“THE HEAVEN OF EASTER” HOMILY FOR MASS OF EASTER SUNDAY OF THE RESURRECTION OF THE LORD
ST MARY’S BASILICA, SYDNEY, 20 APRIL 2025
“I wonder if I am dreaming?” she asks after falling down a rabbit hole. In Lewis Carroll’s 1865 masterpiece, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, the girl finds herself in a bizarre world where nothing makes sense anymore. Rabbits carry pocket watches, playing cards serve as soldiers, Cheshire cats disappear leaving their grins behind, and Alice herself grows and shrinks depending on what she eats at nonsensical tea parties where time stands still. Anyone in such a situation would wonder if they were hallucinating. They’d ask: “Is this real”?
The women at Christ’s tomb that first Easter morn ask that very thing (Lk 24:1-12). For they confront something truly extraordinary: the stone has been rolled away, the body of their crucified Lord is nowhere to be seen, and dazzling figures claim “He is risen.” “What?” they ask themselves, “Is this real?” They knew Jesus had predicted such a thing, but what on earth does “risen” mean? They go home and the men dismiss their tale as “pure nonsense”, Alice in Wonderland stuff.
There’s been a lot of talk of late of global upheaval, watershed moments, epochal change—whether geopolitical, economic or cultural. Only time will tell. But no event has ever come close to the transformation represented by those three words uttered this morning: “He is risen.” Three words that reverberate through time and space, back to the beginning of creation and forward to the age to come. Three words that should change the way we do politics, finance and the rest. But first they must transform us, individually, personally, at the very root of our being. One reality has been upended for another. In place of sin and death, we share in Christ’s victory and new life. We look now to what “He is risen” means for us: new life in Christ on earth, followed by eternal life with Him in heaven (Col 3:1-4; 2Pet 1:4 etc.).
But is this real—or just wishful thinking, metaphor, hoax? Well, as we heard today, soon after Jesus’ death Peter was out boldly proclaiming: “We are witnesses of everything Jesus said and did, to his crucifixion, and his resurrection from the dead and his appearances” (Acts 10:36-44).[1] No myth invented by hysterical women; no spin designed by the apostles’ PR company. It’s the last thing they expected or wanted. But Peter, speaking for the apostolic tradition, insists: this really happened and this really matters! It’s the foundation of Christian faith and life, including belief in “the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting” (Apostles’ Creed). Paul was equally clear: the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus are the Gospel, the only basis for the hope of Christians.[2] Either Christ is truly Crucified and Risen, or Paul’s preaching is in vain and Christians are pathetically deluded (1Cor 15:12-19).
Alice wakes up to realise her dream was nonsense. But at Easter we wake up to a story that makes more sense than anything before or since. Not what we previously thought about a capricious cosmos and meaningless suffering, but a new and better window on reality. In his poem The Harrowing of Hell, George Mackay Brown imagines the dead Jesus, “clothed in his five wounds”, descending to the dead where Solomon, cloaked in daffodil gold, kisses Him as Wisdom personified; where David the shepherd-king sings Him his purest psalm; where Abel, Jacob and Joseph recognise and hail Him as their Saviour; and where Adam, the man of “primal dust”, turns from his digging and cries out as he sees his double. The first Adam greets the second, the old the new, and the poem concludes,
Tomorrow the Son of Man will walk in a garden
Through drifts of apple-blossom.[3]
Christ’s descent to the realm of the dead and rising to the realm of the living God changes everything! Drifts of blossom promise a new crop of apples on the Tree of Life.
In his glorious image of The Last Judgment, Blessed Fra Angelico has Christ surrounded by angels and saints, dividing the saved from the damned. On his left demons drive the damned into a gothic hell. There Satan chews on three of them and devils stir seven cauldrons for the devotees of each deadly sin.
