Category: Uncategorized

***

Gospel: Luke 24: 13-35

That very day, the first day of the week,
two of Jesus’ disciples were going
to a village seven miles from Jerusalem called Emmaus,
and they were conversing about all the things that had occurred.
And it happened that while they were conversing and debating,
Jesus himself drew near and walked with them,
but their eyes were prevented from recognizing him.
He asked them,
“What are you discussing as you walk along?”
They stopped, looking downcast.
One of them, named Cleopas, said to him in reply,
“Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem
who does not know of the things
that have taken place there in these days?”
And he replied to them, “What sort of things?”
They said to him,
“The things that happened to Jesus the Nazarene,
who was a prophet mighty in deed and word
before God and all the people,
how our chief priests and rulers both handed him over
to a sentence of death and crucified him.
But we were hoping that he would be the one to redeem Israel;
and besides all this,
it is now the third day since this took place.
Some women from our group, however, have astounded us:
they were at the tomb early in the morning
and did not find his Body;
they came back and reported
that they had indeed seen a vision of angels
who announced that he was alive.
Then some of those with us went to the tomb
and found things just as the women had described,
but him they did not see.”
And he said to them, “Oh, how foolish you are!
How slow of heart to believe all that the prophets spoke!
Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things
and enter into his glory?”
Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets,
he interpreted to them what referred to him
in all the Scriptures.
As they approached the village to which they were going,
he gave the impression that he was going on farther.
But they urged him, “Stay with us,
for it is nearly evening and the day is almost over.”
So he went in to stay with them.
And it happened that, while he was with them at table,
he took bread, said the blessing,
broke it, and gave it to them.
With that their eyes were opened and they recognized him,
but he vanished from their sight.
Then they said to each other,
“Were not our hearts burning within us
while he spoke to us on the way and opened the Scriptures to us?”
So they set out at once and returned to Jerusalem
where they found gathered together
the Eleven and those with them who were saying,
“The Lord has truly been raised and has appeared to Simon!”
Then the two recounted what had taken place on the way
and how he was made known to them in the breaking of the bread.

The Gospel of the Lord.

***

***

The Christ of Easter leaves us with two choices: We can either plead with him to stay … or change.

Mary Magdalene tries the first approach when she encounters the Risen Lord that first Easter morning. Her face is dampened by tears of grief as she looks for a dead Jesus. 

“They have taken my Lord, and I do not know where they laid him,” she laments to the angels at the empty tomb.

Suddenly, the Lord appears to her, and she falls at his feet as if her body can chain him to the ground. But Jesus gently rebukes her, saying, “Stop holding onto me… Go to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am going to my Father and to your Father.” 

Christ has changed… and so must Mary. She must change her understanding of life’s greatest mysteries, because Christ has conquered death!

***

Two of Jesus’ other disciples try the same approach in today’s Gospel as Mary did.

After unknowingly sharing their sorrows with the Risen Lord, whom they mistake for an aloof stranger from Jerusalem, Jesus opens the scriptures and “breaks the bread,” a likely reference to the Eucharist.

When their eyes are opened, their hearts burn within them as they beg for Jesus to stay with them. But he has changed. So must they.

So, he vanishes from their midst, telling them, like Mary, to go.

Go back to Jerusalem, back to the site of Christ’s crucifixion, back to the community in mourning, and share the Good News.

***

We, too, must change.

We cannot cling to Christ any more than we can bring our pope back to earth. No, we are all destined for life in abundance in our Father’s house.

This Easter, may we set our sight on the things that are above and share the Good News. For He is Risen! Alleluia!

***

***

Image credits: (1) Cru (2) National Gallery of Art (3) Saint Anthony Parish, Sacramento

***

Gospel: John 20: 11-18

Mary Magdalene stayed outside the tomb weeping.
And as she wept, she bent over into the tomb
and saw two angels in white sitting there,
one at the head and one at the feet
where the Body of Jesus had been.
And they said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?”
She said to them, “They have taken my Lord,
and I don’t know where they laid him.”
When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus there,
but did not know it was Jesus.
Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?
Whom are you looking for?”
She thought it was the gardener and said to him,
“Sir, if you carried him away,
tell me where you laid him,
and I will take him.”
Jesus said to her, “Mary!”
She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni,”
which means Teacher.
Jesus said to her, “Stop holding on to me,
for I have not yet ascended to the Father.
But go to my brothers and tell them,
‘I am going to my Father and your Father,
to my God and your God.’”
Mary went and announced to the disciples,
“I have seen the Lord,”
and then reported what he had told her.

The Gospel of the Lord.

***

***

According to John’s Gospel, this is Mary Magdalene’s second trip to the empty tomb. 

First, she went under the cover of darkness. She saw the stone removed, then ran and told Peter and John, “They have taken the Lord, and we don’t know where they put him.”

Then she returns with John and Peter a second time. Ironically, after John and Peter see the empty tomb, they “return home.” 

Sometime later, Peter goes fishing.

But Mary stays and weeps. 

This is where we find her in today’s Gospel, stuck in her grief.

***

When Jesus appears to her and asks, “Whom are you looking for?”, she cries out tearfully, “They have taken my Lord.” 

Mary is looking for a dead Jesus.

Although he’s standing right in front of her, Mary has yet to make the leap of faith from Good Friday to Easter Sunday.

What inspires the change within her is not “seeing” Jesus, but hearing his voice. Here the Lord reinforces his identity as the Good Shepherd, who seeks and saves what was lost.

“My sheep hear my voice. I know them and they follow me,” he says.

We can imagine Mary lunging at her shepherd’s feet, as if she’s trying to keep Jesus firmly planted here on earth. So, the Lord rebukes her gently, saying, “Stop holding onto me. I am going to my Father and to your Father.”

Mary must accept that the world is not Christ’s “home.” Nor is it ultimately ours. We are destined for more, and are invited to embrace this truth, in particular, as we mourn the death of Pope Francis.

Just as Mary Magdalene once did, Francis has made his way to our Father’s house. He has competed well; he has run the race to the finish; he has kept the faith.

May he rest from his labors.

***

And may Christ fill our hearts with Easter joy, for he is truly risen! Alleluia!

***

***

Image credits: (1) JW.org (2) Christ’s Appearance to Mary Magdalene After the Resurrection, Alexander Ivanov (3) The Best is Yet to Come, BSLC

***

Acts 2: 14, 22-23

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.

***

***

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.

***

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. 

***

Do I exude the same joy, hope, and faith as Peter? Has my belief in the resurrection thoroughly transformed my perspective on life?

***

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!

***

***

Image credits: (1) North Heights Church of Christ (2) Church POP (3) Saint Angela Merici Catholic Church