April2 in Year A 11

Morning Offering: O Jesus, through the most pure heart of Mary, I offer you all the prayers, works, joys and sufferings of this day for all the intentions of your divine heart, in union with the holy sacrifice of the Mass. I offer them especially for the Holy Father's intentions:

Pope Benedict's general intention for April is: "That the Church may offer new generations, through the believable proclamation of the Gospel, ever-new reasons of life and hope. "

His mission intention is: "That missionaries, with the proclamation of the Gospel and their witness of life, may bring Christ to all those who do not yet know Him. "

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Prayers today: Lord, do not stay away; come quickly to help me! I am a worm and no man: men scorn me, people despise me. (Ps 21:20, 7)

God our Father, you always work to save us, and now we rejoice in the great love you give to your chosen people. Protect all who are about to become your children, and continue to bless those who are already baptized. Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, . .

Bernadette Soubirous was born in 1844, the first child of an extremely poor miller in the town of Lourdes in southern France. The family was living in the basement of a dilapidated building when on February 11,1858, the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to Bernadette in a cave above the banks of the Gave River near Lourdes. Bernadette, 14 years old, was known as a virtuous girl though a dull student who had not even made her first Holy Communion. In poor health, she had suffered from asthma from an early age. There were 18 appearances in all, the final one occurring on the feast of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, July 16. Although Bernadette's initial reports provoked scepticism, her daily visions of "the Lady" brought great crowds of the curious. The Lady, Bernadette explained, had instructed her to have a chapel built on the spot of the visions. There the people were to come to wash in and drink of the water of the spring that had welled up from the very spot St Bernadette Soubirous

where Bernadette had been instructed to dig. According to Bernadette, the Lady of her visions was a girl of 16 or 17 who wore a white robe with a blue sash. Yellow roses covered her feet, a large rosary was on her right arm. In the vision on March 25 she told Bernadette, "I am the Immaculate Conception." It was only when the words were explained to her that Bernadette came to realize who the Lady was. Few visions have ever undergone the scrutiny that these appearances of the Immaculate Virgin were subject to. Lourdes became one of the most popular Marian shrines in the world, attracting millions of visitors. Miracles were reported at the shrine and in the waters of the spring. After thorough investigation Church authorities confirmed the authenticity of the apparitions in 1862. During her life Bernadette suffered much. She was hounded by the public as well as by civic officials until at last she was protected in a convent of nuns. Five years later she petitioned to enter the sisters of Notre Dame. After a period of illness she was able to make the journey from Lourdes and enter the novitiate. But within four months of her arrival she was given the last rites of the Church and allowed to profess her vows. She recovered enough to become infirmarian and then sacristan, but chronic health problems persisted. She died on April 16, 1879, at the age of 35. She was canonized in 1933. (AmericanCatholic.org)

Scripture today: Ezechiel 37:21-28; (Psalm:) Jeremiah 31;10, 11-12abcd, 13; John 11: 45-56

Therefore many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what Jesus did, put their faith in him. But some of them went Shroud of Turin

to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. Then the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin. What are we accomplishing? they asked. Here is this man performing many miraculous signs. If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation. Then one of them, named Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, spoke up, You know nothing at all! You do not realise that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish. He did not say this on his own, but as high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the Jewish nation, and not only for that nation but also for the scattered children of God, to bring them together and make them one. So from that day on they plotted to take his life. Therefore Jesus no longer moved about publicly among the Jews. Instead he withdrew to a region near the desert, to a village called Ephraim, where he stayed with his disciples. When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, many went up from the country to Jerusalem for their ceremonial cleansing before the Passover. They kept looking for Jesus, and as they stood in the temple area they asked one another, What do you think? Isn't he coming to the Feast at all? (John 11:45-56)

The useful The raising of Lazarus from the dead was a sensation, happening virtually at the doorway to the holy City. The word had for some time been out that Jesus was to be arrested. We read in the Gospel of St John that those openly supporting Jesus would be denied entry to the Synagogue. The parents of the man born blind, for instance, feared this decision of the Jewish authorities (John 9: 22). But the leaders could never find an opportunity to lay hands on our Lord, for the populace would not have tolerated it. Once Fr. Ted Tyler

they sent the Temple guard to arrest him as he was teaching in the Temple, and even the guard returned saying that they simply could not bring themselves to do it. On another occasion the leaders had tried to stone him, but he escaped. Then suddenly Jerusalem was full of the news — Jesus of Nazareth was in the vicinity of the City and had spectacularly raised a dead man. At the call of Jesus, the man had instantly walked from the tomb after being there in death for four days. Doubtlessly the corruption of the body had begun, as the man’s sister (Martha) had warned (John 11:39), yet the power of Jesus’ word was irresistible. It was a crisis of sorts, and the supreme council was convened. Some way had to be found to deal decisively with him, for his religious sway was great. Let us notice now how their hostile intent was, we might say, rationalized away into a seemingly upright resolve. The nation is in danger, some of them began to say. The Romans will hear there is a movement of sedition, that a popular leader is arising to take the reins, and that he has a great following behind him. Tolerant as Rome was of the religions of the peoples subject to them, including that of the difficult Jews, nevertheless they would brook no political sedition. “If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.” It was plainly a pretext, and when Pilate was importuned to execute Jesus, he himself saw that what was driving the religious leaders was nothing other than envy. But the high priest took the ruse up and made it his own. It was an example of blatant utilitarianism.

Broadly speaking, when a person makes what is useful the criterion of his deliberate action, he is being utilitarian. Generally, the utilitarian theory of moral choice states that if something is of use in promoting the happiness of oneself, or of others, or of the greatest number of people, it is morally legitimate to chose that thing. On the face of it, this notion has much to be said for it because who could doubt the moral value of the happiness of man? So, what serves the happiness of man is good — is it not? This is not the moment to critique the utilitarian theory of morality. Apart from anything, it is entirely dependent on what the subject happens to think constitutes happiness. Most importantly, however, theoretically it refuses to allow that some things are absolutely and essentially wrong, whatever be the circumstances and whatever be the goals in mind. Our Gospel narrative (John 11:45-56) is a case in point. We are speaking of the all-holy Jesus, whom the people counted as a great prophet, whose miraculous works and high teaching were unparalleled in the memory of the nation at large. St John the Baptist spoke of One who was coming whose sandals he was not worthy to untie, and this Man he had identified as being Jesus. The leaders in Jerusalem were simply intent on his elimination. It was a bad, bad state of mind into which they had sunk, and they had done so with absolute resolution. This was the goal, and they were searching for pretexts useful to their purpose. The so-called “happiness” of the nation justified, in their own eyes, their plan for a terrible deed. They were rationalizing away the blood that would be on their hands, changing its colour from dark red to pure white. They were deadening their consciences, allaying the protests of the soul and leaving all within in a state of deadly silence. Thus they culpably convinced themselves that they were doing a good thing because it would ensure the “happiness” of all. As the high priest said, “You know nothing at all! You do not realise that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish.” In his moral darkness, little did he know how true, in a heavenly sense, his words were.

Let us largely forget about doing what will ensure our “happiness,” and concern ourselves with doing what is right. This will bring our happiness. Let us beware of looking to what is the most useful thing to do, and concern ourselves with doing what God wants. The friendship of Jesus Christ is our greatest happiness. It is what God has made us for, and there is one route to the friendship of Jesus Christ — it is doing what he has commanded. If you love me, you will keep my commandments, he said. Let us make the love of Christ and his divine will for us our top priority, and all else will fall into its due place.

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Don’t look for consolations apart from God. See what that priest wrote: There should be no unburdening of your heart to any other friend when there is no need to do so.

Prayers Today: Six days before the solemn Passover the Lord came to Jerusalem, and children waving palm branches ran out to welcome him. They loudly praised the Lord: Hosanna in the highest. Blessed are you who have come to us so rich in love and mercy.

Almighty and ever living God, you have given the human race Jesus Christ our Saviour as a model of humility. He fulfilled your will by becoming man and giving his life on the cross. Help us to bear witness to you by following his example of suffering and make us worthy to share in his resurrection. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ your Son in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever.

