Homily | September 18, 2026 | The Heartbeat Of Christianity (Episode 275)

There's a word every Catholic should know, charygma.

It is a Greek word meaning proclamation.

And when the early Christians spoke about the charygma, they meant the essential proclamation at the heart of Christianity.

Because before all doctrines, before all moral teachings, before canon law, before parish programs, before everything else, there was an announcement.

Jesus Christ, the Son of God, died for our sins.

He was buried, rose from the dead, and he is Lord.

And because he lives, your life can be different.

That's the charisma.

And Saint Paul says something astonishing today.

If it is not true, forget the whole thing.

If Christ has not been raised, then empty too is our preaching.

Empty too your faith.

Think about how radical that is.

Paul does not say, even if the resurrection did not happen, Christianity still contains some beautiful moral teachings.

He does not say that.

He does not say, at least Jesus taught us to love one another.

He does not say, the important thing is that the story inspires us.

No.

Paul puts everything on the table.

If Christ has not been raised from the dead, Christianity collapses.

Our preaching is empty.

Our faith is in vain.

Our sins remain.

The dead are lost.

And Paul says Christians are the most pitable people of all.

Why?

Well, because Christianity is not primarily good advice.

It is good news.

And that's the difference.

Advice tells you what you should do.

News tells you what has happened.

Imagine someone running into the church shouting, The war is over, the war's over.

That's news.

Your cancer is gone.

That's news.

The person you thought was dead, he's alive.

Well, that's news.

You do not respond by saying, that's an interesting philosophy.

Something has happened, and because it's happened, everything changes.

That's how Christianity began.

Not with here are ten principles for becoming a better person.

No, it began with people running through the ancient world saying, we saw him crucified, we saw him buried, and now we have seen him alive.

God has acted.

Death has been defeated.

Sin can be forgiven.

Jesus Christ is Lord.

That's why Paul can say with complete confidence, but now Christ has been raised from the dead.

Now everything turns on that sentence.

And I wonder whether sometimes we Catholics bury that announcement underneath everything else.

We know when to stand, we know when to kneel, we know all of the prayers, we know Catholic customs, we know what the church teaches about all kinds of complicated questions.

All of that has its place.

But if someone stopped to you tomorrow and asked, Why are you a Christian?

Could you tell them at the heart of it?

Could you give them the charygma?

Maybe it would sound something like this God created you and loves you.

Sin has wounded us and separated us from the life for which we were created.

But God did not abandon us.

Jesus Christ entered our humanity, died for our sins, and rose from the dead.

He is alive.

And he offers forgiveness, freedom, and eternal life to those who turn to him and follow him.

That's Christianity.

Today's gospel shows us what happens when people actually believe that.

Jesus is traveling from village to village, preaching and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God.

And look who begins traveling with him, the twelve.

Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Susanna, and many, many others.

These are not spectators.

Something has happened to them.

Mary Magdalene has been delivered from terrible bondage.

Others have been healed.

They encountered Christ, and afterwards they could not simply return to life as though nothing had happened.

That's the pattern of Christianity.

Encounter, transformation, mission.

You encounter the living Christ, he begins changing your life, and eventually you want someone else to know what you have discovered.

That's evangelization.

I want you to know what Christ has done in my life.

But then notice these women even supported the mission out of their resources.

Why?

Well, because when the gospel gets a hold of you, eventually it gets a hold of everything.

Your time, your priorities, your relationships, your money, your future, your life.

Maybe that's where today's reading becomes uncomfortable.

Because there's a difference between believing that Jesus rose from the dead and living as though Jesus rose from the dead.

If Christ is risen, despair does not get the final word.

If Christ is risen, my sins do not get the final word.

If Christ is risen, my past does not get the final word.

If Christ is risen, the grave does not get the final word.

If Christ is risen, then no human life is hopeless.

Not even mine.

That's the charisma.

And perhaps today we need to recover that excitement of those first Christians.

They were announcing a new religious product.

They weren't.

They weren't announcing a new religious product.

They were announcing an event that had changed human history.

Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again.

And if somebody asks you why any of this matters, St.

Paul gives us the answer in four words.

Christ has been raised.

Four words.

But if they're true, they change everything.

They change how we live, they change how we suffer, they change how we face our sins.

They even change how we face the grave.

Because Christianity does not end with a man hanging on a cross.

It begins again with an empty tomb.

Christ has been raised.

And because he lives, we know how our story ends.

Amen.