Easter sermon from Dappledthingsblog

Fashionable philosophy in the modern world denies that there is any ultimate meaning to the world. The only meaning that can exist is meaning that man invents and personally imposes upon the outside.

The twentieth century, in a particular way, was marked by deep, existential sadness, an anguish that sprang from the belief that the universe is empty of any meaning that lasts. The only credible response to that sense of futility is the mystery that we are worshipping tonight.

Throughout the world, hundreds of millions of people will be flocking to Mass this weekend, singing Alleluia, Christ has risen from the dead. Thousands of non-Catholics will be received into the Holy Church, saying Credo, I believe, that He rose from the dead.

The Gospel that you heard, written two thousand years ago by another Catholic who believed, will be sung and said in countless places, in all the languages of man, in the midst of peace and of war, in poverty and in wealth, and will be heard by people in every condition of life imaginable.

Even people who have fallen far from the Church will come back tonight, drawn by the faith of their baptism, in the belief that what we are celebrating is true. This is the night when we reaffirm that faith and, regardless of our failings of the past, pledge ourselves to live out that faith in every aspect of our lives. Followers of Jesus Who lives again, disciples that cling to Him as our only hope for a meaning that doesn't end. Amen.