This Sermon is prepared by
Rev.Fr.Peter Jayakanthan sss
Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament
Corpus Christi Catholic Church,
Houston, Texas, US
Easter SundayThird Day is……. Today….!!!Acts10:34, 37-43, Col3:1-4, Jn20:1-9Dear sisters, Brothers and Children, Jesus is risen, alive and live in us, Alleluia! This day reminds us that we are Easter People, people of new life and people with a new beginning. We need this reminder in this world filled with violence, killing, bomb-threats and abuses. Our Sunday Eucharist is the moment of the newness of Easter, so that we may be ready to rise above the worldly realities of fear, threat, sin and struggle. We may decide to be part of at least one group in our parish community to proclaim and witness to the Risen Christ and sing, “This is the day the Lord has made, let us be glad and rejoice.”“It is not my day, it is a bad day and it is not a lucky day”. These are words we speak sometimes, especially when things go wrong and things happen against our expectations. When a child is born we say it is God’s day for this baby. When someone dies we say it God’s day for him or her. Today is the Third day, this Easter day, and every day is Easter day. That is the day of life, the day of fullness of life, day of hope, and the day with liveliness. No more empty tomb and no more empty heart. Nikolai Ivanovich Bukharin was one of the most powerful men and a Russian communist leader, who participated in the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution. He once took a journey from Moscow to Kiev in 1930 and addressed a huge assembly of communists on atheism. He attacked Christianity in the process of his speech. At the end he asked “Are there any questions?’ He demanded and challenged. At this time a young man stood up and went to the stage, looked around and shouted the ancient greeting of the Russian Orthodox Church: Christ is Risen.” The whole crowd stood up and shouted in a thundering voice, “He has risen indeed.” Bukharin, the speaker, went down in silence, and realized how faith in Christ’s Resurrection was deeply rooted in his Russian Orthodox Communist followers! The readings of the Easter Vigil and Easter Day proclaim the life of liberation, life of salvation and life of hope. The Synoptic Gospel writers mention the empty tomb experience. All four Evangelists expressed the search for Jesus on the Third day or First day of the week. The Third day and First day of the week refers to Sunday. The Jews, however, observe Sabbath on Saturday and their custom does not permit visits to the tomb until the third day. They go to the tomb on the third day to weep, to mourn, to sit talking about memories, and to anoint with oil. The disciples were sad, they were fearful and they were lacking hope. They found the stone rolled back even with the strong protection of soldiers kept there. No one broke into the tomb; Jesus broke the bonds of death and sin. Sin, fall, misery, death is not the end. Empty tomb is not the end, but is the beginning for new life and it is another Easter third day. Mary Magdalen, women and Apostles (Peter, John & James): people who were close to Jesus, Mary and John who stood by the Cross wanted to see Jesus and touch Jesus in the tomb. But still they had fear, they had doubts and they were in a state of unbelief. So they went in the very early morning while it was still dark. John explains the fear and unbelief of darkness. ‘Where is He’, ‘we want to see’ and ‘who has taken Him away,’ reveal their anxiety and confusion. Two men and angels: “He is not here, He is alive, don’t search here. He is going ahead of you.” This message should remind us of the words of Jesus “I am the life and the resurrection.” The Shroud was rolled and kept separately: it is the sign that when the cloth is rolled and kept separately at the dining table, to show that person has not finished but will come back. John signifies the coming back of Jesus as He proclaimed. The Shroud which is preserved at St. the Baptist Basilica in Turin will be exhibited in2015 in the coming months Third day is today and Easter day: though Mary Magdalen, the women and beloved disciples did not find the body of Jesus; still their third day was filled with sadness, gloomy, confusion, doubts and lack of hope. Every day of their life changed into the Third day and Easter Day only after receiving the Holy Spirit. What is Easter Day and the Third day? It is a day filled with life, hope, liveliness, fullness, and words of encouragement and a day of new life. The Risen Jesus proved that death, sin, sickness, stroke, failures and violence is not the end, and the last laugh rather is Jesus is Risen: there is life in Him and with Him always! The three centuries of persecution and survival of the Early Christian Church, which has led to the present-day Church, is a clear witness to the Rrisen Jesus, and the Presence of Jesus in the Sacraments and in the Church. "Easter" literally means "the feast of fresh flowers." We celebrate it with pride and jubilation. St. Paul writes: “If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain; and your Faith is in vain” (I Cor 15: 14). “Jesus is Lord, he is risen” (Rom 10: 9), was the central theme of the kerygma (or 'preaching'), of the Apostles. We are called to be angels at the tomb with the renewal of our Baptismal Promises calling us to live each day as Easter Day; the Third day is today, the day of new life and new hope-Amen. Everything can be taken away from a person, except the last exercise of human freedom to live fully or to live in despair. This is the realization of Dr. Victor Frankl in the concentration camp. In 1944 his work in the camp was to dig a tunnel under a road to place a pipe, after the work the reward he received was two gift tokens, it was a Christmas day. All were rewarded with gift tokens. Each coupon could be exchanged for 6 cigarettes, he says, my coupons is worth for 12cigarettes. The 12 cigarettes could in turn be exchanged for a dozen soup rations, which will feed for two weeks of hunger. But the prisoners who have given up, who don’t want to fight and comeback smoked their own cigarettes. They lost their will to live; here victor Frankl discovers the new-life and full ness of life in the Risen Lord. That is finding meaning in life, I have something to live for, this enabled the co-prisoners to fight, to with stand, to hope and to believe in the fullness of life every day. Cross in not the end, Calvary is not the end , Empty tomb is not an end Struggle is not an end Everything is a milestone towards the fullness of life because HE IS ALIVE SO LET US see every day as Eater Sunday, the day of life and the day of fullness-Amen. 
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