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Archive for the tag “resurrection”

18 Apr 2026

Third Sunday of Easter

We gather this weekend after the solemn celebration of Easter and Divine Mercy Sundays, we also remember that the celebration of Easter continues until Pentecost Sunday and then Easter Time ends and the paschal candle is placed near the baptismal font.  In the first Reading we are told that Peter’s preaching on Pentecost centered on the firm belief that Jesus was the promised Messiah and had been raised from the dead by God the Father. In this reading, he proclaims these truths as the fulfillment of ancient prophecies. In the second reading from the 1st letter of st Peter the apostle reminds believers of the great price Jesus Christ paid for their redemption, helping us to remember and never forget the depth of the Lord’s love for all of us all the time.

This Sunday’s gospel recounts the Jesus appearance on the evening of Easter to two disciples who were going from Jerusalem to Emmaus, their life with Jesus had ended abruptly as all seemed to be lost after the events of Good Friday.  Jesus, their beloved Leader, friend and Teacher, had been arrested, tried, sentenced, tortured and killed. Now they are feeling that without his presence, his inspiration, his support and encouragement, they simply cannot go on.  They are so disappointed and disillusioned about what has happened that they have even decided to leave the Church, the community of his followers. Slowly but surely, they are walking away from it all. They are putting Jerusalem and the other disciples behind them. They are heading for the village of Emmaus, to start a new and different way of life. And there Jesus was walking along with them they were talking about what had happened in Jerusalem and how they had put Jesus to death. Jesus explained all the passages of scripture that were about himself, but it was only at the breaking of the bread that they recognized him. They then went back to tell the others that they had seen the Lord and told their story and how they recognized him at the breaking of the bread.

The Emmaus story is the story of you and me as the two disciples represent all of us who claim that we are Christians with all our doubts and disagreements our joys and sorrows. We come together in faith each Sunday in answer to a call, often a quiet murmur from the recesses of our hearts which calls out to us saying come to me you who are weary and overburdened and I will give you rest.  All of us are searching just as the companions on the road to Emmaus were and they were weary as a result of all that had happened to them. As we are often weary of the things that happen to us as well as the things we see going on in the world at the present time. The people of God come together for a great and good purpose and that is to seek God and what he wants us to do. All of us work together for God’s kingdom since the kingdom provides meaning and purpose. In the scripture readings we find explanations and understanding of events and relationships which have shaped the faith from the beginning. Our faith is lived out in the real world, the world of family, work, and recreation. We don’t live in two separate worlds, one spiritual and the other secular.  

Those who would have us believe that we can separate our lives into two compartments are mistaken as faith and life go together.  The fellowship we share helps us ask questions of faith.  It is the application of scriptures to the events of our own times that reveal that God is walking with us and maybe even working through us.  But it is in the breaking of bread that we recognize Jesus who is with us on our journey.  The journey on the road to Emmaus is the journey we make as gods people.  We are on this journey in fellowship with one another being led by Jesus who calls out to us to follow him from the Cross of Good Friday as well as from the empty tomb of Easter Sunday. As we grow in faith, we are led to understand those past events as we experience them in our time and place and they are as relevant today as they were when they first took place.   The Risen Lord uses so much gentleness with us! He doesn’t oblige us to ‘believe’ but He offers us the things that enable us to judge based on the measure of our own hearts. As St Augustine extraordinarily wrote in the opening of his Confessions ‘our heart is restless until it rests in you’ May our encounter with the Risen Jesus make us compassionate fellow travelers attentive to the struggles of others, ready to listen, and eager to share our faith in His Resurrection as we move forward in faith.

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11 Apr 2026
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2nd Sunday of Easter

Divine Mercy Sunday

This weekend we celebrate the second Sunday of Easter also known as Divine Mercy Sunday. It is a day to remember that God’s mercy is for all people. The readings tell us about faith, hope, and the joy that comes from meeting the risen lord. They also remind us that believing in Him brings new life. In the First Reading from the Acts of the Apostles, we see that the early Christian community was devoted to apostolic teachings, fellowship, sharing meals, and prayer. United, they shared resources, sold possessions to support the needy, and worshiped together, growing daily in number and favour. In the Second Reading from the first letter of st peter, we are told that we are reborn into a living hope and an imperishable inheritance through Christ’s resurrection. Our faith, tested by trials, is precious and will bring praise at Christ’s revelation. Unseen, He is loved, believed in, and brings us inexpressible joy.