Benedict Joseph Labre was truly eccentric, one of God's special little ones. Born in France and the eldest of 18 children, he studied under his uncle, a parish priest. Because of poor health and a lack of suitable academic preparation he was unsuccessful in his attempts to enter the religious life. Then, at 16 years of age, a profound change took place. Benedict lost his desire to study and gave up all thoughts of the priesthood, much to the consternation of his relatives. He became a pilgrim, travelling from one great shrine to another, living off alms. He wore the rags of a beggar and shared his food with the poor. Filled with the love of God and neighbour, Benedict had special devotion to the Blessed Mother and to the Blessed Sacrament. In Rome, where he lived in the Colosseum for a time, he was called "the poor man of the Forty Hours Devotion" and "the beggar of Rome." The people accepted his ragged appearance better than he did. His excuse to himself was that "our comfort is not in this world." On the last day of his life, April 16, 1783, Benedict Joseph dragged himself to a church in Rome and prayed there for two hours before he collapsed, dying peacefully in a nearby house. Immediately after his death the people proclaimed him a saint. He was officially proclaimed a saint by Pope Leo XIII at canonization ceremonies in 1883. (AmericanCatholic.org)

Scripture: Matthew 21:1-11 (Entrance); Isaiah 50:4-7; Psalm 21; Philippians 2: 6-11; Matthew 26:14-27:66

As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, Go to the village ahead Shroud of Turin

of you, and at once you will find a donkey tied there, with her colt by her. Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, tell him that the Lord needs them, and he will send them right away. This took place to fulfil what was spoken through the prophet: Say to the Daughter of Zion,'See, your king comes to you, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.' The disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed them. They brought the donkey and the colt, placed their cloaks on them, and Jesus sat on them. A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted, Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest! When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, Who is this? The crowds answered, This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee. (Matthew 21:1-11)

The greatest week On Palm Sunday the Church commemorates the entry of Jesus into the final and greatest week of his life, the week he was born for, the week during which he would fulfil his mission to save the world. The Scriptures foretold that the Messiah would come Fr. Ted Tyler

in acclaim — and on this day he entered the Holy City as the Messiah and King, acclaimed as such by his disciples and many of the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Yet within a mere week it would be all over. He would be secretly arrested, tried, condemned, and ignominiously put to a very public and shameful death. As he entered the City riding calmly, seriously, with eyes steadily on the City, he knew that this was to be his course. By this means he would take away the sin of the world and open the gates of heaven to fallen man. Here was the greatest man in all of history doing the greatest thing that has ever been done. He was launching God’s kingdom, and doing so by submitting to death. That kingdom would entail making disciples of all the nations. Christ’s entry to Jerusalem at the acclaim of disciples and followers raises the question of what it is to be a true disciple. True discipleship turns on whether the disciple is ready to follow Christ not only as he makes his way into the City as the prophet had foretold, but whether he is ready to follow Christ through the rest of the week and above all back out of the City to the Place of the Skull, Golgotha. The prophets foretold not just the acclaim, but the Cross and the Resurrection as being necessary for entry into glory. Such was the light that Jesus threw on the true meaning of the Scriptures. They foretold him as the Suffering Servant. He is their true interpretation. In the event, there were two groups of disciples who followed him out of the City to Calvary at the end of the week. The first consisted of Mary his mother and some of the women, together with John. They stood near the cross as he suffered and died. The rest had fled, saving Simon Peter who followed from afar, while denying him when challenged. This is a picture of the situation age after age. There are two groups of followers, those who accept the cross and follow Jesus closely, and those who turn from it or who follow him from afar. The choice for Jesus hinges around acceptance of the cross.

If it were to be asked, who are they who wish to be Christ’s close friends? I am sure that we would all put up our hands — and this is certainly a start. If we were not to have such an aspiration, it would a sign of moral decay. But we must ask, what does being our Lord’s close friend involve? It means, as our Lord points out elsewhere in the Gospel, sitting down and calculating the cost. The cost is to accompany him along the road to Calvary, and to share with Mary her commitment of love. On the hill of Calvary, a sword went through her very soul. In this, she is the first and greatest disciple. It is with our eyes on Golgotha that we must answer the question about being Christ’s special friend. It entails sharing his cross with him. With this as the prospect, how many of us still will put up our hands? It is this which takes a person to sanctity. Let us pray during Holy Week for the grace to do this. We must steep ourselves in the Passion of our Lord and learn to know our Lord and his teaching from that perspective. We must fall in love with our Lord along that route. Simon of Cyrene was converted while assisting our Lord to carry his cross. The Good Thief, as he is called, became a disciple of Jesus Christ and was saved by him while dying on his own cross nearby. Let us put time into meditating on our Lord on the Cross, in union with Mary. Holy Week, beginning with Palm Sunday, offers us the chance to begin to do this. Let us contemplate our Lord’s Passion this week and come to know our Lord more intimately. Being a true disciple and a member of the Kingdom means loving Jesus Christ and following him closely. It means accepting the cross that comes our way in the course of the life that God has marked out for us in his providence. The Cross will manifest itself to us in our daily responsibilities and work in life. It means being ready to accept and even choose small mortifications, especially those which the Church asks that we perform, such as the making of every Friday a day of penance. It means being faithful. The world regards suffering as something to be avoided at all costs, but our Lord made it the most fruitful of choices, if chosen in him. Christ has transformed it, provided it is endured for love of God and in fulfilment of his will.

Everything hinges on becoming a true disciple. We must be more faithful to Christ than those who shouted in acclaim as he entered the City. We must be among those who accompanied him to Golgotha — not as observers but as sharers in his mission of obedience and suffering for the redemption of mankind. Let us resolve to learn from the Passion and Death of Jesus Christ, and open our hearts to the grace of true discipleship. The true goal of life is not to be a cheer leader when things are going well for Jesus, but to be one who is resolved to share in his sufferings so as to share in his resurrection. We must become disciples of Christ Crucified. Let us ask for that grace this week.

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Prayers today: Defend me, Lord, from all my foes: take up your arms and come swiftly to my aid for you have the power to save me. (Ps 34:1-2; 139: 8)

All-powerful God, by the suffering and death of your Son, strengthen and protect us in our weakness. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,

James of Oldo was born in 1364, into a well-to-do family near Milan. He married a woman who, like him, appreciated the comforts that came with wealth. But an outbreak of plague drove James, his wife and their three children out of their home and into the countryside. Despite those precautions, two of his daughters died from the plague, James determined to use whatever time he had left to build up treasures in heaven and to build God’s realm on earth. He and his wife became Secular Franciscans. James gave up his old lifestyle and did penance for his sins. He cared for a sick priest, who taught him Latin. Upon the death of his wife, James himself became a priest. His house was transformed into a chapel where small groups of people, many of them fellow Secular Franciscans, came for prayer and support. James focused on caring for the sick and for prisoners of war. He died in 1404 after contracting a disease from one of his patients. James Oldo was beatified in 1933. (AmericanCatholic.org)

Six days before the Passover, Jesus arrived at Bethany, where Lazarus lived, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. Here a dinner Shroud of Turin

was given in Jesus' honour. Martha served, while Lazarus was among those reclining at the table with him. Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus' feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. But one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was later to betray him, objected, Why wasn't this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year's wages. He did not say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief; as keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it. Leave her alone, Jesus replied. It was intended that she should save this perfume for the day of my burial. You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me. Meanwhile a large crowd of Jews found out that Jesus was there and came, not only because of him but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. So the chief priests made plans to kill Lazarus as well, for on account of him many of the Jews were going over to Jesus and putting their faith in him. (John 12: 1-11)

Christ first The highest continental concentration of Catholics, and perhaps of Christians, is in South America. It is a continent of vast differences and widespread poverty. It is therefore no surprise that in the 1960s there arose there a theological movement inspired by the plight of the poor. It took its name from one of the movement’s most famous books, written by the Peruvian priest Gustavo Gutiérrez, A Theology of Liberation. Liberation theology arose principally as a moral reaction to the poverty caused by social Fr. Ted Tyler

injustice in that region, and for some twenty years it had widespread influence, well beyond, in fact, the very continent. This influence began to diminish when the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in 1984 and 1986 issued a formal admonition. Cardinal Ratzinger, the head of this Congregation, writing on his own authority as a private theologian, also published radical critiques of it. The strength of Liberation Theology was that it took very seriously the plight of the poor and attempted to provide a thoroughgoing theology to support a Christian response to it. No Christian could possibly fault an earnest endeavour to alleviate human misery, for it is at the centre of Christ’s revelation. However, it did have many theological limitations, and one (among others) was that the centrality of Christ, his redemption of us from personal sin, and the priority of love for him were somewhat obscured. What mattered was the liberation of the poor from their oppression. This is not the moment to discuss Liberation Theology, but I refer to it in order to introduce the events of our Gospel today. Our Lord had recently caused a sensation in the vicinity of Jerusalem. He had raised Lazarus from the grave after four days in death. It had been done in the presence of a crowd, at a loud command, and instantaneously. Just as he had raised the dead man at Nain at a mere word, and had done the same with the daughter of the Synagogue official, so he had ordered Lazarus to come forth from the tomb. Without a moment’s delay, Lazarus, all bound in his cloths, had done so. That was the context, and a dinner is being held in our Lord’s honour by Lazarus and his two sisters.

