EASTER MONDAY

1st reading: Acts 2:14, 22-33: God raised this man Jesus from the dead, and all of us are witnesses to this.

Resp. Psalm: Ps 15(16):1-2,5,7-11: Preserve me Lord, I take refuge in you.

Gospel Matthew 28:8-15: Tell my brothers to leave for Galilee, they will see me there.

PETER’S FIRST SERMON

Today’s readings testify to the Resurrection of Christ. In the 1st reading (Acts 2:14, 22-33) Peter, along with his fellow disciples, is speaking to a crowd about the Risen Christ and this is part of the first ever Christian sermon. The basis for his preaching and that of the apostles is clearly their own personal encounter with the Risen Lord. Like the sermons recorded in the Acts of the Apostles they are personal testaments to the death and resurrection of Christ.

CHRIST IS RISEN!!

In the gospel (Mtt 28:8-15) Jesus appears to the women. They were filled with joy because pessimism had turned to optimism, despair had turned to hope, and that tiny kernel of faith, almost lost during the dark hours after the crucifixion, had blossomed into a sure knowledge of redemption.Indeed Christ is risen! They clasped his feet and Jesus tells them to go and tell his disciples to go to Galilee where He will meet them. Galilee represented going back to the how it all started. It represents normality and everyday life for the disciples. It reminds us that we too will find the Risen Christ in the normality of our lives. We must go back to the source. What difference does the Resurrection of Jesus make in your daily living?

YOU CANNOT BURY THE TRUTH!

The twist and turns of life should not make us act like the Roman soldiers, who saw all that happened and yet decided to bury the truth because of money. Remember, that the thirty pieces of silver that Judas Iscariot collected to betray Jesus could not bury the truth that Jesus rose from the grave, so too the Roman soldiers could not bury the truth for now we have a Holy Roman Catholic and Apostolic Church built upon Peter by Christ the living Stone and the Cornerstone rejected by the elders and leaders of the people. Let us celebrate Christ’s victory over death and sin, a victory that resounded throughout the universe, and continues to do so today. Let us go to Galilee. We will see him there.

May the joy of the Risen Lord Jesus continue to touch our life with a renewed spirit. Amen. Good day. Happy Easter Monday & have a grace filled week ahead!

Fr. Joseph OSJ.