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.
Happy Easter! Alleluia. Christ is risen!
Fr Ian