Suddenly and quietly, Mary the sister of Lazarus enters the dining room with her hands clutching a container of most expensive perfume — we are told it was pure nard, and a pound of it (John 12: 1-11). Spikenard is a flowering plant that grows in the Himalayas of China, also found growing in the northern region of India and Nepal. The plant grows to about 1 m in height and has pink, bell-shaped flowers. Its products can be crushed and distilled into an intensely aromatic amber-coloured oil, which is very thick in consistency. Nard oil is used as a perfume, an incense, a sedative, and an herbal medicine. Nard was used to perfume the body of Patroklos by Achilles in Book 18 of Homer's Iliad. It also seems to have been offered on the incense altar at certain times in the eras of the First and Second Jerusalem Temples. The point here is that it was a famous perfume, and very expensive. The brother and two sisters had this in the house — who knows, it may have been purchased and used somewhat for Lazarus when he died several days before our scene. In any case, Mary takes the initiative of bringing it into the presence of Jesus, opening it, and pouring it out liberally on Jesus’ feet. Perhaps she used all of it, and the house was filled with the aroma. There she was, pouring it on to the feet of Jesus, and wiping his feet with her hair. It was a gesture of the most profound gratitude, praise, acknowledgement and veneration. In her sight, there was no-one like Jesus of Nazareth, their Friend and their Lord. We may say her act was a symbol of all those acts of religion involving thanks, praise and adoration. Religion, if it is to be true, will come to the aid of widows in distress as St James writes, but this is not the sum total of religion. I referred to Liberation Theology — and at the time of its heyday it gave the impression to many that the principal activity of religion was the liberation of the poor from their oppression. But no. The principal activity of religion is the humble acknowledgment of God. Of course, this will mean doing God’s will, which includes the service of neighbour. But God and Christ are at the centre of religion, and Mary’s act is emblematic of this.

Judas Iscariot, chosen by Christ to be one of his special companions, is entirely out of sympathy with such a gesture, and this is because he is entirely out of sympathy with Jesus Christ himself. What should have been done, he says, is to have sold the perfume thus wasted and used the proceeds to alleviate the poor from their plight. How like so many other responses down through the centuries to our own day! Let us place the person of Jesus Christ at the forefront of our religion. He is the true object of our heart. Let us not miss the wood for the trees. The first thing is to love God with all our heart. The second is like it — to love our neighbour as ourself.

Our life a gift to Jesus Jesus and his disciples are dining in the home of Lazarus, Martha and Mary. John tells us elsewhere that they were close friends of Jesus — and this itself is revealing. None of these three were called to the ordained ministry as were the Twelve, who were to be his companions and to share in his ministry. Nevertheless they were Jesus’ close friends. All members of the Church, all of Christ’s faithful, are called to holiness, a holiness that consists in authentic friendship with the Lord. Here in our scene we have a beautiful expression of this friendship and veneration for Jesus. Not only do they entertain Jesus with the dinner, Lazarus being at table with Jesus, Martha serving. Mary brings in a pound of very costly ointment, pure nard, and anoints the feet of Jesus, wiping them with her hair. It is an expression of friendship and profound feeling for Jesus. In this ointment, they were pouring out their hearts and their lives.

Let us make our lives like that nard, an offering poured out as a gift for Jesus, a scent that will be pleasing to God. Let us make all our prayers, the prayer that ought pervade our lives, together with our work and service of God and neighbour, like that costly ointment: a gift to Jesus.

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Don’t confine yourself to speaking to the Paraclete. Listen to him as well. When you pray, consider how the life of childhood which enabled you to realise more deeply that you are a son of God filled you with a filial love for the Father. Think how, before that, you have gone through Mary to Jesus, whom you adore as his friend, as his brother, as his lover for that is what you are. After receiving this advice you realised that until now you had known that the Holy Spirit was dwelling in your soul, to sanctify it. But you hadn’t really grasped this truth about his presence. You needed that advice. Now you feel his Love within you, and you want to talk to him, to be his friend, to confide in him. You want to facilitate his work of polishing, uprooting, and enkindling. I wouldn’t know how to set about it, you thought. Listen to him, I insist. He will give you strength. He will do everything, if you so want. And you do want! Pray to him: Divine Guest, Master, Light, Guide, Love, may I make you truly welcome inside me and listen to the lessons you teach me. Make me burn with eagerness for you, make me follow you and love you.

Prayers today: False witnesses have stood up against me, and my enemies threaten violence; Lord, do not surrender me into their power! (Ps 26:12)

Father, may we receive your forgiveness and mercy as we celebrate the passion and death of the Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Luchesio and his wife Buonadonna wanted to follow St. Francis as a married couple. Thus they set in motion the Secular Franciscan Order. Luchesio and Buonadonna lived in Poggibonzi where he was a greedy merchant. Meeting Francis — probably in 1213 — changed his life. He began to perform many works of charity. At first Buonadonna was not as enthusiastic about giving so much away as Luchesio was. One day after complaining that he was giving everything to strangers, Buonadonna answered the door only to find someone else needing help. Luchesio asked her to give the poor man some bread. She frowned but went to the pantry anyway. There she discovered more bread than had been there the last time she looked. She soon became as zealous for a poor and simple life as Luchesio was. They sold the business, farmed enough land to provide for their needs and distributed the rest to the poor. In the 13th century some couples, by mutual consent and with the Church’s permission, separated so that the husband could join a monastery (or a group such as Francis began) and his wife could go to a cloister. Conrad of Piacenza and his wife did just that. This choice existed for childless couples or for those whose children had already grown up. Luchesio and Buonadonna wanted another alternative, a way of sharing in religious life, but outside the cloister. To meet this desire, Francis set up the Secular Franciscan Order. Francis wrote a simple Rule for the Third Order (Secular Franciscans) at first; Pope Honorius III approved a more formally worded Rule in 1221. The charity of Luchesio drew the poor to him, and, like many other saints, he and Buonadonna seemed never to lack the resources to help these people. One day Luchesio was carrying a crippled man he had found on the road. A frivolous young man came up and asked, "What poor devil is that you are carrying there on your back?" "I am carrying my Lord Jesus Christ," responded Luchesio. The young man immediately begged Luchesio’s pardon. Luchesio and Buonadonna both died on April 28, 1260. He was beatified in 1273. Local tradition referred to Buonadonna as "blessed" though the title was not given officially. (AmericanCatholic.org)

After he had said this, Jesus was troubled in spirit and testified, I tell you the truth, one of you is going to betray me. His disciples stared at one another, at a loss to know which of them he meant. One of them, the disciple whom Jesus loved, was reclining next to Shroud of Turin

him. Simon Peter motioned to this disciple and said, Ask him which one he means. Leaning back against Jesus, he asked him, Lord, who is it? Jesus answered, It is the one to whom I will give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in the dish. Then, dipping the piece of bread, he gave it to Judas Iscariot, son of Simon. As soon as Judas took the bread, Satan entered into him. What you are about to do, do quickly, Jesus told him, but no-one at the meal understood why Jesus said this to him. Since Judas had charge of the money, some thought Jesus was telling him to buy what was needed for the Feast, or to give something to the poor. As soon as Judas had taken the bread, he went out. And it was night. When he was gone, Jesus said, Now is the Son of Man glorified and God is glorified in him. If God is glorified in him, God will glorify the Son in himself, and will glorify him at once. My children, I will be with you only a little longer. You will look for me, and just as I told the Jews, so I tell you now: Where I am going, you cannot come. Simon Peter asked him, Lord, where are you going? Jesus replied, Where I am going, you cannot follow now, but you will follow later. Peter asked, Lord, why can't I follow you now? I will lay down my life for you. Then Jesus answered, Will you really lay down your life for me? I tell you the truth, before the cock crows, you will disown me three times! (John 13:21-33.36-38)

Our accessible God To a very great extent our appreciation of the Christ of the Gospels will depend on our appreciation of God. God is so often referred to in literature and human discourse that one wonders whether, because of the constant and casual reference to him, in effect his name is often taken in vain. By that I mean that we may easily refer to God with nothing like the reverence we should. We can never gain an adequate idea of the all-holy, transcendent and sovereign God, but we must strive to gain some idea of Fr. Ted Tyler

him — if we are to enter into relations with him and also to appreciate Jesus Christ. God! A simple three-letter word, denoting the unlimited Being on whom all else constantly depends. God is the greatest marvel for the mind of man, and yet we so easily disregard and even slight him. But the next marvel is that this one God became man. Pure, limitless Being took to himself a limited human nature, and there we had a man walking the earth who was God. The text of St John’s Gospel would suggest that John the Baptist had a knowledge of this in some sense. He declares that he saw the Spirit descending on him, and that he has borne witness that Jesus is the Son of God (John 1: 34). It is plain that John the evangelist means to say that the Baptist knew that Jesus was divine. How awesome is this fact! To think that people were mixing freely with the God of all things, visible and invisible! No wonder that John the Baptist once said that he was not worthy to undo his sandal-straps. In our Gospel today our Lord, the divine Son of the Living God, was dining with his disciples at the momentous Last Supper. Consider the familiarity with which John the Evangelist, the youngest of the Apostolic band, treated our Lord (John 13:21-33.36-38). He simply bent back from where he was reclining at table, leant his head on Jesus’ breast, and posed his question that was meant to pierce the terrible news just announced. Lord, who is it? Our Lord accepted the confidence, and gave his own by revealing to John the identity of the betrayer. It was the first time he had done this — but my point here is that John’s confidence shows the extraordinary accessibility that characterised God the Son.

