Easter Sunday Morning

Abbot Brendan Thomas • April 20, 2025

"He is not here, for he is risen."  Homily by Abbot Brendan

There’s a lovely story told about a Religious Information Centre in North Carolina. In its window hung a large image of the dead Christ cradled in the arms of his mother. One day, an old African-American lady opened the door, leaned in, and asked, “That Jesus dead in your window?”


“Yes,” came the reply.


“You mean he stayed dead?”


“No, ma’am. He rose again on Easter morning.”


“Rose again? You mean he live again? He rise from the dead?”


“Yes – surely you’ve heard the story of the Resurrection before?”


And her face broke into a wide, radiant smile. “Oh, I done heard it before. I guess I done heard it a million times before. But I just glories to hear it again.”


And that is what we do today. We glory to hear it again, to tell it again. To hear those Gospel words that change everything: “He is not here, for he is risen.” We glory to sing them again. To fill the air with Alleluias. To sound the trumpet of salvation. To let this holy building shake with joy, just as the earth trembled on that first Easter morning.


When we hear the accounts of the Resurrection of our Lord, we rekindle that first amazement of the disciples. “He is not here!” said the angel. We get a sense of the participants in the drama being overwhelmed by something extraordinary—something that does not fit any available category of thought.


They had been through the mill. The story of Holy Week is one of betrayal, capture, and trial; a story of denial, panic, and despair; the story of a body crucified and laid in a tomb, with disciples terrified and hidden in the upper room. They were downhearted, afraid. “We had hoped…” they said, resignedly.


But the power of the empty tomb meets a broken-hearted woman that first Easter Sunday. Mary Magdalene runs to tell Simon Peter and the Beloved Disciple. She is the apostle of the apostles, as an ancient title gives her—Apostola apostolorum. They in turn race to the tomb, but John soon outdistances Peter—not just because he is younger, but because, at a symbolic level, the Beloved Disciple represents the power and energy of love.


We can feel the kinetic energy of today’s Gospel. It is the beginning of a mobilization of hearts across the globe and across the centuries. And our hearts are stirred and mobilized this morning, as we hear the Gospel afresh.


“Run while you have the light of life,” says St Benedict. Easter calls us to move, to seek, to run toward the One who brings life from the tomb. Easter asks something more: not only what we have been saved from—sin, death, fear—but what we have been saved for.


We have been saved for love. For joy. For communion. For mission.


The Risen Christ does not simply return to comfort his friends. He sends them out. “Go,” he says. “Tell my brothers.” “Proclaim the good news.” “Feed my sheep.” He breathes the Spirit on them and sends them into the world. Easter is not an ending; it is a beginning. And it’s ours too.


We sing in that English Easter Carol:


Now the green blade riseth from the buried grain,

Wheat that in dark earth many days has lain;

Love lives again, that with the dead has been:

Love is come again, like wheat that springeth green.

 

Christ rises as the first fruits of a new creation. And in him, we too are raised to become people of the Resurrection—witnesses of a love stronger than death, a love that conquers the world, bearers of life for a world that still walks in shadow.

 

That old lady was right: “I just glories to hear it again.”

But more than that—we glory to live it again.

We glory to become the alleluia we sing.

To be sent out in Easter joy, as his life, his light, his love.

 

Christ is risen. He is risen indeed.

 

Let us run while we have the light of life, rise up and love in his name.

And let our lives sing the Easter song. Alleluia.


By Abbot Brendan Thomas May 17, 2025
Bishop Mark Jabalé OSB Bishop Mark died peacefully on 9th May. Reception of Body and Mass of Remembrance Friday 30th May, 11am, St Joseph’s Co-Cathedral, Swansea Requiem Mass & Burial Thursday 5th June, 12 noon, Belmont Abbey John Peter Jabale was born on 16th October 1933 in Alexandria, Egypt of mainly European heritage. His father was Lebanese/French, and his mother British/Greek/French. He attended the Lycée Français in Alexandria until 1948, when he was sent to England, having expressed a desire to join the Navy. He enrolled at Belmont Abbey School and, upon leaving school, joined the Abbey, taking the religious name Mark. He was ordained to the priesthood on 13 July 1958. He was then sent to the University of Fribourg, Switzerland, where he obtained a Licentiate in French Literature, writing his thesis on Joseph de Maistre, the French counter-revolutionary. He later completed a Diploma in Education at St Mary’s, Strawberry Hill, where he also played rugby for the University. From 1964, he taught sport and served as a housemaster at the school. In 1969, he was appointed Headmaster of Alderwasley School in Derbyshire, though he held that post for only half a term before being recalled to Belmont to serve as Headmaster there, a role he held—apart from a sabbatical—until 1983. From 1964 he was teaching sport and then was a housemaster in the School. In 1969 he was appointed Headmaster of Alderwasley School, Derbyshire, but filled that post for only half a term. He was called back to Belmont to be Headmaster where he served, apart from a sabbatical, until 1983. Fr Mark was a rowing coach of considerable repute. During his sabbatical in 1979, he assisted Dan Topolski in coaching the Oxford crew for the Boat Race. His greatest coaching triumph came when he led a lightweight coxless four to a gold medal at the World Rowing Championships in Bled, Yugoslavia — the only gold medal won by Great Britain that year. The following year, he was invited to coach for the Olympics, but he declined in order to remain committed to Belmont. He was a steward of Henley Royal Regatta and was responsible for setting up and programming its first computerised systems. He was ahead of may in seeing the potential of new technology. In 1983, he was sent to Peru to purchase land and build a new monastery, which included raising funds in the UK. The new monastery was blessed, and the first Mass was celebrated there by the Archbishop of Piura, Oscar Cantuarias Pastor, in June 1986 together with Abbot Jerome, Fr Paul, Fr Luke, Fr David as well as Fr Mark. Dom Mark returned to Belmont as Prior and was elected the 10th Abbot of Belmont in 1993. He later wrote: “My first and most painful task proved to be the overseeing of the closure of the school.” Together with the bursar, John Hubert, he negotiated with the local NHS for the 4 houses to be leased to them. In 2000, he was appointed Coadjutor Bishop of Menevia by Pope John Paul II and was ordained bishop in St Joseph’s Cathedral, Swansea, on 7 December 2000. He succeeded Bishop Daniel Mullins as the 10th Bishop of Menevia on 12 June 2001. During his episcopate, he held several important offices: Chairman of the Department for Christian Life and Worship, Trustee and Visitator of the three foreign seminaries — the Venerable English College (Rome), the Beda College (Rome), and the Royal English College (Valladolid). He was also Bishop-in-Charge of on-going formation for diocesan priests. Upon reaching the age of 75, Bishop Jabale submitted his resignation to the Holy Father on 16 October 2008 and was succeeded by Bishop Tom Burns. He then moved to Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire, and was inducted as Parish Priest of Holy Trinity Catholic Church in March 2009, a post he held until 2014. At the age of 81, he retired to Hendon in London, where he celebrated daily Mass at a local convent, assisted in various parishes, and continued to help with confirmations in the diocese. In October 2019, he moved to Archbishop’s House, Westminster, for nine months. Finally, he returned to Belmont in 2020 as a much-cherished member of the community. He described himself as “very happy.” He remained there until his death in Hereford County Hospital on 9 May 2025, aged 91. He had been a monk of Belmont for 73 years, a priest for 67 years and a bishop for 24 years. Please pray for the eternal happiness of Rt. Rev. Dom Mark Jabalé 10th Bishop of Menevia 10th Abbot of Belmont who died 9th May 2025 in the 92nd year of his age, the 73rd year of his monastic life and the 67th year of his priesthood. May he rest in peace
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