God's Word for the 2nd Sunday of Easter A

These are written that you may come to believe
that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God,
and that through this belief you may have life in his name

Second Sunday of Easter
or Divine Mercy Sunday

May 1, 2011
Reading 1

Acts 2:42-47

The believers devoted themselves
to the teaching of the apostles and to the communal life,
to the breaking of bread and to the prayers.
Awe came upon everyone,
and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles.
All who believed were together and had all things in common;
they would sell their property and possessions
and divide them among all according to each one’s need.
Every day they devoted themselves
to meeting together in the temple area
and to breaking bread in their homes.
They ate their meals with exultation and sincerity of heart,
praising God and enjoying favor with all the people.
And every day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.

Luke gives us here a thumb nail sketch of true Christian life. It is based first and foremost on the preaching of the Apostles, namely the Word of God. We are to listen to the Word not in an academic way but to hear God’s message for our life. Authentic belief in Jesus gives rise to a unity and joy among believers which does not tolerate any kind of division or discrimination in the community. The community has concern for the weaker members. It is only then that we can properly celebrate the Holy Eucharist which is the source and summit of the Christian life. Through it the community becomes the Body of Christ and the continuation of his life of love and mercy. It is then that in and through Christ Jesus the community praises God as our Father and Creator. This is the ideal we are to strive after.

Ps 118:2-4, 13-15, 22-24

Responsorial Psalm

R. (1) Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, his love is everlasting.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Let the house of Israel say,
“His mercy endures forever.”
Let the house of Aaron say,
“His mercy endures forever.”
Let those who fear the LORD say,
“His mercy endures forever.”

1 Pt 1:3-9

Reading 2

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who in his great mercy gave us a new birth to a living hope
through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading,
kept in heaven for you
who by the power of God are safeguarded through faith,
to a salvation that is ready to be revealed in the final time.
In this you rejoice, although now for a little while
you may have to suffer through various trials,
so that the genuineness of your faith,
more precious than gold that is perishable even though tested by fire,
may prove to be for praise, glory, and honor
at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
Although you have not seen him you love him;
even though you do not see him now yet believe in him,
you rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy,
as you attain the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

Through our union in faith with Christ Jesus we live in hope of everlasting life in God. Jesus has risen to be with us, forgive us our sins, fill us with the Holy Spirit and lead us into the very presence of God as his dear children. Faith gives us sight in the darkness of life. We come to know Jesus as someone real and our Friend. He is the source of our joy in this world and in the life after death.

Jn 20:19-31

Gospel

On the evening of that first day of the week,
when the doors were locked, where the disciples were,
for fear of the Jews,
Jesus came and stood in their midst
and said to them, “Peace be with you.”
When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side.
The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.
Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you.
As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”
And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them,
“Receive the Holy Spirit.
Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them,
and whose sins you retain are retained.”

Thomas, called Didymus, one of the Twelve,
was not with them when Jesus came.
So the other disciples said to him, “We have seen the Lord.”
But he said to them,
“Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands
and put my finger into the nailmarks
and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”

Now a week later his disciples were again inside
and Thomas was with them.
Jesus came, although the doors were locked,
and stood in their midst and said, “Peace be with you.”
Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands,
and bring your hand and put it into my side,
and do not be unbelieving, but believe.”
Thomas answered and said to him, “My Lord and my God!”
Jesus said to him, “Have you come to believe because you have seen me?
Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.”

Now, Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples
that are not written in this book.
But these are written that you may come to believe
that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God,
and that through this belief you may have life in his name.

We need to search to find him

“Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed” Jesus tells us in today’s Gospel. Peter echoes this in the second reading, “You do not see him, yet you love him.” It is our faith that penetrates the silence, the apparent absence and ‘sees’ Jesus. Our faith allows us to ‘see’ Jesus in many places and under many disguises.

            The secret of our faith is that Jesus is truly present even though we cannot have any sense impression of him. This gives us the opportunity to live with him even as the apostles lived with him when he was on this earth. It is a matter of how clear our faith is. Thomas is typical of those of us who need to see and touch before they can believe. A faith that needs signs and wonders is a poor faith. Many desire some overwhelming and convincing event to happen in order to believe in Jesus and be ‘converted’.  They may look for miraculous signs in great conventions and ‘miracle crusades’.

            We do not need these, nor should we look for them. Jesus’ Word should be sufficient. Peter said; ‘you have the words of eternal life’. Believing his Word we search for the Risen Lord. We will find him in the most unexpected of places. Not relying on feelings or on wonders but on the Gospel we build our lives on Jesus. We have the evidence of the Gospels and the witness of the apostles and most of all the guidance of the Holy Spirit who leads us into the whole truth to know with absolute certainty that Jesus is present with us and as active as when he walked this earth. Our faith will make us live this truth and be ‘filled with a joy so glorious it cannot be described’.

            We need to meet him as the apostles and Thomas did but in ourselves. As in the case of Jesus to do this we need to pray but quiet prayer alone will not suffice. We need to meet the real Christ in ‘the least of my brethren’. Blessed are those who have not seen but have believed. The fact is that by no means did all those who saw Jesus believe in him. They couldn’t recognize this man who wandered around the villages preaching and mixing with the scum of society? Today too we need to find him among those whom society rejects and minister to him in love. ‘Blessed are those who do not see him and yet believe they find him there’. 

            Can you find Jesus in his Word, in your prayer, in your community, in your liturgy, in the marginalized, the outcast, the poor and despised? He is there for those who have faith. Of what kind is your faith?

Father, give us a faith that sees Jesus where he is least expected and worship him through service.

God's Word for Easter Week

As the Eleven were at table, he appeared to them
and rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart
because they had not believed those
who saw him after he had been raised

Saturday in the Octave of Easter

April 30, 2011
Reading 1

Acts 4:13-21

Observing the boldness of Peter and John
and perceiving them to be uneducated, ordinary men,
the leaders, elders, and scribes were amazed,
and they recognized them as the companions of Jesus.
Then when they saw the man who had been cured standing there with them,
they could say nothing in reply.
So they ordered them to leave the Sanhedrin,
and conferred with one another, saying,
“What are we to do with these men?
Everyone living in Jerusalem knows that a remarkable sign
was done through them, and we cannot deny it.
But so that it may not be spread any further among the people,
let us give them a stern warning
never again to speak to anyone in this name.”

So they called them back
and ordered them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus.
Peter and John, however, said to them in reply,
“Whether it is right in the sight of God
for us to obey you rather than God, you be the judges.
It is impossible for us not to speak about what we have seen and heard.”
After threatening them further,
they released them,
finding no way to punish them,
on account of the people who were all praising God
for what had happened.

