Easter Sunday - Cycle B

Acts 10:34a, 37-43
Col 3:1-4 or 1 Cor 5:6b-8
Jn 20:1-9 or Mk 16:1-7 or, at an afternoon or evening Mass, Lk 24:13-35

There is no day on which it is easier to preach on the victory of life than today, the Feast of Life, the Feast of Christ’s victory over death. Easter makes it clear that being “pro-life” is not something that flows primarily from any political or ideological loyalty, nor simply from a cause, plan, project, or organization. Being pro-life, and all its other manifestations and activities, flow from what happened on Easter. Christ did not only conquer his death; he overturned the entire kingdom of death!

On Easter, we do not come to Church simply to congratulate Jesus for rising from the dead. We come to celebrate the fact that we share that victory. We too, by living and dying in him, will rise in him on the last day.

But this victory is also about today, because we share his risen life now. If we share his life, we are “an Easter people,” or as Evangelium Vitae says, “the People of Life.” This means that we proclaim this victory of life, and stand strongly against all the forces in our society that eclipse or destroy the value of life – foremost among them all being abortion. We stand before these forces, not intimidated, hesitant, or unsure of our ability to overcome them. Instead, we stand before them in strength, declaring that they no longer have any ground to stand on, nor any place in our midst. Christ is Risen! On this day we preach with all the vigor and conviction that the Gospel inspires, and send our people forth to apply the Easter victory of Christ to every segment of society!