On the day of Pentecost, Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice, and proclaimed: “You who are Jews, indeed all of you staying in Jerusalem. Let this be known to you, and listen to my words.
“You who are children of Israel, hear these words. Jesus the Nazorean was a man commended to you by God with mighty deeds, wonders, and signs, which God worked through him in your midst, as you yourselves know. This man, delivered up by the set plan and foreknowledge of God, you killed, using lawless men to crucify him. But God raised him up, releasing him from the throes of death, because it was impossible for him to be held by it. For David says of him:
I saw the Lord ever before me, with him at my right hand I shall not be disturbed. Therefore my heart has been glad and my tongue has exulted; my flesh, too, will dwell in hope, because you will not abandon my soul to the nether world, nor will you suffer your holy one to see corruption. You have made known to me the paths of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence.
My brothers, one can confidently say to you about the patriarch David that he died and was buried, and his tomb is in our midst to this day. But since he was a prophet and knew that God had sworn an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants upon his throne, he foresaw and spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that neither was he abandoned to the netherworld nor did his flesh see corruption. God raised this Jesus; of this we are all witnesses. Exalted at the right hand of God, he poured forth the promise of the Holy Spirit that he received from the Father, as you both see and hear.”
The Word of the Lord.
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One of the earliest proofs of the resurrection is the complete transformation of Peter’s behavior.
Remember what happened on Holy Thursday and Good Friday: Jesus was betrayed, arrested, abandoned, and crucified. Meanwhile, Peter vehemently denied knowing Jesus three times while warming his hands by a fire.
Only the Apostle John and a few women stayed with the Lord until his death. But even they had no idea he’d be raised three days later.
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In our first reading, the same cowardly Peter who denied knowing Jesus, now boldly risks his life by preaching to the same crowds who called for Christ’s death.
“This man you killed, using lawless men to crucify him,” Peter says. “But God raised this Jesus; of this we are all witnesses.”
There’s no other logical explanation for this dramatic change in Peter’s behavior – from cowardice to courage, fear to freedom – unless Peter is thoroughly convinced that Christ is alive again.
This is not some short-lived moment of inspiration, either. Peter will spend the next and final three decades of his life proclaiming the same truth that belief in this person, Jesus, leads to salvation and the resurrection.
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Do I exude the same joy, hope, and faith as Peter? Has my belief in the resurrection thoroughly transformed my perspective on life?
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We will dive into the Acts of the Apostles during the Easter season to inspire ever greater faith among us, to see and believe in our hearts what Peter did – Jesus is alive again!
Alleluia!
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Image credits: (1) North Heights Church of Christ (2) Church POP (3) Saint Angela Merici Catholic Church
On the first day of the week, Mary of Magdala came to the tomb early in the morning, while it was still dark, and saw the stone removed from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and told them, “They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we don’t know where they put him.” So Peter and the other disciple went out and came to the tomb. They both ran, but the other disciple ran faster than Peter and arrived at the tomb first; he bent down and saw the burial cloths there, but did not go in. When Simon Peter arrived after him, he went into the tomb and saw the burial cloths there, and the cloth that had covered his head, not with the burial cloths but rolled up in a separate place. Then the other disciple also went in, the one who had arrived at the tomb first, and he saw and believed. For they did not yet understand the Scripture that he had to rise from the dead.
The Gospel of the Lord.
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In August 2021, two-hundred children gathered with their families at their local church in Haiti. All of the children were dressed in white, preparing for their baptism.
Twenty minutes before the ceremony was set to begin, the ground beneath them started shaking.
Suddenly the roof of that poorly constructed building – the house of God nonetheless – collapsed, crushing twenty-three people, including a two-year-old child in her mother’s arms.
Somehow the mother survived.
In a country filled with such violence and poverty, this ceremony was meant to be a rare moment of hope, which evaporated in a matter of seconds, as death came like a thief in the night.
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Hearing about this tragedy led to one of only two times I’ve ever yelled at God. It felt like another senseless Good Friday.
For these victims and their families, the horror of Good Friday was not something that happened to a humble carpenter turned miracle worker from Nazareth two-thousand years ago.
Trapped beneath the rubble, it happened to them.
Much like the Blessed Mother who gazed upon her son as he was dying on the Cross, these Christians suffered unimaginable loss.
Yet their grief leads us to the very heart of the Easter message: Yes, Christ IS Risen from the dead!
But consider the circumstances.
