A Homily for the Fourth Sunday after Easter

​+ It is almost impossible to count the number of times the Church sings “Alleluia” in the Sacred Liturgy of Eastertide as she ponders anew the reality of the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth from the dead and as she continues to contemplate its implications for the life, death and salvation of every human person. Rightly does the Office of Lauds on Sundays begin with an antiphon of a ‘mere’ nine alleluias. The shattering of the bounds of death by the fact of the resurrection leaves us stammering with joy as its true meaning grows in our understanding. Nothing about our earthly life is the same anymore. Everything, even the darkest shadows of the cross, must be viewed in the light of Easter morning.

This can be difficult, particularly when our lives are full of so many concerns, and sometimes important ones. So too, the content of the Easter event is so utterly beyond our experience that merely ‘getting my head around it’ is no small feat. We may be understandably envious of the Apostles who saw, met, talked and ate with the Risen Lord. We may well identify with Doubting Thomas and yet envy him also, for Our Lord removed his doubts in a manner that was singularly decisive.
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Yet even for the privileged Apostles, this formative period of grace was limited; as the Holy Gospel of today’s Mass reveals. Our Lord’s absence from His disciples was foreseen – the commencement of which we celebrate in the feast of the Ascension.
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To celebrate Our Lord’s absence appears odd. It would be so much easier if the Resurrected Lord were with us still in person. And yet, as He teaches us in the Gospel, this is for the best. For His absence, whilst causing sorrow, makes way for the fulness of the Gift of Almighty God in the Person of the Holy Spirit, whose coming we shall celebrate at Pentecost.

But let us not get too far ahead of ourselves, liturgically at least. We can ponder these great feasts when they arrive. This morning, let us remain in Eastertide, awash with alleluias as it were, warmed the radiant light of Easter morning. For whilst this period of grace is limited, and whilst we live it liturgically and not historically as did the Apostles, it is nonetheless real and is given to us for our formation in that Truth which is fundamental to our faith: Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ of God, has in his person conquered death and opened to all who persevere in following His teaching the same victory and life without end.

We’ve heard this before, of course. We sang of it on Easter night and have done so without ceasing ever since. Yet amidst the cares and burdens of daily life, the reason for all the Alleluias may even have become rather commonplace. We may not deny the Truth of the Resurrection, but other, seemingly more important things, may be of more pressing concern to us at the moment.

From the Collect of this fourth Sunday after Easter it seems that the Church’s Tradition knows and understands this reality only too well, for like a wise mother she prays that “amidst the changing things of this world our hearts may be fixed where true joys may be found.” This is the gritty reality of Christian life – even in Eastertide. This is the business of perseverance in the faith – fixing our hears where true joys may be found amidst all the trials, setbacks, temptations and worries that confront us. It is for this grace that the Church’s Liturgy begs for each of us, monk, cleric or layman or woman this morning – for our mother knows we have great need of it.

Our task is truly to pray this prayer with her, to open our hearts to the very grace we need in whatever particular situation this Eastertide finds us. For the joy of Easter is not simply the joy of the Truth of the Resurrection. “Alleluia” is not just a beautiful thing to chant. This joy and this beauty are realities for each one of us, at this time, that can transform us as thy did the Apostles, if we but open ourselves to their import. When we accept this and live from it, we come to realise why the Church cannot stop singing “Alleluia”. In this Holy Mass let us ask Almighty God for the grace to sing with her, in our hearts and minds and actions amidst the changing things of this world. +

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