A Homily – Holy Week, Easter Sunday (Year A) A Holy Day of Obligation

A Homily – Holy Week, Easter Sunday (Year A) A Holy Day of Obligation

 

First Reading - Acts 10:34,37-43 ©

Responsorial Psalm - Psalm 117(118):1-2,16-17,22-23 ©

Second Reading - Colossians 3:1-4 ©

Sequence - Victimae Paschali Laudes

Gospel Acclamation – 1 Corinthians 5:7-8

The Gospel According to John 20:1-9 ©

 

(NJB)

 

Listen and receive the gospel:

 Follow Jesus, do good, love justice, be merciful, walk with humility; be a source of healing in the world. This is the way; place your hopes in it and believe in the good news.

 The way is the law, and the law is life; the divine law is written in your hearts, God speaks to us there, do not doubt it. God is the Creator of the universe and everything in it, God speaks to us in terms of love and mercy, God instructs us to be kind. All other versions of the law are merely reflections of the divine law, dim and imperfect. God’s law is like a living flame; look into the fire and see the truth shimmering there, wrapping itself around the coals, touching everything.

 It is good to uphold God’s law, to demonstrate mercy and compassion through right living; this is is a blessing to everyone.

 Today we are alive in the world, as Christians we are called on to live as if we believed that the promise of salvation is true, as if it were already accomplished and accomplished full; this is the meaning of the Gospel, the good news that Christ has risen.

 To possess Christian faith is to trust in this proposition, it is trust in the belief that you, together with everyone, will rise as Christ did, not in a transactional way, not as an exchange for our “belief,” but merely because God loves us.

 Imagine the holy family of God, by which I mean the entirety of creation. Imagine all of us living in the garden now; gathered together at the divine table in peace, gathered at the foot of the God’s mountain without want or enmity, living in that place where we are able to see clearly, and see that our relationships with each other are more important than gold, political power or any other earthly treasure.

 Imagine it; hold that vision in your heart as a hope for the future, pass it on to your children as if it was the most precious thing they could inherit.

 Celebrate the feast of Easter, take part in it and accept the way that Jesus instructed us to follow, the way he showed us through his life, his death and in the resurrection. It does not matter if any part of the story is literally true or not.

 Believe in it, even in the dark times, even in times as dark as that first Easter morning, when Mary Magdala came to the tomb.

 She had waited at the foot of the cross when Jesus was crucified, it was Mary Magdala who anointed him for burial, and it was she who was the first to receive the revelation: Jesus, son of Joseph and mary…he had risen.

 It was dark when Mary Magdala arrived at the tomb, but not completely dark, and in the dim light of morning she saw a hint of the truth that would unfold as the sun rose to fill the day with light. She saw the stone rolled away from the tomb, and she found the tomb empty.

 At first she assumed that someone had come and removed the body of Jesus, taken him and hidden him somewhere. She hurried to find the others, to tell them what she had found. When the other disciples arrived on the scene and explored the tomb for themselves, the understanding of what had transpired began to take hold among them.

 They saw the empty tomb, the burial garments cast aside, and they understood that Jesus had been raised from the dead; on this belief, and on the strength of their witness the Church was born.

 Know this, the Church was not built on the foundation of Peter’s faith, which faltered and failed on the night Jesus was arrested. The Church was built on the faith of women, like Mary and the others who never abandoned him, who did everything in their power to make the path that was in front of him as smooth as it could be.

 Throughout his ministry it was the women among his disciples who understood his mission, who possessed a fulsome comprehension of the power of his message, including the necessity of responding to it in faith. It was the women who followed him who trusted him, who encouraged faith among the people, not with propositions and creeds, but with action and by their living witness; it was only the women in Jesus’ company who were never confused about his mission. They always understood how it would end.

 While his male disciples tripped over themselves, doubted him, doubted each other, vied for supremacy, denied him, betrayed him, sold him into captivity; while all of that was going on, the women were steadfast by his side, comforting him, tending to him easing the burden of what lay ahead.

