Monday April 13, 2020

Acts 2:14, 22-23

Matthew 28:8-15

Today begins the Season of Easter in which our daily reading include passages from the Acts of the Apostles. Acts has been one of my favorite books of the Bible for a long time. It tells of the forming of the early Church, the new Church which Christ promised to leave for us, which the Apostles were commissioned to bring to all nations and here we are two thousand fulfilling that promise. But Acts is more than just a depiction of the Church, it also has so many stories of people other than the Apostles who were instrumental in forming the new Church. We see how the faithful are rewarded and how some unfaithful are punished. But what really come to light here, my friends, is the lesson that the Church is not bricks and mortar, but the people who make it up, who take Christ to the world outside those walls of bricks and mortar and how those people become community, giving and receiving, serving and being served, loving and being loved. I urge you my friends to take this time we have to read the entire Acts of the Apostles and then read it again. See how just ordinary folks make extraordinary changes to their lives in order to follow these followers of Christ and live on the example He left them, that example we too are called upon to live.

In our Gospel today we see Jesus up and about, moving out in the world as the two Mary’s see and speak to Him. I’m sure we all long to be again out in the world, moving freely and gathering with each other. May we find strength in the knowledge that Christ time of isolation in the tomb came to an end and that our time of isolation too will end. May we have the trust in God the Father as Jesus did amid all his suffering and endure all the pain that comes our way. May God be our strength, Jesus our refuge, the Holy Spirit our consolation and Mary our comfort.

During this time at home, I recommend you watch the movie Risen. It is the story of a Roman centurion who is tasked by Herod of finding out what really happened to Jesus. His journey leads him to a revelation and his salvation. DK gives it a solid thumb up.