026 Easter

Readings

Cycle B Easter Sunday

New Testament: Colossians 3:1-4 or 1Corinthians 5:6-8

Old Testament: Acts 10:34, 37-43

Gospel: John 20:1-9 or Mark 16:1-7

Psalm: Psalm 118

Homily Theme

Witness

Jesus Christ has risen from the dead. Alleluia! This Sunday, we Christians will gather to witness to His resurrection as we sing our alleluias with faith. We all believe that Jesus truly is the son of God as witnessed by the Roman soldier who helped to crucify Him. He was the first to proclaim Him divine. We have the witness of the Jewish prophets whose prophesies he fulfilled. We have the witness of the women at the empty tomb and the witness of the apostles who ate and spoke with Him many times before His ascension into heaven. We also have the most powerful witness of the apostle St. Paul, who had been a fanatical persecutor of Christians, but converted after he had an encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus. We have the witness of the Church that has survived for 2015 years as she proclaims each year that He rose from the dead and is Lord of all. Millions of witnesses have laid down their lives for this truth since that first Easter Sunday.

Today in all the Catholic churches we will be asked to witness to our faith as we are invited to renew our baptismal promises. Most of us were baptized as infants and sponsors stood in for us at our baptism. We were unable to speak our own I do’s then but each Easter we are invited to make those promises for ourselves, as we say I do, to each article of faith. We will also have to say I do to each rejection of the evil one and his promptings. Will we be reliable witnesses ready to live that faith and even die for it as did our ancestors? All of heaven will be watching and looking into each of our hearts to see what kind of witnesses we are prepared to be. The world will also be watching to see what kind of witnesses we are for Jesus. Will our lives be capable of helping others accept Jesus and His church as were the lives of the early Christians? Will my I do be just words without actions to back them up? If they are just words, said without real faith and action, then we will not be real witnesses to Jesus or His Church. There are millions of fellow Catholics who need to come home to the Church into which they were baptized they will be waiting to see if we mean what we say by the way we live. Are you ready to say those words now and Witness to them? Really mean what you promised God. Now we should add to our I do I will. Alleluia! He is truly risen from the dead: He is Lord!.

Have a Blessed and Holy Easter