A Homily for the Third Sunday after Easter

+ The Collect of this Mass prays that Almighty God, who brings back those in error to the right path by the light of His Truth, may grant that those who call themselves Christian may embrace all things that are in harmony with the Truth and reject all things that are inimical to it. This is an utterly realistic petition: it is the very stuff, the gritty daily matter of living and persevering in the Christian life in the world, and our Holy Mother the Church very wisely places this prayer upon our lips—even as we continue to rejoice in the light of Easter morning.
 
For we all know only too well that too much joy can inebriate us and can lead us to lose that concentration and recollection that is necessary successfully to navigate this life, with its many temptations and trials. Undoubtedly this is why the Church’s Sacred Liturgy addresses the stern words of St Peter to us in the Epistle of this Holy Mass:  “I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that … they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day He visits us.”
 
This is not to say that we must become neurotically scrupulous or paranoid and live in a constant state of paralysing fear. But we must be realistic. Yes, in the light of Easter morning death is vanquished and the effects of sin are overcome once and for all by the infinite merits of the Sacrifice of Christ on the Cross. And yes, by virtue of our Baptism we share in that victory and in the life and hope that is of its essence. But each one of us—as St Peter knows only too well—is perfectly capable of giving into worldly, carnal desires which fight against (and can kill) the life of grace established in our souls by the gift of Baptism.
 
Christ’s victory over sin and death is real, but we must each continue to open ourselves to the grace and life that it makes available, working assiduously to remove obstacles to its action that are present within us and to uproot vices that have sprung up, perhaps almost unnoticed, in us, or that try to return. This is indeed the daily ‘hard work’ of the Christian life. This is the ordinary meaning of perseverance—a regular examination of conscience, of turning once again to the graces won by Christ’s Sacrifice on the Cross (most particularly in the sacrament of confession) and of moving forward in faith and in hope in the reality of the power of His grace working in us and through us.
 
Yes, as Our Lord makes clear in the Holy Gospel, we “will weep and lament, [and] the world will rejoice … [we] will be sorrowful,” at the cost of faithful Christian discipleship in the world in the different circumstances of our particular vocations—for each one of us must take up our cross and follow the Lord to calvary (cf. Mt. 16:24). “But” Our Lord promises, “[our] sorrow will turn into joy.” For if we persevere in carrying our cross, if we join our self-offering to that of Christ on Calvary, we shall share in the power and the glory of His resurrection—nothing less!
 
And in this daily perseverance we are not alone. Our Lord is continually with us in and through the sacraments and sacramentals of His Church. Blessed Ildephonse Schuster observes that:
 
“This period after his resurrection, during which [Our Lord] shows himself to His followers, is symbolical of our own life—it is the history of the Church militant. The unbelieving world has not seen Him since the evening of Good Friday, but we who believe see Him every day in the Holy Eucharist; we converse with Him, and our life, as a brilliant noon-day, is illuminated by the rays which form His halo of glory. This joy, which comes from our nearness to Christ, cannot be taken from us, for it is purely an interior joy. It more than repays us for the suffering which the world inflicts on us as bearers of his name.” (The Sacramentary, II 347)
 
So, whilst we must be prudent—the world, the flesh and the devil are realities and are a constant source of temptations that can destroy the life of grace in our souls—we must also be confident in the victory of Christ and in the power and grace that it makes available to us. We must take our stance firmly and resolutely in the light of the resurrection, in the sure and certain hope that it gives, regardless of the shadows that the world attempts to cast over us. And if, through our own fault, we walk away from this light to lurk in the shadows and indulge in their dark pleasures, we must not hesitate to imitate the humility of the Prodigal Son (cf. Lk 15) and arise and return to the Lord, confessing our sins in the hope of being restored to the light and life Christ has won for us.
 
For, as we approach the altar so as to participate anew in His life-giving sacrifice, whatever our present sorrows, let us rejoice and draw great consolation and strength from the fact that the very incarnation of that hope and of joy is truly present here, and that no one can take Him from us if we persevere in daily fidelity to Him. +