Friday, April 14, 2006
Easter Sunday of the Lord's Resurrection
April 16, 2006
Easter Sunday of the Lord's Resurrection - B
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."
COLOSSIANS 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.
JOHN 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.
REFLECTION
In 1972, Trina Paulus published a simple but profound book entitled
Hope for the Flowers. The theme as Trina puts it is "to the 'more' of
life - the real revolution."
It is the story of two caterpillars, Stripe and Yellow, who are
searching for real meaning in life. "There must be more to life than
just eating and getting bigger," they think. In their search they see
caterpillars crawling towards a column. And when they get nearer, they
notice the column was nothing but a pillar of squirming, pushing
caterpillars - a caterpillar pillar.
Thinking there must be something there, Stripe and Yellow join the
column, stepping on others, kicking their way in every direction - just
pushing upwards like everyone else. What is on top they don't know
except that every now and then they see someone being pushed off the
top of the column. Finally, Yellow gets fed up with all this
struggling, pushing, and stepping on others and starts working her way
down the pile. As she wanders through the fields she discovers from a
butterfly that there is a butterfly within her. And without butterflies
there would be no flowers.
But she has to go through a process of changing into a butterfly.
Overcoming her fears, she completes the process and becomes a
butterfly. When she flies into the air, she sees piles of caterpillars
fighting their way to get to the top only to be pushed off and plunge
down. She searches for her friend Stripe and convinces him that she was
the Yellow he knew.
Finally, Stripe works his way down to follow what Yellow did. And he,
too, emerges as a beautiful butterfly. And they live happily ever
after.
The Easter story is something like that. Christ went through his
passion and death to bring us new life. And he shows us the way to the
greater meaning of life.
The Easter proclamation is "Christ is risen." Truly Christ is risen!
But what does it mean? On the surface it sounds simple enough: this man
from Nazareth, who had ideas is now alive and moving around meeting
with his friends.
The Easter stories are strange enough, but preaching "Christ risen!" is
the strangest turn of all. Nothing is easier to understand than the
fact that the message of a great man lives after him. But Paul, the
Apostles, the Christian Church, do not so much preach the message of
Jesus. They preach Jesus, the One who is Risen. We tend to think that
the Church passes on truths, the message delivered by Jesus in his
life. But Jesus does not say, "I am bringing God's truth." He says "I
am the Truth. I am the Way, and the Life."
The prophets of the Hebrew Bible proclaim truths, they told us about
the will of God. But Jesus to the Christians is "greater than a
prophet." Jesus is not God's messenger, Jesus does not just deliver
God's truth, Jesus is God's truth. More than a prophet, Jesus is
Immanuel, God-with-us, as we proclaim at Christmas.
If Jesus were just a prophet, a messenger of God's truth, then the
Apostles and the Church could easily claim that the message outlives
the messenger, the truth does not depend on the one who brings it.
Jesus would be immortal in his message. But Christians claim something
much more radical, much more extraordinary: the messenger lives on -
Christos anesti (Christ is Risen). The truth passed on is Jesus, the
Christ, the Risen One. This is clearly expressed by Catholic tradition
in the Eucharist. We, Catholics do not look on the Eucharist as just a
reminder of Jesus' message, or a symbol of Jesus. We say that it is the
"real presence" of Jesus. The Church itself is not a school of wisdom.
It is the "Mystical Body of Christ."
The human meaning of "Christ is risen" involves our deepest need to
have a presence for our lives, a presence as full as my life, a life
companion of life.
So, today we do not preach the message of Jesus as a prophet of
profound truths, we preach Jesus as Christ risen. Jesus is the real
presence, the life, which stands alongside our lives "as it was then,
is now, and ever shall be." Christ is risen. Truly, Christ is risen!
PRAYER REQUESTS
We pray ...
- for a deep and profound respect for life, especially for the unborn.
- for the speedy recover of Rita delos Reyes.
- for the personal intentions of Dr Cip delos Reyes and Jose delos
Reyes.
- good health to Mila San Juan, Yolanda Legaspi and Alejandro Legaspi.
- for the safe travel of Albert & Veny Yap.
- for the eternal repose of the soul of Mrs. Milagros Maliwat
Pasion. Eternal rest grant unto her and may perpetual light shine
upon her. May she and all the souls of the dearly departed rest in
peace.
- for the eternal repose of the soul of Jeanne B. Francisco
- for the speedy recovery and healing of Victor.
- for all the prayer intentions in the MTQ Dailyprayer Diary.
- Birthday: Mrs. Eng Hong Uy
- Wedding Anniversary: Benny & Cynthia Tan
- for world peace and reconciliation.
Finally, we pray for one another, for those who have asked our
prayers and for those who need our prayers the most.
Have a good day!
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