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Homily – March 31/April 1 – Easter 2018 – Year B

In all honesty, I was not looking forward to Easter this year, I really liked Lent. I loved the time of preparation and I truly felt it should have gone for longer. At the Easter Vigil, we have a beautiful ceremony of the light and I loved the dark mystery of it all. I wish the darkness would stay longer. Then we say “Christ our Light” three times and the lights were on, Easter was here and our weak faith was exposed. We are now required to live the resurrected faith of Jesus and put to death the reign of sin. On Good Friday, I told you that when Jesus said, “It is finished,” He meant the reign of sin, He meant that the Passover from slavery is done and we are now called to live as resurrected people. On Good Friday, I also promised that I would give four homilies on how to live in the light of the Resurrection, how to live the truth that Christ is alive and how to put to death the reign of sin in our lives. The four homilies would be on prayer, how to pray, how to hear and know the Lord of the Resurrection and allow Him to guide our lives.

I looked into three things from the Gospel for today because I want it to change my life. I don’t want to encounter the risen Lord and be the same. I want to see the Lord’s Resurrection do something in my life. Do you want this? Do you want to let Jesus work powerfully in your life? Do you want to be able to answer the question, “What is the Lord doing in your life?” If I asked you what is God doing in your life, what would you say right now? How could you know, because as many people tell me the Lord doesn’t really speak. That is not true. It is more like His people don’t really listen that is why we can’t answer the question and maybe it is we don’t know how to listen. Because it is true that every day our Lord is speaking to us. Every day, multiple times a day, He speaks to us. Yes, this is true so if it is true, why do we not hear Him? Well put question.

The principle means by which God speaks to us is through Sacred Scripture. If you start intentionally reading it to hear God’s voice, you will see what is going on. An essential question to ask when you are reading from Scripture is, “Lord, what do you want to teach me in this?”

Where should you start when you are reading Scripture? My recommendation is the Gospel of the day. First of all, it is what the Church gave us for that day and knowing God there is a specific reason that the Scripture is being read for that day and it is meant to have a personal meaning for you and I each day. Isn’t that simply miraculous that the exact same Gospel can have a personal meaning for every single soul in the Church here, and the entire meaning is the words everyone needs to hear to grow closer to Christ? I know, it blows my mind on how divine the Word of God is, how personal it is, and how it can speak into our hearts.

Our daily reading of Scripture rolls the stone away. You might be like the women today who did not know how they were going to roll the stone away. You might not know how God is going to inspire you, how He could possibly speak to you. Be like the women who asked the question and went anyways to the tomb and you will be amazed as well when you get there and see that God came through, the stone was moved and the Gospel spoke personally to your heart and it was the remedy to draw near to Jesus. Whenever you are reading Scripture, set aside a period of time – five, ten, fifteen, twenty minutes – and don’t leave until the time is up. Secondly, have something to write on. It is like the parish that came together to pray to end the drought but only one boy brought an umbrella. You set a time and bring a book, paper, pen, note taking tool. Try not to use something that someone else can contact you on because the purpose is to allow God to contact you.

So, yes, God is speaking. The most common form of communication from God is Scripture and the daily Gospel is the best place to start. Set aside a time and bring your note taking device because God is going to rain down His holy words on you and you will know the truth and it will make you free.

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