Despite crisis, Alleluia is our song

By Archbishop Thomas Wenski - The Archdiocese of Miami

 

Archbishop Thomas Wenski preached this homily during the Easter Sunday Mass that aired April 12, 2020, on WSVN-Channel 7 in Miami.

This Easter Sunday finds us in a time of twin crises: the worst global public health crisis in our lifetimes, and the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.

Yet, around the world, we are united incommon purpose of caring for the sick, pursuing a cure, and lifting the human spirit.

As Christians still living in the world, we will experience all manner of trials and tribulations. The sufferings of Christ do not exempt us from suffering ourselves; but his sufferings seen in the light of his Resurrection give meaning and hope to our own. And so, even suffering does not take away our joy in the future promise of our own Resurrection.

“We are Easter people and ‘Alleluia’ is our song,” preached St. Augustine of Hippo in the uncertain times in which he lived. He added, “Let us sing here and now in this life, even though we are oppressed by various worries, so that we may sing it one day in the world to come, when we are set free from all anxiety.”

Christ is risen – and his resurrection from the dead casts a decisive light on all that preceded it. Now, in the light of the Resurrection, Jesus’ words and the words of the prophets who preceded him are understood with a new clarity. The Cross, once rightly regarded as an instrument of cruel torture and shame, is now revealed as the Tree of Life: from now on, we understand that in embracing the cross, we are not robbed of life but instead we find true life. Life is redeemed – for all its sorrows, pains and disappointments, life has meaning.

For Easter convinces us not only that Jesus is risen – but that we would rise as well.

Our Christian faith is born not so much from the acceptance of a doctrine but from an encounter with a person – with Christ, once dead but now risen. Christ who encountered the women who came to the tomb is the same Christ who encounters us today in his Word and Sacrament. And this is why the faithful yearn for that day – and please God it will be soon – when we can return to our churches and, in obedience to Jesus’ command “Do this in remembrance of me,” to worship and share in the communion of His Body and Blood.

Jesus is not just a character from a far distant past. He is not remembered in the same way as the great men and heroes who lived long ago are remembered. We might talk about them – and about their deeds. But we cannot talk to them or befriend them. Jesus, however, is the same yesterday, today and forever. He lives.

Having broken the chains of death, he walks before us as one who is alive – and he calls us to follow him, the living one, and to enter a relationship of friendship with him. In this way we discover the path of life, a life that is always new because it will never die. Christ in rising from the dead saves all that is truly human and by the gift of his Spirit makes it possible for us to live no longer for ourselves but for him.

For Catholics, Easter is our return every year to our own baptism... our own “passage” or “Pascha” into new life in Christ. Lent was a call to renewed conversion of mind and heart – a turning back to the Lord because even though we are baptized what we constantly lose and betray is precisely that which we received in baptism. And so, at Easter, we are reminded that we were created for life – eternal life that transcends the boundaries of this world and overcomes even the limitation of death. Our baptism stands as a radical witness today in a world that denies that man was created for anything else but death.

Faith in Jesus’ passion, death and Resurrection gives us the inner strength to exercise our baptismal commitment to live, in different ways, lives of service and significance. And so, we will shortly renew the promises of our baptism.

For, in the gift of Easter lie the demands of Easter: “If you were raised with Christ seek what is above,” St. Paul tells us. Jesus’ whole life was shaped by his obedience to his Father. For us, to live in Christ means that we will never allow the things of this world to distract us from the true purpose and goal of our existence. We must seek to do God’s will in all things – even in the seemingly most mundane things. But doing God’s will and following the commandments does not deprive us of joy but it is what makes true joy possible.

Indeed, joy is a sign that we have been with the Lord. And this joy comes by not only following God’s law but also from knowing God in his son Jesus Christ. It comes from experiencing his mercy and grace and sharing in his divine life. Our witness will be that much more credible if it is joyful – our joy allows God to smile through us and thus – even in this time of a health and economic crises – to bring renewed hope to the world.

This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad. “We are an Easter people and Alleluia is our song.”

Photography: ANA RODRIGUEZ-SOTO | FC