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- Happy Easter!
May the God of beginning again be with you.
May that God hold you near as you grieve what is past and move with faith into what is to be.
May the hand of God carry you across the darkness of loss into light.
May your courage and your trust become for those around you a living witness to the mystery of death and rising.
May the God of beginning again bless you.
- Maxine Shonk, OP. Blessing Upon Blessing: A Book of Blessings.
(Let this prayer open you to resurrection hope and strength.)
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ACTS 2:14, 22-33; PS 16:1-2A AND 5, 7-8, 9-10, 11
MT 28:8-15
Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went away quickly from the tomb,
fearful yet overjoyed,
and ran to announce the news to his disciples.
And behold, Jesus met them on their way and greeted them.
They approached, embraced his feet, and did him homage.
Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid.
Go tell my brothers to go to Galilee,
and there they will see me.”
While they were going, some of the guard went into the city
and told the chief priests all that had happened.
The chief priests assembled with the elders and took counsel;
then they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers,
telling them, “You are to say,
‘His disciples came by night and stole him while we were asleep.’
And if this gets to the ears of the governor,
we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.”
The soldiers took the money and did as they were instructed.
And this story has circulated among the Jews to the present day.
USCCB Lectionary
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Praying the Daily Gospels: A Guide to Meditation, by Philip St. Romain, 2018 (3rd ed.)
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Matthew 28: 8-15 (Jesus appears to the women)
In Matthew's Resurrection narrative, Jesus appears first to women, commissioning them to go to the apostles. They are the first evangelists to bring the Good News of the Resurrection to the world -- an awesome elevation of the role of women in a male dominated culture. The story that Jesus' body had been stolen by his disciples reminds us that belief in the Resurrection was disputed by some even from the beginning.
* Do you believe Jesus of Nazareth was raised from the dead? Do you believe that you, too, will be -- and are even now being "raised to new life?" What does that mean to you?
* How can you communicate the joy of Easter to those with whom you will be interacting today?
Paperback, Kindle and eBook
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Jesus
Alive in Our Lives, by Philip St. Romain, 1985, 2010 (2nd ed.)
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PART ONE: THE MEANING OF THE RESURRECTION
Chapter 1: The Witness of the Church
We should be guilty of extreme dullness if we did not marvel at times that the Church is the only institution in the world that centers its life and activities on the premise that a man who lived about 2,000 years ago is still living and involved in the affairs of humanity. Ironically, this institution, which makes
such fantastic claims about Jesus of Nazareth, is passionately dedicated to promoting sanity and clear-thinking.
Yet everything we know about Jesus of Nazareth comes to us from the Church. Unfortunately, there are no accounts from non-Christian sources contemporary to Jesus’ times that give us anything more than what the Church was already saying about the man. What we know about Jesus we know from the writings of late first- and early second-generation followers. Those writings, considered to be
authoritative and in keeping with traditions already firmly established at that time (50-120 A.D.), were accepted as canonical; they are the writings we today call the New Testament.
Hardback, paperback, eBook and free preview versions.
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