is the end of the time for us to have either accepted or rejected God's divine grace manifested in Christ.  < >  The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches (1022), "Each man receives his eternal retribution in his immortal soul at the very moment of death, in a particular judgment that refers his life to Christ: either entrance into the blessedness of heaven — through a purification or immediately — or immediate and everlasting damnation."  In other words, we must choose everyday, while still alive in our earthly body — in all that we say and do — to accept and believe in Christ, to imitate him in this life.  The time of our choosing heaven or hell does not come after death.  < >  All the jokes and fairy tales you may have heard about choosing heaven or hell after death are just that — jokes and fairy tales!  Each of us will get an eternal seat in either the "smoking" or the "non-smoking" section, hell or heaven — depending on how we've lived this human life on earth — whether we united our lives to Christ, or whether we went our own separate way without him.

God sent his only Son to redeem us.  In His immense love for each and every one of us, Jesus opened the door to eternal life for us and invites us in.  Easter and the resurrection are all about life!

We must thank God for Easter.  Our whole being should be filled with joy and gratitude for the resurrection.  How do we thank him?  By the way that we live in imitation of his Son.  We thank God by loving and caring for others.  We thank God by forgiving others.  No matter what hurt or harm we think they have done to us, in our hearts we must forgive them.  We thank God by truly seeing every other person as a son or daughter of God and therefore as our brother or sister.  We are all part of God's family, and he is our Father.  We thank God by coming here every Sunday, on the Lord's Day, and participating in the Eucharist.  The word "eucharist" in fact means, "to give thanks."  So show gratitude everyday.  Just look each person in the eye, smile, and say "Thanks" for whatever comes to mind.

Easter also calls us to pay attention and to celebrate all the daily "resurrections" that take place within and around us: A child reconciled with a parent; a homeless person finding a home; the hungry who are given food; the laughter amid suffering and pain; the courage that some folks display in the midst of fear; the promises kept; the hearts mended.  These may sound like simple things, but they are resurrection experiences, too, — experiences of new and transformed life.  The good news of Easter is that we don't have to wait until we die to share in God's kingdom that is also here now.

By living a life of love and thanks, we demonstrate and give witness to our belief in God the Father and in Jesus, who is God the Son.  By believing in Jesus and rejecting Satan, we may have life everlasting.  And on the very last day, when Jesus comes the Second Time, we will be united with our glorified bodies.

Easter is about life everlasting — his life [point to cross], your life, and mine.  Let this Easter be a fresh starting point in the journey of your life.  Put your trust in Jesus and let him be your guide.  Pray to him.  Listen to him in your hearts.  Follow his direction.  We don't have to be in charge any more!  Thank God for everything you have, and be good stewards by taking care of them.  Forgive everyone who hurts or offends you.  Be humble by being submissive to God.  < >  Will there be suffering?  Yes!  Nothing says that disciples of Christ will be cancer free, or not suffer a stroke, or not have emotionally painful events in their lives.  These things happen.  Look at the pain and suffering in Jesus' life!

But by staying firmly on the path of Jesus, through whatever hardship or suffering life puts before us, we will be with him in heaven some day.  Easter is about life—a very long life, an eternal life, now and forever!

In just a minute, we will renew our baptismal promises [found on p. 68].  May these promises today be new and fresh and strong for each of us!  May you sing with joy forever!