what's your word?

Homily

Easter Sunday of the Lord's Resurrection

4 April 2021

St. Lawrence Catholic Campus Center at the University of Kansas

AMDG +mj

What's your word?

If you had one word to proclaim to the world, what would it be?

Can you guess what mine is?  I bet you can! 

Risen!  Risen!  Risen!  He is Risen.  Jesus Christ is truly Risen.  He is Risen from the dead, just as He said!  Alleluia! Alleluia!

That's my word.  That will be my last word tonight and forever.  On this word - Risen - I bet all that I am and all that I will ever be.  

What's your word?  Tonight is a night set apart to have this conversation, so let's have it!  What is the one word that you were made to shout into the world?

Tonight I witness to you that this word - Risen - is the most mysterious, profound, dramatic, and TRUE word that has ever been spoken in human history or could ever be spoken.  Tonight I speak this word - Risen - in liturgical concert with the angels, the saints, and yes, the martyrs who died for this conviction even today, shout into the darkness that this word - Risen - is the one thing I know to be true out of everything I know to be true!

Tonight my prayer is that you too will speak a word.  Tonight my prayer is that each and everyone of us, led by our catechumens and candidates and the word of faith they speak tonight, gets off the couch tonight.  There is no virtual Easter!  To hell with that!  Tonight this is no sideline, no bench, and no room for bystanders.

You have my answer to the one word I want to speak to the world!  What is yours?

Why this word for me?  Because without it, even the most heartfelt words of love I ever say, words first spoken by Jesus - this is my body broken for you - lose their meaning.  Without the word Risen even the greatest sign of love I have every known, the cross to which I gave the most passionate kiss of my life last night, is powerless in the face of death.  St. Paul said it best.  Unless Jesus is Risen, nothing else matters.

But I don't profess this word tonight because I need it to be true.  My conviction about the empty tomb is not a vain wish that justifies my life.  It is the fruit of my being a disciple of Jesus.  Jesus invites His disciples not to a wishful faith.  He invites them to follow Him all the way to the cross to verify for ourselves whether there is a love stronger than death.  I pray my discipleship has been a courageous one, filtered through the cross of Jesus where I have learned how to fear nothing and avoid nothing.

My conviction comes from the times I actually dared being a real Christian, and I'll be darned if Jesus wasn't right.  Every time I die to sin and myself, I lay hold of a new, different and powerful life that does not fade.

Jesus Christ is Risen!  He is truly Risen!  Shame on me if this is ever something I have to pretend to be true, instead of something that because I am a disciple I have through the risk of real faith discovered to be true in my real life.

On this truth I am happy to bet everything that I am and every will be.  Not because I need to, or I'm afraid not to, but because I want to.

My word is Risen. What is yours?

You're invited to beat me or join me.  If you dare join, renew your baptismal promises.  If you join, please don't do anything cheap, easy or pitiable tonight.  On conviction night, let's decide with sharp minds, and pure hearts and courageous wills.

So, I propose to you now, a word that has rocked the history of the world, and changed the meaning of life and the destiny of man, to be the word of your life.  On this most holy night set apart precisely for this decision, I invite you to say the mysterious, dramatic, profound and true word that has ever been or could ever be spoken.

Jesus Christ is Risen!  He is Risen!  He is Risen from the dead just as He said.  He is Risen!  Alleluia!  Alleluia!