A blessed Easter to all of you and your families,
especially we want to greet the many people
who are watching this telecast.
Many of them may be living by themselves at home
or in a retirement place, facility, or in the hospital.
We want to be close to all of you
to let you know that the joy of Easter
that’s in our hearts is something
that we want to share with you.
Some years ago, I was really fascinated by a book
written by a priest who was an expert on St. John of the Cross.
His name was Ian Matthew.
And he entitled the book, “The Impact of God.”
And his point in writing the book was that,
while we may not have a direct communication from God,
personally, a vision, some sort of sighting,
or special message,
the fact that we know that God is working in the world
has an impact on our lives and has changed us.
I think that as we look at this gospel text today
and the stories of the resurrection,
we have to really wonder how is it that the church
can celebrate this day in which we say
that Jesus rose from the dead,
that we don’t hear anything about how that took place.
There’s no report of Jesus actually coming out of the tomb.
And yet, that fact of the resurrection
has an impact on us,
has an impact on the disciples that we see here in the gospel.
And so it’s an opportunity for us to take a moment
to reflect on how our faith in the resurrection,
how Jesus rising from the tomb
has had an impact in our life,
or at least should have an impact in our lives.
And the experience of the disciples seems to me
to be an indication for us to search for meaning there.
Notice that the disciples, when they come to the tomb,
they’re the ones who go in.
They’re the ones who come out of the tomb.
Jesus doesn’t come out of the tomb in our sight,
but we hear about them coming out of the tomb.
The stone is rolled back for them as well.
Many years ago, I was a pastor,
I was told of a neighboring parish
where the pastor did something very creative for Lent.
He started off Ash Wednesday in the first Sunday of Lent
by handing out little white pebbles to everybody.
Little stones, sometimes we see this in driveways.
And they have sharp edges,
and they’re not very nice to hold onto.
But he asked everybody to take one,
and he said, “Put it in your pocket, or your purse,
“or even in your shoe during the season of Lent.
“And think about the things in life
“that are burdens to you,
“or maybe that are irritants to you, other people,
“situations, worries that you have,
“burdens that you carry in life
“that make your life so very difficult.
“And pray about those burdens.
“Pray about those blockages in your life.”
And so as Lent went on, people had various experiences.
And then on Palm Sunday, he asked everybody
to bring those stones, those little rocks back,
those little white rocks.
And they all placed them into a receptacle
there in the front of the altar.
And to their surprise, on Easter,
they saw those stones again,
because he took all of those,
and he glued them onto the wooden cross
that was in the sanctuary for all of Lent.
And his point was very simple.
He said, “Leave the stones there,
“because Jesus takes all of the sinfulness,
“the heartache, the disappointment in life,
“the challenge that you have,
“and give it to him.”
That’s what the resurrection is about.
And so part of the impact of the resurrection for us
is to be able to let go of those things
that worry us, that burden us, or maybe that trouble us.
Perhaps maybe when people have thrown stones at us
and we’ve been left hurt.
Or maybe when we have thrown stones at them
by easily gossiping about them,
or saying things about them that’s not true.
Or the blockages that we place in front of everybody
in terms of God’s grace because we too easily judge them.
Those are all stones that have to be rolled away
for us to come out of the tomb.
For us also to be risen as Jesus does.
The second thing we notice is that Mary goes
and brings those disciples of Jesus – Peter and John,
and then eventually all the disciples together.
She’s known by the way as the apostle to the apostles.
She’s the first one who announces the resurrection.
Her main job is not only telling what happened,
which we saw at that tomb rolled away,
but of bringing them together.
That also I think has to be a grace that we look at
as important to lean into in these days.
We have so much division in the world.
We have wars, we have bigotry,
we have polarization in society that tear us apart
and sometimes really invade our own family lives.
We need to see that Jesus’ message of the resurrection,
‘peace be with you,’ should be taken seriously.
That we should really be intentional
about building unity,
about building peace with one another.
