Matthew
	English: Douay-Rheims	Latin: Vulgata Clementina	Greek NT: Byzantine/Majority Text (2000)
	Matthew 28
8.	And they went out quickly from the sepulchre with fear and great joy, running to tell his disciples.	Et exierunt cito de monumento cum timore et gaudio magno, currentes nuntiare discipulis ejus.	και εξελθουσαι ταχυ απο του μνημειου μετα φοβου και χαρας μεγαλης εδραμον απαγγειλαι τοις μαθηταις αυτου
9.	And behold Jesus met them, saying: All hail. But they came up and took hold of his feet, and adored him.	Et ecce Jesus occurrit illis, dicens : Avete. Illæ autem accesserunt, et tenuerunt pedes ejus, et adoraverunt eum.	ως δε επορευοντο απαγγειλαι τοις μαθηταις αυτου και ιδου ιησους απηντησεν αυταις λεγων χαιρετε αι δε προσελθουσαι εκρατησαν αυτου τους ποδας και προσεκυνησαν αυτω
10.	Then Jesus said to them: Fear not. Go, tell my brethren that they go into Galilee, there they shall see me.	Tunc ait illis Jesus : Nolite timere : ite, nuntiare fratribus meis ut eant in Galilæam ; ibi me videbunt.	τοτε λεγει αυταις ο ιησους μη φοβεισθε υπαγετε απαγγειλατε τοις αδελφοις μου ινα απελθωσιν εις την γαλιλαιαν και εκει με οψονται
11.	Who when they were departed, behold some of the guards came into the city, and told the chief priests all things that had been done.	Quæ cum abiissent, ecce quidam de custodibus venerunt in civitatem, et nuntiaverunt principibus sacerdotum omnia quæ facta fuerant.	πορευομενων δε αυτων ιδου τινες της κουστωδιας ελθοντες εις την πολιν απηγγειλαν τοις αρχιερευσιν απαντα τα γενομενα
12.	And they being assembled together with the ancients, taking counsel, gave a great sum of money to the soldiers,	Et congregati cum senioribus consilio accepto, pecuniam copiosam dederunt militibus,	και συναχθεντες μετα των πρεσβυτερων συμβουλιον τε λαβοντες αργυρια ικανα εδωκαν τοις στρατιωταις
13.	Saying: Say you, His disciples came by night, and stole him away when we were asleep.	dicentes : Dicite quia discipuli ejus nocte venerunt, et furati sunt eum, nobis dormientibus.	λεγοντες ειπατε οτι οι μαθηται αυτου νυκτος ελθοντες εκλεψαν αυτον ημων κοιμωμενων
14.	And if the governor shall hear this, we will persuade him, and secure you.	Et si hoc auditum fuerit a præside, nos suadebimus ei, et securos vos faciemus.	και εαν ακουσθη τουτο επι του ηγεμονος ημεις πεισομεν αυτον και υμας αμεριμνους ποιησομεν
15.	So they taking the money, did as they were taught: and this word was spread abroad among the Jews even unto this day.	At illi, accepta pecunia, fecerunt sicut erant edocti. Et divulgatum est verbum istud apud Judæos, usque in hodiernum diem.	οι δε λαβοντες τα αργυρια εποιησαν ως εδιδαχθησαν και διεφημισθη ο λογος ουτος παρα ιουδαιοις μεχρι της σημερον

8. And they departed quickly from the sepulcher with fear and great joy; and did run to bring his disciples word.
9. And as they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, All hail. And they came and held him by the feet, and worshipped him.
10. Then said Jesus to them, Be not afraid: go tell my brethren that they go into Galilee, and there shall they see me.

HILARY; The women having been comforted by the Angel, are straightway met by the Lord, that when they should proclaim His resurrection to the disciples, they should speak rasher from Christ's own mouth than from an Angel's.

AUG. They departed forth of the tomb, that is, from that spot of the garden which was before the tomb hewn in the rock.

JEROME; A twofold feeling possessed the minds of the women, fear and joy; fear, at the greatness of the miracle; joy, in their desire of Him that was risen; but both added speed to their women's steps, as it follows, And did run to bring his disciples word. They went to the Apostles, that through them might be spread abroad the seed of the faith. They who thus desired, and who thus ran, merited to have their rising Lord come to meet them; whence it follows, And, behold, Jesus met them, saying, All hail.

