2nd Week of Easter 2018 - Tuesday - Easter Illumination

Last week, throughout the Easter Octave, we read from each of the four Gospel writers, their accounts of Jesus' resurrection, and Jesus' post-resurrection appearances to his disciples.

For the rest of the Easter Season, we will be reading from the Gospel of John—the discussion with Nicodemus this week from chapter 3, and onto chapter 6—the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and the great Bread of Life discourse next week.

In his first visit to Jerusalem during his public ministry, Jesus encounters the Pharisee Nicodemus. This encounter is quite different from the later encounters with the Pharisees, especially those of Holy Week. Nicodemus, though he is a “teacher of Israel” as Jesus calls him, takes the position of the student. Nicodemus is unlike the other Pharisees who are blinded by pride, rather Nicodemus seeks to understand who Jesus is and why he has come.

Nicodemus approaches Jesus at night time, symbolic of Nicodemus’ ignorance. But, again, it is an ignorance that is open to illumination, the light of the truth of the Gospel.

Jesus explains, in the Gospel passage today, the need for spiritual rebirth which is made possible through his death. The whole easter season, in a sense, involves a constant reflection on this great mystery: the healing, the rebirth, the illumination that comes from Jesus’ passion, death, and resurrection, and how Christians enter into this mystery through baptism and the sacraments.

Yesterday, the Holy Father, Pope Francis, issued a new apostolic exhortation titled, “Gaudete et Exsultate”, Rejoice and be Glad, on the universal call to holiness. He opens the exhortation with these words: “The Lord asks everything of us, and in return he offers us true life, the happiness for which we were created. He wants us to be saints and not to settle for a bland and mediocre existence.”

Easter is an opportunity for us, like Nicodemus, to learn about the new life, the true life, God wants for us, for us not to settle for mediocre faith, but the sanctity for which we were made.

I encourage you to read through the Holy Father’s new exhortation: reflect upon it, ask the Lord what it means for your life.

To quote the Holy Father: May you come to realize what that word is, the message of Jesus that God wants to speak to the world by your life. Let yourself be transformed. Let yourself be renewed by the Spirit, so that this can happen, lest you fail in your precious mission. The Lord will bring it to fulfillment despite your mistakes and missteps, provided that you do not abandon the path of love but remain ever open to his supernatural grace, which purifies and enlightens. (Gaudete et Exsultate, 24)” for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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God the Father was glorified in the death and resurrection of his Son. Let us pray to him with confidence.

God the Father bathed the world in splendor when Christ rose again in glory, may our minds be filled with the light of faith.

Through the resurrection of His Son, the Father opened for us the way to eternal life, may we be sustained today in our work with the hope of glory.

Through His risen Son, the Father sent the Holy Spirit into the world, may our hearts be set on fire with spiritual love.

May Jesus Christ, who was crucified to set us free, be the salvation of all those who suffer, particularly those who suffer from physical or mental illness, addiction, and grief.

That all of our beloved dead and all the souls in purgatory may come to the glory of the Resurrection.
O God, you know that our life in this present age is subject to suffering and need, hear the desires of those who cry to you and receive the prayers of those who believe in you. Through Christ our lord.