Alleluia: He is risen and He is Alive
Most Rev. William J. McCormack,D.D. Who resides in the rectory celebrated the Easter Vigil.
Alleluia! He is indeed risen! And He is Alive.
My dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ,
Happy Easter to you all.
I am sure we have visited many pilgrim centers and many tombs of the saints, we venerated many saintly relics. If you ever been in India you will make sure to visit a wonder of the world tomb called “Taj Mahal”, if you have visited Rome I am sure you will go down to the basilica to view the tombs of the saintly popes. In all these tombs it is inscribed that here lies so and so. But if you go to Jerusalem there is a tomb in it is written “he is not here, He is risen.” Alleluia. Yes dear brothers and sisters that is the basics of our faith.
The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the first article of the Christian faith and the demonstration of all the rest. The last act of Jesus was the starting point of the preaching. Jesus is someone who I know to be good and trustworthy. He would not deceive or pick disciples who deliberately mislead others. I believe their testimony to be true. For sure they testify to something that is mind boggling, but I do not think they could have any other motive than that it actually happened.
When Jesus died, faith in his message died as well and his movement, which had began with such promise, collapsed. If the figure on the cross had been the last sight of Him, we would not have heard anything more of Him and there would have been no Church. Well did one writer say: “The evidence for the resurrection is existence of the Church in that spiritual vitality which confronts us in the New Testament?” This is so my dear brother sand sisters. If you were to take a pencil and cross out every verse in the New Testament which refers to the resurrection or to the idea that Jesus Christ is alive, you would not have much of the New Testament left. It throbs with the conviction that Jesus was raised by God and is alive for evermore. Lose the Resurrection hope, though, and we lose our way. Even this beautiful great St Stephen’s Church will become a museum the day we lose our confidence in the resurrection.
If Christ has not risen from the grave of our lives, from our doubts, fears, from our personal deaths, then so called evidences of the resurrection are of no consequence except as props. Jesus Christ’s resurrection has to become our resurrection if it is to mean anything to all. We need to be resurrected people. We need to get up from our dead life. Are we alive in our faith my dear brothers and sisters? Where is our faith which handed over to us by our fathers our ancestors? Are they all watered down?
Take the challenge of the resurrection. It calls us to identify with a Christ who through the horror of the crucifixion leads us, his people, to new life and hope.
What matters is to take a step. In any great venture it is the first step that matters most. I remember a few years back when I first saw someone operating a computer. He could do such amazing things he seemed like a god to me. I didn't ask him to teach me all that he knew. What I asked him was, "Can you show me how to switch that thing on?" So it is in our faith. If we just take that first step, we will begin to make progress. There will be good days and bad days, set backs as well as advances. But the first step is the most important one. On Easter we take a small step together. It is the renewal of our baptism. We each know those things that are holding us down, maybe fear itself. We ask the Lord to set us free so we can discover his plan, the profession of faith.
Paul understood the reality quite well. In his letter to the Romans, he says "Christ as we know, having been raised from the dead will never die again. Death has no power over Him any more." What is the worse thing that can happen to us? Death. Death is swallowed up in victory. "Death, where is your victory? Death, where is your sting?" (1Cor 15:55).
The Resurrection of Jesus is experienced when people receive hope, when drugs are given up, when relationships are reconciled.
But, since it is true that Jesus has truly risen, where is He? Our faith affirms the certainty that Jesus can be found in four places. The risen Jesus is in heaven. The risen Jesus lives in His Church. Jesus is truly present in the Eucharist. Finally, the risen Jesus is alive in each of us.
Jesus is in heaven because He ascended to the Father 40 days after His resurrection. Jesus lives in His Church because He said that He would be with us until the end of time. Jesus is truly present in the Eucharist because His love is so great for humanity that He could not leave us alone. Jesus is present in each of us in such a way that whatever we do to any of our brothers and sisters, we do to Him. If Jesus is with us and is if we believe that why we worry. What are we worried about. If Jesus conquered even death don’t you think that he can not conquer the situations you are facing now and get you out of this? He is alive. He is risen. Alleluia
At the beginning of every day, Jesus gives us a blank piece of paper to write out the history of another day. Nevertheless, we must always keep in mind that this life was never meant to be easy. Jesus gives meaning to our suffering and gives us the ability to carry our difficulties with patience, love, and joy. When we think that Jesus is far from us, it is then that He is always the closest. Every time we suffer, He is able to understand our suffering and console us with His loving presence. Because he is risen. He is alive in us.
