The Holy Gospel according to John (21:1-14)

Jesus revealed himself again to his disciples at the Sea of Tiberias. He revealed himself in this way. Together were Simon Peter, Thomas called Didymus,
Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, Zebedee’s sons, and two others of his disciples.
Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.” They said to him, “We also will come with you.” So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.
When it was already dawn, Jesus was standing on the shore; but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus. Jesus said to them, “Children, have you caught anything to eat?” They answered him, “No.” So he said to them, “Cast the net over the right side of the boat and you will find something.” So they cast it, and were not able to pull it in because of the number of fish. So the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord.” When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he tucked in his garment, for he was lightly clad, and jumped into the sea. The other disciples came in the boat, for they were not far from shore, only about a hundred yards, dragging the net with the fish.
When they climbed out on shore, they saw a charcoal fire with fish on it and bread. Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish you just caught.” So Simon Peter went over and dragged the net ashore full of one hundred fifty-three large fish. Even though there were so many, the net was not torn. Jesus said to them, “Come, have breakfast.”
And none of the disciples dared to ask him, “Who are you?” because they realized it was the Lord. Jesus came over and took the bread and gave it to them,
and in like manner the fish. This was now the third time Jesus was revealed to his disciples after being raised from the dead.

The Gospel of the Lord.

Reflection: Today’s Gospel is a resurrection story unique to John’s Gospel. Most of the Apostles were fishermen before Jesus called them to follow him. For 3 years, they were fishers of men, not fishermen. After the death of Jesus, they go back to their former way of life, being fishermen. The Apostles fished all night and caught nothing.
Then they heard Jesus as he stood on the lakeshore grilling fish, telling them that they might catch something if they drop their nets on the other side of the boat. So they did as they were told and caught a large number of fish. Then Peter heard that it was the Lord and he jumps into the sea to run to him. “It is the Lord” is an experience of Easter joy. Then Jesus revealed himself to Peter and the others by inviting them to breakfast and feeding them. Peter and the others then recognize Jesus.
Before Jesus spoke to them, the Apostles were persistent in their fishing, even though they were not catching any fish. We are also called to be persistent in our prayer and work, trusting that Jesus will bless our efforts with success. God fills us when we are empty, feeds us when we are hungry, and accompanies us when we are in need.

Action for the Day: How has Jesus revealed himself to us? Pray for the grace to recognize those moments during our day, and then thank God when we do.

Audio Reflection:

The Holy Gospel according to St. Luke 24:35-48

The disciples of Jesus recounted what had taken place along the way, and how they had come to recognize him in the breaking of bread.

While they were still speaking about this, He stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be with you.” But they were startled and terrified and thought that they were seeing a ghost. Then He said to them, “Why are you troubled? And why do questions arise in your hearts? Look at My hands and My feet, that it is I myself. Touch Me and see, because a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you can see I have.” And as He said this, He showed them His hands and His feet. While they were still incredulous for joy and were amazed, He asked them, “Have you anything here to eat?” They gave Him a piece of baked fish; He took it and ate it in front of them.

He said to them, “These are My words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about Me in the law of Moses and in the prophets and psalms must be fulfilled.” Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures. And He said to them, “Thus it is written that the Christ would suffer and rise from the dead on the third day and that repentance, for the forgiveness of sins, would be preached in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.”

Encountering Christ

Jesus comes to His disciples, after being raised from the dead, to offer them His peace. In both cases, Jesus also offers them proof that He was raised from the dead – not just spiritually, but physically. He invites them to touch Him and He eats with them to prove that He is not a ghost.

Jesus then opens the minds of His disciples to understand the Scriptures. He helps them to understand the point of it all: Why He died. Why He rose again. And what happens next? He fulfills all that was written and told of Him in the Old Testament. What was buried in the Old is revealed in the New.

I want to share three key points.

Firstly, the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead:  Jesus says that the Messiah had to suffer and to rise from the dead. There was no other way. This is the very core of our faith – that Jesus died for our sins and that He rose from the dead. If Jesus is not the Messiah, then His death is in vain. If He didn’t die, then our sins are not forgiven. And if He wasn’t raised from the dead, then our hope of eternal life is worthless. And it is crucial not just that He was raised from the dead spiritually. But raised from the dead physically. That is why He invites his disciples to touch Him. It is why He ate a piece of baked fish in their presence. To show them that He was physically raised from the dead. This is important because it means that our resurrection will also be physical. You and I will one day be physically raised from the dead.

Secondly, repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed to all the nations: It is not a promise of wealth and happiness. It is not a promise of good health or perfect relationships. And it is not a promise that we can do whatever we want, or believe whatever we want, and it won’t matter because Jesus died for us. No. What He does promise is the forgiveness of sins in His name. And He invites us to repent and believe this – we have the gift of the Sacrament of Reconciliation (Confession). Where His mercy and justice meet.

And thirdly, you are a witness of these things:  Jesus has one more mission for you – you are called to bear witness to the good news of the Resurrection. You and I are called to go forth and proclaim to a confused world the simple, clear message of the Gospel: That the Messiah suffered and died for our sins and for the sins of the world, and that God raised Him from the dead. And that we are invited to repent and believe this good news, that through Him our sins are forgiven. This is the message of the risen Christ.

