Households, cities, countries and nations have enjoyed great happiness, when a single individual has taken heed of the Good and Beautiful. . . Such people not only liberate themselves' they fill those they meet with a free mind.
- Philo -

(What good and beautiful things are you aware of? Let this awareness lead you to the knowledge of God and become a blessing for all this day.)

ACTS 4:1-12;    PS 118:1-2 AND 4, 22-27;    JN 21:1-14

R. The stone rejected by the builders has become the cornerstone.

Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good,
for his mercy endures forever.
Let the house of Israel say,
"His mercy endures forever."
Let those who fear the LORD say,
"His mercy endures forever."

The stone which the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone.
By the LORD has this been done;
it is wonderful in our eyes.
This is the day the LORD has made;
let us be glad and rejoice in it.

O LORD, grant salvation!
O LORD, grant prosperity!
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD;
we bless you from the house of the LORD.
The LORD is God, and he has given us light.





Today's readings are about "scar stories"-about trust, healing from loss, and resurrections from rejections.  Jesus' physical scars have been healed and he has come back to heal the physical, emotional, and spiritual scars of all people, to give humanity hope to live in the resurrection.  When the disciples, Peter and John, are questioned about the crippled man they are eager to tell of his healing through the Lord.  When Jesus appears on the beach the disciples do not initially recognize his healed body.  When they realize it is indeed Jesus calling to them they are excited and amazed to be in his presence.  Yet within these stories are people who are rather nervous about these incidents of healing.  The Sadducees, leaders, elders, and scribes in the First Reading are questioning and disturbed by the resurrection news. 

A couple of years ago, I misread the word sacred for scared .  In doing so, I came to realize a curious similarity in the English language spelling of three words:  scared, scarred, and sacred.  Pondering the connected meanings of these words is our Easter story.  We are alive "in the name of Jesus Christ the Nazorean whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead; in his name [we stand] before you healed." 

- by Lydia Reinig

Selected Quotes from St. John of the Cross on the Journey of the Soul to God by Contemplation

- from Ascent of Mt. Carmel

Bk. 2. Ch. 7. #11. When he is brought to nothing, the highest degree of humility, the spiritual union between his soul and God will be effected. The journey does not consist on recreations, experiences and spiritual feelings, but in the living, sensory and spiritual, exterior and interior death of the cross.

Bk. 2. Ch. 8. #1. Faith is the proper and adequate means of union with God.

#6. Contemplation, by which the intellect has a higher knowledge of God, is called mystical theology, meaning the secret wisdom of God. St. Dionysius calls contemplation a ray of darkness.

- compiled by James and Tyra Arraj