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Browsing Father Michael Deering's Sunday Homilies

An amazing day...an amazing promise!

Homily presented April 1, 2018

 

An amazing day … an amazing promise!

 

At 5:00 in the afternoon I got a call from a Catholic woman ...

who wanted to know why there wasn’t a 5:30 Mass.

So I explained that the Easter Vigil Mass has to begin after sunset ...

and our Bishop chose the time of 8:00 PM for the start of the Vigil Mass.

She then asked “How long will it be?”

She admitted that she doesn’t go to Church very often!

 

I must say I was amazed!

 

Actually I’m amazed a lot, almost every day, at the number of people who tell me that they don’t go to church.                   They say they know they should be going ...

and yet they have a hundred and one reasons for not going.

 

I’m also amazed at how some people that do go to church ... can’t wait to leave.

They’re the ones that want to know ... how long the Mass will be.

 

You know, I can’t imagine being with someone who loves you ...

and looking at your watch to see how much longer you have to be there.

 

I’m quite amazed that after you once identify the lover of all lovers, who is God, you wouldn’t want to be in His presence on a very regular basisfor as long as possible.

No one loves you more than God … His love is infinite and unconditional.

 

He is madly in love with each and every one of us.

And how do we respond to His love?

Many fail to make even a weekly 1-hour connection with Him.

 

There are 168 hours in a week and what does God ask of us?

To be with Him for 1 of those 168 hours so that He can love us in a special way …

through the words and the presence of His Beloved Son Jesus.  

 

Why does He want us to go to church?         So He can love us even more!

 

That to me is what’s truly amazing …that the All-Powerful, Ever-Living God ...

passionately desires for us to share … in His own blessed life.  

He wants to share Himself with us!

 

And He did this in the most complete way when He sent His Only Begotten Son ...

into our world to redeem us and put us back into a right relationship with Him …

 

a relationship where we could now receive His Holy Spirit and be guided and supported safely through this journey of life and find our way to be with Him forever in Heaven.

 

We have an amazing God!

 

He does so many amazing things.

 

We heard of one of them in our Gospel today.

 

St. John tells us that when Peter and John arrived at Jesus’ tomb on that First Easter morning, “they saw the burial cloths there”, but the body of Jesus was not there!

 

How could they be anything but amazed? They buried a dead body in the tomb 2 days ago and now it’s not there because it was raised from the dead!

That’s what we celebrate today ... the Resurrection of Jesus.

 

That never happened before.    It demonstrates the amazing power of God.

 

He raised Himself from the dead to win victory over the greatest consequence of sin, which is death.

And victory over death can be ours too ... if we choose.

 

Speaking to newly baptized Christians ... St. Paul says today:

“For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

When Christ your life appears, then you too will appear with him in glory.”  

 

What an amazing promise! That having been baptized into Christ and living a life in Him we will one day appear with Him in glory!

 

 

It’s an amazing promise... that many of us believe in.

 And some others have recently decided to take God up on His promise.

 

For the past half a year, 19 people have taken the time to formally study the teachings of the Church that the Savior Jesus started some 2000 years ago, the Catholic Church.

 

And now after much prayer, they’ve chosen to come closer to Jesus by entering in!

And ... they’re not alone!

 

In parishes like this all over the world, many men and women enter the Church.

In the Diocese of Birmingham, 500 people will come in this year.

And across the country over 100,000 people will come in this year.

 

These people have found the Catholic Church to be ... truly amazing!

 

Now for those who are not Catholic, they might ask,

“What’s so amazing about the Catholic Church?”

 

Well, we have the Mass, which was instituted by Jesus Himself at the Last Supper.

It is the most powerful prayer in the world.

 

We have the Seven Sacraments, which are channels of God’s supernatural grace.

 

We have the Sacrament of Confession, where God forgives us for our sins, dispensing His great mercy that wipes away our guilt and shame and renews us in His love.

 

We have the Holy Eucharist, which is Jesus Himself. And when we properly prepare and dispose ourselves, we can receive the Risen Jesus into our bodies to help & hold & heal.

 

Having access to all these gifts and privileges is the reason why ...

people outside the Catholic Church want to come in.

They thirst and hunger for what we have.        They thirst and hunger for Him!

 

Jesus is the reason why year after year century after century, people keep coming into the Catholic Church. It continues to grow and grow, today numbering 1.2 billion Catholics around the world.

 

The Catholic Church is His Church. Jesus established it on the rock foundation of St. Peter and he sent His Holy Spirit to guide it in all truth until He comes again in glory.

 

This we know, Jesus keeps His promises.

He said he would rise again after being put to death, and He did.

 

And as Paul promises ... if we die with Christ, we shall also live with Him.

 

What a great promise that is.    Imagine living forever with the Risen Jesus!

 

We are so very blessed.

Here we have the Risen Jesus. And in Him we have everything we need.

 

Let’s rejoice in this great day, the Day of the Resurrection of our Lord and Savior.

 

It’s a day ... and a promise ... that is truly amazing!

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