The Gospel reading tells us that the Apostles are huddled together in fear in the empty room. They weren’t so sure that they could believe the women’s report that Jesus had risen. They weren’t singing for joy! Now, a whole week has gone by. They still felt “rocky” about their future. Thomas wasn’t the only one who had doubts about Jesus, I think so many were doubtful then as so many are doubtful right here and now and we see that throughout the world. The Apostles were pondering the shocking experience of the previous week when all seemed to be lost as Jesus hung on the Cross. However, all was not lost and here we are in 2026 thinking about how they felt and how we feel after the events of Holy Week. Jesus had come to assure them that he was alive and then his message must have troubled them: “As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”  as the Apostles were sent out, we are sent out to bring the good news of salvation to other people wherever we are. We are asked on this Divine Mercy Sunday to bring the mercy of God to all those out there who need his healing merciful love.  We remember the joys the hope, and the anxieties of the people in our time and we bring all of to God in faith filled prayer.  Our world is hurting so much because of the many evil things that are happening within it, especially these days. There are so many people out there who are scared to stand up for what they believe in to speak honestly and openly about their convictions. It is difficult for those who have suffered much or have seen much evil and distress to accept things that can change for the better and they can.

All this becomes possible when we meet the risen Lord where we are and then like Thomas, we acknowledge him as our lord and God as we say with Thomas My Lord and My God.  Jesus has the scars of his wounds but yet he is still our glorious Lord who has risen from the dead and brings us his light and his love. Today the Gospel assures us that the Easter season is not about sustaining emotional excitement, instead it’s about recognizing the steady presence of the risen Lord who is with us in Word, Sacrament and community life. one week after Easter, the message we receive is simple Christ comes to be with us, speaks words of peace, and sends us out into our world. May all of us be the witnesses to the Gospel bringing the caring face of God and his merciful love to the people in our own local faith communities.

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04 Apr 2026

EASTER SUNDAY

The Forty Days of Lent are over.  We have celebrated the beginning of the priesthood and the Eucharist on Holy Thursday. We have also celebrated The Passion and Death of the Lamb of God and the tomb is now empty as we wait on the joyful call that Christ has  risen from the dead.  The darkness of good Friday is gone and the flowers in our churches symbolize the New Life that has come into the world. Jesus Christ lives! He has Risen as he said he would and his light lights up our world.  During the Easter Vigil we lit the Easter fire and from that fire we have lit the Paschal Candle that will be used over the next year.

Our Gospel story for the vigil tells us that we should not look for Jesus among the dead for he has risen and the light of Christ lights up the darkness of our lives and our world. The Easter celebration is an invitation to come out of darkness into the light of the risen Christ. In that light we see him and recognise each other as brothers and sisters in the Lord. It is that light which summons us to leave the darkness of our lives behind and all of us have some of those dark places.  As a result of Jesus conquering death on the cross nobody can be written off as a lost cause ever again. Year after year when we celebrate Easter, we hold as holy the memory of God’s great love for us when he raised Jesus from the dead.  We believe that God’s graciousness will be extended to ourselves and that our own death will not be the final word. Our faith tells us that we will participate in Jesus resurrection on the last day. But a question raises itself: is our faith in the resurrection limited to remembering Jesus’ resurrection and hoping for our own on the last day? Hopefully it will mean more to us than that.

The resurrection of Jesus is a proclamation that this outcast from Galilee is the beloved Son of God who cannot be held in the darkness of death because someone else acts. Jesus did not raise himself; he was raised by God his father. All of us believe that God’s work continues not least because we believe Jesus’ words: “I am the resurrection and the life.” Our celebration of the Easter Season begins with our celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus on Easter Sunday with the Vigil on Holy Saturday evening during which we welcome and baptize adult converts to the faith Then on Easter morning  we celebrate our Easter masses as we renew our baptismal promises and don’t forget that the feast of Easter continues for 50 days until Pentecost.  So full of gratitude for Christ’s passion, with joy in his resurrection and, strengthened by the Spirit, we continue our Christian journey this Easter time.

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03 Apr 2026

Good Friday

Today in the liturgy, we read St. Johns account of the passion, we pray for the needs of the Church and the world, we venerate the Cross and we receive the blessed Eucharist. As we reflect on the events of Good Friday we are invited to examine our own lives and attitudes.  When we think of the death of Jesus on the cross, we realise that his death was a result of the courage of his convictions. He lived his life with a message of compassion, and love, Jesus was often critical of those who lorded it over those who were less well off or who had little or even nothing at all. The cross of Good Friday is a sign and a symbol that all of us recognise, it is a sign of the completeness of the love that God has for each one of us faults and failings included.

