The Power of the Resurrection

Today - we celebrate the Feast of Divine Mercy… reminding us of God’s great love for us and His compassion for us in our suffering.  

People might think that God’s Mercy toward us is something quite easy for God… but – do not forget – It cost God His Son’s life – the horrible suffering and death of Jesus… meaning – we were purchased at such a great price… 

… to save us from our sinfulness, from the brokenness of our humanity …

As we ran away from the Father, we ran into the arms of His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.

… meaning, there is no place to escape the invitation of God’s Divine Mercy.

… As St. Paul said: Nothing can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus, our Lord.

The gospel story invites us to faith, to make a decision – to make a choice to believe in the Resurrection or not - like the doubting Thomas.

Bishop Barron said: “The Resurrection of Jesus is the be-all and the end-all of the Christian faith. If Jesus did not rise from the dead, then all bishops, priests, and Christian ministers should go home and get honest jobs.”

In other words – simply put: If Jesus is not risen, we should all go home now instead of just wasting our time here.

But - if Jesus really did rise from the dead, then He must be the center of our life. As Thomas said: “My Lord and my God!” – the greatest and the most profound profession of faith.

St. Paul said: “If Jesus did not rise from the dead, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain… we are the most pitiable of all people.” (1 Cor. 15:14-19).

Fr. Glenn, began his Easter Vigil homily with this question: “Does our Easter celebration have any connection with reality?” And so I prepared my homily and built on that in the light of our Gospel reading today and the Feast of God’s Divine Mercy.

Easter is about the resurrection of Jesus. You see - God’s love, grace and mercy will not really mean much for us if we do not respond in faith.

What is the essence of the Good News? How is it summed up?

John 3:16 – “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”

Reality check - admittedly, it is easy to be a person of faith when all is well and wonderful in our lives, when all is going right. But it is not as easy to have faith – it is not easy to feel the presence of God, the Risen Christ, when we are faced with really deep crises, when things go wrong, very wrong …. like when our loved one gets sick or dies, or when we are afflicted with a serious illness, or when our plans for our lives or our loved ones are shattered… when crisis tears at our hearts…

Too often we are like the disciples who are confused about matters of faith and we struggle with doubts, at times even anger at God and yet Jesus offered his disciples and continues to offer us his wonderful gift of mercy.

We will doubt to some extent or another, until the time when we see our God face to face.

But until then, what are we supposed to do?  Let us recognize and accept and embrace our humanity – that doubting is part of being human - and let us humbly ask God for his grace and mercy.  Doubting does not mean that we have lost our faith.  It simply means that we are being called to a deeper faith.

Let us pray that we might have a mature faith, able to grow even through crises… that we might all be included in that phrase the Lord said, "Blessed are those who have not seen but believe."

Let us continue to choose to believe and accept and always remember that God is always gentle, merciful and patient with us more than we can ever imagine…. Remember that we can be honest with God…. That He will never condemn us for questioning and remember always God loves us and that God understands our fears and our doubts… 

Let us continue to say: “Jesus, I trust in you!”

Again, Easter is about the resurrection of Jesus. Many people think that faith means believing in life after death…that we will go on living after we die, right? Of course, but that is only a part of it.

But – think about this - Eternal life as endless existence is not attractive to some people. There was an eager young minister who said: “I have good news for you. In Jesus Christ you can go on living forever and ever.” But - one elderly man said, “You call that good news?

“Listen”, he said, “I’ve had about enough of this business of living, and the last thing I want is an eternity of it.” (He’s tired of living and does not even want to exist anymore). “Someday, I want to just lie down, go to sleep, and never wake up.” The young minister went away baffled. It had never occurred to him that someone might not want to live forever – if that is all there is to it.

So – What is the Good News? Does the gospel have something better to offer?

The gospel of Jesus Christ offers us a quality of life. Christ came to give us, not endless duration of time, but a different quality of life. Easter faith is not about an unending quantity of what we have now. Easter faith has to do with a quality of BEING – our state of existence, a matter of the heart - that the boundaries of space and time cannot hold…Words are not enough to describe it because – just as the Scriptures say: “Eye has not seen, ear has not heard and it has not entered the human heart what God has prepared for those who love Him” … Meaning - It is just beyond our worldly human comprehension…

The late Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI said: “Christianity is not an intellectual system, not a collection of dogmas, or a moralism. Christianity is instead a love story; it is an event, an encounter with a person, Jesus Christ – an encounter which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction.”

In other words - Life in Christ means a life that stretches beyond this world… a life with new and higher purpose.

Eternal life begins now – on earth as it is in heaven – As Jesus said: “The kingdom of heaven is at hand.” … now, even in the midst of earthly struggles.

Here’s another reality check - to ponder - While Easter faith refers to a different quality of life, this does not mean a life without suffering. What we often want is to be saved from suffering, from pain, from inconvenience.

But, the reality is - there is no problem-free existence in this world.

Jesus said, “In this world you will have troubles.” Following Jesus never meant walking away from trouble.  Actually, it more likely meant walking straight into trouble. Think of those people of faith – especially the saints - who knew persecution, poverty, and pain precisely because they were Christians. Easter faith does not mean having resurrection without a cross…. having Easter Sunday without Good Friday.

Jesus said, “In this world you will have troubles, BUT be of good cheer (take heart, do not be afraid), I have overcome the world.” (Jo 16:33)

Easter faith means believing in the power of resurrection. It means believing that it is out of death that God brings life. It means believing that in every human situation there is “a saving possibility.” Meaning – There is no situation is beyond the redemptive power of God’s love. And so, if you are in a “bad situation” in your life now, do not lose hope. Hold on to faith.

I will close with these excerpts from Pope Francis exhortation: “The Joy of the Gospel:

“We need to realize that Christ’s resurrection is not an event of the past. Where all seems to be dead - signs of the resurrection suddenly spring up. Often - it seems that God does not exist: all around us we see persistent injustice, evil, indifference and cruelty. But it is also true that in the midst of darkness something new always springs to life and sooner or later produces fruit.

However dark things are, goodness always re-emerges and spreads. Each day in our world - beauty is born anew.  Human beings have arisen time after time from situations that seemed doomed. Such is the power of the resurrection.

With a power that fills us with confidence and unshakeable hope, the Risen Christ tells us, “Behold, I make all things new.” (Rev 21:5).” (Unquote)

That is why it is “Good News” = “New”

To this I invite you, my brothers and sisters in Christ - to respond in faith. Jesus tells us: “Behold, I make all things new.” We respond in faith - Please repeat after me. “Jesus, I trust in you.”

God bless…