(Given at the 8:30 am and 10:30 am Sunday Masses at OLP)
Jesus is risen. Indeed, the resurrection of Jesus is Christianity’s historical proclamation. As St. Paul states, if Christ didn’t rise from the dead, then our faith is in vain. Our lives as Christians would be absolutely pointless. But Jesus has arisen, and there is good evidence for it. The fact that you have eleven uneducated fisherman from a backwater region in the Roman Empire who completely change the course of history is baffling if God was not behind it. And each of those men, the Apostles, willingly suffered persecution and death, testifying to the truth that they saw the risen Christ. No one would risk getting skinned alive for a lie, as happened to St. Bartholomew. Group hallucinations as an answer doesn’t work because Jesus appeared to many people at different times and places, according to the historical records and eyewitness testimony. Hallucination also wouldn’t explain the empty tomb. Just produce the dead body if people were lying or just seeing things. But, no. The reasonable evidence points to the fact that Jesus died and rose again and established his community, the Catholic Church, to evangelize the world. 2,000 years later, here we are. Over 1.4 billion members strong, not including other Christians. People are still converting to the Faith. Miracles are still happening around the globe. Look at the miracle of the dancing of the sun at Fatima back in 1917. Three children said they saw an apparition of Mary and said a miracle would occur on October 13th, 1917. And it did! 70,000 to 100,000 people saw it, and it was even recorded in the non-religious newspaper, O Seculo, at the time. You also have the miracle at Zeitoun, Egypt, where over a million people, even Egyptian officials, saw a figure of light that looked like the Virgin Mary on top of a church. This occurred from 1968 to 1971. There are even photos of the figure online! My brothers and sisters, this is just scratching the surface. Our faith is so reasonable, and our reason is enlightened by our faith. They both go hand in hand. It all began with the resurrection of Jesus, which we celebrate today, and it will continue until the end of time. Happy Easter.