A Homily on Easter :The Empty Tomb That Changes Everything

 

 

A Resurrection reflection centred on the message “He is not here” from John 20:1–9, revealing how Christ’s rising transforms our faith and daily life.

Praise be to Jesus Christ

There are many places, where people visit, in the world because someone important and social personalities are being buried there. Just think about the huge and impressive Egyptian pyramids, for example. To see these pyramids people travel from all over the world. But at the end of the day, they’re tombs, built to hold the dead bodies of ancient pharaohs. Or think about Raj Ghat in Delhi, where Mahatma Gandhi, the Father of India, is laid to rest. People go there to remember his life and to show respect. Or just think about Westminster Abbey in London. Tourists flock there every day. Why? Because it holds the tombs of kings, poets, scientists, and politicians. Of course, these places are important, however, there is something common here, people visit these places to remember someone who has died and buried there.

Today we are thinking and speak about a different tomb, the one found in the heart of Jerusalem, inside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Millions of pilgrims travel from every corner of the world to visit this place. But they do not come to see a grave that holds a body. They come for the opposite reason, because that tomb… is empty. And outside it, a simple yet hearth-shaking message is imprinted into history: “He is not here.” That one sentence changes everything.

My dear brothers and sisters, that’s why we’re gathered here today, it is not to mourn over a great man who once lived. Not to recall the memory of a teacher long gone. No… We are here because He lives. Jesus, the crucified, died, and buried One, has conquered death. He walked out of the grave, victorious, Just as He promised. Yes, we’re not here to whisper in sorrow over a tomb. We are here to lift our voices in joy at an empty one. We are here to celebrate a Risen Lord, our Lord Jesus Christ and that changes everything.

This is the heart of our faith. This is the reason we have hope. As St. Paul boldly proclaims: “If Christ has not been raised, our preaching is in vain, and our faith is in vain… But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead!” (1 Cor 15:14) Just imagine, If Jesus had not risen, He would have been remembered just as any other wise man or woman with a tragic ending; a death on a cross: A teacher, yes, a reformer, definitely, a kind soul, maybe, but nothing more. No Church, no sacraments, no followers, no hope of eternal life. But because He rose, everything changes.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church puts it beautifully: “The Resurrection of Jesus is the crowning truth of our Faith in Christ… believed and lived as the central truth by the first Christian community.” (CCC 638) In other words, this is not just one belief among many. This is the foundation, the cornerstone of our faith. The early Church did not begin by teaching theology or moral rules. They began with one powerful truth: “Jesus is Lord and He is risen.”

Saint Augustine once said, “We are an Easter people, and Alleluia is our song.” These simple words remind us that the Resurrection is not only something we believe, but something we live every day. Long before this, the prophet Ezekiel carried a promise from God, “I will open your graves and bring you back to life” (Ezekiel 37:12). What God promised to His people is now fulfilled in Christ, not only for Him, but for each of us who believe.

There is a little story I love about two women standing in front of the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. One of them looks at the breath-taking structure and asks, “Why don’t we build places like this anymore?” And the other quietly replies, “Because the people who built this had faith. Today, we have only opinions. And you can’t build a cathedral with opinions.” The Resurrection is not an opinion, or it is not a metaphor or a symbol. Again it is not wishful thinking, but it is, THE TRUTH. And it is this truth that built the Church and still sustains her today.

But let’s bring this closer to our lives. What does the empty tomb mean… when you’re sitting beside a hospital bed? When your heart is breaking from grief? When you feel lost, tired, unseen? When everything you hoped for seems to have collapsed? It means this is not the end. It means there is light beyond the darkness, healing beyond the pain, peace beyond the chaos; it is because Jesus is not in the tomb, but HE IS ALIVE. And if He lives, then so can we. so can our hope, so can our joy.

So today, let us renew our faith. Not in a memory, but in a living Saviour. Let’s not just admire an empty tomb. Let’s follow the Risen Lord who walked out of it. Let’s allow His victory to touch our wounds, our worries, our daily lives.

He is not here, He is risen. Alleluia.

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God Bless...

 

A Good Friday Homily: “I Thirst” (John 19:28)

 

 

Good Friday Homily: “I Thirst” (John 19:28)

Praise be to Jesus Christ 

Once, in a remote village an old woman lived. She was very poor and uneducated.  However, she used to go to the village church almost every day.  And in her hands, she always carried two things: a small bottle of water… and a piece of cloth.as she reach the church, she would slowly walk up to the crucifix, kneel down before the Cross,  and gently wipe the feet of Jesus with that cloth, and leave the water at the foot of the Cross. Then she would quietly return home. One day, the young assistant parish priest, who noticed it regularly, asked her curiously, “Granny, why do you keep this bottle of water here at the foot of the cross and wipe His feet like this every day?”

