Acts 10. 34-43 – We have eaten and drunk with him after his resurrection.
 
This is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad.
 
Colossians 3:1-4 Look for the things that are in heaven where Christ is.
 
John 20: 1-9 The teaching of the Scripture is that he must rise from the dead.
 
What an alarming moment as Mary Magdalene and the disciples discover the empty tomb where Jesus had laid.  Along with all the disciples, and with Jesus’ mother Mary, Mary Magdalene has been through several days of deep grief.  The one who had held all their hopes was defeated, killed, destroyed, and along with his death they were experiencing the death of all their own hopes and dreams.
 
There was no escape from this hellish disaster that had come upon them.  And of course that is what life is like for so many people around our world still.  There are the experiences of hell that happen to us all, such as an accident, an illness, a disability.  Then there are the experiences of hell that we create for ourselves and each other: our addictions, whether it be to drugs, alcohol, work, sex or possessions. There is the hell we create through unfaithfulness, prejudice, and so many kinds of selfishness.  There is the hell of poverty and famine.  There is the hell of unresolved anger or crippling fear. 
 
Hell is about having nowhere to escape, nowhere to turn, and no one near to help.  Hell is having nothing at all to hope in. 
 
This was the experience of Jesus’ friends in these days following his death, and is the experience still of so many of our brothers and sisters around the world.  They know more Good Fridays than Easter Sundays and for many their whole life’s journey is dominated by the suffering of Good Friday.
At this time the people of Syria and other middle-eastern countries will know what we are talking about, just as much as someone local in our own community who is stuck in an impossible place of suffering.
 
The empty tomb, the stone rolled away that Mary and the disciples discover in the gospel story here, is a symbol of hope then. There is an escape possible from the hell of isolation, addiction, fear, anger and poverty.  There is a life beyond the pain and poverty which for so many millions of people is their normal daily experience. 
 
The stone is rolled away and Jesus is risen.  It takes not only a wonderful sense of humour, but a great great passion to rise from the dead, and for our world to rise above the violence, poverty and pain that dominates most of our news bulletins each day.
 
It takes a mighty effort, an enormous spirit of hope, and a stubborn belief that life can be better, in order for our world to rise from the dead. 
 
In our first reading, Peter points out to the listening Jewish crowd that while they had had Jesus killed, God had raised him up.  The original verb he uses here is “aroused” which is the same verb we use for the arousal of all our passions, our political energies, our protective instincts towards our families, our sexual energies.  In fact all that makes life worthwhile and worth fighting for, is embodied in this word that Peter uses.  Jesus is “aroused” from the dead.  In other words, his resurrection is a passionate claiming of the things of life and a refusal ever to let the hellish things of death have the last word.
 
So what’s that got to do with all of us? 
 
Well, we can respond by simply sitting back, enjoy the Easter break, admire the story of Jesus and crack another bottle of champers!
 
We could listen to the stories of this Easter celebration and be glad that there is hope of eternal life for us because of Jesus’ resurrection.
 
We could decide to come to Church a bit more often so that we can be a bit more sure of being in God’s good books.
 
On the other hand, we could decide to do something about the hell that our world experiences every day.  With the talents, the financial resources, the material resources, the education we have, we could decide to touch a part of our broken world with our own dose of passionate hope and enable a little rising from the dead to happen in the lives of people who would otherwise remain in the tomb with the stone covering the entrance and with no hope of escape. 
 
We could stretch ourselves a little beyond our own comfort, our own survival, our own convenience, and rise to new life ourselves by entering the pain of another person’s world and rolling back the stone of their loneliness, despair or isolation.
 
Let’s make this Easter a bit more than a friendly party.  Let’s make sure that the presence of the Risen Jesus is something we carry with us when we leave here today.
 
It’s certainly the surest way for us all to have a truly happy Easter and that is what I wish for all of you here today.  Happy Easter everyone!
 
Song: Easter Expressions
 
 
 

Holy Thursday provides us with wonderful memories and much inspiration.  We have the tender intimate last meal of Jesus and his disciples, Jesus’ passionate prayer for the unity of all who believe in him, his washing of our feet in the humblest of possible gestures. 

Then too we have the betrayal of Judas, the fear of the disciples as to what is coming next, the protestations of Peter that he will never deny Jesus.

