Sunday, April 20, 2025

He is Risen

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today exhort us to hear and internalize the “Good News” and the “New Life” celebrated today in the Resurrection of Christ.


Risen to New Life


In the reading from the Acts of the Apostles, the Gentiles hear the Good News.


* [10:3443] Peter’s speech to the household of Cornelius typifies early Christian preaching to Gentiles.

* [10:3435] The revelation of God’s choice of Israel to be the people of God did not mean he withheld the divine favor from other people.

* [10:3643] These words are more directed to Luke’s Christian readers than to the household of Cornelius, as indicated by the opening words, “You know.” They trace the continuity between the preaching and teaching of Jesus of Nazareth and the proclamation of Jesus by the early community. The emphasis on this divinely ordained continuity (Acts 10:41) is meant to assure Luke’s readers of the fidelity of Christian tradition to the words and deeds of Jesus. (Acts of the Apostles, CHAPTER 10 | USCCB, n.d.)


Psalm 118 is a Song of Victory.


* [Psalm 118] A thanksgiving liturgy accompanying a procession of the king and the people into the Temple precincts. After an invocation in the form of a litany (Ps 118:14), the psalmist (very likely speaking in the name of the community) describes how the people confidently implored God’s help (Ps 118:59) when hostile peoples threatened its life (Ps 118:1014); vividly God’s rescue is recounted (Ps 118:1518). Then follows a possible dialogue at the Temple gates between the priests and the psalmist as the latter enters to offer the thanksgiving sacrifice (Ps 118:1925). Finally, the priests impart their blessing (Ps 118:2627), and the psalmist sings in gratitude (Ps 118:2829).

* [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). (Psalms, PSALM 118 | USCCB, n.d.)


In the reading from the Letter to the Colossians, Paul proclaims the New Life in Christ.


* [3:14] 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 3:12). They have died to these; but one day when Christ…appears, they will live with Christ in the presence of God (Col 3:34). (Colossians, CHAPTER 3 | USCCB, n.d.)


In the Gospel of John, the Resurrected Jesus appears to Mary Magdalene.


* [20:131] The risen Jesus reveals his glory and confers the Spirit. This story fulfills the basic need for testimony to the resurrection. What we have here is not a record but a series of single stories.

* [20:110] 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.

* [20:1] Still dark: according to Mark the sun had risen, Matthew describes it as “dawning,” and Luke refers to early dawn. Mary sees the stone removed, not the empty tomb.

* [20:2] Mary runs away, not directed by an angel/young man as in the synoptic accounts. The plural “we” in the second part of her statement might reflect a tradition of more women going to the tomb.

* [20:310] The basic narrative is told of Peter alone in Lk 24:12, a verse missing in important manuscripts and which may be borrowed from tradition similar to John. Cf. also Lk 24:24.

* [20:68] Some special feature about the state of the burial cloths caused the beloved disciple to believe. Perhaps the details emphasized that the grave had not been robbed.

* [20:9] Probably a general reference to the scriptures is intended, as in Lk 24:26 and 1 Cor 15:4. Some individual Old Testament passages suggested are Ps 16:10; Hos 6:2; Jon 2:1, 2, 10.

* [20:1118] This appearance to Mary is found only in John, but cf. Mt 28:810 and Mk 16:911. (John, CHAPTER 20 | USCCB, n.d.)



Elvin Cardoso, S.J. comments, that from the disciples, we learn that seeing and believing is a powerful model of faith. The empty tomb motivated them to seek the Risen Lord, and each encounter deepened their experience of Him, giving new meaning to their lives. We are invited to seek the Risen Lord in our daily lives—through prayer, moments of grace, or through time spent with loved ones. These moments of joy after sorrow, of restoration after struggle, are times when we share in His Paschal Mystery.


Let me remind you that the journey of discovery includes doubts, and doubts can be helpful. They encourage us to seek answers and live more convincingly. In today’s readings, God reminds His people of His unwavering love and promise. In the Gospel, despite their doubts, Jesus instructs the disciples, “Go to Galilee.” Why Galilee? I think that was where their journey with Jesus began—the place where they were first called. Returning to Galilee meant revisiting their journey, now seen through the light of the cross and Resurrection. It was a re-reading of their story, a deeper understanding of Jesus' life, death, and Resurrection.


For each of us, there is a 'Galilee'—a place of origin for our faith journey, a place to rediscover the grace that touched us at the start of our walk with Jesus. This return helps us draw new strength from the sources of our faith. (Cardoso, 2025)



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]


Hesychius of Jerusalem was a priest and a Scripture scholar who worked with Jerome and Cyril of Jerusalem. He wrote a commentary on the whole Bible.He died around 450 AD. (Schwager, n.d.)



