An amazing day … an amazing promise!
Homily originally presented on April 4, 2021

Do you know what the Carbonara Effect is?

I sure didn’t ... until I went up to Chicago 2 years ago on vacation and spent some time with my cousin, Laura, who introduced me to it ... it’s a TV program about the ploys of a handsome, young ... Magician ...  by the name of Michael Carbonara ... 

who has an amazing ability to make things disappear and re-appear!

It’s absolutely amazing to see the tricks he performs before unsuspecting people ...

and when they ask for an explanation of how he did it ...

he simply states that it’s because of the Carbonara Effect!

Then he gets them to look at the camera and admits that he ... Michael Carbonara ...

      is a Magician!   

If you get a chance to check it out on TV or You-Tube ...

I think that you too will find it to be ... “quite amazing”.

You know, there’s some other things that I find quite amazing ...

like the number of people who don’t go to Church on Sunday. (maybe Easter but not regularly)

Many say they know they should be going ...

but still they have 101 reasons for not going.

And I’m also amazed at the number of the people who do go to Church ...

and can’t wait to leave.

I just can’t imagine being with someone who loves you ...

and looking at your watch to see how much longer you have till you can leave.

I’m quite amazed ... that after you recognize God as “the lover of all lovers” ...

that you wouldn’t want to be in His presence ...

on a very regular basis … for as long as possible.

No one loves you more than God … His love is infinite, unconditional, everlasting!

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

And how do we respond to His love?

Many fail to make at least a 1-hour weekly visit with Him.

There are 168 hours in a week ... and how many of those does God ask for?   One!

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

    through His words of Life ... and through His Son, Jesus, the bread of Life.  

Why does He want us to go to Church?        Because it’s there in His House ...

that we can experience His love in an especially intimate way!

That to me ... is what’s truly amazing …

that the All-Powerful God ... who doesn’t need anything ...

wants so very much for all of us to share … in His own blessed life.  

Yes ... He wants to share... His very self ... 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.

Like Michael Carbonara, He too can make things disappear ... and re-appear...

but when God does it ... it’s not slight of hand ... it’s not magic ... it’s the real thing!

In the weeks to come we’re going to hear of many Resurrection appearances.

Today we hear of a Bodily “disappearance”`!

St. Mark tells us that when the women reached Jesus’ tomb, “they saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed in a white robe and they were utterly amazed.”

And the young man says to them, “Do not be amazed!

You seek Jesus of Nazareth, the crucified. He has been raised; He is not here.”

Well how could they be anything but amazed?  Jesus disappeared!

2 days before, they wrapped His dead body and buried it in the tomb ...

 and now it’s not there!    Why?     Because it was raised from the dead!

That never happened before.

The man Lazarus didn’t raise himself from the dead ... no, he was raised by Jesus.

And now this man Jesus ... raised Himself from the dead!

Wow! ... the amazing power of ... the Son of God.

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

He raised Himself from the dead to win victory over the greatest consequence of sin, which is death, and to show us that if we abide in Him, we too can live forever like Him.

How do we abide in Him?        We do this by believing in Him and being baptized.

St. Peter emphasized this in our First Reading from Acts of the Apostles, saying that:

“everyone who believes in him will receive forgiveness of sins through his name.”

And Paul emphasized this too in our Second Reading from Colossians, saying that,

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

What amazing promises!

That if we follow Christ... we will receive forgiveness of sins ... and appear in glory!

Many of us believe these promises.

And many others have recently decided to take God up on His promises.

For the past 8 months, 15 people have taken the time to follow Jesus ...

    by formally studying His teachings ...

in the Church that He started some 2000 years ago ... the Catholic Church.

And now after prayer and discernment, they freely chose last night ...

 to come closer to Jesus by entering into the Catholic Church.

And they were not alone!

In parishes like ours all over the world, many men and women

entered the Catholic Church last night.

In the Diocese of Birmingham ... several hundred people came in.

And across the country ... over 100,000 people came in.

Why? Because those people found the Catholic Church to be ... truly amazing!

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

Here, we have the Mass, the greatest most powerful prayer in the world ...

The prayer instituted by Jesus Himself at the Last Supper ... so that we can give worthy worship to the Father and receive God’s abundant blessings.

Here, we have access to all Seven Sacraments ...

that Jesus left us as channels of God’s grace ...

including the Sacrament of Confirmation ... the full outpouring of the Holy Spirit,

the Sacrament of Confession, where God forgives us for our sins

and the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist, which is Jesus Himself  ...

that we take into our bodies for supernatural strength and nourishment.

Having access to all these gifts and graces

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 so that 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 sent His Holy Spirit to guide it in all truth until He comes again in glory.

This much we know ... Jesus keeps His promises.

He said he would rise again ..., and He did ...

in a glorified Resurrected body ... never to die again.

And Jesus promises that if we follow Him ... He will take us to the Father in Heaven ...

where we will have Eternal Life.

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

We are so very blessed!

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!      Happy Easter!