Marriage = One Man and One Woman

Til' Death Do Us Part

Daily Marriage Tip for April 7, 2013:

Are you a “Doubting Thomas?” Sometimes we doubt our beloved’s good intentions; sometimes we doubt our own ability to live up to our commitments. Trust takes time and a track record. Have you earned your beloved’s trust? Not sure? Ask.

Am I a Person of Mercy, Really?

Pastor’s Column

Mercy Sunday 2013

“Blessed are the merciful; Mercy will be shown to them."

Matthew 5:7

Every so often it is helpful for us to sit down and ask ourselves what our goals are in life. Among the usual professional, financial, or goals of health improvement, a Christian should also have spiritual goals that the Holy Spirit is inspiring within us, because these will be the fruits of our life that we will bring into the next world. How we affect others is part of Jesus' commandment to proclaim him by our words and deeds, but how many of us have a goal of being a more merciful person?

Am I a person of mercy, really? Virtually every day brings challenges, otherwise known as opportunities, to grow in mercy. Life seems to be designed to offer us challenges, because this is one of the ways we can best grow in holiness. Life is full of tests, both small and large, that reveal the true state of our heart. For example, how merciful am I when someone, for example, gets in my way, or upsets my plans, or in some way has genuinely earned my wrath? For me, the classic example is getting in line at the grocery store behind some normal looking person who, when it is time to pay, suddenly finds that they stumble around with their checkbook for 10 minutes, or perhaps an elderly driver who seems to get in everybody's way. From a spiritual point of view, such moments aregolden.

Oneof the real tests of our heart is when we are put into some kind of position of power over somebody else. Many of us have known someone we used to work with who then gets promoted and turns into some kind of merciless supervisor (this happened to me several times when I worked at my former airline career). But how do I handle others when I have the advantage? Among the ways that this is demonstrated is in how we treat the other members of our family, or whether we are truly collaborative and listen to others when we’re in charge of the meeting or group, or in any area of our life where we have authority in some way over someone else.

This is particularly true in how we drive. When we are behind the wheel, we have access to power, we are semi–anonymous, and we may be tempted to be merciless to those who don't conform to our own expectations. These and many other moments you can also come up with are real tests of character. They are also opportunities to show mercy.

One way that many of us tend to lack mercy is how we speak about others. We can do so much damage with our mouths. Who among us has not been wounded by comments and criticisms that we did not deserve, or words that should not be spoken all?

Remember this image of prayer which demonstrates so well the principle of mercy: one hand we stretch out to God in prayer – the other is stretched out to others in mercy. Together they form a prayer, a complete act of mercy.

Father Gary

2nd Easter -- Peace and Mercy

"My Lord and my God!"

Sunday Readings: http://usccb.org/bible/readings/040713.cfm

Acts 5: 12-16

Rev. 1: 9-11a, 12-13, 17-19

Jn 20: 19-31

It’s no wonder, living in the frantic and stressful life that we do the popularity of retreat houses and monasteries as destinations of seclusion and peace. There is nothing like a little peace and quiet, some personal “down time” to bring rest not only to our bodies but also to our minds and spirits. I well recall the advice of a retreat master during a Jesuit 30 day retreat I undertook a while back. He advised us to: “sleep well, eat well, and pray well.” Most of us find no problem with the eating and sleeping part. It’s often the praying that demands our fuller attention. Yet, balance brings order to our lives as difficult as it can be to attain that perfect balance. Peace is truly a gift we must incorporate.

On this second Sunday of the Easter season Jesus appears to the disciples in his risen form. Hiding in fear and likely confusion as to what to do next, with locked doors protecting them, Jesus “came and stood in their midst.” (Jn 20: 19). He does not reprimand them for their abandonment; he does not express anger for their cowardice. He offers them his gift of peace: “Peace be with you,” he says to them, “Shalom.”

It is more than just, “Don’t be afraid by the fact that you now see me,” it is rather an invitation to reconciliation and mercy. For, after proof of his bodily resurrection by showing them “his hands and his side . . .” (Jn 20: 20) Like the benefits of some peace and spiritual quiet we experience, the recharge of our lives, we are then sent out on mission. And so too does Jesus send out his disciples with this new experience of his resurrected presence: “As the Father has sent me, so I send you . . .” (Jn 20: 21). This peace which Jesus offers to his disciples and through them to every believer is one that elicits a response – to go into missionary territory with the same message of reconciliation and mercy.

