“For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ your life appears, then you too will appear with him in glory.” (Col 3:4) 

We hear these words from St. Paul’s Letter to the Colossians. 

The Basilica of St. Clement in Rome contains a great deal of history. Quite literally it is a 12th-century church built upon an older fourth-century church built upon an ancient first-century city center. 

Visitors can walk through the excavations through the different levels to discover a plethora of archaeological history. St. Cyril, who with his brother St. Methodius, was one of the apostles to the East, is buried there. 

Relatively recently, a fresco was uncovered near his tomb revealing an image of the descent into hell. We profess that after His death on the cross, Jesus descended into hell, into the land of the dead, opening up the gates of heaven to those who had already died. 

In this image, Jesus extends his hand out to Adam, the first man, to pull him up. There is a little humor mixed in with some profound theology. 

You see, while Jesus is pulling up Adam out of the depths of hell, there is a little demon below, pulling Adam’s feet trying to keep him down. 

Friends, Jesus is risen! Christus Vivit (Christ Lives!) Alleluia! Happy Easter one and all. It is a tremendous joy for me to be with you at our diocesan Cathedral on this glorious Easter day. 

Easter greetings to all the cathedral parishioners and a warm welcome to all those who are visiting with us at Easter. Blessed Easter to those who join us through NET-TV, especially to those of you who are sick or homebound. 

Thank you for being with us and know that you are united with us in prayer. We are praying for you who are at home. 

“Your life is hidden with God.” Friends, we know that through His passion and resurrection, Christ has conquered sin and death definitively. 

We believe that we who have shared in His death through baptism, shall also live with Him in glory through His resurrection. That is a big deal. It gives us hope. It gives us confidence. 

Yet, while Christ is raising us up, often we can feel the tug of the demons pulling us down, trying to keep us down. 

You see, Satan is vanquished, but he, the prince of lies, tries to convince us otherwise, that it’s not all over. 

How conscious are we of our sins and failings. How easily we can fall into discouragement or despair. 

But today we proclaim Easter joy. We hear the greeting of Jesus to His disciples on the night of His resurrection: Shalom, peace, my very good friends, words of mercy, words of hope. 

We experience the tugs of grief and anguish. We try to live good lives under difficult circumstances. 

Here in our own city, we see terrible violence. Yesterday morning, I attended the funeral for Police Officer Jonathan Diller, who leaves behind a beautiful family. 

He died protecting the people of our city, of our diocese, right in Queens. Friends, we can never underestimate or understate the sacrifices and the assistance of our police officers and first responders. 

We are all too conscious of the powers of evil in this world. It seems every year we find ourselves calling out for peace in different lands. 

These days, in a city like ours, many of us and many of our neighbors have deep ties to family in these war-torn countries. We pray for the gift of shalom, of peace. 

So, indeed, we feel the tug of the reality of evil, but we know that is not the end of the story. Jesus lives. 

He rose from the dead, on Easter Sunday and because He rose from the dead on Easter Sunday, He lives even today. He lifts us up and there is no power that can keep us down! 

May I suggest that you take a look at the four Gospels and read the Resurrection accounts? 

It is interesting, amazing even, how after rising from the dead Jesus goes out to meet those who, as Peter said in the first reading, ate and drank with Him beforehand. 

In the Gospel, we see how Mary Magdalene discovers the empty tomb. Later we will see how she is weeping copious tears. Jesus seeks her out, He appears before her, and engages her with His healing words. 

He seeks out His disciples in that locked room. They were licking their wounds so to speak. They weren’t quite so macho after all. In their fear and disappointment, He speaks words of shalom. 

While they are still trying to figure things out, Peter goes back to his old way of life — fishing. (I see it as something like comfort food!) Jesus meets them in their everyday activities. 

And don’t forget the disciples on the road to Emmaus. They were walking away from Jerusalem. Walking away from everything. In despair, they had given up, only to discover that Jesus, the risen Lord, was walking with them. He never gave up on them. 

Ah, but how did they recognize him? It was in the breaking of the bread. 

Friends, we are in this year of the Eucharistic Revival. Jesus, our risen Lord never gives up on us. He meets us in our tears, in our failings, in our disappointments and our fears. He meets us when we are overwhelmed. He meets us in our everyday activities. But He appears to us in a special way today, in this gift of the Eucharist. He speaks His words to us and feeds us with His very body and blood. We recognize Him in the breaking of the bread. 

He gives us this gift so that we might be more aware of His presence in our lives; and we can be attuned to the fact that He meets us and walks with us in our everyday activities. Tug as they might, there is no power greater than the power of Jesus our risen Lord lifting us up. 

In his apostolic exhortation, “Christus Vivit,” written five years ago this past week, Pope Francis writes: “Christ is alive! We need to keep reminding ourselves of this, because we can risk seeing Jesus Christ simply as a fine model from the distant past, as a memory, as someone who saved us 2,000 years ago. But that would be no use to us: It would leave us unchanged, it would not set us free. The one who fills us with His grace, is the one who liberates us, transforms us, heals us, and consoles us. He is someone who is fully alive. He is the Christ, risen from the dead, filled with supernatural life and energy, robed in boundless light. That is why St. Paul could say: ‘If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile’” (Christus Vivit, 124). 

But as it is, Christ is alive indeed — your faith, my faith, our faith, is well founded. Today we renew that profession of faith in a special way, recalling how in baptism we share in His new life. “For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ your life appears, you too will appear with him in glory” (Col 3:4). 

Happy Easter.