Homily given by Archbishop Anthony Randazzo
Prefect of the Dicastery for Legislative Texts & Apostolic Administrator of the Diocese of Broken Bay
Easter Sunday 2026
5 April 2026
My dear brothers and sisters, today is the greatest day of our lives. Today, death is defeated, sin is conquered, and Christ rises triumphant from the grave. The darkness has not overcome the light. The tomb is empty, and hope is alive.
In our first reading from the Acts of the Apostles, Saint Peter stands and proclaims the heart of our faith. He speaks not as one who has merely heard a story, but as a witness whose life has been transformed. “We can witness to everything he did” (Acts 10:39). This is not distant history. This is living truth.
Peter recalls how “Jesus went about doing good and curing all who had fallen into the power of the devil” (Acts 10:38). Here we see the peace that Christ Jesus brings: a peace that restores and makes us whole. It is not a shallow or passing calm, but a deep and abiding peace that heals wounds, lifts burdens, and sets people free.
Wherever Jesus went, suffering was met with compassion, injustice with righteousness, and brokenness with healing. This is the peace of God at work in the world. Yet Peter does not shy away from the cross. He tells us plainly that Jesus was rejected and put to death. However, this is not the end of the story. “God raised him on the third day” (Acts 10:40).
In this, we see that true peace is not achieved by avoiding conflict or suffering, but by overcoming it. The resurrection is God’s decisive victory over all that destroys peace: sin, violence, and death itself. What seemed like defeat has become triumph. What seemed like the end has become a new beginning.
And so, Saint Peter proclaims the heart of the Good News: “All who believe in Jesus will have their sins forgiven through his name” (Acts 10:43). Here is the deepest peace of all: reconciliation with God. Sin, which divides and wounds, is forgiven. The barrier between humanity and God is removed. We are no longer strangers, but beloved sons and daughters, called into communion with the living God. This peace is not abstract. It is personal. It is offered to each one of us, here and now.
In the Gospel, we hear of the beloved disciple who came to the empty tomb. He saw the linen cloths lying there, and we are told simply, “he saw and believed” (John 20:8). He did not yet understand everything. The full meaning of the resurrection had not yet unfolded before him. And yet, in that moment, belief began to gain strength within him.
Fear gave way to trust. Confusion began to yield to faith. This is how peace often comes to us: not all at once, not with every question answered, but as a quiet and growing certainty that God is at work, that Jesus Christ is alive, and that we are held in his love.
My sisters and brothers, this is our calling.
Just as Peter and the disciples bore witness in the early Church, so too must we bear witness in our own time. Our mission is not new, nor is it different. We are called to fidelity: fidelity to the truth of the Gospel, to the Good News of Jesus Christ, to the life of faith, hope, and love.
Saint Paul exhorts us: “Christ, our Passover, has been sacrificed; let us celebrate the feast” (1 Corinthians 5:8). Today we celebrate, and indeed we are called to celebrate every day of our lives. Not merely with words, but with the way we live. To celebrate the feast is to live as people of the resurrection: faithful in our trust in God, steadfast in our hope in eternal life, and generous in our love for one another.
When we live this way, we become what we are called to be: one, holy, catholic, and apostolic. We become true disciples of Christ, our Risen Lord. We become witnesses to peace: a peace that heals, a peace that triumphs over evil, a peace that reconciles us to God and to one another.
So let us go forth today with hearts full of joy. We cannot remain at the empty tomb, rather we carry the message of the resurrection into the world. Let our lives proclaim what our lips profess: that Jesus Christ is risen, that love is stronger than death, and that peace is possible. Alleluia!