3rd Sunday of Easter – April 15, 2018 - Homily - 1

If Jesus’ Resurrection were a Hollywood movie, the promo advertisement would say ‘He’s back, he’s mad, and he’s out for revenge’. I think that is what the disciples could be thinking as they Jesus appears to them in that upper room, because it says that they were ‘startled and terrified’. After all, they did run and hide and deny him once the going got tough.

But, as we know Jesus isn’t there to remind them of how they failed, he comes with the simple words, “Peace be with you”. He shows them his hands and his feet, he asks to eat with them and to put their minds at ease. He’s not there for revenge, he has come to reveal himself as Risen from the Dead, and to bring new life to all those that he encounters, and this is a message that he wants to be delivered to the entire world – he wants to reveal himself and make all of uswitnesses to his Resurrection, and to the Good News.

He first breaks open the word, and shows them how all the OT prophecies point to him. The gospel says that Jesus “…opened their minds to understand the scriptures”, and then points those gathered to what their role in all of this is – to preach “repentance and forgiveness of sins” to all nations, and that they were to be “witnesses to this”.

In today’s 1st reading, we hear Peter’s first public speech which followed Christ’s Ascension, and notice what this first pope’s first message is - It’s exactly what Christ commanded – to be witnesses- to point to Jesus as the fulfillment of the OT prophecies, and to implore the people to repent, seek forgiveness of sins, and to turn to God. This is a primary message of Christianity that we all must embrace.

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And in each Mass that we attend, we are full of joy entering into God’s presence, but still not fully understanding what is to come. We break open the Word each time we come to Church through the readings, and reflect on its meaning in our lives with the help of a homilist, just like Jesus explained the scripture to his followers. The message always points directly or indirectly to repentance, which is a call to change our lives in some way for the better, pointing to growth in love for God, which ultimately points to the truth of preparing our souls for eternal life. This is the Good News Jesus calls us to be witnesses to.

And as we continue the liturgy following the homily, Jesus then fully reveals himself to us in the breaking of the bread as the disciples learned on the road to Emmaus, and we receive him in his full body, blood, soul and divinity which is a physical presence every bit as real as when Jesus appeared bodily to his first disciples, which once again is why – and I may sound like a broken record sometimes – but this is why the celebration of Holy Communion is so very important that the same Jesus that appeared to the disciples in today’s gospel comes to us in that same very same real way in every Eucharist that we celebrate. Why would we not want to be witnesses to this greatest love the Christ shows to us?

Our Lord is with us always, whether we are conscious of it or not, and he wants us to recognize him. He wants to reveal himself to us through the scriptures, and most profoundly through the Eucharist. And, he wants to send us on a mission to proclaim the Good News by the example of our lives, and to preach God’s love through repentance and forgiveness of sins.

Pope Francis has released this week his latest Apostolic Exhortation – GaudateetExsultate – where he speaks on the theme of living out holiness in today’s world. The basic message? Well, holiness isn’t just reserved for the great saints that we see on stained glass windows; holiness isn’t reserved to priests and religious (and for those of you that know me well, you would say thank God for that!), but the message that Pope Francis wants to get across is that holiness is the task of everybody – we are all to strive for a life of holiness – we should all be aspiring to be saints through the ordinary circumstances of our lives.

As I’ve said before, life is lived in the ordinary, and that is where we find our path to holiness. Our Lord comes to us today in the readings, reveals himself to us at Mass, and asks us now to go forth to be his witnesses to the world.

We have all sinned and fallen short of perfection, but Christ hasn’t come to get revenge on us. He has come to set us free. He asks for repentance on our part so that he can bring his forgiveness, and peace. We are called to respond by being witnesses to Him and his message. We are called to lives of witness by our lives of holiness. We are all called to be saints for a world so in need of the Good News of salvation.