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            Today we have the answer to the question that many people ask: Why do we need faith? Why is it so hard to live in the world without it? Why is it that faith in the Resurrected Jesus Christ is the only real answer?           

         Why do we need faith? Because the world is much bigger than we are. We encounter mysteries and joys and sorrows and challenges every day. We keep trying to make sense of it all though it does not seem to fit together.           

          The truth of our human life is that we need faith to truly live. We have come to discover that behind this big, mysterious world there is a God who loves us into being. To love something is to give it life. God loves us, so we live. We live in his heart. We live in this world. We have been given tremendous opportunities to share in life and thus make it known to others. Faith in God, by its very nature makes us witnesses to life, goodness, beauty and truth.           

          We see things as they really are. We see ourselves as we really are. We see God for who He truly is. We see creation as a gift given to us to enjoy and protect. We see ourselves as sinners, broken and unable to find lasting joy without the intervention of God in our lives. Lastly, we see God as real, true and visible in Jesus Christ, the Son of God who is raised form the dead. This is as real as it gets.         

            If faith gives us life, why is faith so difficult at times? Faith is not something like a beating heart. Faith is not something that works in us without our awareness. To have faith means to be consciously aware that we are not alone. Faith is not just about me. It is about a total surrender of all that we are to a God who loves us. Jesus makes that very clear in his preaching. God loves his people and seeks to be intimately involved in the lives of his people every day. In Jesus Christ, we see that the Father has sent his Son who is so close to us that he truly experiences our deepest fear, death. By the power of God, Father Son and Holy Spirit, we recognize that Jesus is truly and physically raised today.           

          Many in our world, which is broken and devastated by sin, tell us that Jesus Christ is not life. He is an illusion or quaint legend or even a fairy tale. Jesus is in the past. He is not real now. They want us to accept that real life is power, money, sex, pleasure or celebrity. It is about my enjoyment. We must compromise and accept these things if we want to get along on the world.           

          In faith, we know this to be a bold-faced lie! Jesus Christ is alive. He is real and present to us right now. We see his love in our friends, our families, and even strangers. We see his personal love present especially in his Church, through the preaching of the Word of God and most importantly in the Sacrament of his Body and Blood, the Holy  Eucharist.                

         The Risen Lord answers our prayers. He reaches out to us in love through the Holy Spirit. He suffered for us so that we could know peace. He died for us so that we could really live and love. He holds us in life as the most cherished possessions of his Sacred Heart.          

           The Church is full of life this morning with the beautiful flowers and the lush plants, the bright colors, Easter bonnets and children who cannot wait to get home and get some Easter candy. But all of these pale in front of the real LIVING ONE we see and hear and will soon touch and taste, Jesus Christ.            

          We are a people of life because we are a people who belong to Jesus Christ and live through him. We are a people who know deep in our hearts, that the Baptism we have received has brought us to life. We come as the Church to stand as witnesses to one another to the love and life given to us by God to share. As we receive that living bred of our Resurrected Lord,  let us go forth as the Apostles, living witnesses with a living faith in our Risen Lord. Alleluia.