His accessibility is also shown by the betrayal. For months upon months Christ perceived the descent of Judas Iscariot. We have no idea when Judas began to be seriously disaffected with Jesus Christ. He must have begun enthusiastically and with great promise: Christ chose him out of his disciples to be his formal companion and sharer in his ministry. He had begun well and like the others could have become a great saint. But by the time of Christ’s announcement of the doctrine of the Eucharist in the Synagogue of Capernaum, Judas was, in Christ’s words, a “devil” (John 6:70-71). But the way Christ said this, and the way he continued to treat Judas, meant that no-one ever suspected that Judas was turning away from Jesus. Judas, it seems, did not accept the doctrine of the Eucharist. Simon Peter professed faith in our Lord as the Messiah and Son of God. Judas did not believe this. We do have a record of one rebuke that Christ gave to Judas, but it was not severe — and nothing of the severity with which our Lord rebuked Simon for trying to dissuade him from the Cross. That occasion was Judas’ criticism of Mary the sister of Lazarus for anointing the feet of Christ with the precious nard. All along, Christ allowed him full membership in the Apostolic body. He never withdrew his precious gift. Judas had constant, easy and immediate access to our Lord despite the mounting sin in his heart. Jesus, son of God and promised Messiah, was accessible to the best and to the worst. Let us also remember that while our Lord lashed the guilty scribes and Pharisees for their hypocrisy and other sins, he did nothing of this with Judas. Judas continued to receive Christ’s smile and his share of the life of the Apostolic band, all this despite the profound offence that his sin-laden and unrepentant heart constituted in the sight of Jesus Christ. There would have been no doubt as to Christ’s knowledge of Judas’s heart — we read in John 2:25 that no-one needed to tell him about anyone. He knew what was in the heart of man. The point is that in Christ, God was amazingly accessible to all.

Let us preserve and nourish in our hearts a profound sense of the wonder and marvel of Jesus Christ, utterly human, and fully divine. He is God with us, our Brother and our Redeemer. He is ineffably above us, yet ever so near and entirely accessible. He loves being with sinners, provided they want to be rid of their sin and reconciled to him. Let us be one with John the Evangelist as he leans back to place his head on the breast of Jesus, and let us shun with horror anything that may incline us in the direction of Judas — which is to say, deliberate sin.

Betrayal of Jesus The story of Judas is a great mystery, a profound tragedy. He was especially chosen by our Lord to be one of the Twelve, to be one of his special companions and to share in his personal salvific mission. Before selecting the Twelve our Lord spent the whole night in prayer to God, and then he made his selection. He must have loved Judas, and Judas must have showed much promise. Our Lord made no mistakes, but Judas betrayed him. He enjoyed the friendship of Christ, but came to prefer other things. What sadness must have come over our Lord as he saw how badly Judas was turning out! At our baptism, our Lord chose each one of us to be his close friend, and to share in his mission in some particular way. We were chosen for this, St Paul writes, before the foundation of the world. But it is possible for each of us to turn out badly. St Teresa of Avila was shown her place in hell if she was unfaithful.

What sadness we will cause our Lord and the Holy Spirit if we make little effort to grow in an ardent friendship with our Lord. Let us make a firm choice for Jesus and for his path — which will mean the cross. Let us renew that choice daily. So then, now I begin!
(E.J.Tyler)

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To draw closer to God, to fly all the way to God, you need the strong and generous wings of Prayer and Expiation.

Prayers today: At the name of Jesus every knee must bend, in heaven, on earth and under the earth; Christ became obedient for us even to death, dying on the cross. Therefore, to the glory of God the Father: Jesus Christ is Lord. (Phil 2:10, 8, 11)

Father, in your plan of salvation your Son Jesus Christ accepted the cross and freed us from the power of the enemy. May we come to share the glory of his resurrection, for he lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Conrad spent most of his life as porter in Altoetting, Bavaria, letting people into the friary and indirectly encouraging them to let God into their lives. His parents, Bartholomew and Gertrude Birndorfer, lived near Parzham, Bavaria. In those days this region was St Conrad of Parzsham

recovering from the Napoleonic wars. A lover of solitary prayer and a peacemaker as a young man, Conrad joined the Capuchins as a brother. He made his profession in 1852 and was assigned to the friary in Altoetting. That city’s shrine to Mary was very popular; at the nearby Capuchin friary there was a lot of work for the porter, a job Conrad held for 41 years. At first some of the other friars were jealous that such a young friar held this important job. Conrad’s patience and holy life overcame their doubts. As porter he dealt with many people, obtaining many of the friary supplies and generously providing for the poor who came to the door. He treated them all with the courtesy Francis expected of his followers. Conrad’s helpfulness was sometimes unnerving. Once Father Vincent, seeking quiet to prepare a sermon, went up the belltower of the church. Conrad tracked him down when someone wanting to go to confession specifically requested Father Vincent. Conrad also developed a special rapport with the children of the area. He enthusiastically promoted the Seraphic Work of Charity, which aided neglected children. Conrad spent hours in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament. He regularly asked the Blessed Mother to intercede for him and for the many people he included in his prayers. The ever-patient Conrad was canonized in 1934. (AmericanCatholic.org)

One of the Twelve — the one called Judas Iscariot — went to the chief priests and asked, What are you willing to give me if I hand Shroud of Turin

him over to you? So they counted out for him thirty silver coins. From then on Judas watched for an opportunity to hand him over. On the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the disciples came to Jesus and asked, Where do you want us to make preparations for you to eat the Passover? He replied, Go into the city to a certain man and tell him, 'The Teacher says: My appointed time is near. I am going to celebrate the Passover with my disciples at your house.' So the disciples did as Jesus had directed them and prepared the Passover. When evening came, Jesus was reclining at the table with the Twelve. And while they were eating, he said, I tell you the truth, one of you will betray me. They were very sad and began to say to him one after the other, Surely not I, Lord? Jesus replied, The one who has dipped his hand into the bowl with me will betray me. The Son of Man will go just as it is written about him. But woe to that man who betrays the Son of Man! It would be better for him if he had not been born. Then Judas, the one who would betray him, said, Surely not I, Rabbi? Jesus answered, Yes, it is you. (Matthew 26:14-25)

Christ’s forbearance One of the very fascinating things about the period of the public ministry of Jesus Christ was his knowledge of the complete turn of heart of Judas Iscariot. Quite frequently we read and see news of the latest penetration and arrest of conspirators in a country. It might be some crime syndicate, some international child pornography ring, or some spy agency working undercover in a country. It could be a terrorist cell. A military man is discovered to have been secretly collaborating with the enemy, and he is subsequently judged guilty of a capital offence. In the view of the host country, what these people are doing constitutes a betrayal. They are secretly planning harm to the country from within its own haven, while enjoying its privileges. The investigating agency may have been alerted to the suspicious activities of a person in one or other of these groups. An Internet agency notices unusual activity in a certain quarter and alerts the police. They then secretly pursue and exercise surveillance, and when all is clear and certain, swoop with an arrest. The point is that there is no tolerance for conspiracy or betrayal. This applies to whatever side is involved. A mafia organization will not tolerate secret collaboration with the police by one of its number. The sale of state secrets to the enemy by an insider is viewed by the government and by society with the utmost severity. Would a friendship continue, and the enjoyment of mutual company, if it is discovered by one of the parties that the other is disloyal in some concrete sense — not just once, but continuously? No, and this is because that disloyalty is a kind of betrayal. As a matter of fact, the betrayal of good people is one of the most despicable of crimes. Years after Kim Philby escaped to Moscow after having been discovered to be a secret spy for Russia against his homeland, Britain, he wrote from Moscow to his old acquaintance, Oxford’s Hugh Trevor-Roper (1914-2003). I remember Trevor-Roper announcing that he would not reply to Philby because of his despicable betrayal. The strangest betrayal in all history is that of Judas Iscariot. He was chosen to be one of Christ’s major friends and collaborators, but secretly turned his back on this and became a conspirator against Christ.

