The Day That Changed Everything

Voice over by Eliz

Acts 10,34a.37-43, Psalm: 117, Col 3,1-4, Jn 20:1-9

My dear sisters and brothers in Christ,

Today, the Church cries out with a joy that cannot be contained. The long vigil of Holy Saturday has given way to the dawn of the Resurrection. The stone is rolled away. The tomb is empty. Death has met its match. This is Easter, the day that changes everything—not just for Jesus, but for you and for me.

In the Acts of the Apostles, Peter stands before the household of Cornelius and proclaims the core of our faith. He speaks of Jesus of Nazareth, “how God anointed him with the Holy Spirit and power.” He recounts His ministry of healing, His death on the tree, and then the breathtaking news: “This man God raised on the third day and granted that he be visible.” Peter testifies not to a philosophy, but to an event. He and the other apostles ate and drank with the risen Lord. They are witnesses. And from that witness comes the universal call: “Everyone who believes in him will receive forgiveness of sins through his name.” Easter is not a private consolation; it is a public proclamation meant for every human heart.

Saint Paul, in his letter to the Colossians, draws out the stunning implication for our own lives. “If then you were raised with Christ, seek what is above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.” Baptism has already united us with Christ’s death and resurrection. Our true life, Paul says, “is hidden with Christ in God.” This means that our ultimate identity, our deepest reality, is not found in our successes, our possessions, or even our struggles. It is hidden in the risen Lord. And when He appears, “then you too will appear with him in glory.” Easter gives us a new center of gravity. Our hearts are no longer bound by the grave.

The Gospel of John brings us to the empty tomb on that first day of the week. Mary Magdalene arrives while it is still dark and finds the stone removed. She runs to Peter and the beloved disciple. They race to the tomb. The beloved disciple arrives first, looks in, and sees the burial cloths. Then Simon Peter enters and sees the cloths neatly folded, the face cloth rolled up separately. Then the beloved disciple enters, “and he saw and believed.” John tells us they did not yet understand the Scripture that Jesus must rise from the dead. But in that moment, seeing the empty tomb, belief began to dawn. The absence of His body was not a theft; it was a victory.

Pope Francis, in his Easter message, reminds us: “The Resurrection is not a theory; it is a historical reality that breaks into the human condition.”

So, what does this mean for you, today, as you leave this church? It means that your sins are not the final word. Your failures are not the end of your story. The grave clothes of despair, addiction, and fear can be left behind, just as Christ left His burial cloths in the tomb. It means that the life you now live is “hidden with Christ in God.” No matter what challenges this year brings, your ultimate security is in the risen Lord.

This Easter, let us not merely celebrate an event in the past. Let us live the reality of the Resurrection now. Let us seek the things that are above. Let us believe, like the beloved disciple, and let that belief transform how we love, how we serve, and how we hope. For He is risen. He is truly risen. And in Him, we rise as well. Amen.

Happy Easter! Alleluia!

May God bless you all!