Mass Readings: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/042014.cfm
Good morning and
Happy Easter.
We do a lot of things by habit,
without really thinking about them. As
an example, we go through our morning routine, getting ready for school or
work, pretty much without thinking about it.
Perhaps we have a routine for other things, too– going to the
supermarket, the post office, the doctor.
Going through the motions, so to speak.
And in our routine, by force of habit perhaps, we head to Mass week
after week, either on Saturday afternoon or Sunday morning.
But do we ever stop to think about
why we do the things we do? I mean, have
you stopped to ask yourself why you’re here today? Why, when probably most of the Town of
Irondequoit is still sound asleep, you’re here in this overflowing Church
building?
Perhaps we’re here to see this
beautiful building, this glorious sanctuary?
Maybe, but I don’t think so.
Maybe it’s to show off your new
Easter clothes!? Possibly, but that’s
not really the reason, is it?
Perhaps it’s the wonderful,
prayerful music, played and sung so beautifully by our music ministry. Great as they are, I don’t think that’s it
either.
I know – it must be the scintillating
preaching, huh?! Definitely not
that. So what it it?
<pause> My sisters and brothers, there is one
thing we’re here for, or at least there is one thing that we should be
here for. And that is this:
We are here because we believe –
that Christ Jesus Our Lord has been raised from the dead. He who once was dead, now lives!
Now make no mistake, Jesus was
dead. It’s what He came to earth for, as
God made man, fully divine, fully human.
Think back a few months to Christmas morning, the joy with which we
celebrated the newborn Savior, the red color of that season a precursor of the
blood He came to shed on Calvary. And
think on that newborn Savior on Good Friday – now crowned with thorns, beaten
and whipped, nailed through hands and feet and hung high on the cross in the
noonday sun, bleeding and gasping for air.
And there He died. A spear was thrust into His lifeless body, blood
and water flowing out. His broken body
was taken down from the cross, wrapped in linen and laid in a grave.
Yes, there on Calvary He died – and
why? To stand in our place - to take the
place of you and of me – He took on the punishment that by our sins rightly
belongs to me and to you.
But, just as He had said would
happen, on that third day He was raised from the dead. Not resuscitated like His friend Lazarus,
bound to die again, but raised to a new and glorified life, never to die again. As He walked out of that tomb, He defeated
death and opened for us the gates of eternal life.
We. Believe. This! We believe that this Jesus of Nazareth, the
only begotten Son of God, died, was raised from the dead, and lives still! And
by His death and resurrection, He offers you and me the hope, the promise, of resurrection. The joy of this day is that you and I are
offered Resurrection – that day when you and I are raised up and see Him face
to face. The joy of this day is that we
are offered eternal life with Him!
So that, my brothers and sisters, is
the reason we’re here this morning. It’s
the only reason we should be here, and if we don’t believe that this Jesus of
Nazareth was raised from the dead, what’s the point of being here? And if we do believe that this Jesus of
Nazareth was raised from the dead, we should be here all the time!
For to believe this, to really
believe this, is something that changes us profoundly – for to truly believe,
and enter into an intimate love relationship with the Risen Lord means that we are
resurrected now – that from this moment we will live our lives very
differently. Very different lives than
the world out there – different than those taking advantage of this beautiful Sunday
morning to sleep in.
As a Resurrection people, we go out
into the world, but we are not of the world.
Fed here at this table by His very Risen Body and Blood, we strive to
live lives of holiness. We go forth from
here and work to build a world of justice and peace, to be light in a dark,
violent, lonely world.
And it means that we live always in
joy and hope. It means that we go forth
from here today and every Sunday to joyfully bring the presence of the Risen
Christ Jesus out into that world, a world so desperately in need of Him, a
world hungering and thirsting for Him, and Him alone, really!
A world hungering and thirsting for
the hope that only He can give.
Hungering and thirsting for the love
that only He can give.
Hungering and thirsting for the peace
that only He can give.
My sisters and
brothers – the Lord is truly Risen! Let
us Rejoice! Alleluia! Alleluia!
No comments:
Post a Comment