Resurrection

1994 (Year B), 3 April / Easter Day

St Peter de Beauvoir Town

The Passion is ended. The Victory is won. And our celebration today unites us with the feast in the Kingdom where the God of Life and Love eternally calls those of his creation. And because of the victory, every celebration of life in this world is inextricably linked to Easter. There are many Easters. They’re here in this world and they’re present in the Gospels. They’re in all the parables where Jesus invites others to rejoice, ‘Rejoice with me’, the shepherd says, ‘I have found my sheep that was lost.’ ‘Rejoice with me,’ the woman says, ‘I have found the coin I lost.’ ‘Rejoice with me,’ the father says, ‘this son of mine was lost and is found.’

All these voices inviting others to rejoice are God’s voices. And God’s voice proclaims that Easter is a Feast of Joy and Life. God’s joy. And he doesn’t want to keep his joy to himself He wants everyone to share in it. God’s joy is the joy of the angels and the saints. It’s the joy of all those who belong to the Kingdom.

Easter is the feast when God rejoices. Not because the problems of the world have been solved. Not because all human pain and suffering have come to an end, nor even because thousands of people have been converted and are now praising him for his goodness. No. God rejoices because one of his children who could’ve been lost has been found.

Savanah and Rhianna are called particularly today because in a few minutes they will be baptised. They are called particularly but the rest of us will remember our calling as we renew our baptismal vows. And we, with them, are called to enter joy. God’s joy.

I guess you’ll remember the story of the Father and the Son. The father of that son gave himself totally to the joy that his returning son brings him. Now we aren’t on the whole very strong on rejoicing. We aren’t accustomed to it. It’s hard to rejoice and even harder to rejoice in things that are small, hidden and scarcely noticed by the people around us. We’re programmed to receive bad news; to read about wars, violence and crime. We expect visitors to talk about problems and pain. We’re accustomed to living with sadness and so have lost the eyes to see and the ears to hear the joy of God. And we have to learn from that. We have to steal all the real joy there is; to steal and lift it up for others to see.

We know that not everybody has been converted and that there is still not peace in the world, that all pain has not yet been taken away. But and it’s an enormous but, we see people turning and returning home; we hear voices that pray. We all recognise moments of forgiveness and if we look closely we see many signs of hope. The joy of Easter is that we don’t have to wait until all is well. We can celebrate every little hint of the Kingdom and today the kingdom comes close. So close. But I’m not here just to speak about Joy. I’m here to talk of responsibility. Responsibility is what the parents of the children to be baptised share. Responsibility like Joy is very hard. It requires them to choose the light even when there is so much darkness that it will frighten them. It means choosing life even when the forces of death are so visible and choosing truth even when they’re surrounded by so many lies. There is so much rejection, pain and woundedness amongst us. I have no wish to dismiss that. But once we claim the joy hidden in the midst of all suffering, life becomes a celebration. Joy never denies sadness, but it can transform it into a fertile soil for more joy.

The parents of Savanah and Rhianna are called to know the joy of God; not to deny the darkness but to choose not to be overwhelmed by it. They are called to claim that the light shines in the darkness can be trusted more than the darkness itself; and that a little light can dispel an immense amount of darkness. They are called, along with the rest of us, to point each other to flashes of light, here and there, so that we remind one another of the hidden but real presence of God. We are all called to discover that we are people who must heal each other’s wounds, forgive each other’s offences, share each other’s possessions, foster the spirit of community, celebrate the gifts we have received and live in constant anticipation of the full manifestation of God’s glory.

We are all called above all today to recognise that from God’s perspective, one act of selfless love; one moment of abandonment to the divine will was all that was needed to bring him from his throne and to fill theheavens with sounds of divine joy. May we recognise and live with that joy forever. AMEN