“It is impossible for us not to speak about what we have seen and heard”. Peter and John have had the experience of Jesus risen from the dead. This is echoed in 1 John 1:1,
“ Something which has existed since the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our own eyes, which we have watched and touched with our own hands, the Word of life -- this is our theme.

2 That life was made visible; we saw it and are giving our testimony, declaring to you the eternal life, which was present to the Father and has been revealed to us.

3 We are declaring to you what we have seen and heard, so that you too may share our life. Our life is shared with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ”.

It is not theory but experience that counts. Religion today must be the experience of Jesus. As has been said: in today’s world we will be either mystics or nothing. We will either have had a personal experience of Jesus in our lives or we will give up everything. This is the crisis in religion that we see in the world.

The leaders faced with the miracle are helpless to anything but still adamant in disbelief.

Ps 118:1 and 14-15ab, 16-18, 19-21

Responsorial Psalm

R. (21a) I will give thanks to you, for you have answered me.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good,
for his mercy endures forever.
My strength and my courage is the LORD,
and he has been my savior.
The joyful shout of victory
in the tents of the just.

Mk 16:9-15

Gospel

When Jesus had risen, early on the first day of the week,
he appeared first to Mary Magdalene,
out of whom he had driven seven demons.
She went and told his companions who were mourning and weeping.
When they heard that he was alive
and had been seen by her, they did not believe.

After this he appeared in another form
to two of them walking along on their way to the country.
They returned and told the others;
but they did not believe them either.

But later, as the Eleven were at table, he appeared to them
and rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart
because they had not believed those
who saw him after he had been raised.
He said to them, “Go into the whole world
and proclaim the Gospel to every creature.”

Did the disciples know Jesus? Of course they did but they didn’t know him fully. They knew him as a human being who had died tragically. They were full of grief at his death. They couldn’t believe because they had not met Jesus or seen him after he had risen. We all need to meet Jesus to believe.  Mary Magdelene had met him, the two on the way to the country had met him. The eleven did not believe them because they had not yet met him. It is the same today. It is only when we have in some way met Jesus in faith that we believe. He transforms us. To meet Jesus we need silence and solitude. With the Gospel we need to search for him each day in prayer.  Do you want to meet Jesus? Then are you willing to take the means?

Friday in the Octave of Easter

April 29, 2011
Reading 1

Acts 4:1-12

After the crippled man had been cured,
while Peter and John were still speaking to the people,
the priests, the captain of the temple guard,
and the Sadducees confronted them,
disturbed that they were teaching the people
and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection of the dead.
They laid hands on Peter and John
and put them in custody until the next day,
since it was already evening.
But many of those who heard the word came to believe
and the number of men grew to about five thousand.

On the next day, their leaders, elders, and scribes
were assembled in Jerusalem, with Annas the high priest,
Caiaphas, John, Alexander,
and all who were of the high-priestly class.
They brought them into their presence and questioned them,
“By what power or by what name have you done this?”
Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, answered them,
“Leaders of the people and elders:
If we are being examined today
about a good deed done to a cripple,
namely, by what means he was saved,
then all of you and all the people of Israel should know
that it was in the name of Jesus Christ the Nazorean
whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead;
in his name this man stands before you healed.
He is the stone rejected by you, the builders,
which has become the cornerstone.
There is no salvation through anyone else,
nor is there any other name under heaven
given to the human race by which we are to be saved.”

Peter and John were ordinary and uneducated men. In the ordinary way of things they would be no match for the wealthy and educated priestly class. Yet they are able to stand up to them fearlessly in such a way that they revealed the hypocrisy and prejudice of the leaders. They are able to boldly proclaim to a hostile audience that Jesus alone is the way of salvation. How could they do this? They were very aware that they were filled with the Holy Spirit. They allowed the Spirit to lead them and give them the courage and wisdom to speak. Everyone baptized and confirmed in the Spirit have the gifts of wisdom, understanding, counsel, knowledge, fortitude, piety and fear of the Lord. Is our religion purely notional? Through prayer do we have fellowship with the Spirit and allow him to have a dramatic effect in our lives?  

Ps 118:1-2 and 4, 22-24, 25-27a

Responsorial Psalm

R. (22) The stone rejected by the builders has become the cornerstone.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good,
for his mercy endures forever.
Let the house of Israel say,
“His mercy endures forever.”
Let those who fear the LORD say,
“His mercy endures forever.”

Jn 21:1-14

Gospel

Jesus revealed himself again to his disciples at the Sea of Tiberias.
He revealed himself in this way.
Together were Simon Peter, Thomas called Didymus,
Nathanael from Cana in Galilee,
Zebedee’s sons, and two others of his disciples.
Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.”
They said to him, “We also will come with you.”
So they went out and got into the boat,
but that night they caught nothing.
When it was already dawn, Jesus was standing on the shore;
but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus.
Jesus said to them, “Children, have you caught anything to eat?”
They answered him, “No.”
So he said to them, “Cast the net over the right side of the boat
and you will find something.”
So they cast it, and were not able to pull it in
because of the number of fish.
So the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord.”
When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord,
he tucked in his garment, for he was lightly clad,
and jumped into the sea.
The other disciples came in the boat,
for they were not far from shore, only about a hundred yards,
dragging the net with the fish.
When they climbed out on shore,
they saw a charcoal fire with fish on it and bread.
Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish you just caught.”
So Simon Peter went over and dragged the net ashore
full of one hundred fifty-three large fish.
Even though there were so many, the net was not torn.
Jesus said to them, “Come, have breakfast.”
And none of the disciples dared to ask him, “Who are you?”
because they realized it was the Lord.
Jesus came over and took the bread and gave it to them,
and in like manner the fish.
This was now the third time Jesus was revealed to his disciples
after being raised from the dead.

The disciples with Peter go back to fishing. Jesus wasn’t there so what could they do? They caught nothing. Their vocation is not to catch fish in the lake.  Jesus has not finished with them. He is still nurturing them as the foundation of his community of believers. He comes back to them standing on the shore. It is however only ‘the beloved disciple’ who recognizes Jesus. Jesus can only be recognized now by a faith which is full of love. By the miraculous catch of 153 big fish he teaches them again that they are to become ‘fishers of men’. It is a symbol for all the races of the world. Peter hauls in the fish. Jesus says, “Come and have breakfast” .The fish was a symbol of Christ. Jesus is the one who feeds us with his Body through the Church. Do you have a faith, inspired by love, which enables you to recognize Jesus in your life?