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The resurrection is the most important event in the history of our world, yet there was not a single eyewitness with the exception of God himself.
The Lord was raised from the dead under the cover of darkness, in the predawn hours of Easter morning, while his disciples were fast asleep, exhausted from their grief.
Mary Magdalene was the first person to see the empty tomb, because she was willing to venture into the darkness – not only the dim of early dawn, but also the darkness of her grief, which brought her back to that eerie garden turned cemetery on Easter morning.
It’s there – in that place – where Easter happens; where death is defeated; where angels appear to Mary, transforming her inconsolable sorrow into uncontrollable joy.
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This must’ve been by God’s own design.
The same God who created the earth out of a formless waste, who made something out of nothing in the beginning of time, brought life out of death that first Easter morning.
These two pillars of our faith – God’s creation of the world, and the resurrection of Christ from the dead – are mind-boggling mysteries that force us to question, to ponder, to risk the audacity of belief, hoping against hope.
Today we recognize that the physical space between the hill where Christ was crucified and the tomb where his body once lay is a mere stone’s throw apart, but the spiritual journey from Good Friday to Easter Sunday requires a giant leap of faith.
For Mary Magdalene, it was almost instantaneous. For Peter, it took a bit longer. For some, perhaps some of those Haitians trapped beneath the rubble, a lifetime.
Yet it’s a leap which every Christianis invited to make because Easter makes our faith real, relevant, and deeply personal.
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I’m sure we’ve all had some “Good Friday” experiences in our own lives – a share of grief, loss, doubt, or questions about God’s existence, especially in the face of unfair suffering.
But that’s where the Risen Lord seeks to appear to us – in the darkness, in the stillness, in the silence. You might say, in the predawn hours of Sunday morning.
And, when he appears, he doesn’t speak with a litany of answers to all of our questions. He whispers a single word in our heart of hearts. It’s the same word he first spoke to his disciples after his resurrection:
“Peace.”
In Hebrew, “shalom.”
Shalom means harmony, wholeness, stillness. It implies that something – or someone – has been broken then pieced back together. It’s the type of healing which only God can do.
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“They have taken the Lord from the tomb,” an ecstatic Mary Magdalene proclaims to us today.
Yes, Christ is truly Risen! Alleluia!
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Image credits: (1) JW.org (2) Pulitzer Center (3) Vecteezy
Jesus went out with his disciples across the Kidron valley to where there was a garden, into which he and his disciples entered. Judas his betrayer also knew the place, because Jesus had often met there with his disciples. So Judas got a band of soldiers and guards from the chief priests and the Pharisees and went there with lanterns, torches, and weapons. Jesus, knowing everything that was going to happen to him, went out and said to them, “Whom are you looking for?” They answered him, “Jesus the Nazorean.” He said to them, “I AM.” Judas his betrayer was also with them. When he said to them, “I AM, “ they turned away and fell to the ground. So he again asked them, “Whom are you looking for?” They said, “Jesus the Nazorean.” Jesus answered, “I told you that I AM. So if you are looking for me, let these men go.” This was to fulfill what he had said, “I have not lost any of those you gave me.” Then Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it, struck the high priest’s slave, and cut off his right ear. The slave’s name was Malchus. Jesus said to Peter, “Put your sword into its scabbard. Shall I not drink the cup that the Father gave me?”
So the band of soldiers, the tribune, and the Jewish guards seized Jesus, bound him, and brought him to Annas first. He was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, who was high priest that year. It was Caiaphas who had counseled the Jews that it was better that one man should die rather than the people.
Simon Peter and another disciple followed Jesus. Now the other disciple was known to the high priest, and he entered the courtyard of the high priest with Jesus. But Peter stood at the gate outside. So the other disciple, the acquaintance of the high priest, went out and spoke to the gatekeeper and brought Peter in. Then the maid who was the gatekeeper said to Peter, “You are not one of this man’s disciples, are you?” He said, “I am not.” Now the slaves and the guards were standing around a charcoal fire that they had made, because it was cold, and were warming themselves. Peter was also standing there keeping warm.
The high priest questioned Jesus about his disciples and about his doctrine. Jesus answered him, “I have spoken publicly to the world. I have always taught in a synagogue or in the temple area where all the Jews gather, and in secret I have said nothing. Why ask me? Ask those who heard me what I said to them. They know what I said.” When he had said this, one of the temple guards standing there struck Jesus and said, “Is this the way you answer the high priest?” Jesus answered him, “If I have spoken wrongly, testify to the wrong; but if I have spoken rightly, why do you strike me?” Then Annas sent him bound to Caiaphas the high priest.