Action of the Day

Pray for yourselves, pray for those whose faith is shaken. Pray for them by name. Offer your day for them, all of your good works, give them to God that He may bless the one you prayer for this Easter season.

The Gospel according to Luke (24:13-35)
That very day, the first day of the week,
two of Jesus’ disciples were going
to a village seven miles from Jerusalem called Emmaus,
and they were conversing about all the things that had occurred.
And it happened that while they were conversing and debating,
Jesus himself drew near and walked with them,
but their eyes were prevented from recognizing him.
He asked them,
“What are you discussing as you walk along?”
They stopped, looking downcast.
One of them, named Cleopas, said to him in reply,
“Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem
who does not know of the things
that have taken place there in these days?”
And he replied to them, “What sort of things?”
They said to him,
“The things that happened to Jesus the Nazarene,
who was a prophet mighty in deed and word
before God and all the people,
how our chief priests and rulers both handed him over
to a sentence of death and crucified him.
But we were hoping that he would be the one to redeem Israel;
and besides all this,
it is now the third day since this took place.
Some women from our group, however, have astounded us:
they were at the tomb early in the morning
and did not find his Body;
they came back and reported
that they had indeed seen a vision of angels
who announced that he was alive.
Then some of those with us went to the tomb
and found things just as the women had described,
but him they did not see.”
And he said to them, “Oh, how foolish you are!
How slow of heart to believe all that the prophets spoke!
Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things
and enter into his glory?”
Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets,
he interpreted to them what referred to him
in all the Scriptures.
As they approached the village to which they were going,
he gave the impression that he was going on farther.
But they urged him, “Stay with us,
for it is nearly evening and the day is almost over.”
So he went in to stay with them.
And it happened that, while he was with them at table,
he took bread, said the blessing,
broke it, and gave it to them.
With that their eyes were opened and they recognized him,
but he vanished from their sight.
Then they said to each other,
“Were not our hearts burning within us
while he spoke to us on the way and opened the Scriptures to us?”
So they set out at once and returned to Jerusalem
where they found gathered together
the Eleven and those with them who were saying,
“The Lord has truly been raised and has appeared to Simon!”
Then the two recounted what had taken place on the way
and how he was made known to them in the breaking of the bread.

REFLECTION: Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, the account in today’s Gospel is a story about a walk that comes from grief and trauma, from profound disappointment and sorrow. It is a story that starts with the slow steps of the depressed and cast down. But it ends with the excited running of the redeemed, and the joy of finding life transformed.

Today’s Gospel hits home to me. I can see my faith journey in the place of the two disciples, who’s hearts were grieving from the death of Jesus, but later their lives are transformed.

I can remember a particular time in my own life, when my faith journey was one that could be described as dimmed. Not sure of where it was heading, and maybe even lost without a purpose or direction. Until I attended a 3-day retreat, in which I had a deep conversion of my faith. It was my pilgrimage, my Emmaus walk, in which I discovered tools to redirect my walk of faith and found the true reason to follow Jesus Christ. I had burning desire to know Him more, and to start a relationship with Him. I found my life, transformed.

A true Christian faith journey is one that cannot stop moving forward. We must always look for, and recognize opportunities, our Lord Jesus Christ allows on our path. Those opportunities are moments, to recognize the Lord’s presence with us. Those opportunities are moments, to recognize the Lord with us in the Gospels; when we attend Mass, in the Eucharist and everywhere.

This Gospel speaks to those who’s faith journey has no energy and feeling empty from trusting in God. Feeling hopeless, and whom God comes to meet, as they struggle to put one foot in front of another. It is an account that is very honest about hopelessness and lost, but also about how God comes to find us in those places. It shows how God walks beside us, and can transform hearts, even when in the lowest time of our lives, and lost in a journey of hopelessness. Today’s Gospel account is one, that invites those who are lost without Jesus Christ, to walk in hope of seeing Him again.

ACTION FOR THE DAY: Spend time in prayer and reflect to see where in your walk of faith, is God. When was the last time, you recognized the Lord’s presence with you? When was the last time, you recognized the Lord presence in the Sacred Scripture you read/heard? When was the last time, you recognized the Lord presence in the “breaking of the bread,” and in His church, the body of Christ?

AUDIO REFLECTION:

The Gospel according to John (20:11-18) 

Mary Magdalene stayed outside the tomb weeping.
And as she wept, she bent over into the tomb
and saw two angels in white sitting there,
one at the head and one at the feet
where the Body of Jesus had been.
And they said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?”
She said to them, “They have taken my Lord,
and I don’t know where they laid him.”
When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus there,
but did not know it was Jesus.
Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?
Whom are you looking for?”
She thought it was the gardener and said to him,
“Sir, if you carried him away,
tell me where you laid him,
and I will take him.”
Jesus said to her, “Mary!”
She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni,”
which means Teacher.
Jesus said to her, “Stop holding on to me,
for I have not yet ascended to the Father.
But go to my brothers and tell them,
‘I am going to my Father and your Father,
to my God and your God.’”
Mary went and announced to the disciples,
“I have seen the Lord,”
and then reported what he had told her.

