Victory as Jesus carried our thorns for Salvation!: Easter (Sunday, April 21st, 2019)

Listen to the homily here.

Notes:

Easter Vigil and Sunday EasterAfter Holy Thursday—the last supper and the washing of the feet, after Good Friday, the death of our savior, we come to the Easter Vigil—praise God, and Happy Easter!

·     After another year, ups and downs, praise God and Happy Easter!

Have you had ever experienced victory in your life?  Sports, music, academics, hunting, fishing or beyond? 

·     Well tonight we are entering into a spiritual taste of the victory of Jesus Christ, his victory for eternity! 

Within our movie world, I would like to share a victory within the movie "Remember the Titans" at their last game, halftime and behind the score, Coach Boone said:

o  “It's all right. We're in a fight.  You boys are doing all that you can do. Anybody can see that. Win or lose... We gonna walk out of this stadium tonight with our heads held high. Do your best. That's all anybody can ask for.

o   Then, one of his leaders on the team, Big Ju, said: 

§  “No, it ain't Coach. With all due respect, uh, you demanded more of us. You demanded perfection. Now, I ain't saying that I'm perfect, 'cause I'm not. And I ain't gonna never be. None of us are. But we have won every single game we have played till now. So this team is perfect. We stepped out on that field that way tonight. And, uh, if it's all the same to you, Coach Boone, that's how we want to leave it."

That connection is a great image for us tonight because we are in a war—a spiritual battle between Satan, evil and God who sent His perfect Son to get in the game, that Jesus who won on earth

·     And we, like Big Ju, we are certainly not perfect, or sinless, yet we are still on a perfect team: the mystical body of Jesus Christ

We must consider to remember how we are not the saviors!

·     2 Corinthians 10:7-10.

o  “And to keep me from being too elated by the abundance of revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan, to harass me, to keep me from being too elated. Three times I besought the Lord about this, that it should leave me; but he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ I will all the more gladly boast of my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities; for when I am weak, then I am strong.”

The paradox of Easter is that Jesus Christ did destroy all thorns forever and “the power of Christ may rest upon [YOU]”!

So,what do you believe about yourself?  

·     Are you your own team, your own winner, your own family with “no need of a physician” in your soul? 

o  If so, why are you really at Easter?  Simply for bunnies, eggs, Peeps, your family or checking a box off for your time at Church? 

·     Or,do you believethat we are sinful, we are sick, and we do need a savior, a physician for our souls who said: “I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”

“Consequently, you too must think of yourselves as being dead to sinand living for God in Christ Jesus.”

May we praise God for the best gift, the best family and the best team: 

God’s kingdom for all eternity which has already destroyed evil and opened the gates for victory

Happy Easter and know that you are always welcome in God’s house at St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Columban parishes!