1. Marked with Wounds
2. Dying and Rising with Christ
Introduction by the Celebrant
1. Marked with Wounds
Our faith in the Risen Lord is a concrete faith, a faith in someone who is risen, yes, but not a “ghost,” not a figment of the imagination, but real and so much like us, in everything except sin, including wounds and scars and struggles. Is this the Jesus in whom we believe, who walks by our side on the road of life, who sustains us with his love and strength when we struggle and are wounded? For he is really risen, and he goes with us to help us start rising already now in this life above our troubles and fears and cowardice, until we are taken up in his unending joy and happiness. Let it be this Jesus with us with whom we can identify and to whom we bear witness in everyday life.
2. Dying and Rising With Christ
To make the mistakes of sin and to make up for them, to stumble and to get back on our feet, to fall and to rise again, is that not for all a repeated experience in life? This is not just an image but basically the same reality as resurrection; for a Christian this life is already a repeated dying and rising with Christ. Resurrection is not merely something that will come for us at the judgment or when we enter God’s home after death. It is here with us, beautifully and repeatedly. By the grace of our Lord’s resurrection we keep dying and rising even now. Let us share the meal of resurrection with the risen Lord.
First Reading: Peter, Witness to the Risen Lord
In his preaching, Peter bears strong witness that Christ is risen from the dead. He asks his hearers to turn to Christ and to let him make them new.
1 Reading ACTS 3:13-15, 17-19
Peter said to the people:
“The God of Abraham,
the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob,
the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus,
whom you handed over and denied in Pilate’s presence
when he had decided to release him.
You denied the Holy and Righteous One
and asked that a murderer be released to you.
The author of life you put to death,
but God raised him from the dead; of this we are witnesses.
Now I know, brothers,
that you acted out of ignorance, just as your leaders did;
but God has thus brought to fulfilment
what he had announced beforehand
through the mouth of all the prophets,
that his Christ would suffer.
Repent, therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be wiped away.”
Responsorial Psalm 4:2, 4, 7-8, 9
R. (7a) Lord, let your face shine on us.
or:
R. Alleluia.
When I call, answer me, O my just God,
you who relieve me when I am in distress;
have pity on me, and hear my prayer!
R.
Know that the LORD does wonders for his faithful one;
the LORD will hear me when I call upon him.
R.
O LORD, let the light of your countenance shine upon us!
You put gladness into my heart.
R.
As soon as I lie down, I fall peacefully asleep,
for you alone, O LORD,
bring security to my dwelling.
R
Second Reading: True to the Risen Lord
When we follow the commandments of love of Christ, we are true to the risen Christ and we grow in God’s love.
2 Reading 1 John 2:1-5a
My children, I am writing this to you
so that you may not commit sin.
But if anyone does sin, we have an Advocate with the Father,
Jesus Christ the righteous one.
He is expiation for our sins,
and not for our sins only but for those of the whole world.
The way we may be sure that we know him is to keep
his commandments.
Those who say, “I know him,” but do not keep his commandments
are liars, and the truth is not in them.
But whoever keeps his word,
the love of God is truly perfected in him.
Alleluia. Luke 24:32
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Lord Jesus, open the Scriptures to us;
make our hearts burn while you speak to us.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel: Witnesses to The Risen Lord
Jesus appeared to his doubting disciples to strengthen their faith that he was risen. Then he sent them out as he sends us – to bear witness to his forgiveness and new life.
Gospel Luke 24:35-48
The two disciples recounted what had taken place on the way,
and how Jesus was made known to them
in the breaking of bread.
While they were still speaking about this,
he stood in their midst and said to them,
“Peace be with you.”
But they were startled and terrified
and thought that they were seeing a ghost.
Then he said to them, “Why are you troubled?
And why do questions arise in your hearts?
Look at my hands and my feet, that it is I myself.
Touch me and see, because a ghost does not have flesh and bones
as you can see I have.”
And as he said this,
he showed them his hands and his feet.
While they were still incredulous for joy and were amazed,
he asked them, “Have you anything here to eat?”
They gave him a piece of baked fish;
he took it and ate it in front of them.
He said to them,
“These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you,
that everything written about me in the law of Moses
and in the prophets and psalms must be fulfilled.”
Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures.
And he said to them,
“Thus it is written that the Christ would suffer
and rise from the dead on the third day
and that repentance, for the forgiveness of sins,
would be preached in his name
to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem.
You are witnesses of these things.”
Commentary:
I once looked through a substantial dictionary of Christian spirituality, and found no article on death, and none on the Resurrection or Easter! This is truly extraordinary, when you consider that the cross is the central icon of the Christian faith, and the Resurrection of Christ its central belief. But I did find an article on death when I looked further: it was an article on the ‘Death of God’! Thirty years ago it was all the rage: the theology of the Death of God. It meant, of course, the death of belief in God in the modern world. ‘God is dead’ was the slogan. I saw a cartoon in which a man writes on a wall with a spray-can, ‘God is dead. Bill.’ Then there is lightning and an earthquake, the wall is shattered and falls down. When the dust settles, you see that the bricks have rearranged themselves. Now they read, ‘Bill is dead. God.’ But God doesn’t act like that! Still there is this to it: if belief in God dies in me, it is something in me that has died – something of me. God remains alive, but I have died in some deep subtle way.
Blessing
Christ calls us to bear witness
to his presence among us
as our risen Lord.
Let us live, then, as God’s new people,
full of faith and hope and love
and mutual forgiveness.
That we may bring
this blessing to the world,
may almighty God bless you all,
the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. R/ Amen.
Go in peace to love and serve the Lord in one another. Alleluia! Alleluia!
R/ Thanks be to God. Alleluia! Alleluia!