RABAN. Hereby He showed that He will meet with His help all those who begin the ways of virtue, and enable them to attain to e, everlasting salvation.

JEROME; The women ought first to hear this Hail, that the curse of the woman Eve may be removed in these women.

CHRYSOL. That in these women is contained a full figure c of the Church is shown hereby, that Christ convinces His disciples when in doubt concerning the Resurrection, and confirms them when in fear; and when He meets them He does not terrify them by His power, but prevents them with the ardor of love. And Christ in His Church salutes Himself, for He has taken it into His own Body.

AUG. We conclude that they had speech of Angels twice at the sepulcher; when they saw one Angel, of whom Matthew and Mark speak; and again when they saw two Angels, as Luke and John relate. And twice in like manner of the Lord; once at that time when Mary supposed Him to be the gardener, and now again when He met them in the way to confirm them by repetition, and to restore them from their faintness.

CHRYSOL. Then Mary was not suffered to touch Him; now she has permission not only to touch, but to hold Him altogether; they came and held him by the feet, and worshipped him.

RABAN. It was told above how He rose when the sepulcher was closed, to show that that body which had been shut up therein dead, was now become immortal. He now offers His feet to be held by the women, to show that He had real flesh, which can be touched by mortal creatures.

CHRYSOL. They hold Christ's feet, who in the Church present the type of Evangelic preaching, and merit this privilege by their running to Him; and by faith so detain their Savior's footsteps, that they may come to the honor of His perfect Godhead. She is deservedly bid to touch me not, who mourns her Lord upon earth, and so seeks Him dead in the tomb, as not to know that He reigns in heaven with the Father. This, that the same Mary, one while exalted to the summit of faith, touches Christ, and holds Him with entire and holy affection; and again, cast down in weakness of flesh, and womanly infirmity, doubts, undeserving to touch her Lord, causes us no difficulty. For that is of mystery, this of her sex; that is of divine grace, this of human nature. And so also we, when we have knowledge of divine things, live to God; when we are wise in human things, we are blinded so by our own selves.

ID. They held His feet to show that the head of Christ is the man, but that the woman is in Christ's feet, and that it was given to them through Christ, not to go before, but to follow the man. Christ also repeats what the Angel had said, that what an Angel had made sure, Christ might make yet more sure. It follows, Then said Jesus to them, Fear not.

JEROME; This may be always observed, both in the Old and New Testament, that when there is an appearance of any majestic person, the first thing done is to banish fear, that the mind being tranquilized may receive the things that are said.

HILARY; The same order as of old now followed in the reversal of our woe, that whereas death began from the female sex, the same should now first see the glory of the Resurrection, and be made the messenger thereof. Whence the Lord adds, Go tell my brethren that they go into Galilee, there shall they see me.

CHRYSOL. He calls them brethren whom He has made akin to His own body; brethren whom the generous Heir has made His co-heirs; brethren, whom He has adopted to be sons of His own Father.

AUG. That the Lord, both by His own mouth, and by the Angel, directs them to seek for Him, not in that place in which He was to show Himself first but in Galilee, makes every believer anxious to understand in what mystery it is spoken. Galilee is interpreted 'transmigration,' or 'revelation'. And according to the first interpretation what meaning offers itself, save this, that the grace of Christ was to pass from the people of Israel to the Gentiles, who would not believe when the Apostles should preach the Gospel to them, unless the Lord Himself should first make ready their way in the hearts of men. This is the signification of that, He shall go before you into Galilee. There shall you see him, means, there shall you find His members, there shall you perceive His living Body in such as shall receive you. According to the other interpretation, 'revelation,' it is to be understood, you shall see him no longer in the form of a servant, but in that in which He is equal with the Father. That revelation will be the true Galilee, when we shall be like him, and shall see him as he is. That will be the blessed passing from this world to that eternity.

11. Now when they were going, behold, some of the watch came into the city, and showed to the Chief Priests all the things that were done.
12. And when they were assembled with the elders, and had taken counsel, they gave large money to the soldiers,
13. Saying, Say you, His disciples came by night, and stole him away while we slept.
14. And if this come to the governor's ears, we will persuade him, and secure you.
15. So they took the money, and did as they were taught: and this saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this day.

