Easter Sunday
THIS IS THE DAY THE LORD HAS MADE, LET US REJOICE AND BE GLAD IN IT!
ALLELUIA, HE IS RISEN!
This is the day when Jesus conquered sin and rose from the dead. He conquered sin. He didn't eliminate it. Sin's still around, but by dying and rising, Jesus Christ has made it possible for us to live forever in paradise in spite of our sin.
When Jesus was crucified, Satan thought he had won. He had sent Judas to betray Jesus and must have danced for joy when he saw them come to take the Lord away. But his victory was short-lived. Satan didn't realize that when Jesus died, He took the weight of our sins with Him and when He rose in glory that first Easter morning, our hope of ever-lasting life was assured. Satan had the lead in the game, but Jesus hit a walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth. He scored a goal in overtime. He kicked a field goal in the final seconds. He rose from the dead! Try to top that, Satan!
Here we are, more than 2,000 years later, still pinning our hopes of salvation on the carpenter's son. And He's still there for us. And I would suggest that we need Him now more than ever. He didn't just die for our sins but He's also there for us to help us get through this life in preparation for the next. Our protestant friends might ask if we've accepted Jesus as our Personal Lord and Savior. Of course, the answer is "yes". Our relationship with Christ IS personal. He walks with us every day, side by side, to show us the way.
Let's be honest. The world is in a mess right now. The unemployment numbers are high but unemployment is more than just numbers. There's not a week that goes by that someone I know isn't telling me that they've lost their job. It stops being about statistics when you or someone you know is out on the street. Including inlaws, three people in my family have lost their jobs in the last four months. Could there ever be a time when you need a personal relationship with Jesus more than when the paycheck stops coming in?
On a more global scale, war and the threat of war are a constant part of our lives. Just last week North Korea test fired a long-range rocket. Iran may soon have nuclear weapons if they don't already. Our country is involved in two wars that show no signs of ending. Pirates, not the lovable Disney-type with parrots on their shoulders, but ruthless, evil, murderous pirates are threatening American ships and lives in international waters. In times like these, who do we turn to? Our government? Other countries' governments? The UN?
What about natural disasters? It seems like we've been having more of them recently than we had in the past. It's the beginning of tornado season here in the midwest. Just last week there was a deadly earthquake in Italy. Our neighbors in North Dakota are fighting devastating flooding and unless I missed something in geography class, it would seem like all that water will eventually end up around here. The natural law is God's law. These things are going to happen. When they do, who do we turn to? FEMA? Jefferson City? State Farm?
Hopefully you see where I'm going with this. God loves us so much that He gave us His Son. The Exultet, or Easter Proclamation that was sung at the Easter Vigil mass last night contains these words:
"Father, how wonderful your care for us! How boundless your merciful love! To ransom a slave you gave away your son." Who would do that? Would you? Would I? I don't think so. But God did it because He loves us in a way that we won't ever understand until we come face-to-face with Him in heaven. In the mean time we'll just have to do our best to comprehend something that's incomprehensible. We'll have to rely on God's word. That's called "faith". And sometimes "faith" requires us to believe some pretty outrageous things.
Jesus left Peter and his successors in charge of His Church and that Church never makes a mistake when it comes to matters of faith and morals? C'mon, they're just men. How can they be "infallible". But Jesus told the Apostles, "Whoever hears you, hears me." And we believe it by faith.
We're supposed to believe that Fr. Gary turns bread and wine into Jesus' Body and Blood. That's crazy talk! Prove it! But Jesus himself said it, so our faith tells us it must be true. And where there's faith, there's no need for proof. In fact, where there's truth, there's no need for faith.
And the most outrageous thing of all, Jesus rose from the dead. How can that be? It never happened before and it's never happened again. Men don't rise from the dead. But Jesus is more than just a man. He's the Son of God. He can do anything. It might seem impossible but our faith tells us that it happened.
And that's what we celebrate today. Christ has died. Christ has risen. Christ will come again. He's the light at the end of the tunnel. He guides us through this troubled world knowing that something is waiting for us that's so amazing, so incredible, so wonderful that our feeble human minds can't begin to imagine it. But until we experience it for ourselves at some unknown future date, we take comfort in knowing that Jesus is walking by our side, helping us to endure unemployment, an unstable world, natural disasters and the personal disasters that all of us have to deal with as we pass through this life.
So, where is this "Jesus" that's supposed to be walking with us? I"ve never seen him. Oh, you've seen Him alright, you just didn't recognize Him. The Apostles on the road to Ameus didn't recognize Him even though they knew what He looked like, so don't feel bad if you've seen Him and didn't know who He was either. Like I said, He's the Son of God, He can do anything. He can appear as your spouse, your parents, your kids, or that homeless person you try not to make eye contact with as you walk by. He might even be your boss, telling you that your services are no longer required. You just don't know.
Easter Sunday is the ultimate recognition that tremendous good can come from seemingly bad things. If Jesus' death, the crime of deicide, the killing of God, can lead to the greatest event in the history of the world, then there's no reason that with God's help, we can't turn any situation into something good. It may seem impossible. We may not see it right away. But it's there just the same. Our faith tells us so.
