Easter Octave Tuesday - 2024 - To share in God's life is to share in His work.

The Easter Octave, the eight-day celebration beginning on Easter Sunday is a period deeply imbued with the joy and triumph of Christ's Resurrection. We read the various Gospel accounts of Easter Sunday, and our first readings are taken from the Acts of the Apostles, particularly from Pentecost Sunday.

Why do we read about Pentecost on Easter?

Reading from the Acts of the Apostles during the Easter Octave connects the celebration of Jesus’ Resurrection with the mission of the Church.  

The Lord’s resurrection is God’s victory over sin—the mission for which Jesus was sent, the salvation of souls, succeeded. And during Easter we consider how the Lord’s mission of salvation continues through us—who share in his life through baptism. 

The new life of Easter involves a new share in the work of God. You can’t share in the life of God without sharing in his work.  Christians are called not only to a personal relationship with God, but also a sacramental relationship, a communal relationship through his Church, and also a share in the missionary life of the Body of Christ. Christ came as a missionary to the human race, and his church continues that missionary mission.

And we read from the Acts of the Apostles, to show us what that missionary life looks like. 

Yesterday, we heard Peter declare, “Jesus the Nazorean was a man commended to you by God with mighty deeds, wonders, and signs… This man…you killed… But God raised him up.” Sharing in the life of Christ involves proclaiming the resurrection of Jesus—sharing the good news men need to hear.

And today, Peter’s speech not only proclaims Christ risen, but also invites those guilty of crucifying Him to repent and to enter into life. “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.”

All those guilty of crucifying Christ, that’s all of us—God wants baptized in order to bestow signs of that living relationship through the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

The call to repentance and baptismal faith that we hear in Peter's speech is not just a historical event 2000 years ago but an ongoing invitation to each of us. 

Baptism, which some of us received decades and decades ago, involves an openness to the unfolding and increase of God’s grace. Continuous dying to our old selves in order to rise to new life. Life can always be renewed, if we are 2 weeks old or a 102. There is always something to new, there is always new life, new gifts, God wishes to bestow for the sake of the mission. 

Like Mary in the Gospel, tears, shed over losing sight of Jesus, are meant to make way for proclamation. “Why are you weeping…Go and tell my brother…” Okay you found me, now get up and get to work. Don’t just stay here at the tomb, this is a place of death. Get up and prove that you are alive through action, through the work of the Church. 

May our easter celebrations continue to open us to the joy of the gospel, the joy that comes through active participation in the good work of the Church for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

Octave of Easter 2019 - Tuesday - Easter Conviction

Throughout the Easter season we hear the unfolding saga of the Acts of the Apostles. The Acts of the Apostles is Part Two of St. Luke’s Two Volume work on the Mission of the Messiah. In Part I, his Gospel, Luke details Jesus’ mission to establish the Kingdom of God and bring salvation to the mankind. Luke’s Gospel culminates in Jesus’ Passion, Death, and Resurrection.

The Book of Acts is Part II of the mission, God works through the Apostles to spread the Gospel, to make disciples, to make salvation known.

50 Days after Easter Sunday, on Pentecost, we read how Saint Peter emerges from the upper room with the other Apostles, filled with the Holy Spirit, and begins to preach.  His sermon was the first public proclamation of Jesus’ Resurrection: his audience, the citizens of Jerusalem.

He stands up, in front of these people, some of whom, may have been the very same who called “crucify him, crucify him” at Jesus’ trial before Pilate, they very same people who watched as Jesus carried the cross through the streets of Jerusalem, some may have heard the nails being pounded into Jesus’ hands and feet.  And now Peter, stands before all of these people, and says, “This man, Jesus the Nazarean, whose mighty deeds and wonders and signs pointed to the fact that he was sent by God…you killed, you crucified him.  But God raised him up…So now, “Let the whole house of Israel know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.””
So powerful was this speech, that Luke tells us today “it cut the audience to the heart”, and they turned to Peter and the Apostles and asked, “what they should do”?  Peter answered, “repent and be baptized”.  And about 3000 were baptized!

