Easter Sunday. Acts 10:34-43; Col 3:1-4; Jn 20: 1-9 The late Catholic Archbishop of Hartford, John Whealon, had undergone cancer surgery resulting in a permanent colostomy when he wrote these very personal words in one of his last Easter messages: "I am now a member of an association of people who have been wounded by cancer.  That association has as its symbol the phoenix, a bird of Egyptian mythology. The Greek poet Hesiod, who lived eight centuries before Jesus was born, wrote about this legendary bird in his poetry.  When the bird felt its death was near (every 500 to 1500 years), it would fly off to Phoenicia, build a nest of aromatic wood and set itself on fire.  When the bird was consumed by the flames, a new phoenix sprang forth from the ashes. Thus, the phoenix symbolizes immortality, resurrection, and life after death.  It sums up the Easter message perfectly.  Jesus gave up His life, and from the grave He was raised to life again on the third day. New life rises from the ashes of death. Easter is the greatest and the most important feast in the Church. It marks the birthday of our eternal hope.  "Easter" literally means "the feast of fresh flowers." We celebrate it with pride and jubilation for three reasons: 1) The resurrection of Christ is the basis of our Christian Faith. The Resurrection is the greatest of the miracles -- it proves that Jesus is God. That is why St. Paul writes:  “If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain; and your Faith is in vain… And if Christ has not been raised, then your Faith is a delusion and you are still lost in your sins…  But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep”  (I Cor 15: 14, 17, 20).  2) Easter is the guarantee of our own resurrection. Jesus assured Martha at the tomb of Lazarus: “I am the Resurrection and the life; whoever believes in Me will live even though he dies” (Jn 11: 25-26).  Christ will raise us up on the last day, but it is also true, in a sense, that we have already risen with Christ.  By virtue of the Holy Spirit, our Christian life is already a participation in the death and Resurrection of Christ. We died with Christ in our baptism and we will die no more. Corrie Ten Boom put it like this: "In the forest fire, there is always one place where the fire cannot reach. It is the place where the fire has already burned itself out. Calvary is the place where the fire of God's judgment against sin burned itself out completely. It is there that we are safe." So, a Christian dies with Christ at baptism and he can die no more. And since Christ rose from the dead a Christian rises with him. 3) Easter is a feast which gives us hope and encouragement. In this world of pain, sorrows and tears, Easter reminds us that life is worth living.  It is our belief in the Real Presence of the Risen Jesus in our souls, in His Church, in the Blessed Sacrament and in Heaven that gives meaning to our personal, as well as to our common, prayers. Our trust in the all-pervading presence of the Risen Lord gives us strength to fight against temptations and freedom from unnecessary worries and fears.    Reasons why we believe in the Resurrection of Jesus are: (1) Jesus himself testified to his Resurrection from the dead. Three times he predicted about his forthcoming suffering and death, and all the three times he also mentioned his resurrection. (2) The tomb was empty on Easter Sunday. The stone could not have held him prisoner in the tomb.  Its removal was a sign of the resurrection, not a condition for it.  The angel rolled back the stone not to throw open a way for our Lord to come forth, but to provide evidence to people that he had already come forth.”  Jesus could come and stand before disciples who were behind locked doors. So the stone was not a block for him coming out from there. (3) The initial disbelief of Jesus’ own disciples in His Resurrection, in spite of His repeated apparitions, serves as a strong proof of His Resurrection. Their initial disbelief explains why the Apostles started preaching the Risen Christ only after receiving the anointing of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. (4) The transformation of Jesus’ disciples from hopeless and fearful men after the crucifixion into men who now were confident and bold witnesses to the Resurrection. 5.The Apostles and early Christians would not have faced martyrdom if they were not absolutely sure of Jesus’ Resurrection.  6.The Apostle Paul’s conversion from a persecutor of Christians to a zealous preacher of of Jesus supports the truth of Jesus’ Resurrection .  The resurrection tells that the tomb is not a blind alley; it is a thoroughfare. It closes on the twilight; it opens on the dawn." Mary Magdalene came to the tomb while it was still dark "but the darkness did not remain. The dawn broke. God's Son had risen Perhaps for whatever reason you are in darkness right now. Family concerns. Problems at work. Anxiety about your health and your future. The loss of someone you love. Easter promises us more than the stars in our darkness. Easter promises us that in the midst of our deepest darkness the Son rises to overwhelm the darkness forever.  Martin Luther once spent three days in a black depression over something that had gone wrong. On the third day his wife came downstairs dressed in mourning clothes. "Who's dead?" he asked her. "God," she replied. Luther rebuked her, saying, "What do you mean, God is dead? God cannot die." "Well," she replied, "the way you've been acting I was sure He had!"  Easter reminds us that every Good Friday in our lives will have an Easter Sunday and that Jesus will let us share the power of His Resurrection. To behold the resurrection, the stone must first be rolled away from our hearts. Let’s roll away the stones of Anxiety, worries, disbelief from our hearts so that we can see the risen Christ living in our lives.