Episode Transcript
[00:00:10] Speaker A: Christ is risen. He is truly risen. A very blessed Easter to all of you who join us each and every week in our diocesan podcast, Big City Catholics, with Bishop Robert Brennan, the diocesan Bishop of Brooklyn, serving Brooklyn and Queens, and myself, Father Christopher Henyu, the pastor of St. Joan of Arc Parish. This week's special edition podcast, we get to hear Bishop Brennan's Easter homily, his message to the faithful of the Diocese of Brooklyn, proclaimed from the pulpit at St. James Cathedral Basilica in downtown Brooklyn. Let's take a listen.
[00:00:44] Speaker B: The Lord is risen. He is risen indeed. Happy Easter, one and all. And a very warm welcome to all of you to the cathedral Basilica of St. James here in Brooklyn, the third parish church in New York State, the first on Long island.
To the parishioners who have been here all along, to those of you who walked the way of Lent and Holy Week, a very happy Easter to you. To our visitors, this is a great destination spot for people who are visiting New York, and to all of you who, our parishioners who've been off in college or in other cities who've come home to be with your families. Welcome, welcome, welcome. To all people from Brooklyn and Queens, welcome home. This is your spiritual home.
Whenever you're at the cathedral, you are at home. Now, to those of you who are visiting, I have to offer a word of apology for all of the scaffolding. Maybe some of you came here because you've been here and seen it in its beauty. And we're hoping to celebrate Easter Mass in all of its beauty. I apologize. We're doing some very needed work, both outside, kind of in the structure itself and on the roof. We're going to do some painting while we're at it and some renovations.
So while I welcome you today and I apologize, I also ask you, please come back and visit us again.
Come and see us when the work is well done. We want to show off a little bit and of course, we want to give glory and honor and praise to God, to Jesus Christ, our crucified and risen Lord. Happy Easter.
I take it you know what happened all over Judea. The beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached, how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power.
He went about doing good and healing all those oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.
Peter the Apostle, having encountered the risen Lord at Easter and filled with the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, finds himself now in the house of Cornelius, that is, in the house of a pagan family.
He begins with the presumption that they heard about Jesus and about all that had happened.
Let's face it, if that's all that God had done, send somebody to do good works, to heal, that would have been pretty good.
But Peter proclaims even more, yes, they had heard about Jesus. I take it you know what had happened.
But filled with the Holy Spirit, Peter boldly, joyfully, unapologetically announces something new, something different, something completely unexpected, even by Peter himself.
All of this pales in comparison with the fact that this Jesus, God raised up and granted that he be seen by by witnesses who actually sat down and ate and drank with him after he had risen from the dead.
Jesus lives.
Jesus lives in the flesh, the glorified flesh.
Yes, he died on the cross, but he rose from the dead and he is risen. He lives even now. He has conquered death forever.
Last night at the Easter vigil, where in Brooklyn and queens, some 1200 plus people were baptized and welcomed into the church, the Gospel of Matthew told us about the women going to the tomb of Jesus on the morning after his death on the cross, seeing the empty tomb, hearing the angel proclaim that Jesus had been raised.
The Gospel of Matthew tells us that they went away from the tomb fearful, yet overjoyed.
Fearful, yet overjoyed.
You can certainly understand that, right?
After all, we know the full story.
We know that Jesus rose. They were actually living it as it happened again. This was something new, something different, something unexpected.
So think about the confusion.
Picture it.
An earthquake, the stone rolled away, an empty tomb.
Gods shaking in fear and running away, talking angels.
It's a bit much, isn't it?
Now then again, doesn't that describe all of us pretty well?
Fearful, yet overjoyed. Yes, we know the story of Easter.
We believe that Jesus is risen.
We know the end of the story. He won. He won. The victory is his.
But at the same time, we still live in this finite and imperfect world.
We live in this in between time, knowing the truth of the resurrection of Jesus and his final victory, but still waiting to experience that final victory ourselves.
We walk by faith.
Yes, we may be fearful.
The world today is crying out for peace, for a true and lasting peace.
National stories about respect for life and about the dignity of every human person at every stage, at every moment in life.
Those concerns are hitting pretty close to home.
We worry for our children and about our children.
And let's face it, life does have its share of fears, worries and even suffering.
For some, these pressures are overwhelming.
We live in the real world, but the real world is touched by the truth that Jesus Lives fearful.
Yet at the very same time, with faith, we are overjoyed.
The good news of the resurrection fills us with hope and courage. Right here, right now, we can face the future together with that hope that Jesus lives, that he accompanies us all the way through. Christ is risen. He is alive. He walks with us through life.
Christ is risen.
Our lives have meaning in Him.
We are made for eternity.
We too will rise, just like our loved ones who have gone before us.
There is a future together with each other and with God.
Christ is risen.
Seek what is above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.
Your life, as St. Paul says today, is hidden with Christ in God.
Now. When the women saw the risen Lord, he told them, do not be afraid.
Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee and there they will see me.
You know what? He says this the same thing to each one of us today on this Easter Sunday.
Do not be afraid.
Go tell my brothers and sisters the good God, Good news.
He is the true path to peace, the answer to every human need, the only hope for a broken world.
Yes. Go tell his brothers and sisters.
Tell your family.
Tell those in need of hope. Tell those who look for meaning in life.
Go tell his brothers and sisters and sisters.
As I said last night, new members, more than 1200 Brooklyn and Queens were baptized.
Brothers and sisters, they are of Christ who heard the good news and were welcomed into the church. What a blessing.
Go tell his brothers and sisters.
So let me say thanks to all the good people in Brooklyn and Queens, and certainly to all of our visitors today who bring this good news to so many, to all those who serve the church in many capacities, ministries, some in very visible ways and others in very quiet ways, thank you to all those benefactors and those who support the work of their church through unceasing prayer, especially the homebound who pray their hearts out.
Thank you to all those who witness to the resurrection of Jesus by the joyful integrity of their lives.
All of you, thank you.
Yes, friends, Christ is risen.
Do not be afraid, but go and tell his brothers and sisters.
May God bless you this Easter and always. Amen.
[00:12:10] Speaker A: Once again, a very blessed Easter to you and to your families as we enjoy the beauty of this Easter season. May the joy of the resurrected Christ reign always in your hearts. God bless you. And we hope that you'll join us again next week in a new edition of our diocesan podcast.