Let us not here think so much of Judas, as of Jesus Christ in the face of this. We read in the Gospel of St John — and the point is made early in the Gospel — that when Christ was in Jerusalem (following the wedding feast of Cana and his move to Capernaum) many believed in him because of the signs he performed. But “Jesus would not trust himself to them because he knew them all. He needed no one to advise him about human nature. He himself knew what was in man” (John 2: 23-25). Christ could read the hearts of men instantly. At his first meeting with Nathanael, he described him as a true Israelite, having no guile. When James and John asked Jesus for the special favour of places at his right and left in his kingdom, he said these were not his to grant. More important was the question whether they could drink his cup. Yes, we can, they replied. Christ immediately concurred — yes, you shall drink my cup! He read their hearts, doubtlessly there and then gave them the grace, and knew they would in due course die for him and the Gospel. But though Christ read hearts, people still had free will and could disappoint him. When the rich young man asked him what he needed to do to inherit eternal life, our Lord told him that he must keep the commandments. I have always kept these, he replied. At this, Jesus looked on him and loved him. He read his heart and saw much goodness and promise there. He thereupon invited him to become his close companion — If you wish to be perfect, go, sell all and give to the poor, and come back and follow me. But this promising young man went away sad. He refused because of his attachment to his wealth. Christ had also read the heart of Judas. On that great day when he came down the mountain and selected from his disciples the Twelve, he selected Judas. Judas had a wondrous vocation, and he responded to the call by entering Christ’s company and taking part in his work as one of the Twelve. But what do we see? In chapter 6 of John’s Gospel, our Lord announces the doctrine of the Eucharist, many of our Lord’s disciples leave him, and our Lord says that one of the very Twelve was a devil. He was referring to Judas Iscariot.

No one of the Twelve had the slightest inkling of the profound change of heart of Judas, let alone that he had entered into an arrangement with Christ’s enemies to hand him over. But Christ knew this. He did not expose him, did not quietly or publicly throw him out. He did not punish him. He waited, doubtlessly showing kindness, not taking back the gift of his friendship and his call, and all the while endeavouring to save the soul of his chosen one who was turning out so very badly. Judas is the tragedy of the ages. He will be always knows as the betrayer. But Christ gave him time, an extraordinary amount of time, to repent. In Christ we have revealed the merciful forbearance and patience of God. God is forbearing and patient, but we must repent. Let us not be like Judas, whether in big things or small. Let us not betray God by deliberate unrepented sin.

Sin is a personal offence “They paid him thirty silver pieces and from that moment he looked for an opportunity to betray him.” So Judas deliberately looked out for the chance to betray Jesus. We have to regard this, then, as a deliberate, premeditated mortal sin. To commit a mortal sin, there has to be full awareness and full consent in respect to the commission of an objectively most serious sin. Our Lord said during the Last Supper that the Scriptures have to be fulfilled, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed. It would have been better had that man not been born. Let us ask for the grace of a horror for all deliberate sin. And in respect to mortal sin, of course, we ought be prepared to die rather than to commit it. Indeed, in respect to any deliberate venial sin, we must try absolutely to avoid it. We must learn to look on all sin as a personal offence against a living person, the person of Jesus who is God.

Sin is a betrayal of friendship. Mortal sin is a serious betrayal of Jesus. It likens a person’s action to that of Judas. It saddens the heart of Jesus, and saddens the Holy Spirit. It calls for a profound repentance. Thinking of the sin of Judas, let us renounce sin and resolve to be faithful to Jesus in everything.

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To avoid routine in your vocal prayers try to say them with the same ardour with which a person who has just fallen in love speaks ... and as it were the last chance you had to approach Our Lord.

Prayers today: We should glory in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, for he is our salvation, our life and our resurrection; through him we are saved and made free. (see Gal 6:14)

God our Father, we are gathered here to share in the supper which your only Son left to his Church to reveal his love. He gave it to us when he was about to die and commanded us to celebrate it as the new and eternal sacrifice. We pray that in this eucharist we may find the fullness of love and life. Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,

Indifferent toward religion as a young man, Anselm became one of the Church's greatest theologians and leaders. He received the title "Father of Scholasticism" for his attempt to analyse and illumine the truths of faith through the aid of reason. At 15, Anselm wanted to enter a monastery, but was refused acceptance because of his father's opposition. Twelve years later, after careless disinterest in religion and years of worldly living, he finally fulfilled his desire to be a monk. He entered the monastery of Bec in Normandy, three years later was elected prior and 15 years later was unanimously chosen abbot. Considered an original and independent thinker, Anselm was admired for his patience, gentleness and teaching skill. Under his leadership, the abbey of Bec became a monastic school, influential in philosophical and theological studies. During these years, at the community's request, Anselm began publishing his theological works, comparable to those of St. Augustine. His best-known work is the book Cur Deus Homo ("Why God Became Man"). At 60, against his will, Anselm was appointed archbishop of Canterbury in 1093. His appointment was opposed at first by England's King William Rufus and later accepted. Rufus persistently refused to cooperate with efforts to reform the Church. Anselm finally went into voluntary exile until Rufus died in 1100. He was then recalled to England by Rufus's brother and successor, Henry I. Disagreeing fearlessly with Henry over the king's insistence on investing England's bishops, Anselm spent another three years in exile in Rome. His care and concern extended to the very poorest people; he opposed the slave trade. Anselm obtained from the national council at Westminster the passage of a resolution prohibiting the sale of human beings. "No one will have any other desire in heaven than what God wills; and the desire of one will be the desire of all; and the desire of all and of each one will also be the desire of God" (St. Anselm, Letter 112). (AmericanCatholic.org)

Scripture today: Exodus 12: 1-8.11-14; Psalm 115; 1 Corinthians 11: 23-26; John 13: 1-15

It was just before the Passover Feast. Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love. The evening meal was being served, and the Shroud of Turin

devil had already prompted Judas Iscariot, son of Simon, to betray Jesus. Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel round his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples' feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped round him. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, Lord, are you going to wash my feet? Jesus replied, You do not realise now what I am doing, but later you will understand. No, said Peter, you shall never wash my feet. Jesus answered, Unless I wash you, you have no part with me. Then, Lord, Simon Peter replied, not just my feet but my hands and my head as well! Jesus answered, A person who has had a bath needs only to wash his feet; his whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you. For he knew who was going to betray him, and that was why he said not every one was clean. When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. Do you understand what I have done for you? he asked them. You call me 'Teacher' and 'Lord', and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another's feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. (John 13: 1-15)

The ordained Priesthood The Gospel of Holy Thursday marks a special moment in the Church’s year because it celebrates an altogether special moment in our Lord’s life. ‘It was before the festival of the Passover, and Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to pass from this world to the Father.’ The next day he would freely, and through the power of the Holy Spirit, offer up his life to achieve its redemptive purpose. St John the Baptist revealed that purpose when he pointed to our Lord and said, ‘Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.’ This would be done by means of his sacrifice of himself on the cross on behalf of all mankind. By means of this sacrifice, expressing as it did Christ’s perfect obedience, the Father would be honoured and glorified perfectly. The offence to God arising from the world’s disobedience would be atoned for by Christ’s perfect obedience. It would then remain to make this sacrifice and its abundant fruits present in the life of every individual down through the ages, and this would be the work of the Church, with Christ as her head, the Holy Spirit as her soul. Thus would holiness be established where sin had prevailed. On the night of Holy Thursday the Church celebrates the principal means our Lord provided whereby the redemption from sin and the grace that sanctifies would be brought to each person in history. That principal means, apart from Baptism, was the Eucharist and the ministerial priesthood. At the Last Supper Christ instituted the holy Eucharist which is the summit and the source of the Christian life, and together with the Eucharist, the ordained ministerial priesthood which brings the Eucharist to the Church and the world. He also designated his first priests and commanded them to do this in memory of him. St John tells us that Jesus got up from table and proceeded to wash the feet of his disciples. This cleansing action was a symbol of the humble service he expects of all his disciples. But it was also a symbol of what Jesus had come to do for the world. He had come to cleanse the world of its sin. And this cleansing is essential. As our Lord tells St Peter, “If I do not wash you, you can have nothing in common with me.” We must be cleansed of sin and sanctified.

This cleansing of man in history Christ does especially, though not exclusively, in the ministry of his priests, in their preaching of his Word, in their celebration of the Mass, in their forgiving of sins, in their anointing of the sick, and in their ministry of the sacraments. Christ washes our feet every time we approach the Sacrament of Penance, every time we participate in Mass and receive Holy Communion, every time a seriously ill person receives the sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick. The priesthood and its spiritual powers is one of the distinctive features of the Catholic Church. A Catholic who loves his Faith reveres and loves the priesthood. By and large the ordained priesthood was rejected by the new Churches of the Reformation nearly five hundred years ago. Accordingly, the greatest loss undergone by the Protestant churches was that of the ordained ministerial priesthood and with it the Eucharist that Christ had instituted. The Protestant churches maintained that the share in the priesthood of Christ possessed by the ordained priest is not essentially different from that possessed by the rest of the faithful. Holy Orders was not the Sacrament the Catholic Church taught it to be. This was part of their repudiation of the Catholic doctrine of the Eucharist, Penance and the Anointing of the Sick — Sacraments that require the ordained priest. This Protestant teaching was explicitly condemned by the Council of Trent, which taught that the ministerial priesthood, that is, the priesthood of the Catholic priest, is an essentially different kind of share in Christ’s priesthood than that possessed by the faithful. The priest, by the power of Christ, makes the sacrifice of Calvary present at Mass and cleanses sinners of their sins in the sacrament of Penance. In general through his preaching and the sacraments, he makes Christ, the Head and High Priest of mankind, present in the life of the church. By his ordination the priest is made a mediator between God and man because he is made another Christ. He is empowered to assist all the faithful to become in their measure, but of course in an essentially different way, other Christs too.