CHRYS. Of the signs which were shown around Christ, some were common to the whole world, as the darkness; some peculiar to the watch, as the wonderful apparition of Angels, and the earthquake, which were wrought for the soldiers' sake, that they might be stunned with amazement, and bear testimony to the truth. For when truth is proclaimed by its adversaries, it adds to its brightness. Which befell now; Some of the watch came into the city, and showed to the Chief Priests all the things that were done.

RABAN. Simple minds, and unlearned country-folk, often make manifest without guile the truth of a matter, as the thing is; but on the other hand, a crafty wickedness studies how to recommend falsehood by ing words.

JEROME; Thus the Chief Priests, who ought to have been by this turned to penitence, and to seek Jesus risen, persevere in their wickedness, and convert the money which was given for the use of the Temple to the purchase of a lie, as before they had given thirty pieces of silver to the traitor Judas.

CHRYSOL. Not content to have put the Master to death, they plot how they may destroy the disciples, and make the Master's power matter of charge against His disciples. The soldiers indeed lost Him, the Jews missed Him, but the disciples carried Him away, not by theft, but by faith; by virtue, and not by fraud; by holiness, and not by wickedness; alive, and not dead.

CHRYS. How should the disciples carry Him away by stealth, men poor, and of no station, and who scarcely dared to show themselves? They fled when afterwards they saw Christ alive, how, when He was dead, would they not have feared so great a multitude of soldiers? How were they to remove the door of the sepulcher? One might have done it unperceived by the guard. But a large stone was rolled to the mouth requiring many hands. And was not the seal thereon? And why did they not attempt it the first night, when there was none at the sepulcher? For it was on the Sabbath that they begged the body of Jesus.

Moreover, what mean these napkins which Peter sees laid here? Had the disciples stolen the Body, they would never have stripped it, both because it might so receive hurt, and cause unnecessary delay to themselves, and so expose them to be taken by the watch; especially since the Body and clothes were covered with myrrh, a glutinous spice, which would cause them to adhere. The allegation of the theft then is improbable. So that their endeavors to conceal the Resurrection do but make it more manifest. For when they say, His disciples stole the body, they confess that it is not in the sepulcher. And as they thus confess that they had not the Body, and as the watch, the sealing, and the fears of the disciples, make the theft improbable, there is seen evidence of the Resurrection not to be gainsaid.

REMIG. But if the guards slept, how saw they the theft? And if they saw it not, how could they witness thereto? So that what they desire to show, they cannot show.

GLOSS. That the fear of the Governor might not restrain them from this lie, they promise them impunity.

CHRYS. See how all are corrupted; Pilate persuaded; the people stirred up; the soldiers bribed; as it follows, And they took the money, and did as they were instructed. If money prevailed with a disciple so far as to make him become the betrayer of his Master, what wonder that the soldiers are overcome by it.

HILARY; The concealment of the Resurrection, and the false allegation of theft, is purchased by money; because by the honor of this world, which consists in money and desire, Christ's glory is denied.

RABAN. But as the guilt of His blood, which they imprecated upon themselves and their children, presses them down with a heavy weight of sin, so the purchase of the lie, by which they deny the truth of the Resurrection, charges this guilt upon them for ever; as it follows, And this saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this day.

CHRYSOL. Among the Jews, not among the Christians; what in Judea the Jew concealed by his gold, is by faith blazed abroad throughout the world.

JEROME; All who abuse to other purposes the money of the Temple, and the contributions for the use of the Church, purchasing with them their own pleasure, are like the Scribes and Priests who bought this lie, and the blood of the Savior.

Catena Aurea Matthew 28

Blessed Notker

Feast Day: April 06

This Benedictine monk had once been a sickly child. He had a very noticeable speech impediment all his life. Notker was determined not to let it get in his way. This made him even more likable than he already was.

He and two other friends, Tutilo and Radpert, were very happy monks. They encouraged each other in their vocations at the monastery of Saint Gall in Germany. Their common love for God and for music made them lifelong friends. You can read about St. Tutilo on March 28.