The Word Among Us Meditation on John 20:1-9 comments that Jesus truly is risen, whether we see him or not! Because he truly has defeated death, and we truly do belong to him. Because we will see him one day. And until that day comes, we can experience his Spirit filling us with God’s love and gradually transforming our hearts.


Today truly is a glorious day—not because we have come to the end of our journey, but because we know that the risen Christ is walking beside us. Step-by-step, he is leading us to the throne of God—to a glory that will far surpass our wildest dreams!


“Jesus, Risen Savior, I praise you, and I believe in you!” (Meditation on John 20:1-9, n.d.)



Friar Jude Winkler identifies the preaching of Peter about Jesus in the Acts of the Apostles as a kerygma, or first teaching of the Apostle to the Circumcised. In the Letter to the Colossians, Paul exhorts us to rise with Christ by our death to sin and rising to life in Jesus. In John, one woman, Mary Magdalene, the “Apostle to the Apostles” represents the Church looking for her lover. Friar Jude notes the Beloved Apostle, who sees, enters, and believes is portrayed a bit richer in faith even as the Beloved lets love yield to authority in Peter being first to enter the tomb.



Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, (2019) shared the good news of the resurrection.  He believes every message about Jesus is a message about all of us, about humanity. Sadly, the Western church that most of us were raised in emphasized the individual resurrection of Jesus. It was a miracle that we could neither prove nor experience, but that we just dared to boldly believe. In the Eastern Orthodox Church—in places like Syria, Turkey, Greece, and Egypt—Easter is not usually painted with a solitary Jesus rising from the dead. He’s always surrounded by crowds of people—both haloed and unhaloed. In fact, in traditional icons, he’s pulling people out of Hades. Hades isn’t the same as hell, although we put the two words together, and so we grew up reciting in the creed that “Jesus descended into hell.”  


Instead, Hades is simply the place of the dead. There’s no punishment or judgment involved. It’s just where a soul waits for God. But we neglected that interpretation. The Eastern Church was probably much closer to the truth that the resurrection is a message about humanity and all creation. It’s a message about history. It’s a corporate message, and it includes you and me and everyone else. If that isn’t true, it’s no wonder that we basically lost interest. 


Today is the feast of hope, direction, purpose, meaning, and community. We’re all in this together. The cynicism and negativity that our country and many other countries have descended into show a clear example of what happens when people do not have hope. If it’s all hopeless, we individually lose hope too. Easter is an announcement of a common hope. When we sing in the Easter hymn that Christ destroyed death, that means the death of all of us. It’s not just about Jesus; God promises to all, “Life is not ended, it merely changes,” as we say in the funeral liturgy. That’s what happened in Jesus, and that’s what will happen in us. In the end, everything will be all right. History is set on an inherently positive and hopeful tangent.  


References:  

[1] Fernando Sabino, O tabuleiro de damas (Record, 1988), 79. The original text is “Tudo no fim dá certo. Se não deu, é porque ainda não chegou ao fim.”  

In the end, everything will be all right. If it’s not all right, it’s not the end.” [1] That’s what today is all about: “Everything will be okay in the end.”  (Rohr, n.d.)


We celebrate “He is Risen” and we ponder the meaning of the Resurrection in our approach to the competition between “love” and “authority” in our invitation from Christ to seek “fullness of life”



References

Acts of the Apostles, CHAPTER 10 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved April 20, 2025, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/acts/10?34 

Cardoso, E. (2025, April 20). Creighton U. Daily Reflection. Online Ministries. Retrieved April 20, 2025, from https://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/042025.html 

Colossians, CHAPTER 3 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved April 20, 2025, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/colossians/3?1 

John, CHAPTER 20 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved April 20, 2025, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/john/20?1 

Meditation on John 20:1-9. (n.d.). The Word Among Us: Homepage. Retrieved April 20, 2025, from https://wau.org/meditations/2025/04/20/1254349/ 

Psalms, PSALM 118 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved April 20, 2025, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/psalms/118?1 

Rohr, R. (n.d.). A Universal Message. Center for Action and Contemplation. Retrieved April 20, 2025, from https://cac.org/daily-meditations/a-universal-message/ 

Schwager, D. (n.d.). John Saw the Empty Tomb and Believed. Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations – Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved April 20, 2025, from https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/?ds_year=2025&date=apr20a 


No comments:

Post a Comment