ARCHDIOCESE OF PHILADELPHIA

Dear Friends in our Lord Jesus Christ risen from the dead,

In his Letter to the Romans Saint Paul poses an important question: "Are you unaware that we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?"

What Paul is saying is that there is an intimate connection between our Baptism and what took place at Christ's Death and Resurrection. We know that by His Death and Resurrection Jesus Christ destroyed our death and restored us to life. He made it possible for us, in the expression of Saint Paul, to live in newness of life.

This is what Easter is all about: newness of life. For those being baptized and confirmed on this night there is indeed newness of life. A wonderful future opens up before them as they seek constantly to pass from sin to life in Christ Jesus. What is it to be a member of the Church? It means to die to sin, to live for God in Christ Jesus. In other words: to live in newness of life.

But where does the power come from to be able to live in newness of life? How is it possible to live in newness of life? The power comes from the Death of Jesus - a death that He endured out of love for us, a death that, in the Resurrection, is now ratified and accepted as a sacrifice by the Father, who raises Jesus to life.

All of us tonight - priests, deacons and religious and lay faithful - are called to newness of life. How good God is to give us a fresh opportunity to live in newness of life! Tonight we rejoice with our newly baptized and committed Catholics. We express solidarity with them. But we are also publicly challenged to renew the promises of our own Baptism: to get on with our Christian lives in newness of life. We remember our own Confirmation, the gift of the Holy Spirit that we have received in order to be strengthened in Christian living. The new way of life that opens up before us means the rejection of sin, the rejection of Satan and all his works and all his empty promises.

All of this is possible because Jesus died for us and rose from the dead. In His sacred humanity he was raised up by His Father. The power of Christ's Death and Resurrection is what makes newness of life possible for our catechumens and candidates, for all of us, and for all the members of the Church. By His Resurrection Jesus has definitively conquered sin and death and has made newness of life possible. By this power we are able to set aside in our lives whatever is opposed to the commandments of God and to the Gospel of Christ.

As individuals, as families, as a parish, as a community, as the Church of Philadelphia - all of us need the Resurrection of Jesus. The world needs the Resurrection at this moment of continuing armed conflict, of raging violence, and of widespread suffering of innocent people.

What is needed - and what is possible - is newness of life. It can come only from the power of Christ's victory over sin and death. Only the Risen Christ has the power to bring about peace, because only the Risen Christ can change hearts. Without a change of heart there is no peace, no newness of life. Human effort is not enough. Human justice is insufficient. Human force can backfire. But God's mercy is unleashed by the prayer of His people. And God's strength is available through the power of Christ's Resurrection, which becomes our power during this Easter celebration of the Eucharist. Newness of life is possible only because Christ is risen from the dead.

We heard those wonderful words tonight in the Gospel. At the empty tomb the angel spoke to Mary Magdalene and the other Mary saying: "Do not be afraid! I know that you are seeking Jesus the crucified. He is not here, for he has been raised just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay."

And as the women went away quickly from the tomb, they ran to find the disciples of Jesus to share with them the Good News of the Resurrection. Meanwhile, as the Gospel says: Jesus Himself "met them on their way and greeted them. They approached, embraced his feet, and did him homage. Then Jesus said to them, 'Do not be afraid .'."

On this Easter night, Jesus speaks to each of us, to the Church of Philadelphia and to the whole world these same words: "Do not be afraid!" Strengthened by the power of Christ's Resurrection we have nothing to fear. Jesus has died to redeem us from our sins and to make it possible for us to reject all sin in our lives. In His mercy, He will forgive us if we turn to Him with contrition and a firm purpose of amendment. We need not be afraid of death, because, by dying, He has destroyed our death and, by rising, has restored us to life. He has truly made it possible for us all to live in newness of life.

This, dear friends, is what we mean by a blessed Easter: to live with Christ - the Risen Christ - in newness of life! Amen. Alleluia! Alleluia!