Reflection:

Happy Easter, DEACON5 family!  Because of the importance of this Solemnity in the Church, we celebrate it for eight days!  So, every day this whole week upto and including next Sunday, it’s perfectly fine to say “Happy Easter!”  And, as I heard once, you also get the benefit of the “clearance” sales for Easter candy, since the rest of the world thinks Easter is over!  Win win!

I hope you are feeling great Easter joy today.  It’s probably impossible for us to imagine how it felt for Mary Magdalene that day to see Jesus risen from the dead.  I mean, she certainly saw Jesus raise others from the dead (or heard about it) – recall the stories of the daughter of the synagogue official, Jairus, as well as the raising of Lazarus.  But, this time, Jesus was raising Himself back to life.  To say that she was happy probably does not nearly cover her emotion fully.

We are emerging from the darkness of winter now (even though we did get some rain over Easter weekend, looking ahead, we should reasonably expect sunny and warmer days, and the bursting forth of spring flowers, with birds and bumblebees attending them).  The days grow longer and we just feel more alive.

It all starts from Easter. It all starts from Jesus breaking the bonds of death, and giving us all who love and worship Him the hope of eternal joy and light with Him, the Saints, and all of our loved ones who have gone before us.  It all starts from that wonderful Paschal candle entering the darkened church as it did this past Saturday night, and that light grew by being shared so that the whole church was filled with holy light.  Our lives are like that in the darkened world.  May we take that holy light of the Paschal candle and shine forth that light and love wherever we go.  May we show the world by our actions that we are truly the children of light.  May we announce, like Mary Magdalene did in today’s Gospel of how we have “seen the Lord”.  And, then let us live in that light!

Action for the Day:   

Pause today and reflect on what you experienced this past Easter Sunday.  If you can, write down your memories and recollections.  If you were moved by the experience (especially if you participated in the Sacred Triduum from beginning to end), give a prayer of thanks to God for that blessing.  If you were distracted and maybe felt like you weren’t as fully present, then ask God to help you to be present with Him daily in prayer and then trust that He will be there whenever you seek Him out.

If you would like to hear this reflection, click the link below! 

The Gospel according to Matthew (28:8-15) 

Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went away quickly from the tomb,
fearful yet overjoyed,
and ran to announce the news to his disciples.
And behold, Jesus met them on their way and greeted them.
They approached, embraced his feet, and did him homage.
Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid.
Go tell my brothers to go to Galilee,
and there they will see me.”

While they were going, some of the guard went into the city
and told the chief priests all that had happened.
The chief priests assembled with the elders and took counsel;
then they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers,
telling them, “You are to say,
‘His disciples came by night and stole him while we were asleep.’
And if this gets to the ears of the governor,
we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.”
The soldiers took the money and did as they were instructed.
And this story has circulated among the Jews to the present day.

Reflection: Pride, arrogance, or smugness equals ignorance and is hard to overcome and yet it is all around us. We all know of people like this who are part of our life, one way or the other. When a person states that they are right about something, when in fact they are wrong, and he/she won’t listen to the opposition then the sin of pride will occur and may even lure them to further sin/pride. Furthermore, when they are then confronted in their error with proof, they still can’t admit to their sinfulness. It’s sad isn’t it.

Jesus proved all these “prideful” people wrong. He rose from the grave, conquering sin and death, making it possible for us all to share in His glorious Resurrection! Death had lost. Satan had lost. The corrupt religious leaders had lost. And all those who believed in Jesus now had their eternal hope renewed. Sadly, though, what was the greatest victory ever known for humanity, a victory that opened the doors to eternal glory for all who believe, could not be accepted by the chief priests and elders of the people. They saw to His death, and now that He had risen, they scrambled to do all they could to hide that truth.

After all the miracles and powerful preaching of Jesus, you would think that the chief priests and elders would have believed. But they didn’t. And then, after hearing the testimony of these soldiers, you would think they would have fallen on their knees, repented of their hardness of hearts, and come to believe. But they didn’t so. they doubled down in their sin and added sin upon sin.

Some forms of sin can more easily be admitted, especially sins of weakness. But a sin of weakness is much different than a sin of pride. Pride is not only hard to overcome, but also to admit. It’s hard to admit our sin when it is based on our stubbornness and pride. As a result, this type of sin often leads to other sins such as ongoing deception, manipulation, and anger. This is illustrated by these chief priests and elders. But if you can humble yourself and admit your sin when it comes from your pride, that humility can have a powerful and transformative effect upon your life.

Action of the Day: If this is you or someone you know, ask God to help you resolve never to fall into this form of sin yourself. Ask Him to seek humility so that you can be freed of this heavy burden by the grace of the Resurrection of our Lord. Ask Him for the grace to allow you to recognize this weakness so you can move onto the glorious life that you were meant to have.

Audio Reflection: