News & Events
Easter Sunday
Posted in News
5th.April 2026
Gospel John 20:1-9
On the first day of the week, Mary of Magdala came to the tomb early in the morning, while it was still dark, and saw the stone removed from the tomb. So, she ran and went to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and told them, “They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we don’t know where they put him.” So, Peter and the other disciple went out and came to the tomb. They both ran, but the other disciple ran faster than Peter and arrived at the tomb first; he bent down and saw the burial clothes there, but did not go in. When Simon Peter arrived after him, he went into the tomb and saw the burial cloths there, and the cloth that had covered his head, not with the burial cloths but rolled up in a separate place. Then the other disciple also went in, the one who had arrived at the tomb first, and he saw and believed. For they did not yet understand the Scripture that he had to rise from the dead.
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Homily
Please excuse me if I begin the homily tonight by remembering Good Friday as a prelude to Easter Sunday. As I said yesterday in my Good Friday reflection, Good Friday you see occurs many times in life if only we understand. One of these Good Fridays for me was the persecution which the Paraguayan Church experienced in the sixties and seventies of the 20th century. I was a missionary in Paraguay and one day one of the villages where we worked was surrounded by the army and effectively destroyed. The men of the villages were taken off to prison with the priests who worked with them and tortured. One of the police officers who was there reported that while these men were being taken to the torture chambers, they went singing hymns and praying for those who were going to torture them. This prayer for the torturers continued when the tortures were finished. That police officer was converted because of the voices of those witnesses to the faith. Those voices were never silenced; they continued to live in the memory of that police officer. Even if their tongues had been cut off, those voices refused to die, they are remembered even today after almost 40 years and continue to call persons to heroism for the faith and others to repentance. That day was a Good Friday for that police officer. It was the cause of his conversion and resurrection to new life.
In the crucifixion event, the chief priests and the scribes believed that they were silencing Jesus and destroying the movement which he started. They crucified him and put him in a tomb but Jesus’ voice, after the despair and disbelief of the disciples; “They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we don’t know where they put him.” and “For they did not yet understand the Scripture that he had to rise from the dead.”; was not silenced and the movement was not destroyed. Unlike the pharisees, the disciples had believed that what Jesus taught was possible and then it had all come crashing down. The master had been arrested, had been whipped, scoured and crucified. He had been true to his teaching to be sure for when the ear of the servant of the high priest had been cut off, he had healed the man. Yet in the face of that continuing kindness and love he had still been executed. To the disciples it must have seemed to have been a waste of time. There was nothing left for them except the ridicule of persons whom they knew, of the fishing colleagues they had left behind to follow Jesus and of course there was the possibility of persecution by the chief priests and the Pharisees. And then the news comes to them, brought by the women. He is alive. He is not dead. He is Risen. What God raises up after Good Friday is not only the body of the person who has been killed but also the voice, for Resurrection of the body, my dear brothers and sisters, without a voice means nothing. It has no power to generate new life.
After the resurrection, the disciples experienced the resurrected voice on the road to Emmaus. St. Luke tells us that the two disciples on the road to Emmaus experience their hearts burning within them as he talked to them on the road and explained the scripture to them. As a result, they return quickly to Jerusalem. In fact, to this day, the words of Jesus burn within hearts as we journey on our pilgrim way to the New Jerusalem. Herein lies the proof that Jesus is alive, his words continue to live and to inspire. His words of forgiveness on the cross are repeated today on the lips of martyrs,
His words encouraging us to leave all for the sake of the Kingdom continue to inspire men and women to community life. His beatitudes continue as if spoken today, to encourage peacemakers throughout the world. We know that Jesus lives because his words live.
My dear brothers and sisters in the resurrected Lord those who will receive the sacraments of initiation this evening, are being baptized and confirmed because the words of Jesus continue to live and have found a home in their hearts and minds. They will commit yourselves this evening to so live that these words of Jesus will become flesh in their actions and their attitudes. In rejecting Satan and all his empty promises, they will commit themselves to keeping Jesus’ words alive.
This is your task dear brothers and of every baptized person, to keep the words of Jesus alive in our hearts so that they continue to inform and transform our attitudes and actions. How important is this for us wherever we find ourselves? We seek transformation of our society, but we are like those thirsty people who seek water in cracked cisterns that provide no water. Capital punishment and new crime plans are like those cracked cisterns. They do not provide living water which facilitates new life. It is the Spirit of Jesus who keeps his words alive in our hearts, who generates new life. It is by keeping the words of Jesus alive in our hearts and our minds that we will regenerate the moral and spiritual values which our nations and the world seem to lack at this moment. In this regard parents have a tremendous responsibility. Your homes must be schools in which your children learn to love the words of Jesus and learn to let the living words of Jesus inspire them to good. All homes my dear parents are habit forming, as are all religious communities. May the habit of listening to God’s word be formed in our children who are the future of our beloved nations, and my dear brothers of our Institute!
As we reflect on the Resurrection, let us remember that Jesus did not only rise from the dead, but He is also the Resurrection and that we are part of the Resurrection in the measure that his words live in our hearts and inform and shape our decisions and our life.
May Jesus Christ continue to rise daily in us and as his words live in us, may they also live in those who interact with us, so that the words of Jesus live in them and inform and shape their decisions and their lives, bringing them to be part of the resurrection also. When this happens, we will begin the regeneration of moral and spiritual values in our nation and of our institute.
Prayer
All powerful and ever-loving God the words which You spoke are spirit and they are life. Help us to keep your words alive in our hearts, so that they inspire us to love. Love is the New Life which You ask of us. It is the sign that your words continue to live and to inspire. May your words be implanted in all hearts so that all persons be formed in the school of divine love. We ask this through the intercession of Mary our Mother and Jesus, your Son. Amen