On October 29, 1941, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill visited Harrow School to speak to the students. The war with Germany was going badly, the German Luftwaffe was engaged in its blitz of London, and England was preparing for a Nazi invasion of the British Isles. Churchill’s speech there at Harrow was one of his more famous ones. In it he said:
Never give in. Never give in. Never, never, never, never--in nothing, great or small, large or petty--never give in, except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force. Never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.
Giving up can be the work of the devil. Giving up was found in each one of the three temptations Satan presented to Christ when He was out in the desert preparing to embark upon his public ministry. Giving up was the last temptation Satan hurled at Jesus as He hung dying on His cross. Don’t give up our faith. Don’t give up the resurrected life. Hang on. Hang on to Jesus. Even when everybody seems to give up on it. Do not give up on Truth.
God, however, never ever gives up on us… even when we’ve turned our backs on Him or betrayed Him.
Death is not the end of the story. There is one more chapter. This is the most important chapter because, as the saying goes, they who laugh last laugh best. And in the last chapter of the story of Jesus we see him rise from the dead in all glory and majesty. He is vindicated.
The Gospel account today shows us Mary Magdalene, who knew that something really important had happened but was not yet sure what had happened. It shows us Saint Peter, also recognizing that something important had happened, but not sure yet what had happened. And finally the “other disciple” sees and believes.
We can identify with all three of these believers. We can see ourselves as Mary, recognizing that something important has happened and that the leader of our faith should come and see what has happened. We can identify with Saint Peter, who seems always slow to believe but steadfast once he believes. Or we can identify with the more mysterious and mystical “other disciple” who sees and believes. We can be all three of these people at once. Yes, the joy and hope experienced by the disciples on that first Easter day are now enveloping each of us on this Easter day. This is why we echo the words of St. Augustine: "We are Easter people, and Alleluia is our song!"
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
My dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ,
Happy Easter to you all.
I am sure we have visited many pilgrim centers and many tombs of the saints, we venerated many saintly relics. If you ever been in India you will make sure to visit a wonder of the world tomb called “Taj Mahal”, if you have visited Rome I am sure you will go down to the basilica to view the tombs of the saintly popes. In all these tombs it is inscribed that here lies so and so. But if you go to Jerusalem there is a tomb in it is written “he is not here, He is risen.” Alleluia. Yes dear brothers and sisters that is the basics of our faith.
The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the first article of the Christian faith and the demonstration of all the rest. The last act of Jesus was the starting point of the preaching. Jesus is someone who I know to be good and trustworthy. He would not deceive or pick disciples who deliberately mislead others. I believe their testimony to be true. For sure they testify to something that is mind boggling, but I do not think they could have any other motive than that it actually happened.
When Jesus died, faith in his message died as well and his movement, which had began with such promise, collapsed. If the figure on the cross had been the last sight of Him, we would not have heard anything more of Him and there would have been no Church. Well did one writer say: “The evidence for the resurrection is existence of the Church in that spiritual vitality which confronts us in the New Testament?” This is so my dear brother sand sisters. If you were to take a pencil and cross out every verse in the New Testament which refers to the resurrection or to the idea that Jesus Christ is alive, you would not have much of the New Testament left. It throbs with the conviction that Jesus was raised by God and is alive for evermore. Lose the Resurrection hope, though, and we lose our way. Even this beautiful great St Stephen’s Church will become a museum the day we lose our confidence in the resurrection.
If Christ has not risen from the grave of our lives, from our doubts, fears, from our personal deaths, then so called evidences of the resurrection are of no consequence except as props. Jesus Christ’s resurrection has to become our resurrection if it is to mean anything to all. We need to be resurrected people. We need to get up from our dead life. Are we alive in our faith my dear brothers and sisters? Where is our faith which handed over to us by our fathers our ancestors? Are they all watered down?
