WEBVTT 00:00:03.279 --> 00:00:06.240 I want to start this morning with a question. 00:00:07.280 --> 00:00:16.559 And I don't want you to answer it out loud, but I want you to answer it honestly in the privacy of your own heart. 00:00:18.079 --> 00:00:26.559 What would it actually take for you to believe that a dead man walked out of the grave, out of his own grave? 00:00:27.760 --> 00:00:32.159 Not admire it, not call it a beautiful tradition. 00:00:32.960 --> 00:00:37.359 What would it actually take for you to believe that it happened? 00:00:38.799 --> 00:00:41.679 Because this is what Easter claims. 00:00:43.280 --> 00:00:59.840 Not that Jesus lives in our memory, not that he's teaching was inspiring a nice man and an itinerant preacher going about doing nice things, but that he was dead and that he wasn't. 00:01:00.719 --> 00:01:04.480 And everything depends on whether that is true or not. 00:01:06.159 --> 00:01:10.000 Because Easter doesn't work unless it interrupts. 00:01:10.879 --> 00:01:13.120 Unless it interrupts something. 00:01:13.359 --> 00:01:15.040 It interrupts your routine. 00:01:15.200 --> 00:01:20.079 It interrupts the quiet story that you've been telling yourself about your life. 00:01:21.599 --> 00:01:23.280 That's not accidental. 00:01:24.159 --> 00:01:25.439 That's the point. 00:01:27.200 --> 00:01:33.439 The Gospel of Easter doesn't begin with a sermon, it begins with a problem. 00:01:34.719 --> 00:01:39.760 The tomb is empty, and nobody saw that coming. 00:01:40.879 --> 00:01:45.760 The Muemin were coming to the burial site with spices. 00:01:46.719 --> 00:01:53.920 They were coming to anoint the body to finish what they couldn't because the Sabbath had rushed everything. 00:01:55.120 --> 00:01:58.799 The disciples were hiding behind closed doors. 00:02:00.400 --> 00:02:03.359 No one was waiting for a resurrection. 00:02:04.319 --> 00:02:06.959 They thought it was a complete failure. 00:02:07.200 --> 00:02:08.800 They thought it was over. 00:02:10.800 --> 00:02:16.319 And then they arrive at the place and see that the stone is moved. 00:02:17.680 --> 00:02:20.400 They look inside and the tomb is empty. 00:02:22.319 --> 00:02:25.039 The first reaction isn't belief. 00:02:26.960 --> 00:02:28.560 It's confusion. 00:02:29.599 --> 00:02:30.879 Then fear. 00:02:32.159 --> 00:02:36.240 Because an empty tomb by itself doesn't prove anything. 00:02:37.280 --> 00:02:39.919 The empty tomb is not the answer. 00:02:40.639 --> 00:02:43.120 The empty tomb is the question. 00:02:44.000 --> 00:02:45.759 What explains it? 00:02:47.280 --> 00:02:49.199 Because here's what we know. 00:02:50.960 --> 00:02:53.840 When Jesus was arrested, they all ran. 00:02:56.319 --> 00:02:57.520 All of them. 00:02:58.319 --> 00:03:06.080 The Gospel of Mark tells us that one ran so fast that he left his cloak behind and fled naked into the night. 00:03:06.560 --> 00:03:09.520 That's how they fell apart completely. 00:03:10.639 --> 00:03:13.039 Peter denied even knowing him. 00:03:14.240 --> 00:03:18.879 These were not brave men, these were broken men. 00:03:20.240 --> 00:03:23.759 And then something happened. 00:03:25.039 --> 00:03:31.039 Those same men walked out into the streets of Jerusalem and started crying out loud. 00:03:31.360 --> 00:03:32.639 He is alive. 00:03:33.439 --> 00:03:35.039 We have seen him. 00:03:36.080 --> 00:03:40.159 And they didn't stop telling people about this. 00:03:41.199 --> 00:03:46.319 Not when they were threatened, not when they were beaten, not when it cost them everything. 00:03:47.120 --> 00:03:50.800 And almost every single one of them died for that. 00:03:52.240 --> 00:03:53.680 Now think about that. 00:03:55.120 --> 00:03:58.479 People die for what they believe is true. 00:03:59.680 --> 00:04:04.319 But they do not die for something that they know was a made-up story. 00:04:04.560 --> 00:04:09.840 Nobody's going to go to their death for something that was made up. 00:04:11.360 --> 00:04:12.479 They were there. 00:04:34.879 --> 00:04:36.480 They engaged with him. 00:04:37.600 --> 00:04:38.560 They met with him. 00:04:38.800 --> 00:04:44.160 They ate with him in different places, in different locations, in different times. 00:04:44.720 --> 00:04:46.319 That's not mythology. 00:04:47.680 --> 00:04:49.279 That's testimony. 00:04:50.160 --> 00:04:53.360 The resurrection is not a metaphor, some nice story. 00:04:53.439 --> 00:04:55.600 This is, we're talking facts here. 00:04:56.959 --> 00:05:04.959 Because if we believe that Jesus Christ rose from the dead and he is risen indeed, then that changes everything. 00:05:07.360 --> 00:05:09.279 Then your past is not final. 00:05:10.000 --> 00:05:13.199 Your worst mistakes and failings are not final. 00:05:13.680 --> 00:05:15.439 Your deepest regrets. 00:05:15.680 --> 00:05:19.839 If Christ is risen from the dead, your life is not random. 00:05:20.800 --> 00:05:22.000 You are known. 