This is the same Peter, who denied Jesus out of fear.  He is now filled with courage and conviction.  Peter is a model for us. For we have received that same spirit and that same mission.

On the first page of the Catechism we read: “Those who with God's help have welcomed Christ's call and freely responded to it are urged on by love of Christ to proclaim the Good News everywhere in the world. This treasure, received from the apostles, has been faithfully guarded by their successors. All Christ's faithful are called to hand it on from generation to generation, by professing the faith, by living it in fraternal sharing, and by celebrating it in liturgy and prayer.”

We do well to pay great attention to these marvelous passages from the book of Acts, that we can be filled with that same conviction and courage as the Apostles, the same love of the Lord and concern for human salvation. May the Holy Apostles help us to be faithful to the mission of Christ here in our own town, in our own day, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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Filled with Paschal joy, let us turn earnestly to God, to graciously hear our prayers and supplications.
For the shepherds of our souls, that they may have the strength to govern wisely the flock entrusted to them by the Good Shepherd.

For the whole world, that it may truly know the peace of the Risen Christ.

For our own community, that it may bear witness with great confidence to the Resurrection of Christ, and that the newly initiated hold fast to the faith they have received.

For our brothers and sisters who suffer, that their sorrow may be turned to gladness through the Christian faith.

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.

Easter Tuesday 2017 - Letting Go and Letting God

Two mysteries arise from the Gospel reading today.  First, why does Mary Magdalene have difficulty recognizing the risen Lord? And, second, why does Jesus tell Mary not to cling to him?

Some scholars have suggested that Mary doesn’t immediately recognize the Lord because her tears and grief have clouded her vision. Perhaps, she confuses him with the gardener because of a connection to the Adam who failed as the "tender" of the Garden of Eden. The first Adam allowed the powers of evil and death to creep into the garden, which claimed his soul and the soul of his bride. Now the risen Christ is the New Adam, who gave his life so that his Bride might be free from sin, breaking Satan’s power over man and creation.

Perhaps, Mary does not recognize him because the resurrection has transformed him. The Risen Christ physical body has been eternalized, recreated, beaming with life. We know he is able to walk through locked doors, and appear and disappear.

And perhaps, Mary does not recognize him for the same reason the disciples on the road to Emmaus do not recognize him. He remains veiled until they are ready to see him. Well, it doesn’t take Mary quite as long to recognize Him, she sees clearly when he speaks her name. The faithful flock know the voice of the Good Shepherd.

This certainly challenges us to ensure that we are accustoming our minds and hearts to the sound of his voice through prayer and service.

Secondly, why does he tell her not to cling to him? Many scholars indicate there seems to be no satisfactory answer in light of the fact that a week later Jesus will invite Thomas to place his hands on Jesus' very wounds. St. John Chrysostom suggests that, having known the human Jesus He is now asking her to show more respect for His glorified body. Perhaps, He is simply urging her not to waste time clinging to Him but He has given her the mission to run quickly to the Apostles with the news that she has seen Him. Or perhaps, her desire is to cling to Him is to keep Him bound to earth, or to cling to the past, how things were, before the arrest.

The relationship to Christ is meant to grow. Our faith in Christ, our hope in Christ, our love for Christ should be greater than it was last Easter. We should be growing in using our spiritual gifts for the service for others. Easter is about new life, not simply celebrating the new life we received in baptism, but the new life Christ wants for us, today. What do we still have to let go off, in order to let God’s life flourish?

May we continue to accustom ourselves to the voice of the Risen Christ, who sends us out with the message of Good News, and allow the new life of the Spirit to flourish in our souls in his service for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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Filled with paschal joy, let us pray more earnestly to God that he, who graciously listened to the prayers and supplications of his beloved Son, may now be pleased to look upon us in our lowliness.

1. For the shepherds of our souls, that they may have the strength to govern wisely, the flock entrusted to them by the Good Shepherd.
2. For the whole world, that it may truly know the peace given by Christ.
3. For our brothers and sisters who suffer, that their sorrow may be turned to gladness which no one can take from them.
4. For our own community, that it may bear witness with great confidence to the Resurrection of Christ.

O God, who 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.