Thursday in the Octave of Easter

April 28, 2011

Reading 1

Acts 3:11-26

As the crippled man who had been cured clung to Peter and John,
all the people hurried in amazement toward them
in the portico called “Solomon’s Portico.”
When Peter saw this, he addressed the people,
“You children of Israel, why are you amazed at this,
and why do you look so intently at us
as if we had made him walk by our own power or piety?
The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob,
the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus
whom you handed over and denied in Pilate’s presence,
when he had decided to release him.
You denied the Holy and Righteous One
and asked that a murderer be released to you.
The author of life you put to death,
but God raised him from the dead; of this we are witnesses.
And by faith in his name,
this man, whom you see and know, his name has made strong,
and the faith that comes through it
has given him this perfect health,
in the presence of all of you.
Now I know, brothers and sisters,
that you acted out of ignorance, just as your leaders did;
but God has thus brought to fulfillment
what he had announced beforehand
through the mouth of all the prophets,
that his Christ would suffer.
Repent, therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be wiped away,
and that the Lord may grant you times of refreshment
and send you the Christ already appointed for you, Jesus,
whom heaven must receive until the times of universal restoration
of which God spoke through the mouth
of his holy prophets from of old.
For Moses said:

A prophet like me will the Lord, your God, raise up for you
from among your own kin;
to him you shall listen in all that he may say to you.
Everyone who does not listen to that prophet
will be cut off from the people.

“Moreover, all the prophets who spoke,
from Samuel and those afterwards, also announced these days.
You are the children of the prophets
and of the covenant that God made with your ancestors
when he said to Abraham,
In your offspring all the families of the earth shall be blessed.
For you first, God raised up his servant and sent him to bless you
by turning each of you from your evil ways.”

In Acts we are at the beginning of our understanding of Jesus. The Apostles had lived with Jesus of Nazareth. During his lifetime they had revered him as their Teacher. It was only with his Resurrection that they realised that God the Father had raised this man to the level of the Godhead, that he now had all authority in heaven and earth and had supreme power. Through their faith in him, Jesus works mighty deeds through his disciples. Later reflection will proclaim Jesus as the Son of God. Peter sees Jesus as the fulfilment of the Old Testament. The response to this truth is that we must turn away from our sins. Can we turn away from sin unless by the Holy Spirit?  It is only when we have the Holy Spirit within us in an existential way that we will turn from sin. Has faith in Jesus lifted you so that you leap with joy?

Ps 8:2ab and 5, 6-7, 8-9

Responsorial Psalm

R. (2ab) O Lord, our God, how wonderful your name in all the earth!
or:
R. Alleluia.
O LORD, our Lord,
how glorious is your name over all the earth!
What is man that you should be mindful of him,
or the son of man that you should care for him?

Lk 24:35-48

Gospel

The disciples of Jesus recounted what had taken place along the way,
and how they had come to recognize him in the breaking of bread.

While they were still speaking about this,
he stood in their midst and said to them,
“Peace be with you.”
But they were startled and terrified
and thought that they were seeing a ghost.
Then he said to them, “Why are you troubled?
And why do questions arise in your hearts?
Look at my hands and my feet, that it is I myself.
Touch me and see, because a ghost does not have flesh and bones
as you can see I have.”
And as he said this,
he showed them his hands and his feet.
While they were still incredulous for joy and were amazed,
he asked them, “Have you anything here to eat?”
They gave him a piece of baked fish;
he took it and ate it in front of them.

He said to them,
“These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you,
that everything written about me in the law of Moses
and in the prophets and psalms must be fulfilled.”
Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures.
And he said to them,
“Thus it is written that the Christ would suffer
and rise from the dead on the third day
and that repentance, for the forgiveness of sins,
would be preached in his name
to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem.
You are witnesses of these things.”

The disciples had listened to the Scriptures from childhood but they never understood them as saying Jesus must suffer and rise again. They first had to meet the Risen Jesus. He shows that he is truly alive. He isn’t a spirit. The tomb is empty because he has risen bodily. He wants us to know here that he has risen with his full humanity and they meet him though he is transformed. When they have met him, then they are in a position to see how all the Old Testament points towards him and is fulfilled in him. Without Jesus the Old Testament has no meaning. It is incomplete in itself because Jesus is the flower of the first Covenant. We should only understand the Old Testament through the teaching of Jesus who brings it to perfection. Have you understood God and his design for you as taught by Jesus?

Wednesday in the Octave of Easter

April 27, 2011
Reading 1

Acts 3:1-10

Peter and John were going up to the temple area
for the three o’clock hour of prayer.
And a man crippled from birth was carried
and placed at the gate of the temple called “the Beautiful Gate” every day
to beg for alms from the people who entered the temple.
When he saw Peter and John about to go into the temple,
he asked for alms.
But Peter looked intently at him, as did John,
and said, “Look at us.”
He paid attention to them, expecting to receive something from them.
Peter said, “I have neither silver nor gold,
but what I do have I give you:
in the name of Jesus Christ the Nazorean, rise and walk.”
Then Peter took him by the right hand and raised him up,
and immediately his feet and ankles grew strong.
He leaped up, stood, and walked around,
and went into the temple with them,
walking and jumping and praising God.
When all the people saw him walking and praising God,
they recognized him as the one
who used to sit begging at the Beautiful Gate of the temple,
and they were filled with amazement and astonishment
at what had happened to him.

Peter could say, “I have neither silver nor gold”. His wealth was the Lord Jesus. He relied totally on him even for his daily bread. It is when we have such faith and love for Jesus that all our wealth is to be found in him that we can also say “rise and walk”. Wealth may give us the illusion of security but it makes us and the Church impotent to heal the sickness of the people and the world. Jesus still tells the Church to sell everything and then follow him. What does he say to you?

Ps 105:1-2, 3-4, 6-7, 8-9

Responsorial Psalm

R. (3b) Rejoice, O hearts that seek the Lord.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Give thanks to the LORD, invoke his name;
make known among the nations his deeds.
Sing to him, sing his praise,
proclaim all his wondrous deeds.

Lk 24:13-35

Gospel

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 two disciples were living in the past. Jesus was now dead and they were full of grief. They couldn’t recognise him on the road. Can you recognise Jesus? Is he real and present or a kind of figure of history, the Founder of the Church two thousand years ago? If we want to dispel our sorrow and spiritual lethargy then we need to meet him and listen to him today. We can now only do this through faith. Faith is the gift by which we are certain of what we cannot see (Heb 11:1). It gives us the certainty of Jesus’ presence. Through meditation and prayer on the Gospel life becomes a walk with Jesus. We recognise him in the breaking of bread of the Eucharist. Have you had the experience of the two disciples going to Emmaus? Do you recognise Jesus in the Breaking of the Bread?

Tuesday in the Octave of Easter

April 26, 2011

Reading 1

Acts 2:36-41

On the day of Pentecost, Peter said to the Jewish people,
“Let the whole house of Israel know for certain
that God has made him both Lord and Christ,
this Jesus whom you crucified.”

Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart,
and they asked Peter and the other Apostles,
“What are we to do, my brothers?”
Peter said to them,
“Repent and be baptized, every one of you,
in the name of Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of your sins;
and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
For the promise is made to you and to your children
and to all those far off,
whomever the Lord our God will call.”
He testified with many other arguments, and was exhorting them,
“Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.”
Those who accepted his message were baptized,
and about three thousand persons were added that day.

“Pascha” means to pass over. Peter proclaims that Jesus has passed over from this life of weakness, sin and mortality to the life of God. He has done this in his humanity. The man who died in ignominy of the Cross has been raised to the level of God and so can save his brothers and sisters. This is the ‘Paschal Mystery” of Jesus and this is what Peter proclaims. There is only one true response, to repent of our sins and accept Jesus as our Lord and Saviour. Then he will be able to save us and we too will pass from this world in our total humanity to the level of God. He will do this through the Hoy Spirit whom he can now send to us. Baptism is the visible sign that we have accepted Jesus and received the Spirit. Have you?

Ps 33:4-5, 18-19, 20 and 22

Responsorial Psalm

R. (5b) The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Upright is the word of the LORD,
and all his works are trustworthy.
He loves justice and right;
of the kindness of the LORD the earth is full.

Jn 20:11-18

Gospel

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.

Mary came to the tomb looking for Jesus, but it was a dead Jesus of the past. She had come with the others to anoint his body. She was living in the time of Jesus’ visible and physical presence. She must learn that Jesus is still present, but in a new way. She can know him, but in a new way. While she remains in the old way she does not recognize him and the tomb is empty and she is in tears because of ‘his absence’. The new way is the way of faith. It is through believing his Word in the Gospel spoken to you and by meeting him in daily prayer in which like Mary we seek him. It was through her love that she recognized him. Love for Jesus is everything and without it we are nothing. Like Mary do you look for Jesus daily?

Monday in the Octave of Easter

April 25, 2011
Reading 1

Acts 2:14, 22-33

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.”

Peter is a transformed person. From the weak disciple who denied his Master he has become the fearless witness to his divine status. What has happened? He has had the experience of the Risen Lord and he has been filled with the Holy Spirit. We too need to meet Jesus and receive from him the Spirit if we are to live a truly Christian life. We meet Jesus only through faith and in the silence of prayer. He is the one who will anoint us with the Spirit.

Ps 16:1-2a and 5, 7-8, 9-10, 11

Responsorial Psalm

R. (1) Keep me safe, O God; you are my hope.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Keep me, O God, for in you I take refuge;
I say to the LORD, “My Lord are you.”
O LORD, my allotted portion and my cup,
you it is who hold fast my lot.

Mt 28:8-15

Gospel

Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went away quickly from the tomb,
fearful yet overjoyed,
and ran to announce the news to his disciples.
And behold, Jesus met them on their way and greeted them.
They approached, embraced his feet, and did him homage.
Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid.
Go tell my brothers to go to Galilee,
and there they will see me.”

While they were going, some of the guard went into the city
and told the chief priests all that had happened.
The chief priests assembled with the elders and took counsel;
then they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers,
telling them, “You are to say,
‘His disciples came by night and stole him while we were asleep.’
And if this gets to the ears of the governor,
we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.”
The soldiers took the money and did as they were instructed.
And this story has circulated among the Jews to the present day.

 Why did the women go to the tomb? They went to see the sepulchre. They didn’t expect to see Jesus but love drew them to the tomb. Love opened them to God’s grace. Do I love Jesus? I know he is risen. Do I want to meet him? If I do then he will meet me. How do I go to the tomb today? I go to the ‘absence’ of daily prayer. But he won’t be ‘absent’. Jesus will come. We must experience Jesus if our faith is to be fruitful. The chief priests had no love for Jesus. They were closed even to the evidence of the guards. The guards did not know Jesus and so had no love for him either. They took money and lied. Do I want to know Jesus, risen for me? Or do I remain an outsider, unwilling to fall in love?

God's Word for Easter Sunday

They did not yet understand the Scripture
that he had to rise from the dead.

 

Easter Sunday: Solemnity of the Resurrection of The Lord
The Mass of Easter Day

April 24, 2011
Reading 1

Acts 10:34a, 37-43

Peter proceeded to speak and said:
“You know what has happened all over Judea,
beginning in Galilee after the baptism
that John preached,
how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth
with the Holy Spirit and power.
He went about doing good
and healing all those oppressed by the devil,
for God was with him.
We are witnesses of all that he did
both in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem.
They put him to death by hanging him on a tree.
This man God raised on the third day and granted that he be visible,
not to all the people, but to us,
the witnesses chosen by God in advance,
who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead.
He commissioned us to preach to the people
and testify that he is the one appointed by God
as judge of the living and the dead.
To him all the prophets bear witness,
that everyone who believes in him
will receive forgiveness of sins through his name.”

Peter and the others had known Jesus. They knew he was a man like everyone else but it was only after his Resurrection that they came to know that he was God. For this reason they stress the manhood of Jesus. In his manhood Jesus is our model, our Saviour and God become our friend. Because he was a man totally filled with the Holy Spirit he could do the deeds he did. After his death it was truly a dead body the disciples placed in the tomb and it was God that brought it to life and filled it with the Godhead. Jesus rose transformed in body and soul. What happened to Jesus in the tomb will happen to all who believe in Jesus.

Ps 118:1-2, 16-17, 22-23

Responsorial Psalm

R. (24) This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good,
for his mercy endures forever.
Let the house of Israel say,
“His mercy endures forever.”

Col 3:1-4

Reading 2

Brothers and sisters:
If then you were raised with Christ, seek what is above,
where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.
Think of what is above, not of what is on earth.
For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
When Christ your life appears,
then you too will appear with him in glory.

The one who truly believes in Jesus lives in this world as in a land of exile. We fulfill the responsibilities of our life but our longing is to be with Jesus and share in his Resurrection. That is the real life and will be for ever.

or

I Cor 5:6b-8

Brothers and sisters:
Do you not know that a little yeast leavens all the dough?
Clear out the old yeast,
so that you may become a fresh batch of dough,
inasmuch as you are unleavened.
For our paschal lamb, Christ, has been sacrificed.
Therefore, let us celebrate the feast,
not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and wickedness,
but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

Through Baptism we are to be new people. We have died to sin and evil as Jesus died to this world on the Cross.  We are to be filled with the mentality of Jesus. We are to celebrate Easter with the joy and peace of Christ Jesus living within us.

Jn 20:1-9

Gospel

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.

