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There are times when I feel that he has withdrawn from me, and I have often given him cause, but Easter is always the answer to, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me!"
- Madeleine L'Engle
(In what ways can Easter shed light on struggles you've been having?)
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Acts 3:1-10; Psalm 105:1-2, 3-4, 6-7, 8-9
Lk 24:13-35
That very day, the first day of the week,
two of Jesus’ disciples were going
to a village seven miles from Jerusalem called Emmaus,
and they were conversing about all the things that had occurred.
And it happened that while they were conversing and debating,
Jesus himself drew near and walked with them,
but their eyes were prevented from recognizing him.
He asked them,
“What are you discussing as you walk along?”
They stopped, looking downcast.
One of them, named Cleopas, said to him in reply,
“Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem
who does not know of the things
that have taken place there in these days?”
And he replied to them, “What sort of things?”
They said to him,
“The things that happened to Jesus the Nazarene,
who was a prophet mighty in deed and word
before God and all the people,
how our chief priests and rulers both handed him over
to a sentence of death and crucified him.
But we were hoping that he would be the one to redeem Israel;
and besides all this,
it is now the third day since this took place.
Some women from our group, however, have astounded us:
they were at the tomb early in the morning
and did not find his Body;
they came back and reported
that they had indeed seen a vision of angels
who announced that he was alive.
Then some of those with us went to the tomb
and found things just as the women had described,
but him they did not see.”
And he said to them, “Oh, how foolish you are!
How slow of heart to believe all that the prophets spoke!
Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things
and enter into his glory?”
Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets,
he interpreted to them what referred to him
in all the Scriptures.
As they approached the village to which they were going,
he gave the impression that he was going on farther.
But they urged him, “Stay with us,
for it is nearly evening and the day is almost over.”
So he went in to stay with them.
And it happened that, while he was with them at table,
he took bread, said the blessing,
broke it, and gave it to them.
With that their eyes were opened and they recognized him,
but he vanished from their sight.
Then they said to each other,
“Were not our hearts burning within us
while he spoke to us on the way and opened the Scriptures to us?”
So they set out at once and returned to Jerusalem
where they found gathered together
the Eleven and those with them who were saying,
“The Lord has truly been raised and has appeared to Simon!”
Then the two recounted what had taken place on the way
and how he was made known to them in the breaking of the bread.
USCCB lectionary
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Reflection on the Scripture
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“When the people saw him moving and giving praise to God, they recognized him as that beggar who used to sit at the Beautiful Gate of the temple. They were struck with astonishment — utterly stupefied at what had happened to him.” —Acts 3:9-10
Fifty days after Jesus’ Resurrection, about three thousand people believed that He was risen from the dead and that He would also raise from the dead those who believed in Him (see Jn 6:40). The rest of the people of the world were confused and enslaved by their ignorance of the afterlife and their fear of death (Heb 2:15). How could a few thousand people reach the rest of the world with the Good News of Jesus
risen? We currently find ourselves in a similar situation. Today, the Lord is calling the two billion Christians in the world to reach six billion who do not know or believe in Jesus, “the Resurrection and the Life” (Jn 11:25).
In a few short years, the early Church reached millions of people with the Good News of the risen Jesus. They did this by the power of the Holy Spirit. In the Spirit, they preached the Good News of Jesus. Signs, wonders, and healings accompanied their preaching (Mk 16:17-18). Sometimes the Lord first healed people to give the Church an opening for proclaiming the risen Christ (see Acts 3:11-12). Often the Lord
punctuated the Church’s preaching with a healing as an exclamation point.
Let’s reach our “culture of death” with the message of resurrection and life. Receive the Holy Spirit! Proclaim God’s Word! Heal in Jesus’ name (see Acts 3:6). Jesus is risen! Alleluia!
Prayer: Father, I will do anything to reach as many as possible with the Good News of Jesus risen (see 1 Cor 9:19).
Promise: “Were not our hearts burning inside us as He talked to us on the road and explained the Scriptures to us?” —Lk 24:32
Presentation Ministries
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Growing in Inner Freedom: A Guide for Today
- by Philip St. Romain. Liguori Publ., 1986.
37. Do Your Duties Gladly
You must put on the armor of God if you are to resist on the evil day; do all that your duty requires, and hold your ground.
(Ephesians 6:13)
The history of salvation records the struggles between good and evil in the hearts of men and women. Jesus is the Incarnation of God, enabling us to be faithful to the demands of God’s truth, love, and justice. Evil is the energy of Satan and our own selfishness, bringing fragmentation into our own lives and broken relationships with others. The battle between good and evil continues to this
very day; each of us participates in this struggle.
Where, it may be asked, does this spiritual warfare take place? The answer is that the salvation of the world advances or retreats according to how we fulfill our daily obligations. If we would help to advance the kingdom of God, we must pick up the cross of self-denial and strive to follow in the footsteps of Christ.
We need not search very far for opportunities to carry our crosses. Everyday life itself is hard enough for most of us. The most common cross we will ever carry is to do our daily duties and to do them happily for the love of God. Knowing that God is with us, and that our attitude is important for salvation history, should help us to smile more often. And think what a difference it would make to the people we rub shoulders with daily if we were a bit more joyful! It
might even happen that a few of them will ask why we are so happy. They will believe the Good News we share with them because we ourselves will be good news for them.
Suggested Practices
1. Do not procrastinate.
2. Fulfill your daily obligations and smile a bit more while you do so.
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