In the middle of it all, we have Jesus promising to stay with us always through the extraordinary mysterious gift of the Eucharist, and for this we are thankful every day. Along with the gift of himself in the Eucharist, he commissions the disciples to continue breaking open this Sacrament, and in the process the mystery of the priesthood emerges.

Since the beginning, this priesthood has been expressed in so many ways in different cultures and different Catholic traditions.
Sometimes in our own western Church, and often in the Orthodox and other Eastern Catholic Churches, the emphasis has been on the mystery that we celebrate and in the process the liturgies themselves have been couched in mysterious language, symbols and gestures.

In the early Church, the Eucharist was very quickly seen to be both an expression of the mystery of God’s presence among us and at the same time it had a pastoral dimension. In other words it was meant for the real nourishment of those present and those not able to be present.  The Mass had both a cultic and a pastoral dimension.

Over centuries this pastoral dimension tended to be lost and replaced by the cultic, to the point where up to the time of Vatican 2, many Catholics would come to Mass and say their own prayers while the priest said his prayers with his back to the community, speaking often silently in a foreign language.

Since the Vatican Council, the pastoral dimension of the liturgy has once again been reclaimed and seeking to balance this with the cultic dimension has been an ongoing challenge. That the Mass be clearly an act of worship and at the same time an act of understandable nourishment for those present continues to be a work in progress.

Along with these shifts, our understanding of the role of the priest changed too and the sorts of discipline required of the priest developed accordingly.

Priests for the first half our history, apart from those who chose to live in monastic communities, were often married with families. In due course the western Church determined that it was more appropriate for priests to be celibate.  There were a number of diverse reasons for this development. 

This state of things as we know has continued down to our own time and in many ways has served the Church well. Returning to the Last Supper and paying careful attention, we hear Jesus’ deep desire that people be nourished and nourished well through his presence in the Eucharist.
While ever and where ever there have been sufficient priests, God’s people have been well and truly nourished.

As we are all aware, this situation is changing rapidly. Many country dioceses in Australia have very few able-bodied priests. Many Religious communities such as our own are growing older and fewer.  At 69 I am in the younger half of our Australian Marist community.

This morning at the Mass of the Oils at St Mary’s Cathedral, there were several hundred priests together, a strong and joyful presence.  On closer inspection, many heads were grey, white or bald. A small number had dark hair! While there are larger numbers of younger priests in countries such as Indonesia and the Philippines, in general around the world we are becoming critically short of priests.
At least ten of the thirty or so Australian Bishops are at retiring age and their replacements are nowhere in sight.

Perhaps we are being called to a new imagination, a fresh courage, and a new vision in order that Jesus’ longing for the good nourishment of God’s people may continue.
Some are asking whether the gift of priesthood needs to be tied exclusively to male celibate members of the Church. These discussions are hesitant in some cases, dismissed as unnecessary in others and are full of angst and frustration in others.
It is a given that Jesus wants his people to be well nourished.  It is also a given that there are very few people putting their hand up to be priests right now. We are left with very big questions that demand our prayerful, faith-filled, patient and at the same time, urgent attention.

The way forward is not clear-cut and requires much reflection and conversation.  Such reflection and conversation is taking place at many levels of the Church, including among the leadership of the Church.
As we take the nourishment that Jesus offers us in our Eucharist this evening, let us join our prayers with all those around the world who are striving to listen for whatever it is that the Holy Spirit is saying to the Church in this time. Let us pray that the way forward is one we choose with great care as we listen out for where the Spirit calls us.

IN CLEARER LIGHT
Who will welcome in when doors are knocking?
Who will feed the hungry deep inside?
Who will heal, forgiving hands out-reaching?
Who will breathe a spirit new and bright?
 
Who will soothe in sickness and in sorrow?
Who will bind as two hearts live as one?
Who will teach the truth of people’s story?
Who will bridge the real with dreams unsung?
 
Where can deeper longings make connection?
When can fractured spirits head for home?
Why delay when grace can run so freely?
How can new-found stories make their claim?
 
Listen for the heart that love breaks open;
Learn and look beyond what’s gone before.
Let God’s gifts run free in every culture;
Anointed hands held ready to be called.
 
God provides the home for all our longing;
Let the Church release God’s saving dream.
Holding back no avenue to freedom;
Love and truth in clearer light be seen.
 
Come the day uncluttered hearts are sharing;
Given wholly to God’s ancient song.
Come the day when light bursts from the shadows;
And priestly people live where they belong.