When Judas left the supper room to begin his act of betrayal, John's Gospel says very bluntly it was night. Not only had physical darkness fallen, but the world was plunged into spiritual and moral darkness as well.

And then came Easter morning. It was still dark as Mary approached the tomb, but then the wondrous light of faith brushed upon the world. The beloved disciples saw and believed, believed even though there was no really compelling evidence for such belief. Is it any wonder that Easter fire and Easter light have become the powerful symbols of Resurrection, the power, the light of love? Mary Magdalene and the beloved disciple leading to the light of faith.

What did their love, what did their faith reveal to them? A God who states very emphatically that violence, suffering and death will not -- will not! -- ultimately triumph in our world. The Resurrection is God's way of saying that violence is not the answer to human disagreements, that suffering can be redemptive, that death is not the end of life.

At Easter time we're asked to look at suffering, at human death in the light of the Resurrection of Jesus  Christ. We might say that in raising Christ from the dead God was protesting against violence and suffering and death.

I would suggest, that to make the Resurrection relevant to us today, we Christians must protest against violence, and unnecessary suffering, unnecessary death that is so prevalent in our society and that we so easily accept as inevitable. You know very well yourself that almost every morning in our newspapers, every day on our television screens there is news of violence and senseless and brutal death. And this very day, this very morning there will be long lines at St. Anthony's dining room in San Francisco, at Glide Memorial Church and at the St. Vincent de Paul dining room in Oakland. Thousands are homeless and hungry, they have suffered economic death. And then there are the mentally or physically handicapped that are ignored by people, and they have suffered social death. And then there is the living death of oppressed people all over this globe.

No, this homily is not intended to be one of gloom and doom on such a bright, beautiful Easter morning. On the contrary, I want to emphasize that the Resurrection story is telling us that this is not -- is not! -- inevitable, that suffering and death are not the end, that ultimately life will triumph.

We are called to have  a resurrection faith. We are called to believe that the message of Christ can make a difference if it is acted upon. We are called to believe that, just as the love of the Father for Jesus brought about his Resurrection, so our love for all people without exception can bring new life to our world.

You see, the scriptures make it very, very clear that Jesus did not raise himself from the dead. The scriptures tell us that Jesus was raised from the dead by the power of the Father. It was the Father who raised Jesus from the dead. In other words, someone else took action. The Father took action.

Our world cannot heal itself. Our world cannot give itself new life. Someone else must take action. We Christians must take action. We Christians must be involved. We must love this world of ours into new life, new possibilities for peace and justice. It may appear to be a daunting task. This is precisely where our faith must step in. We must believe the words of Jesus, "I am the Resurrection and the Life." It is through Jesus, through his teaching, through his example, through his ideals that new life can be brought into this world of ours.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu wrote: Easter means hope prevails over despair. Jesus reigns as Lord of lords and  King of kings. Easter says to us that, despite everything to the contrary, God's will for us will prevail, love will prevail over hate, justice over injustice, peace over exploitation and bitterness.

And so today on this wonderful Easter morning we rejoice. We rejoice in God's love for us that has brought us to new life through our baptism. And we give thanks to God for assuring us of our own resurrection to eternal life. We want others to share in that Easter hope of ours. Let us share it with them. Amen.


cml