Commentary on the Gospel of
New Beginnings
Read:
Peter addresses the crowd, inviting them to repentance and forgiveness. Paul speaks of our hidden life in Christ. John presents us with the empty tomb.
Reflect:
John reaches the tomb first (mentioned twice, as if to remind us); but he waits, lets Peter enter first. John, a son of thunder and a compulsively competitive man who, with his brother, bested the other disciples to ask for seats of prominence in the Kingdom (Mk 10:37); who, once jealously stopped a stranger from healing in Jesus’ name because he wasn’t one among them (Lk 9:49); who once wanted fire to come down and burn up a Samaritan village because it was not hospitable (Lk 9: 54), is now willing to let Peter exercise primacy! Only after Peter enters and verifies, John will enter. Where has the rivalry, jealously, treacherous competitiveness gone? Perhaps it left the moment he rested his head on the breast of the Lord; or stood at the foot of the Cross, getting drenched in the blood from above. This is what the Paschal Mystery does: to change our lives 180 degrees.
Pray:
Don’t ask for anything today. Just speak words of gratitude and more gratitude.
Act:
Invite someone less fortunate than you to share the Easter joy with your family/community.
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Easter Sunday "Living in resurrection".
Celebrating the feast of Easter is the greatest and most joyful thing a creature can celebrate. It is the feast of faith, hope and charity. It is also the feast of life, the triumph of Jesus over death. The Resurrection of the Lord changes the apostles into new men. The people and the Sanhedrin proclaim loudly: "We cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard" (Acts 4,20). (Heb. 4,20) Today the church sings of Jesus' and our new life. "They fought in life and death / In a unique battle / And he who is the Life, dead, / Triumphant rises / King, O victor, have mercy on human misery / And give your faithful a share / In your holy victory / Amen".
The great miracle of our human condition is that we can collaborate in that resurrection. Because to live resurrected is to make life grow in us, to free us from sterile selfishness and to revive the capacity to love, lifting up the dejected, cleaning the stained, renewing the new, and encouraging the discouraged, we feel the presence of the Risen One, by the desire to overcome and grow, and thus we can also be resurrected people. How to do it? By rising up convinced that what we are going to do is to live, not to vegetate. Let us dedicate ourselves in this Easter season and always to share resurrection. Where there is hate, let us put love, / Where there is offence, let us put forgiveness, / Where there is discord, let us put union, / Where there is error, let us put truth, / Where there is doubt, let us put faith, / Where there is despair, let us put hope, / Where there is darkness, let us put light, / Where there is sadness, let us put joy. (St. Francis de Asisi.)
To live resurrected and to sow the resurrected Christ is the mission of the Christian. To sow resurrection is to announce and work for the values of the Kingdom. To confess the resurrected Jesus is to believe that life conquers death, that the executioner does not triumph over the victim, that the last thing is not emptiness.
Prayer: Help us Lord to discover your life in the simplest things and to fill our eyes with faith and to understand what you tell us through so many mediations.
(Psalm 117) This is the day on which the Lord has acted, let us rejoice and be glad.
"HAPPY EASTER TO ALL".