 They anointed him, they witnessed his trial, they set aside their fear, they stood by him as he was crucified, they buried him, they waited by the tomb, they prayed for him and they were the first to see him risen.

 They followed him to the end, as an example to us all.

  

First Reading - Acts 10:34,37-43 ©

'We Have Eaten and Drunk with Him After His Resurrection'

Peter addressed Cornelius and his household: ‘You must have heard about the recent happenings in Judaea; about Jesus of Nazareth and how he began in Galilee, after John had been preaching baptism. God had anointed him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and because God was with him, Jesus went about doing good and curing all who had fallen into the power of the devil. Now I, and those with me, can witness to everything he did throughout the countryside of Judaea and in Jerusalem itself: and also to the fact that they killed him by hanging him on a tree, yet three days afterwards God raised him to life and allowed him to be seen, not by the whole people but only by certain witnesses God had chosen beforehand. Now we are those witnesses – we have eaten and drunk with him after his resurrection from the dead – and he has ordered us to proclaim this to his people and to tell them that God has appointed him to judge everyone, alive or dead. It is to him that all the prophets bear this witness: that all who believe in Jesus will have their sins forgiven through his name.’

 

Responsorial Psalm - Psalm 117(118):1-2,16-17,22-23 ©

This day was made by the Lord: we rejoice and are glad.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!

Give thanks to the Lord for he is good,

  for his love has no end.

Let the sons of Israel say:

  ‘His love has no end.’

This day was made by the Lord: we rejoice and are glad.

The Lord’s right hand has triumphed;

  his right hand raised me up.

I shall not die, I shall live

  and recount his deeds.

This day was made by the Lord: we rejoice and are glad.

The stone which the builders rejected

  has become the corner stone.

This is the work of the Lord,

  a marvel in our eyes.

This day was made by the Lord: we rejoice and are glad.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!

 

Second Reading - Colossians 3:1-4 ©

Look for the Things that Are in Heaven, where Christ Is

Since you have been brought back to true life with Christ, you must look for the things that are in heaven, where Christ is, sitting at God’s right hand. Let your thoughts be on heavenly things, not on the things that are on the earth, because you have died, and now the life you have is hidden with Christ in God. But when Christ is revealed – and he is your life – you too will be revealed in all your glory with him.

 

Sequence

Victimae Paschali Laudes

Christians, to the Paschal Victim

  offer sacrifice and praise.

The sheep are ransomed by the Lamb;

and Christ, the undefiled,

hath sinners to his Father reconciled.

Death with life contended:

  combat strangely ended!

Life’s own Champion, slain,

  yet lives to reign.

Tell us, Mary:

  say what thou didst see

  upon the way.

The tomb the Living did enclose;

I saw Christ’s glory as he rose!

The angels there attesting;

shroud with grave-clothes resting.

Christ, my hope, has risen:

he goes before you into Galilee.

That Christ is truly risen

  from the dead we know.

Victorious king, thy mercy show!

 

Gospel Acclamation - 1Cor5:7-8

Alleluia, alleluia!

Christ, our passover, has been sacrificed:

let us celebrate the feast then, in the Lord.

Alleluia!

 

The Gospel According to John 20:1-9 ©

He Must Rise from the Dead

It was very early on the first day of the week and still dark, when Mary of Magdala came to the tomb. She saw that the stone had been moved away from the tomb and came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved. ‘They have taken the Lord out of the tomb’ she said ‘and we don’t know where they have put him.’

So Peter set out with the other disciple to go to the tomb. They ran together, but the other disciple, running faster than Peter, reached the tomb first; he bent down and saw the linen cloths lying on the ground, but did not go in. Simon Peter who was following now came up, went right into the tomb, saw the linen cloths on the ground, and also the cloth that had been over his head; this was not with the linen cloths but rolled up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple who had reached the tomb first also went in; he saw and he believed. Till this moment they had failed to understand the teaching of scripture, that he must rise from the dead.

 

Holy Week, Easter Sunday (Year A) A Holy Day of Obligation