Take the challenge of the resurrection. It calls us to identify with a Christ who through the horror of the crucifixion leads us, his people, to new life and hope.
What matters is to take a step. In any great venture it is the first step that matters most. I remember a few years back when I first saw someone operating a computer. He could do such amazing things he seemed like a god to me. I didn't ask him to teach me all that he knew. What I asked him was, "Can you show me how to switch that thing on?" So it is in our faith. If we just take that first step, we will begin to make progress. There will be good days and bad days, set backs as well as advances. But the first step is the most important one. On Easter we take a small step together. It is the renewal of our baptism. We each know those things that are holding us down, maybe fear itself. We ask the Lord to set us free so we can discover his plan, the profession of faith.
Paul understood the reality quite well. In his letter to the Romans, he says "Christ as we know, having been raised from the dead will never die again. Death has no power over Him any more." What is the worse thing that can happen to us? Death. Death is swallowed up in victory. "Death, where is your victory? Death, where is your sting?" (1Cor 15:55).
The Resurrection of Jesus is experienced when people receive hope, when drugs are given up, when relationships are reconciled.
But, since it is true that Jesus has truly risen, where is He? Our faith affirms the certainty that Jesus can be found in four places. The risen Jesus is in heaven. The risen Jesus lives in His Church. Jesus is truly present in the Eucharist. Finally, the risen Jesus is alive in each of us.
Jesus is in heaven because He ascended to the Father 40 days after His resurrection. Jesus lives in His Church because He said that He would be with us until the end of time. Jesus is truly present in the Eucharist because His love is so great for humanity that He could not leave us alone. Jesus is present in each of us in such a way that whatever we do to any of our brothers and sisters, we do to Him. If Jesus is with us and is if we believe that why we worry. What are we worried about. If Jesus conquered even death don’t you think that he can not conquer the situations you are facing now and get you out of this? He is alive. He is risen. Alleluia
At the beginning of every day, Jesus gives us a blank piece of paper to write out the history of another day. Nevertheless, we must always keep in mind that this life was never meant to be easy. Jesus gives meaning to our suffering and gives us the ability to carry our difficulties with patience, love, and joy. When we think that Jesus is far from us, it is then that He is always the closest. Every time we suffer, He is able to understand our suffering and console us with His loving presence. Because he is risen. He is alive in us.
On October 29, 1941, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill visited Harrow School to speak to the students. The war with Germany was going badly, the German Luftwaffe was engaged in its blitz of London, and England was preparing for a Nazi invasion of the British Isles. Churchill’s speech there at Harrow was one of his more famous ones. In it he said:
Never give in. Never give in. Never, never, never, never--in nothing, great or small, large or petty--never give in, except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force. Never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.
Giving up can be the work of the devil. Giving up was found in each one of the three temptations Satan presented to Christ when He was out in the desert preparing to embark upon his public ministry. Giving up was the last temptation Satan hurled at Jesus as He hung dying on His cross. Don’t give up our faith. Don’t give up the resurrected life. Hang on. Hang on to Jesus. Even when everybody seems to give up on it. Do not give up on Truth.
God, however, never ever gives up on us… even when we’ve turned our backs on Him or betrayed Him.
Death is not the end of the story. There is one more chapter. This is the most important chapter because, as the saying goes, they who laugh last laugh best. And in the last chapter of the story of Jesus we see him rise from the dead in all glory and majesty. He is vindicated.
The Gospel account today shows us Mary Magdalene, who knew that something really important had happened but was not yet sure what had happened. It shows us Saint Peter, also recognizing that something important had happened, but not sure yet what had happened. And finally the “other disciple” sees and believes.
We can identify with all three of these believers. We can see ourselves as Mary, recognizing that something important has happened and that the leader of our faith should come and see what has happened. We can identify with Saint Peter, who seems always slow to believe but steadfast once he believes. Or we can identify with the more mysterious and mystical “other disciple” who sees and believes. We can be all three of these people at once. Yes, the joy and hope experienced by the disciples on that first Easter day are now enveloping each of us on this Easter day. This is why we echo the words of St. Augustine: "We are Easter people, and Alleluia is our song!"
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
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