Homily by Fr. Simon Ckuj on the Third Sunday after Easter

Beloved in Christ,

Today we stand with the Myrrh‑Bearing Women, those brave and tender-hearted disciples who rose before dawn, carrying spices of love to anoint the body of the Lord. They walked toward a tomb, but they found a doorway into eternity. They expected death, but they encountered Life Himself.

The Fathers of the Church love these women because they reveal something essential about the Christian heart. St John Chrysostom tells us that it was love that made the women run to the tomb before the dawn. Their love was not cautious or calculating. It was a love that moved even when everything seemed hopeless. And because they moved in love, they were the first to hear the words that changed the universe: “He is not here; He is risen.”

The Eastern tradition calls them the apostles to the Apostles. Before Peter preached at Pentecost, before Thomas touched the wounds, before the disciples on the road recognised Him in the breaking of bread, it was these women who carried the first Paschal proclamation. And what was that proclamation? Not a theory, not a philosophy, not a moral code, but a joy—a joy so powerful that it shattered the stone of the tomb and rolled away the stone of fear in their hearts.

The Fathers insist that the Resurrection is not simply an event we remember; it is a reality we enter. St Gregory the Theologian says, “Yesterday I was crucified with Him; today I am glorified with Him.” He speaks in the present tense because the Resurrection is not locked in history. It is the living power of God at work in every baptized believer. St Ephrem the Syrian beautifully writes that the Myrrh‑Bearers became the harps of the Resurrection, sounding forth the victory of Christ. Their voices became instruments of divine joy. And, my dear brothers and sisters, so must ours.

The Myrrh‑Bearers teach us that the first response to the Resurrection is movement. They ran, they announced, they shared the good news. They did not keep the joy of Pascha hidden in their hearts. And neither can we. Every one of us who has passed through the waters of baptism has been entrusted with this same mission. The joy of the Resurrection is not for a select few. It is not only for clergy, monks, or theologians. It is for all the baptized—for parents, grandparents, young people, workers, students, and every ordinary Christian who carries the extraordinary grace of Christ.

St Cyril of Alexandria reminds us that the Resurrection renews the whole of creation and calls every human person into the light. If this is true—and it is—then every Christian becomes a bearer of that light. We are called to proclaim the Resurrection not only with our words but with our lives: by the peace we bring into anxious situations, by the forgiveness we offer when it is difficult, by the hope we carry even in times of trial, by the compassion we show to those who suffer.

The Myrrh‑Bearers approached the tomb with heavy hearts, yet they left it transformed. Their encounter with the Risen Lord did not remove all their problems, but it changed them. And that is the miracle of Pascha: Christ rises not only from the tomb, but also in the human heart. In our own lives, we too face stones—stones of grief, stones of fear, stones of uncertainty. But the angel’s question to the women is also addressed to us: Why do you seek the living among the dead? Why do we look for hope in places that cannot give it? Why do we search for life in things that cannot satisfy? The Resurrection redirects our gaze. It teaches us to look not into the tomb, but toward the Risen One who walks with us, strengthens us, and sends us out.

My dear brothers and sisters, the world today needs the witness of the Myrrh‑Bearers more than ever. It needs Christians who are not afraid to speak of Christ, to live with joy, to radiate hope, to show that death does not have the final word. The Myrrh‑Bearers remind us that the Church is not a silent institution. She is a proclaiming Church, a singing Church, a Paschal Church. And each of us is part of that proclamation.

So let us ask the Lord today to make us bold like the Myrrh‑Bearing Women—bold in love, bold in faith, bold in proclaiming that Christ is risen, and that His victory is for all.

Christ is risen! Indeed He is risen!

See also

February 16 “Christianity and the Common Good”: The Thomas More Centre Conference in Melbourne January 24 Homily by Fr. Simon Ckuj on the Sunday of the Publican and Pharisee and St Gregory the Theologian January 15 “May this place become holy ground, where heaven and earth meet, and where the Church is continually upheld by prayer”