Homily for Easter Sunday, April 5th, 2026

If Jesus’s display of love for us had ended at dusk of Good Friday, when his disfigured corpse was taken down from the cross, washed and placed in a new tomb, he would be a hero who lost his life trying to save us all. But we would have been lost forever. 

The resurrection is instead that lone, historical fact that proves that through Jesus’s victory over death, all of us possess the guarantee of Life without end. 

The resurrection changes everything for Jesus as Son of Man and for us, his brothers and sisters. 

Everything, absolutely everything about our life on earth and our hope for eternal Life in heaven, is grounded in the resurrection. 

For those who do not believe in the resurrection, life on earth is all they can hold on to; and that life can end just like that. Thus, they are the most pitiful of people. 

Some of them act ethically either for fear of getting in trouble with the law or because they hold themselves to a high ethical standard.   

As believers, what would be our reason for leading ethical lives if Christ had not risen from the dead? 

Why make so many sacrifices? Why obey any law?  

Why being dependable, accountable, responsible, generous, helpful, self-less? 

Fear of punishment could only keep us out of trouble for a while; then, we would find a way around the law, and do as we please, with the assailing thought that it can all end abruptly as is the case with roadkill. 

Nor could we expect much help from other people because they, too, would be devoid of hope. 

Now, next to the Blessed Mother, Mary Magdalene, Simon Peter and John, the beloved disciple, were those who loved Jesus the most. We are way down on the list of lovers of Jesus. 

Prior to the Resurrection, in them there were darkness and emptiness, dashed hopes and many hurts barely mitigated by lovely memories of their divine Master. 

Since they had yet to grasp the tremendous impact of the resurrection, and to reshape their life around it, they went to the tomb without hope, solely wondering how they could cope without the Lord in their—suddenly miserable, empty—lives. 

At this time, let me point out to you a fact which you might have overlooked: even on every Sunday of Lent, with purple vestments worn by the presiding priest, the Church does “Eucharist,” i.e. she gives  

thanks to God for the death and resurrection of Christ. 

The Church tells us to sing: “We proclaim your Death, O Lord, and profess your Resurrection until you come again.” 

Even in our darkest moments, we cannot forget that Christ is risen; that his way, which is the way of loving each other even to the point of forfeiting our life for someone else, is the valid one, the one that will be rewarded by Christ when he comes again in his glory. 

So, Easter presents us with a gigantic challenge. Here it is: For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. Colossians 3:3 

We must live each day still left of our life on this earth with the reshaping thought that we are one with Christ. 

It means that, since we are inseparable from Jesus Christ, we, too, “have died” with him.  

Any sin, even those that we commit routinely without giving them much thought, should be left behind us, nailed as they indeed were to the cross of Christ. 

Having died to sin, along with Christ, our future must be truly “sin-free” as much as it is humanly possible by us aided by God’s grace.  

The second part of this gigantic challenge is even harder to accomplish: we must carry out our duties according to our state in life aware of how our real Life that will never end, is still hidden in Christ. 

This means that we must handle darkness, setbacks, piercing uncertainties, hurts, tears as well as success, bright moments, accolades and joys with hope rather than with tangible certainty. 

Now, hope doesn’t offer us any valuable tips as we deal with and interact with people.  

Hope doesn’t pay our bills; doesn’t give us a raise; doesn’t pay for our graduations or diplomas. 

Hope simply sustains us as we do all those necessary things in life with that extra resolve and perseverance which would get us over the many hurdles that we encounter daily. 

Sustained by the resurrection, my wish of a Happy Easter is an invitation, extended to all of us to live through any darkness and emptiness with the certainty that nothing in this world can ever separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus, our risen Lord. 

This Happy Easter wish means that no matter what we must face each day, we are sustained by the certainty that the glory of Christ will be ours as well, for sure.