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Scripture:

Acts 2:42-47
1 Peter 1:3-9
John 20:19-31

Reflection:

As we continue our Easter season, our Gospel reading is the account of the encounter between the Risen Jesus and the apostle Thomas. There’s an aspect to Thomas’ experience that is important to remember as we strive to bring hope to others in this season of hope.

In John’s Gospel, Jesus appears to the apostles even though the doors are locked. Jesus says, “Peace be with you.” He shows them His wounds, and they rejoice at recognizing Him. He commissions them, and breathes on them the Holy Spirit.

But as John tells us, one of the apostles is not there: Thomas. And when the others try to tell him the Good News that Jesus is risen, he will not believe them. He will only believe when he can see Jesus for himself.

Why does Thomas doubt the word of His companions? For me, it is because Thomas is so hurt by what he saw happen to the One who he believed to be the Messiah, that he might have told himself that he would never believe in anyone like that again, so that he would never hurt like that again. There are times when we may refrain from getting close to someone, or not put our trust in someone because we’ve been hurt before, and we don’t want to be hurt again. But Jesus appears again a week later, with Thomas present, and shows Thomas His wounds, and Thomas believes, and says, “My Lord and my God!” Thomas is healed.

One of the things that strikes me about this encounter is where it happened. Jesus could have appeared to Thomas as He did to Mary Magdalene, when Jesus would have caught Thomas alone. But Thomas’ pain is healed when he is with the other disciples. Jesus appears to Thomas in the midst of the community.

That, to me, is the important aspect I mentioned earlier. It is in the context of community that Thomas experiences the risen Jesus. In our first reading from the Acts of the Apostles, Luke portrays the early Christian community as one in which they had all things in common, and they combined their resources to supply the needs of everyone in the community. Luke tells us that “many wonders and signs were done through the apostles.”

I wonder at what “signs and wonders” might be seen if more and more of us came together. What would happen if we dedicated ourselves to making sure that everyone’s needs would be met? But it takes effort to grow community. We know the effort that has gone into doing violence to others, to even kill people. If we are called to help bring the hope of Easter to others, are we not called to put in the effort to come together, realizing the power God can unleash through a community?

May we come together to bring the hope of the Resurrection to a world too hurt to be willing to believe.

Fr. Phil Paxton, C.P., is the local superior at St. Paul of the Cross Passionist Community in Detroit, Michigan. 

Scripture:

Acts 4:13-21
Mark 16:9-15

Reflection:

How often I have heard someone say, “If I don’t tell you this, I am going to bust!!!”  It happens in the movies and in television sit-coms all the time.  Someone has to say something out loud to another person in order to relieve the internal tension that has been building around something marvelous or something strange or something that is a secret.  It happens in real life too whether it be a family member, or a friend, or a perfect stranger.  When it is finally out in the open, whatever it is, then there is great relief and joy ensues.  I had a cousin Bridget from Ireland.  When she became pregnant with her fifth child, she thought long and hard about how to tell her husband.  The right time didn’t seem to come along.  Anxiety grew.  The internal pressure kept rising.  Finally, she wrote a note and placed it in the middle of his lunch sandwich which he took to work.  He took a bite – what the heck?  He read the note and ran home to give Bridget a hug and a kiss.  The pressure was released and the celebration of life began.

As we reflect upon our Easter readings today, we are present to several people who just cannot keep a secret.  These are people who come to know something truly wonderful and cannot wait to tell someone – anyone – about this great news.  In the gospel, we run alongside Mary Magdalene, the first witness of the resurrected Lord in Mark’s gospel.  She has had a tough life with a great many challenges.  Jesus had helped her meet those moments.  For this reason, she was in the depths of grief and agony over His death.  Suddenly, the presence of the Risen Lord sends her spirit soaring to the highest heavens.  She must tell someone.  She goes to the disciples who cannot accept her good news.  Mary’s enthusiasm and joy cannot be dampened by weeping and grieving companions of Jesus.  She knows – He is Risen.  Nothing is able to separate her from her belief and her joy.