But, true peace can only be built on trust. Here Jesus offers his startled disciples the gift of the Holy Spirit as he breathes his life upon them and commissions them to carry out the mission of reconciliation between humankind and God. The experience of the skeptical Thomas in the Gospel reinforces that of every believer who struggles to believe in the face of doubt. To trust God in all things is a goal worth reaching for in our hectic lives. That trust can bring a sense of peace. Jesus “peace be with you” is another way of saying “do not be afraid.”

The Acts of the Apostles 5 today, then, offers us a picture of the fruits of this experience. Through the fervent faith of the now apostles the Spirit worked many “signs and wonders” among the early Christians. Rather than cause division, this new way of life created new bonds of unity among believers. So much so that “the people esteemed them . . .” (Acts 5: 12) as we hear today. The sick were gathered and healed by even the passing shadow of St. Peter. It must have been an amazing and awesome time in those early months and years. Through bonds of reconciliation and love, trust was built and peace became the hallmark of the early Christians – peace that led to many giving their lives for the sake of the Gospel.

Ultimately, in this Easter season we are invited like the disciples themselves to a deeper trust (faith) in the truth of the risen Christ. Our temptation to skepticism sometimes caused by all that is not of God which we see around us calls us to prayer and deeper faith. If we take a lesson from the disciples, later to be commissioned apostles, then we can see the power of this faith to overcome doubt. Countless Christian martyrs stand ready to remind us that Christ is truly risen. Thomas is a sign of most of us who would rather have proof we can rely on but one who ultimately proclaimed Jesus as, “my Lord and my God.” (Jn 20:28) The faith of many should be our proof and inspiration.

A crisis of faith today? Much ink has been spilled on this perception but in truth our culture needs some good news. Don’t we need to hear something that will take away our fear, our skepticism, our isolation? The fulfillment of the hunger today for something more than technology which can satisfy us beyond the latest upgrade to our gadgets is found in this beautiful Easter season.

It has been said that what will change the culture is the witness of those who continue to believe that Christ is indeed risen because those who believe have found a peace that can proclaim Jesus as Lord and God. Our gathering around Word and Sacrament is not only the coming together of the Church made visible but the place where we are sent out to “glorify the Lord by our lives.” Forgiveness, reconciliation, and divine mercy are the solution to hatred, isolation, and greed.

God of everlasting mercy,

who in the very recurrence of the paschal feast

kindle the faith of the people you have made your own,

increase, we pray, the grace you have bestowed,

that all may grasp and rightly understand in what font they have been washed,

by whose Spirit they have been reborn,

by whose Blood they have been redeemed.

(Collect of 2^nd Easter)

Fr. Tim

St. Paul Center Blog

Breath of New Life: Scott Hahn Reflects on Divine Mercy Sunday

Posted by Dr. Scott Hahn on 04.05.13 |

Acts 5:12-16
Psalm 118:2-4,13-15, 22-24
Revelation 1:9-13,17-19
John 20:19-31

The prophet Daniel in a vision saw “One like the Son of Man” receive everlasting kingship (see Daniel 7:9-14). John is taken to heaven in today’s Second Reading where He sees Daniel’s prophecy fulfilled in Jesus, who appears as “One like a Son of Man.”

Jesus is clad in the robe of a High Priest (see Exodus 28:4; Wisdom 18:24) and wearing the gold sash of a King (see 1 Maccabees 10:89). He has been exalted by the right hand of the Lord, as we sing in today’s Psalm.

His risen body, which the Apostles touch in today’s Gospel, has been made a life-giving Spirit (see 1 Corinthians 15:45).

As the Father anointed Him with the Spirit and power (see Acts 10:38), Jesus pours out that Spirit on the Apostles, sending them into the world “as the Father has sent Me.”

Jesus “breathes” the Spirit of His divine life into the Apostles - as God blew the “breath of life” into Adam (see Genesis 2:7), as Elijah’s prayer returned “the life breath” to the dead child (see 1 Kings 17:21-23), and as the Spirit breathed new life into the slain in the valley of bones (see Ezekiel 37:9-10).

His creative breath unites the Apostles - His Church - to His body, and empowers them to breathe His life into a dying world, to make it a new creation.

In today’s Gospel and First Reading, we see the Apostles fulfilling this mission, with powers only God possesses - the power to forgive sins and to work “signs and wonders,” a biblical expression only used to describe the mighty works of God (see Exodus 7:3; 11:10; Acts 7:36).

