Tuesday of the Second Week of Easter Acts 4:32-37 + John 3:7-15
The community of believers was of one heart and mind ….
One of the greatest tensions in the spiritual life is between individual concerns and communal needs. Given our modern secular culture, we tend to the former.
We can be lulled into nurturing our spiritual life as something that’s “just between me and God” or a “me and Jesus relationship”. A relationship with God certainly lies at the heart of the Christian life, but our lives are not given to us for our sakes alone.
Everything God graciously gives us, including our relationship with Him, is given to us for the sake of others. The graces that God pours into our lives are meant to overflow from our lives into the world through the Church.
The Church is the Mystical Body of Christ, the Risen Jesus in the world today. It is through the Church that we live our spiritual lives: both in receiving the sacramental graces that build us up, and in giving these graces to others through our vocation.
The Christian’s vocation is the hinge between the individualistic and the communal: each of us is called to be an individual for the sake of others. We reflect on this aspect of the Mystical Body of Christ throughout the Easter Season as we prepare for the celebration of Pentecost. The Holy Spirit descends from Heaven to strengthen the Church, and each of us who are her members, to carry out the saving mission of the Church.
St. Mark, Evangelist 1 Peter 5:5-14 + Mark 16:15-20
But they went forth and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them ….
Saint Mark the Evangelist, like St. Luke, was not an apostle, as were the evangelists Matthew and John. Yet various prayers and Scriptures in the Sacred Liturgy are taken today from those set aside for the apostles. Why is this? Is the Church just too lazy to compose prayers specifically for the evangelists? Of course not.
The entire New Testament is apostolic in origin. Out of the 27 books of the New Testament, only two were not composed by apostles: the Gospel accounts of Mark and Luke. Yet even these two books are apostolic in origin, for St. Mark was a disciple of St. Peter, and St. Luke of St. Paul.
That St. Mark handed down the Gospel account that he had received from an apostle reminds us of two things. First, the Church is apostolic in origin, by the design of Jesus. It’s in unity with our bishops under the guidance of the Pope that we can hear the fullness of the Gospel. Second, each of us, like St. Mark, lives one’s own vocation to hand on to others the same Good News that’s been handed down through history by the apostles and their successors.
Saturday in the Octave of Easter Acts 4:13-21 + Mark 16:9-15
I will give thanks to you, for you have answered me.
Throughout the Blessed Virgin Mary’s life, humility marked her approach to her Lord. Humility is not a virtue that one can ever spiritually outgrow. Whatever graces God gives us, they are given for the unfolding of His plan, which often remains to us a mystery. Even as we apply these graces in our lives, we must do so with humility, as day by day, another aspect of the mystery of our vocation is shown to us.
Even at the foot of the Cross, Mary prayed in humility. It was with humility that she rejoiced at the sight of her Son risen from the dead. Seeing Jesus on that first Easter Sunday, she would not have known exactly how He was preparing His disciples—through the power of the Holy Spirit—to form a Church. Nor would she have known exactly how Jesus’ words to her from the Cross—“Woman, behold your son”—were about to flower with new meaning, when she became the Mother of the Church on the day of Pentecost.
If you do not already know it by heart, take the opportunity to learn the prayer Regina Caeli, the traditional Marian prayer of Easter:
V. Queen of Heaven, rejoice, alleluia. / R. For He whom you did merit to bear, alleluia.
V. Has risen, as he said, alleluia. / R. Pray for us to God, alleluia.
V. Rejoice and be glad, O Virgin Mary, alleluia. / R. For the Lord has truly risen, alleluia.
Let us pray. O God, who gave joy to the world through the resurrection of Thy Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, grant we beseech Thee, that through the intercession of the Virgin Mary, His Mother, we may obtain the joys of everlasting life. Through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.
Friday in the Octave of Easter Acts 4:1-12 + John 21:1-14
He revealed Himself in this way.
What does St. John the Evangelist mean when he reports to us that the disciples “dared” not ask Jesus “Who are you?” After all, the Beloved Disciple had told Peter that this was the Lord. Today’s Gospel passage suggests some unresolved ambiguity. While the miracle of catching 153 fish convinced the disciples who He was, there was still some reason for them to ask His identity. His miracle convinced them, but His appearance did not.
