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Message of the Day
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Today is the day of salvation for the world… Christ is risen from the dead: arise with him.
Christ returns to himself: you also must return to him. Christ has come forth from the tomb: free yourselves from the fetters of evil. The gates of hell are open and the power of death is destroyed. The old Adam is superseded, the new perfected. In Christ a new creation is coming to birth: renew yourselves.
- Gregory Nazianzen
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Readings of the Day
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Acts 2:36-41
Psalm 33:4-5, 18-19, 20 and 22 John 20:11-18 Mary stayed outside near the tomb, weeping. Then, still weeping, she stooped to look inside, and saw two angels in white sitting where the body of Jesus had been, one at the head, the other at the feet. They said, ‘Woman, why are you weeping?’ ‘They have taken my Lord away’ she replied ‘and I don’t know where
they have put him.’ As she said this she turned round and saw Jesus standing there, though she did not recognise him. Jesus said, ‘Woman, why are you weeping? Who are you looking for?’ Supposing him to be the gardener, she said, ‘Sir, if you have taken him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will go and remove him.’ Jesus said, ‘Mary!’ She knew him then and said to him in Hebrew, ‘Rabbuni!’ – which means Master. Jesus said to her, ‘Do not cling to me, because I have not yet ascended to
the Father. But go and find the brothers, and tell them: I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’ So Mary of Magdala went and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord and that he had said these things to
her. USCCB lectionary
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Reflection on the Scripture
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“One was seated at the head and the other at the foot of the place where Jesus’ body had lain.” —John 20:12
When two angels asked St. Mary Magdalene why
she was weeping, she responded: “The Lord has been taken away” (Jn 20:13). She meant that the Lord’s body was no longer in His tomb. Mary Magdalene was so preoccupied with Jesus’ body that she seemed not to have paid much attention to the “two angels in dazzling robes” (Jn 20:12). When Jesus, Whom she thought was the gardener, asked Mary why she was weeping, she replied that she would carry Jesus’ body away, if He told her where His body was located (Jn 20:15). Then, when Jesus said Mary’s name,
Mary recognized Him and reached out to embrace Jesus.
If we are to meet the risen Christ, we must love Jesus in His glorified Body in heaven, His Body the Church (Eph 5:25), and His Eucharistic Body. Let us recognize the risen Jesus through the ministry of Christ’s Body the Church and through the breaking of bread (Lk 24:30-31), that is, the Body of Christ. Prayer: Father, before
I receive the risen Christ in Holy Communion, may I respond with resounding, deep faith to the words of the priest, “the Body of Christ.” Promise: “You must reform and be baptized, each one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, that your sins may be forgiven; then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. It was to you and your children that the promise was made.” —Acts
2:38-39 Presentation Ministries
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Spiritual Reading
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The Practice of the Presence of God: The Best Rule of Holy Life, by Brother Lawrence (1611 - 1691). Christian Classics Ethereal Library.
https://ccel.org/ccel/lawrence/practice/practice Fourth Letter Writes of himself as of a third person, and encourages his correspondent to press on to fuller practising of the Presence of God.
IHe complains much of our blindness; and cries often that we are to be pitied who content ourselves with so little. GOD, saith he, has infinite treasure to bestow, and we take up with a little sensible devotion which passes in a moment. Blind as we are, we hinder GOD, and stop the current of His graces. But when He finds a soul penetrated with a lively faith, He pours into it His graces and favours plentifully; there they flow like a torrent, which, after being forcibly
stopped against its ordinary course, when it has found a passage, spreads itself with impetuosity and abundance.
Yes, we often stop this torrent, by the little value we set upon it. But let us stop it no more: let us enter into ourselves and break down the bank which hinders it. Let us make way for grace; let us redeem the lost time, for perhaps we have but little left; death follows us close, let us be well prepared for it; for we die but once, and
a miscarriage there is irretrievable.
I say again, let us enter into ourselves. The time presses: there is no room for delay; our souls are at stake. I believe you have taken such effectual measures, that you will not be surprised. I commend you for it, it is the one thing necessary: we must, nevertheless, always work at it, because not to advance, in the spiritual life, is to go back. But those who have the gale of the HOLY SPIRIT go forward even
in sleep. If the vessel of our soul is still tossed with winds and storms, let us awake the LORD, who reposes in it, and He will quickly calm the sea.
I have taken the liberty to impart to you these good sentiments, that you may compare them with your own: they will serve again to kindle and inflame them, if by misfortune (which GOD forbid, for it would be indeed a great misfortune) they should be, though never so little, cooled. Let us then both
recall our first fervours. Let us profit by the example and the sentiments of this brother, who is little known of the world, but known of GOD, and extremely caressed by Him. I will pray for you; do you pray instantly for me, who am yours in our LORD.
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