Tag: resurrection

Feast of Saint John, Apostle and evangelist

From the responsorial psalm: “Light dawns for the just; and gladness, for the upright of heart. Be glad in the LORD, you just, and give thanks to his holy name. Rejoice in the Lord, you just!”

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John (Jn 20:1a and 2-8)

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.

John describes the events that take place at the discovery of the empty tomb following the resurrection of Jesus. Mary Magdalene first goes to the tomb and finds that the stone has been rolled away and then tells Peter, the first pope, and John, the disciple whom Jesus loved. Peter and John immediately run to the tomb, and John arrives first and out of respect for his authority of office waits for him to enter first. Going inside the tomb, Peter finds the burial cloths and the cloth that had covered Jesus’ head. John then enters and sees the burial cloths. In John’s own account, which he describes in third person writing about himself, he says, “he saw and believed.” As the first apostles, Mary Magdalene, Peter, and John run to seek out the risen Christ. The risen Christ, present in the Eucharist, is ours to run to today.

God, help me take in the words of Saint John from the first reading as it applies to the Gospel: “what we have seen and heard we proclaim now to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; for our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. We are writing this so that our joy may be complete.” Fellowship with you and with Jesus is your gift and mine to receive. Give me the grace to do that through participation in the sacraments of the Church and through the intercession of Saint John and the Blessed Mother. Just as John accepted the invitation of Jesus from the cross to take Mary into his home, show me the way to do the same for the sake of your glory. Saint John, 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.

Monday of the Thirty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time

From the responsorial psalm: “The LORD’s are the earth and its fullness; the world and those who dwell in it. For he founded it upon the seas and established it upon the rivers. Lord, this is the people that longs to see your face.”

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke (Lk 21:1-4)

When Jesus looked up he saw some wealthy people putting their offerings into the treasury and he noticed a poor widow putting in two small coins. He said, “I tell you truly, this poor widow put in more than all the rest; for those others have all made offerings from their surplus wealth, but she, from her poverty, has offered her whole livelihood.”

The eyes of Jesus fall on the wealthy and the poor widow, but as the Son of God he knows their hearts and judges them perfectly. The value of the offerings from their surplus wealth and from her whole livelihood differ. Jesus begins by saying, “I tell you truly.” In speaking truly, the author of reality describes the offerings as they really are and not as society views them. In what actually matters, the poor widow is spiritually wealthy and the wealthy people live a life of poverty. What gives value to the two small coins is the act of faith and trust in God that Jesus reads in her heart. In giving everything she has to God, she desires not what is vain but longs to see the face of God.

God, just as Jesus observes what the wealthy people and the widow put into the treasury, let me open my heart to him to see what I put in. Please guide me in recognizing the value of money and material things in relation to faith. If I have enough material wealth, help me see this as a gift that is returned to you as I give it away to others. Even more, what does it take for me to be confident enough to trust you with my whole livelihood? How willing am I to give you all of what I believe sustains and supports me? Strengthen me, Lord, to give glory to you as I offer to others the gifts you gave me first. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,” Saint Paul reminds us, “who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavens.” Saint Catherine of Alexandria, 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.

Maximilian Kolbe Shrine—Blessed Sacrament

The Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe

From the responsorial psalm: “The LORD is king, in splendor robed; robed is the LORD and girt about with strength. The Lord is king; he is robed in majesty.”

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John (Jn 18:33b-37)

Jesus answered, “My kingdom does not belong to this world. If my kingdom did belong to this world, my attendants would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not here.” So Pilate said to him, “Then you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say I am a king. For this I was born and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.”

Pilate is trying to ascertain what Jesus has done; that is, why Jesus has become his problem. Pilate knows Jesus is not King of the Jews, but he asks him to check whether Jesus is in his right mind. Jesus answers his question with a question: “Do you say this on your own or have others told you about me?” Again, Pilate retreats from having to take responsibility for the fate of Jesus by saying that the chief priests handed Jesus over to him. Yet, as he tries to find a way in his power to deal with Jesus, he fails to see in Jesus, Truth made manifest, and gives Jesus over to the people to have him crucified. “What is truth?” he would ask Jesus, the way and the truth and the life in the flesh.

God, keep my mind clear today in knowing Truth as it is in the person of Jesus, King of the universe. Help me turn away from lies and the father of all lies, the evil one. Help me avoid the ways of the world that want nothing to do with you and to know the love you bestow on us in your kingdom as your children. Through Jesus who reigns in splendor at your right hand, Truth took on human form and brought us to truth and life in his passion, death, and resurrection as firstborn of the dead. Give me the grace to trust in the victory of Truth that we will all be witnesses to the glorious coming of Christ our King, that “every eye will see him, even those who pierced him.” Your dominion, Lord, is an everlasting dominion; your kingship will not be destroyed.

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.

Maximilian Kolbe Shrine—Blessed Sacrament

“To him all are alive.” | Saturday of the Thirty-third Week in Ordinary Time

From the responsorial psalm: “Blessed be the LORD, my rock, who trains my hands for battle, my fingers for war. Blessed be the Lord, my Rock!”

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke (Lk 20:27-40)

“That the dead will rise even Moses made known in the passage about the bush, when he called ‘Lord’ the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob; and he is not God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive.” Some of the scribes said in reply, “Teacher, you have answered well.” And they no longer dared to ask him anything.

The question the Sadducees pose to Jesus is this: If a woman marries seven brothers in succession after her first husband dies and then each of those husbands die, whose wife will the woman be? It is a hypothetical, even ridiculous question, meant to support the Sadducees’s belief that there was no resurrection of the dead and that belief in it is absurd. But Jesus refocuses the question toward the truth and away from the diversion. Their question is about eternal life, and Jesus describes a life in the resurrection that goes beyond relationships and institutions. Jesus goes on to interpret Scripture, revealing to the Sadducees his role as the person of truth, God’s only Son who would receive the breath of God in his resurrection.

God, what the psalmist makes clear I want to carry with me throughout the day: this life is a spiritual battle, and you train my hands for battle and my fingers for war. In the first reading, you brought to life with your breath the prophets who were tormented and persecuted. After they died, your “breath of life” entered them, and they heard your loud voice from heaven, saying, “Come up here.” And they went up to heaven as their enemies looked on. What does this say to me today? Be my mercy and my fortress, Lord, my stronghold and deliverer, my shield in whom I trust.

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.

Maximilian Kolbe Shrine—Blessed Sacrament

Memorial of Saints Martha, Mary, and Lazarus

From the responsorial psalm: “Since they have provoked me with their ‘no-god’ and angered me with their vain idols, I will provoke them with a ‘no-people’; with a foolish nation I will anger them.” You have forgotten God who gave you birth.”

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John (Jn 11:19-27)

“Your brother will rise.” Martha said to him, “I know he will rise, in the resurrection on the last day.” Jesus told her, “I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live, and anyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” She said to him, “Yes, Lord. I have come to believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, the one who is coming into the world.”

As the friends of Martha and Mary comforted them after their brother’s death, Martha hears that Jesus is coming and goes out to meet him. Martha, the one whom Jesus says is anxious and worried about many things, meets Jesus as Mary sits at home, probably overcome with grief. Martha tells Jesus that if he had been there, Lazarus would not have died. Yet, she shows faith in saying to him, “But even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you.” When Jesus tells her that he is the resurrection and the life and that whoever believes in him even if he dies will live, he invites Martha to profess her faith. “Do you believe this?” Martha begins by saying, “I have come to believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God.” After his passion, death, and resurrection, how much more poignantly Christ asks each of us this question in his full presence in the Eucharist and in the Blessed Sacrament.

God, as I consider the dialogue between Jesus and Martha, I am struck by her faith in Jesus after her brother’s death. The faith is grounded in her trust in the relationship Jesus has with you as his loving Father. “But even now I know that whatever you ask of God . . .” Be with me today, Lord, as I hesitate to trust in your goodness and providence. Make clear to me that, like your Son, you hear and answer my prayers no matter how minor or grave any situation might seem to me. Saints Martha, Mary, and Lazarus, 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 Third Week of Easter

From the responsorial psalm: “Blessed be God who refused me not my prayer or his kindness! Let all the earth cry out to God with joy.”

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John (Jn 6:44-51)

“I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, but they died; this is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my Flesh for the life of the world.”

Jesus further explains how we are drawn to him and the necessity of receiving his body and blood for eternal life. Jesus says to the crowds, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draw him, and I will raise him on the last day.” He explains how the Father draws us to Jesus. Everyone who listens to his Father—our Father—comes to Jesus. When we come to Jesus in the Eucharist, we receive the body and blood of Christ—the bread that came down from heaven that will give us eternal life.

Father in heaven, you sent Jesus your Son to draw us to you. In his teachings and in the sacraments of the Church, born out of your love, Jesus remains ever present so that I can come to him at all times. “Whoever believes has eternal life,” Jesus says. Give me the grace today to believe in the hope and reality of eternal life through the death and resurrection of Jesus. The Gospel acclamation is an aid to help me remember this throughout the day: “I am the living bread that came down from heaven, says the Lord; whoever eats this bread will live forever.”

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 Third Week of Easter

From the responsorial psalm: “Shout joyfully to God, all the earth, sing praise to the glory of his name; proclaim his glorious praise. Say to God, “How tremendous are your deeds!” Let all the earth cry out to God with joy.”

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John (Jn 6:35-40)

“But I told you that although you have seen me, you do not believe. Everything that the Father gives me will come to me, and I will not reject anyone who comes to me, because I came down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of the one who sent me. And this is the will of the one who sent me, that I should not lose anything of what he gave me, but that I should raise it on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him may have eternal life, and I shall raise him on the last day.”

In the Bread of Life Discourse, Jesus continues speaking to the crowd that he fed with the distribution of the loaves and the fishes. What he says to them is hard to take in. Jesus tells them that he is sent to do not his own will but the will of the Father. And the will of the Father, he tells them, is that he will not reject anyone who comes to him and that all who believe in him will have eternal life. Although the crowd doesn’t know it and can’t yet understand, Jesus invites them to the heavenly banquet, where their sustenance for all eternity will be the bread of life—Jesus Christ—in the unity of God the Father and the Holy Spirit.

