Saturday of Easter Week

 Doubting the Resurrection Mk. 16:9-15

Why did Mary Magdalene and the two disciples on the road to Emmaus see the Risen Lord,

But when the 11 disciples were told about it, they doubted.  

Because of their unbelief and hardness of heart. 

We nurture our bodies with food,

And so we must nurture our Faith with prayer. 

Otherwise we too will not believe. 

Our hearts become hardened by cynicism 

and for desires other than God,

And we must strive to keep them open to God,

So that they remain on fire with the love of God. 

If we have doubts,

We must check our Faith and our Hearts.

For in them lies the problem and the answer. 

Friday Easter Week

 We will catch nothing 

No matter how hard they tried 

And how long they worked through the night;

The disciples had very little to show for all their effort. 

That is how it is in  life. 

Most people spend their lives working morning to night 

And in the end what do they have to show for it?

If only we would listen to Jesus telling us where to cast our nets!

They would be filled to overflowing. 

Overflowing with Love, Peace, Hope, Confidence, Courage and Faith. 

These are riches far beyond silver and gold. 

These are riches that will see us through any crisis or difficulty;

These are riches that bear fruit far beyond what the sweat of our brow and our little intelligence and planning can accomplish. 

And All we have to do before we cast our nets is to ask Jesus,

Where!!!

Thursday of Easter Week

 Touch Me! Lk. 24:35-48

After Jesus had risen from the dead,

His body changed. 

He now had a glorious body. 

A body so glorious that the disciples thought they were seeing a ghost.  

But Jesus assured them that they were not,

By taking a piece of fish and eating before their eyes.  

In the creed we profess that we believe in the resurrection of the body. 

Just as our bodies are united with our souls here on this earth,

So On the Last Day,

Our bodies will be reunited with our souls,

In the resurrection of the dead. 

But with one difference,

Our bodies will be glorified. 

And no longer bound by time and space;

But a body nonetheless. 

Wednesday Easter Week

 

Where Are You Going?

Where are you going today?

Work?

Home?

An Errand?

Visiting someone?

A Walk?

Did you see the Risen Lord walking next to you?

The disciples on the road to Emmaus did not see Him either. Lk. 24:15-16

Yet Jesus was walking right beside them but they did not notice it was Him. 

Every where we go, the Risen Christ is walking beside us. 

The Risen Lord is not bound by time and space. 

So He can be right there, beside each one of us.

But do we see Him?

What prevents us from seeing Him?

For the disciples on the road to Emmaus it was their sorrow. 

For others it might be the distractions of life. 

Others might be in too much of a hurry. 

And others might not even be looking for Him. 

Along the road of life, the Risen Lord walks beside us and whispers in our ears. 

We hear His words as the disciples on the road to Emmaus did, and maybe even our hearts burn at times as did theirs, but like them we still do not see Him. Lk. 24:32

It was not until the Breaking Of The Bread that they recognized Him. Lk. 24:30-31

It is in the Eucharist that we receive at Mass;

The Bread that is Broken and given to us in Communion that our eyes are fully opened to see what is burning in our hearts as we walk along the Road of Life. 

For in the Breaking Of The Bread Christ is fully present in His Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity and His Words are finally made clear to us. 

If you are lost along the way;

If your heart is burning;

If you cannot see the Risen Lord walking beside you;

Go to the Eucharist!

Go to the celebration of the Breaking of the Bread!

And there you will see Him!

Easter Tuesday

 Empty Tombs Jn. 20:11-18

Mary Magdalene went to the tomb expecting to see a body laying there. 

That is what we expect to see when we go to a cemetery. 

But Jesus was not there. 

He was risen. 

On His way to His Father. 

One day we may go to the cemetery 

Expecting to see our loved ones. 

Laying in their graves. 

But they will not be there. 

For the day will come when those who are in the tombs,

Will hear their Lord’s voice

And come forth. 

To a new and endless life 

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

Easter

 

In the beginning God took the dust of the earth formed it into a human being and He breathed His Spirit into it. 

And from that moment we have been made up of flesh and spirit. 

And at that moment our flesh and spirit were one. 

But somewhere, sometime, somehow;

Humanity chose its own Will instead of the Will of God. 

And when it did sin and death came into the world. 

And At that moment not only did we become separated from God but from one another and ourselves as our flesh and our spirit became divided and at war with themselves. 

as St. Paul said,

I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.

For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do. Rom. 7:15,19

Ever since then the flesh has had an insatiable desire for 

Lust Gluttony

Greed Sloth

Anger, Envy and Pride. 

These are the 7 deadly sins. 

They come in all different shapes and sizes. 

Different degrees and expressions. 

And we all suffer from them in one way or another. 

And they all lead to death. 

slowly but surely. 

And no matter how much we try 

We cannot escape them and the death they bring. 

Jesus came to restore the unity of body and soul 

Of flesh and spirit 

And he did this by taking on the sins of us all and crucifying them on the cross so that the sinful desires of the flesh would die 

And when we die, the sinful desires of the flesh die too. 

But Christ will raise us up in body and soul. 

And God will breath His Spirit into us once again

And we will receive a new and glorious body,

And Our flesh and spirit will no longer be at war with each other 

but united as One body one Spirit in Christ 

And there will be no more mourning or pain 

No more suffering or death

No more division or war 

For those things have all come to an end. 

They have died with Christ 

And now Christ is Risen and lives forever

And so will we.