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Both the joy and the import of the Resurrection are imbued
in the words of St Peter as he preaches the first papal sermon in Jerusalem on
Pentecost Sunday. Peter is of course filled with joy – who would not be? His
Master and Saviour who had become a victim of the Jewish authorities and then a
victim of the Roman authorities, even to a brutal death, was not overcome by
death, but had risen.
For Peter personally, his sin against the Lord (denying his
Master three times) had been forgiven. This is the joy we have too when we
confess grave sin and experience the release from bondage in the absolution. It
is a joyful resurrection experience – we were dead to sin, now we are alive to
Christ! St Peter had been dead to the grave sin of denying Christ – now he was
alive to the risen Christ!
And his joyful message for the Jews listening to him is that
this Resurrection joy, through the forgiveness of their sins, can be there’s
too. And of course, St Peter is addressing all of us in our sin; we too can
receive the forgiveness of sins and experience the joy of the Resurrection
life.
We who experience the Resurrection in this way, making use
of the sacrament of penance, also have a duty to share it with others. Not
necessarily like St Peter preaching in the streets of course, but nevertheless
the joy of the Resurrection is not to be kept to ourselves.
Let us pray this Easter, that all of us may have the courage
to proclaim, in one way or another, the
joy of the Resurrection with those who do not know it.
Fr Ian
