To be honest with you, quite often in my life I tend to have the spirituality of a cynic, of a "nudge," someone who looks at the darkness of the moment as if I am living perpetually in the Season of Lent. Because I have experienced a few crises in life, I sometimes cannot see the hope in the ministry I offer people, although I know that the ministry I offer is a sacred one, a ministry that reflects the presence of Christ.

Because I tend to live in this manner, God quite often introduces into my life the "Pollyannas" of the faith who look at life as if it were sugar-coated, with pretty flowers and puffy clouds and the kind of "la la la la la" theology that makes Mary Poppins look bitter. When I encounter one of these people, I often feel like my "rice cake" approach to life becomes confronted by a perpetually sugared bowl of Frosted Flakes.

In the world of faith, I think that all of us faithful can all fall into the trap of living in the darkness. When we sin, when we don't go to church, when we choose to live a life contrary to the gospel, it is then that we all live in the same type of life that I often venture into living and do not see the hope that surrounds us. This is why we celebrate the Season of Lent, to remind ourselves of the night air that gives the impression that all seems lost. To quote that eminent theologian, Elton John, he writes, "Losing everything is like the sun going down on me."

And when these moments take place, at least in my life, here come the "Pollyannas." No matter how bad things seem to go, no matter how hard the world may appear, I often encounter these faithful who remind me that each morning, a sun appears on the horizon and that a new day has begun. They regale me with images of sitting on the beach on the dawn of the day with chirping birds and flowery meadows and all that stuff, with the sun appearing in the horizon bringing hope to a fallen world.

Last week, Fr. Greg Rothfuchs from St. Paul's Church became one of those Pollyannas. During the Good Friday walk, Fr. Greg (the kayak priest of the Joliet Diocese) brought out his cell phone and showed me all those beee-u-tee-ful pictures of the sunrise off the Virgin Islands where he was on vacation last month. If you have ever sat through pictures of someone else's vacation and endured images that could only be special if you happened to be there, you know what I am talking about. Fr. Greg, who often shares the same temperament as I, was beaming on the darkest day of our Christian faith as he reminded himself of that bee-u-tee-ful sunrise, reminding me of the words from another eminent theologian, George Harrison, who once wrote, "Here comes the sun, here comes the sun, and I say it's all right."

For the last six weeks or so, we have spoken about the darkness that exists in life. Because we are sinners, because we often fail in life, we often feel like we live in the darkness. When our savior came down into the world, there was a time in our history when the world seemed the darkest, a time when we sacrificed our one chance at hope in order to satisfy our own human ego. And here is the funny thing, something that will always give us hope in our lives: even when we crucified our Lord, he offered us the gift of love, anyway. No matter how bad things have been in our human history, every morning we have been given the gift of a sunrise. There will always be the hope of God in our lives. There will always be the love that the people in this Church offer each other as a Christian community.

We celebrate the season of Easter because we have learned that this light of God will never leave us in our life. Even in the darkest times, if we look to God, we will receive this light. Even if we are the most separated from God, his love will never leave us. We sit here tonight and think about all the words of hope that Christ has offered us in the scriptures: "Come, all you who are burdened, and I will give you rest"; "I am the light of the world; no one who comes to me will ever die"; "As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you."

In the gospel passages on the resurrection, the Markan version of this resurrection story most parallels the kind of life many of us lead throughout the Church year. In this gospel, a group of disciples encounter this sunrise on Easter Day, become very afraid, and run away in fear as if they still lived in the darkness of the faith. To truly understand this Easter Message, I think all of us must enter the life of the other three gospel accounts of the resurrection scene (including the one on which we focus today), the story of these same disciples who run towards the tomb and marvel at the beauty of this sunrise. The fact is, this horizon is always all around us- all we have to do is look and see the beauty of our world every morning.

I think that the Pollyannas of faith often stress how the sunrise appears in every person that they meet, including me. I have thought about that comment recently and in my prayer, I begin to look at all of you. If you could all see what I see in you, then you would see something very beautiful. As a minister of God, I look at the things you do, at the ways you love and serve each other. I think about the people who have been planning these liturgies over the last few weeks, the people who have taken time from their busy days to celebrate the stations of the cross on Good Friday, and those people who have prayed and studied with three people who will (have) receive the sacraments for the first time later this evening (yesterday). There is so much love in this world that it is like the sunrise never leaves us, but yet there is so much anger and pain in this world as well that people do not see the light of Easter, either.

