DAILY- HOMILY

28 March 2016

Easter Monday 

White.           

Acts 2:14, 22 – 33 / Mt 28:8 – 15

Gospel Reading: Mt 28:8 -15

They left the tomb at once in holy fear, yet with great joy, they ran to tell the news to the disciples.

Suddenly, Jesus met them on the way and said, "Peace." The women approached him, embraced his feet and worshiped him. But Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to set out for Galilee; there they will see me."

While the women were on their way, the guards returned to the city and some of them reported to the chief priests all that had happened. The chief priests met with the Jewish authorities and decided to give the soldiers a good sum of money, with this instruction, "Say that his disciples came by night while you were asleep, and stole the body of Jesus. If Pilate comes to know of this, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble." The soldiers accepted the money and did as they were told. This story has circulated among the Jews until this day.

Reflection

Easter comes to us with a message of hope.  We know for a fact that the Gospel writers recorded their accounts from hindsight.  What is surprising though are the details and clarity of their recall.  As first-hand witnesses, their experiences with all the interplay of mixed emotions, feelings, insights, questions, etc. had created an indelible impression of the Jesus whom they knew personally.  The written accounts, although done by different writers, all agree in essence and truth about Jesus and his promises.  

When everything had seemed to be falling apart, the discovery of the empty tomb and the appearance of Jesus gave new hope.  Eventually, every piece of the puzzle came into place and doubts erased.  What made these witnesses go forth to share the message of love and hope is remarkable; even to the point of death they never denied what they believed in.  It is the ultimate truth that Jesus had come to tell, this can only be perfected in love.

In contrast, those who do not believe will challenge the truth and resort to underhanded tactics to discredit the message.  Today, this comes to us in many forms: intimidation and threat by persecution; peer pressures; deception and distractions towards the pursuit of materialistic desires of wealth, power and fame; moral relativism that obscures the truth by creating doubts with pseudo ideas; etc.

How do we assess our faithfulness to the truth?  Are we easily swayed by counter claims by popular public opinions that challenge the truth?  Do we seek to verify authenticity and truth by developing our love for God and our fellow men to build the Kingdom of God?  Is hope a factor in our Christian commitment?

WE PRAY FOR MTQ DAILY PRAYER DIARY INTENTIONS:

BIRTHDAY

     Aiden Thomas Yu Ampil

IN MEMORIAM (+)

     Trinidad L. Sun

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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These reflections are distributed free and are for personal use only. Feel free to send the Daily Prayer reflections to your friends, colleagues and relatives; however, if you do, please include the following: 

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   |  The Daily Prayer, a service and an apostolate of the

   |  priests, laity and friends of Mary the Queen Parish

   |  distributed free and for personal use only.  

  +================================================+

27 March 2016

EASTER SUNDAY

The Resurrection of the Lord

Solemnity.  White.    

Acts 10:34a, 37- 43 / Col 3:1 – 4 / Jn 20:1 – 9

Evening Mass: Lk 24: 13 – 35.

Evening Mass Gospel Reading: Lk 24:13 - 35

That same day, two of them were going to Emmaus, a village seven miles from Jerusalem, an they talked about what had happened.  While they were talking and wondering, Jesus came up and walked with them, but their eyes were held and they did not recognize him.

He asked, "What is this you are talking about?"  The two stood still, looking sad. Then one named Cleophas answered, "Why, it seems you are the only traveller in Jerusalem who doesn't know what has happened these past few days."  And he asked, "What is it?"

They replied, "It is about Jesus of Nazareth.  He was a prophet, you know, mighty in word and deed before God and the people.  But the chief priests and our rulers sentenced him to death.  They handed him over to be crucified. We had hoped that he would redeem Israel.

"It is now the third day since all this took place. It is true that some women of our group have disturbed us. When they went to the tomb at dawn, they did not find his body; they came to tell us that they had seen a vision of angels who told them that Jesus was alive.  Some friends of our group went to the tomb and found everything just as the women had said, but they did not see him."

He said to them, "How dull you are, how slow of understanding! " Is it not written that the Christ should suffer all this and then enter his glory?"  Then starting with Moses and going through the prophets, he explained to them everything in the Scriptures concerning himself. 

As they drew near the village they were heading for, Jesus made as if to go farther.   But they prevailed upon him, "Stay with us, for night comes quickly.  The day is now almost over."  So he went in to stay with them.  When they were at table, he took the bread, said a blessing, broke it and gave each a piece.

Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him; but he vanished out of their sight. And they said to each other, "Were not our hearts filled with ardent yearning when he was talking to us on the road and explaining the Scriptures?"

They immediately set out and returned to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and their companions gathered together.  They were greeted by these words: "Yes, it is true, the Lord is risen!  He has appeared to Simon!"  Then the two told what had happened on the road and how Jesus made himself known when he broke bread with them.

Reflection

It is remarkable that the eyewitness accounts of the risen Lord do not deal with theological explanations to convince people that this great mystery of the Resurrection had taken place.  Instead, we have stories and narratives of people who had actually had first-hand experience of the risen Jesus Christ.  

The Emmaus even is one such narrative, of the two disciples who had been greatly disappointed and demoralized with the crucifixion of Jesus. Like the others who had seen the risen Lord, they did not recognize him right away.  In retrospect, while walking with this stranger on the road, they seemed to have felt some strange feeling, as though their hearts were burning.  They finally recognized him at the breaking of bread.

This event could well be our own experience, our ongoing and unfinished story.  Oftentimes, through our difficulties and the darkness of our lives, when we go through some crisis, we call on the Lord to come to our assistance.  And we may not be aware that the Lord, in some form, subtly disguised, already walks with us in great empathy for us.

At times he may even play in some way with us, as he did with the two disciples to Emmaus, "What is this you are talking about?" Not realizing this, we may fail to invite him to come and join us, "to stay with us, for night comes quickly. The day is almost over."

Even more so, he actually invites us to join him in the breaking of bread at each Eucharist, "Do this in remembrance of me."  At the Eucharist and in many other instances in our lives, the Lord is telling us he cannot be too far after all: he walks with us, he journeys and accompanies us.  We need only pierce the veil which hinders us from recognizing him, at the Eucharist, in people and in whatever happening that comes our way.

Easter is after all the continuing presence of the now risen Lord in our midst.  It is also the continuing instances of discovering him very much present among us in big and small happenings.  Happy Easter. The Lord is truly risen, alleluia. 

WE PRAY FOR MTQ DAILY PRAYER DIARY INTENTIONS:

BIRTHDAY

     Alfredo D. Masigan

     Carlo L. Eseo

IN MEMORIAM (+)

     Elena Ang Arcero

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!

**************************************************

These reflections are distributed free and are for personal use only. Feel free to send the Daily Prayer reflections to your friends, colleagues and relatives; however, if you do, please include the following: 

  +================================================+

   |  The Daily Prayer, a service and an apostolate of the

   |  priests, laity and friends of Mary the Queen Parish

   |  distributed free and for personal use only.