Thomas and the others saw “many other signs” after Jesus was raised from the dead. They saw and they believed.

They have been given His life, which continues in the Church’s Word and sacraments, so that we who have not seen might inherit His blessings, and “have life in His name.”

Insight Scoop

Preparation, Proclamation, Perseverance, and Purpose

A Scriptural Reflection on the Readings for April 7, 2013 (Sunday of Divine Mercy) | Carl E. Olson

Readings:
• Acts 5:12-16
• Ps 118:2-4, 13-15, 22-24
• Rev 1:9-11a, 12-13, 17-19
• Jn 20:19-31

It is fitting that on this second Sunday of Easter, decreed in 2000 by Pope John Paul II to be Divine Mercy Sunday, that the readings provide a biblical blueprint of how divine mercy and grace would spread in the months and years immediately following the Resurrection.

During the Easter season, leading up to the great Feast of Pentecost, readings from the Acts of the Apostles take the place of Old Testament readings. In this way the connection between “all that Jesus did and taught” (Acts 1:1) and all that the apostles did and taught can be clearly seen and reflected upon. The Evangelist Luke portrayed Jesus as The Prophet who would do great signs and wonders (the greatest being His death and resurrection) and in the Acts of the Apostles he depicted the early Christians—especially the apostles Peter and Paul—as doing “many signs and wonders among the people” (Acts 5:12).

The blueprint of mercy can be summed up in four words: preparation, proclamation, perseverance, and purpose.

The preparation began during the ministry of Jesus, as He spent countless hours, days, and months with His disciples, teaching them by both word and example. Christ’s Passion and the Resurrection took that preparation to a place the disciples could barely begin to fathom prior to those dramatic events. Today’s Gospel reading highlights, in the well-known story of doubting Thomas, that the process of preparation was not a quick or easy one. As the disciples hid behind closed doors, they were often filled with fear and confusion. But the appearance of the Risen Christ in their midst was a source of peace and joy. And so they received their instructions: “As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” Then, later, in response to Thomas’s famous cry—“My Lord and my God!”—Jesus further prepared the disciples for their divine mission by pointing them toward the many souls in need of the Gospel: “Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.”

The proclamation of that Gospel is seen all through Acts, including in today’s reading. The signs and wonders performed by Christ were soon being performed by the leaders of His Body, the Church, and that Body grew quickly. Luke emphasized the “signs and wonders” throughout his Gospel to present Jesus as the New Moses. Those marks of prophetic activity are mentioned many times in Acts, notably in Peter’s sermon on Pentecost and his recitation of the prophet Joel (2:17-22), and in today’s reading, which describes the proclamation of God’s word by the apostles (cf., 4:29-30), especially the head apostle, Peter.

In addition to Acts, the readings during Easter include selections from the final book of the Bible, the Revelation of Jesus Christ. One reason is to show the perseverance of the early Christians—including the author, John—in the face of persecution. John the Revelator referred to both when he wrote of the “endurance we have in Jesus”; he explained that he had been exiled to the island of Patmos (about 37 miles southwest of modern Turkey) “because I proclaimed God’s word and gave testimony to Jesus.” While celebrating the Lord’s Day—likely in the course of the Liturgy—John saw the risen and victorious Christ standing among the lamp stands, representing the Church. The Son of Man, “the first and the last,” assures John that the perseverance of the saints is not in vain, but will be rewarded by eternal life: “Once I was dead, but now I am alive forever and ever.”

We return to today’s Gospel to find a perfect summation of the purpose of these many actions of preparation, proclamation, and perseverance. John explained that much more could have been written about Jesus in his Gospel, but that “these are written that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that through this belief you may have life in his name.” By God’s mercy and grace, may we believe more deeply and experience more fully the life of the Risen Lord!

(This "Opening the Word" column originally appeared in the April 15, 2007, issue of Our Sunday Visitor newspaper.)

Regnum Christi

The Limit of Evil

| SPIRITUAL LIFE | SPIRITUALITY

Second Sunday of Easter or Divine Mercy Sunday

John 20:19-31

On the evening of that first day of the week, when the doors were locked, where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, "Peace be with you." When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you." And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained." Thomas, called Didymus, one of the Twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples said to him, "We have seen the Lord." But he said to them, "Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger into the nail marks and put my hand into his side, I will not believe." Now a week later his disciples were again inside and Thomas was with them. Jesus came, although the doors were locked, and stood in their midst and said, "Peace be with you." Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here and see my hands, and bring your hand and put it into my side, and do not be unbelieving, but believe." Thomas answered and said to him, "My Lord and my God!" Jesus said to him, "Have you come to believe because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed." Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples that are not written in this book. But these are written that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that through this belief you may have life in his name.