King Charles visited the great monastery from time to time. He highly respected Notker and asked him for advice. Unfortunately, he didn't usually follow the advice. One time King Charles sent his messenger to ask to see the monk. Notker was taking care of his garden. He sent this message: "Take care of your garden as I am taking care of mine." King Charles understood that he should be taking better care of his own soul and of his kingdom.

The king's personal chaplain was educated but very conceited. He was upset because the king valued Notker's opinion so much. In front of everybody at court one day, he asked Notker, "Since you are so intelligent, tell me what God is doing right now." The priest smiled at the monk, thinking he would never have an answer. Instead, Notker responded quickly, "God is doing now what he has always done. He is pushing down those who are proud and is raising up the lowly." The people started laughing as the chaplain quickly left the room.

Blessed Notker spent the rest of his life in his chosen vocation. He did many little extra things to make monastery life pleasant for the monks. With his friends, Tutilo and Radpert, he created beautiful music for the worship of God.

Reflection: "God is doing now what he has always done. He is pushing down those who are proud and is raising up the lowly."-Blessed Notker

The Man with an Unclean Spirit

Today's Reading: Mark 1:16-28

16 And passing along by the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew the brother of Simon casting a net in the sea; for they were fishermen.17 And Jesus said to them, "Follow me and I will make you become fishers of men."18 And immediately they left their nets and followed him. 19 And going on a little farther, he saw James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, who were in their boat mending the nets. 20 And immediately he called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants, and followed him. 21 And they went into Caperna-um; and immediately on the sabbath he entered the synagogue and taught. 22 And they were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one who had authority, and not as the scribes. 23 And immediately there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit; 24 and he cried out, "What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God." 25 But Jesus rebuked him, saying, "Be silent, and come out of him!" 26 And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying with a loud voice, came out of him. 27 And they were all amazed, so that they questioned among themselves, saying, "What is this? A new teaching! With authority he commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him." 28 And at once his fame spread everywhere throughout all the surrounding region of Galilee.

Today's Commentary:

The first disciples respond to Jesus immediately (1:18, 20). His compelling invitation to follow as a disciple is Jesus' initial step toward sending missionaries into the world as fishers of men (Mt 28:18-20). Christ chooses men of modest education to demonstrate to the world that the wisdom of the gospel stems directly from God and not the ingenuity of man.

With authority: Divine power is displayed through Jesus' word. While most exorcists of the day recited lengthy incantations or used odorous roots to expel demons, Jesus simply commands the spirits and they leave (CCC 550). The demons' inability to resist him is shown by their dramatic exhibition of"convulsing" and "crying" (1:26).

Catholic Spiritual Direction.com

Jesus is Asking You… (Part I of IV)

April 6, 2015 by Carmelite Sisters

Jesus Is Asking You… (Part I of IV)
Either He Rose From the Dead…Or He Didn’t
Excerpts from the Weekend Retreat Talks of Father Stash Dailey

“Who do you say that I am?”

This theme could be gleaned from the words taken from the sixteenth chapter of St. Matthew’s Gospel. But it could also be gleaned from a life that is well lived, the life of a disciple of Jesus Christ. The more we spend time with the Lord, the more we seek to dwell in His presence, the more that we hear several questions asked over and over and over again.

In order to hear these questions arise within our hearts, in order to be able to hear Him, we need to be still. And perhaps most importantly, depending on where we are in our lives, we need to want to hear Him. When we are listening, one of the questions we will hear Our Lord ask us, time and time again throughout our lives as His disciples, is the question, “Who do you say that I am?”

In order to understand these words, in order to try to offer an answer to the Lord Jesus in response to this question, we have to have an openness to reality, a desire for truth, and a certain cavity within our hearts for divine love, and only divine love. For in seeking to answer that question, we have to have, at least in some degree, some kind of possession of our own identity. We have to know our own limitations, we have to know our gifts and talents, and we have to know who we are. As this great conversation starts to unfold we begin to realize that the Lord Jesus Christ meets us where we are in our lives.

Jesus Meets Us Where We Are

By asking us this question, “Who do you say that I am?”, He has not only met us but He starts to move us, guide us, and prompt us to a whole new place in our lives. He met us where we were in order to bring us to a new place where He wants us to have a fuller understanding of who we are. That place and that deeper understanding of ourselves is ultimately within Him, within His Heart.