For this reason every properly formed Catholic reveres the priesthood and knows that through the priest the faithful gain access to God and his life. On the night of Holy Thursday we think of Christ’s institution of the priesthood and of its essential role in the life and holiness of the Church. Let us ask God to give us a deep love of the priesthood, and that he will grant to each priest the grace to serve the faithful fruitfully. Let us all resolve to make abundant use of the ministry of priests and to instil into our children a sense of the unique importance of the priesthood, so that they too will all their lives avail themselves of the ministry of priests. More still, let us pray that many young people will aspire to become priests themselves.

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If you feel proud to be a son of Our Lady, ask yourself: How often do I express my devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary during the day, from morning to night?

Prayers today: Lord, by shedding his blood for us, your Son, Jesus Christ, established the paschal mystery. In your goodness, make us holy and watch over us always. We ask this through Christ our Lord.

Lord, by the suffering of Christ your Son you have saved us all from the death we inherited from sinful Adam. By the law of nature we have borne the likeness of his manhood. May the sanctifying power of grace help us to put on the likeness of our Lord in heaven, who lives and reigns for ever and ever.

Opposition to the Good News of Jesus did not discourage Adalbert, who is now remembered with great honour in the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary and Germany. Born to a noble family in Bohemia, he received part of his education from St. Adalbert of Magdeburg. At the age of 27 he was chosen as bishop of Prague. Those who resisted his program of clerical reform forced him into exile eight years later. In time, the people of Prague requested his return as their bishop. Within a short time, however, he was exiled again after excommunicating those who violated the right of sanctuary by dragging a woman accused of adultery from a church and murdering her. After a short ministry in Hungary, he went to preach the Good News to people living near the Baltic Sea. He and two companions were martyred by pagan priests in that region. Adalbert's body was immediately ransomed and buried in Gniezno cathedral (Poland). In the mid-11th century his relics were moved to St. Vitus Cathedral in Prague. (AmericanCatholic.org)

Scripture today: Isaiah 52:13-53:12; Hebrews 4:14-16; 5:7-9; John 18:1-19:42

Pilate said to them, "Shall I crucify your king?" The chief priests answered, "We have no king but Caesar." Then he handed him over to them to be crucified. So they took Jesus, and, carrying the cross himself, he went out to what is called the Place of the Skull, in Hebrew, Golgotha. There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, with Jesus in the middle. Pilate also had an inscription written and put on the cross. It read, "Jesus the Nazarene, the King of the Jews." Now many of the Jews read this inscription, because the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city; and it was written in Hebrew, Latin, and Greek. So the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, "Do not write 'The King of the Jews,' but that he said, 'I am the King of the Jews'." Pilate answered, "What I have written, I have written." (Part of John 19:15-22)

With Christ in suffering I once knew a person who had lived a fairly successful life as the world would regard it, but, sadly, with very little love for God. Suddenly he went down with a stroke, and for the last few weeks of his life he was in constant physical agony, and in tremendous anguish at his utter helplessness. All peace of mind left him, his life had crashed, and he could not understand why all this had engulfed him. His final days were for him an abyss of misery and hopeless struggle. His death with its unhappiness had all the appearance (to both himself and others) of being a tragic end to what seemed an otherwise fairly successful life. Many years ago there lived a famous psychiatrist, by the name of Victor Frankl, who was intrigued at how some people retain peace of mind and heart amid great deprivation and suffering. Others, such as the person I have just described, are virtually destroyed by it. Frankl asked, what did the former have that the latter did not? The answer was the possession of a sense of meaning in things — meaning gave purpose and shed light in the darkness. Human experience, literature and philosophy all bear testimony to the fact that one of the greatest problems for man is that he suffers, and at times indescribably. From a natural point of view, suffering appears as the great blot over the whole of life and creation. It seems to have no use, making life pointless. Of course, suffering and evil are indeed a great blot on everything. God did not mean things to be thus at the beginning. This we know from revelation — God has told us so. He has also told us that the biggest hand in this matter, the cause of the terrible mess that man is in, and of the evil and the suffering that is so prevalent, was and is man himself. Man caused it by sinning, by disobeying God both in the beginning and now. The result is that so much of the life of man is taken up with the work of avoiding suffering and evil.

Much of the purpose and structure of the religions of man is designed to relieve and rid man of his suffering. For instance, it was an important goal of the Buddha’s life to find the answer to suffering — in the sense of discovering the way out of it. Buddhism has this as a principal aim. God’s answer to man’s question about the mystery of suffering comes in the example, the teaching and the person of Christ. It is this — that Christ actually chose to suffer in the doing of his Father’s will. He chose to suffer with sufferings which no human being could possibly imagine adequately. I freely lay down my life, and I freely take it up again, he said. He suffered in atonement for all the sins of the whole world, all mankind. We read that “they took Jesus, and, carrying the cross himself, he went out to what is called the Place of the Skull, in Hebrew, Golgotha. There they crucified him” (John 18:1—19:42). It is commonly recognised by religious people that sufferings are often punishment for sins. Well, this was certainly the case with Jesus Christ, with this difference that the sins for which he suffered were not his own. Christ suffered in our stead. Christ loved me, St Paul said, and gave himself up for me. He, the sinless one, was afflicted with suffering for our sake. We see in the Gospel account of his Passion and Death — especially, say, in St John — that he was not engulfed by his sufferings as someone lost in a great sea. He suffered indescribably, but he was ever the victor, turning his sufferings into the greatest of means for the achievement of his work. And this is what suffering can be for the Christian, for the one who follows Jesus. Our Lord said that the mark of his disciple is to accept sufferings after the manner of the Master. “If anyone wishes to be a disciple of mine, he must take up his cross every day and follow me.” So it is that obedient suffering is now the greatest means of following Jesus. Just as it was the great means whereby Jesus our Lord conquered the power of sin and brought sanctity to the world, so in like manner to suffer in union with Christ will be for the Christian the greatest means of overcoming the power of sin and of growing in sanctity.

To suffer with Christ and in Christ is the path to goodness. It will, moreover, be the source of doing good for others. We win blessings for others by suffering in union with Jesus. Let us learn from the Passion and the Death of Jesus how to live and how to die, but also how to suffer, and how to make our sufferings the means of our sanctification. We do it by abandoning ourselves in suffering to God’s will and offering up to him all the sufferings he allows for us.

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That friend was saying to himself: Apart from other reasons, there are two good reasons why I should make reparation to my Immaculate Mother every Saturday and on the eve of her feasts. The second is that on Sundays and on feasts of Our Lady (which are often local feasts), instead of dedicating such days to prayer, so many people spend them offending Our Jesus with public sins and scandalous crimes — you have only to look around you and see. The first reason is that, perhaps due to the devil’s influence, those of us who want to be good sons are not taking proper care of the way we live these days dedicated to Our Lord and to his Mother. You’ll realise that unfortunately these reasons are still very valid. And so we too should make reparation.

