Weekly HOMILY for April 20, 2014: Easter Sunday, Cycle A -- Why Are We Really Here Today?

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In 2014, I am facilitating a 12-week interactive online course in contemplative prayer and action for priests with Saint Luke Institute.  Please visit SLIconnect.org to learn more:  https://www.sliconnect.org/product/living-god-program-contemplative-life-2/

Easter Sunday, Cycle A

Terranuova Hermitage

April 20, 2014

Why Are We Really Here Today?

By (Rev. Msgr.) Nicholas P. Amato

Why are we here today?

I begin by asking a rather simple question this Easter. Why are we here?  What is it that brings us here today? 

Obviously, I would not ask the question unless I had a few answers to propose.  So, I’ve got three ideas.

Relationship and More

First, on one level, we are here at church because it is just part of what we do at Easter.  Maybe it is part of what we do with family and friends today and that is important for us.

Maybe it is part of giving Easter baskets with jellybeans and butter cream eggs or having hyacinths or tulips in the house.  It just feels right to make Mass part of our day.

But on another level, we are here because of our need for an extended and even spiritual community.  We are here because of our need for belonging beyond the level of family and friends.

We are here because we need the welcome and inclusion that this brings.  We know that there is more to life and we want to be part of that.  

Making Sense and More

Second, on one level we are here to make sense of our lives.  For some of us, there has been sickness, the death of a loved one, and the breakup of a marriage.

Maybe for many of us, there is the promise of a better life that comes maybe from driving a new Lexus or using Ralph Lauren Romance perfume or having the latest I-Phone.  We need to make some sense both of our struggles and of the satisfactions of the good life that just don’t seem to last.

On another level, we are here because of what we see in Jesus.  Love, relationship, commitment, caring for the needy, finding yourself by giving of yourself – these simple messages of Jesus seem to make sense – even for our lives today, in 2014. 

And maybe this is especially why we are drawn here to the Eucharist.  A thin wafer of bread and a sip of wine – nothing compared to the ham or lamb dinner with a glass of Pinot Grigio later on, and yet much more than that! 

In some way, this is Jesus himself and we need him and this food to hold life together.  Pope Francis says it so simply: “The Eucharist is not a prize for the perfect, but a medicine and nourishment for the weak.”

So, on a deeper level, we are here for this.  This is like fusion food – it brings about a fusion of us with Jesus and this helps us to make sense of life.

Life and More

And third, on one level we are here because Jesus seems to respond to my intuition.  We have this intuition that there is more to life.

Maybe we would call it a longing.  A longing is about something we have tasted and now want more of it, and we have this longing for more of life and more of happiness and more of fulfillment.

On another level, we are here because the gospel states that our longing has been satisfied.  Most of us have been through some tough times and we’ve come through them all right, maybe even better persons.

The celebration here today is about dying leading to rising.  The Easter gospel says in effect that what we experience now, in everyday life, will happen at the end.

So I die to my ego and say “I’m sorry” or “It’s okay – let’s just move on from here” – if I die to myself in this way, I or we so often come to fuller relationship and fuller life.  And Easter says that the same thing can happen when we die to our physical bodies.

Jesus does seem to want us to get into that process or lifestyle of dying and rising right now.  He wants us to live that way and interpret our lives that way now and then the final process of that will almost be a natural and will really satisfy our longing for more life.

Conclusion

So, I see some reasons why we are here this morning.

They deal with family and friends and more, with making sense of things and more, with life itself and more.  Look inside and think and pray and see if this is why you are here this Easter Sunday.

And why we may be here on other Sundays, for all Sunday are often referred to as little Easters.

God bless you on this great feast.