So when we hear that question asked, “Who do you say that I am?”, it is not just a quote from a dialogue that occurred 2000 years ago. It is meant to be a reverberation of a conversation that is still taking place between of the Heart of the Divine and the heart of every human who is alive right now.

We seek to answer this question in the silence of our heart, in the solitude of our room, in the encounter we have with Jesus in the Holy Eucharist, in the manifestation of His love that we call the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, even in the beauty of creation around us daily. He is going to come to us in words and through events. More important than how He will come is the fact that He is going to come.

Jesus Comes to Us

The Lord Jesus comes to each of us in our lives, in every single moment, in every single manifestation of reality, God reveals Himself to us and presents before us an invitation, an opportunity to state, to proclaim, to announce who He is. Not for His benefit. God knows who He is. Jesus knows who He is. Jesus’ identity is not contingent upon our acknowledgement. The Lord isn’t wandering around in some kind of identity crisis. Not today, nor 2000 years ago.

It was only after Our Lord offered the question to His disciples, “Who do people say that I am?”, first, did He then ask them, “Who do you say that I am?” The Lord is not in need of some kind of affirmation for the work at hand. He’s not wondering how He is going to ever be able to fulfill the mission that the Father has entrusted to Him. No. He wants to elicit from those who have been following Him, those who know Him, those who love Him, He wants to know what they know, that He is the Christ. Not because He needs it, but because He is trying to build within them the foundation upon which they will be able to stand and profess their faith in Him in all moments, in every day for the rest of their lives.

Editor’s Note: In Part II, we will look at Jesus’ question today and the impact that the Resurrection has on it.

Catholic Culture

Daily Readings for:April 06, 2015
(Readings on USCCB website)

Collect: O God, who give constant increase to your Church by new offspring, grant that your servants may hold fast in their lives to the Sacrament they have received in faith. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

RECIPES

o Easter Soup with Leftover Lamb

ACTIVITIES

o Easter Breakfast Picnic

o Liturgy of Easter Sunday and the Octave of Easter

o Slovakian Easter Custom

o Visiting Day

PRAYERS

o Easter Week Table Blessing

o Book of Blessings: Blessing Before and After Meals: Easter Season (2nd Plan)

o Easter Monday Prayers

o Easter Prayers (for the Octave of Easter)

o Divine Mercy Novena

o Annunciation Novena

o Book of Blessings: Blessing Before and After Meals: Easter Week (1st Plan)

o Book of Blessings: Blessing Before and After Meals: Easter (1st Plan)

o Novena for the Annunciation

o Victimae Paschali: The Easter Sequence

· Easter: April 6th

· Easter Monday

Old Calendar: Easter Monday

The Lord has risen from the dead, as he foretold. Let there be happiness and rejoicing for he is our King forever, alleluia. According to Moses and the prophets Christ was to suffer all "these things and so to enter into His glory". And what was this "glory" which Christ merited by His sufferings and death? It was His resurrection, His ascension into heaven, His sitting at the right hand of the Father, the homage of all the nations. It was especially the glorification of His body which only a few days ago hung mangled and lifeless on the cross.

Stational Church

Meditation
"In those days: Peter standing up in the midst of the people, said: You know the word that hath been published through all Judea: for it began from Galilee, after the baptism which John preached, Jesus of Nazareth: how God anointed Him with the Holy Ghost, and with power, who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him. And we are witnesses of all things that He did in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem, whom they killed hanging Him upon a tree. Him God raised up the third day, and gave Him to be made manifest, not to all the people, but to witnesses preordained by God, even to us, who did eat and drink with Him after He rose again from the dead. And He commanded us to preach to the people, and to testify that it is He who was appointed by God to be judge of the living and of the dead. To Him all the prophets give testimony, that through His name all receive remission of sins who believe in Him." — Acts 10

St. Peter spoke these words to Cornelius, the centurion, and to the household and friends of this gentile, who had called them together to receive the Apostle whom God had sent to him. He had come to prepare them for Baptism, and thus make them the first-fruits of the gentile world, for up to this time the Gospel had been preached only to the Jews. Let us take notice how it is St. Peter, and not any other of the Apostles, who throws open to us gentiles the door of the Church, which Christ has built upon him as upon the impregnable rock.

