April 21, 2019

Easter Sunday of the Resurrection of the Lord
Acts 10: 34, 37-43; 1 Corinthians 5: 6-8; John 20: 1-9
The Lord is risen as He promised…Let us rejoice and be glad. We have followed His last days. We
have been amazed at His preaching capsuling on the depths of His love. Every one of His actions
proved over and over His love and most importantly that He loves each one of us. He loves me!!! How
often do I spend time just reflecting on the fact that right now He is loving me? Do I have doubts
because of my past that He is loving me now? Do I really believe that Jesus said that each one of us is
His friend? Do I really believe that He suffered and died for me…that He rose to prove His love for me?
This is the total meaning of Easter! Do I realize that each Easter takes me to the next step in my faith
journey if I spend time in reflecting and in gratitude?
Special note: We tend to see that faith is what I have versus being a gift from God. We fail to see that
faith can be lost if we don’t each day nourish our relationship with God. Our plans and priorities have
dramatic changes. Many new discoveries await us each day. Do I realize that God is loving me and filling
me with His help to get me through the day? Do I realize that is what God does: just loves me constantly
and consistently? Do I let Him love me? I don’t have to do anything. He just loves and cares for me.
What else do I need?
The first reading is taken from the Acts of the Apostles, the second book that St. Luke wrote. It has
twenty-eight chapters describing how the salvation promised to Israel in the Old Testament was
accomplished by Jesus. Jesus gathered the apostles and commissioned them to preach His Gospel of
Love and redemption. They felt at first that they had to do this to the Jewish people living in Israel. But
three times Peter received a vision inviting him to broaden his outlook and realize that Jesus came to
save all people. (Acts 10: 9-16). In today’s reading, Peter had been invited to the home of the Roman
soldier Cornelius. Peter states: “You know that it is unlawful for a Jewish man to associate with, or visit, a
Gentile, but God has shown me that I should not call any person profane or unclean…so why did you summon
me?” (Acts 10: 28) Cornelius shared how he also received a vision thanking him for his charitable
almsgiving and told him to summon Peter. He asks Peter to share what the Lord commanded him; this
leads into todays first reading. Peter shares the teachings, miracles and love of Jesus emphasizing the
role of the Holy Spirit. “While Peter was speaking these things, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who were
listening.” (Acts 10:44) All were then baptized, the first Gentiles who had accepted the word of God. The
Jewish Christians of Jerusalem were scandalized to learn of Peter’s visit to Cornelius but realized this
was a special edict from God. In chapter fifteen of Acts we hear of the Council of Jerusalem which
states that the evangelization of the Gentiles became the official position of the church leadership in
Jerusalem. Now we are the ones to share Jesus’ love. Do I hesitate or am I selective in my sharing?
Paul is responding to the Corinthians to a number of matters that require regulation. First was with the
incestuous union of a man with his stepmother and then Christians associating with fellow Christians
guilty of immorality. Paul shows how there needs to be a separation between the holy and the unholy.
The footnotes in the Catholic Study Bible interprets today’s passage. “Yeast, which induces
fermentation, is a natural symbol for a source of corruption that becomes all pervasive. The expression is
proverbial. In the Jewish calendar, Passover was followed immediately by the festival of Unleavened
Bread. In preparation for this feast all traces of old bread were removed from the house, and during the
festival only unleavened bread was eaten The sequence of these two feasts provides Paul with an image of
Christian existence: Christ’s death (the true Passover celebration) is followed by the life of the Christian
community, marked by newness, purity, and integrity (a perpetual feast of unleavened bread). Paul may
have been writing around Passover time; this is a little Easter homily, the earliest in Christian literature.”
The early Christians expressed their faith in Jesus’ resurrection by sharing two stories: Jesus’
appearances to the apostles after His resurrection and about the tomb being empty. They did not make
an effort to prove that Jesus had been raised from the dead rather they concentrated telling what the first
Christians believed happened to Jesus when He was raised from the dead. It all has to do with
relationship: to make Jesus Christ known we need to have a relationship with Him. We look at Peter and
John along with Mary of Magdala. None of us have seen the empty tomb. We have not seen the burial
cloths lying there. Nor have we seen the cloth that covered His head separate from the other cloths.
What has been our relationship? In Baptism we ‘put on Christ’ by promising to live the life of a
follower, believer and lover. In Confirmation we received the Holy Spirit realizing the Spirit is always
with us leading us with His help to be witnesses of Christ’s love to each person in our lives. We come to
the Eucharist and receive willingly His Body and His Blood knowing that He sacrificed all for each
person and me. We pick up Scripture and realize the variety of holy people who have made
commitments amid all their doubts and fears to be people who are dedicated to God’s plan of living by
loving. We take time and pray along with others knowing that God is alive in each of the lives and gifts
of His creations. These are the building blocks of a relationship. This relationship tells me I am
special…I am loved…I am needed so that others through my sharing of God’s gifts may realize they are
loved…this is God’s plan. So where do I need help living this plan today? God asks me this question
each day…why do I not ask for help…He loves me that much. Be grateful and love. Thank you Lord.
So I reflect on:
• Review and list the ways that I deepen my relationship with the Risen Christ.
• Review and list some examples of how people see Jesus in me each day.
• What signs of Christ’s presence do I experience at this time?
• What blessings have I received during the season of Lent?
• Where have I been surprised by the Holy Spirit this Lent? What does this tell me?
• Because of the Easter Bunny and candy etc, children may be confused by the meaning of Easter.
They need to hear the reasons Christians celebrate Easter…so do grown up people and adolescents.
Sacred Space 2019 states:
“Mary went to do her best, to tend to Jesus’ mortal remains. She accepted the reality as she saw it but was
determined to do what she could to bring dignity and honor to her loved one and her teacher. Help me, O God, to
do what I can as I remain alert, noticing the movement of Your Spirit. May I receive life as You offer it, even in
unexpected ways.
As described by Benedict XVI in his Easter Vigil homily, April 15, 2006, ‘The Resurrection was like an explosion of
light’ a ‘cosmic event’ linking heaven and earth. But above all, it was ‘an explosion of love.’ It ushered in a new
dimension of being…through which a new world emerges.’ It is a ‘leap in the history of ‘evolution’ and of life in
general towards a new future life, a new world which, starting from Christ, already continuously permeates this
world of ours, transforms it, and draws it to itself.’ The Resurrection unites us with God and others. ‘If we live in this
way, we transform the world.’ I sit with this paragraph and allow it to become my prayer