We need to show the love of God to all those whose lives are loveless to all who have nobody to care for them we must show them that ours is an all loving and caring God. In reaching out to others, especially those who feel isolated or abandoned, we embody the spirit of Christ and become instruments of his love in the world. Today when we go up to venerate the cross, we should allow the cross to move us to be better people. Consoling, and comforting the people we meet with the values of Jesus and the Cross.

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21 Mar 2026

5th Sunday of Lent

It seems no time since we began Lent with the ashes of Ash Wednesday and now, we have come to the 5th Sunday of lent. We look forward to Palm Sunday and Holy Week and all the opportunities that they give us to prepare for the Easter Feast. in the 1st Reading Ezekiel tells us that our God is the God of Life, able to bring life even to dry, scattered bones. He can do the same with our broken lives and shattered communities—this is the powerful promise He made to the people of Israel.in our 2nd Reading from St. Paul’s letter to the Romans we are told that 8:8-11 Living according to the flesh brings death, but life in the Spirit brings eternal life through Jesus’ resurrection, the firstborn of the dead. This is our calling, nurturing both body and soul.

In this weekend’s gospel reading we listen to the story of Lazarus, and we hear about the compassion that Jesus had towards him and his sisters Martha and Mary. This story is also the faith that Martha and Mary had in Jesus when they sent the message to him that Lazarus was sick; indeed, he had died and was in the tomb for four days when Jesus arrived and called him to come out from the tomb. When Lazarus was called from the tomb, it was the last sign worked by the Lord before his triumphant entrance into Jerusalem, everything seems to flow to that ‘new reality’ inaugurated by Jesus who is Emmanuel, God with us. Sharing our lives and our existence, Jesus loves us with a supreme passion right up to sacrificing Himself for us on the cross of Good Friday. He was moved by those who were linked to him by ties of the most profound friendship who understood that jesus could not be anything but God’s presence amongst them.  John’s message for us today is that Jesus raises us to new life even with all the wars that are going on in the world at the present time. This raising to new life does not mean that we no longer suffer. As a matter of fact, this new life leads through pain and suffering before it reaches fullness of resurrection. Jesus demonstrates this to us as it leads to his painful death on the Cross on Good Friday.

But the new life we live leads us to a new way of living. The proof of this is Christ who rose from the dead on Easter Sunday. After his resurrection he appears to those at the beginning of their new life in Christ. We ask the Lord for the courage to listen to the voice that is calling us. The story of Lazarus invites us to look at our own lives and ask what might need to be brought back to life. Lent for 2026 may be winding down as next Sunday is Palm Sunday, but there is still time for us to do a bit spiritual spring cleaning. As we prepare for Holy Week, let us embrace these remaining days of lent trusting that, with God’s grace, even the most hidden parts of our hearts can be made new. So that when we come to the Easter celebration, we will be able to accept the invitation of Jesus to be his people and walk in his light.

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02 May 2025

3rd Sunday of Easter

We have come to the third Sunday of Easter and much has happened since Easter Sunday. The readings of the Easter Season continue to unfold for us the great Easter Mystery – the enduring presence of Jesus among us and what ‘new life in Christ’ might mean. In Jesus resurrection we celebrate the son of God who affirms that he walks with us and suffered died and rose again for us.  Jesus  resurrection assures us that life can come out of death and good overcomes evil.

It doesn’t always seem that way these days when we see the suffering people around the world with war and conflict in so many countries but for people who have faith in God nothing is impossible. After the earth shattering events of Good Friday and the empty tomb on Easter Sunday Peter and the others were ready to put the events of those days behind them and return home to do what they did before they came across Jesus and his message. But Jesus won’t let them go. The apostles courageously proclaim the Good News despite persecution, and Peter recognizes Jesus after a miraculous catch of fish. In our Gospel for this Sunday Jesus comes to the shore looking for the apostles. He gets their attention, as he did when he first called them, with a large catch of fish. He prepares breakfast for them and invites them to eat, “Come, and have breakfast.” After the meal Jesus asks Peter three times about the reality of his love. Insisting on love is something of a mark with Jesus. Three times Peter affirms his love, as three times Jesus insists on it.  