If Mary Magdalene was the victim of misunderstanding, George is the object of a vast amount of imagination. There is every reason to believe that he was a real martyr who suffered at Lydda in Palestine, probably before the time of Constantine. The Church adheres to his memory, but not to the legends surrounding his life. That he was willing to pay the supreme price to follow Christ is what the Church believes. And it is enough. The story of George's slaying the dragon, rescuing the king's daughter and converting Libya is a twelfth-century Italian fable. George was a favourite patron saint of crusaders, as well as of Eastern soldiers in earlier times. He is a patron saint of England, Portugal, Germany, Aragon, Catalonia, Genoa and Venice. (AmericanCatholic.org)

(After Jesus had died) Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jews. With Pilate's permission, he came and took the body away. He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds. Taking Jesus' body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen. This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs. At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no-one had ever been laid. Because it was the Jewish day of Preparation and since the tomb was near by, they laid Jesus there. (John 19: 38-42)

Christ in death To say the very least, when we situate the Christian religion among the vast number of religions the world has seen, its doctrines are strikingly different. Firstly — and prescinding from the religion of Mahomet who himself was profoundly influenced by Judaism and Christianity — there is the unusual doctrine of one God. The usual doctrine is that there are many gods, even though a case can be made for thinking that some polytheist religious systems are in fact monotheist. I have seen it argued that despite its many gods, Hinduism is really monotheist. Similarly, despite the numerous gods of African traditional religion, that in very many cases it too is really monotheist. Whatever about such debates — and these positions are debatable — there is no debate about the monotheism of the Judaeo-Christian revelation. Of course, with this being granted, the Christian religion then separates from Judaism in stating that in Christ, God has revealed that while he is one Being, he is three Persons. The one divine Being is three divine Persons, each of whom is that one divine Being. This is an amazing doctrine, and I would maintain that it is beyond all possibility (apart from the very certainty of its having been revealed) that such a doctrine could be humanly devised, one able to withstand the intellectual examination of believers of the highest talent and goodness over the past two thousand years. But then there is a third stunning doctrine. It is that the second divine Person became man. There walked the earth one who was truly and in every way (except for sin) a man, and who was at the same time the living God. The one, infinite God on whom everything continually depended for its being, could be seen, spoken to, heard, touched. He could be one’s friend, and indeed, he wanted to be one’s friend — the friend of all. He spoke, laughed, he had a certain accent in his Aramaic speech, he walked with a certain gait, he spoke Greek and probably Latin with the accent of an Aramaic speaker, he had a certain build and certain features characteristic of his ancestry and race. He had a certain degree of physical strength — in other words he was a man. This was the living God. His Self was divine, and he had taken manhood to himself, so that he was both man and God.

The next remarkable thing about all this was that God had come to redeem man from sin. Who cares about sin? Over the course of human history vast numbers have not cared a straw about sin, but God has revealed that it is precisely sin which has brought so much suffering and evil to the world, and that it is sin which takes man to an eternal death. Man must become immensely concerned about sin and avoid it — but of himself he can’t. He certainly can’t take it away. He is in its power and grip. He needs a Redeemer — and that is what God in his goodness decided to become. He came as our Redeemer. But look at how he did this job! He freely allowed himself to be submerged in obedient suffering. When Julius Caesar was captured by Cilician pirates, he paid his ransom, returned and captured nearly all of them and had them crucified, just as he had told them he would. But Jesus Christ, the living God become man, did not do this. He allowed himself to be reviled, slandered, openly opposed, nearly stoned, nearly thrown down a cliff, eventually arrested, condemned as a blasphemer, struck, punched, slapped, scourged, crowned with thorns, dragged outside the City, and finally crucified between two criminals. This was the way God chose to redeem the world. Why was all this “necessary”? Our Lord said that it was “necessary” that he suffer and thus enter his glory. While we have been told that this was the way of redemption, we have not been told why it had to be so. Today we think of the lifeless, blood-stained and beaten body of Jesus Christ the Son of the living God, Redeemer of man and second divine Person, lying in death in the tomb near Golgotha. The living Soul of Jesus has descended to the realm of the dead, to those numerous just souls awaiting the Passover their Redeemer would accomplish in Jerusalem. By his Passion and Death he has won the victory, and he was now among them to announce the opening of the Gates on high. Imagine the meeting of Jesus with his foster-father Joseph, his meeting with Abraham, Moses, David, the prophets and all those holy souls such as Simeon, Anna, Elizabeth, Zechariah, John the Baptist. It was a day of rejoicing among those who, like the poor man Lazarus of our Lord’s parable, were in the arms of Abraham. Soon they would all be with Christ in Paradise, as would the Good Thief who had died with him at Calvary.

There lies the body of Jesus Christ in the tomb. Soon, early on the morrow, Christ will rise body and soul glorious to meet his stunned and ecstatic disciples, and from there he would ascend to his heavenly Father, the work of Redemption now done. Let us in spirit stand at the door of the tomb, the stone still closed behind us. We watch in reverence at the figure of the sacred body of Christ, covered with the shroud. All is still. Consternation reigns among the demons for they know something terrible is afoot. The Kingdom of God has come, and soon it will be present in power.

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I have always understood Christian prayer as being a loving conversation with Jesus, which shouldn’t be interrupted even in moments when we are physically far from the Tabernacle, because our whole life is a serenade of human love for our God ... and we can love always.

Prayers at Vigil: Almighty and eternal God, you created all things in wonderful beauty and order. Help us now to perceive how still more wonderful is the new creation by which in the fullness of time you redeemed your people through the sacrifice of our Passover, Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns for ever and ever.

Lord God, the creation of man was a wonderful work, his redemption still more wonderful. May we persevere in right reason against all that entices to sin and so attain to everlasting joy. We ask this through Christ our Lord.

If a poor man needed some clothing, Fidelis would often give the man the clothes right off his back. Complete generosity to others characterized this saint's life. Born in 1577, Mark Rey (Fidelis was his religious name) became a lawyer who constantly upheld the St Fidelis

causes of the poor and oppressed people. Nicknamed "the poor man's lawyer," Fidelis soon grew disgusted with the corruption and injustice he saw among his colleagues. He left his law career to become a priest, joining his brother George as a member of the Capuchin Order. His wealth was divided between needy seminarians and the poor. As a follower of Francis, Fidelis continued his devotion to the weak and needy. Once, during a severe epidemic in a city where he was guardian of a friary, Fidelis cared for and cured many sick soldiers. He was appointed head of a group of Capuchins sent to preach against the Calvinists and Zwinglians in Switzerland. Almost certain violence threatened. Those who observed the mission felt that success was more attributable to the prayer of Fidelis during the night than to his sermons and instructions. He was accused of opposing the peasants' national aspirations for independence from Austria. While he was preaching at Seewis, to which he had gone against the advice of his friends, a gun was fired at him, but he escaped unharmed. A Protestant offered to shelter Fidelis, but he declined, saying his life was in God's hands. On the road back, he was set upon by a group of armed men and killed. He was canonized in 1746. Fifteen years later, the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith, which was established in 1622, recognized him as its first martyr. (AmericanCatholic.org)

Scripture for Vigil Mass: Genesis 1:1-2:2 or 1:1, 26-31a; Psalm 104:1-2, 5-6, 10, 12, 13-14, 24, 35; Genesis 22:1-18 or 22:1-2, 9a, 10-13, 15-18; Psalm16:5, 8, 9-10, 11; Exodus 14:15-15:1; Exodus 15:1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 17-18; Isaiah 54:5-14; Psalm 30:2, 4, 5-6, 11-12, 13; Isaiah 55:1-11; Isaiah 12:2-3, 4, 5-6; Baruch 3:9-15, 32(4:4); Psalm 19:8, 9, 10, 11; Ezechiel 36:16-17a, 18-28; When baptism is celebrated: Psalm 42:3, 5; 43:3, 4; When baptism is not celebrated: Isaiah 12:2-3, 4bcd, 5-6;

Epistle: Rom 6:3-11; Responsorial Psalm 118:1-2, 16-17, 22-23; Gospel: Matthew 28:1-10

After the Sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb. And behold, Shroud of Turin

there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, approached, rolled back the stone, and sat upon it. His appearance was like lightning and his clothing was white as snow. The guards were shaken with fear of him and became like dead men. Then the angel said to the women in reply, “Do not be afraid! I know that you are seeking Jesus the crucified. He is not here, for he has been raised just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples, ‘He has been raised from the dead, and he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him.’ Behold, I have told you.” Then they went away quickly from the tomb, fearful yet overjoyed, and ran to announce this to his disciples. And behold, Jesus met them on their way and greeted them. They approached, embraced his feet, and did him homage. Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.” (Matthew 28:1-10)

The last things The death of the Lord was the greatest moment of his life. He came into the world above all to submit to death, knowing that all mankind would benefit from this step. As a result of his death the gates of heaven are open to us provided we live and die with him. For if we die with him we shall rise with him. That is the message of the Vigil of Easter Sunday. Our Lord constantly carried in his heart the thought of his death, for it was his greatest hour, the Passover he would accomplish in Jerusalem. His work on earth would be accomplished especially then, when he would give himself to his heavenly Father at his death. When it arrived he cried out, “It is accomplished.” Just as our Lord knew that his great hour was always ahead of him, so too we know that our great hour is ahead of each of us. God our Father has drawn a circle around that last hour on our calendar, just as he drew a circle around our Lord’s hour. When that hour comes, there is only one thing that will matter to me: will those gates that I will see ahead of me, be the gates of heaven, or the gates of hell? Did I make it or did I not? That this moment will come, is more certain than that the sun will come up tomorrow morning. What I must do then is make sure that when that hour comes, I am with Jesus. If I go through that hour with Jesus, all will be well. As he rose, so will I. If at that hour I am not with Jesus, if I am alienated from him, I shall be lost forever. Since this is the case, if I have any common sense at all, I will begin right now to make sure that when that great hour comes, it will be the gates of heaven in front of me and not the gates of hell. I must resolve right now to be with Jesus, and then keep with him every day and moment till that hour comes. If I slip away from him, I must repent and regain his grasp. Now, in this job of getting to heaven, I have everything going for me. There is no reason whatsoever why I should not make it, provided I truly want it. This is so because, firstly, God for his part wants me in heaven. That is the only reason why he made me and why he keeps me in existence. That is why he sent his Son to die for me. He loves me and wants to share his home with me.

