A good person out of the store of goodness in his heart produces good; for from the fullness of the heart the mouth speaks.”

cf. Lk 6:45

Easter Sunday of the resurrection of the lord

 

by Reason2bCatholic

It’s a stubborn point in fact that Christians profess the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. This story is so familiar to us that we can sometimes lose sight of how stunning it must have been for Jesus’ closest disciples to arrive at his burial place, only to find an empty tomb. For, as the Gospel writer John points out, they did not yet understand the Scripture that he had to rise from the dead (Jn 20:9).

Yet, what today we may take for granted, these same disciples – these Apostles of Jesus Christ – would later lay down their lives for the truth of what they believed, for the truth of what they professed, for the truth of who they would come to know as died, buried, and risen from the dead. The Christian martyrs down through the centuries are the heroic witnesses of this Profession of Faith. 

Jesus Christ invites each of us – He invites all of us – to new life. We begin by opening our hearts to him in the mystery of the Resurrection. Two-thousand years later there are many who, for whatever reasons, do not believe, they do not profess, they do not yet recognize with the eyes of faith. But we, by virtue of our baptism, are called to bring the Gospel of Jesus Christ, truly risen from the dead for the salvation of the world, to the world that still lives in darkness.

Jesus is the Light of the World. Easter morning he opened heaven for the salvation of all who come to believe in him.

Be not afraid! Jesus is waiting for you when you find nothing else in this world satisfies you.

For a Gospel reflection from John’s account of the empty tomb please enjoy below.

Peace be with you!

Disciple of Christ | Son of the Church

Very early when the sun had risen, on the first day of the week, they came to the tomb.”

cf. Gospel of Mark 16:2

Gospel

LISTEN:  He had to rise from the dead.

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John 20:1-9

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.

The Gospel of the Lord

REFLECTION 

by Bishop Robert Barron

Friends, our Easter Gospel is John’s startlingly concise account of the Resurrection.

The Easter declaration, properly understood, has always been and still is an explosion, an earthquake, a revolution. For the Easter faith—on clear display from the earliest days of the Christian movement—is that Jesus of Nazareth, a first-century Jew from the northern reaches of the Promised Land, who had been brutally put to death by the Roman authorities, is alive again through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Once we’ve come to some clarity about the Resurrection claim itself, we can begin to see why it still matters so massively. If the Resurrection is only a bland symbol or a projection of our desires, then tyrants have nothing to fear from it. But if it is a fact of history, an act of the living God in space and time, then sinners have real cause to repent.

A second great implication of the Resurrection is that heaven and earth are coming together. The hope of ancient Israel was not a jailbreak, not an escape from this world, but precisely the unification of heaven and earth in a great marriage. Recall a central line from the prayer that Jesus bequeathed to his Church: “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” The bodily Resurrection of Jesus—“the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep”—is the powerful sign that the two orders are in fact coming together.

Credit: Daily Gospel Reflections, Bishop Robert Barron, Easter Sunday 2023; Word on Fire, https://www.wordonfire.org. 

Information herein posted under the "rules of fair use" to foster education and discussion in accordance with Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976.

Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition are the two lungs of the Christian life. Trying to live out this life with only one lung is inviting a life of labored breathing. Breathe in the fullness of life that God breathed into his Church!”

Author, Reason2bCatholic

Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ.”

Saint Jerome (ca. 347 – 420 A.D.), Father and Doctor of the Church

Be not afraid! And may the peace of Christ be with you and your loved ones today and always.  Holy Family, pray for us.  Amen.