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.

God Bless

Friday of Easter Week

 

Fishing with Jesus! Jn. 21:1-14

The disciples were not the best fishermen.

It seems every time they went fishing,

They caught nothing;

Until Jesus came along!

Then their nets were filled to overflowing.

So many people go fishing for fame, money or power

Only to come up empty.

Only when we listen to Jesus,

Will the nets of our lives be filled to overflowing.

God Bless

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.

God Bless

Wednesday of Easter Week

 

What do we talk about along the way?

There were two disciples walking along the road,

Discussing how Jesus had been handed over to death to be crucified;

And how now there was a story going about that He had risen from the dead.

And as they walked,

Jesus appeared to them

And walked with them,

And explained to them all that the prophets had said,

Concerning Him.

Why is it that Jesus does not appear to us on the road of life,

And talk to us and explain things to us?

Could it be because unlike the disciples on the road to Emmaus,

We do not talk about Jesus along the way.

We are too concerned with trivial matters;

And the latest gossip and news;

To listen to Jesus.

And so we miss our opportunity to walk with Him,

Feel our hearts burn!

God Bless

Tuesday of Easter Week

 

She did not recognize Him Jn 20:11-18

How is it that Mary Magdalene

who followed Jesus every He went and stood at the foot of His cross,

Not recognize Him when we had risen from the dead?

Because the life to come,

Is nothing like this world.

There will be a New Heavens and a New Earth,

And the old heaven and the old earth will have passed away.

And He will change our lowly body to be like his glorious body. Phil. 3:21

God Bless

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

God Bless

Easter

 

The Paschal Mystery

The Christian Faith is centered entirely on the Paschal Mystery.

So If someone were to ask you what the Paschal Mystery was,

Could you explain it?

The Greek word Paschal, refers to the Hebrew Passover,

Which refers to the time,

When the Passover Lamb was sacrificed,

And the Blood of the Passover Lamb,

Was put on the door posts of each house

Of the Israelites in Egypt, so that the Angel of Death,

Would PASSOVER their house and spare them.

Thus the word “Passover”

And then the Passover Lamb,

Was eaten to give the Jews strength and nourishment

On their journey to the Promised Land.

Christ is the New Passover or Paschal Lamb,

Who was sacrificed on the cross,

And Whose Blood was poured out,

Not on door posts,

But on our souls,

So that we might not die forever,

But rise to everlasting Life.

And we eat the Flesh of Christ, the Paschal Lamb,

To strengthen us on our journey to the Kingdom of Heaven.

While other Christian denominations remember

what Jesus said and did in their services,

At every Mass we not only Remember

We become part of the Paschal Mystery.

In a mysterious way we are made actually present in the Upper Room

And we are seated around Jesus,

As He gives us His Body and Blood.

In a mysterious way we are actually present at Calvary

Where Jesus sacrificed Himself on the cross.

This is why we call it,

“The Sacrifice of the Mass.”

And lastly, in a mysterious way,

We are at the Tomb, with Mary Magdalene,

Where Christ is Risen.

This is the Paschal Mystery.

Where we Passover from Death to Eternal Life,

And in a mysterious way,

We too are made present at the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Jesus.

And this all takes place at Mass.

This is why Padre Pio said,

“It would be easier for the world to exist without the sun,

Than it would without the Mass.”

I lived in Jerusalem for one year.

And almost everyday I would go and sit at Calvary and pray.

And six times I had Mass in the Empty Tomb,

Where Jesus was laid and rose from the dead.

And there were times when I would pray to go back there again,

Until one day at Mass,

Jesus reminded me that at EVERY Mass,

I truly am with Him at Calvary,

And at the Tomb where He rose from the dead.

And ever since then,

My need to return to Jerusalem has subsided.

Because I am at Calvary and the Tomb,

Every time I go to Mass.