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April 2022

Third Sunday of Easter Cycle C

May 1, 2022

Third Sunday of Easter

Cycle C

Review the Readings

Listen to the Readings

 

 

 

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In the Gospel reading we hear that Jesus, after his resurrection, is preparing a meal for the apostles.

Photo Apr 07, 7 45 46 AMAt first they do not recognize Him.

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But then they do and Peter, out in a boat fishing with the others, jumps into the water and swims to the Lord.

 

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Jesus tells that tells them all to... "Come follow me and feed my sheep."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At our baptism we were each called to follow Him and to feed his sheep.   But how???

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Each day, in whatever situation we find ourselves, it's important to think about this call that we were given at our baptism.

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We, unlike the apostles in the first reading, are probably not called to go into the temple area, the street corners and boldly preach.

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But in our every day life we are called to preach and to feed his sheep.  That may mean to pray for the gift of patience, mercy, compassion, understanding, forgiveness,etc. toward all people, both deserving and undeserving, friend or enemy.

 

 

 

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Here is a  little background to the first reading.

 

 

 

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The apostles had been arrested and put in prison because they had been  told not to preach about Jesus...

  

...but they continued to preach about Jesus.


Then during the night and angel releases them...

 

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and, not surprisingly, they immediately go back into the temple area and begin preaching Jesus Christ.

 

 

 

 

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We too need to pray for the gift to preach Jesus Christ and not to give up even when we are held captive by what our society basically says, if you want to be accepted and not considered foolish, do not talk about Jesus or God, but about more important day to day things.

 
Society also seems says to have mercy, compassion, etc. etc. only to those who deserve it.

 

When no one else will feed his sheep, do we have compassion?  

 

When no one else will have mercy, do we have mercy?

 

When the world tells us not to forgive, do we forgive?

 

When the world tells us not to love the enemy,

the one who gives us stress and problems, do we pray to love even the enemy?

 

When the world says put yourself first,

do we say no I'm putting the other person first?

 

These are some of the ways we are to preach, by not only our words but our actions, about Jesus and his Kingdom.

 

Revelation-seal

In the second reading from the book of Revelation, Saint John has a vision of heaven.

He sees Jesus as the Paschal lamb in heaven, being adored by and worship by all the people and angels because they all understand what he has done in freeing humanity and giving all the opportunity of eternal life.

 

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Let us pray that we too, come to understand, as did the Apostles, the great gift that God has given us.

Let us be willing to always...

Come follow me!

Feed my sheep!

 

In the days ahead this week, God will give all of us an opportunity, many times, to go out of our way for the other.

Watch and see!

Sometimes we will succeed and other times we may fail, but God is always full of mercy and calls us to start over again and again.

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Second Sunday of Easter cycle B also Devine Mercy Sunday

 

April 24,2022

 

Review the Readings

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Fr. Greg Friedman...Background on this Sunday

 

 

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Remarks of Fr. Doug

The eight days after Easter  are liturgically all treated as if they were Easter, so we have the Octave of Easter.  The celebration is so important that for eight days were are reminded of the importance of the Resurrection of Christ.  In fact, for 50 days we will be in the liturgical season of Easter.  Everyday we are to go to the Galilee of our lives to experience the Resurrected Lord.  We are like the disciples who often do not recognize the Risen Lord when He appears to us each day.  

Have you experience the resurrected Lord today?  

Keep your eyes opened.  

Often it is in retrospect that we know He was appearing to us.

 

 

Easter Second Sun
Click here for more on History of Devine Mercy

 

Photo Apr 09, 10 12 32 AM The first reading is taken from a book that gives us an early history of the primitive Church between the years of the Ascension of Christ until 63 A.D. or about some 30 years.  

 

 

 

 

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This first Christian Community was in Jerusalem and they share everything in common.  We can look at that lifestyle and say that it is impossible for us.  We can even doubt such can happen today.    The point is to take a look at our lives.  

 

Do we  share?

Are we willing to go out of our way for the other person?  

Are we willing to give up and share some of our time, or our idea of how things should be, or our idea of how others others should act?

 

We, ourselves, can have lots of opportunities to share.  We may even discover that we are more selfish than we thought.  

 

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Watch and see this week at how many opportunities we will have to reach out to the other and share.

Are we willing to listen to a person who is difficult or at times is even boring?

 

Sharing things is important, but we will also have a lot more opportunities to share ourselves by being present or attentive to the other.  

