As regulars visitors here know by now I am unashamed to link to videos from other sources, especially at times of the year like this when the pastoral duties are so heavy, leaving little time to write. Some might call it stealing, I call it good sense; there are many great voices out there spreading the Good News and we should hear as many of them as we can. Each person gives us a different perspective, a way of understanding the mysteries of the Faith that we may not have thought of before. It has been suggested that a solution to my problem would be to simply post my weekly homilies. Logical, but difficult since I rarely write my sermons out. So when faced with these hectic days I turn to a few trusted resources on YouTube, like Fr. Baron's Word on Fire Channel and the Apostleship of Prayer, hosted by a Jesuit, Fr. James Kubicki. Some time ago I stumbled upon Columbia Catholic Ministry, emanating from the university of the same name in New York City. Fr. Dan O'Reilly of the Archdiocese of New York gives clear, straight foreword but creative talks on topical subjects, like the Saint of the day or some issue facing the Church right now. So Easter Sunday, as I surfed the web looking for something of interest I might put up for your edification, I saw his video on the Resurrection. I had just finished the 10:30 Mass, so how surprised was I when I found that Fr. O'Reilly's talk matched so closely to my Easter sermon. We differed in the details, but the main point was the same; The Lord is truly risen, and we have no need to doubt it.
There is one thing very interesting about the Gospel accounts of the Resurrection; none of then actually describes what happened at the moment Jesus rose from the dead. All we know is that on Friday they laid His dead corps in the tomb, rolled the stone across the opening and left. Flash foreword to Sunday and the stone is rolled away and the tomb is empty. The four Evangelists only tell us either what they saw with their eyes, or what eyewitnesses they spoke to told them. Far from being wild eyed fanatics, the first response His followers had was not to assume a miracle but rather to draw the logical conclusion that someone must have stolen the body. One of the most heart rending scenes in scripture is when Mary Magdalene is sitting by the empty tomb crying, pleading with the man she thinks is the gardener, "Sir, if you carried him away, tell me where you laid him, and I will take him." (Jn. 20:15) It is only after He says her name that she recognizes the Risen Lord. Even Peter and the Beloved Disciple don't know what to make of the whole thing, until Jesus appears to them and the rest of the Eleven that night. The original witnesses tell us what they saw, nothing more.
Our faith is not based on a fairytale or a myth, but on the testimony of eye witnesses who later died horrible deaths rather than recant their stories. Many people would find it hard to die in defense of the truth; only a mad man would die for a myth. While it's plausible that an insane person might go to his grave for a lie, would thousands of mad men and women follow suit? Is that logical? Hardly.
He is risen; we have the witnesses, we have the foundation for our Faith. The Lord is truly risen, Alleluia!
(Here's a link to Fr. Barron's response to Andrew Sullivan's "non-threatening Jesus")
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