Her eyes were filled with tears. And she simply said, “Father, I don’t know how to say big prayers.  But when I look at Jesus on the Cross, I feel He is still suffering and He is still thirsty. This water, this cloth, it’s my little way of saying: I love You. I have not forgotten You.” Yes, dear friends , She had no education. However, her heart understood something that many of us miss: Jesus is still thirsty, and Jesus is still suffering.

On the Cross, in one of His last words, Jesus said, “I thirst.” And yes, He was physically thirsty. He had been beaten, crowned with thorns, nailed to a cross under the burning sun. Of course His body cried for water. But those words meant something deeper. It was not just the thirst of a dying man. It was the thirst of God; a thirst for us.

He thirsted for your heart. He thirsted for my return. He thirsted for the forgiveness of sinners, for the healing of broken souls, for the reunion of His children with the Father. His thirst was a longing… to love and to be loved.

And even while suffering so much, He was not thinking of Himself but He was thinking of us. He was thirsty… thirsty to forgive the very ones who nailed Him to the Cross — so He said, “Father, forgive them.” He was thirsty to give hope to a dying thief who turned to Him with a simple prayer — so He promised, “Today you will be with me in paradise.” He was thirsty to give us His own mother, to make sure we’re never alone — so He looked down and said, “Behold your mother.” And then, after giving everything… He whispered from the depths of His heart, “I thirst.”

 

And that thirst has not gone away. It is the thirst of God: a God who thirsts to save His people, a God who gives everything He has and still waits for us to come back, a God who is not angry, but thirsty - thirsty for our love, our return, our forgiveness, our prayer, our presence.

This thirst did not stop on Calvary. It continues even today. Mother Teresa of Calcutta understood this deeply. In every chapel of her Missionaries of Charity, behind the altar, these words are written: “I thirst.” She said that Jesus still thirsts for souls, especially for the poor, the lonely, the abandoned. She believed that we are called not just to hear those words, but to respond.

Look around our world today, there’s so much thirst. Families are dry and Love is fading. People live in the same house but don’t speak. Everyone is busy scrolling their phones, but no one looks each other in the eye. We have got Wi-Fi connections, but we have lost heart-to-heart connections. Everyone is holding a phone but, sadly, no one is holding each other. The mobile phone has entered our homes, but it has taken away our attention, our time, our love. People are in love with their screens more than with the faces around them. And Jesus is watching… and He is thirsty.

He is thirsty when a father comes home drunk and angry, and the family lives in fear.
He is thirsty when a mother cries alone at night, and the children no longer laugh.
He is thirsty when we walk past each other with bitterness in our hearts, refusing to forgive.
He is thirsty when people die without knowing His love.

He is thirsty in the confessional, waiting to forgive, but seldom we gone.

He is thirsty in the tabernacle, waiting silently, but we are too busy.

He is thirsty for our time, our return, our presence, our prayer.

 

The  Psalm 22,  which was fulfilled on the Cross, says: “My mouth is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to my jaws.” But that Psalm does not end in sorrow. It ends with hope: “They will proclaim His righteousness to a people yet unborn.” That is us, Jesus thirsted then, and He still thirsts, for this generation.

So, what can we do? May be we are small, may be we are tired. However, we can be like that old woman in the village. We can offer small acts of love. And those small acts, they matter. Remember, when you forgive someone who hurt you, you give him a drink. When you sit with your parents, put away your phone, and talk with them you quench His thirst. When you go to confession with tears repenting of your sins, you quench His thirst. When you kneel in front of the Blessed Sacrament and say nothing but “Here I am”, you give him a drink. When you cook with love, speak kindly, help the sick, call someone who is lonely, you quench His thirst.

He does not ask for big things. He asks for our heart. Let us not leave Him thirsty. Let us not let Him cry alone from the Cross. Let us answer Him with our love, with our time, with our presence, with our return. Let today not be just the memory of a death but the beginning of new life in our families, in our hearts, in our faith.

Jesus is still thirsting. Will you give Him a drink?

Let us pray:

Jesus, I may not have much, but I give You my heart. 

Help me, O Lord, to quench Your thirst

With my love, with my return, with my life. Amen.

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Love Must Be Expressed: The Living Message of Maunday Thursday

 

 

 A meaningful Holy Thursday reflection inspired by 1 Corinthians 11:24, calling us to express love through action in daily life.

