STM Easter Homily | Fr. Joseph MacNeill | April 5, 2026

I want to take this opportunity, first of all, brothers and sisters, to welcome all of you here as we celebrate this holy Day of Easter. I welcome those members of our community who are here all year. I welcome also guests who may be here for the first time. You are all most welcome here at Saint Thomas More Chapel, the Catholic Chapel at Yale. We're very happy to have you with us as we celebrate this great feast, the greatest feast in our liturgical year, Easter, the commemoration of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus from the dead.

Here's the question I want to begin with this morning, brothers and sisters. Did it really happen? Did it really happen? It's a nagging question. I think, for many of us, as we gather together once again, year after year, we come together for the celebration of Easter. We ask ourselves, deep down, did it really happen? The resurrection of Jesus from the dead. Many of us here believe it did by faith. Some of us perhaps aren't so sure, but we come anyway. Some of us want to believe it's true, don't we? Others think maybe it's a nice story. It's a great lesson, but maybe nothing more than that. So again, did it really happen?

The church, of course, says to us with a resounding voice today, yes, that the resurrection did indeed take place. Not just a story or a fable, but a fact. And even if you sit here this morning and think, well, I'm not so sure, I'd ask you just for a moment to suspend your judgment and reflect on what it would mean if this really is true. If the resurrection really did take place, what would that mean?

Well, It would mean that the power of death is not absolute. It would mean that sin and evil do not have the final say. It would mean that some things in life are eternal. Among them love, justice, mercy, compassion, and life itself. We really want to believe all those things, don't we? Because if all those things are true for Jesus raised from the dead, then they can also be true for us. His disciples, members of his body, that if we incorporate ourselves in the life and the dying and rising of Christ, as Paul says in our second reading today, then for us too, not just for Jesus, but for us as well. The power of death is not absolute. Evil and sin do not have the final say in our life and love, justice, mercy, life itself are eternal realities.

So the question again is, did this really happen? So we can believe all of those things. Of course, we could never prove such a fact. That's where faith comes in. But I find, brothers and sisters that there is so much proof around us on this holy day.

Take the gospel reading we just heard. Of course, we know the stories that have been passed down to us from the apostles, the accounts of the resurrection. But look a little deeper in these accounts. Did you notice, especially in this passage, but in all the resurrection accounts in the Gospels, just how candid these apostles are when they tell the tale of the resurrection. In other words, imagine if you were an apostle tasked with spreading the message, the greatest message of all time the empty tomb, the resurrection of your Lord and Messiah to the world. Would you think to place within that narrative the fact that you yourself didn't quite understand what was going on, that you didn't quite believe what was happening initially, that you struggled to come to terms with this reality, that you, in fact, even betrayed your Lord before his resurrection took place?

Because again, the disciples, the apostles, did all those things. Notice what we hear at the very end of today's gospel reading. This is the Apostles Peter and John, for they did not yet understand the Scripture that he had to rise from the dead. John's talking about himself here. He didn't quite understand fully at this moment. Imagine going forth to spread this message and being so candid about your own imperfections. These are not men who are trying to swindle the world. These are men who experienced this reality firsthand, struggled to understand it at first, and then brought it to the world. These are human beings who have been enveloped in a mystery that was far beyond them, but one that took them around the world.

What's more, proof that we can draw from these apostles and disciples? How did their lives end? The historical record tells us very clearly all the apostles, with the exception of John, died as martyrs. Imagine dying a gruesome death for a lie, for a fable, for a story, for something with which you are trying to swindle the world. Only a fool would do such a thing. But to die for a fact, a reality, a mystery that had enveloped their whole life. One perhaps could do such a thing.

But there's more proof, brothers and sisters, not just what we find in the gospel today. Not just the candid nature with which they present these resurrection accounts. Not just the fact that they lived their life to the end, following Jesus and even unto death. There's more proof. Living proof in our midst, actually, right in our congregation here today.

Some are still present here who were last night baptized in this baptismal font. I won't ask them to raise their hands or stand up. We'll put you on the spot again. You had a lot of attention last night. But brothers and sisters, maybe you haven't heard this yet. We had thirty six people. Thirty six young people receive sacraments in our church, become fully initiated as Catholics here. Last night, pretty late at night as well. So some of us are a little tired still. Thirty six people, young people receive the sacraments. What does that tell you?

We look out in the world around us, and we like to lament the situation we're in, perhaps especially the situation of the church. Everybody's leaving faith. Leaving God was the future. Somebody just came into my office recently. What's the future of the church? Where are we going? Well, if the future is those thirty six people who chose, they weren't. They weren't cajoled. They weren't required to do so. They chose of their own volition and free will. Nine to be baptized, nine to be received into the Catholic Church, and the rest to be confirmed and received. First Holy Communion to be fully initiated in our Catholic faith. They chose that because they believe that the resurrection is not just a story or a fable, but a fact. As they immerse themselves in the waters of baptism, they entered into the tomb with Jesus and rose again with him to new life.

If you're looking for proof, perhaps sometimes the best proof is that living faith of the people around us, people again in the pews. And not just those who received the sacraments, but all of us here who come and believe. Yes, we struggle perhaps to understand just what the scriptures mean. Perhaps we struggle to understand how this could all take place. But we're enveloped here in this mystery that will take us, like the apostles all throughout the world, to proclaim this reality.

So perhaps, maybe for the first time today, you'll consider making an act of faith that the resurrection again is not just a story or a fable, but a fact. If you do so, or if you renew that decision today, as we all should on Easter Day, then that that decision will change your life. It should change your life. If it doesn't, there's a problem. If you don't go forth from here, having made that decision and allow that decision to change every every aspect of your life, then are we really believing it in the first place?

This is what we celebrate today the day of resurrection, the day of grace and favor, the greatest fact and reality in our life that Jesus, Hallelujah is risen from the dead. That we too, with him, we pray, will rise into eternal life, and that evil and sin and death do not have the final say in our lives. Hallelujah, Hallelujah, hallelujah, Hallelujah. The faith is alive here at Saint Thomas More. Hallelujah. The faith is alive in New Haven and here at Yale. Amen.