This passage from the Acts of the Apostles is an appropriate Lesson for this day, whose Station is in the basilica of St Peter: it is read near the confession of the great Apostle. Let us observe, too, the method used by the Apostle in the conversion of Cornelius and the other gentiles. He begins by speaking to them concerning Jesus. He tells them of the miracles He wrought; then, having related how He died the ignominious death of the Cross, He insists on the fact of the Resurrection as the sure guarantee of His being truly God. He then instructs them on the mission of the Apostles, whose testimony must be received—a testimony which carries persuasion with it, seeing it was most disinterested, and availed them nothing save persecution. He, therefore, that believes in the Son of God made Flesh, who went about doing good, working all kinds of miracles; who died upon the Cross, rose again from the dead, and entrusted to certain men, chosen by Himself, the mission of continuing on earth the ministry he had begun—he that confesses all this, is worthy to receive, by holy Baptism, the remission of his sins. Such is the happy lot of Cornelius and his companions.

Excerpted from The Church's Year of Grace, Pius Parsch.

At Rome, the Station for today is at the basilica of St. Peter. On Saturday, the catechumens received the Sacrament of regeneration in the Lateran basilica of our Savior; yesterday, they celebrated the Resurrection in the magnificent church of St. Mary; it is just that they should come, on this third day, to pay their grateful devotions to Peter, on whom Christ has built his whole Church.

The Word Among Us

Meditation: Acts 2:14, 22-33

Monday within the Octave of Easter

You have made known to me the paths of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence. (Acts 2:28)

Have you watched a baby take its first step? It’s quite a breakthrough, isn’t it? After spending months mastering the art of crawling, one day she decides to take a stand. That first wobbly step or two usually ends in a tumbling heap on the floor. But soon she’s globe-trotting, going faster and farther than she ever thought possible. Millions of steps and tumbles later, she is a little master of walking, running, and dancing.

As we enter the Easter season together with the apostles, let’s play with an analogy. Before Jesus rose and poured out his Spirit, the apostles were a little like expert crawlers. They timidly clung to hope and to each other for comfort. They clung to old skills, even taking up fishing again. But when the Spirit came, they were so full of God’s love that they decided to stand and share the good news of that love with all Jerusalem—as we see Peter doing in today’s first reading. Next, they learned not just to stand but to walk with the Spirit. Cooperating with this immense outpouring of grace, they witnessed heaven touching earth in the form of miracles and conversions. Then they danced for joy. And they ran to the four corners of the earth, announcing, “Christ is risen!”

Today, Jesus wants to make this news resound in your heart as well: “I am risen!” Can you sense the immensity of his love? Embrace it! Let the empty tomb and the triumph of the cross raise you to your feet. Jesus is inviting you to learn to walk with him as he travels the “paths of life” in the power of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:28).

Would you like to see heaven touching earth? Then say Yes and stand up. It doesn’t matter how many times, or how hard, you’ve fallen in the past. This is a season of breakthrough! Every day, spend time with Jesus. Ask him to fill you with love until your cup runs over. And practice walking through the natural peaks, plains, and valleys of your day close to his side. Then you’ll surely dance when you see him using your life to usher in his kingdom.

“Holy Spirit, teach me to walk with you.”

Psalm 16:1-2, 5, 7-11; Matthew 28:8-15

Regnum Christi

The Supreme Measure of Paschal Joy

U. S. A. | SPIRITUAL LIFE | SPIRITUALITY

April 6, 2015. Monday in the Octave of Easter

Matthew 28:8-15

Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went away quickly from the tomb, fearful yet overjoyed, and ran to announce this to his disciples. And behold, Jesus met them on their way and greeted them. They approached, embraced his feet, and did him homage. Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.” While they were going, some of the guards went into the city and told the chief priests all that had happened. They assembled with the elders and took counsel; then they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers, telling them, "You are to say, ´His disciples came by night and stole him while we were asleep.´ And if this gets to the ears of the governor, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble." The soldiers took the money and did as they were instructed. And this story has circulated among the Jews to the present day.

