3rd Sunday of Easter (B)

(Edited) Reflections (from) 3rd Sunday of Easter (B), April 24, 2009

First reading: Acts 3:13-15, 17-19
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 4
Second reading: 1 John 2:1-5
Gospel reading: Luke 24:35-48

"You are witnesses of this."

The Sunday gospels in the liturgical season of Easter, are mostly presentations of Christ's resurrection appearances to His Apostles and disciples. In this Sunday's resurrection appearance, Jesus appeared again to the disciples He walked with on the road to Emmaus. As He always does, His greeting begins with "Peace to you". When the disciples became alarmed at His presence - thinking He was a ghost - Jesus invited them to realize that He had flesh and bones. To assure them He was not a ghost, Jesus asked if they had anything to eat. When they were at table, He again opened their minds to the understanding of the Scriptures - with particular attention to the words written by the prophets about Him (that He would suffer and then be raised from the dead on the third day).

"You are witnesses of this."

Because the apostles and disciples were actual witnesses to the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus, they were willing to suffer in the same way that their Master did. This is what baffles many non-Christians. If the apostles and those close to Jesus were willing to die as martyrs of the faith, then the impact of Christ's resurrection and the eventual sending of the Holy Spirit, was indeed a true reality they actually saw and experienced. And this spirit of Christ's self-sacrifice out of love for the Father and the world, flowed over not only to the Apostles and the disciples who actually saw Jesus, but also to all the members of the Church, in her growth and development in history. That is why throughout the history of the Church, she continues to give birth to many martyrs. And it is these martyrs that continue to witness to the Passion, Death and Resurrection of our Lord.

Though we, and future generations, are not and will not be actual witnesses of the events that transpired in biblical times, we can be assured of the same quality of faith as the Apostles and the disciples had of Jesus. This is the faith we receive not only from our Baptism, but from what Jesus also said to Thomas: "Blest are they who have not seen and have believed". Our faith in the Risen Lord as an individual, a family, or community, is rooted in the context of the Eucharistic community we are part of and belong to. Every time we celebrate the Eucharist with the priest-presider, the readers, the communion ministers, the choir, and all who contribute to the worship of the Lord on Sunday, we also become witnesses of Jesus - as the bread and wine become His Body and Blood.

2nd Sunday of Easter (B)

(Edited) Reflections (from) 2nd Sunday of Easter (B), April 17, 2009

First reading: Acts 4:32-35
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 118
Second reading: 1 John 5:1-6
Gospel reading: John 20:19-31

"Peace be with you."

The gospel for the 2nd Sunday of Easter tells the story of Thomas, who did not at first believe that Jesus had risen from the dead. He was absent when Jesus, in His Risen body, appeared before His companions. But when Jesus came back, and Thomas was now with his companions, he came to believe in Jesus rising from the dead. Jesus told Thomas, "You became a believer because you saw me. Blest are they who have not seen and have believed".

That gospel for the 2nd Sunday of Easter is a gospel well studied by many bible scholars. One of the tools they use to interpret the meaning of that gospel passage is to count how many times a word or phrase is mentioned many times over in the passage. In this gospel passage, we find "Peace be with you" mentioned three times. Then the root word "believe", and all its word variants, are mentioned five times. With all these discoveries of the repetition of certain words, the bible scholars generally say that the themes the evangelist John wanted to convey and present to his readers are "peace" and "faith".

Peace and faith are the messages the Risen Lord wanted to convey to His apostles, and also to us in the present. Jesus knew this was the "solution" after He and everyone at Calvary experienced so much violence and abuse on His person. Jesus proved that peace and faith will always be victorious against violence and discord. God's mercy inspires all to believe and to practice peace in all life and work. Jesus shows us be His very example how, despite being crucified, forgave His executioners. And in His Risen body, He brings a message of peace. We are also called to forgive those who trespass against us, seek forgiveness for own trespasses, and amend our lives to be a herald of peace. It is God's grace in the Eucharist that gives us the strength to forgive as Jesus did and to bring peace to others as He did.

With faith in the Risen Person of Christ, we ought not to doubt like Thomas. It was Thomas' proximity to the Risen Jesus that eliminated all his doubt and brought him to faith again. In the same way, it is by our proximity to the Eucharist, our involvement and practice of its message in daily life and work, that will help us live in faith and believe always in the power of the Resurrection. We can be merciful and forgiving by being rooted in Christ, the Divine Mercy. This Divine Mercy is always in the Eucharist. We shall obtain the peace that only Christ can give (and which we are called to give in the same manner to the world as Jesus did). Together with our brothers in the Franciscan orders and congregations, we sing and pray, "Lord, make me an instrument of your peace."

Easter Sunday (B)

(Edited) Reflections (from) Easter Sunday, April 16, 2006

"He saw and believed"


There are three characters in the Easter Sunday gospel: Mary Magdalene, Simon Peter, and the other disciple (the one Jesus loved). In this resurrection account of John, it is Mary Magdalene who first witnessed that the stone of the tomb was moved away. And it was she who reported to Simon Peter and John that "they" had taken away the body of Jesus. When Mary mentioned "they", we are not sure to whom she was referring to, but what really is the focus of attention and importance, is the loss of the body of the Lord.

We see that Mary Magdalene's report to Peter and John sent the two "running" toward the tomb. The report of the loss of Jesus' body brought on an urgent response. As the two ran, the gospel tells us that John outran Peter, telling us that John was really much younger than Peter. However, when John arrived at the tomb, he peered and did not enter. It was Peter who went in when he arrived at the tomb. Peter saw the wrappings and the piece of cloth which had covered the head of Jesus. As Peter was examining these, it was then that John entered the tomb. The gospel tells us his response: "He saw and believed".

Three disciples of Jesus: Mary Magdalene, Peter and John. They were told by Jesus that He was to rise from the dead after three days. But they did not as yet understand this and what the Scriptures tell about this. It was the experience of the "empty tomb" that made them respond in different levels of faith to what Jesus taught and what Jesus' person meant to them. Mary's faith was on the level of the senses. Although she knew that Jesus told all of them that He was to rise from the dead after three days, her level of faith could not as yet integrate what her senses perceived. On the other hand, Peter's faith was one that sought understanding. When he entered the tomb and found that Jesus' body was not there, he "observed" the wrappings and the piece of cloth lying there. He wanted to "understand" what this evidences were and what this event-experience was. As to the disciple Jesus loved, we are told that "he saw and believed". John's faith in Christ, since he was closest to Jesus, has reached a level of love. And a faith that integrates the mystery of love, easily understands the mystery of God - especially the mystery of God in Jesus of Nazareth.

All of us are Marys, Peters, and Johns in some way or another, in our journey of faith in the risen Lord. Sometimes, our faith is on the level of the senses like Mary. We say to ourselves, "nothing in the Scripture explicitly says Jesus is risen". The resurrection accounts only describe an empty tomb. Or we may be like Peter who tries to understand and observe everything in the mystery of the empty tomb. Perhaps we may read the biblical context of everything reported about the Resurrection of Jesus and meditate on all the physical evidences and on its meaning - objectively and for ourselves. But, when we have the level of faith as John, whose faith was rooted in his being close to Christ, our contemplation on the mystery of Christ will lead us to exclaim in our hearts: "He is risen".