Homily Easter Sunday Year C Tell the Good News
Homily:
Easter Sunday Year C
Since Ash Wednesday we have been on our
annual, spiritual pilgrimage to the celebration of these Easter mysteries. On
Ash Wednesday we entered a penitential time. Having heard the words: “Turn away
from sin and believe in the Good News of salvation, we have hopefully heeded
these words.
Now we come to this new moment in our
journey. Like those who stood with Jesus as he hung from the cross and died for
our sins, we are now told the Good News. He is risen! He is alive! And with
him, if we have walked faithfully on this Lenten pilgrimage and died to sin, we
have risen with him. We share in his life. We are a new creation. We have been
saved and set free from the bondage of sin.
The women heard the Good News and believed. But
that is not the end or only purpose of the Good News of his Resurrection. They
were told that they had to tell others, to witness to others this message of
hope, the event that has changed the history of the world, the truth that will
set others free.
What would have happened if they heard the
Good News and went back to their ordinary way of life, first because they did
not believe or secondly because it wasn’t something they wanted to get involved
in, or thirdly, they hoarded the Good News as a treasure for themselves alone?
Would the Good News had died with them?
Instead, they accepted the message of hope
as a revelation of truth, and shared it with the eleven disciples. Though the
disciples did not understand it at first, their hearts were opened and
questioned: Is it true?
Jesus confirmed the message by revealing
himself to Mary Magdalene and then to the Eleven. But again, they were told not
to keep this for themselves but to witness this new life to others.
What has happened to us this Lent? What has
died? What has come to new life? What experience of God’s grace and mercy did
we experience? When we look upon the presence of the Lord or receive him in
Eucharist, what do we feel? How has Jesus spoken to our hearts on our journey?
Was all of this just for us alone or are we
called by Jesus to share it with others? In what ways do you experience new
life in Christ? In what way has a new sense of love enveloped you? What will
you do? He is risen! It is true! Tell the world the Good News, for the world is
enveloped in a darkness of hopelessness and fear, of insecurity and mistrust,
of anger and non-forgiveness. The world needs a message of hope and truth, a
message of light and life. You have been told that message. Go and live it. Go
and tell it. Whether the other believes or not, tell it anyway to fulfill your
call and mission.
Should not the Good News excite us, energize
us, be reflected on our face, in our way of life, in our relationship to one
another? But if Christians do not live it, if Christians buy into the sad news
of the world, then the Good News will not be heard. Our excitement and
conviction should be contagious. He is risen! Alleluia! Go and proclaim it! Go
and live it!
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