Introductory Prayer: Lord Jesus, I believe in your grace and your love for me. This is why I come before you now. I know that through this meditation I can experience your love and be filled with your grace, so that I might fulfill my role in your plan of salvation. You know that I am weak and am sometimes tempted to lose heart. But I know I can count on your generous graces to bolster my courage and love. For my part, I will strive to spend this time with you well.

Petition: Jesus Christ, let me know your heart.

1. Touch His Heart: In this passage, Christ puts himself within touching distance of Thomas’ finger and hand. He invites this apostle, struggling with doubt, to reach into his side and come into contact with that Sacred Heart, filled to the brim with mercy. Not only could there no longer be any doubt about the Savior’s resurrected body, there also could no longer be any doubt about his mercy which he promised in the forgiveness of sins. With Thomas, then, let us come within touching distance of this heart of Christ and peer through his open side to see the heart that so loves all souls.

2. Allowing Him Touch My Heart: Not only do we want to touch Christ’s heart, we also want to invite the Lord to touch our hearts. Just like the lepers who presented their disfigured flesh for Christ to touch and cure, so we present our disfigured souls, asking him to touch and to cure. Saint Faustina would say that all that is necessary is for us to leave the door of our heart ajar and God will do the rest. Let us present to his “sacred finger” what in us needs to be touched by his grace, especially through the sacrament of reconciliation.

3. Thirsting for All Hearts: In Christ, the greatest thirsting love is too often met by the most outrageous ingratitude and affront on the part of souls. The Sacred Heart made mention of this in the pangs of his heart voiced to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque. He explained to her that his sharpest pain was due to people’s ingratitude. Let us endeavor to bring his thirsting heart into contact with souls, though our prayers, sacrifices and apostolic efforts.

Conversation with Christ: Lord Jesus, thank you for the example of love and mercy you give us through your appearance to the disciples and your kindness to St. Thomas. May my heart always be full of gratitude and remain close to your loving, merciful touch.

Resolution:I will pray that someone I know may experience God’s mercy in the sacrament of confession. If possible, I will help someone directly to make this happen.

Scripture Speaks

Scripture Speaks: Divine Mercy

by Gayle Somers on April 5, 2013 ·

Today’s [Sunday, April 7] Gospel records a post-Resurrection appearance of Jesus in which His mercy to sinners begins to flow. Watch out! There is no stopping it.

Gospel (Read Jn 20:19-31)

The celebration of our Lord’s Resurrection on Easter Sunday usually focuses on the sheer ecstasy of His victory over death. All during Holy Week, we are absorbed with the details of His horrific Passion. When we reach Easter, our hearts nearly burst with joy that Jesus is alive and vindicated as God’s Son. In other words, it’s easy to dwell on the fact of the Resurrection and be so dazzled by it that we do not think much beyond that. The mercy of Divine Mercy Sunday (yes, intended pun) is that now we begin to meditate on the meaning of the Resurrection. Today’s Gospel gets us started.

When Jesus miraculously appears among the apostles, we find they are locked in a room “for fear of the Jews.” These fellows have not lately impressed us, have they? His closest friends (Peter, James, and John) slept instead of keeping watch and praying in Gethsemane. All the apostles except John fled the Crucifixion, and they were all reluctant to believe the witness of the women to whom Jesus first appeared. Yet the word Jesus speaks to them is, “Peace.” Then He commissions them to continue the work the Father sent Him to do. If the Gospel reading stopped right here, we would still have enough information to knock us over backwards with joy: Jesus loves sinners! These men were often feckless and self-absorbed, yet when He goes to them, He gives them peace and joy. Can any scene in the Gospels demonstrate more clearly than this one the meaning of Easter?

Jesus then does something truly astounding. “He breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.’” What?? Are we prepared to see this in the story? Jesus breathed His own breath on the very people who failed Him in His hour of need. This action reminds us of God breathing into Adam’s nostrils His own breath at Creation, confirming him in “the image and likeness of God.” Jesus establishes the apostles as those who will continue His divine work on earth. In them, God will forgive or retain sin. What can explain Jesus building a Church that is both human and divine other than the boundless mercy of God?

