4th Sunday of Easter
Peter says in our 1st reading today, speaking about Jesus Christ, “There is no salvation through anyone else, nor is there any other name under heaven given to the human race by which we are to be saved.” If salvation is only in Jesus, then who can be saved? Can non-Catholics go to heaven? Can Hindus or Buddhists or Muslims go to heaven? And what part do we have to play in it? Listen and find out!
3rd Sunday of Easter
When Jesus appears today to His disciples and says, “Peace be with you,” they at first think it might be a ghost. Ghosts and the supernatural are not talked about very much in our current Church culture. What do we believe as Catholics about ghosts? What if we or someone we know claims to have experienced a presence beyond this physical world? Should we be afraid? Can they hurt us? Or can we help them?
2nd Sunday of Easter
In our Gospel, Jesus appears to the disciples behind locked doors and rather shockingly (since most of these people deserted Him during his arrest and crucifixion) He says, “Peace Be With You.” Then He shows them His wounds – His hands and His pierced side, still present even on His resurrected and glorified body. God wants to give us a deep, abiding peace in this life. The path to that peace, however, is counterintuitive: it involves admitting and confessing just how much we have wounded others and God along the way – our sins – because to the extent that we admit our sinfulness, we experience God’s amazing mercy; and to the extent we experience God’s desire and love for us even in the midst of our brokenness, we experience God’s peace!
Easter Sunday
And I will raise you up
And I will raise you up
And I will raise you up on the last day.
What does God want to do for you? How does He want to raise you up? What does He want to do in your life right now?
Pentecost
In our baptism we received the same Holy Spirit that the disciples received 2,000 years ago. By our Confirmation we were sealed and strengthened in that Holy Spirit. So why don’t we see the miracles and wonders that the presence of the Spirit brings, like those in our 1st reading? In order for the power of the Spirit (which is already within us) to be unlocked and unleashed through our lives, we have to be able to say, in all areas of our life, with our whole heart, “Jesus is Lord!” The more we can say that, the more the Holy Spirit can come out with power!
Ascension Sunday
Jesus ascended into heaven not to distance Himself from us, but so that He could turn around, reach down, and raise us up to where He is!
5th Sunday of Easter
Every Christian, by their baptism, is anointed priest, prophet and king. Peter challenges us this weekend to that first anointing: “be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God.” There is the ordained priesthood by which priests in the Church offer to God’s people the sacraments, but there is also the priesthood of the baptized by which every Christian, in Jesus, is called to offer spiritual sacrifices to God. Every day we can offer these spiritual sacrifices, and at Mass we have the opportunity to collect them all from that past week – our thoughts, words, prayers, actions, and intentions…even our anxieties, worries, concerns, hopes, and dreams – and place them all on that altar, asking God to transform them just as He does the bread and wine.
4th Sunday of Easter
Dreams are hopeful and safe – they can’t be failed. Goals, on the other hand, are not safe – they can be failed. It’s easy to dream; it’s not easy to make goals and follow through on them. In the Gospel this weekend, Jesus calls himself the good shepherd whose sheep hear his voice and follow him as he leads them to good pastures. Dreamers hear that voice but don’t actually move anywhere. Disciples hear that voice and have the courage to take a step: to set concrete spiritual goals in their daily lives, to fail, to get up again, and to succeed. How are we disciples? How are we dreamers? Where is the Lord calling us to take another step?
3rd Sunday of Easter
In the Gospel today, Jesus joins two disciples on the way to Emmaus, but they do not recognize Him until “the breaking of the bread”. In the Eucharist, at every Mass, Jesus not only draws close to walk with us on our journey through life, He also transforms bread and wine into His Body and Blood so that He can be physically united with us. Thanks be to God for this great gift of the Eucharist!
Happy Easter!!!