Psalm 65 : 1-3a, 4-5, 6-7a
Shout with joy to God, all you on earth; sing to the glory of His Name; proclaim His glorious praise. Say to God, “How great are Your deeds!”
All the earth bows down to You, making music in praise of You, singing in honour of Your Name. Come and see God’s wonders, His deeds awesome for humans.
He has turned the sea into dry land, and the river was crossed on foot. Let us, therefore, rejoice in Him. He rules by His might forever.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today in the Gospel reading, we heard the passage which many of us surely knew very well, that shows the degree of the love our God had shown us, that in His infinite love and mercy, He sent down to us a helper, a salvation, none other than His own Son, part of His Godhood, Jesus Christ, to be our Messiah and Saviour.
Yet, even though God loves us so much to this extent of allowing His only Son to descend to this world as a humble man as we are, and even unto death, persecuted and condemned by His own people, the Jewish people, God did not back down, and continued with the plan of salvation. On the hill of calvary, on that fateful day, when Christ was crucified, lifted high between the heavens and the earth, He completed the plan of salvation and snatched the final victory from the evil one.
But sadly, many still reject the words of our Saviour and His teachings, which He passed to the apostles, and from them to us through our priests and bishops who are their successors. The opposition to Christ was evident in the first reading that we heard today, on the capture and arrest of the disciples when they taught in the Temple on the truth about Christ and our salvation in His Resurrection.
The chief priests and the Sadducees represented the very words mentioned in the psalm, that despite the light sent by God to us, through Christ our Lord, who is indeed the Light of the world, many people still live in darkness, and prefer darkness to light. They preferred the entitlements and enticements made by the evil one, who offered them worldly glory, wealth, and honour, that in gaining these, they rejected Christ who is the true font of glory, honour, and salvation.
Even in our own world today, many people hate Christ, and hate the truth that He had brought upon us. They prefer to be mastered by the devil, and rejected the offer of eternal life that Christ had offered, for the sake of temporal enjoyment and temptations that this world has to offer them. Not only content on corrupting them, but the evil one is always at work, and they even entice many against those who believe in Christ, and ridicule us for our faith in God.
But fear not, dear brothers and sisters in Christ! For remember that the Lord is always with us, and He will always protect us from harm. Remember that in the first reading, we were told that the disciples were aided by God through the angels who released them from their captivity, that they can continue to work the mission God had entrusted to them.
Let us therefore, today, pray for our brethren in faith, who risked themselves and even their lives for the sake of the Gospel, and for the sake of our God. May God be with them and protect them against harm and the devices of the evil one. And may we also grow strong and courageous in our own faith, that we too can follow the footsteps of the apostles, in delivering the Good News of our Lord to all mankind, without fear, especially of the evil one. Amen.
John 3 : 16-21
Yes, God so loved the world that He gave His only Son that whoever believes in Him may not be lost, but may have eternal life. God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world; instead, through Him the world is to be saved. Whoever believes in Him will not be condemned. He who does not believe is already condemned, because he has not believed in the Name of the only Son of God.
This is how the Judgment is made : Light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For whoever does wrong hates the light, and doesn’t come to the light, for fear that his deeds will be seen as evil. But whoever lives according to the truth comes into the light, so that it can be clearly seen that his works have been done in God.
Psalm 33 : 2-3, 4-5, 6-7, 8-9
I will bless the Lord all my days; His praise will be ever on my lips. My soul makes its boast in the Lord; let the lowly hear and rejoice.
Oh, let us magnify the Lord, together let us glorify His Name! I sought the Lord, and He answered me; from all my fears He delivered me.
They who look to Him are radiant with joy, their faces never clouded with shame. When the poor cry out, the Lord hears and saves them from distress.
The Lord’s angel encamps and patrols to keep safe those who fear Him. Oh, see and taste the goodness of the Lord! Blessed is the one who finds shelter in Him!
Acts 5 : 17-26
The High Priest and all his supporters, that is the party of the Sadducees, became very jealous of the apostles; so they arrested them and had them thrown into the public jail. But an angel of the Lord opened the door of the prison during the night, brought them out, and said to them, “Go and stand in the Temple court and tell people the whole of this living message.”
Accordingly they entered the Temple at dawn and resumed their teaching. When the High Priest and his supporters arrived, they called together the Sanhedrin, that is the full Council of the elders of Israel. They sent word to the jail to have the prisoners brought in. But when the Temple guards arrived at the jail, they did not find them inside, so they returned with the news, “We found the prison securely locked and the prison guards at their post outside the gate, but when we opened the gate, we found no one inside.”
Upon hearing these words, the captain of the Temple guard and the high priests were baffled, wondering where all of this would end. Just then someone arrived with the report, “Look, those men whom you put in prison are standing in the Temple, teaching the people.”
Then the captain went off with the guards and brought them back, but without any show of force, for fear of being stoned by the people.
Christ is risen and He lives! Yes, dear brothers and sisters in Christ, as we all know, this Easter season, we celebrate Christ who is not dead, and who does not suffer the penalty of death in hell, but who rose in glory, that through Him all mankind may have hope of eternal life through His resurrection.
Yet, many of us are like the disciples on their way to Emmaus, blinded in their spiritual eyes to see God’s presence in their midst, and the doubt that evil had sown in their heart shook their faith, when they knew and saw Christ crucified and died on the cross. Their fear and doubt prevented them from recognising and proclaiming that Christ is alive, and that He is not dead.