Eventually, the Risen Lord appears to the rest of the disciples who in turn come to know the joy that Mary experienced.  Like Mary, the internal anxiety, the internal pressure of that joy rises to the level of having to say something to someone – anyone.  This is not something to be kept secret.  In fact the joy being experienced only grows deeper and wider with every opportunity to tell someone – anyone – else about it.  The mandate of Jesus, “Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature” becomes the driving force of every disciple.  As we witness the altercation between Peter and John and the Sanhedrin in the Acts of the Apostles, we see the overflowing driving force of the presence of the Risen Lord in their healing actions and in their zeal for broadcasting the Gospel.  We are able to nod our heads in agreement when Peter and John say without hesitation, “It is impossible for us not to speak about what we have seen and heard.”

Our Easter visit with Mary Magdalene, Peter, John and the other disciples this day reminds us of who we are as we walk in their footsteps.  We are the companions of Jesus today who have received the revelation that the Messiah has suffered, died, and is truly risen from the dead for our salvation.  The Risen Lord remains present to us, continues to reveal Himself to us in a myriad of ways and circumstances causing us to marvel at His Risen Presence, find joy and peace in His dedicated loyalty to us, and then expand that joy by proclaiming to someone – anyone – who the Risen Lord is and what He has accomplished for us.  At Easter vigil this year, I celebrated with our parish family the baptism of five adults and the reception into full communion with the Roman Catholic Church an additional six men and women.  As they entered into new life in the Risen Lord, an indescribable picture of overflowing joy and happiness filled their eyes, their smiles and their parish community supporters.  All were present to proclaim the presence of the Risen Lord and to say this is something to shout about.  These wonderful men and women knew about the good news.  They had heard the shouting the year before.  They spent a year delving into what all the shouting was about.  At Easter vigil, as new companions of the Risen Lord, they added their voices to the chorus.

May the good news of the Lord’s Resurrection be the source of abundant Easter blessings for all of us and may it rekindle in us the kind of joy which requires us to regularly speak this marvelous mystery to someone – to anyone – in our lives.

Fr. Richard Burke, CP, is a member of St. Paul of the Cross Province.  He lives at St. Ann’s Monastery in Scranton, Pennsylvania.

Scripture:

Acts 4:1-12
John 21:1-14

Reflection:

We see the re-emergence and rehabilitation of Peter in today’s readings.  It is a forceful indication of the power of the resurrection in the life of this colorful apostle.  We catch glimpses of him rising to reclaim leadership among the apostles, in both Judaea and Galilee.

The second incident presented in the day’s readings occurred in Galilee, showing Peter, with several of his companions, following the directions of the risen Jesus to meet Him back up in Galilee.  This, of course, would have met with Peter’s satisfaction at returning to his native area with its bitter-sweet memories, and await some further encounter with Jesus.  In fact, it would have been good news for a number of the apostles, several of whom claimed Galilee as their native place.  And it would give them the opportunity to move out of Judea where they had so recently led a tortuous existence in an area where their Lord and Master had undergone such brutal treatment and rejection.  Above all, it would enable at least some of them to pick up fishing again at their favorite place, the sea of Tiberias.

Fishing, for those who engage in it, seems to be a wonderfully restorative past-time, and as they set out on it yet once again, it would have revived memories of doing it in past times with Jesus Himself in the boat with them—some of the times pleasant, at other times frightening.  And, on this occasion, as they pushed off out into the deep, it would remind them of the occasions when Jesus joined them, and gave them some good advice on likely rewarding fishing areas.  And that’s partially replayed this time, though on this occasion, as once before, Jesus is standing on shore while they were out seeking a good slew of fish, and they strike it rich with Jesus, once again advising them from His vantage point, about where the fish were gathering.

His help led to an abundant haul, and a tasty breakfast, provided by Him.  Once again, it was John’s sharp eye that noted it was Jesus on the shore, but it was Peter’s excitement that powered the boat to shore.  This was like déjà vu, the good ole times being replayed.  Only this time, the apostles with Peter were veterans seasoned in the tragedies of life, no longer care-free fishermen whose sole focus was a good haul.  Peter was to be rehabilitated here on his favorite lake doing what he does best.