So the Risen Jesus, in His glorified Body, was the same person, yet somehow different. He had the same two natures—human and divine—yet He was somehow different. The Resurrection narratives demonstrate some of the ways in which Jesus was different after His rising from the dead: most famously—as we will hear this coming Sunday—the Risen Lord had a physical body that could pass through solid matter.
The point here is that in His Risen Body, Jesus looks different to His disciples. He looks different enough to cause some confusion in their minds: at least enough confusion for them to be tempted to “dare” ask Him “Who are you?” For ourselves, regarding both our meditation and our speaking to the Lord in prayer, we should ask: do we expect the Lord to appear to us in some certain way? How might God want to surprise us in making Himself known to us, and in showing us His love?
On this Sunday’s solemnity of Divine Mercy, the Church calls us to rejoice that the Sacrament of Confession, and the peace flowing from it, are the “first fruits” of Jesus’ Resurrection. In the Old Testament, the People of God—Israel—gave to Him the first fruits of their harvests, as precious and life-giving as they were. But in the New Testament, God turns this around. It’s God who gives to His People—the Church—the first fruits of the Resurrection from the dead of His most precious Son.
Many of our separated brethren claim that there’s no need to confess one’s sins to a priest. Against such a claim stand the words of St. John the Evangelist, who tells us that just a few hours after Jesus’ Resurrection, He showed Himself to His apostles, “breathed on them, and said to them: ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained’” [John 20:19,22-23]. Consider from three perspectives the blessings that flow from this gift of the Holy Spirit.
First, Confession reflects the nature of the sinner. God established a sacrament where we are required to confess our sins to another human being—in fact, a fellow sinner—to receive the benefits of the sacrament. God knows that if He made the default for forgiving sins the direct confession of one’s sins to God, then the average sinner would grow spiritually weaker over time.
For example, if you start a confession of your sins directly to God and have trouble remembering them, it’s easy to say to yourself, “Well, God knows everything anyway. I don’t have to confess all my sins.” That can begin a habit by which the sinner demands less and less from himself.
From the opposite perspective, because the priest is not likely to know our sins, the burden is on each Christian to present herself more honestly to God. But one of the beautiful truths about Confession is that the more honest we are about our sinfulness, the more we appreciate the beauty and abundance of God’s mercy.
Second, Confession reflects the nature of the Church. The priest in Confession represents not only God, but also the other members of the Body of Christ. One of the many problems with the idea of just confessing one’s sins directly to God is that our sins are offenses not only against God.
When Jesus taught His disciples about God’s commandments, He explained that they boil down to two: to love God, and to love one’s neighbor. This two-fold command is even symbolized by the Cross on which Jesus died for us. The Cross has a vertical beam symbolizing the love meant to flow between me and God, and a horizontal beam symbolizing the love meant to flow between me and my neighbors. As Jesus Christ is fully God and fully man, the priest in Confession represents both God and man: my God and my neighbors.
Third, Confession reflects the nature of God Himself. On the evening of His Resurrection, Jesus breathed on the apostles and said to them: “Receive the Holy Spirit.” In Confession the penitent receives this same Holy Spirit, and if we know one thing about the Holy Spirit, it’s that He is never satisfied to give life when He can give life abundantly.
In Confession God not only forgives your sins, but gives many other gifts as well. The Catechism lists all of them, but perhaps most important among them is “an increase of spiritual strength for the Christian battle” [CCC 1496]. This gift is why we ought to make a sacramental confession regularly even if we don’t have any mortal sins to confess, but only venial sins.
After all, what is one of hardest parts of “the Christian battle” if not forgiving those who have hurt you? There are times in every disciple’s life when it’s so difficult to forgive that it would be impossible to do so through human efforts alone. But as Christians, we are never alone. The graces that we receive in Confession strengthen us to offer more easily human forgiveness to those who have wronged us.
Some people think of Confession as concerning only the washing away of the sins of one’s past. But Confession is not only about the past: it’s also about the future. Confession is about God equipping us through His grace for the days ahead. Confession prepares us so that when we leave the confessional we might serve Him as instruments of mercy, loving our neighbors as God loves them: not just when it’s easy, but even when it requires us to love as Jesus loved on the Cross.