We find that one of the apostles, Thomas, was missing from this momentous occasion. When he gets the report of it, he refuses to believe it. He must see and touch the wounds of Jesus to be convinced. We don’t know why Thomas doubted the men with whom he’d spent the last three years and who, along with himself, had been chosen as Jesus’ closest intimates. His refusal to believe makes us uncomfortable, doesn’t it? His doubt and cynicism don’t seem to come from a good place, yet Jesus appears and gives him precisely what he needs for faith. Mercy! This river of mercy is starting to gain momentum. Jesus then helps us to understand where the river is headed: “Have you come to believe because you have seen Me? Blessed are those who have not seen and believed.” This happy river is coming our way. It will flow out to everyone, everywhere, in all times. Those who believe in Jesus without ever seeing Him are going to be swept up in the torrent of God’s mercy for sinners.

If we have been slow on the uptake, St. John puts it all together for us: “These [signs of the Risen Jesus] are written that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that through this belief, you might have life in His Name”. The meaning of the Resurrection is the triumph of mercy and new life for sinners. Isn’t this a great Day?

Possible response: Lord Jesus, I know myself to be as weak, fickle, and hard-hearted as the apostles sometimes were; thank You for the mercy You offered to them and to me.

First Reading (Read Acts 5:12-16)

In the Gospel, Jesus told the apostles, “As the Father has sent Me, so I send you.” We can see from this reading that He meant what He said. Many “signs and wonders were done among the people at the hands of the apostles.” The miracles, of course, led to conversions: “Yet more than ever, believers in the Lord, great numbers of men and women, were added to them.” Just as people had sought mercy from Jesus by touching the hem of His garment, so they “carried the sick out into the streets” in the hope that “when Peter came by, at least his shadow might fall on one or another of them.” As He promised, Jesus continued to do His work on earth through the men He had chosen and commissioned to be His witnesses. His plan for spreading His mercy to all people through His church worked.

Possible response: Lord Jesus, thank You for two thousand years’ worth of Your mercy pouring into human history through Your Church.

Psalm (Read Ps 118:2-4, 13-15, 22-24)

Today, the psalmist simply cannot stop praising the mercy of God. How appropriate that this should be our liturgical response on Divine Mercy Sunday. The psalmist explains the cause of his joy in very few words: “I was hard pressed and was falling, but the Lord helped me.” Don’t these words describe the plight of all mankind, from Adam to us? Ever since the Fall, we have staggered and tripped in our sin, completely unable to help ourselves. Even the apostles, when Jesus most needed them, caved into fear and self-preservation. Nevertheless, Jesus died for them and for us: “By the Lord has this been done; it is wonderful in our eyes.”

Of course it is! That is why our responsorial today calls us to “Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; His love is everlasting.”

Possible response: The psalm is, itself, a response to our other readings. Read it again prayerfully to make it your own.

Second Reading (Read Rev 1:9-11a, 12-13, 17-19)

St. John shows us how Jesus’ river of mercy, which flowed immediately to the world through His Church, will not stop there. St. John writes that he was “on the island of Patmos because I proclaimed God’s word and gave testimony to Jesus.” He was in exile on a small island used by the Romans as a penal colony for criminals, persecuted as was Jesus. However, he was “caught up in the spirit on the Lord’s day” and was given a vision of heaven. In it, he saw “seven gold lampstands, and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man.” This is a beautiful reference to the Presence of Jesus in the midst of His Church. The lampstands probably refer to the “seven churches” to whom John’s vision is addressed (see Rev 1:4). This appearance of Jesus to John was different from His post-Resurrection appearances, when the apostles were startled and confounded. This appearance caused John to fall “down at His feet as though dead.” Yet Jesus’ response to John is so familiar: “Do not be afraid.” In His mercy, He desires to give to His Church instruction as it experiences “distress” and is in need of “endurance.” He wants it written down so that His Church will know that He has all power and authority on earth. Divine Mercy reveals “what is happening and what will happen afterwards.” In this revelation, Jesus tells us how our story will end as we struggle to be His people now. The river of His mercy will flow into eternity, for He is “the first and the last” and is “alive forever and ever.” Alleluia!

Possible response: Lord Jesus, help me remember to not be afraid in the distresses we live through in Your Church. Our future is secure because of You.

Divine Mercy

by Marcellino D'Ambrosio, Ph.D. on April 5, 2013 ·

Several years ago, the Catholic Church designated the Sunday after Easter as “Divine Mercy Sunday.” That raises two very important questions — what exactly is “mercy” anyway, and what does it have to do with the Easter season?

