Lec
# 42- Easter Sunday- April 20, 2013- Fr. Bresowar
My
brothers and sisters in Christ, it is a great joy and privilege to gather once
again with you to celebrate the greatest feast of the Christian calendar, The Resurrection
of our Lord, at this Mass of Easter Sunday.
Some
2000 years ago the world was changed forever, when an obscure carpenter from an
area some 90 miles north of Jerusalem, from the small nothing town called
Nazareth, a blip on the map, unnoticed in the day, was crucified by the Romans,
a practice which was very common at that time, held only for those who were not
born Roman citizens, and would have never been known to any of us at all,
especially just one of many who had undergone such torture, changed the whole
entire world forever by doing something no one else had ever done and has ever
done since then. Instead of fading away into history as just another good
person who was unjustly condemned, he went a step further, and gave us not only
a great example to follow, but even greater than this, he took it upon himself
to destroy the thing that we most fear, he destroyed death and made it possible
for us that we might never die, but live forever in eternity.
Unlike
so many before and after him, Jesus did something incredibly unique. No other
follower of any other religious figure, or political leader can claim what we
as followers of Jesus Christ can claim. Our founder, unlike every other religious
founder, is not dead, but is alive.
As
alive as you and I are right here, only better, he is glorified; he now
possesses what we hope to possess very soon, our glorified bodies.
In
the kingdom of God, the very flesh and blood that each of us possess, will be
glorified. It was never God’s plan for death to be permanent. In fact, death
was never part of God’s plan at all. It is an effect of original sin, an
unfortunate consequence of rejecting the plan that God laid out for us. But
death, a powerful force indeed, would not overcome life.
Jesus
Christ, who is the way, the truth, and the life has won for us our redemption,
and the suffering we endure now, ultimately because sin entered the world, is
overcome.
This
is the foundation of our faith; this is our victory! Suffering, which was at
once a great source of discouragement and hopelessness, and for many is still a
sign and reality of great confusion, has been turned upside down, and defeated
by those of us who put our faith in Jesus Christ. For the one who has faith,
suffering loses its sting, and death has no more power.
Happy
Resurrection Sunday everyone! God is alive! Life prevails, and death is coming
to an end.
The
40 days of Lent we endured were never meant to be a permanent fixture in our lives;
they were a preparation for our own Resurrection. The time to fast and do
penance is over for now! Today we celebrate the glory of existence, because
existing in Christ is worth the battle of this life. For we were dead in our
sins with no hope, but now we are alive because God has chosen to save us from
our wretchedness and fulfilled his promise to make all things new.
By
his Resurrection, creation has been made anew. The new Adam has restored what
the old Adam lost. Everything now
has meaning in Jesus Christ. And what God created at first, is now better. A
new birth, a new creation, a share in divine life. Glory and Praise and all
Honor to Jesus Christ, our risen Lord. It is very appropriate today that we
sing Alleluia!
We
celebrate our baptism into the life of Jesus Christ. We will very shortly renew
our baptismal promises we made, or our parents made on our behalf many years
ago, and by doing so once again, we will proclaim our faith in Christ, and our
rejection of Satan and evil, and our resolve to follow the Christ into
eternity, because now, unlike before, there is no end for us. We will
transition into eternal life, and although it may seem like a long time away,
the reality is, the short span of years that this life is, is nothing compared
to the incomprehensible joy that awaits those of us who persevere by the Grace
won for us on the cross of victory, the cross of Christ.
Our
purpose now, as Easter people, is one. We are called as disciples of Jesus
Christ to go out and spread our joy to the world. For we are not in Heaven yet
for one reason, because God wants more than these. HE wants everyone! We must
be his arms and his feet, his voice crying out in a desert, we must be his
instruments. This is our task! To be used by Jesus to draw the world to
Himself.
We
do this by making a firm commitment to follow Him! It’s not easy, many people
will walk away, some will lose faith, and others will be too overcome by worldly
possessions, and ideas that happiness can be made here apart from God. It is a
lie that many fall victim too, even I did for some time. The undisciplined are
many. But the story is not over for them, nor was it over for me, there is
still time, and that is because God is Mercy and he wants everyone to know and
experience the Truth. Words cannot express what faith manifest in those who
love Jesus.
So
let us go out of our way then, my brothers and sisters, to serve others with
the good news, feed the hungry to lead them to Jesus, shelter the homeless to
lead them to Jesus, give of our means to the poor, to lead them to Jesus.
Reject sin in our own lives, seeks God’s mercy, reject the culture that says
God is dead, deny ourselves for love of God’s will, and then rejoice forever,
because we are victorious and nothing will take this away from us.
God
Bless each of you! And may we all be emboldened in our faith and win for Jesus
Christ countless souls as we make our way to Sainthood where his glory will at
last be made fully manifest in us. Christ is Alive! Alleluia, Alleluia!
