20 April 2025 -- Easter Sunday Mass
Acts 10:34-43, Col 3:1-4, John 20:1-9
Homily
Mary Magdalene, the one who had anointed Jesus' feet and kissed them tenderly, the one of whom Jesus said that wherever the Gospel was proclaimed, what she had done would be told, in memory of her - this same Mary is the first to come to the tomb on the morning of the third day. And what does she find? An empty tomb. She then runs to inform Simon Peter and John. They come running. They too are looking for the Lord. And what do they find? They too find an empty tomb.
This empty tomb is of great importance in the New Testament. Not that it is proof of the Resurrection. In reality, the empty tomb proves nothing. And it is because it proves nothing that it constitutes the space of faith. John, speaking of himself and recounting his arrival at the tomb, writes: ‘He saw and he believed’. Now, what he believed was quite different from what he saw.
The disciples saw the passion, death and burial on Good Friday. Later they saw Jesus during the various apparitions after the Resurrection. But no one was present at the moment of the Resurrection. No one ‘saw’ this moment so crucial. The Resurrection is not and cannot be the object of scientific knowledge. The life of Jesus, on the other hand, is the object of historical, scientific knowledge. The empty tomb is the space of faith.
On the cross, the dying Jesus had said: ‘Father, Father, why hast thou forsaken me?’ Then, a few minutes later, he said: ‘Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit.’ There is no logical link between these two statements. Between these two moments there is a hiatus.
We encounter this hiatus, this space of faith, this empty tomb, on the morning of each day. For each and every one of us, there are moments in life when we strongly feel the presence of God, situations where his intervention in our personal, community or family life – or even ecclesial life – becomes visible. And then, on certain days, we all come to dead ends, to blocked paths, to situations that make no sense - in other words, to empty tombs. These situations are for us the space of faith.
We must therefore continue to believe in the presence of God in our lives, even when everything seems to be collapsing, even when we no longer feel any spiritual fervour, even when we behave in ways we would rather not, even though we know we are sinners. It is then only by taking the leap of faith over the empty tomb of our human expectations that we can be born to true hope of life. The Church itself is currently experiencing a crisis, which from a human point of view sometimes seems to call into question its very credibility. This empty tomb is the space of faith where Christ's promise to be with his Church, despite the sins of its members, until the end of time, still resonates just as vividly.
On the morning of the Resurrection, Jesus invited his disciples to meet him in Galilee. To meet Jesus in our Galilee is to meet him in our everyday lives. To meet him in our Galilee presupposes that we have visited the empty tomb, that we have passed through the empty space of faith where we have buried our personal ambitions. It presupposes that we have renounced walking according to the wisdom of this world in order to live according to the folly of the beatitudes. It presupposes that at a certain moment - at least once in our lives - we have projected ourselves forward, to make the leap in faith to the other shore, leaving everything behind us, cutting our bridges and burning our boats.
Let us thank the Lord for giving us the faith that allows us to pursue this path with joy and confidence.
Armand Veilleux