It is quite clear that the disciples did not expect Jesus to rise from the dead. Mary who was a very close disciple on seeing the empty tomb thought someone had stolen the body. Peter is a symbol of authority in the Church. Both he and the beloved disciple run to the tomb. The beloved disciple gets there first, not because his younger than Peter but precisely because he is the beloved disciple. His love carries him faster. He however waits for the leader to arrive before going in. Peter sees everything but cannot understand. The beloved disciple then goes in, sees everything and immediately believes that Jesus has risen. While in the Church the hierarchical authority is necessary for the running of the large community of believers, we must always remember that it is love for Jesus which is the precious jewel. Do you have it? The true witness to Jesus is the one is a ‘beloved disciple’.

God's Word for Holy Week

He has been raised from the dead,
and he is going before you to Galilee;
there you will see him.’
 

The Resurrection of the Lord
Easter Vigil in the Holy Night of Easter

April 23, 2011
Reading 7

Ez 36:16-17a, 18-28

The word of the LORD came to me, saying:
Son of man, when the house of Israel lived in their land,
they defiled it by their conduct and deeds.
Therefore I poured out my fury upon them
because of the blood that they poured out on the ground,
and because they defiled it with idols.
I scattered them among the nations,
dispersing them over foreign lands;
according to their conduct and deeds I judged them.
But when they came among the nations wherever they came,
they served to profane my holy name,
because it was said of them: “These are the people of the LORD,
yet they had to leave their land.”
So I have relented because of my holy name
which the house of Israel profaned
among the nations where they came.
Therefore say to the house of Israel: Thus says the Lord GOD:
Not for your sakes do I act, house of Israel,
but for the sake of my holy name,
which you profaned among the nations to which you came.
I will prove the holiness of my great name, profaned among the nations,
in whose midst you have profaned it.
Thus the nations shall know that I am the LORD, says the Lord GOD,
when in their sight I prove my holiness through you.
For I will take you away from among the nations,
gather you from all the foreign lands,
and bring you back to your own land.
I will sprinkle clean water upon you
to cleanse you from all your impurities,
and from all your idols I will cleanse you.
I will give you a new heart and place a new spirit within you,
taking from your bodies your stony hearts
and giving you natural hearts.
I will put my spirit within you and make you live by my statutes,
careful to observe my decrees.
You shall live in the land I gave your fathers;
you shall be my people, and I will be your God.

In the Easter Vigil we listen to the history of God’s actions to save mankind. The world looks like a place in the hands of ‘the prince of this world’, ‘the evil one’ ‘who has no part with me’ but Jesus has ‘overcome the world’. God is God and the world belongs to him and he has a plan and he will fulfil his plan. We do not know how. We are called to trust in him and to obey him. In the Old Testament the prophets continually reprimanded the people of Israel for their sins and called them back to God. They never responded and continued to do evil. There is no hope for the Israelites or for us unless God steps in and works out his plan of salvation. In this final reading God says the same thing. 

“I will sprinkle clean water upon you
to cleanse you from all your impurities,
and from all your idols I will cleanse you.
I will give you a new heart and place a new spirit within you,
taking from your bodies your stony hearts
and giving you natural hearts.
I will put my spirit within you and make you live by my statutes,
careful to observe my decrees”. May we open ourselves to his plan for our peace.

 

When baptism is celebrated.

Ps 42:3, 5; 43:3, 4

R. (42:2) Like a deer that longs for running streams, my soul longs for you, my God.
Athirst is my soul for God, the living God.
When shall I go and behold the face of God?
R. Like a deer that longs for running streams, my soul longs for you, my God. 

When baptism is not celebrated.

Is 12:2-3, 4bcd, 5-6

R. (3) You will draw water joyfully from the springs of salvation.
God indeed is my savior;
I am confident and unafraid.
My strength and my courage is the LORD,
and he has been my savior.
With joy you will draw water
at the fountain of salvation. 

When baptism is not celebrated

Ps 51:12-13, 14-15, 18-19

R. (12a) Create a clean heart in me, O God.
A clean heart create for me, O God,
and a steadfast spirit renew within me.
Cast me not out from your presence,
and your Holy Spirit take not from me.

Rom 6:3-11

Epistle

Brothers and sisters:
Are you unaware that we who were baptized into Christ Jesus
were baptized into his death?
We were indeed buried with him through baptism into death,
so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead
by the glory of the Father,
we too might live in newness of life.

For if we have grown into union with him through a death like his,
we shall also be united with him in the resurrection.
We know that our old self was crucified with him,
so that our sinful body might be done away with,
that we might no longer be in slavery to sin.
For a dead person has been absolved from sin.
If, then, we have died with Christ,
we believe that we shall also live with him.
We know that Christ, raised from the dead, dies no more;
death no longer has power over him.
As to his death, he died to sin once and for all;
as to his life, he lives for God.
Consequently, you too must think of yourselves as being dead to sin
and living for God in Christ Jesus.

When a person dies his connections with the affairs of this world are cut for ever. When we received baptism our ties with the world were not cut but filled with the Spirit we became with Jesus the daughter or son of God. With Jesus we are dead to the evil desires of the world. We have been raised to a new life: We belong to God’s family and our home is with God, Father, Son and Spirit. We are to live now in union with Christ Jesus to work out God’s plan of salvation. Since the Spirit of God lives within us and has given us a new heart then though we will die physically the Spirit will raise us to a new life of which we have no idea or concept now.

Ps 118:1-2, 16-17, 22-23 

Responsorial Psalm

R. Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.
Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good,
for his mercy endures forever.
Let the house of Israel say,
“His mercy endures forever.”

Mt 28:1-10

Gospel

After the sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning,
Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb.
And behold, there was a great earthquake;
for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven,
approached, rolled back the stone, and sat upon it.
His appearance was like lightning
and his clothing was white as snow.
The guards were shaken with fear of him
and became like dead men.
Then the angel said to the women in reply,
“Do not be afraid!
I know that you are seeking Jesus the crucified.
He is not here, for he has been raised just as he said.
Come and see the place where he lay.
Then go quickly and tell his disciples,
‘He has been raised from the dead,
and he is going before you to Galilee;
there you will see him.’
Behold, I have told you.”
Then they went away quickly from the tomb,
fearful yet overjoyed,
and ran to announce this to his disciples.
And behold, Jesus met them on their way and greeted them.
They approached, embraced his feet, and did him homage.
Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid.
Go tell my brothers to go to Galilee,
and there they will see me.”

The women went to the tomb expecting to find the body of Jesus and anoint it. The tomb was empty and the young men told them “he isn’t here. He has risen”. Jesus has conquered death and for us too. The poison of death has been removed. We have to undergo it but it is no longer the death it was. Then death reigned supreme and after our life we would go at best into a land of shades. Jesus has revealed that we have a Father who longs for us and who sent him to win reconciliation for us. Our Father takes delight in showing mercy and Jesus is an advocate pleading our cause. Death is still our enemy but it has been made the gateway to a life of happiness with God himself. We need only to call on Jesus from our heart to share his victory.