Praise be to Jesus Christ 

There is a moving story from Baramati in Maharashtra from the year 2013. An elderly woman named Letha Bhagavan Kare lived a simple life as a daily wage labourer with her husband, Bhujbal Kare. One day, her husband fell seriously ill with a heart infection, and the treatment required about five thousand rupees, an amount far beyond their reach.

She tried to gather help by asking from others, but what she received was not enough. In the midst of this struggle, she heard about a local marathon that offered a cash prize for senior citizens. Without training, without preparation, and without even proper shoes, she decided to run.

On the day of the race, she stood in her simple Navari saree among trained runners. The road was harsh, the heat burned her feet, and sharp stones pierced her skin. Even her slippers broke along the way. Yet she did not stop. She ran with only one aim, to save her husband.

And in a moment that speaks more of love than of strength, she finished first in her category and received the exact amount needed for his treatment.

Her story is not just about running. It is about love that refused to remain silent.

This leads us to the heart of Holy Thursday.

Today we remember the washing of the feet, the institution of the Holy Eucharist, and the gift of the priesthood. But at the centre of all these is one simple truth, love. Not a love that remains hidden, not a love that stays within the heart, but a love that moves, that acts, that expresses itself.

The love of Jesus was so deep that it could not remain unexpressed. It compelled Him to find a way to remain with us. He did not want His presence to become only a memory. He desired to stay, to accompany, to nourish, to be near us in every moment of our lives. This is why He chose the Eucharist. It is not simply a ritual. It is love finding a way to remain.

At the same time, we see something even more striking. Jesus was so humble that He chose the lowest place. He, the Master and Lord, knelt down and washed the feet of His own disciples. No one could be more humble than Him. Love pushed Him downwards, not upwards. Love made Him serve.

Saint Paul reminds us of this mystery when he says, “He humbled himself” (Philippians 2:8). This humility is not weakness. It is the strength of love. First, He humbled Himself by taking the form of a servant, washing the feet of those who followed Him. Then He humbled Himself again, even more deeply, by becoming the Holy Eucharist.

To become bread, to become something so simple, so ordinary, so easily ignored, is the greatest expression of love. In the Eucharist, He hides Himself so that we may receive Him. He lowers Himself so that we may be lifted up. He becomes small so that we may draw near without fear.

This is love that expresses itself completely.

When we place this beside the story of Letha Bhagavan Kare, the meaning becomes clearer. She loved her husband, but she did not keep that love within her heart. She expressed it. She ran, she struggled, she endured pain, she humbled herself by begging, and she did everything possible to save him.

In the same way, Jesus did not simply say that He loves us. He showed it. He knelt, He gave, He became. Love must be expressed. The love that is not expressed is a dead love.

In our daily life, this becomes a very serious and personal call. It is not enough to feel love. It is not enough to say it. Love must take form. It must be seen in our actions. But the question is simple and searching. Are we really expressing our love in our day to day life, or are we only carrying it silently within us?

There is a painful story that brings this truth very close to our hearts. A woman lived with a husband who was deeply addicted to alcohol. Day after day, she suffered silently. She hoped he would change. She longed for a small sign of care, a word of love, a gesture that showed she mattered. But that change never came. His love, if it was there, was never expressed.

One day, unable to bear the pain any longer, she took her own life. That moment shook the husband deeply. It broke him from within. He realised what he had lost. He stopped drinking. He changed his life. Every day, he began to go to her tomb, standing there in silence, praying, remembering, regretting.

One day, as the story is told, he felt a voice within him, as though she was speaking from that silence, saying, if only you had done this earlier, I would still be alive. Those words carry a deep truth. Love that is delayed can become love that is lost. Love that is not expressed at the right time can become a regret that no change can undo.

This is why Holy Thursday speaks so powerfully to us. Jesus did not delay His love. He did not wait. He did not keep it for later. He expressed it while His disciples were still with Him. He knelt before them. He served them. He gave Himself to them.

He did not want His love to become a memory of what could have been. He made it a living reality. In our families, in our communities, in our relationships, how often do we delay love. We think there will be another time. We assume there will be another chance. We hold back words of appreciation. We postpone forgiveness. We fail to notice the silent suffering of those around us. But life does not always wait.

Holy Thursday reminds us of something very simple and very urgent. Express love while there is still time. Show care while the other person is still near. Speak kindness while the heart is still open to receive it.

Love must not remain hidden. It must not be postponed. It must not be delayed. Because love that is not expressed becomes a loss, and sometimes a loss that cannot be repaired. So today, let us ask ourselves honestly. Are we expressing our love, or are we only carrying it within us? Jesus showed us the way. He loved, and He expressed it. And today, He invites us to do the same.  Love must be expressed.

 

Lord, help me to express my love through simple acts of service each day.