12th April 2009 :: Easter Sunday
It is said that on Easter Day that the Sun dances in the sky in pure joy because of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. It is not hard for us to imagine what it must have been like for those who on that first Easter Sunday went to the burial place of Jesus. Their hearts were crushed, perhaps their tears had not ceased to flow, and yet they were met by a sight that still mystifies and excites even the most lukewarm of believers. The sign was the empty tomb. At first they thought someone had stolen the body of Jesus, but then they remembered what he had spoken about again and again, that the Son of Man would suffer and die and in three days would be raised to life again. And somehow that message has travelled through the centuries and is proclaimed anew today.
We are beginning today the Easter Season which lasts for fifty days; we leave behind the penitential days of Lent and are invited to live the mystery of Easter every day. This year we need more than ever to have something to celebrate, caught as we are in recession hit Ireland. What Easter really says to us is that the decisive battle has been fought and won, and that nothing will happen to us that we and God cannot contend with. We naturally look around our scar torn world and wonder why it is so. Yet, Easter stands above all for hope and for life, it insists that all life be protected and cherished from the cradle to the grave. Easter invites all men and women of good will to make this world a better place, the world that God loves so much.
The celebration of Easter needs to begin deep down in our hearts and souls, it calls above all for optimism and good cheer, for smiles and laughter as opposed to scowls and pessimism. When you leave the Church today will people see on your faces that Christ is indeed risen, or will they see a look that says the resurrection is only a myth that none of us really believe? Pope John Paul II put it well when he said that 'we are an Easter people, and Alleluia is our song'. Christ is indeed risen, let us go and tell those who do not yet know. Amen
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Homilies Archive
17nd May 2009
26th April 2009
3rd Sunday of Easter
12th April 2009
Easter Sunday
9th April 2009
Holy Thursday
29th March 2009
5th Sunday in Lent
22nd March 2009
4th Sunday in Lent
17th March 2009
St Patrick's Day
15th March 2009
3rd Sunday in Lent
8th March 2009
2nd Sunday in Lent
1st March 2009
1st Sunday in Lent
25th February 2009
Ash Wednesday
22nd February 2009
8th February 2009
1st February 2009
25th January 2009
18th January 2009
11th January 2009
Feast of the Baptism of the Lord
6th January 2009
Feast of the Epiphany
4th January 2009
2008 HOMILIES ARCHIVE
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