 

The early Christian community discovered that sharing is a way of experiencing the Risen Christ.

 

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  It is thought that John wrote this letter to the Churches of Asia Minor between the years of 90 and 100 A.D.  It called them to realized that their faith received at Baptism had the power to overcome the ideas of the world.  That is certainly true today.  The world idea is not so much in sharing, but in getting all we can get for ourselves.  

 

All of the readings help us to realized that we can really be caught up in the ideas of today's world.  Going out of our way for others can be a way of experiencing the Risen Lord. 

 

Photo Apr 07, 8 34 18 AMThe Gospel we hear is that of the doubting Thomas.  We live in a world where we are surrounded by doubters. They can have such an influence on each of us. Thomas had left the group and it was only when he returned that in spite of his doubts, he experienced the Risen Lord.

 

 

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Perhaps we need to listen to that inner voice that calls us to return to what we have run from.  

Perhaps, like Tomas, that may where we will  experience the Lord.

 

 

 

 

Thomas

 

 


My lord

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Alleluia, Christ is Risen

 

Alleluia, Indeed,Christ is  Risen

 

 

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Holy Saturday Easter Vigil

Easter Sunday The Resurrection of the Lord
Holy Saturday At the Easter Vigil in the Holy Night of Easter

Saturday April 16, 2022

 

Review the ReadingsReadings Saturday Easter Vigil

Listen to the Readings Easter Vigil

 

Sunday April 17, 2017

Review the Easter Sunday Readings

Listen to the Readings Easter Sunday

 

 

Easter Vigil Service Easter Saturday Nigh Reflection

During tonight’s Easter Vigil, we sit in darkness.

 

Holy Saturday Easter Vigil

 

As Christ is in descent, we too are in limbo. In silence, we wait for the coming of our Lord. We wait for the Lumen Christi (Light of Christ), where together, from a single flame, we can be light unto the world. 

 

Holy Saturday Easter Vigil

 

Our mysteries of Holy Week reflection continues. Today, we are the seeds under the earth, in darkness; but experiencing movement towards new life. Our commitment is about to burst forth; yet is still unseen. These paradoxical moments unite us to Christ where we witness death and life; co-eternal in the heart of Christ.

 

Holy Saturday Easter Vigil

Holy Saturday Easter Vigil

Holy Saturday Easter Vigil

Holy Saturday Easter Vigil


Palm Sunday....Passion Sunday Cycle C

 April 10, 2022

 

Holy Week Begins with...

image from images.search.yahoo.com

 

April 10, 2022

Review to the Readings

Listen to the Readings

 

 

 

 

 

Jesus_on_Donkey_PalmSundayCrowd

 

It is important that as we take part in the journey through Holy Week, starting today, that we not only see the great love God has for each of us that is shown for all the sufferings, the rejections, the persecutions, Christ was willing to go through for us.  It is also a time to recognize that we are all a part of His Passion as we go through life with our own sufferings, with our own Crosses.  Do we embrace the Cross, the sufferings etc?  If not, then  we pray for ourselves to have the grace and courage to follow Christ on our own life's journey to Calvary which is the way to eternal life.  Courage.  Our Baptism is God's call to us to make Christ present in the world, especially in our actions.

 

 

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The first reading gives us a description of the Suffering Servant.  A description which the early Christian saw as fufilled by Christ.  We too are called to be a part of that description.  We too are called to make God present in the world by being a part of the Suffering Servant.  

 

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Again and again, in every difficult situation which we want to reject, we need to reflect on this image which our Baptism has called us to make present in the world today. We too are a part of the sufferings of Christ that brings salvation to the world today.

 

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In the letter to the Philippians we hear that just as Paul tell these Christians that they should have the same attitude as Christ.  That goes for us today also. 

 

 



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 Are we willing to have humility and take on the crosses that will comes to each of us.  Or do we reject our sufferings, our rejections?  If you do, that it is time to pray as Jesus did in the Mount of Olives.

 

Jesus_at_Prayer

“Father, if you are willing, 
take this cup away from me; 
still, not my will but yours be done.” 

 

 

 

Photo Mar 17, 12 59 48 PMThis year as we hear the account of the Passion of Christ let us find ourselves in this proclamation.  Most of us don't like to be in the crowd that condemns Christ, but the truth is that at times we are.  Yet He has become the Suffering Servant so that each of us can receive the mercy, compassion, and forgiveness of God again and again.  But, we do need to come to him, recognizing our failures, our sin.

 Audio of my informal notes