Good Friday of the Lord’s Passion

April 22, 2011
Reading 1

Is 52:13—53:12

See, my servant shall prosper,
he shall be raised high and greatly exalted.
Even as many were amazed at him
so marred was his look beyond human semblance
and his appearance beyond that of the sons of man
so shall he startle many nations,
because of him kings shall stand speechless;
for those who have not been told shall see,
those who have not heard shall ponder it.

Who would believe what we have heard?
To whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
He grew up like a sapling before him,
like a shoot from the parched earth;
there was in him no stately bearing to make us look at him,
nor appearance that would attract us to him.
He was spurned and avoided by people,
a man of suffering, accustomed to infirmity,
one of those from whom people hide their faces,
spurned, and we held him in no esteem.

Yet it was our infirmities that he bore,
our sufferings that he endured,
while we thought of him as stricken,
as one smitten by God and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our offenses,
crushed for our sins;
upon him was the chastisement that makes us whole,
by his stripes we were healed.
We had all gone astray like sheep,
each following his own way;
but the LORD laid upon him
the guilt of us all.

Though he was harshly treated, he submitted
and opened not his mouth;
like a lamb led to the slaughter
or a sheep before the shearers,
he was silent and opened not his mouth.
Oppressed and condemned, he was taken away,
and who would have thought any more of his destiny?
When he was cut off from the land of the living,
and smitten for the sin of his people,
a grave was assigned him among the wicked
and a burial place with evildoers,
though he had done no wrong
nor spoken any falsehood.
But the LORD was pleased
to crush him in infirmity.

If he gives his life as an offering for sin,
he shall see his descendants in a long life,
and the will of the LORD shall be accomplished through him.

Because of his affliction
he shall see the light in fullness of days;
through his suffering, my servant shall justify many,
and their guilt he shall bear.
Therefore I will give him his portion among the great,
and he shall divide the spoils with the mighty,
because he surrendered himself to death
and was counted among the wicked;
and he shall take away the sins of many,
and win pardon for their offenses.

The story of the Christian faith goes beyond belief. It would seem to be too wonderful to be true and the wonder is that it is true. It is all contained in John 3:16. God so loved the world. It is this overwhelming love that God has for human beings that is the source of his plan of salvation. In Christ God has himself become a human being and made reparation for all the sins of the human race. Though he can in no way condone our sin, yet human beings are his children, the work of his hands and his love for them is an everlasting and indestructible love. Even though we turn away he cannot be angry but appeals to us to return to him. Today we contemplate a God who freely became a man and willingly showed us how to live in fidelity to God our Creator and Father even though it cost him the Passion. By his prayer for us on the Cross Jesus, our Brother, has won pardon for all our sin.

Ps 31:2, 6, 12-13, 15-16, 17, 25

Responsorial Psalm

R. (Lk 23:46) Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.
In you, O LORD, I take refuge;
let me never be put to shame.
In your justice rescue me.
Into your hands I commend my spirit;
you will redeem me, O LORD, O faithful God.

Heb 4:14-16; 5:7-9

Reading 2

Brothers and sisters:
Since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens,
Jesus, the Son of God,
let us hold fast to our confession.
For we do not have a high priest
who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses,
but one who has similarly been tested in every way,
yet without sin.
So let us confidently approach the throne of grace
to receive mercy and to find grace for timely help.

In the days when Christ was in the flesh,
he offered prayers and supplications with loud cries and tears
to the one who was able to save him from death,
and he was heard because of his reverence.
Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered;
and when he was made perfect,
he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him.

In Christ God has come close to each of us. He can identify with everyone who cries out to God, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” He has undergone the sorrow that weighed him down even to the point of death. He prayed with loud cries and tears to be saved. He still had to undergo the Passion but his Father saved him in a way superior to any way here on earth. His Resurrection is his victory and our salvation.

Jn 18:1—19:42

Gospel

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.

This is his hour when Jesus glorifies his Father. He lived for him and now dies for him. Likewise it is the hour when the Father will glorify him. Jesus is not a helpless victim. He lays down his own life and takes it up again. He reigns from the Cross. Though he allows his enemies to divide up his outer life casting lots for his garments, he is supreme. They cannot tear his inner garment. He himself offers up his spirit. Mary is a symbol of true Israel waiting for the fulfillment of God’s promises. Israel in Mary is the mother of the Christian community. Mary too is the New Eve and brings forth her children in pain, only to later rejoice. Jesus gives up his spirit, the Holy Spirit, to her children. Jesus gives his Spirit to all who believe. As you kiss his Cross receive his Spirit.

Holy Thursday

April 21, 2011
Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper

Reading 1

Ex 12:1-8, 11-14

The LORD said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt,
“This month shall stand at the head of your calendar;
you shall reckon it the first month of the year.
Tell the whole community of Israel:
On the tenth of this month every one of your families
must procure for itself a lamb, one apiece for each household.
If a family is too small for a whole lamb,
it shall join the nearest household in procuring one
and shall share in the lamb
in proportion to the number of persons who partake of it.
The lamb must be a year-old male and without blemish.
You may take it from either the sheep or the goats.
You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month,
and then, with the whole assembly of Israel present,
it shall be slaughtered during the evening twilight.
They shall take some of its blood
and apply it to the two doorposts and the lintel
of every house in which they partake of the lamb.
That same night they shall eat its roasted flesh
with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.

“This is how you are to eat it:
with your loins girt, sandals on your feet and your staff in hand,
you shall eat like those who are in flight.
It is the Passover of the LORD.
For on this same night I will go through Egypt,
striking down every firstborn of the land, both man and beast,
and executing judgment on all the gods of Egypt—I, the LORD!
But the blood will mark the houses where you are.
Seeing the blood, I will pass over you;
thus, when I strike the land of Egypt,
no destructive blow will come upon you.

“This day shall be a memorial feast for you,
which all your generations shall celebrate
with pilgrimage to the LORD, as a perpetual institution.”

By the time of Jesus the Feast of Passover was already ancient. Looking back over their history the Israelites realised how God had been with their ancestors as they fled from slavery in Egypt. They celebrated this fact with the ritual of the Passover meal. They were a nomadic people who lived by caring for sheep and goats. They lived too in a desert region. At the first full moon of the spring they would set out for new pastures. They needed God’s protection in the dangerous situation of the desert. They would offer a lamb. They would put the blood on the pegs of their tents as a prayer for protection. They would eat the lamb at night because the flock slept at night and they would leave at dawn. The desert only had bitter herbs and they had no time to make leavened bread. This nomadic celebration became a memorial of the way God saved his people in Egypt. Jesus was born and lived in this tradition. His Passover would become the sign of God’s salvation and protection from slavery to Satan and death and the Passover to life as God’s children and eternal life with God. He the Lamb of God would be the food for our journey as we travel through the desert of life. We all journey together, the community of the saved.

