On this Easter morning we celebrate what for us Christians is the
feast of all feasts, Easter, the Resurrection of the Lord, the
foundation of our Christian faith. The Lord is truly risen and he
lives for ever. He has restored life to us out of the darkness of sin
and death.
Our life is changed
because Jesus, the Son of God, took on human flesh like ours. Out of
love for us, He underwent the brutal and ignominious death of a
criminal. But God has raised him from the dead to new life. He is the
first fruits of the new life which will be extended to all of us.
Those
who corruptly used their power to conspire in the condemnation of Jesus
felt that with their power and violence they could put an end to the
life of Jesus definitively. They felt that they had removed Jesus from
the scene of history which was; they felt, safely in their hands.
The
resurrection of Jesus has shown us their folly. The fact of the
resurrection means that evil can never triumph definitively. Jesus
rises to new life which never ends. We too are called to share in that
new life and are called to witness to that new life in the way we live.
Saint Paul tells us that since we have been brought back to true life
with Christ, our thoughts must no longer be purely earthly thoughts.
The new life of resurrection opens new horizons for humankind.
All
of us can celebrate that new life in Christ which can touch and change
our hearts, whether we are new Christians or Christians since our birth,
whether we are filled with zeal and commitment or whether our faith is
tired or uncertain or troubled. Christ is truly risen; he is truly
risen for us.
Light and darkness, good and evil,
however, still struggle within our hearts and in our world. Each of us
knows the darkness of sinfulness that hides within our own hearts; each
of us knows the darkness of doubt and lack of hope that is within us.
The message of resurrection reminds us that doubt and despair can be
overcome.
The Gospel reading begins with
darkness. Mary Magdalene goes to the tomb first thing in the morning,
while it was still dark. She sets out on the first day of the week.
Here we see the link with the narrative of creation which we have heard
at the beginning of last night’s Easter Vigil. The first day of
creation was the day in which the darkness was dispelled and light was
created. Now, again on the first day, the light of new life appears.
The resurrection of Jesus brings to new fulfilment that moment of the
creation of light.
The dawn of the first Easter
was no ordinary dawn. It was the dawn which concluded the terrible
night of Jesus’ betrayal and suffering. It was the dawn which closed
one of the darkest nights in human history when Jesus, the son of God,
was handed over to sinful men, symbol of all the evil that marks human
history. Evil still exists in our world. The darkness continues in our
day to day battle with the light.
The fact of
the resurrection means that evil can never triumph definitively. This
morning, however, as we celebrate resurrection and life, men and women
languish around the world in war and civil unrest. Men and women and
helpless children languish in the darkness of poverty and hunger and
exploitation. As we gather in peaceful prayer to reflect on the
mystery of life, in dark corners of our city, of our country and of our
world people are planning criminal undertakings and violence.
These
advocates of violence, like those who condemned Jesus, feel somehow
that they have in their hands the power to achieve their sordid plans
definitively. They feel that violence or economic power puts them in
control, that they can control the lives of others as they wish.
However, violence only generates further violence and a culture of
untruth generates more untruth. Violence and untruth imprison rather
than liberate.
The message of Easter which we
proclaim challenges--head on -- those in our society who espouse
political violence, criminal violence or the violence of corrupt
exploitation. It challenges those who fall into the purposeless
violence we sadly encounter, almost daily, on our streets.
The
only thing that we can say definitively about violence is that violence
belongs definitively to the sphere of darkness. It is life and
integrity that lead to peace and hope. The dramatic event of the
resurrection of Jesus is not something that engenders fear, but one of
awe and joy. The angel says to the women: “There is no need for you to
be afraid”. It is the light of the risen Christ which removes fear:
“Do not be afraid”, Jesus tells the women to whom he appears, and He
tells us also.
Mary Magdalene goes to the tomb
at the first possible opportunity. She goes out of her love and
respect for the Lord who had rescued her from the dark times of her own
life. She does not know what to expect. She goes out, possibly to
anoint a dead body, and finds that the body is not there. The angel
shows her the place where Jesus lay, but he is no longer there. Jesus
will never be found in the places of the culture of death. Christians
must be witnesses to life; they must protect life at it weakest moments,
they must work to bring meaning to the life of those who have lost hope
and direction, the must defend those whose life is held hostage to
exploitation, they must be advocates against all that degrades human
life. Christians must engage in public and political life and economic
life in fostering a society where the lives and gifts of all can
flourish and not just the privileged few.
The
tomb is empty. Resurrection, however, is not simply about the
historical fact of an empty tomb, it is about Jesus who has left that
tomb. Jesus appears to his disciples showing that his life has changed;
he is no longer the prisoner of those with self-centred earthly
desires, he is no longer a prisoner even of death itself. He is risen
to newness of life where truth and love and freedom prevail.
The new life of the resurrection is found and nourished in the Church. The Church, in its sacraments, is the community within which we realise how our entire life is embraced by the loving care of God. Last night, across the Archdiocese of Dublin, we had the joy of welcoming over 50 newly baptised into the life of the Church.
The first
apparitions of Jesus are not to Peter and John but to Mary Magdalene.
She represents essentials of the Christian life of each of us. She is
filled with love for the Lord, a love which can overcome her natural
feeling that her hopes about Jesus had been dispelled.
When
Peter and John arrive at the tomb -- in a significant gesture -- John,
who had arrived first and who was the beloved disciple of Jesus,
hesitates and allows Peter to be the first to enter. As Catholic
Christians we also recognise that the role of Peter in the Church is one
which was indicated by Jesus himself and has been part of the
self-understanding of the Church over the centuries. We remember today
Pope Benedict in his mission to strengthen the faith of all. The
Christian is never a Christian on his or her own. A Christian faith
community is never an isolated faith community. It is never just a
local Church or an Irish Church. We celebrate the liturgy always in that
faith that comes from the Apostles, always in union with Peter and with
the whole Church.
We pray for the Church on this
day of Easter which is the foundation of our faith. We pray that the
Church will be renewed in living a life of resurrection, uncompromised
by the forces of darkness, drawing from “the teaching of scripture”, as
the Gospel reading noted, faith in what the resurrection means and
bringing the fruits of that faith into the life of the world around us.
Archbishop Diarmuid Martin