ALLELUIA, HE IS RISEN!
This is the day when Jesus conquered sin and rose from the dead. He conquered sin. He didn't eliminate it. Sin's still around, but by dying and rising, Jesus Christ has made it possible for us to live forever in paradise in spite of our sin.
When Jesus was crucified, Satan thought he had won. He had sent Judas to betray Jesus and must have danced for joy when he saw them come to take the Lord away. But his victory was short-lived. Satan didn't realize that when Jesus died, He took the weight of our sins with Him and when He rose in glory that first Easter morning, our hope of ever-lasting life was assured. Satan had the lead in the game, but Jesus hit a walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth. He scored a goal in overtime. He kicked a field goal in the final seconds. He rose from the dead! Try to top that, Satan!
Here we are, more than 2,000 years later, still pinning our hopes of salvation on the carpenter's son. And He's still there for us. And I would suggest that we need Him now more than ever. He didn't just die for our sins but He's also there for us to help us get through this life in preparation for the next. Our protestant friends might ask if we've accepted Jesus as our Personal Lord and Savior. Of course, the answer is "yes". Our relationship with Christ IS personal. He walks with us every day, side by side, to show us the way.
Let's be honest. The world is in a mess right now. The unemployment numbers are high but unemployment is more than just numbers. There's not a week that goes by that someone I know isn't telling me that they've lost their job. It stops being about statistics when you or someone you know is out on the street. Including inlaws, three people in my family have lost their jobs in the last four months. Could there ever be a time when you need a personal relationship with Jesus more than when the paycheck stops coming in?
On a more global scale, war and the threat of war are a constant part of our lives. Just last week North Korea test fired a long-range rocket. Iran may soon have nuclear weapons if they don't already. Our country is involved in two wars that show no signs of ending. Pirates, not the lovable Disney-type with parrots on their shoulders, but ruthless, evil, murderous pirates are threatening American ships and lives in international waters. In times like these, who do we turn to? Our government? Other countries' governments? The UN?
What about natural disasters? It seems like we've been having more of them recently than we had in the past. It's the beginning of tornado season here in the midwest. Just last week there was a deadly earthquake in Italy. Our neighbors in North Dakota are fighting devastating flooding and unless I missed something in geography class, it would seem like all that water will eventually end up around here. The natural law is God's law. These things are going to happen. When they do, who do we turn to? FEMA? Jefferson City? State Farm?
Hopefully you see where I'm going with this. God loves us so much that He gave us His Son. The Exultet, or Easter Proclamation that was sung at the Easter Vigil mass last night contains these words:
"Father, how wonderful your care for us! How boundless your merciful love! To ransom a slave you gave away your son." Who would do that? Would you? Would I? I don't think so. But God did it because He loves us in a way that we won't ever understand until we come face-to-face with Him in heaven. In the mean time we'll just have to do our best to comprehend something that's incomprehensible. We'll have to rely on God's word. That's called "faith". And sometimes "faith" requires us to believe some pretty outrageous things.
Jesus left Peter and his successors in charge of His Church and that Church never makes a mistake when it comes to matters of faith and morals? C'mon, they're just men. How can they be "infallible". But Jesus told the Apostles, "Whoever hears you, hears me." And we believe it by faith.
We're supposed to believe that Fr. Gary turns bread and wine into Jesus' Body and Blood. That's crazy talk! Prove it! But Jesus himself said it, so our faith tells us it must be true. And where there's faith, there's no need for proof. In fact, where there's truth, there's no need for faith.
And the most outrageous thing of all, Jesus rose from the dead. How can that be? It never happened before and it's never happened again. Men don't rise from the dead. But Jesus is more than just a man. He's the Son of God. He can do anything. It might seem impossible but our faith tells us that it happened.
And that's what we celebrate today. Christ has died. Christ has risen. Christ will come again. He's the light at the end of the tunnel. He guides us through this troubled world knowing that something is waiting for us that's so amazing, so incredible, so wonderful that our feeble human minds can't begin to imagine it. But until we experience it for ourselves at some unknown future date, we take comfort in knowing that Jesus is walking by our side, helping us to endure unemployment, an unstable world, natural disasters and the personal disasters that all of us have to deal with as we pass through this life.
So, where is this "Jesus" that's supposed to be walking with us? I"ve never seen him. Oh, you've seen Him alright, you just didn't recognize Him. The Apostles on the road to Ameus didn't recognize Him even though they knew what He looked like, so don't feel bad if you've seen Him and didn't know who He was either. Like I said, He's the Son of God, He can do anything. He can appear as your spouse, your parents, your kids, or that homeless person you try not to make eye contact with as you walk by. He might even be your boss, telling you that your services are no longer required. You just don't know.
Easter Sunday is the ultimate recognition that tremendous good can come from seemingly bad things. If Jesus' death, the crime of deicide, the killing of God, can lead to the greatest event in the history of the world, then there's no reason that with God's help, we can't turn any situation into something good. It may seem impossible. We may not see it right away. But it's there just the same. Our faith tells us so.
posted by Mike at 8:02 PM
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