Easter Greetings Homily

Happy Easter

When the tomb of one of the Ancient Egyptian Kings was opened and the archaeologists went in they discovered a number of sealed pots containing votive offerings. One of these pots was full of grain, wheat grains. The pot of grain had in there undisturbed for 2,500 years. Among the many other things that were of great scientific interest in the tomb, this pot of grain was particularly interesting to agriculturalists. One of them wondered what would happen if, after 2,500 years the grain was planted. He duly planted and watered the grain. And behold after all this time it produced green shots and after the normal period sent forth years containing new grains of wheat.

You couldn't call this a miracle, but to those agriculturalists it seemed like a miracle. They were certainly full of wonder and awe. 2,500 years in the tomb and the wheat grains were still capable of generating new life.  New life always surprises us, it always delights us, it inevitably fills us with hope.

Jesus Christ was in the tomb three days. Three days of desolation and fear for his disciples. Three days of silence, three days being enough time for it to fully sink home that he was dead and that they hadn't imagined those horrific events.

Then reports came in from the women at the tomb, it was empty. Then word of sightings. It gradually began to sink home that he had risen from the dead. And then he appears to them face to face, and all their hopes are realised. A new era has begun for the world. Nothing would ever be the same again.

We are the spiritual sons and daughters of those disciples. We are their spiritual heirs. We are the bearers of the Good News that Christ is risen. But, of course, in order to be believable we need to have encountered the Risen Lord.

In a real way we need to have been where the disciples have been before us. We need to have experienced death and desolation in order to experience the power of the resurrection. We need to have been known those three days in order to fully realise just what Christ has achieved.  There are in all our lives times of desolation and vulnerability. In order to rise with him we need to have been in the tomb with him.

This is what the Church teaches us each year when it takes us by the hand through the events of the Pascal Mystery; the Last Supper, the Garden of Gethesemani, the trial, the judgement, the journey to Golgotha, the death on the cross, the laying in the tomb and the long wait for the resurrection. We do it this way because we are human beings and we only begin to understand something when we have experienced it.

Joke:   Easter is approaching. Father O'Maley checks estimates for the flower decoration of the altar. 

The catholic florist - $ 300. "Too expensive" moans the priest. 

The protestant florist - $ 250, "No, it would not be right to buy at another Christian believer, especially as the price difference is rather small."

But lo! Solly Goldberg - $ 75!!! Religion or economics?

After much consideration, Solly obtains the contract. 

On Easter Sunday morning, Goldberg's men deliver the flowers: wonderful roses, azaleas, camellias, tulips and carnations. O'Maley's last reservations are discarded.
When the parishioners arrive in the church, they see the magnificent flower arrangement and a ribbon with the inscription: "Jesus has risen! But the prices of Goldberg always stay the same."

Conclusion:  We experience today the joy of the resurrection, the birth of new hope for the world. We experience the certainty that death has been destroyed once and for all and that for us death is now the gateway to everlasting life. Because we have been led by faith to this discovery we live differently to those who have no hope. We live a new life in Christ. We have been baptised and inserted into this mystery and we live it out in our lives each day.

May God bless each and every one of you, may he fill your lives with Easter joy and bring you in due time to his everlasting banquet in heaven.

Once again Happy Easter to you all.