11/04/2020
EASTER SUNDAY OF THE LORD'S RESURRECTION
Readings, Gospel, and Reflection
April 12, 2020
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FIRST READING
Acts 10:34a, 37β43
We ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead.
A reading from the Acts of the Apostles
Peter proceeded to speak and said:
βYou know what has happened all over Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached, how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power.
He went about doing good and healing all those oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. We are witnesses of all that he did both in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem.
They put him to death by hanging him on a tree. This man God raised on the third day and granted that he be visible, not to all the people, but to us, the witnesses chosen by God in advance, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead.
He commissioned us to preach to the people and testify that he is the one appointed by God as judge of the living and the dead.
To him all the prophets bear witness, that everyone who believes in him will receive forgiveness of sins through his name.β
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SECOND READING
I Cor 5:6b-8
Clear out the old yeast, so that you may become a fresh batch of dough.
A reading from the first Letter of Saint Paul to the Corinthians
Brothers and sisters:
Do you not know that a little yeast leavens all the dough?
Clear out the old yeast, so that you may become a fresh batch of dough, inasmuch as you are unleavened. For our paschal lamb, Christ, has been sacrificed.
Therefore, let us celebrate the feast, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
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GOSPEL
Jn 20:1-9
He had to rise from the dead.
A reading from the holy Gospel according to John
On the first day of the week, Mary of Magdala came to the tomb early in the morning, while it was still dark, and saw the stone removed from the tomb.
So she ran and went to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and told them,
βThey have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we donβt know where they put him.β
So Peter and the other disciple went out and came to the tomb. They both ran, but the other disciple ran faster than Peter and arrived at the tomb first; he bent down and saw the burial cloths there, but did not go in.
When Simon Peter arrived after him, he went into the tomb and saw the burial cloths there, and the cloth that had covered his head, not with the burial cloths but rolled up in a separate place.
Then the other disciple also went in, the one who had arrived at the tomb first, and he saw and believed. For they did not yet understand the Scripture that he had to rise from the dead.
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REFLECTION
A blissful Easter Sunday to the world! A Sunday of commemoration for the concepts of Trustful Discipleship, Joy, and Hope.
In finding the essence of what the first reading says, it talks about how God the Father anointed Jesus and appointed him to be the judge of the living and the dead and that just as the apostles, whom Jesus revealed his visible appearance, we are commissioned to stretch out the teachings we learned from him, regardless of the fact that we are evangelizers of today who have not seen his visible appearance ever unlike with the apostles. What outweighs this fact is that our hearts see and trust what our eyes cannot. This is a great skill embedded in our life of discipleship, believing in him while surrendering all our mistakes and shortcomings.
The second readings from both the epistles of Saint Paul to the Colossians and Corinthians are explanations of how a genuine discipleship carries with it the concept of "GIVING UP FOR WHAT'S BEST". His letter to the Colossians enlightens us to seek God before anyone, before anything and to choose what our faith can give before any desires this world may give.
His letter to the Corinthians on the other hand, spells out the importance of getting rid of our sinful potentials in order to live our faith with purity. We all need to remove what hinders us towards God, for a single yeast of malice or wickedness will become diffused throughout every part of our dough (life of faith) if we will allow it to. Let us not!
The idea of 'trust' has been always tested in any stories, movies and individual living, but here, let's deal with it while imagining the best story the world has ever toldβthe passion,death and resurrection of Jesus. In this gospel, let's concentrate on Jesus' resurrection on the Easter Sunday.
When Mary Magdalene, Peter and the other disciple whom Jesus loved witnessed the opened tomb and the clothes of Jesus inside it, their reactions were some sort of forgetting what the prophecy has said that the Son of God will die and on the third day will rise. It was something which affected the trust God deserves in all his plans for all of us. Subsequently, they have seen whom they were finding for and there they believed. Their hearts were filled with happiness and 'hope' that everyone awaits for.
He has risen for us to believe beyond what our five senses can perceive and what prophecies can foresee. We have no reason not to rejoice. It is our ultimate happiness that our Lord has risen! So, today take a single moment to close your eyes and encounter the risen Christ, hug and kiss Him. Thank Him for everything that now makes the smiles inside your heart. Again, Happy Easter disciples!
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*We thank our brothers and sisters in sharing their love and time for the compilation of the Readings, Gospels, and the composition of the Reflections and the Lay-out.
*If you want to be a Volunteer Lay-out Artist or Writer, please send us a message. We are happy to welcome you in our league. ππ
Oh Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee.
