Homily for Easter Sunday
“Now we are those witnesses – we have eaten and drunk with him after his resurrection from the dead.”
At the house of Cornelius, Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, addressed those gathered there. They were about to experience a new Pentecost. He spoke to them of Jesus. Most people presumed he was dead and buried, but Peter was saying something that took their breath away: Jesus had been crucified, but three days’ later he had been raised to life by God. Not only that, he was even suggesting that Jesus was God, for “all who believe in Jesus will have their sins forgiven through his name.” The Pharisees had been right, only God can forgive sin, yet Jesus often told those he healed, “your sins are forgiven”. Peter was claiming that, if people believed in his resurrection, Jesus would forgive their sins. “God anointed him with the Holy Spirit and with power and because God was with him, Jesus went about doing good.”
But Peter had more to say: “Now we are those witnesses – we have eaten and drunk with him after his resurrection from the dead.” Who was he talking about? The Apostles, Our Lady, Mary Magdalene and the other women: those closest to Jesus. Then there were friends such as Mary, Martha and Lazarus and those he had healed or simply met on the road like Bartimaeus, lepers and paralytics, the woman with the haemorrhage, the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well, the widow of Nain and so on. What about the small boy who had provided the loaves and fishes to feed the five thousand? Then there were those who had been with him at the end: Veronica and Simon of Cyrene, Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathaea.
To all these you can add St Paul. Not only does he give us the earliest account of the Last Supper, he was able to write what we heard this morning. “Christ, our Passover, has been sacrificed; let us celebrate the feast, by casting away the old yeast of evil and wickedness, having only the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.” In fact, all those, who throughout history have believed in Jesus, those who have done in his memory what he commanded us to do and, “have eaten and drunk with him after his resurrection from the dead”.
That is what we are doing this morning. We are celebrating our Easter Mass in memory of his death and resurrection and, in the power of the Holy Spirit we make those saving events a present reality in the life of the Church. That, after all, is the meaning of the Real Presence. At this Paschal Banquet, we are present with Jesus in the Upper Room, we are with him on Calvary and in the Easter Garden. Like Mary Magdalene we see the stone rolled away. Like Peter and the Beloved Disciple we look inside the empty tomb; we see and we believe. Like the two disciples on the road to Emmaus our hearts burn within us as Jesus walks with us and explains the scriptures to us and we recognise him in the breaking of bread. Like the disciples at Pentecost we too have received the gift of the Spirit, the fullness of grace, and now we too bear witness to Jesus. We proclaim him to be Lord and Saviour and that in him alone do we find salvation. “Now we are those witnesses – we have eaten and drunk with him after his resurrection from the dead.”
In the Victimae Paschali we sing the words, “Dux vitae mortuus regnat vivus” – The Lord of life is dead yet lives and reigns.” Where there is death, there is life, where there is sorrow, joy, where there is darkness, light, where there is hatred, love, and where there is doubt, there is also faith. He is dead, yet he lives.
On behalf of the Monastic Community I wish you and your loved ones a joyful and a holy Easter. Christ is risen, he is risen indeed, alleluia, alleluia.
