Tag: easter

Friday in the Octave of Easter

From the responsorial psalm: “Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, for his mercy endures forever. Let the house of Israel say, “His mercy endures forever.” Let those who fear the LORD say, “His mercy endures forever.” The stone rejected by the builders has become the cornerstone.”

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John (Jn 21:1-14)

Jesus revealed himself again to his disciples at the Sea of Tiberias. He revealed himself in this way. Together were Simon Peter, Thomas called Didymus, Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, Zebedee’s sons, and two others of his disciples. Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.” They said to him, “We also will come with you.” So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.

Jesus appears on the shore to the disciples, but at first they don’t recognize him. He asks if they have caught any fish. When they tell him no, Jesus instructs them to cast their net on the right side of the boat, and they catch an enormous number of fish. Recognizing Jesus, John says, “It is the Lord.” Peter then jumps into the water to meet Jesus, and the other disciples follow. As they reach the shore, they find a charcoal fire with fish and bread that Jesus prepared for them. He invites them to bring some of the fish and to have breakfast with him. Recognizing who it is they sit with, no one asks “Who are you?” This is the third time Jesus appears to the disciples after his resurrection. As if to return to daily life, Peter and the others get back to their occupation. In his appearance as the risen Christ, Jesus demonstrates that they can’t go back to where they were, that their lives from that moment on will be anything but ordinary.

God, help me understand where the disciples were after the resurrection of Jesus. They were lost, going back to what they knew rather than incorporating into their lives what they had learned from the teachings and works of your Son, and through his resurrection. Give me the grace to see that Easter is not an event in the past but is the living person of Jesus, alive in the glorified body and present in the Church. John says of their attempt to return to ordinary life: “but that night they caught nothing.” Lord, teach me in the ordinariness of the day to hear your voice and with joyful recognition take heart, saying, “It is the Lord.” From the sequence from today’s readings: “Christ indeed from death is risen, our new life obtaining. Have mercy, victor King, ever reigning! Amen. Alleluia.”

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Thursday in the Octave of Easter

From the responsorial psalm: “O LORD, our Lord, how glorious is your name over all the earth! What is man that you should be mindful of him, or the son of man that you should care for him? O Lord, our God, how wonderful your name in all the earth!”

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke (Lk 24:35-48)

He said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the law of Moses and in the prophets and psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures. And he said to them, “Thus it is written that the Christ would suffer and rise from the dead on the third day and that repentance, for the forgiveness of sins, would be preached in his name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.”

Gathered together in Jerusalem, the disciples who had encountered Jesus on the road to Emmaus share their experiences. Even as they speak, Jesus appears among them. “Peace be with you,” he says to them. The disciples believe at first that they are seeing a ghost, but Jesus assures them of his physical presence and invites them to touch him and see his wounds. As if to further reassure the disciples, he asks for something to eat and eats the baked fish they give him. In his presence and in opening their minds to understand the Scriptures, Jesus reveals how his passion, death, and resurrection are part of God’s plan for salvation. “You are witnesses of these things,” he tells them, reminding them of their identity and commissioning them to proclaim repentance to all the nations.

God, help me throughout the day hear the first words of Jesus as he appears to the disciples: “Peace be with you.” Startled by what they believe is a ghost, the disciples go from terror to being “incredulous for joy and were amazed.” Help me put aside the distractions and worries of the day—figments of the imagination—to see with eyes of faith that you are truly with me at all times whether or not I comprehend it. Open my mind, Lord!

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

“The risen Jesus appears to the disciples in the upper room” flickr photo by Nick in exsilio https://flickr.com/photos/pelegrino/4669927869 shared under a Creative Commons (BY-NC-SA) license

Wednesday in the Octave of Easter

From the responsorial psalm: “Give thanks to the LORD, invoke his name; make known among the nations his deeds. Sing to him, sing his praise, proclaim all his wondrous deeds. Rejoice, O hearts that seek the Lord.”

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke (Lk 24:13-35)

As they approached the village to which they were going, he gave the impression that he was going on farther. But they urged him, “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening and the day is almost over.” So he went in to stay with them. And it happened that, while he was with them at table, he took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them. With that their eyes were opened and they recognized him, but he vanished from their sight. Then they said to each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he spoke to us on the way and opened the Scriptures to us?”

As two of Jesus’ disciples are walking toward Emmaus, discussing recent events about him, a man they don’t recognize asks what they are talking about. In their sadness and disappointment, they explain to the man that they thought Jesus would save Israel but was instead crucified. Jesus explains all of this to them in terms of how the Messiah had to suffer according to the Scriptures. While he stays with them, Jesus breaks bread, and the disciples immediately recognize him. And then he disappears. Returning to the Eleven in Jerusalem, they tell them that the Jesus has been raised and appeared to Simon, and the two disciples share their story of recognizing Jesus in the breaking of the bread.

God, help me see Jesus your Son with the eyes of faith when he appears in the needs of others. The disciples were discouraged but quickly regained their hope as they begin to realize that what Jesus said about dying and rising was true. Give me the grace to strengthen my faith in the resurrection and confront any doubts I have that prevent me from trusting in your mercy and almighty power. From the sequence of the readings: “Death and life have contended in that combat stupendous: The Prince of life, who died, reigns immortal.”

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Tuesday in the Octave of Easter

From the responsorial psalm: “Our soul waits for the LORD, who is our help and our shield. May your kindness, O LORD, be upon us who have put our hope in you. The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord.”

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John (Jn 20:11-18)

Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?” She thought it was the gardener and said to him, “Sir, if you carried him away, tell me where you laid him, and I will take him.” Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni,” which means Teacher. Jesus said to her, “Stop holding on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am going to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”

As Mary stays outside the tomb, weeping for the loss of the Lord, two angels sit inside the tomb, one at the head and one at the feet of where Jesus had been. They ask Mary why she is weeping. “They have taken my Lord,” she tells them, “and I don’t know where they laid him.” Immediately, she turns to see Jesus there but doesn’t recognize him, thinking instead she is speaking with the gardener. Only when Jesus says her name does she know him. Instructing her to stop holding on to him, Jesus helps prepare Mary for the end of his earthly ministry and for his ascension and coming of the Holy Spirit, instructing her to go to announce to the disciples his resurrection and imminent return to the Father, our Father. What Jesus announces to Mary we joyfully proclaim: his Father is our Father his God is our God.

God, help me take in during Easter as much as limited human understanding allows. I can’t know what it was like for Mary, who experienced overwhelming grief at his loss and then to have that grief transformed into unbounded joy. Yet, in his resurrection, Jesus becomes recognizable according to your will in the bread and wine that becomes his body and blood—”the life of the world to come”—at the celebration of every Mass. Give me the grace to realize what gift I have in the Eucharist and make me a means of proclaiming in my words and actions the joy of the resurrection.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Monday in the Octave of Easter

From the responsorial psalm: “Keep me, O God, for in you I take refuge; I say to the LORD, “My Lord are you.” O LORD, my allotted portion and my cup, you it is who hold fast my lot. Keep me safe, O God; you are my hope.”

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Matthew (Mt 28:8-15)

Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went away quickly from the tomb, fearful yet overjoyed, and ran to announce the news to his disciples. And behold, Jesus met them on their way and greeted them. They approached, embraced his feet, and did him homage. Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.”

Hurrying away from the tomb and experiencing fear and great joy, the two women run to tell the disciples what they have seen. On their way, Jesus meets them, and the women worship him as he tells them not to be afraid. Jesus then instructs the women to tell his disciples to go to Galilee, where they will see him. As this happens, some of the guards who were at the tomb go into the city and report to the chief priests what has happened, and the chief priests make plans to tell a lie: that the disciples stole Jesus’ body while the guards were sleeping. In Jesus’ first words to the women, we find an example of strength in professing the Gospel: “Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers.”

God, as the day progresses and its trials crop up, help me remember the first words of Jesus to the women after his resurrection. “Do not be afraid.” Help me choose to face trials, not overcome with uncertainty and apprehension, but with the omnipotence of the Risen Christ, who lives within me in his words and through the sacraments. Filled with a sense of urgency, the women did as Jesus asked them to do: “Go tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.” Give me the grace, Lord, to go out in the midst of the day to find Christ present, eager to grant me the peace only he can give.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Easter Sunday | The Resurrection of the Lord

From the sequence before the Gospel: “Christ indeed from death is risen, our new life obtaining. Have mercy, victor King, ever reigning! Amen. Alleluia.”

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John (Jn 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.

As the disciples race to the tomb, John sprints ahead and looks inside, seeing the burial cloths but hesitates to enter. Peter arrives, enters the tomb, and sees immediately that the cloths are arranged carefully, unlike how they would appear if the body were stolen. As John follows Peter in, they both see and believe. And John tells us, “For they did not yet understand the Scripture that he had to rise from the dead.” What they find in the empty tomb is part of an answer to Mary’s troubled declaration, “They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we don’t know where they put him.” Their minds still reeling, Mary and the other disciples don’t know what to make of what they have witnessed. It isn’t until later, as Jesus appears to them, that they come to know the unbounded joy of Christ’s paschal mystery that we celebrate at the Easter Mass: “Jesus Christ is risen today, Alleluia!”

God, help me make sense of the unfolding moments of that first Easter morning. I feel between spiritual worlds—more in spirit with Mary and her puzzlement than with the Spirit-confirmed faith of the apostles at Pentecost. “And we don’t know where they put him.” Something in that makes me want to linger, contemplating the mystery of Christ’s presence even in his absence. It’s the same mystery of the bread and wine made into his body and blood. Absent in appearance but truly, actually present. Lord, give me the grace to receive the Eucharist with reverential awe. The risen Christ, victor over sin and death, is freed from the tomb and shows us the path to eternal life. Thanks be to God, alleluia, alleluia.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Saturday of the Seventh Week of Easter

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John

Peter turned and saw the disciple following whom Jesus loved, the one who had also reclined upon his chest during the supper and had said, “Master, who is the one who will betray you?” When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, “Lord, what about him?” Jesus said to him, “What if I want him to remain until I come? What concern is it of yours? You follow me.” So the word spread among the brothers that that disciple would not die.

Peter questions Jesus about John and what is in store for himself in the near future. He questions Jesus’ will for them. Jesus’ response is simply “You follow me.” Because God loves each person as a separate, unrepeatable human being, he asks us to follow him in a unique way—apart from the path even of those closest to us. By saying this to Peter, Jesus corrects his path, guiding him away from the distractions of speculating about the future and on Jesus’ relationship with the other disciples. Am I on task with God’s will, or am I looking distractedly at others and at other things?

God, help me understand and be confident about the particular path you have given me to follow. As Saint Thomas Aquinas says, the substitutes for you that the world offers are honor, power, pleasure, and wealth. These are in themselves a sufficient obstacle to you in everyday life. Add to that busying myself with the relative merits of others and the graces they receive, and I am sure to miss hearing the words you say to Peter that you also say to me: “What concern is it of yours? You follow me.”

From the Gospel acclamation: “I will send to you the Spirit of truth, says the Lord; he will guide you to all truth.”

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Friday of the Seventh Week of Easter

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John

Jesus said to Simon Peter: “Amen, amen, I say to you, when you were younger, you used to dress yourself and go where you wanted; but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.” He said this signifying by what kind of death he would glorify God. And when he had said this, he said to him, “Follow me.”

Today’s Gospel from John tells the story of Peter’s encounter with Jesus after his resurrection, where he appears to Peter and the disciples at the Sea of Tiberias. Jesus asks Peter three times, “Do you love me?” For Peter’s threefold denial before Jesus’ death, Jesus now gives Peter a threefold invitation to love and serve him. The consequence of Peter’s commitment, his yes to following the Lord, will mean his life is no longer his own. And the “someone else” who dressed and led Peter is the same Christ, who desires the same for me as he did for Peter: that I love the Lord with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength and that I love my neighbor as myself.

God, help me understand that to follow you means abandoning my own will for yours. Help me joyfully surrender every gift you have given me as a means to give you glory. Peter became distressed when Jesus asked him a third time “Do you love me?” Countless times from that moment on Peter must have heard that question in his heart. Lord, you know I love you; you know also that because of sin, I will fail you, myself, and others in giving you due glory. Help me listen out for you throughout the day and receive your grace so that I can hear your voice and follow you.

Lord, stay with me today. When inevitable conflicts come, help me remember to ask for your guidance and to know and do your will. Saint Philip Neri, pray for us!

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Thursday of the Seventh Week of Easter

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John

Lifting up his eyes to heaven, Jesus prayed saying: “I pray not only for these, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, so that they may all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us, that the world may believe that you sent me. And I have given them the glory you gave me, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may be brought to perfection as one, that the world may know that you sent me, and that you loved them even as you loved me.”

In today’s Gospel, Jesus prays that the disciples may know the unity between him and the Father and that they may believe that God sent him. As they go out into the world to spread the Gospel, Jesus’ prayer expresses the desire for unity among the disciples and among those who hear the word from them. By being brought to perfection in the glory Jesus has given them, his followers come to know God and the eternal life Jesus offers them through his death and resurrection. “Father, they are your gift to me,” Jesus prays. That gift taken from the Father becomes Jesus’ self-gift of dying on the cross to bring all to eternal life with the Father.

Father in heaven, through the unity of your love, you give to your Son all who have lived in the world and those who will be born into the world. In giving this gift, he gives you glory through his perfect gift of self to the world in his sacrificial death and in his resurrection. Nobody is left out in the prayer that your Son offers for the whole world. For this, Jesus prays “that they may be brought to perfection as one, that the world may know that you sent me, and that you loved them even as you loved me.” God, help me understand my role in proclaiming this. What Saint Paul says in the first reading, I can say of my life and how I live out my faith: “I am on trial for hope in the resurrection of the dead.”

Thank you, God, for making of me and of the whole world a gift to your Son. Keep me always in his care and guide me in this world on the path to eternal life.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Wednesday of the Seventh Week of Easter

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John

Lifting up his eyes to heaven, Jesus prayed, saying: “I gave them your word, and the world hated them, because they do not belong to the world any more than I belong to the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world but that you keep them from the Evil One. They do not belong to the world any more than I belong to the world. Consecrate them in the truth. Your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I sent them into the world. And I consecrate myself for them, so that they also may be consecrated in truth.”

Jesus prays for his disciples so that they may be one just as he is one with the Father. To be one with the Father is to be consecrated in his truth. Jesus’ prayer is that the disciples be sent out into the world just as he was sent out, consecrated in the truth. In the first reading, Paul echoes Jesus’ prayer for protection. He says as he speaks to the presbyters of the Church of Ephesus: “I know that after my departure savage wolves will come among you, and they will not spare the flock. And from your own group, men will come forward perverting the truth to draw the disciples away after them.” He urges them to be vigilant and departs from them saying, “And now I commend you to God.”

Lord, help me see and live in the truth today so that I can be consecrated in you, truth itself. Help me look toward eternal life, and the means to it: to know you, the only true God. I am easily led away from you throughout the day, and the result is that I accept confused and distorted views in place of your clarity and truth. The psalmist in today’s responsorial says, “Confess the power of God!” Give me the grace today to remain in your truth.

From the Gospel acclamation: “Your word, O Lord, is truth; consecrate us in the truth.”

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.