SATURDAY IN THE OCTAVE OF EASTER - 2021

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

This day was made by the Lord:
we rejoice and are glad. Ps117:24

ACTS 4:13-21

My Soul's Beloved,

'We cannot promise to stop proclaiming what we have seen and heard.’ If only this was the response of the Church in these

extraordinary times of the pandemic I wonder what the impact would have been on the whole world. I know that we must obey civil authorities for in doing so we obey You but surely You did not mean that we should not stand up for our rights to come together as a community to worship You. 

Despite following all the protocols to the letter and beyond yet the restrictions get more ludicrous churches everywhere are caving in like a house of cards. All the while we hunger and thirst for You. We pine for the food and drink only You can give us in the Eucharist. We long to visit You in the Adoration Chapel and behold You face to face. We are denied the true sustenance of our lives and we are afraid we may perish by the wayside. 

Our hierarchy could most certainly take a leaf out of the book of Sacred Scripture and particularly from today's First Reading. Peter and John do not give in to the bullying of the Sanhedrin but stand their ground boldly and testify to the truth. They did not let fear of what the authorities could do to them deter them from proclaiming the Good News. In the end, they found themselves powerless all they could come up with is a ludicrous command to Peter and John to never speak to anyone of Your Name again. Both Peter and John rightly responded by saying, ‘You must judge whether in God’s eyes it is right to listen to you and not to God. We cannot promise to stop proclaiming what we have seen and heard.’

Our strength and our power come from our faith in You, Lord. We are energized by the Holy Spirit when we come together to offer the Father the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass - the Sacrifice of Calvary. How much longer Lord will be pushovers for those who in truth fear the power of Your Name?

PSALM 118:1,14-21 

My Soul's Beloved,

This psalm celebrates joyfully what You have done for us. Ours
the punishment You bore, our iniquities lacerated Your Body,

for our sakes, You became the spotless Lamb of Sacrifice and poured out Your Blood to wash away the sin of the world. You are our strength and our song. You are the joy of our lives. You give us hope of eternal life in union with You, the Father, and the Holy Spirit. Death is vanquished in the triumphant victory of the Cross that was until You were lifted high on it, an emblem of suffering and shame.

Now, however, we celebrate the Cross on which hung the Savior of the world and 'Alleluia' is the anthem of  Christians everywhere. 

Long before Your agonizing crucifixion, Isaiah prophesied, "And yet ours were the sufferings he bore, ours the sorrows he carried. But we, we thought of him as someone punished, struck by God, and brought low. Yet he was pierced through for our faults, crushed for our sins. On him lies a punishment that brings us peace, and through his wounds, we are healed." 

You are the only gate by which we can enter the Kingdom of God, there is no other. There can be no other not after You paid the price for a debt we owed but could never pay and hence were doomed to separation from God eternally.

We thank You, Father, for revealing to us what real love is. It is sacrifice, suffering, and surrender in union with the Cross of Your Son and our Savior.

MARK 16:9-15 

My Souls Beloved,

Creator, Word, and Love, the Triune God,  one in a union of

purpose bringing order from chaos at the dawn of creation, the first day.

Resurrection morning, the first day of the week when the Triune God once again restores order by subjugating death and drawing good from evil.  

To the astonishment of the disciples, You choose Mary of Magdala as the first evangelist of the Resurrection. She followed You to the end and stood steadfast at the foot of the Cross with Your grieving Mother. Of course, they did not believe her it was a time when the testimony of a woman was regarded as worthless. And once again we see that the way of God is in stark contradiction to the way of the world.

We then read about the disciples on the road to Emmaus who encountered You and having recognized You at the Breaking of Bread returned with haste to Jerusalem to tell the Good News to the rest, but they did not believe them either. How often in the course of the three years of their discipleship You spoke of Your death and Your resurrection and they still refuse to believe.

After this, he showed himself under another form to two of them as they were on their way into the country. These went back and told the others, who did not believe them either.

Finally, You appeared to them and reproached them for their refusal to believe.  You then gave them the great commission that is given to all the baptized, ‘Go out to the whole world; proclaim the Good News to all creation.’