Happy Easter to all of you. This morning we once again sing triumphantly "Glory to God in the Highest" and we allow our cry of "alleluia" to once again rise to the Heavens as we rejoice on this most holy morning. We rejoice because through our celebration of Easter we discover a great hope that sin cannot conquer over us, that in the midst of despair new hope can be ushered in, and that in each sacrifice that we must endure meaning will be found. On Easter morning we discover that our faith is so important, that it is not just something that we can claim by name, but not actually live out. Instead Easter is something that is transformative. It transforms each of us and through this reality our life can never be the same again. When we began to discover the stone that was rolled away from the tomb on the day of our baptism we were set apart. We can attempt to run away from the stone and thus the Resurrection all that we want to, but no matter how much we attempt to run we cannot remove the fact of the Resurrection from our midst.
Mary of Magdala fully expected to encounter the dead body of Christ. She was fully prepared to anoint his dead body, but instead she had an encounter which would change her life forever. From the rolled away stone of the tomb came the glimmer of hope that would only be confirmed by Christ's Resurrection. Therefore instead of being unchanged she was changed forever through this encounter. Her mourning was turned into joy and her despair was given hope. In her inclusion of Saint Peter and the other disciple into this situation she gave them the same glance into this joy and hope that would change their lives forever. We know that the life of Peter was changed forever through this encounter because from it he received the conformation that all that he was shown and taught was indeed true. This conformation of Christ Resurrected led him to embracing not the fears of the world, but instead he to would embrace the martyrdom of the cross because he came to understand the importance of being a follower of Christ.
We unfortunately live in a world that does not understand the importance of the Resurrection. Even within Christian families this importance is not fully understood. Instead of embracing the fullness of Christ and thus our faith we attempt to live a life that is filled with segregation. We like to banish our religion to Sunday and make sure that it is as far as possible away from our family life, our life at school or work, and our life that we live out in private. This cannot be the reality of our life because the Resurrection has taken place. Once we find this tomb that has been left opened we must allow our faith to flow into every aspect of our life like Saint Peter did, like Mary of Magdala did, and like all the saints have done with their unending service to God. We came to encounter this opened tomb at the moment of our baptism. It was here that we were forever confirmed as a follower of Christ. From baptism we were not given the choice to segregate our faith or to trust in sin, but instead to follow after Christ and all of His teachings.
Following this homily we will again state our intention to not be like old yeast, but instead to allow it to become equal to a fresh batch of dough. Here I am speaking about each of us making a renewal of our baptismal promises. In our baptism we were set apart from sin, and therefore through the open tomb of Christ that we came to discover on this Easter morning we must continue to strive to separate ourselves from sin and despair. In the Resurrection sin and despair can never win because Christ has already conquered over death. The Resurrection is a great light that shines from the darkness and thus it always leads us to great hope and joy. There is hope because in a world that has been darkened by the stain of sin we can see that our sin has been forgiven and that we to can conquer over sin due to our own love for God. In moments of despair and hardship the Resurrection promises the great joy that something greater will indeed come if we can allow ourselves to trust in Christ.
Therefore, my brothers and sisters in Christ may we continue to sing joyfully with all the angels of Heaven "Glory to God in the highest" and may we continue to allow our chant of "alleluia" to rise to Heaven where all our hope can be found. This season is most important for each of us because it is about new life. It is not about sin, despair, and hardship; but instead it is about virtue, joy, and hope. May we always trust in these three elements and allow Christ to continue to strengthen each of them each day. Through the rolled away stone of the tomb we have entered into the very life of the Church and have forever been oriented towards Christ and His Church on this earth. May we not allow ourselves to separate these realities from our life, but instead come to truly embrace them in their fullness. Today we rejoice with hope because on the third day Christ rose from the dead; may we to rise with Him with our faith and our trust and from this great relationship truly come to discover hope and joy.
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