The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today invite us to celebrate the New Life in our daily relationship with Christ.
Rise Up!
The reading from the Acts of the Apostles tells the Good News heard by Gentiles.
* [10:34–43] Peter’s speech to the household of Cornelius typifies early Christian preaching to Gentiles.1
Psalm 118 is a Song of Victory.
* [118:22] The stone the builders rejected: a proverb: what is insignificant to human beings has become great through divine election. The “stone” may originally have meant the foundation stone or capstone of the Temple. The New Testament interpreted the verse as referring to the death and resurrection of Christ (Mt 21:42; Acts 4:11; cf. Is 28:16 and Rom 9:33; 1 Pt 2:7).2
The reading from the Letter of Paul to the Colossians proclaims the New Life in Christ.
* [3:1–4] By retaining the message of the gospel that the risen, living Christ is the source of their salvation, the Colossians will be free from false religious evaluations of the things of the world (Col 3:1–2). They have died to these; but one day when Christ…appears, they will live with Christ in the presence of God (Col 3:3–4).3
In the Gospel of John, Mary Magdalene calls the disciples to ponder the Resurrection of Jesus.
* [20:1–10] The story of the empty tomb is found in both the Matthean and the Lucan traditions; John’s version seems to be a fusion of the two.4
Julie Kalkowski comments that she would like to report that, because of the work she did this past Lent, that she is no longer a member of the “stiff necked people”, alas, it is not true. She has not ‘risen’ above her fears and beyond her wants.
What I did learn this Lent, is the power of the pause…to take a deep breath before I react. This seems to de-escalate my interactions. It can slow down a situation, so it doesn’t get out of hand. That pause can be a moment of grace that gives me the opportunity to take a step back….to see that I have a choice in how to continue a conversation or a task. It is a practice I will need to nurture. I am grateful to Victor Frankl for his writings about the power of pausing. He says that pausing gives us the power and the freedom to make a different choice.5
Iona Reid-Dalglish, spiritual director and a member of the retreat team at St Beuno's Jesuit Spirituality Centre in North Wales, says ‘Ignatius Loyola’s firm conviction was that, to this day, encounters with the risen Christ will similarly be typified by experiences of hope, joy and life, even amidst the darkest times’.
Pope Francis, in a recent address to his Jesuit brothers, encouraged them to pray persistently for consolation for themselves.[1] Initially we might respond in surprise at that sort of petitionary prayer. It doesn’t seem very self-less. ‘God, please console me’, can come across as selfish and thoroughly me-focused, generally not traits held up as Christian virtues. So what is consolation, and why do Ignatius, the pope, the Jesuits, place so much emphasis on choosing to follow its path? I would like to suggest four key things that Ignatian spiritual direction might tell us about encountering the risen Christ, which offer a possible answer. Firstly, that we encounter Christ in the reality of our lives. Secondly, that Christ enters into that reality as consoler. Thirdly, that this consolation is how Christ enables people to live lives of discipleship. Fourthly, that Christ calls us to collaborate in that same consoling action of his today. If these are the case, then they invite a response. By opting for the path of consolation, indeed asking for the grace of consolation, Ignatius, the pope and the Jesuits are choosing to find and respond to the action of the risen Christ in the world.6
Don Schwager quotes “The Womb of the Earth Gives Birth,” by Hesychius of Jerusalem, died around 450 A.D.
"Hidden first in a womb of flesh, he sanctified human birth by his own birth. Hidden afterward in the womb of the earth, he gave life to the dead by his resurrection. Suffering, pain and sighs have now fled away. For who has known the mind of God, or who has been his counselor if not the Word made flesh who was nailed to the cross, who rose from the dead and who was taken up into heaven? This day brings a message of joy: it is the day of the Lord's resurrection when, with himself, he raised up the race of Adam. Born for the sake of human beings, he rose from the dead with them. On this day paradise is opened by the risen one, Adam is restored to life and Eve is consoled. On this day the divine call is heard, the kingdom is prepared, we are saved and Christ is adored. On this day, when he had trampled death under foot, made the tyrant a prisoner and despoiled the underworld, Christ ascended into heaven as a king in victory, as a ruler in glory, as an invincible charioteer. He said to the Father, 'Here am I, O God, with the children you have given me.' And he heard the Father's reply, 'Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool' (Psalm 110:1)." To him be glory, now and for ever, through endless ages. Amen. [excerpt from EASTER HOMILY 5-6]7
The Word Among Us Meditation on Acts 10:34, 37-43 comments that the truth is, Easter never ends! What Jesus accomplished through his death and resurrection can never be undone. What our Father created as “very good” (Genesis 1:31), what was corrupted and lost, has now been redeemed.
So look beyond this joyous day to the season ahead. Spend time over these next fifty days reflecting on the Mass readings to see how the apostles responded to this good news. For them, the resurrection changed everything and turned their whole world upside down! Jesus had risen—they had seen him with their own eyes. Where once they were afraid, now nothing was more important to them than sharing the good news, whatever the cost.8
Friar Jude Winkler comments that Cornelius is a halfway point between Jews and Gentiles who establishes nothing is unclean in God’s Kingdom. Mary Magdalene resonates with the symbols of the Song of Songs as she seeks her beloved. Friar Jude notes that Love propels the beloved disciple and that Love yields to the authority of Peter.
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, quotes “All will be well, and all will be well, and every kind of thing will be well.” from Julian of Norwich, (Showings, chapter 27). Today we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ, which allows faithful Christians to trust that, indeed, all will be well. I like to think of the resurrection as God’s way of telling us that God can take the worst thing in the world—the killing of the God-Human Jesus—and change it into the best thing: the redemption of the world.
My book The Universal Christ is about the Eternal Christ, who never dies—and who never dies in you! Resurrection is about the whole of creation, it is about history, it is about every human who has ever been conceived, sinned, suffered, and died, every animal that has lived and died a tortured death, every element that has changed from solid, to liquid, to ether, over great expanses of time. It is about you and it is about me. It is about everything. The “Christ journey” is indeed another name for every thing.9
The Easter Season is an opportunity to receive the consolation of Life with Christ that strengthens us to be messengers of full Life.
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