‘An Easter People’
When I was in priestly formation we had to work in small groups preparing, and then preaching, a homily to the rest of the group which would then be critiqued. On one occasion, we were given half an hour to prepare a five-minute homily on the Resurrection.
I remember pacing up and down in the garden, working out how to speak about the essential meaning of Jesus risen from the dead. Today, if you asked AI, it would give you a well-constructed homily in five minutes. I tried it, and it did. Pope Leo recently said, in a question-and-answer session with clergy from the Diocese of Rome, that priests should resist ‘the temptation to prepare homilies with artificial intelligence.’
Like all the muscles in the body, if we do not use them, do not move them, they die. The brain needs to be used: so our intelligence must also be exercised a little, so as not to lose this capacity. ‘To give a true homily is to share faith,’ and artificial intelligence ‘will never be able to share faith,’ the Pope added.
On this, the greatest feast of the Church’s year, let us share with each other our faith in the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.
As Saint Augustine once wrote, ‘We are an Easter People, and Alleluia is our Song.’
But how can we sing Alleluia when there is so much death and destruction surrounding us? For example, the other day, a parishioner shared with me a post from Father Freddie, a Franciscan working in South Sudan who had
written: ‘I ask you to pray for our parish here in Juba. They have killed 86 parishioners. We are devastated. The attack occurred near a recently-discovered gold mine. Several generals seem to be trying to gain control of the area, so yesterday, part of the army killed women, children, and took parishioners who were seeking their fortune.’ We must stubbornly persist in asserting the hope of Easter, even amidst the signs of despair in our world.
May Christ “Easter” in us (Gerard Manley Hopkins) in our divided and conflicted world.
Let me quote the words of Archbishop Peter A. Comensoli, of the Archdiocese of Melbourne, from his Easter message:
Easter offers not escape but a way forward: to live with compassion, seek truth, build peace, and stand for hope. To the steadfast in faith: may this Easter renew your joy and courage. To those who feel distant: the light of Christ is already seeking you. To people of goodwill: Easter proclaims that life is stronger than death, love stronger than fear, and hope stronger than despair.