Thursday in the Octave of Easter Acts 3:11-26 + Luke 24:35-48
Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures.
It is only in “the breaking of the bread” that the disciples come to know Jesus, and it is only in this that they become more than disciples. Only in the Eucharist do we share in the Sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross, and become members of Christ’s Body. This is the goal of our lives as Christians: not merely to learn about Jesus, but to enter into His life and saving mission.
On the day of the Resurrection, Jesus is preparing the apostles for the day of His Ascension. After He leaves the earth, it will be up to them to act in His name. First, they must preach penance for the remission of sins, and then suffer inevitably for standing up for what is true.
In all of this, the waves of impact from the news of the Resurrection continue to spread throughout the world that God created, bringing peace to His people on earth and glory to God in the highest. Throughout history and throughout our own lives, it is our calling to continue to be faithful witness to the news of the Resurrection. Yet only Christ’s Holy Spirit can sustain us in offering ourselves for such witness. So for this calling we pray during the Easter season for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in abundance.
Wednesday in the Octave of Easter Acts 3:1-10 + Luke 24:13-35
But they urged him, “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening and the day is almost over.”
Easter Monday we heard the chief priests and the elders respond to the news of the Resurrection by covering their tracks with lies. Yesterday, we heard Mary Magdalen respond to Our Risen Lord when He called her by her name. She cried out, “Teacher!” Yet we are called to recognize in Christ much more than simply a teacher.
Today we hear of more events which took place on the day of the Resurrection. The word “disciple” means “one who learns”, and the two disciples of today’s Gospel passage are obviously devoted to learning. Undoubtedly they asked themselves what all these amazing events could mean.
We are told that Jesus joins them in their journey, though the disciples, like Mary Magdalen, do not recognize who He is. Jesus preaches to them the meaning of the Scriptures, which help them learn. These Scriptures help them learn the meaning of what had happened over the previous few days. But still, they do not recognize Jesus.
Only in “the breaking of the bread” do they come to know Jesus, and only in the Eucharist do we Christians become more than disciples. Only by sharing in the Sacrifice of Christ’s Body and Blood can we begin to imitate Him in our lives as He wills.
Tuesday in the Octave of Easter Acts 2:36-41 + John 20:11-18
Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand persons were added that day.
On the day of Pentecost, Peter boldly proclaims to the Jewish people: “Let the whole house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.” The response of these Jews is pretty easy to guess. Acts tells us that “when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and they asked Peter and the other Apostles, ‘What are we to do…?’” You can almost imagine what they, in their fear, expect Peter to reply.
But Peter delivers to them Good News: “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the Name of Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the Gift of the Holy Spirit.”
Acts then tells us that there were two groups in that crowd: there were those who accepted this Good News—some 3,000 persons—and there were those who did not accept this Good News.
Here is the first lesson of the Church’s life and saving mission. Unfortunately, it’s a difficult lesson to put into practice. We need to choose to be in that first crowd, the crowd of 3,000. We need to accept the Good News about the love that God wants to give us. This is the love that Jesus, from the Cross and in the Holy Eucharist, is dying to give us.
Monday in the Octave of Easter Acts 2:14,22-33 + Matthew 28:8-15
Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went away quickly from the tomb, fearful yet overjoyed ….
During most of the liturgical year, the First Reading at Holy Mass comes from the Old Testament. But Easter is different. During Easter, we hear first from Acts of the Apostles. Why is this? There are plenty of apostolic letters that could be proclaimed: Romans, Galatians, Ephesians, 1 John, Jude, and so on. These New Testament epistles preach about the Resurrection. So why do we hear, each and every day of the Easter Season, from Acts of the Apostles?
The answer is that what the apostles were about throughout Acts is what God is calling us to throughout Easter. In a phrase, this answer is: forming the Church and living out her mission.
The Church was conceived, so to speak, from the water and blood that poured forth from the side of Jesus crucified. But the Church was born some fifty days later, on the feast of Pentecost. The story of Acts is the first history of the Church: going forth, out into the world, to proclaim in word and action the saving mystery of Jesus, crucified and Risen. This Church has lived on earth for some 2000 years, and each of us is called to share in her life and saving mission.
Reflections on the Sacred Liturgy 