When Peter professes his love Jesus commissions him to care for his flock when he says feed my sheep. In his ministry of teaching, preaching and healing Peter gets through to many people, and the authorities become nervous at the ability of Peter and the apostles to work in the name of Jesus In spite of the opposition Peter will continue insisting on his love for Jesus and this insistence will take him to martyrdom in Rome. No matter whether the believer is new or old, a pew sitter or a leader of people, the call of Christ is the same: “Follow me.”  Following Christ means we lead a life lived in the community of faith where we are. Are we, like Peter, spreading the net for new believers and professing a true love for our Savior? Or are we on the sidelines watching others doing the work when we should really be out there doing the work with them?   This Gospel reading is so appropriate for this weekend as we pray for the Cardinals who will meet in conclave next week to elect the new pope who is the successor of Peter who was  to shepherd the flock of Christ.

As we continue our Easter journey  we remember that the God of Hope, Love and Mercy is with us and wants us to abide in him throughout our lives. There will always be things going on in the world that we have no real control over so let us go forward in faith hope and love as Easter people  as we pray in anticipation of the election of new pope the successor of Peter who was called and commissioned by Christ to shepherd the church.

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26 Apr 2025

Divine Mercy Sunday

This Sunday we celebrate the Second Sunday of Easter Divine Mercy Sunday we pray for our Holy Father Pope Francis who died on Easter Monday and whose funeral took place earlier today. As Catholics we feel like sheep without a shepherd as we have lost our spiritual Father. The umbrella over the cross keys in the icon above indicates that the pope has died and we are in a period of mourning called sede vacante.  In the days ahead we are asked to pray that the Holy Spirit will inspire the Cardinals when they meet in conclave to elect a new pope that they will  make the right decision by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

The season of Lent, Holy Week and  Easter  Sunday have come and gone so quickly  and are now a distant memory. Many people think that Easter begins and ends on Easter Sunday but it doesn’t end there the celebration of the season of Easter goes on for 50 days and ends on Pentecost Sunday. I wonder what the Apostles would think if they were to come down to us these days and find that we are celebrating the Death and Resurrection of Jesus that took place over 2000 years ago, they would be amazed especially as they thought everything was over with the Crucifixion on Good Friday but that first Holy Week and Easter Day was only the beginning of the story and here we are all these years retelling the story once again.  In the First Reading  The apostles, performing signs and wonders, gathered in Solomon’s portico, held in high regard despite others’ hesitance. Their number grew rapidly, and the sick were brought to them; even Peter’s shadow was sought for healing. All who came wee healed. In the Second Reading  John, exiled on Patmos for his faith, receives a vision from Jesus on the Lord’s day. Instructed to write, he sees Christ among lampstands, falls down, but is reassured by Christ, the eternal, resurrected one holding keys to death and Hades.

 In this Sundays Gospel reading the Apostles were still huddled together behind locked doors, pondering the shocking experience from the week before when all seemed to be lost. Then Jesus appeared  to them and to assure them that he was alive. His message must have troubled them as well when he told them: “As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you.”   In the same way as the apostles were sent out we are sent out to bring the  message of god’s mercy hope  and love to other people wherever we are. Then of course there is doubting Thomas who heard the witness of the those who saw Jesus but, like so many of us today he wanted more proof.  Jesus says to Thomas, “Have you come to believe because you have seen me?  Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.” That is a favorite quote for many who have not “seen” the risen Christ in person as the disciples did. We have come to believe though we have not seen him in the flesh but he is with us in the midst of our communities through so many different people. The gospel tells us how Jesus gave his followers peace because they trusted him. In spite of the skepticism of Thomas and so many others, Jesus  offers us the same peace of heart mind and soul.  When Jesus says to the Apostles Peace be with you the Peace he is talking about is much more than the lack of conflict. True peace, gives us happiness, since it is built on trust in God and one another. 

As we celebrate Divine Mercy Sunday we remember the joy, the hope, the grief and the anxieties of the people in our time those we know and those unknown to us and we bring them to the merciful Lord. Our world is hurting so much because of the things that are happening within it with people at each other’s throats for so many reasons.   May all of us be witnesses to the Hope, love  and mercy of the Gospel as we try to bring the caring face of God’s love to the people wherever we are.

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19 Apr 2025

HOLY SATURDAY AND EASTER SUNDAY

Having  completed our Lenten observance and after the liturgies of Holy Thursday and Good Friday we  are now getting ready to celebrate the Easter Vigil on the day of resurrection that is Easter Sunday. The Church and its people have  only one thing to do today: to pray through the emptiness of Holy Saturday. Holy Saturday is the day when we experience watching and waiting at the tomb as we await the celebration of the Resurrection which we celebrate in the Easter Vigil, easter Sunday and the season of Easter.Holy Saturday is about emptiness, the cross is empty and Jesus lies in the tomb everything around us is still.  It’s not hard for us to share Mary’s sense of emptiness and bewilderment when she arrives at the tomb.

