Easter homily (4/8/2007)

Homilist: Fr. Donald Brick

What I am certain of this morning is that none of you ran to Mass. Correct? It is interesting in today’s Gospel that both Mary Magdala and Peter and this other disciple whom Jesus loved ran on Easter Sunday. This Mass should be full of energy and joy. There is something about the Easter season that makes us want to run to the Lord. We have the custom of greeting one another. St. John Chrysostom said “these fifty days are one big long celebration” and it the most central of our Christian life. The greeting is “The Lord is Risen” and the proper response is “The Lord is truly risen.”

There are three things that make us want to run, as is pointed out in the liturgy. First, as they stood there, uncertain and bewildered, two men in dazzling apparel surprised them, saying: "Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, he is risen" (Luke 24:5-6). "Non est hic, sed resurrexit" (Luke 24:6). Ever since that morning, these words have not ceased to resound throughout the universe as a proclamation of joy which spans the centuries unchanged and, at the same time, charged with infinite and ever new resonances. "He is not here ... he is risen." The heavenly messengers announce first and foremost that Jesus "is not here": The Son of God did not remain in the tomb, because it was not possible for him to be held prisoner by death (cf. Acts 2:24) and the tomb could not hold on to "the living one" (Revelation 1:18) who is the very source of life. It is not an opinion! Jesus Christ came out of that grave on Easter morning and that is a truth. We are celebrating this true fact. It is a physical resurrection. It is not just a question of His spirit being kept alive. His very body which was laid in the tomb on Good Friday rose physically out of the tomb. The heart was beating again the lungs were exhaling and inhaling. The muscles were moving. Jesus Christ is alive and He is alive today in the Eucharist truly present Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity. The wonderful, astonishing and awesome fact is there has never been a day since then when people have not believed in His glorious resurrection. Today churches throughout the world are full of people who firmly and fervently believe in Jesus Christ, who is Risen indeed.

The second thing that makes us run is that Jesus is truly a living person. The Risen Christ present here loves you personally! I do not care age, height, weight, sins. Jesus Christ loves you! The first Easter morning Mary Magdala went to the tomb weeping and Jesus Christ appeared to her and said, “Mary”. He called her by name and then she saw that He was alive. The Risen Christ is calling you by name this morning, just as He called Mary on the first Easter day and just as He has called every person who has come into the world. He looks at you and knows your life story. He speaks and calls your name. He says to you, “I am Risen.” Let us turn to Him and say, “Master, Lord, I believe!” Pope Benedict said, “Today there is a need to rediscover that Jesus Christ is not just a private conviction or an abstract idea, but a real person, whose becoming part of human history is capable of renewing the life of every man and woman.” In the Eucharist the very Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus we discover a living person who loves you personally. It is in this that made the disciples run and should make us run towards Him in love and in fidelity to Him.

The third thing that made them run was the enthusiasm, happiness and joy that surrounded each of them when the saw the risen Lord. In the first case we have Mary Magdala who came to the tomb expecting to find Jesus dead in the tomb and she finds the stone rolled away. Her response to this is that she runs from the tomb in confusion. It is a typical characteristic of the response of the early Church to the Resurrection of Jesus. In all of the accounts of Jesus’ Resurrection there is some confusion because people do not expect this to take place. They expect Jesus to be dead and Jesus is raised from the dead. It was an unexpected event for them in their relationship with Jesus. One of things Mary Magdala does in response is she runs. She is not the only one along the way; she encounters Peter and the disciple who Jesus loved and she described to them that the tomb is empty. In response to that experience what do they do? They run, not away from the tomb as Mary Magdala, but towards the tomb. There is something about the Resurrection of Jesus that brings this kind of energy and life to His disciples.