00:05:24.480 --> 00:05:31.680 And if Christ is risen, and he is risen indeed, then right now that matters. 00:05:32.639 --> 00:05:42.079 Because the same power that raised him up is available to you right now, in the middle of whatever feels finished. 00:05:45.839 --> 00:05:48.800 But I want to speak to you where you actually are. 00:05:49.120 --> 00:05:57.439 I want to speak to all the parents and grandparents, holding everything together, wondering if it all matters. 00:05:57.680 --> 00:05:59.680 Well, I'm telling you it does. 00:06:00.240 --> 00:06:01.680 More than you know. 00:06:02.319 --> 00:06:03.680 Stick with it. 00:06:04.720 --> 00:06:19.040 To all of our young people and young adults, and I'm so impressed from all of the truum to all of the ceremonies, even from the last couple of years, the amount of young people that are coming back to the faith is incredible. 00:06:19.279 --> 00:06:23.120 And I say to you, don't settle for a small life. 00:06:24.480 --> 00:06:26.959 You were created for so much more. 00:06:28.800 --> 00:06:34.480 To those who are carrying grief this Easter, don't erase your pain. 00:06:35.040 --> 00:06:41.199 But I want you to know that Easter says to you, death does not have the last word. 00:06:42.959 --> 00:06:47.600 And to those who are doubting their faith, you're not the first. 00:06:49.519 --> 00:07:01.519 The first people to witness the empty tomb were people who were there with lack of faith, who were experiencing a total and complete loss. 00:07:01.759 --> 00:07:03.279 And that matters. 00:07:04.079 --> 00:07:04.480 Why? 00:07:04.639 --> 00:07:07.279 Because you don't walk alone. 00:07:09.519 --> 00:07:13.040 So if you're doubting your faith, stay in the question. 00:07:13.680 --> 00:07:16.959 And to those who have drifted, I invite you to come back. 00:07:17.199 --> 00:07:19.759 Not out of guilt, but out of truth. 00:07:20.720 --> 00:07:23.519 And today something else is happening. 00:07:24.879 --> 00:07:31.199 I want to acknowledge again to those who are being received into the church today, those who are receiving confirmation. 00:07:32.480 --> 00:07:34.000 Today is not just Easter. 00:07:34.079 --> 00:07:35.759 Today is your beginning. 00:07:37.839 --> 00:07:41.439 Today you're fully initiated into the Catholic Church. 00:07:42.399 --> 00:07:48.720 Not just as visitors, not just as observers, but as a family. 00:07:50.240 --> 00:07:57.040 You've searched, you've wrestled, you've said yes, and today the church says, Welcome home, Catholic. 00:07:58.720 --> 00:08:14.639 And your yes today is a reminder to all of us that faith is worth it, that the journey is exciting, that if the faith we sometimes forget we have, we can reclaim it. 00:08:16.959 --> 00:08:27.920 I've staked my entire life on this, everything, on the one claim that Jesus Christ has risen from the dead, and I would do it all over again. 00:08:30.079 --> 00:08:34.720 Because if he didn't rise from the dead, then none of this matters. 00:08:35.440 --> 00:08:36.399 But he did. 00:08:37.360 --> 00:08:39.200 And nothing matters more. 00:08:40.240 --> 00:08:43.200 So here's the call, simple and complete. 00:08:44.080 --> 00:08:45.919 Come back next Sunday. 00:08:46.240 --> 00:08:48.000 Come back every Sunday. 00:08:48.240 --> 00:08:49.679 Get engaged. 00:08:50.960 --> 00:08:54.080 Make your faith your number one priority. 00:08:55.759 --> 00:08:59.679 Have a deep relationship with the Lord because that's it. 00:08:59.919 --> 00:09:01.600 That's all that matters. 00:09:02.720 --> 00:09:05.039 Come to Mass every Sunday. 00:09:05.279 --> 00:09:08.559 Well, because faith doesn't grow in one moment. 00:09:09.200 --> 00:09:13.279 It grows in showing up again and again and again. 00:09:14.399 --> 00:09:24.399 So I asked you at the beginning of Mass, or at the beginning of this homily, what would it take for you to believe that a dead man walked out of his own tomb? 00:09:25.279 --> 00:09:26.399 Here's the answer. 00:09:26.559 --> 00:09:28.000 Here's my answer. 00:09:28.399 --> 00:09:31.360 An empty tomb no one has explained away. 00:09:32.000 --> 00:09:35.519 Witnesses who gave their lives for what they saw. 00:09:35.919 --> 00:09:44.080 And two thousand years of people broken, searching, real people who have encountered something that they could not deny. 00:09:44.639 --> 00:09:53.519 The tomb is empty, the witnesses are real, and the invitation is standing right there in front of you, not from me, but from him. 00:09:54.879 --> 00:10:05.120 So step into the light, step into the life, because Easter is not something we celebrate once a year, it is a life we enter. 00:10:05.360 --> 00:10:15.440 Because if Jesus Christ is raised from the dead, he is truly risen, then that demands of you a responsibility. 00:10:15.759 --> 00:10:22.240 And if you remember nothing else, remember this the best chapter of your life is not behind you. 00:10:22.480 --> 00:10:25.919 It's waiting on the other side of an empty tomb. 00:10:26.240 --> 00:10:26.879 Amen.