But in conjunction with this, the day’s reading restores another narrative of these post-Easter days in Judea, the place of bitter memories, as well as consoling ones, and the scene of a confident Peter and John striding through a temple gate and encountering a crippled beggar who receives more from them than he had bargained for, as the miraculously cured man leaps to his feet.   And the uproar caused by this reached all the way to the guardians of the peace, and a night for Peter and John in custody.  And when presented to the powers-that-be the next morning, Peter and John made no bones about it: it was through the power of Jesus Christ Whom they nailed to the cross that the crippled man was healed.  There was almost defiance and a swagger in these confrontational remarks of Peter to them.

Certainly, we have a new Peter here.  He’s a better fisherman, and a better spokesperson for the newly formulated faith.  He’s a new man.

Fr. Sebastian MacDonald, C.P. is a member of the Passionist Community in Louisville, Kentucky.

Scripture:

Acts 3:11-26
Luke 24:35-48

Reflection:

We are still in the midst of the octave of Easter, and yet today’s Gospel and the Reading from Acts both speak of doubt.  In Acts, the crippled man is cured and the people are amazed and they begin to praise Peter and John.  But Peter has to remind them that this man is not cured by them but by faith in Christ.  We wonder did they not hear the message?

And in the Gospel we hear of his very own disciples being overwhelmed by His appearance, even though they were just talking to each other about recognizing him in the breaking of the Bread.  Jesus seems to be trying to convince them that he is real and that all that he has told them would happen has happened.  But nonetheless, they are incredulous and he still needs to open their minds to understand the scriptures.  It is not through their own intellect or logic that they understand but only when Jesus opens their minds.  In fact, even though Jesus’ walks and talks, even eats with the Apostles after his Resurrection, their faith will remain weak until Pentecost when the Holy Spirit will fill them with the gifts they need to fully live their faith.

Easter week more than two thousand years later and our spirits are again filled with the commemoration of the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Christ.  We believe that Jesus died for our sins and that raised from the dead, he promises us eternal life. We celebrated the Last Supper, we walked the Stations, we listened to the Passion, we reverenced the Cross, and we sang the Gloria because Jesus who was dead has been raised.

But how strong is our Faith?  Do we live as though we really believe in all that happened this last week?  How would our lives be different if our Faith were stronger?

Let us pray to grow in the gift of Faith during this Easter Season so that the Holy Spirit will fill our hearts and our lives and all that we do will be permeated with a deep Faith in the Risen Christ.

Mary Lou Butler is a long-time friend and partner in ministry to the Passionists in California. 

Scripture:

Acts 3:1-10
Luke 24:13-35

Reflection:

With that their eyes were opened and they recognized him, but he vanished from their sight. Luke 24:31

In one period of my life, I lived in Rome. I was assigned to our Generalate for six years, as a member of our General Council. When I got to Rome, I reconnected with a religious friend from my early years of priesthood. She was now a member of her General Council and would soon be elected as Minister General for her Congregation.

Whenever we found ourselves in Rome at the same time, we would often attend Santa Susana Church for Sunday Mass. This Church served English-speaking Catholics. It was an easy walk from our Generalate, Sts. John and Paul. She had to catch several busses.

Many times, as I would walk up the steps to enter the Church, there was a beggar sitting on the top step asking for alms. She would patiently hold out her hand as we entered. I was always reminded of the passage we read from the Acts of the Apostles in today’s first reading, as I would say, “Bon Gorno”, and slip into the Church. Sometimes I would be able to give her some lose change. I would identify with Peter and John as they said to the beggar they encountered at the temple door: “I have neither silver nor gold.” What I did was to include her in my prayer, believing she was the Risen Christ.

The readings today, and in fact, all the readings during Easter Week, are about recognizing the Risen Lord in our midst. The Risen Lord is no stranger to us, for the Resurrected Jesus is very present in our surroundings. Sure, the Risen Jesus is easily recognizable in our Pope, our bishops, and priests, all those people who do good and work diligently to create the Reign of God here on earth. Despite their humanity and personal weaknesses, we believe their loving and compassionate heart guide their mission and ministry.

