_{Holy Spirit Catholic Church
Homilies}

_{Easter Sunday (c) 2010
April 04, 2010}

We have all come to this church this Easter Day to celebrate an incredible event: the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from  the dead.

By the word resurrection we don't mean resuscitation. That is, we don't mean the return of Jesus to the very same life he  had before he died. The body of Jesus that was buried on Good Friday afternoon was radically different from the body that was  raised on Sunday morning.

By resurrection we mean something infinitely different. It is something no human being had ever experienced before Jesus. It is a quantum leap to a life we never dreamed possible. The body that was raised was a glorified body.

St. Paul compares the human body before the Resurrection to a seed. And he compares the glorified body after the Resurrection to a plant that emerged from that seed. The two are totally different. St. Paul writes: "What you plant is a bare seed, perhaps a grain of wheat or some other grain, not the full-bodied plant that will later grow up. This is how it will be when the dead are raised to life . . . When buried, it is a physical body; when raised, it will be a spiritual body."

And this brings us to the gathering in this church on this day of days! Easter tells us that the personal transformation of life that took place in Jesus is not something that is reserved for Jesus alone. It is something that will take place in each of us. We, too, are destined for resurrection. We, too, are destined to share in the incredibly transformed life that Jesus now enjoys in heaven.

More closely at hand, Easter tells us something else. As we study the Easter accounts in the Bible, we see not only that Jesus was remarkably transformed on Easter, but also that his disciples were transformed.

Easter transformed them from a band of despairing people into a brigade of daring missionaries. At the command of Jesus they set out to carry the message of Easter to the four corners of the world. And everywhere they preached the Good News, the power of Easter began to work in people's lives, just as it had in their own lives.

Beautiful things began to happen. Despair began to give way to hope; darkness began to give way to light; hatred began to give way to love; sorrow began to give way to joy. In short, everywhere the disciples preached, the power of Easter began to work miracles in people's lives. And those miracles haven't stopped yet! They continue to happen in our time!

This brings us to the grace that Jesus wants to give to each of us here. It is the grace to be transformed as the disciples were transformed, to begin new lives, as the disciples did. It is the grace to love again after having our love rejected, to trust again after having our trust betrayed, to hope again after having our hope smashed to pieces. It is the power to pick up the pieces again after having become disenchanted with the Church and leaving it behind for months or even for years. You only make it to church at
Easter and/or Christmas; God still loves you and is very happy that you are here. He would be even happier to see you here on a regular basis and so would I! Remember we need God; God doesn't need us, but He loves us so much!

Easter celebrates the fact that by his resurrection, Jesus has conquered sin and death and made all things new. It celebrates the fact that he wants to help us conquer sin and make all things new! Jesus wants us to open our hearts to his grace. He wants us to leave the past behind and accept his mercy and forgiveness. He wants us to taste again the joy of walking in his presence.

If we do open our hearts to his grace, I assure you that we too will experience the same kind of transformation that the disciples did. Jesus will surprise us with an Easter joy that we never dreamed possible when we walked into this church today.

This is what can happen to each of us, if we open our hearts to the Easter grace that Jesus wants to give us on this day that changed the course of human history! The good news of Easter is that we don't have to wait until we die to share in the risen life of Jesus. We can begin right now, in this Mass, in this Easter celebration.

This is what Easter is all about. It is the good news that the risen Jesus is in our midst right now, in the Church, inviting us to a new life of faith, hope, and love! May God grant all of you a most blessed and joyous season of Easter!