Easter Week Tuesday

 Why are you weeping? Jn. 20:15

It is not easy to lose someone. 

Sometimes we cannot stop crying. 

This is what Mary Magdalene was going through. 

She went to the tomb where Jesus was buried. 

And her eyes were filled with tears

Because she thought she would never see Him again. 

But the Risen Lord appeared to her

And asked her why she was weeping?

And when she recognized the Risen Lord,

Her tears disappeared. 

One day our tears will disappear

As we too will behold the Risen Lord;

And all those we love. 

Monday of Easter Week

Fearful yet overjoyed Mt. 28:28

Mary Magdalene had gone to visit the tomb where Jesus was laid,

Expecting to anoint His Body,

Only to find the tomb empty. 

Fearful and yet overjoyed for she remembered the words of Jesus,

That He was the Resurrection and the Life.

How would you feel if you went to the cemetery to visit the grave of a loved one and found it empty?

Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice, and come forth. Jn 5:28

The Death and Resurrection of Jesus

The last words of Jesus were, “Father into Your hands I commend My Spirit.Lk.23:46

And as Jesus exhaled His last breath,

His spirit separated from His Body and returned to His Father. 

Then Joseph of Arimathea climbed up a ladder, 

pulled the nails out His hands and feet;

and lowered His lifeless body into the arms of His mother,

Who had remained Faithful to the end. 

His Body was then taken to the tomb and laid on a stone slab,

His head was wrapped in a cloth and a shroud was laid on Him,

and then the stone was rolled to the entrance of the tomb. 

And the world went silent. 

Then early, on the morning of the Third Day,

The Spirit of Jesus was reunited with His Body;

In an explosion of Light so great,

That it transfigured His Body into a glorified one,

And left an imprint of the suffering of His old Body on the shroud. 

He then sat up, and laid aside the shroud that had covered His Body. 

And unrolled the cloth that had been wrapped around His head,

And folded it. 

Leaving behind all of his earthly suffering on the shroud, 

He then left the tomb no longer bound by time or space

For Heaven is not a place;

It is a new state of being;

An angel then  came and rolled back the stone

so that Mary Magdalene could enter the Empty Tomb.

It will be the same for us. 

One day, we will say “Father into your hands, I commend my spirit.” 

And we will exhale our last breath

and our spirit will be separated from our bodies 

and will return to our Heaven Father. 

And our bodies will then be laid in their graves;

And we will wait.

For the Last Day, 

When Our Heaven Father will send forth His spirit into the world as at the beginning, 

and our spirits will be reunited with our bodies in an explosion of Light so great,

That our body will be transfigured into a glorious one. 

And we too will leave behind in our graves all our mourning and sorrow and suffering and death; 

No longer bound by time or space;  

Where With the angels and saints;

We will Gather around the Super of the Lamb;

And Behold God, Face to Face. 

Good Friday

They do not know what they are doing. Lk. 23:34

The Romans condemned Jesus as a criminal 

The Sanhedrin condemned Him as a Blasphemer. 

He was scourged  till his back was one open wound. 

Crowned with thorns till blood flowed down his face. 

And His feet and hands were nailed to a cross;

As if that was not enough,

They mocked Him and rolled dice for His clothes. 

In the Face of this horrific suffering, Jesus said;

Forgive them!

Not only Forgive them;

But Jesus made excuses for their actions by saying;

They did not know what they were doing. 

Like a mother or father whose children do something wrong,

Their love is so great that not only do they want to forgive them,

But make an excuse that they did not know what they were doing. 

Is God not our Father?

Are we not His children?

Do we not sometimes say or do things

And not really realize what we were doing?

Caught up in our own prejudices and passions;

Addictions and anger and pride?

The foolishness of youth or the stubbornness of old age?

Jesus is so loving at those times that not only does He forgive us

But He makes an excuse for what we have done by saying,

That we did not really know what we were doing. 

If Jesus can make excuses for the things we have done;

Maybe once in awhile we too should make excuses for the things others have done. 

Because maybe;

They too did not know what they were doing !

Wednesday of Holy Week

Big and little betrayals 

At first We may find it hard believe how Judas could have betrayed Jesus. 

Until we begin to reflect upon the little betrayals that people commit against Jesus everyday. 

For Jesus is in each person we meet everyday. 

Whenever people turn their back on someone in need;

They are turning their back on Jesus carrying His cross. 

Whenever people make fun of other people or mock them;

They are mocking Jesus as the soldiers did. 

Whenever people remain silent about their Faith;

They are denying Jesus as Peter did. 

Whenever people choose money or power or fame over their Faith;

Then they are like Judas betraying Jesus. 

we either 

betray and deny and mock and Jesus

Or we comfort and console and love Him;

By the way we treat one another. 

Tuesday of Holy Week

Roosters and St. Peter Jn. 13:36-38

Roosters announce things

They announce the dawn. 

They announce when the fox is in the hen house. 

Peter was a kind of rooster. 

Always speaking up first. 

Announcing things;

From the empty boat, Peter said;

“We have toiled all night but took nothing in,

But at Your word we will lower the nets.”

Then when the boat was overflowing with fish,

“Depart from me Lord, for I am a sinful man.”

At Caesarea Philippi,

“You are the Christ, the Son of God!”

Immediately followed by,

“God forbid Lord, that you should suffer and die.”

At Capernaum after the discourse on the Bread of Life,

“Lord to Whom shall we go?  You have the words of everlasting life.”

On the stormy sea,

“”Lord bid me to come to You on the water.”

On Mount Tabor he said,

“Lord it is good to be here, let us build three tents.”

In the Upper Room at the Last Supper,

“Lord you shall never wash my feet.”

And later that same night,

“Lord I am willing to go to prison and to death for you.”

But how quickly Peter changed his tune when questioned 

while standing around the fire at the High Priest house;

Three times he crowed,

“I do not know him!”

And then the Rooster crowed!

And Peter wept bitterly 

For He remembered the words of Jesus,

“Before the cock crows,

Three times you will deny me!”

For the rest of his life,

Whenever he heard a cock crow,

Peter probably wept. 

When the world surrounds us and questions who we are and do we know Jesus?

What will we say?

Or will we too deny that we know Him;

Only to weep every time we hear the cock crow. 

Monday of Holy Week

 Judas and Mary Jn 12:1-11

Said Judas to Mary

1.Said Judas to Mary, "Now what will you do
With your ointment so rich and rare?"
"I'll pour it all over the feet of the Lord,
I'll wipe it away with my hair", she said,
I'll wipe it away with my hair.

2."Oh Mary, O Mary, O think of the poor.
This ointment, it could have been sold;
And think of the blanket and think of the bread
You could buy with the silver and gold", he said,
You could buy with silver and gold.

3.Tomorrow, tomorrow, I'll think of the poor;
"Tomorrow", she said, "not today"
"For dearer than all of the poor in the world
Is my love who is going away," she said,
"My love who is going away."

4.Said Jesus to Mary, "Your love is so deep
Today, you may do as you will.
Tomorrow, you say, I am going away,
But my body I leave with you still," he said,
"My body I leave with you still."

5."The poor of the world is my body," he said,
To the end of the world they shall be.
The bread and the blanket you give to the poor
You'll know you have given to me, he said,
"You'll know you have given to me."

6."My body will hang from the cross of the world
Tomorrow," he said, "and today,
And Martha and Mary will find me again
"and wash all the sorrow away," he said,
"And wash all the sorrow away."