One Great Story - Holy Saturday Homily

One Great Story
GN 1:1—2:2; ROM 6:3-11; LK 24:1-12

My friend Jennifer tells about a Holy Saturday Mass she attended in Arizona and how beautiful it was. The liturgy readings began and the 1^st reading from Genesis was a beautiful recitation from memory by a religious sister. At the verse God created the stars; a child came out and threw gold glitter in the air.

Picture it. It makes me smile. Thanks Jennifer, that’s a great story.

Tonight I want to tell One Great Story. It’s about our original blessing.

You’re not going to find much on original blessing in the Catechism, PSR or Sunday school books. They focus more on original sin. 

God does it differently. Original blessing comes before original sin in the Bible. We were blessed before we ever sinned. It’s in the first book the first readings of Genesis.

God said let us create man in our image in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. Created in God’s image, that’s a blessing.

God looked at everything he had made, and found it very good.  Being found very good by God, that’s a blessing.

Then God blessed them, saying: “Be fertile and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and all the living things that move on the earth.” Amen my brothers and sister, that’s God’s original blessing..

Sin came, our sin, original sin. It wasn’t created by God. God didn’t look at sin and say “It is good.” Sin is a human creation. We brought sin upon our self.

Even though sin entered the world, God’s mercy continued to bless those who believed. It’s one great story, our salvation. And, we don’t have to be perfect to be part of the story.

We have God beside us. God does not give up on us, He is always with us.

Helen Keller who was born blind and deaf said, “Walking with a friend in the dark is better than walking alone in light.”

For a long time, that is the way God chosen people lived - walking in the darkness of sin with God’s protections

Then God sent his light: The Light of Christ. Jesus Christ, our salvation, came as the light of the world to erase the darkness of sin.

The Gospel starts, “at daybreak on the first day of the week.”

Daybreak, the Son has risen. The light of the world has come. And those who believe know these things:

• The tomb’s empty
• Death’s been overcome
• Jesus Christ is victory over sin,
• The blessing of Christ’s salvation is greater than any our sins have taken away. 

That is why the Easter Proclamation, Exult! It means rejoice my brothers and sisters.

Our baptism in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, washes away the original sin. We reveal our original blessing.  

Imagine that little girl running out and throwing glitter into the air; because, in Jesus Christ, God has thrown the stars in the sky. We are no longer in the darkness of sin.

Rejoice Catechumens. You celebrate tonight your relationship with Christ and his church by receiving the Holy Sacraments. Rejoice!

Rejoice every one! Rejoice because in faith we grow in our union with Him. We are no longer slaves to sin. We are living for God in Christ Jesus. It’s one great story for us all.

Rejoice, the stone is rolled away and the tomb is empty! Rejoice in the resurrection of our savior Jesus Christ. Rejoice because our sins are forgiven and we reclaim God’s original blessing.

In his mercy, God looks at us and finds it very good.  

I’m going to end my homily the same way the Gospel ends.  Go home and be amazed at what has happened.

Amen.