Easter

Hosanna! He is risen! Alleluia! We celebrate with joyful hearts the resurrection of our Lord and the promise of salvation for each of us. Today as we reflect on the readings, we learn the answer to the question, “What does the resurrection of Jesus Christ mean for me?”

The focus of the first and second readings is not the amazement of Jesus' resurrection, it is the reality that we must be people of action. It says in Acts of the Apostles, we must “testify that He is the one appointed by God as judge of the living and the dead.” We must say that Jesus is the one that the prophets speak of and “that everyone who believes in Him will receive forgiveness of sins through His name.”

Mary Magdalene was the first person spurned to action by the risen Lord. She saw His body was missing from the tomb and ran to tell the others. Mary Magdalene is very important to the Order of Preachers (aka Dominicans) because she was the first who preached the gospel of the risen Lord. In pictures she is often painted with a rainbow. The rainbow is the symbol of the covenant between God and Noah. It signifies that God would no longer destroy the earth, but protect it and the people who followed Him.

The cross is also a symbol of God's protection. While the cross was a symbol of death to the people of Israel, to us it is a symbol of life. Without the cross, there could be no resurrection. Without His death and resurrection, Jesus would be an extraordinary man, but not the Son of God. Who can die and rise from the dead? No human person can do that of their own will, but the Son of God can. Jesus is the one that the prophets spoke about. He came to create a new Kingdom, not here on earth, but in heaven above. We should take comfort in the cross and resurrection. We should also take to heart our new responsibility. The Psalm lays it out so clearly for us when it proclaims, “I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the Lord.”

6th Sunday of Easter

In today's readings we learn that all who hear God's word and obey it are welcome to the salvation offered by God. We are also reminded of the reoccurring theme of the Easter season: obey the commandments and love one another.

Some people might view the 10 commandments as a "do not do" list that God gave to Moses. However, the list of commandments are really guidelines that teach us how to love. The first three commandments show us how to love God and the final seven show us how to love others.

The second reading tells us, "God is love." Therefore, God equals love and love equals God. Did you ever think of that before? Not that God is love, but that love is God.

God is the source of love for the whole world. Just as water cycles around the world in clouds, rain, rivers, oceans and into clouds again, God's love cycles through us and our neighbors. As we love, we are really spreading God and sharing God with others.

Part of God, part of love, is forgiveness. The second reading tells us, "God sent his only Son into the world so that we might have life through him." When we hold a grudge or will not forgive another person, we withhold love from them. When someone is angry with us, or holding something against us, they withhold love from us. In these instances, both parties
are losing the heart of the relationship with each other and they are without the life of the other.

When Jesus died to free us from sin, it was to open us to love and forgiveness, and introduce us to God the Father as pure love. He died for us to show us a better love than the love we often live. In the Gospel, Jesus instructs us to "remain in His love". We must remain with God to be able to love others and be forgiving. In his commandments, God isn't trying to hold us back or squash our zeal for life, he is trying to help us live more fully. Jesus tells us to remain with Him so that our "joy may be complete." He summarizes the one lesson that we need to hear over and over again by saying, "This is my commandment: love one another as I love you."

5th Sunday of Easter

Luckily, lovingly, God is the vine grower. He tends to us branches. He sees the branches that are withering from thirst and he gives them a boost with water. He sees the branches that are burning from heat and gives them the mercy of shade. He also sees the branches that are bearing fruit. He waits until the fruit is ripe and heavy before he picks it. God also prunes some branches. He cuts them down so they will bear fruit in the future.

Have you ever been pruned? Have you ever felt that God was cutting you down or holding you back? It is hard to come to terms with pruning sometimes. Why would God prevent you from doing something that you wanted to do? Why would He give that job to someone else? Why would He let your boyfriend or girlfriend break up with you? God is the vine grower, and he knows the end result. He knows the fruit you will bear. If you took that first job, then you wouldn't have applied to the position where you were able to change people's lives by your work. If you had stayed with that boyfriend or girlfriend, you wouldn't have had the opportunity to meet your real true love, the spouse that God had planned for you before you were born. He knows what He is doing.