Ps 116:12-13, 15-16bc, 17-18

Responsorial Psalm

R. (cf. 1 Cor 10:16) Our blessing-cup is a communion with the Blood of Christ.
How shall I make a return to the LORD
for all the good he has done for me?
The cup of salvation I will take up,
and I will call upon the name of the LORD.

1 Cor 11:23-26

Reading 2

Brothers and sisters:
I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you,
that the Lord Jesus, on the night he was handed over,
took bread, and, after he had given thanks,
broke it and said, “This is my body that is for you.
Do this in remembrance of me.”
In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying,
“This cup is the new covenant in my blood.
Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”
For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup,
you proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes.

This letter is the earliest of Christian writings written around 54 AD and it describes the Eucharistic celebration of the earliest believers. Until Christ comes again we celebrate his presence among us through the Eucharist. The Eucharist is his presence in his absence. We long for him to come again. The celebration of the Mass is the celebration of or Christian life till we reach our lasting city

Jn 13:1-15

Gospel

Before the feast of Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come
to pass from this world to the Father.
He loved his own in the world and he loved them to the end.
The devil had already induced Judas, son of Simon the Iscariot, to hand him over.
So, during supper,
fully aware that the Father had put everything into his power
and that he had come from God and was returning to God,
he rose from supper and took off his outer garments.
He took a towel and tied it around his waist.
Then he poured water into a basin
and began to wash the disciples’ feet
and dry them with the towel around his waist.
He came to Simon Peter, who said to him,
“Master, are you going to wash my feet?”
Jesus answered and said to him,
“What I am doing, you do not understand now,
but you will understand later.”
Peter said to him, “You will never wash my feet.”
Jesus answered him,
“Unless I wash you, you will have no inheritance with me.”
Simon Peter said to him,
“Master, then not only my feet, but my hands and head as well.”
Jesus said to him,
“Whoever has bathed has no need except to have his feet washed,
 for he is clean all over;
so you are clean, but not all.”
For he knew who would betray him;
for this reason, he said, “Not all of you are clean.”

So when he had washed their feet
and put his garments back on and reclined at table again,
he said to them, “Do you realize what I have done for you?
You call me ‘teacher’ and ‘master,’ and rightly so, for indeed I am.
If I, therefore, the master and teacher, have washed your feet,
you ought to wash one another’s feet.
I have given you a model to follow,
so that as I have done for you, you should also do.”

Jesus came to serve and not be served. Though God he humbled himself and took the form of a servant. He emptied himself on the Cross offering his life as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. In the Eucharist Jesus offers this one eternal sacrifice of the Cross. Both are identical. As members of his body we share in this offering. We are to share not just ritually but by being ourselves servants of one another. And so today John emphasises that as Jesus’ life of love can be summarised by the washing of his disciples feet likewise if we wish to share in the offering of the Eucharist we too must live a life of love and service. We are united to Jesus who washes feet out of love. Do you see participation in the Mass as joining your life of service to others with the offering of Jesus?

Wednesday of Holy Week

April 20, 2011

Reading 1

Is 50:4-9a

The Lord GOD has given me
a well-trained tongue,
That I might know how to speak to the weary
a word that will rouse them.
Morning after morning
he opens my ear that I may hear;
And I have not rebelled,
have not turned back.
I gave my back to those who beat me,
my cheeks to those who plucked my beard;
My face I did not shield
from buffets and spitting.

The Lord GOD is my help,
therefore I am not disgraced;
I have set my face like flint,
knowing that I shall not be put to shame.
He is near who upholds my right;
if anyone wishes to oppose me,
let us appear together.
Who disputes my right?
Let him confront me.
See, the Lord GOD is my help;
who will prove me wrong?

This is the third Song of the Servant of Yahweh. We can see how it was fulfilled in Jesus. Jesus is a man, but who is he? He is the Almighty God.  Let us meditate during this Holy Week on why he humbled himself and allowed men to treat him as they did. The Roman scourging brought a man to the point of death. The Passion reveals the mystery of God’s love for each one of us.

Ps 69:8-10, 21-22, 31 and 33-34

Responsorial Psalm

R. (14c) Lord, in your great love, answer me.
For your sake I bear insult,
and shame covers my face.
I have become an outcast to my brothers,
a stranger to my mother’s sons,
because zeal for your house consumes me,
and the insults of those who blaspheme you fall upon me.

Mt 26:14-25

Gospel

One of the Twelve, who was called Judas Iscariot,
went to the chief priests and said,
“What are you willing to give me
if I hand him over to you?”
They paid him thirty pieces of silver,
and from that time on he looked for an opportunity to hand him over.

On the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread,
the disciples approached Jesus and said,
“Where do you want us to prepare
for you to eat the Passover?”
He said,
“Go into the city to a certain man and tell him,
‘The teacher says, my appointed time draws near;
in your house I shall celebrate the Passover with my disciples.”‘“
The disciples then did as Jesus had ordered,
and prepared the Passover.

When it was evening,
he reclined at table with the Twelve.
And while they were eating, he said,
“Amen, I say to you, one of you will betray me.”
Deeply distressed at this,
they began to say to him one after another,
“Surely it is not I, Lord?”
He said in reply,
“He who has dipped his hand into the dish with me
is the one who will betray me.
The Son of Man indeed goes, as it is written of him,
but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed.
It would be better for that man if he had never been born.”
Then Judas, his betrayer, said in reply,
“Surely it is not I, Rabbi?”
He answered, “You have said so.”

John has mentioned that Judas is a thief. Now Matthew seems to say that one of the motives was love for money. He betrays Jesus for thirty pieces of silver. Judas fell from great heights. In his betrayal the Scriptures are fulfilled but they do not force him. He has freely chosen and so is responsible. Jesus had loved him and chosen him to be his apostle. He must have had great hopes for him. Judas allowed sin and greed to enter his soul. He is a warning to everyone and especially to those who have been specially called. We can become a Judas if we allow love for money to grow in us and do not come to Jesus in our weakness and sin. Judas’ greater sin is that he didn’t return to Jesus. His soul was bereft of love for Jesus. Leave Jesus  and there is no hope.

Tuesday of Holy Week

April 19, 2011

Reading 1

Is 49:1-6

Hear me, O islands,
listen, O distant peoples.
The Lord called me from birth,
from my mother’s womb he gave me my name.
He made of me a sharp-edged sword
and concealed me in the shadow of his arm.
He made me a polished arrow,
in his quiver he hid me.
You are my servant, he said to me,
Israel, through whom I show my glory.

Though I thought I had toiled in vain,
and for nothing, uselessly, spent my strength,
Yet my reward is with the Lord,
my recompense is with my God.
For now the Lord has spoken
who formed me as his servant from the womb,
That Jacob may be brought back to him
and Israel gathered to him;
And I am made glorious in the sight of the Lord,
and my God is now my strength!
It is too little, he says, for you to be my servant,
to raise up the tribes of Jacob,
and restore the survivors of Israel;
I will make you a light to the nations,
that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.

This is the second song of the Servant of Yahweh. Yesterday we heard the first. Tomorrow we will hear the third and on Friday the fourth. Their original context was the exiles in Babylon. God would use them to show his glory by their return. However we now see that they are fulfilled in Christ Jesus, the Messiah. They can also be fulfilled in those who put on Christ and become prophets in their world. God’s ways are very different from ours. Jesus, the Servant of Yahweh par excellence, was not called to success in the worldly sense but to fidelity to his Father out of love. He died a complete failure in the worldly sense of success – betrayal, abandonment and denial by friends, torture, mockery and death by enemies. Yet he is the victor. We too are called to fidelity to the vision God has for each of us. Like the Servant we must fix out gaze on God, now in Jesus. We live and work for him. He has his own way of bringing about victory.

Ps 71:1-2, 3-4a, 5ab-6ab, 15 and 17

Responsorial Psalm

R. (see 15ab) I will sing of your salvation.
In you, O LORD, I take refuge;
let me never be put to shame.
In your justice rescue me, and deliver me;
incline your ear to me, and save me.

Jn 13:21-33, 36-38

Gospel

Reclining at table with his disciples, Jesus was deeply troubled and testified,
“Amen, amen, I say to you, one of you will betray me.”
The disciples looked at one another, at a loss as to whom he meant.
One of his disciples, the one whom Jesus loved,
was reclining at Jesus’ side.
So Simon Peter nodded to him to find out whom he meant.
He leaned back against Jesus’ chest and said to him,
“Master, who is it?”
Jesus answered,
“It is the one to whom I hand the morsel after I have dipped it.”
So he dipped the morsel and took it and handed it to Judas,
son of Simon the Iscariot.
After Judas took the morsel, Satan entered him.
So Jesus said to him, “What you are going to do, do quickly.”
Now none of those reclining at table realized why he said this to him.
Some thought that since Judas kept the money bag, Jesus had told him,
“Buy what we need for the feast,”
or to give something to the poor.
So Judas took the morsel and left at once. And it was night.

When he had left, Jesus said,
“Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him.
If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself,
and he will glorify him at once.
My children, I will be with you only a little while longer.
You will look for me, and as I told the Jews,
‘Where I go you cannot come,’ so now I say it to you.”

Simon Peter said to him, “Master, where are you going?”
Jesus answered him,
“Where I am going, you cannot follow me now,
though you will follow later.”
Peter said to him,
“Master, why can I not follow you now?
I will lay down my life for you.”
Jesus answered, “Will you lay down your life for me?
Amen, amen, I say to you, the cock will not crow
before you deny me three times.”

Judas’ betrayal pierced the heart of Jesus. The psalmist expresses his anguish. “If this had been done by an enemy, I could bear his taunts, but it is you, my own companion, my intimate friend. How close was the friendship between us.”. “The traitor has turned against his friends. He has broken his word. His speech is softer than butter but war is in his heart. His words are smooth like oil, but they are naked swords”. Jesus is deeply troubled. He has appealed to Judas, but been rejected. With Judas gone a burden falls from Jesus’ shoulders. He is now with his own and he can reveal his heart to them, even if they in their weakness will abandon him and Peter will deny him. They will all come back. Judas will not. At this Supper where are you? Are you the consolation or grief of Jesus?

 Monday of Holy Week

April 18, 2011
Reading 1

Is 42:1-7

Here is my servant whom I uphold,
my chosen one with whom I am pleased,
Upon whom I have put my Spirit;
he shall bring forth justice to the nations,
Not crying out, not shouting,
not making his voice heard in the street.
A bruised reed he shall not break,
and a smoldering wick he shall not quench,
Until he establishes justice on the earth;
the coastlands will wait for his teaching.

Thus says God, the LORD,
who created the heavens and stretched them out,
who spreads out the earth with its crops,
Who gives breath to its people
and spirit to those who walk on it:
I, the LORD, have called you for the victory of justice,
I have grasped you by the hand;
I formed you, and set you
as a covenant of the people,
a light for the nations,
To open the eyes of the blind,
to bring out prisoners from confinement,
and from the dungeon, those who live in darkness.

This is Holy Week. The Father invites us to live the Passion with his Son. Jesus is the new Adam, the true head of the human race. God has sent him to repair the devastation caused by our sins. It is an arduous task because men continue to sin. He will not complete his work till evil and the destruction it brings are banished and God’s reign is established. His ways are different from ours. There is no crying out, no shouting in the streets. He will not crush the sinner. Quietly he is working in the hearts of men and women. He will open their eyes and free them from all the fears that bind them. We cannot change the world, we can only change ourselves. Let us open our hearts to Jesus this week.

Ps 27:1, 2, 3, 13-14

Responsorial Psalm

R. (1a) The Lord is my light and my salvation.
The LORD is my light and my salvation;
whom should I fear?
The LORD is my life’s refuge;
of whom should I be afraid?

Jn 12:1-11

Gospel

Six days before Passover Jesus came to Bethany,
where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead.
They gave a dinner for him there, and Martha served,
while Lazarus was one of those reclining at table with him.
Mary took a litre of costly perfumed oil
made from genuine aromatic nard
and anointed the feet of Jesus and dried them with her hair;
the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil.
Then Judas the Iscariot, one of his disciples,
and the one who would betray him, said,
“Why was this oil not sold for three hundred days’ wages
and given to the poor?”
He said this not because he cared about the poor
but because he was a thief and held the money bag
and used to steal the contributions.
So Jesus said, “Leave her alone.
Let her keep this for the day of my burial.
You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.”

The large crowd of the Jews found out that he was there and came,
not only because of him, but also to see Lazarus,
whom he had raised from the dead.
And the chief priests plotted to kill Lazarus too,
because many of the Jews were turning away
and believing in Jesus because of him.

The drama of the Passion is fast approaching. Notice the characters. The setting is a meal in Bethany. The Disciples are there and Lazarus and many people have come to see Lazarus. Martha is serving. The chief priests are there without being physically present. Mary has a deep and passionate love for Jesus. She alone seems to realise the mystery of Jesus’ personality. She pours perfume over his feet. It is not ordinary perfume but that used for burial. It cost the equivalent of almost a year’s wages for a labourer. Judas objects to the ‘waste’. His heart is hardened. The others don’t understand as we know from the other Gospels. Mary represents the true Israel of all who accept Jesus. Does she represent you? How can you show your love for Christ?  Let us too first love the poor rather than just give to them, as Judas suggests