However, it is more difficult to recognize the Resurrected Jesus walking in our midst marked by the scars of suffering and the injuries of self-imposed wounds. What prevents us from recognizing the Risen Lord is our own narrow world view, our interpretation of those events that have taken place within our lives and the absolute belief that our judgment is true and accurate. This obstinacy prevents us from seeing the Resurrected Christ walking down the road with us, even as we argue about the state of affairs that depress us and lead us to hopeless.

In the Evangelist Luke’s classic account of the two disciples on the way to Emmaus, we have people just like ourselves who have seen our hopes dashed because things have not gone the way we wanted them to go. Innocence is put to death. Truth is Crucified. Justice is Condemned. There is no way that God can redeem this situation. What happened has happened.

A stranger walks along side of us and shares with us a different vision, a vision of life that emerges from death, an understanding that suffering is redemptive and that hope overcomes all. We will sometimes break bread with a beggar, and our eyes will be opened. It is indeed the Jesus who rose from the dead on Easter Sunday. And our hearts will burn within us, for we have just had an Encounter with the Risen Lord. Alleluia!

Fr. Clemente Barrón, C.P. is a member of Christ the King Community in Citrus Heights, California. 

Scripture:

Acts 2:36-41
John 20:11-18

Reflection:

The days of Lent have passed; our Easter celebrations are waning, spring break has come to an end for many young people, and we look forward to the passing of our protracted winter weather.

Today’s first reading, from the Pentecost account of the Apostles’ first preaching foray into the streets of Jerusalem, will be back before us in a few weeks.  But the gospel passage is particularly relevant for us as we spend the Easter Season trying to embrace the meaning of the gospel acclamation, He is risen!

I say, “embrace” very deliberately.  This gospel passage is remarkable for its physicality.  The verbs emphasize that this is no dream, neither is it the “spiritualization” of a belief in the resurrection of Christ.  Mary Magdalen, weeping, bending over to peek into the tomb; two angels, sitting, where the Body of Jesus had been.  They said….She said, They have taken my Lord, I don’t know where they laid him.  She turned, and saw Jesus….Whom are you looking for?…Sir, if you carried him away, tell me where you laid him, and I will take him….Jesus said, Stop holding on to me, I have not yet ascended to the Father….go to my brothers and tell them….Mary went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord,” and then reported what he had told her.

This bit of the Gospel is rightly cited as an example of the preference given to women in the proclamation of the Gospel message.  It is also an example of how powerful the love of Mary was for her “teacher”.  In spite of the ignominious death of Jesus only three days earlier, Mary is the one who retraces the steps of the burial party back to the tomb, to “peek into the tomb”, and to engage those she finds there in the quest for his body.  Once she recognizes Jesus, she clings to his body.

The message is clear; on the first day of the week following the crucifixion of Jesus, he is present among them; he seeks them out, he comforts and consoles them.  His presence is so powerful, that it gives courage and conviction to the small core of his followers who will be visited by the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, and it will continue to exist in the body of his followers who become the household, the eklesia of Jesus’ presence in the world.  It is a real presence, a tangible presence, a caring presence.

Fr. Arthur Carrillo, C.P.  is the director of the Missions for Holy Cross Province.  He lives in Chicago, Illinois. 

Scriptures:

Acts 2:14, 22-33
Matthew 28:8-15

Reflection:

Try to imagine what it must have been like to see the empty tomb of Jesus. The women in today’s gospel story must have realized that some strange and wonderful thing had happened—the gospel says they were “fearful yet overjoyed.” They must have sensed that now both they and their world were different. Gazing into that tomb, Mary and Mary Magdalene felt the first rush of Easter life. When they fled the tomb they were not the women they were when they arrived. They were Easter creatures, women of Easter life.

