Chrsit is Risen

This Easter 2015, the WORD (see http://usccb.org/bible/readings/040515.cfm) reminds us that Christ has risen and has won over sin and death.

The readings tell us different accounts/stories about Christ’s rising from the dead. The first reading reminds us that Jesus showed himself to the disciples when he had risen from the dead and commissioned them to preach the gospel. In the second reading, we also see accounts of his resurrection and glory. and in the gospel, we see how the disciples and those close to him first experienced His rising and winning over sin and death.

Today is a very joyful and victorious day! If at Christmas, Christ was born which signifies the start of our salvation history, today, we see Jesus rising from the dead, which signifies Christ’s victory over sin and death – the completion of His mission, of our salvation.

It is very fitting that we are given time to prepare for Easter as well. We are also given 40 days to prepare for Christmas, but sometimes we get caught up in the business of the season and do not get to prepare spiritually as much as we should. During lent, I believe we are more able to prepare, starting from Ash Wednesday where we fast and abstain, every Fridays where we abstain, and Good Friday where we also fast and abstain. It is also the season where we usually sacrifice or give up something, to be one with Christ in denying our self and to be closer to God as we give up things for Him.

We should be joyful, not just because we can already stop our Lenten sacrifices, but because we celebrate and commemorate God’s great love and power. We celebrate God's goodness. We celebrate life with Him. With it comes the task, like the disciples in the first reading, to proclaim God’s kingdom and preach the gospel with our lives. With Christ’s rising and victory comes our call to do our part to proclaim it.

The celebration does not end today. We can still continue to offer our sacrifices. For those who feel they have not given enough, we can still offer new sacrifices of self-denial or love offerings to God. And God’s call to act, to preach his word, to proclaim his kingdom, is here, and he is waiting for our response.

Christ is Risen…let us make him more alive through our lives.

What is the significance of Easter for me? How was my lenten experience this year? Do I feel that aside from Christ's victory over sin and death, lent is about his immense love for me? What happens next?

Father God,

Thank you for today. Thank you for Easter! Thank you for the gift of life. Thank you for all the blessings you continue to give me and my loved ones. Lord, I thank you for your great love for me, and thank you for your great power over sin and death. Lord, I feel that I have not given enough, that there is still a lot of room for you in my life, so I ask that you help me continue offering sacrifices and love offerings so that you may continue to fill my life with your love. Help me respond to your call to action to bring you to others, and make you more alive through the way I live my life. May I make the most out of my life, and make Easter last not just today. Amen.

Happy Easter!

In Christ,

-g-

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April 5, 2015

The Resurrection of the Lord

The Mass of Easter Day

Lectionary: 42

Reading 1 Acts 10:34a, 37-43

Peter proceeded to speak and said:

“You know what has happened all over Judea,

beginning in Galilee after the baptism

that John preached,

how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth

with the Holy Spirit and power.

He went about doing good

and healing all those oppressed by the devil,

for God was with him.

We are witnesses of all that he did

both in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem.

They put him to death by hanging him on a tree.

This man God raised on the third day and granted that he be visible,

not to all the people, but to us,

the witnesses chosen by God in advance,

who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead.

He commissioned us to preach to the people

and testify that he is the one appointed by God

as judge of the living and the dead.

To him all the prophets bear witness,

that everyone who believes in him

will receive forgiveness of sins through his name.”

Responsorial Psalm Ps 118:1-2, 16-17, 22-23

R. (24) This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad.

or:

R. Alleluia.

Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good,

for his mercy endures forever.

Let the house of Israel say,

“His mercy endures forever.”

R. This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad.

or:

R. Alleluia.

“The right hand of the LORD has struck with power;

the right hand of the LORD is exalted.

I shall not die, but live,

and declare the works of the LORD.”

R. This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad.

or:

R. Alleluia.

The stone which the builders rejected

has become the cornerstone.

By the LORD has this been done;

it is wonderful in our eyes.

R. This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad.

or:

R. Alleluia.

Reading 2 Col 3:1-4

Brothers and sisters:

If then you were raised with Christ, seek what is above,

where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.

Think of what is above, not of what is on earth.

For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

When Christ your life appears,

then you too will appear with him in glory.

Or 1 Cor 5:6b-8

Brothers and sisters:

Do you not know that a little yeast leavens all the dough?

Clear out the old yeast,

so that you may become a fresh batch of dough,

inasmuch as you are unleavened.

For our paschal lamb, Christ, has been sacrificed.

Therefore, let us celebrate the feast,

not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and wickedness,

but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

Sequence - Victimæ paschali laudes

Christians, to the Paschal Victim

Offer your thankful praises!

A Lamb the sheep redeems;

Christ, who only is sinless,

Reconciles sinners to the Father.

Death and life have contended in that combat stupendous:

The Prince of life, who died, reigns immortal.

Speak, Mary, declaring

What you saw, wayfaring.

“The tomb of Christ, who is living,

The glory of Jesus’ resurrection;

bright angels attesting,

The shroud and napkin resting.

Yes, Christ my hope is arisen;

to Galilee he goes before you.”

Christ indeed from death is risen, our new life obtaining.

Have mercy, victor King, ever reigning!

Amen. Alleluia.

Alleluia cf. 1 Cor 5:7R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Christ, our paschal lamb, has been sacrificed;

let us then feast with joy in the Lord.

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel 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.

They both ran, but the other disciple ran faster than Peter

and arrived at the tomb first;

he bent down and saw the burial cloths there, but did not go in.

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.

For they did not yet understand the Scripture

that he had to rise from the dead.