Homily by Bishop Noel Treanor delivered on Easter Sunday Morning
St Peter’s Cathedral, Belfast
04 APRIL 2010
BIBLICAL READINGS : Acts 10.34.37-43; Ps117; 1 Cor 5.6-8; Jn.20.1-9
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My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, these readings from the Word of God vibrate with the energy of new found faith in the Jesus of Nazareth, raised by God from the dead. Yet the energy of that Easter faith does not exclude the reality of the human experience of bewilderment nor the disorientation of confusion.
Admittedly Peter’s script, recounted in the first reading, telescopes the apostle’s personal experience of working with Jesus of Nazareth from Galilee shoreline to his decision to preach Christ as Saviour. St. Paul for his part proclaims the capacity of faith in the Risen Christ to change, to heal, to free up your life and mine, drawing on imagery of baking and urging his readers and listeners to “get rid of all the old yeast of evil and wickedness” and to celebrate Christ by “having only the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth”.
Admittedly Peter’s script, recounted in the first reading, telescopes the apostle’s personal experience of working with Jesus of Nazareth from Galilee shoreline to his decision to preach Christ as Saviour. St. Paul for his part proclaims the capacity of faith in the Risen Christ to change, to heal, to free up your life and mine, drawing on imagery of baking and urging his readers and listeners to “get rid of all the old yeast of evil and wickedness” and to celebrate Christ by “having only the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth”.
Today’s readings are built on the gospels and especially on their accounts of the experiences of the followers of Jesus of Nazareth after his death and resurrection. The lines we have just heard from the gospel according to John, (Jn. 20. 1 – 9), lead us Christians of the twenty-first century back into that Easter experience. We encounter in this text the love, the respect, the grief of Christ’s friends and followers for the crucified one: they come to the tomb of their loved one, the one in whom they put their trust, the one in whom they experienced the Holy, the one in whom they saw God at work in time and place, only to be confused and disorientated further by the empty tomb. What kind of Messiah, what kind of Christ of God, is this? That is the original Easter question!
That Easter question, poised on the boundaries of human consciousness and of religious faith, is an integral part of the story of each believer’s faith story. Events, disappointments, suffering, tragedies, death: these and other moments of our life’s experience may confront us with the same question! Easter Sunday is the moment to recall the sources of the hope and new vision that duly warmed the hearts of Christ’s motley group of followers. First and foremost it was the power and truth of their personal memories of walking and working with Jesus of Nazareth, their experience of seeing how he spoke of God and revealed God’s love in his works.
Then after Calvary and after their disorientation at the empty tomb, some of their number reported meeting and finally recognising the risen Christ. The Pentecost experience (Acts 2) and the response by many to their preaching of Jesus as Saviour merged with their historical experience of Jesus, and indeed with their own personal conversions, to release the surge of their apostolic faith that is the well-spring of every Christian’s faith.
Then after Calvary and after their disorientation at the empty tomb, some of their number reported meeting and finally recognising the risen Christ. The Pentecost experience (Acts 2) and the response by many to their preaching of Jesus as Saviour merged with their historical experience of Jesus, and indeed with their own personal conversions, to release the surge of their apostolic faith that is the well-spring of every Christian’s faith.
Over the past three days Christians have celebrated the life, death and resurrection of Christ in the great liturgies of Holy Thursday, Good Friday and the Easter Vigil.
On this Easter morning, as we meditate on the Word of God, as we feel and receive the Easer water sprinkled on us during the asperges, and as we celebrate the liturgy of the Eucharist, let us open our lives to the power of Christ so that :
- we may tend the flame of faith in our hearts and minds through prayer, reflection and taking part in the life of our parish or Christian communities
- so that we may explore our experiences of doubt, confusion, disorientation with the power of reason extended by the light of God’s Holy Word
- so that we may continue as the Catholic Community in this diocese of Down and Connor and here in Ireland to deal with the horrific past of child sexual abuse in our Church. Let us continue to strengthen our standards and policies for child safe-guarding. On this Feast of the Resurrection I thank the more than 3000 trained volunteers throughout the parishes of this diocese engaged in the work of child safeguarding. In the spirit of the Pastoral Letter to the Catholics of Ireland, let us take all steps necessary within the Church and in cooperation with public authorities to heal victims and survivors and to ensure that this horrific crime and abominable sin does not recur in Church or society.
- so that we may intensify our efforts as Christians, Easter people, who are citizens of society to improve the quality of life in our communities, in our country and thus continue to contribute to the public good of the human family.
May the joy of Easter and the courage of those first witnesses to the risen Christ be ever in our hearts.
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