Homilies & Thoughts

I had a different homily prepared originally, but I spent almost five hours hearing confessions at various places across the diocese yesterday. In the midst of that, I found myself thinking about all of you—thinking about what these past three weeks have been like—and something struck me during that time.

One of the things I have noticed, fairly consistently, is that most of us here, if not all of us, are wounded. As a community, it seems we have all had experiences that have hurt us in some way, and we have held on to those hurts.

When Mary Magdalene first encountered the empty tomb, her heart was filled not with joy but confusion and fear. Her cry was felt deeply in the hearts of Peter and the other disciple: “They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we don’t know where they put him.” This emptiness, this initial shock, confronts us too. We, like Mary and the apostles, live in a world overshadowed by the reality of death, faced daily with uncertainty and the haunting question: Is it all vanity?

My dear catechumens, candidates, and beloved friends, this night is unlike any other. Tonight is the heart of our faith, where everything we have known and hoped for comes together: “Why do you seek the living one among the dead? He is not here, but he has been raised.”

These words spoken to the women at the tomb ring in our hearts tonight. They capture the extraordinary truth that transforms everything. Jesus Christ, who has always been with us, who existed before the world began and who will remain after all things pass away, has conquered death itself. Christ, our Alpha and Omega, has shattered the darkness of sin and death by rising victorious.