Now Simon Peter was standing there keeping warm. And they said to him, “You are not one of his disciples, are you?” He denied it and said, “I am not.” One of the slaves of the high priest, a relative of the one whose ear Peter had cut off, said, “Didn’t I see you in the garden with him?” Again Peter denied it. And immediately the cock crowed.
Then they brought Jesus from Caiaphas to the praetorium. It was morning. And they themselves did not enter the praetorium, in order not to be defiled so that they could eat the Passover. So Pilate came out to them and said, “What charge do you bring against this man?” They answered and said to him, “If he were not a criminal, we would not have handed him over to you.” At this, Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves, and judge him according to your law.” The Jews answered him, “We do not have the right to execute anyone, “ in order that the word of Jesus might be fulfilled that he said indicating the kind of death he would die. So Pilate went back into the praetorium and summoned Jesus and said to him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” Jesus answered, “Do you say this on your own or have others told you about me?” Pilate answered, “I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests handed you over to me. What have you done?” Jesus answered, “My kingdom does not belong to this world. If my kingdom did belong to this world, my attendants would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not here.” So Pilate said to him, “Then you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say I am a king. For this I was born and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.” Pilate said to him, “What is truth?”
When he had said this, he again went out to the Jews and said to them, “I find no guilt in him. But you have a custom that I release one prisoner to you at Passover. Do you want me to release to you the King of the Jews?” They cried out again, “Not this one but Barabbas!” Now Barabbas was a revolutionary.
Then Pilate took Jesus and had him scourged. And the soldiers wove a crown out of thorns and placed it on his head, and clothed him in a purple cloak, and they came to him and said, “Hail, King of the Jews!” And they struck him repeatedly. Once more Pilate went out and said to them, “Look, I am bringing him out to you, so that you may know that I find no guilt in him.” So Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple cloak. And he said to them, “Behold, the man!” When the chief priests and the guards saw him they cried out, “Crucify him, crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves and crucify him. I find no guilt in him.” The Jews answered, “We have a law, and according to that law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God.” Now when Pilate heard this statement, he became even more afraid, and went back into the praetorium and said to Jesus, “Where are you from?” Jesus did not answer him. So Pilate said to him, “Do you not speak to me? Do you not know that I have power to release you and I have power to crucify you?” Jesus answered him, “You would have no power over me if it had not been given to you from above. For this reason the one who handed me over to you has the greater sin.” Consequently, Pilate tried to release him; but the Jews cried out, “If you release him, you are not a Friend of Caesar. Everyone who makes himself a king opposes Caesar.”
When Pilate heard these words he brought Jesus out and seated him on the judge’s bench in the place called Stone Pavement, in Hebrew, Gabbatha. It was preparation day for Passover, and it was about noon. And he said to the Jews, “Behold, your king!” They cried out, “Take him away, take him away! Crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your king?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar.” Then he handed him over to them to be crucified.
So they took Jesus, and, carrying the cross himself, he went out to what is called the Place of the Skull, in Hebrew, Golgotha. There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, with Jesus in the middle. Pilate also had an inscription written and put on the cross. It read, “Jesus the Nazorean, the King of the Jews.” Now many of the Jews read this inscription, because the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city; and it was written in Hebrew, Latin, and Greek. So the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, “Do not write ‘The King of the Jews,’ but that he said, ‘I am the King of the Jews’.” Pilate answered, “What I have written, I have written.”
When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his clothes and divided them into four shares, a share for each soldier. They also took his tunic, but the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from the top down. So they said to one another, “Let’s not tear it, but cast lots for it to see whose it will be, “ in order that the passage of Scripture might be fulfilled that says: They divided my garments among them, and for my vesture they cast lots. This is what the soldiers did. Standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary of Magdala. When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple there whom he loved he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son.” Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother.” And from that hour the disciple took her into his home.
After this, aware that everything was now finished, in order that the Scripture might be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I thirst.” There was a vessel filled with common wine. So they put a sponge soaked in wine on a sprig of hyssop and put it up to his mouth. When Jesus had taken the wine, he said, “It is finished.” And bowing his head, he handed over the spirit.
Here all kneel and pause for a short time.