One of the things that I truly admire about Mercy Home
is that that’s the kind of culture
that is really developed here among the young people.
Not only does this work here give safety to young people
and opportunity for their education,
but it teaches them how to live in a world
that in fact is made of a great diverse population.
And yet how they can experience the richness of each other
in relationships in order to thrive and flourish
in a world that will easily make sure
that people are not left behind.
It’s very easy to marginalize people
who are different than ourselves.
To feel as though they don’t count, they’re not involved.
That we would not go to them with the words,
‘Peace be with you.’
But today Jesus invites us in being raised from the dead
just as his resurrection brought those disciples together
to make a real commitment intentionally
to bring about peace, to bring about harmony,
reconciliation, forgiveness in our families,
in our neighborhoods, and in our world.
That has to be an impact of the resurrection.
And the final thing that we notice is something
in the Acts of the Apostles.
It’s really quite extraordinary to hear
what Luke the Evangelist writes in the Acts of the Apostles.
He said, not only did was there sighting of Jesus
in the resurrection by the early church,
but they ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead.
That’s quite a remarkable thing.
But isn’t that what we claim to do in the Eucharist?
We eat and drink with the risen Lord.
That’s why it’s so important for us to celebrate
the Eucharist on every Sunday of the resurrection.
It’s not just to meet some sort of obligation.
Oh, it’s much more important than that.
What it really is about, is it gives us an experience
of being with the risen Lord, but also to foster our faith
that one day we too will be with the Lord.
We will rise from the dead.
We need that kind of hope in our world
where there’s so much discourages that in fact,
death itself will be conquered, not just generally
with Jesus rising from the dead, but for each one of us.
I’ve told this story before and I like to remind people of it
about Father Ryan who was a priest
during the Second World War.
He was a chaplain and he was with a group of Marines
as they were going from one island to another island.
Trying to in some way end the war.
And one day they found themselves on an island
where they knew they were going to be bombarded and shelled
as they went into battle.
And so one of the Marines,
a Catholic boy by the name of Jimmy
who was thinking about going into the seminary after the war,
asked Father Ryan if he could say mass for them
early morning before they went into battle.
And so he got everything ready for Father Ryan.
Father Ryan said the bombing was so, the shelling was so bad
he had to lie down on his stomach when he said mass
for people, for the Marines that were there.
Later on, Father Ryan was called to the front
when the battle had ended.
Many of the Marines were wounded, some killed.
And he came upon one of the Marines who was faced down
and turned him over and there was Jimmy.
Young Jimmy had a gaping wound in his stomach.
He said to Father Ryan, “Am I gonna make it?”
“I don’t think so, Jimmy, it’s pretty bad.
“I think I’m gonna pray now for you.”
And Jimmy said something that Father Ryan
said he’ll never forget.
“Isn’t it something, that just this morning
we received Jesus at mass and now I’m gonna see him?”
That’s what we believe about the resurrection,
about the tie between what we do here
and what we will experience at the end.
So the resurrection of Jesus has to have an impact on us
holding tightly to our desire to eat and drink
with the risen Lord at the Eucharist
whenever we come together.
Because it gives us that hope, that strength
that there will be a time in which like Jimmy said,
we will see him face to face.
So today as we come and celebrate the Eucharist
and we celebrate Easter,
we are to, as the word of God invites us,
look for how the impact of the resurrection affects us.
Does it allow us to have the strength
to roll away the stones that are a hindrance to our growth?
Or as we heard in the reading from Colossians,
to seek the higher things.
Does it allow us as well to promote unity
in the human family and our own families
putting aside the grudges,
the ways in which we’ve been divided?
And does it give us a further love for the Eucharist
to celebrate it in a way that inspires us
to the point that we will never lose hope
because we know that one day we will see this risen Lord
that we have eaten and drink with at this altar.
We will see him face to face.
That surely has to be the impact of God,
the impact of God who brought Jesus back from the dead.