Mercy is not just pity. Neither is it simply sparing someone the punishment that they deserve. No, mercy can be defined as love’s response to suffering. When mercy encounters suffering, it ultimately seeks to alleviate it. God the Father is so “rich in mercy” (Ephesian 2:4) that Paul calls him “the Father of all mercies and the God of all comfort” (2 Corinthians 1:3).

Jesus is the perfect human image of the Father’s mercy. When he meets those suffering from hunger, he feeds them. When he encounters people suffering from physical sickness, he heals them. But true mercy is not superficial, but truly radical. And Jesus recognizes that the deepest suffering in human life, the root cause of all other suffering, is sin. Sin debases us, robbing us of our dignity, weakening and even rupturing our connection with the source of our life, namely, God, our loving Father. Sin, then, is not just a transgression of some arbitrary law. No, it creates a wound in us that can fester and, if left unattended, corrupt us entirely. It gives the Prince of Darkness a foothold in our hearts which he then tries to use to gain complete control of our lives. True mercy seeks to alleviate this deeper suffering that can potentially lead to eternal suffering.

It was to address this most profound of all wounds that Jesus gave up his life. And the risen Christ instituted the sacrament of penance to apply the medicine of mercy, won on Calvary, to each individual sinner at the moment of their deepest need.

Wait a minute. So Jesus, not the Church, established this sacrament? Where does the Bible say he did that? Right there, in John’s gospel, on Easter Sunday afternoon. Despite the locked doors, he stands amidst the apostles and says “As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” Jesus is the original “apostle” of the Father – the word means “one who is sent.” As he was sent on a mission of mercy, so he sends out his “apostles” on the same mission. He breathes on them and says “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive men’s sins, they are forgiven them; if you hold them bound, they are held bound.” (John 20:19-22).

One Bread, One Body

<< Sunday, April 7, 2013 >>

Second Sunday of Easter
Mercy Sunday

Acts 5:12-16
Revelation 1:9-13, 17-19
View Readings

Psalm 118:2-4, 13-15, 22-24
John 20:19-31

RISE TO THE OCCASION

"Thomas said in response, 'My Lord and my God!' " —John 20:28

Because Jesus is God, Jesus is risen (see Rm 1:4). Only God has power over death (Jn 5:21, 26).

Because Jesus is God, Jesus is Lord. Only God has the right to demand the constant worship and total obedience due to the Lord.

Because Jesus is God and risen Lord, none of us is the lord of our own life. "While we live we are responsible to the Lord, and when we die we die as His servants. Both in life and in death we are the Lord's" (Rm 14:8). We "live no longer" for ourselves, "but for Him" (2 Cor 5:15). The life we now live is not our own, "but it is a life of faith in the Son of God, Who loved [us] and gave Himself" for us (Gal 2:20).

It is not right to believe in Jesus' resurrection without dethroning ourselves and enthroning Him as Lord God. It is not right to believe in His resurrection without witnessing for Jesus in word and in a radically surrendered lifestyle. It is not right to say we believe in His resurrection and yet be locked up by fear like the apostles or by doubt like Thomas (Jn 20:19ff). It is right to receive the Holy Spirit (Jn 20:22) and proclaim Jesus as risen Lord and God (1 Cor 12:3).

Prayer: Father, may I confess with my "lips that Jesus is Lord" and believe in my "heart that" You "raised Him from the dead" (Rm 10:9).

Promise: "Crowds from the towns around Jerusalem would gather, too, bringing their sick and those who were troubled by unclean spirits, all of whom were cured." —Acts 5:16

Praise: Praise Jesus, "the First and the Last and the One Who lives" (Rv 1:18). Praise Jesus forever and ever!

“First and foremost, the right to life of every human person – from conception to natural death – is the primary and thus most essential of all human rights,” the letter stated. “Faith teaches and human reason confirms that human life is not a privilege bestowed on us by others, but rather a right that society must recognize and protect.

"As Christians, we are called to witness to an authentic ‘human ecology’ which safeguards all human life – no matter how frail or impaired – from being manipulated or destroyed.”

Bishops of Wisconsin

VOTE FOR LIFE!

http://resources.sainteds.com/showmedia.asp?media=../sermons/homily/2013-04-07-Homily%20Deacon%20James%20Herrera.mp3&ExtraInfo=1&BaseDir=../sermons/homily