2^nd Sunday of Easter, Mass at St. Conval’s Cemetery Barrhead on 30^th March 2008

1. When the Risen Lord appeared to his apostles on the first day of the week in the room where they had been hiding, the first thing he said to them was “Peace be with you.” In words that have been incorporated into the Mass, he had already promised them before his passion and death: “I leave you peace, my peace I give you.” And now, having risen from the dead, Jesus greeted his apostles with words of peace. And to all of us today, who have gathered in this cemetery, he extends that greeting and assurance: “Peace be with you.”

2. The peace of the Risen Lord, a peace the world cannot give, starts from our faith in the resurrection. When we can profess with Thomas our faith in the Risen Jesus, “My Lord and my God”, we already begin to begin to experience the peace of the Lord. “Happy are those who have not seen and yet believe”, Jesus says of those who will come to believe in him through the witness of the apostles and the preaching of the Church. Today once more, we say with Thomas and with the Church, “My Lord and my God.”

3. The peace of the risen Lord comes surely also from forgiveness. He gave his apostles and their successors in the priestly ministry the awesome authority to forgive sins. The Risen Jesus said to his apostles when he appeared to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. For those whose sins you forgive they are forgiven.” If we consider our own religious experience, I think we will accept and recognise that we have experienced and do experience the inner peace of Christ through the forgiveness of our sins. And it is very much part of our Christian commitment to bring peace to others and to make peace a social and political reality in the wider world.

4. The peace which the risen Lord gives us is also to do with hope in eternal life. Jesus rose from the dead. He gives us the gift of peace. He offers us the peace of eternal life. A very practical way of expressing our faith in the resurrection and in the Lord of peace is to pray in hope for the faithful departed. And so we gather here in this sacred place where are laid to rest the mortal remains of our loved ones who have died. We pray that they may have eternal rest and peace. We pray that our grieving hearts may have peace. We pray that the pain of loss will be softened by our hope in eternal life. This cemetery is a place of peace, not for the stillness of the tomb, but for the peace that comes from hope and prayer.

5. On this Octave Day of Easter and on this feast of the Divine Mercy, Jesus the Risen Lord sends upon us the gift of peace, a peace which is for this life and for the life of the world to come.