If we were to read the next few verses from John’s Gospel, we would read a story of overwhelming joy as Mary Magdalen meets the risen Jesus. When Jesus speaks her name, Mary recognises him and sadness and emptiness give way to joyful reunion. It’s a story of transformation   how things can change when we meet the risen Jesus. The Psalm for Easter Sunday says, “This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” Above all days, Easter Sunday   is a day of hope filled joy. At Easter and throughout the Easter season we celebrate the kind of hopeful joy each of us longs for, when every tear is wiped away, and there is no sorrow and no more suffering. When we ourselves rise to meet our risen Lord, in that bright morning we will hear him say, “Come away, beloved. The winter is past; the rain is gone, and the flowers return to the earth” (Song of Songs 2:10-12).

In the loving union of that encounter, all the  brokenness  of our lives will be redeemed. That will be the perfect  joy we hope for.  Let us take fresh hope,  with Christ our Passover everything is possible!  Jesus Christ lives! He has Risen as he said he would and his light lights up our world.  During the Easter Vigil we light the Easter fire and from that fire we have light the Paschal Candle.  Our Gospel story for the vigil tells us that we should not look for Jesus among the dead for he has risen and the light of Christ lights up the darkness of our lives and our world.  The resurrection of Jesus is a proclamation that this outcast from Galilee is the beloved Son of God who cannot be held in the darkness of death because he was raised by God his father.

All of us believe that God’s work continues not least because we believe Jesus’ words: “I am the resurrection and the life.” Our celebration of the Easter Season begins with our celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus on Easter Sunday with the Vigil on Holy Saturday evening during which we welcome and baptize Adult converts to the faith   Then  on Easter morning  we celebrate our Easter masses as we renew our baptismal promises and don’t forget that the feast of Easter continues until Pentecost.  So full of gratitude for Christ’s passion, with joy in his resurrection and, strengthened by the Spirit, we continue our Christian journey of joyful hope this Easter time.

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06 Apr 2024

2nd Sunday of Easter Divine Mercy Sunday

This weekend we celebrate the second Sunday of Easter also known as Divine Mercy Sunday when we celebrate the mercy of God in a special way. Our first reading from the acts of the apostles tells us that the early believers were united, sharing possessions and resources. The apostles’ powerful testimony about Jesus’ resurrection earned them high regard. They distributed funds meet everyone’s needs, ensuring no one was in need. These days we ask ourselves are we helping to provide for those who have needs in our own places. In the second Reading we see that  Belief in Jesus as the Christ the son of God  shows we are born of God. Loving God and His children means obeying His commandments, which are not burdensome. Our faith in Jesus as God’s Son overcomes the world, affirmed by the Spirit of truth. In the Gospel story Jesus appears to his disciples, offering peace and showing his wounds, which brought them joy. He empowered them with the Holy Spirit and the authority to forgive sins.

The Apostles were huddled together in fear. They weren’t so sure that the women’s report that Jesus had risen was believable. They weren’t singing for joy! Now, a whole week has gone by. They still felt “rocky” about their future and what it would hold for them. Thomas wasn’t the only one who had doubts about Jesus, I think so many were doubtful then as so many are doubtful right here and now. The Apostles were pondering the shocking experience of the week before when all seemed to be lost as Jesus hung on the Cross. But here we are over 2000 years later thinking about how they felt after the events of that first Holy Week.  Jesus had broken through those doors and came to assure them that he was alive and then his message must have troubled them: “As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”  The disciples  were to go out to  teach, to preach, to heal by announcing the gospel. They were going  to open the eyes of the blind, to give hearing to the deaf, and soften the hardened hearts of man. They were sent to bring the message of Jesus to others and in the same way we are sent out to bring his message to other people wherever we are by what we say and do.

We are asked to bring the mercy and love of God to all those out there who need his healing merciful touch.  We remember the joys the hope, the grief and the anxieties of the people in our time these are the joys and hopes, the grief and anxieties of the followers of Christ. The Apostles felt rocky about their future as many of us do today but god is with us as we go out into the world as his messengers. May all of us be witnesses to the Gospel bringing the mercy of God to the people of our time and place as we go forward into a the future as Easter people with Christ as our light  to help and guide us along the road we travel.

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