The reason I enjoy working with those who are receiving the sacraments for the first time is because they live the type of Pollyanna theology that all of us are called to live, especially in reference to this Easter light we celebrate today. These individuals wish to cherish something that many "Cradle Catholics" often take for granted. They wish to embrace the faith; they wish to live the faith. Many who receive the sacraments for the first time want to live that faith exuberantly and is evident to us because we see these people very active in the Christian life.

And so on this Easter weekend, it has been customary for me to share some of their experiences and observations with you by having these adults explain in their own words what the sacraments mean to them, sacraments that life-long Catholics may very well take for granted. I wanted to take a moment during this celebration of light to allow these faithful to write this homily for me, to express to all of you what this sunrise means to them.

In the world of faith, Kathy Johnson writes,

I was born and raised in the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod, but I have some family on both my mother's and father's side who are Catholic. My husband and I were married in the Catholic Church and that is when I became really interested in the Church. We had Kristen baptized Catholic and I knew in my heart that I was being drawn to the Catholic Church.

When I started learning the real truths of the Catholic Church I felt like I was finding the last pieces of the puzzle. I was amazed at the similarities in the liturgy between the LCMS and the Catholic Church. I felt a true sense of peace at Mass. I started to take the time to learn the truth about the many misconceptions about the Catholic Church and started asking my husband questions. I knew that it was time for me to convert but it took me a bit of time to make the conversion. Now I look forward to fully participating in the Mass with my family.

Jennifer Johnke writes,

I decided last year that I wanted to baptize my son Catholic because my son's father is Catholic and my mother's family is Catholic. I would attend Catholic Church once in a while with my aunt and some of my friends were Catholic. I was interested in understanding all of the things they did and the differences from the Lutheran faith that I had been raised as.

Since I decided to raise Donovan Catholic, I made the decision to go for it. I decided I would make a commitment to becoming Catholic.

I have learned so much during my RCIA experience and yet there is still so, so much I have to learn. I have learned about the Sacraments, about prayer styles, symbolisms of the Church, about the anatomy of a Catholic Mass, and the Liturgical Calendar. I have now learned some of the basis of the Catholic Faith.

I enjoy attending St. Pat's church and would like to become more involved. Also, I hope to send Donovan to school at St. Pat's as well (my grandma, mom, and aunt and uncle attended St. Pat's school)

During my RCIA experience, I have been influenced by Fr. Pete Jankowski, Mr. & Mrs. Bannon, Mr. & Mrs. Shea & Julie Dillenburg. During class I can see how passionate they are with their faith and I continue to strive to have the same passion. I appreciate the time that everyone gave to make my experience as great as it was.

And Esther Caudillo writes,

I cannot tell you how much my faith has grown since I began attending RCIA classes. The passion that Fr. Pete, Julie Dillenburg, Mr. & Mrs. Shea and Mr. & Mrs. Bannon have for our faith is to be greatly admired. I look to these wonderful people for guidance and support in my coming years at St. Pat's.

On a more personal level, I am grateful for our Lord for bringing my boyfriend, Tim, into my life. Eight months ago he asked me to attend church with him and his family. Since then, my love for our faith has grown so much. Angie Tamayo, who is my sponsor (and grandmother of my boyfriend, Tim) is very dedicated to our faith and I strive to be as dedicated as she is.

I have learned the importance of giving to our church, I have an enormous respect for life now and I feel complete as a human being since allowing myself to care for St. Patrick's Church & its parishioners.

During the season of Lent, I encouraged all of you to grieve well. During this season of Easter, I encourage you all to celebrate well. Look at that Easter candle. Look at the gift of life that Christ offered us. In a short while, we will bless the new water of Easter, the new water of our life that washes away our old selves and brings us closer to God. Our life has changed. The thirst, the hunger, the darkness is no longer with us when we enter this Church- we always see the light of Christ. The question is, do we keep this light and let it shine for others or do we just remember the light today and put it away until next year?

I invite all of you to take some time this Easter season and remember those people in the world who have not seen that sunrise. I encourage all of you to be that sunrise for others. There is something beautiful in the light of a new day. Today, we receive it again for the first time. As Jesus says in the eighth chapter of John's gospel, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."

May all of you experience a blessed and light-filled Easter. May you all experience the beauty of that sunrise in the people that you meet, in the things that you do. Let us see that light in this room today, let us share it around our table, and let us offer it to the people that we meet. May we all live for the dawn of a new day so that all of us can experience this Pollyanna theology of the new day, where we can all profess with great joy, "Here comes the sun. Here comes the sun. It's all right." Happy Easter!

This is our prayer.