Sunday, April 15, 2018

Acts 3:13-15, 17-19, Psalm 4:2, 4, 7-9, 1 John 2:1-5A, Luke 24:35-48

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

Lord Jesus, open the Scriptures to us;
make our hearts burn while you speak to us. Lk 24:32


Acts 3:13-15, 17-19, Psalm 4:2, 4, 7-9, 1 John 2:1-5A, 
Luke 24:35-48

Acts 3:13-15, 17-19

Dear Love, Beloved of my soul,

Peter experienced first hand Your bounteous goodness, Your readiness to forgive sins, Your great love that desires to embrace every sinner and longs for him to repent of his sins and turn away from the path that leads to eternal separation from You, from God.  This is why he could proclaim with conviction the need to first be aware of our sins and not shy away from their gravity. He held the people who demanded Your death responsible for the crime of Deicide. They did cry out for known outlaw, murderer, and criminal to be released and for the Author of Life to be put to death. There can be no denying how heinous the sin that they had collectively committed.

But he also said that they acted out of ignorance for he was aware that You pleaded with Your Father on the Cross, "Father forgive them they don't know what they do." However, now that they knew what they had done it was time for repentance, it was time for conversion so You could wipe the slate clean and they could begin anew.


Psalm 4:2, 4, 7-9

Dear Love, Beloved of my soul,

How good you are, how gracious, how kind, how merciful. Thank You for Your tenderness, Your compassion, Your eagerness to forgive. Thank You for hearing my cry of distress even before a sound has escaped my lips. You know me well and You desire that I never worry or be anxious for anything. You desire that I trust You completely as a child its mother to satisfy all my needs.

Thank You Beloved for hearing and answering every one of my prayers. I thank You for Your faithfulness. I thank You for revealing to me how marvelously You love me. I thank You for becoming my food and drink in the Holy Eucharist. Thank You for the radiance of Your Presence in me which in turn makes me radiant. Thank You for the joy and gladness in my heart because I am Yours. You have claimed me for Yourself in time and in eternity. Thank You Beloved for the assurance I have that when my eyes close in the sleep of death I will awake to new life in You. Amen.

1 John 2:1-5A

Dear Love, Beloved of my soul,

How can we thank You for the Apostles, the Evangelists, who have written so eloquently of Your love especially the Beloved Disciple, the Disciple of Love who leaned against Your breast and whom You loved more than the rest?

John lived to a ripe old age. All he had experienced in the three short years You were with them were alive in his memory for the Holy Spirit enabled them to remember and recall everything that they had ever heard You say and do.

In today's second reading we are reminded that as children of the Father we must strive not to commit sin because sin separates us from You. You Beloved paid too great a price in order to bridge the separation between God and us.  However, God knows we are weak. The severity of original sin, while removed from our soul in Baptism, has left us fragile, weak, and open to temptation. Our free will is often not strong enough to choose the right, the true, the noble, the good, the pure. The world, the flesh, and the devil are able to too easily sway us with lies paraded before our eyes as truth. We are too easily lured by the pleasure of short-lived satiation of our senses rather than fixing our gaze on eternity. You have shown us the Way, You have revealed to us the Truth, and You have poured Your Life into us. We have no excuse Beloved not to keep Your Word and allow the Holy Spirit to perfect Your Love in us. Thank You for making every grace and blessing available to us through the worthy reception of the Sacraments to enable us to reach the goal, which is eternity with You in the Kingdom of God.

Luke 24:35-48

Dear Love, Beloved of my soul,

Before Pentecost and the coming of the Holy Spirit, we see how ridiculously afraid the Apostles and disciples were. They clean forgot that You had assured them time and time again that You would rise from the dead. They forgot the many times You told them that it was necessary for You to die. You told them that You would be handed over to wicked men and all that they would do before they finally crucified You.

Our fears are a terrible thing. They remove all rational thought and they paralyze us rendering us useless, stupid and make us paranoid. The women came to them and Mary Magdalene testified that she had seen You as the Risen Lord they refused to believe her. Peter and John saw the empty tomb and were unable to understand its significance. They continued to cower in fear too afraid to leave the door unlocked for fear that the authorities would haul them to prison and perhaps kill them as well. 

Now the two disciples who were fleeing Jerusalem and whom You accompanied on the road to Emmaus have returned carrying with them the Good News that hey had met You and You made Yourself known to them at the Breaking of Bread.

At every Eucharist Beloved, we too must recognize You. We cannot, we dare not receive You indifferently, not taking the time to be aware of Your humility in coming to us and recognizing that You, the Son of God become One with us n this wonderful Sacrament of Love. 

As they speak of You to the rest, You appear in their midst and give them the Easter greeting, "Peace be with you." They continue to quake in fear. You scold them gently, 

"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."



You then show them Your hands and feet. It is by Your wounds Beloved that we know for certain that You truly are the Lord and the Savior of the world. The Marks remind us of the price that You paid to set us free. 

Your understanding and kindness know no bounds. You wish to further reassure them that You are no ghost and ask for something to eat in order to remove all doubt from their minds. One can only imagine their joy at being united with the Lord and Master again.

Once again You open their minds to understand Scripture as You reveal how salvation history prepared for Your coming into the world. Why it was necessary for You to suffer, that You would rise again just as the prophets had foretold and that You would take away the sins of the whole world.

To each Christian is given the same mission of proclaiming the Good News :

"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."


Dying You destroyed our death,
Rising You restored our life,
Lord, Jesus come in glory.

Maranatha Beloved, Maranatha!


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