...It is I myself. Touch Me and see... Third Sunday of Easter (B)

Third Sunday of Easter (B)

Acts 3:13-15, 17-19

Ps 4:2, 4, 7-8, 9

1 Jn 2:1-5a

Lk 24:35-48

In Luke's Gospel, we find the Apostles again terrified as Jesus appears in their midst.  Both Luke and John report this fear in their gospels.  Disbelief that Jesus could truly be in the same room with them.  Is he a ghost?  Or is he real?  Did Jesus truly rise from the dead as he told them he would?

Jesus convinced his Apostles that he was truly alive by the simple and beautiful action of eating with them...  just as he had done earlier with the disciples in Emmaus.  And he invited them to touch him and see that he wasn't a ghost.

Their experiences with the Risen Lord certainly were such powerful and personal ones that in the future, after they had received the Holy Spirit on Pentecost, the Apostles were able to go out among the people and preach the Good News.  They knew for certain that their Lord and Savior was the Anointed One of God and they were willing to face prison, torture and death for the Name.

We see in the reading from Acts, that Peter minced no words in reminding the Jews : "The author of life you put to death, but God raised him from the dead; of this we are witnesses." (Acts 3:15)  He also reminded them that Jesus had fulfilled everything that had been announced beforehand by the prophets and urged his listeners to repent and be converted.

Today, we also are encouraged to repent and be converted; to live our lives in conformity with him.  By doing so, we receive with joy, the promise found in the First Letter of John:  "...whoever keeps his word, the love of God is truly perfected in him." (1 Jn 2:5a)


 ~ Duccio diBuoninsegna:  Appearence while the Apostles are at table (1308-11)         

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"Peace be with you" ~ Second Sunday of Easter/Divine Mercy Sunday ~ by Ronnie Archer

Second Sunday of Easter - Divine Mercy Sunday

Acts 4:32-35
Ps 118:2-4, 13-15, 22-24
1 Jn 5:1-6
Jn 20:19-31

On this, the second Sunday of Easter, we also celebrate Divine Mercy Sunday. Pope John Paul II instituted this Sunday as such during his sermon during the canonization of Sr. Faustina Kowalska on April 30, 2000. Pope John Paul II explained how Sr. Faustina witnessed the sufferings during the events of the years around the time of the First and Second World Wars. She received the message of Divine Mercy from Christ, which was "Humanity will not find peace until it turns trustfully to Divine Mercy." Sr. Faustina experienced the pain of others in her own heart.

We hear a "message" of mercy in our first reading and in the responsorial psalm today. In the reading of Acts 4:34-35, "There was no needy person among them, all who owned property or houses would sell them and bring the proceeds to be distributed to each accord to need." Mercy reverberates all through the Responsorial Psalm 118.

In John 5:1-2, we hear that "Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is begotten by God, and everyone who loves the Father loves also the one begotten by Him. In this way we know that we love the children of God when we love God and obey His commandments." If we do love God, then we have to love all of God's children, and we know that we love God and His children when we do His will and obey His commandments. The message from the Gospel from John this Sunday is "victory of life overcoming death." John's gospel takes place in the upper room, where the doors were locked, but Jesus came and stood in the midst of the disciples, saying "Peace be with you...as the Father sent Me, I send you." Breathing on them He said "receive the Holy Spirit, whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven and whose sins you retain, they are retained." (vs 21-23)

We all have heard how Thomas was not with the disciples when Jesus first appeared, and when he was told of Jesus' appearance, he refused to believe... unless he could place his fingers in the spearmark in Jesus' side. After another week, Jesus appeared to them again and this time, Thomas was there. Jesus invited him to place his fingers in His side, whereas Thomas came to believe. Jesus appeared to the disciples to be sure they knew that He was dead, but now is alive, to be a comfort for them.

Christ's Resurrection has rendered us full of power... to be able to keep His commandments, show His love through Divine Mercy to others.

Sr. Faustina was an "angel of mercy"... the love of God was what powered her to do what she could to relieve others' suffering. Christ died for all, His Spirit has been given to all to enable us also to spread Christ's love to others with unselfishness and forgiveness.

I pray that we will genuinely be able to show His Divine Mercy to others, so that we may experience the PEACE that only Christ can give.


~ The Incredulity of St. Thomas by Caravaggio

Come see where He lay! ~ Easter Vigil 2012

"...they saw that the stone had been rolled back; it was very large. On entering the tomb they saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed in a white robe, and they were utterly amazed. He said to them, “Do not be amazed! You seek Jesus of Nazareth, the crucified. He has been raised; he is not here. Behold the place where they laid him." (Mark 16:4-6)


~ Mary Magdalen at the empty tomb

Good Friday 2012

Jesus Taken Down From The Cross by Michael D. O'Brien

Holy Thursday 2012

Jesus Washing Peter's Feet by Ford Madox Brown
Tate Gallery, London

Were you there? ~ A reflection on Palm Sunday 2012

Palm Sunday

Is 50:4-7
Ps 22: 8-9, 17-18, 19-20, 23-24
Phil 2:6-11
Mk 14:1 - 15:47

Were you there? One could almost ask this of Isaiah, as he describes the "Suffering Servant" who allows himself to be beaten and spat upon... looked upon by everyone as disgraced; yet relies on the Lord God as his help. Isn't this the picture of Jesus as he gives himself up to be crucified?

How beautifully Paul describes Jesus in his letter to the Philippians. Not only did Jesus not claim equality with God, his Father, but he emptied himself completely and took the form of a slave. Jesus "humbled himself, becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross." (Phil 2:8)

Were you there that day when Jesus made his triumphal entry into Jerusalem? Were you among the crowd that waved palm branches and scattered leaves and flowers on the road over which Jesus rode? Were you one of those who was ready to proclaim him king and savior of his people? Don't you realize that only a few days later, that welcoming crowd had turned into the rabble that wanted him crucified? Jesus did!

Yet, despite the fact that Jesus could have used his power as God to become an earthly king and savior, he realized that only by emptying himself and becoming that "Suffering Servant" could we be redeemed.

Were you there at the foot of the cross as Jesus, in agony and even despair, prayed to his Father: "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (Ps 22:2a) Jesus, in his humanity, could feel that despair, but he also never gave in to it. The psalm actually becomes a hymn of praise...

"I will declare your name to my people; in the assembly I will praise you. You who fear the LORD, praise him! All you descendants of Jacob, honor him! Revere him, all you descendants of Israel! For he has not despised or scorned the suffering of the afflicted one; he has not hidden his face from him but has listened to his cry for help." (Ps 22:22-24)

Jesus was there... for us!


~ Image: Palm Sunday by William Hemmerling