Now since it was preparation day, in order that the bodies might not remain on the cross on the sabbath, for the sabbath day of that week was a solemn one, the Jews asked Pilate that their legs be broken and that they be taken down. So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first and then of the other one who was crucified with Jesus. But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs, but one soldier thrust his lance into his side, and immediately blood and water flowed out. An eyewitness has testified, and his testimony is true; he knows that he is speaking the truth, so that you also may come to believe. For this happened so that the Scripture passage might be fulfilled: Not a bone of it will be broken. And again another passage says: They will look upon him whom they have pierced.
After this, Joseph of Arimathea, secretly a disciple of Jesus for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate if he could remove the body of Jesus. And Pilate permitted it. So he came and took his body. Nicodemus, the one who had first come to him at night, also came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes weighing about one hundred pounds. They took the body of Jesus and bound it with burial cloths along with the spices, according to the Jewish burial custom. Now in the place where he had been crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had yet been buried. So they laid Jesus there because of the Jewish preparation day; for the tomb was close by.
The Gospel of the Lord.
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Throughout the Jubilee Year 2025, our parish serves as a pilgrimage site. Seeing our pews filled with pilgrims from around Bergen County and beyond has moved my heart deeply; anyone who comes here on pilgrimage, comes in faith.
This practice of making a pilgrimage is part of who we are as a community of faith.
On Monday evening, for example, we filled a bus with pilgrims and went to our Cathedral to celebrate the Chrism Mass.
Other times, we’ve journeyed to the shrine of Mother Cabrini, to Our Lady Fatima, even to the Holy Land, where Christ lived, died, and was raised from the dead.
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Few communities can say they’ve had the privilege of retracing the steps of our Lord as we have.
We’ve taken a boat ride across the Sea of Galilee – the same waters that Peter once fished from; we’ve dipped our hands into the Jordan River, where Christ was baptized by John.
We’ve even celebrated Mass at the site of the Annunciation, on the Mount of Beatitudes, and at the empty tomb!
These experiences have changed the way many in our community read – and live – the scriptures.
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There was one moment, in particular, while we were in Jerusalem that twisted my heart with both deep sorrow and immense admiration for Jesus.
We were standing outside the Church of Saint Peter in Gallacantu, marking the general area where both Pilate’s court once stood, as well as the place where Peter denied knowing Jesus.
As you leave that church, you can descend almost immediately into the Kidron Valley. On the far side of that valley is the Garden of Gethsemane, where Jesus fell to his knees, sweat blood, and prayed that the “cup” of his suffering and death would pass from him.
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My entire perspective of today’s Gospel changed while standing outside that church as I imagined our Lord’s betrayal unfolding in real time.
Our guide explained that, from the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus would’ve seen Pilate’s court off in the distance, as well as the moment soldiers bearing torches started moving towards him – a sign that Judas was on his way.
Locals say it would’ve taken about forty-five minutes, some 4,000 steps, for Judas to make his way to Jesus. Meanwhile, our Lord could’ve disappeared over the hills behind him in less than fifteen minutes.
After all, why not?
It was pitch black. Jesus had been betrayed. Peter, James, and John were fast asleep, while drops of blood ran down his forehead.
Was all of this for nothing?
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If Peter, the elected rock of the Church, couldn’t stay awake to pray with Christ for one hour, then how could he carry the Lord’s ministry forward after his death?
In his greatest hour of need, Jesus’ closest friends reveal themselves to be tired, imperfect, and weak.
There appears to be a complete collapse of momentum in his ministry. Death is coming. And not just any death – but a brutal, public spectacle incited by one of the Lord’s own disciples.
Although he could’ve fled in fear for self-preservation, he didn’t budge an inch. He knelt and prayed, “Father, not my will, but Thine be done.”
As the darkness breaks, Judas betrays him with a kiss. Then Jesus begins his long journey to the tomb – across the Kidron Valley, up to the court of the High Priest; a final night spent in darkness; a sham trial; a mocking crowd; and, ultimately, death by crucifixion.
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Although none of us have ever been under such immense pressure that we sweat blood as the Lord did that night, many have endured trials that test every fiber of our faith or shake us to the core.
In such moments, we, too, find ourselves with Christ in Gethsemane.
The doctor reads a malignant diagnosis. Our child struggles with mental illness or is bullied. A missile strikes. A gun is fired. Mother Nature wipes away our home.
We stand and weep, tasting the bitterness of betrayal; the loss of life; the darkness of Good Friday.
We pray for relief.
And hope there is a way to Easter; revival; resurrection; new life.
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May the Lord, who transformed his most wrenching hours into glory, do the same for us as we journey through life in faith, step by step.
