what's your word?

Homily

Easter Sunday of the Lord's Resurrection

9 April 2023

St. Lawrence Catholic Campus Center at the University of Kansas

AMDG 

What's your word?

If you had one word to proclaim to the world for the rest of your life, what would it be?

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

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

That will be the last word I speak tonight, and forever.  On this word - Risen - I am happy to be everything that I am and all that I ever will be.

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 sing this word - Risen - in liturgical concert with the angels, the saints, and yes, the martyrs who died for this word even today.  Tonight, I 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.

Risen is the word of my life.  What's yours?

Tonight my prayer is that you too will shout a word.  Tonight my prayer is that each and all of us, led by our catechumens and candidates and the risk of faith they speak tonight, will get off the couch!  Tonight is no time for a virtual Easter!  To hell with that!  In this Church there is no sideline, no bench, no bystanders!

You have my answer to the one word that I was made to speak into the world!  What's 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 power.  Without the word Risen even the greatest sign of love I have ever known, the cross on 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, we are all pathetic losers!

But I don't profess this word tonight cause I need it to be true.  My conviction about the empty tomb is not a vain wish that justifies my life.  No, this word is the fruit of my being a disciple of Jesus.  Jesus never invites his disciples to a wishful faith. That's weak sauce!  No He invites me to follow Him first to the cross to verify 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 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.  Every time I suffer and die with Him, I rise with Him!

It's real people!

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 discovered through the risk of faith to be true.

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

My word is Risen. You got next!

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.  This is conviction night - it means 'with victory!' So 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.

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