Yes, the suffering and death of Christ formed a great part of our faith, where we see the Messiah carrying the cross of sin and suffering that is due to mankind and took it upon Himself that all of us can be saved. It is through the suffering and death of Christ that our death may be averted, not in the sense of the death that will indeed claim us all in the end of our lives, but the eternal death in which we are completely separated from Christ.
This will not happen since Christ did not remain among the dead, for just as God is the God of the living, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who did not stay dead, but arisen again to live forever with Him in heaven, therefore Christ too, as God’s greatest servant, the Son of Man, was arisen in glory, that all who bask in His Resurrection may have hope of eternal life through Him.
Our faith is based upon the centrepiece of Christ’s mission in this world, that is His Resurrection. For without the Resurrection, our faith in Him has no base, for He stayed dead just as others did, but because He returned to life in glory, He became the first to be risen, that we too someday may be risen ourselves with Him.
Jesus is calling upon us to follow Him, and to follow His teachings and examples. He is calling on us to cast away the veil of doubt and fear from our hearts. He came to save us, and saved we are, if we remain firm and strong in our faith in Him. Do not fear, and do not fret, for God is with us, all the times of our life. He is there to share our joy in times of happiness, and to help us bear our burdens in times of sorrow and fear.
Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, let us pray, that God will strengthen us, in faith, hope, and love, that we will become shining beacon of truth and the love of God in this world. May through our hands, God will do great wonders in our broken and darkened world, to make it anew and bright once again. Amen.
Cardinal Lorenzo Antonetti of Italy, the Cardinal-Priest of S. Agnese in Agone, and Pontifical Delegate Emeritus for the Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi, has passed away at the age of 90 on Wednesday, 10 April 2013.
http://www.gcatholic.org/hierarchy/data/cardJP2-7.htm#9
Cardinal Antonetti was created Cardinal in the Consistory of 21 February 1998, and his passing made changes to the composition of the College of Cardinals. The College of Cardinals now consists of 205 members, out of which 113 are Cardinal-electors and 92 are Cardinal non-electors (reduced by 1 due to Cardinal Antonetti’s passing).
Barring any future deaths, the next event involving the College of Cardinals would be the aging out of Cardinal Godfried Danneels of Belgium from the electorate on 4 June 2013, when he turns 80.
Luke 24 : 13-35
That same day (as the Resurrection), two followers of Jesus were going to Emmaus, a village seven miles from Jerusalem, and they talked about what had happened. While they were talking and arguing about what had happened, Jesus came up and walked with them, but their eyes were not able to recognise Him.
He asked, “What is it you are talking about?” The two stood still, looking sad. Then the one named Cleophas answered, “Why, it seems You are the only traveler to Jerusalem who doesn’t know what has happened there these past few days.” And He asked, “What is it?”
They replied, “It is about Jesus of Nazareth. He was a prophet, you know, mighty in word and deed before God and the people. But the chief priests and our rulers sentenced Him to death. They handed Him over to be crucified. We hoped that He would redeem Israel. It is now the third day since all this took place. It is also true that some women of our group have disturbed us.”
“When they went to the tomb at dawn, they did not find His body; and they came and told us that they had had a vision of angels, who said that Jesus was alive. Some of our people went to the tomb and found everything just as the women had said, but they did not find a body in the tomb.”
He said to them, “How dull you are, how slow of understanding! Is the message of the prophets too difficult for you to understand? Is it not written that Christ should suffer all this, and then enter His glory?” Then, starting with Moses, and going through the prophets, He explained to them everything in the Scriptures concerning Himself.
As they drew near the village they were heading for, Jesus made as if to go farther. But they prevailed upon Him, “Stay with us, for night comes quickly. The day is now almost over.” So He went in to stay with them. When they were at table, He took the bread, said a blessing, broke it, and gave each a piece.
Then their eyes were opened, and they recognised Him; but He vanished out of their sight. And they said to one another, “Were not our hearts filled with ardent yearning when He was talking to us on the road and explaining the Scriptures?”
They immediately set out and returned to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and their companions gathered together. They were greeted by these words : “Yes, it is true, the Lord is risen! He has appeared to Simon!” Then the two told what had happened on the road to Emmaus, and how Jesus had made Himself known, when He broke bread with them.
Psalm 104 : 1-2, 3-4, 6-7, 8-9
Give thanks to the Lord, call on His Name; make known His works among the nations. Sing to Him, sing His praise, proclaim all His wondrous deeds.
Glory in His holy Name; let those who seek the Lord rejoice. Look to the Lord and be strong; seek His face always.
You descendants of His servant Abraham, you sons of Jacob, His chosen ones! He is the Lord our God; His judgments reach the whole world.
He remembers His covenant forever, His promise to a thousand generations, the covenant He made with Abraham, the promise He swore to Isaac.
Acts 3 : 1-10
Once when Peter and John were going up to the Temple at three in the afternoon, the hour for prayer, a man crippled from birth was being carried in. Every day they would bring him and put him at the temple gate called “Beautiful”; there he begged from those who entered the Temple.
When he saw Peter and John on their way into the Temple, he asked for alms. Then Peter with John at his side looked straight at him and said, “Look at us.” So he looked at them, expecting to receive something from them. But Peter said, “I have neither silver nor gold, but what I have I give you : In the Name of Jesus of Nazareth, the Messiah, walk!”
Then he took the beggar by his right hand and helped him up. At once his feet and ankles became firm, and jumping up he stood on his feet and began to walk. And he went with them into the Temple walking and leaping and praising God. All the people saw him walking and praising God; they recognised him as the one who used to sit begging at the Beautiful Gate of the Temple, and they were all astonished and amazed at what had happened to him.
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