Homily - Easter Sunday - A

Brothers and sisters, good morning and Happy Easter to you all! It is Easter morning and we have just completed our Holy Week celebrations. Last night, someone jokingly said to me: “Father, thank God natapos na rin and Holy Week. Nakakapagod din. So what’s next?” O yes, what now, that the Holy is over? What’s next? In reply I said to that person: “it’s time to begin living, truly living our new life in Christ. As Jesus was risen from the dead, let us also rise above our sinful ways and strive to be faithful to our baptismal promises.

Our Gospel this morning is replete with symbolisms. Let us reflect on some of them.

First, John tells us that when Mary Magdalene set out for the tomb, “it was still dark.” As if John is telling us: Mary was still living in the darkness of her grief. She went to the tomb expecting to find death and a dead body of Jesus. A terrible sense of loss, disaapointment and emptiness still weighed heavily in her heart. For Mary, as for the rest of Jesus’ disciples that Sunday morning after the crucifixion, the Lord is gone and their lives are empty.

But then John also tells us that when Mary went to the tomb, “it was early in the morning, that first day of the week”. Early in the morning… a new dawn is coming, sunlight is about to burst forth and vanish the darkness. In others, the Gospel is signaling to us that something new is about to emerge. A new beginning is about to unfold and break out in the midst of the darkness.

And then Mary was confronted by the empty tomb. She expected to find death, but the tomb is empty. The Lord is risen! The empty tomb is a silent, yet eloquent witness, that easter morning, of the resurrection of our Lord. Love fought back and in the end triumphed over hatred, violence, sufferings, sin and death itself. The Lord is risen, he is alive. The darkness has not overcome the light. Slowly, but surely, life came back to the disciples. A sense of hope was born. They realize that God fulfills his promises.

And so what’s next? What now that we have celebrated Holy week? Let us be empowered by the resurrection to live our new lives in Jesus. This morning, let us renew, honestly and sincerely, our baptismal promises. We have prepared for the Holy Week celebrations. Sana it was not just another yearly celebration. Holy Week this year is over, but our calling to live holy lives continues. Let us not anymore allow ourselves to be buried, to be entombed, in a life of sin. In the tomb, there is no life, there is only darkness. As baptized, we belong to the risen Christ, we are a people of the resurrection and hope. And so let us begin as such!

What now? What’s next? Let us hold on to the light of the risen. May this light which we carry in ourselves always guide us in the trials and difficulties of this life.