He sent Jesus Christ to this earth to guide us and give us hope. Jesus is the vine and we are the branches. We must root ourselves in the vine that God provided. Jesus says, "without me you can do nothing." If we live apart from Christ, then we are like the branch that has broken off of the vine and fallen to the ground. Where are our roots? Where will we get water and nutrients with nothing holding us in the soil? Even if God tried to water us, we couldn't receive it without the vine. We are dead without the vine. We are dead without Jesus Christ.

Today's second reading gives us hope for staying on the vine when it says, "Those who keep his commandments remain in him, and he in them," In order to stay on the vine, we must keep his commandments. The greatest commandment (Matthew 22) is to "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself'," Love is the key to staying on the vine. The second reading tells us how to love too. Saying, "I love you" is simply not enough. We must act out our love through service to God and to one another.

4th Sunday of Easter

So often we wonder what we mean to God, what He is doing with us or where He is leading us in our lives. Today's readings should give us hope. Jesus Christ should be the cornerstone of our foundation. The rock on which we stand. But when we want to move, where should we go? God has provided us a shepherd to guide us. The sheep do not lead themselves, the shepherd guides them to rich meadows full of grass to eat. He also leads them away from the dangerous predators who would kill or harm the sheep. But we are not sheep, and we know that. The second reading assures us who we are, which is the children of God.

Knowing these things is comforting, but still we wonder, “What is God doing with my life?” We can say, “Last year I did this good thing” or “Right now I am doing this.” or “One day, I hope to do that” but still we do not know what God wants from us. Today's second reading offers assurance. “Beloved, we are God's children now; what we shall be has not yet been revealed.” This letter to John assures us that we aren't supposed to know. Perhaps the accumulation of our life's work will be revealed to us in the end. The reading says, “We do know that when it is revealed we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.” We will know where God led us, and what we did for Him when we see Him. Is this when we get to heaven?

In our entire lives, we have so many opportunities to do God's work. Sometimes it is easier to look for the big thing to do, the hurricane victim to rescue or the mission trip to go on, than it is to do the small thing, loving your neighbor or giving 35 cents to the homeless guy. Not everyone can do the big things, but all of us can do the small things. Will the most important thing we did in our entire lives be a big thing or a small thing or many small things? Perhaps the accumulation of our lives is to smile at that one person who will go on to change the world. Perhaps the $20 donated to the mission trip car wash fundraiser didn't seem like much, but it helped 25 students get that much closer to Honduras. In those 25 students, maybe one needed the trip desperately so God could crack their hard shell and shine His light into their life. Perhaps that one student became a priest who goes on to lead many parishes and speak to the hearts of thousands of people. That $20 doesn't seem so small now, does it?

We can all work for God, we may not know how our actions change others, but there is a change. If we live as God's children, let the Shepherd guide us, and stand on the Rock then we shouldn't worry if we are doing the right thing for God. He won't let us do anything else.

Easter

Hosanna He is risen! Easter is the most important holiday in our church year, every thing that we do and believe as Christians centers around this holy day. Jesus’ teachings and his entire life can be summed up in his sacrifice on the cross which triumphed over death and gave eternal life to all who believe. Jesus loved us so much that he was willing to give his life so that we might have life. His death and resurrection teach us to follow what he has done and to love so much that we would be willing to give a sacrifical love to others. We must love so much that we would be willing to give our lives so that others may have life. Everything in our faith can be summed up with this life-giving love.

How has Jesus given life to us? How can we give that life to others? How can we love someone so much that we could give our life for them? How are we life giving? Is it through our marriages or chaste relationships that respect the life-giving power God has given us? Is it through our children? Do we give life by holding our tongue when we have a potentially hurtful opinion? By encouraging the best in others? By showing kindness to someone we dislike? By forgiving people who have hurt us the most? By seeking forgiveness when we have hurt others?

Sometimes living a live-giving love can seem difficult or even impossible! In order to give something away to others, we must have received it first. Just as we would prepare for a race by exercise training and proper nutrition, we can do the same to prepare to love others as Christ taught us. Every day in Catholic churches around the world, Jesus’ sacrifice is celebrated on the altar. We can draw the strength we need in order to be life-giving from the sacrifice that is re-lived on the altar at Mass. Receiving the Eucharist is the way that we can strengthen and nourish ourselves to live as Christ lived and love as Christ loved.