Father in heaven, let me say in my heart with the grace of understanding what the crowd says to Jesus, “Sir, give us this bread always.” Help me recognize the hope that I am called to in receiving the Eucharist and in internalizing the Word made flesh. It is nourishment in this life and the hope of eternal life, the “medicine of immortality.”

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 of the Third Week of Easter

From the responsorial psalm: “Into your hands I commend my spirit; you will redeem me, O LORD, O faithful God. My trust is in the LORD; I will rejoice and be glad of your mercy. Into your hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit.”

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John (Jn 6:30-35)

So they said to Jesus, “Sir, give us this bread always.” Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst.”

John continues relating the story of Jesus’ encounter with the crowds that followed him after he performed the miracle of the loaves and the fishes. After Jesus tells them that to do the work of God is to believe in the one he sent, they ask for a sign from him so that they may believe. The same crowd Jesus had just fed ask him, recalling how Moses fed them manna in the desert, ask “What sign can you do, that we may see and believe in you? What can you do?” How can they ask this after witnessing a miracle? Yet, Jesus tells them it was not Moses but his Father who gave them true bread from heaven. And Jesus says, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst.”

Father in heaven, help me trust in you today through Jesus Christ your Son. Trust that you will provide me with everything I need. Trust that you know what I need even before I ask. Grant me the wisdom to know what it is I seek and what to ask you for. I stand as one among the crowds that followed Jesus, sometimes asking “What can you do?” Give me the grace, Lord, to breathe freely in the gift of peace that only you can give. Help me be aware of this gift when I have the opportunity to become a means of your peace for others. Stay with me, 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.

Monday of the Third Week of Easter


From the responsorial psalm: “I declared my ways, and you answered me; teach me your statutes. Make me understand the way of your precepts, and I will meditate on your wondrous deeds. Blessed are they who follow the law of the Lord!”

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John (Jn 6:22-29)

When the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they themselves got into boats and came to Capernaum looking for Jesus. And when they found him across the sea they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you get here?” Jesus answered them and said, “Amen, amen, I say to you, you are looking for me not because you saw signs but because you ate the loaves and were filled. Do not work for food that perishes but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him the Father, God, has set his seal.”

Some of the multitude that Jesus fed come looking for him. Jesus knows their needs and realizes they wish to satisfy a physical hunger for food. He responds by acknowledging that the bread they seek would provide temporary sustenance but that he is the one who offers the true bread from heaven. Encouraging them to work for the food that doesn’t perish, Jesus teaches them to hunger for the very word of God—”the food that endures for eternal life.” They ask him: “What can we do to accomplish the works of God?” Jesus tells them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in the one he sent.”

God, help me focus today on working for true food, the bread of life. And make known to me throughout the day exactly what that means. The Gospel acclamation, the words of Jesus, make clear how I choose to make that happen: “One does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes forth from the mouth of God.” Jesus tells the crowd that to accomplish your works, Lord, we are to believe in the one you sent. To live on your every word, Lord, is to live for love because you yourself are love. In seeking the true bread from heaven, give me the grace to live in your love and be loving to others.

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.

Third Sunday of Easter


From the Gospel acclamation: “Lord Jesus, open the Scriptures to us; make our hearts burn while you speak to us.”

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

While they were still speaking about this, he stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be with you.” But they were startled and terrified and thought that they were seeing a ghost. Then he said to them, “Why are you troubled? And why do questions arise in your hearts? Look at my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me and see, because a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you can see I have.” And as he said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. While they were still incredulous for joy and were amazed, he asked them, “Have you anything here to eat?” They gave him a piece of baked fish; he took it and ate it in front of them.

As the two disciples recount their journey, they describe how Jesus made himself known to them in the breaking of bread. Suddenly he stands among them. Terrified, and not knowing what to make of his presence, they think they are seeing an apparition, a ghost. The risen Christ quietly comforts them with questions and an invitation to look on him, at his nail-pierced hands and feet. By the author of life, the horror of death is trampled on. By the risen Christ, death and its terrifying mask have been torn away. “While they were still incredulous for joy and were amazed,” Luke tells us, Jesus asks for something to eat. For their sake, the glorified Christ eats in front of them, giving the disciples spiritual nourishment as witnesses to teach repentance and God’s mercy to all the nations.

God, open my mind to understand the Scriptures, as Jesus did among the disciples. When I consider death and its terrible effects on the body, help dispel any fear or anxiety I have, putting in its place the image of the risen Christ standing in the midst of the disciples. Let me consider that the effects of death are not lasting on the body, and that death does not have the last word—the Word Incarnate does in his resurrection. God, you are truth itself, and everything you speak comes into being and is fulfilled. In the words of Christ risen from the dead: “Everything written about me in the law of Moses and in the prophets and psalms must be fulfilled.” At all times, Lord, especially when I look on death and am afraid, let your face shine upon me and give me peace.

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