But as Our Lady Help of Christians makes her last intercession for the newly risen, the angels lead the saved in a circle dance in a beautiful garden and through the pearly gates. The Catechism teaches that “Christ went down to the realm of the dead to open heaven’s gates for the just who had gone before him.” (CCC 637) Paradise Lost has been restored, the Garden has been reopened, Heaven is again our true homeland. The suffering and redemption exposed in the Purgatory of Holy Thursday, and the death and separation from God told in the Hell of Good Friday, are reimagined as reconciliation and the glory of Heaven at Easter. “Now comes judgment on this world” (Jn 12:31), for the choice of hell, purgatory or heaven is set before us, and baptismal faith is our passport to Eden.
Dear brothers and sisters, you were made for Easter; now Easter remakes you. You were made for heaven and now heaven is open to you. The God who has loved you from all eternity, loved you into existence, loves you enough to die and descend to the dead that He might reach out to you as He did to Adam and Eve. “Come out of the tomb with me,” He says to you this morning, “Rise up to everlasting life. Alleluia!”
Word of Thanks after Holy Communion
Dear friends: I have loved celebrating with you this Easter Mass of the Resurrection of the Lord. It has been a truly fitting and beautiful culmination to three days of extraordinary liturgies and devotions. I offer my heartfelt thanks to Dean Don Richardson and the cathedral clergy, to Fr Michael de Stoop and the seminary clergy, to our Precinct Manager Helen Morassut and staff, to our Sacristan Chris Backhouse and his assistants, to our Events Manager Monica Rae Bautista with our videographers and helpers, and to our deacons, seminarians and servers.
A special thank you to my Master of Ceremonies, Fr Ben Saliba, who has done very well organising these liturgies for his first time. And, of course, to our Director of Music, Mr Daniel Justin, our organists, choirs and music staff: they have done a wonderful job throughout Holy Week! In particular, I note that our young choristers gave up much of their school break for this task: God bless you my young friends.
Liturgies as glorious as those we enjoy at St Mary’s don’t just happen spontaneously. They are a work of faithful volunteers who year-round assist as readers, cantors, choir, ushers, collectors, bellringers, guides, catechists, acolytes and other ministers in the sanctuary. Today I make a special request to you to consider joining them. You too could read or ring, usher or sing, guide or serve! Please contact the cathedral office this week to volunteer. And to all who have worked so hard this Holy Week, dressed this cathedral church so beautifully, rehearsed and then assisted at this Mass and many other ceremonies: a very big thank you!
Finally, on behalf of the Dean, clergy and staff of the cathedral, and my own behalf, a very Happy Easter to you and all your loved ones. May God bless you abundantly in this holiest of seasons.
[1] Cf. Jn 21:1-19; Acts 2:22-36; 3:12-26; 4:1-12,20; 5:27-32,41-42; 1 Peter 1:3,11,19-21; 2:21-25; 3:15-22; 4:12-19.
[2] Cf. Acts chs 17 & 18; Rom 1:1-8; 3:25; 5:6-11; 6:6; Gal 1:1-4; 2:15-21; 3:10-14; 5:11,24; 6:14; 1Thess 1:9-10; 4:13-5:11; 1Cor 1:17-25; ch. 15; 2Cor 5:14-15,21; 11:24-28; Col 1:20; 2:13-15; Eph 2:16; 5:2; Phil 2:8; Philem 3:18.
[3] Jim Gordon, “George Mackay Brown and ‘The Harrowing of Hell’,” Living Wittily Blog 30 April 2016.
WELCOME TO MASS OF BY EASTER SUNDAY OF THE RESURRECTION OF THE LORD – ST MARY’S BASILICA, SYDNEY, 20 APRIL 2025
People of Sydney and beyond, I bring you a message of great joy: Χριστὸς ἀνέστη – Ἀληθῶς ἀνέστη! Christus resurrexit – Resurrexit vere! Christ is Risen – Truly, He is Risen!
Welcome to St Mary’s Cathedral for the Solemn Mass of Easter Sunday, completing the three-day long commemoration of Christ’s Passion, Death and Resurrection and its promise of eternal life to each one of us.
In preparation for the renewal of our Baptismal promises and to receive the plenary indulgence granted by the Pope under the usual conditions to all who devoutly assist at this Mass, let us repent of our sins.
