Easter Sunday 2025
Fr. Mark Gatto
Preached: April 20, 2025
Do you ever struggle with faith? Today we celebrate the Resurrection. Our Catholic Faith in the Resurrection is expressed at each funeral Mass when we declare, “death is not the end.” But, many of us struggle with faith when faced with the reality of death. Is there really a life after death? Is death just a final ending leading to nothing? Doubt when faced with the mystery of death is not a lack of faith. Faith and doubt go together.
Faith, like Love, is not a feeling, it is a choice. We choose to love someone even though at times we may not feel love. Ask most married people and they will say that there are difficult days when they do not have nice loving feelings. Love is a choice.
In the same way, faith is primarily a choice. We choose to have faith. There are many days when we perhaps do not feel faith, when we have many doubts. Then faith is a choice. The choice to say that life has meaning, the choice to believe that this universe is not meaningless and empty. The choice to say yes to the mystery of God.
We choose to love and we choose to have faith. This faith we choose gives us hope and it gives light to our lives.
St. Augustine spoke of “Faith Seeking Understanding.” Understanding does not come first and then faith. We choose faith and then we work to deepen our understanding. We study about our faith, we reflect on it, we learn more about it. Our Catholic Faith is never fully understood in this life, this is why doubts are normal. The mystery of the Resurrection is something we embrace in faith. Then we gradually come to greater understanding. The full understanding will only come when we experience the resurrection ourselves.
When we choose faith we need to keep seeking to understand it more deeply. But, there is something else we need to do when struggling with doubts. Pray for Faith. Ask God with your whole heart, help me to have faith. Now I do not understand, now I have doubts, so help me to believe. On this Easter Sunday as we celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus, pray for faith.
Ask God for faith in the Resurrection, faith in life after death, faith that allows you to face the mystery of
death with courage and hope.
Faith is not a feeling, it is a choice. Faith is like love in that we need to choose it day by day. Choose faith then seek to deepen your understanding. Choose faith and pray to God with all your heart to strengthen your faith.