What is striking is how quickly they flee the tomb. Once they see that it is empty, it is impossible to stay there. Easter is God’s way of saying that the tomb is not the place for us. Easter means we are to be set free from all the tombs of our lives, whether they are tombs of sorrow and grief, tombs of anxiety and fear, tombs of injustice and diminishment, or tombs of feeling unloved and forgotten. Indeed, the resounding message of Easter is that the God who fashioned us from love and first gave us life wants us to know fullness of life.

And yet, some will not only refuse to hear this gospel message, but will also try to snuff it out. Like the chief priests and elders in the gospel story, they will try to persuade us that Easter is not real and there is no reason for its joy. They may even try to shut us up in other tombs. But the power is not with them, it is with the risen Lord. For people who take this wonderful truth to heart, there is no turning back to the tomb.

Paul J. Wadell is Professor of Theology and Religious Studies at St. Norbert College in De Pere, Wisconsin, and a member of the extended Passionist family.

Easter Sunday

Scripture:

Acts 10:34a, 37-43
Colossians 3:1-4
or 1 Corinthians 5:6b-8
John 19:1-9 or Matthew 28:1-10

Reflection:

Mary Magdalene is the first disciple to preach the good news of the Resurrection.  She hastens to the disciples and tells Peter and John, the beloved disciple that “We don’t know where they put him.”  Mary Magdalene uses the plural form “We” which marks here she has a leadership role among Jesus disciples.  The Gospel of John is the only Gospel that mentions in verse 11 that Mary Magdalene “wept.”

Matthew tells us that Mary went to the tomb “toward dawn.”  Mark says it happened “when the sun has risen.”  Luke tells us it happened “at early dawn.”  And John tells us this happened “when it was still dark.”  For John Jesus is the Light of the World, who came to dispel the “Darkness.”

The first words that Jesus uses after the Resurrection are “Who are you looking for?”  The same words that he directed to John the Baptists’ disciples when they expressed their interest in his ministry. The presence of Jesus transforms the grief of Mary Magdalene, Peter and John into joy.  John believes because he believes in the words of Jesus.  Peter believes as he enters the empty tomb.

For John,  Jesus’ glorification took place on the Cross and is completed when He returns to the Father! The only evidence the disciple have of this is when they reached the tomb, and saw that it was empty, except for the scattered burial clothes that were in the tomb along with the burial cloth used to enshroud the head cloth used to hold Jesus’ head and is neatly folded in place.      The folded clothes are evidence that the tomb was not robbed, but that Jesus himself freed Him from death.

Jesus kept his word to the disciples that their sorrow would be converted into joy.  Jesus promised his disciples that after his Resurrection they would enjoy  the same relationship that he enjoys with his Father.  This promise has been extended to all Easter Christians which enables us to celebrate Jesus life when we free ourselves from the world of fears, failures, false and broken gods.

Easter Christians celebrates the Risen life of Christ with signs of the Resurrection. Wrongs are righted, Trust is restored, Families are reconciled, Sin is confessed, Addictions are tamed, Harvests are gathered, Victims are liberated, Strangers are welcomed, Losses are accepted, Jobs are finished, and Prayers are answered.

What is most important in this part of the Gospel is what happens after.  Jesus chases down the disciples on the way to Emmaus.  He breaks bread convinces them they must go back to Jerusalem and keep the dream alive.  Then He goes to the Upper Room where the disciples are locked up against the outside world.  Jesus appears to them and says to them.  “You abandoned me. You betrayed me. You denied me. You deserted me. You lied about me.” It doesn’t matter.  It doesn’t matter.   What matter is our friendship, the relationship we share with one another.  The friendship we share with Jesus, and Father, and the Holy Spirit.  That’s what matters.  If we are in a marriage, we must forgive, if we are in a family, we must forgive, if we are in a community, we must forgive, if we are in a Church that is divided we must forgive,  if we are in a parish, that is divided, we must forgive and love one another

The darkness of Winter is gone away and a new day of Spring is standing on its tip toes, ready to be born.  Happy Easter.  God Bless Us All.

Fr. Ken O’Malley, C.P., is the formation director and local superior at Holy Name Passionist Community in Houston, Texas.