Easter Sunday 2007.   April 7-8, 2007.   Easter Vigil, 9:30. 6PM.   Romans 6: 3-11. Luke 24: 1-12.

On December 8, 1875 the German ship Deutschland sank off the coast of England.  There were 157 passengers on board.  Attempts to launch life boats failed.  The first boat filled with water drowning eight people.  The second life boat drifted for 38 hours and two of its occupants froze to death.  Passengers were told to come to the deck to be evacuated, but the situation was an impossible one.  Finally a tug boat arrived that saved many of the remaining passengers.  There were five young Franciscan Sisters on the boat.  They were fleeing anti-Catholic laws in Germany and they were headed to the United States to teach in the missions in Missouri.  When everyone was ordered to come up to the deck for possible rescue, they chose to remain below because there was not enough room for all 157 passengers on deck.  The young nuns gave up their lives so that others could be rescued first.  One account said that they died with their hand clasped and their leader calling out over and over again, “O Christ, come quickly!”  These young sisters never reached the United States.  Yet the faith of these women who were willing to lay down their lives not only to teach the young, but also to allow others to survive when tragedy struck, has been the strong foundation of the Catholic Church and Catholic schools in our land.

“At daybreak on the first day of the week the women took spices they had prepared and went to the tomb of Jesus.  Two men in dazzling garments appeared to them.  They were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground.  The men said, “Why do you seek the living one among the dead?  He is not here.  He has been raised up.  Remember that he said that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners and be crucified, and rise on the third day. They told their story to the Apostles but their story seemed like nonsense.”

Who would look for new life in a tomb?  Tombs are filled with the flesh and bones of the dead, no matter how good we made them look before we buried them. As followers of Jesus we believe that the tomb is the doorway to life.  Life from the dead is the key teaching and experience of our Catholic Christian faith.

During the summer of 1885 a disease devastated the potato crop in Ireland, turning potatoes into mush.  The potato was the basic food in the Irish diet.  The potato famine resulted in cholera, dysentery, scurvy and many other diseases.  Over the next ten years 750,000 people died as a result of the potato famine and two million people left Ireland, many of them coming to the Untied States.  They came to America poor and desperate.  When seeking a job just to survive, they were often greeted by hostile Americans who said, “Irish need not apply.”  Strengthened by their Catholic Faith and their deep trust in God, the Irish have risen from the tomb of poverty to a prominent position in American life.   With faith in Christ Jesus it is possible for those who are near death to rise again to a life that they would not even have imaged in the old world they had left behind.

On my trips to Ghana West Africa I found visiting a castle from which African men and women where shipped in chains as slaves to the United States and other places very troubling.  Thousands of them died during their long journey across the ocean.  Slavery and racial discrimination entombed them.   Vibrant faith in Jesus Christ often gave downtrodden black people the courage to move forward.  Knowing the bitter history of African American people it is hard to believe that our current Secretary of State is an African American, as was the previous one and that there is an African American running for president of this land.

Jesus was tormented by the crowd and sentenced to a cruel death by crucifixion.  Those who watched his crucifixion thought that they were through with him.  His enemies did not understand the immense power of God working in those who believe in the goodness and faithfulness of God.  God brought Jesus, alive and risen, from the tomb.  The Risen Christ says to us, “I am the way and the truth and the life.”   God works the miracle of resurrection in all of those who trust him.

Have you ever made a serious mistake or committed a serous sin?  We could spend the rest of our lives beating ourselves up for something we can no longer change.  The other option is to trust that God can bring resurrection into our lives no matter what we have done.  Resurrection is a present experience for those who believe in Jesus.

Have you ever been the victim of tragedy, abuse or misunderstanding?  One option is to live the rest of our lives in anger and resentment.   The other option is to trust that God can bring resurrection out of any and all tragedies that we have experienced. Resurrection is a present experience for those who trust in Jesus.

Is your marriage in trouble?  Are your children acting up?  Have you lost a job?  Is old age a pain?   Easter proclaims that our loving God specializes in the miracle of resurrection.  Today we are given the choice to either remain in the tomb or to allow Jesus to bring us to resurrection and new life.

St. Paul tells us, “We were indeed buried with Christ through baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might live a new life.” Resurrection is a present experience for those who follow Jesus.  For Christ dying and rising again in us we give God thanks and praise this Easter Day.