Introductory Prayer: Lord, you are the source of all life because you are life itself. Your resurrection from the dead gives me the hope of being raised from the dead to rejoice with you forever in heaven. I need to dwell more often on the good you have done for us and on your promises to those who put their trust in you. Thank you, Jesus, for taking up your life again and leading the way home to heaven. I love you, and I want to follow after you with all my heart. I want to cooperate more fully with you in bringing many others there with me.

Petition: Lord, as a fruit of my experiencing your love, grant me the grace of witnessing to you.

1. Coming into the Light of the Resurrection: Contemplate the women at the tomb. Feel their distress upon entering an open and empty tomb. Experience their fears for where the body might be. Share in their joy because their faith, and ours, awakens to the reality of Our Lord’s resurrection. Indeed, it is true! He has truly risen! Alleluia! Approach him and bow down, then adore and embrace the loving feet of Our Lord. He wants to be our strength, our light and our love. He wants to be our Lord.

2. From Contemplatives to Missionaries: From our contemplation we must become missionaries. This is the instruction Our Lord gives these privileged women: “Go tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.”From their adoration, Our Lord calls them to be witnesses to the world, beginning first with the apostles. These women, insignificant in the eyes of the world, have become irreplaceable heralds of the Gospel. Why? It is not because of any social class or role they had had. Rather, it is because of the faith and love with which they would live and accomplish the mission entrusted to them. They were faithful to Our Lord in spreading the Good News of the Resurrection to the apostles and the world.

3. Obedience of Faith Allows Us to See: Our Lord asks the apostles to obey his command: “Go to Galilee … there they will see me.” Christ requires our obedience in order for us to see him in faith and experience his resurrection. Without obedience, we might not recognize him. The guards at the tomb were obedient to the orders of the chief priests. Yet the guards lacked faith, so they did not believe what they saw and thus did not adore. We all obey someone. However, it is obedience to Christ that leads to faith which leads to life: “He who believes in the Son has eternal life” (John 3:36).

Conversation with Christ: Lord Jesus, thank you for this time I have spent with you in prayer and contemplation of your resurrection. Help me always to grow and mature in my faith. Without it I am lost. Without it I am unable to see you, and if I cannot see you, how will I be able to follow you? I place my trust in you and your promise of eternal life.

Resolution: I will make a special effort to speak well of others today, especially those with whom I may disagree.

One Bread, One Body

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All Issues > Volume 31, Issue 3

<< Monday, April 6, 2015 >>

Easter Week

Acts 2:14, 22-33
View Readings

Psalm 16:1-2, 5, 7-11

Matthew 28:8-15
Similar Reflections

THE BETTER HALF

"They hurried away from the tomb half-overjoyed, half-fearful." —Matthew 28:8

"Jesus said to them: 'Do not be afraid!' " —Matthew 28:10

When the first followers of Jesus learned that He had risen, some were half-fearful and half-overjoyed (Mt 28:8). This divided reaction still occurs today. When we first encounter the risen Jesus, we rejoice with great joy. Yet we also realize quickly that risen life brings new challenges and new responsibilities, especially in evangelization.

Satan couldn't prevent the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, so now he is reduced to trying to stop us from spreading the good news that Jesus is alive and has conquered sin and death forever. One of the main ways Satan tries to limit the spread of the good news is to tempt Jesus' witnesses to be afraid — afraid of evangelizing, afraid of radical lifestyle changes, afraid of stepping out in faith, afraid of change. If Satan can take hold of at least a part of us, he's well on his way to reducing us from a half-witness to no witness at all. Therefore, Jesus immediately told His first witnesses: "Do not be afraid" (Mt 28:10). Jesus confronted fear by issuing a challenge: he sent His followers out to go and tell the good news (see Mt 28:10).

If we're half-fearful like the women at the tomb, let's turn to the better half, the "half-overjoyed" part (Mt 28:8). "Fix your eyes on Jesus" and the joy of His victorious resurrection (Heb 3:1). May His joy be yours, and may your joy be complete in Him (Jn 15:11).

Prayer: Jesus, You are risen! You have conquered sin and death! Use me to announce fearlessly the good news of risen life in You.

Promise: "This is the Jesus God has raised up, and we are His witnesses." —Acts 2:32

Praise: Praise the risen Jesus, Who calls us each by name! Alleluia!

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