That’s looking at it simply from God’s side. He wants me there. But then there is this. I may not realize it, but I for my part want to be in heaven. I want to be there with every fibre of my being. My whole being is hungering and thirsting for heaven, even though I may not realize this. St Augustine writes that, “You have made us for Yourself, O God, and we will be ever restless till we rest in You.” And so it is that I will be always restless till I am resting in God. I shall never be perfectly happy until I am resting with God in heaven. Heaven is what I long for. And if, alas, I do not get there, well, our Lord said of the one who betrayed him that it would have been better for that man if he had not been born. If I don’t get there, it will be the greatest possible calamity, the greatest disaster, the greatest catastrophe imaginable. Yes, if I don’t get there, I will never enjoy the face to face vision of Him who is unimaginably good and loving. I will never be with the angels, the saints, my family and friends, I will never be where God intended me to be. Our Lord at the Last Supper said, I go to prepare a place for you so that where I am you may be too. If I do not get there, I shall miss out forever on the place God has prepared for me. Our Lord once said, “What does it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, but lose his own soul?” I shall be lost forever. But if I make it my business, and use the means, I can truly hope to make it to heaven, because God gave me the perfect blueprint for getting there. He gave me the exact directions, and every help I may need. The means to get there is this: I must keep my face, day by day, and every part of each day, turned towards God. I must never turn my face away from God. That is to say, I must never turn around to go in the opposite direction. There is a word for this: it is deadly or mortal sin. To commit a mortal sin is the most stupid thing I can do. There is nothing more disastrous. It is so bad that it would be better to cease to be than to commit a mortal sin. We should be prepared to die rather than commit a mortal sin. I ought resolve never to commit any deliberate sin of any kind. If ever I do, I must immediately repent and start again.

So tonight I must take my stand with Jesus, and renounce sin and Satan. The renewal of our baptismal promises is an essential part of the Easter Vigil. Let us renew our promise to love Jesus, to renounce sin, and to live by the grace of Christ available through prayer and the sacraments. Let us resolve to be with Jesus now, and every day, and at the hour of our death. Let us resolve to pray daily. Let us receive the sacraments of Penance and the Eucharist regularly and with deep piety. Let us strive to fulfil our daily duties and vocation in a way that will please God. Let us listen to the Church our mother and to follow her teachings, knowing that the Church’s teachings are the teachings of Jesus. Let us renew our baptismal promise to live with Jesus, so as to hope to die with him. If we die with him we shall rise with him, and reign with him.

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God’s love for his creatures is so boundless and our response to it should be so great that time ought to stand still when Holy Mass is being said.

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Prayers: The Lord has indeed risen, alleluia. Glory and kingship be his for ever and ever. (Luke 24:34; cf. Revel.1:6)

God our Father, by raising Christ your Son you conquered the power of death and opened for us the way to eternal life. Let our celebration today raise us up and renew our lives by the Spirit that is within us. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ your Son in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever.

Scripture today: Acts 10:34a, 37-43; Psalm 118:1-2, 16-17, 22-23; Colossians 3:1-4 or I Cor 5:6b-8; John 20:1-9

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, “They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we don’t know where they put him.” 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. (John 20:1-9)

The risen Christ, the power of God Perhaps the first thing we think of, when thinking of God, is his power. Man has prayed to God, or to his gods, especially because of his power. He reverences him because of his power. We believe in God the Father almighty. That is to say, He has revealed himself to be almighty. On this day when we celebrate the Resurrection of the Lord, let us think of his Resurrection as displaying God’s power. This same power is at work in our lives enabling us to seek and attain holiness. It is the power of God that gives us our hope in our fight against that other power, which is the Prince of darkness and sin. During Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday the Church relives the Passion and Death of our Lord. St John tells us that when Judas went out during the Last Supper, it was night. The Prince of Darkness had arrived and was summoning his own to join him in his darkness. When the crucified Christ was approaching his death, St John says that darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour. In all of history there was no one with the holiness, the greatness, the moral strength and spiritual beauty of Jesus Christ. In him dwelt the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And there he was dead on the cross, brought to that state by the powers of darkness. And so, gazing on the crucified Christ, dead and then buried, we are shown what the Prince of darkness and the dominion of sin can do. Scripture is full of teaching on the power of sin, but its greatest illustration is the spectacle of the all-holy Christ, dead on the cross. On the one hand, we are born with the God-given desire to be good, really good. It is a law our nature lays down in our minds, that we strive to be good. And yet there is another law within, a law fighting against our desire for goodness, a law which we could never overcome of ourselves. It is the law inclining and directing us to sin. And we see the power of this law of sin manifested in what it did to Christ, Christ dead on the cross, Christ who is holiness personified. We want to be good and holy. But our problem is that we also want to sin, and we tend to want to sin far more than to be good.

How can we be saved from this condition, which takes us down the path to death? We can be saved, and we will be saved if we so choose, by cooperating with the power of God. That power was at work in Christ as he offered himself up as a victim for our sakes in the midst of his sufferings. It was the same power whereby he rose from the dead, and this divine power is far greater than the power of darkness. Our Lord referred to himself as the much stronger man who despoils the strong man guarding his house and possessions. Precisely in the midst of his overwhelming sufferings, the power of Christ was at work accepting and offering up his agony in obedience to the will of his Father. It was by the power of the Holy Spirit that he gave himself up as a victim for the sins of the world. His passion and death were a triumph of obedience, reversing the disobedience of Satan and our first parents. So while the cross of Christ shows the power of sin, it manifests more still the holiness of Christ, which is the power of God. But the greatest manifestation of the power of Christ and the Holy Spirit who always guided him and impelled him on, was his resurrection from the dead. The darkness of death, manifesting the Prince of darkness and sin, was overcome by the Light of the world rising triumphantly in a new life. In Christ was life, and that life was the light of men. Christ’s resurrection, which we celebrate on Easter Sunday, was the power of God breaking the power of sin and death, and showing forth its glory. Let us appreciate more and more the power of God, enabling us to seek and obtain personal holiness. Let us seek to be thoroughly good in mind, heart, word and deed, good with the goodness of the all-holy Jesus. It is the one ambition God asks all of us to have, to seek to be holy. Holiness consists in union with Jesus. How can we do it, considering the obstacles presented by our sinful nature? We do it by means of the power of God at work in Jesus offering himself up on the cross and then rising from the dead.

We call this power his grace. Mary was full of grace. Grace is available to us in the life and ministry of the Church, in her sacraments, in her preaching, and in our personal prayer. Let us resolve this Easter to do all we can to live by the power of God, which is to say, to live in and by his grace. Let us determine to love Jesus with all our heart, to live for him in the generous daily practice of our faith, and to die for him when that great moment comes.

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When the branches are united to the vine they grow to maturity and bear fruit. What then should you and I do? We should get right close to Jesus, through the Bread and through the Word. He is our vine. We should speak affectionate words to him throughout the day. That is what people in love do.

Prayers today: The Lord brought you to a land flowing with milk and honey, so that his law would always be given honour among you, alleluia. (See Ex 13:5, 9)

Father, you give your Church constant growth by adding new members to your family. Help us put into action in our lives the baptism we have received with faith. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, . .

St. Mark Most of what we know about Mark comes directly from the New Testament. He is usually identified with the Mark of Acts 12:12. (When Peter escaped from prison, he went to the home of Mark's mother.) Paul and Barnabas took him along on the first missionary journey, but for some reason Mark returned alone to Jerusalem. It is evident, from Paul's refusal to let Mark accompany him on the second journey despite Barnabas's insistence, that Mark had displeased Paul. Later, Paul asks Mark to visit him in prison so we may assume the trouble did not last long. The oldest and the shortest of the four Gospels, the Gospel of Mark emphasizes Jesus' rejection by humanity while being God's triumphant envoy. Probably written for Gentile converts in Rome — after the death of Peter and Paul sometime between A.D. 60 and 70 — Mark's Gospel is the gradual manifestation of a "scandal": a crucified Messiah. Evidently a friend of Mark (Peter called him "my son"), Peter is only one of the Gospel sources, others being the Church in Jerusalem (Jewish roots) and the Church at Antioch (largely Gentile). Like one other Gospel writer, Luke, Mark was not one of the 12 apostles. We cannot be certain whether he knew Jesus personally. Some scholars feel that the evangelist is speaking of himself when describing the arrest of Jesus in Gethsemane: "Now a young man followed him wearing nothing but a linen cloth about his body. They seized him, but he left the cloth behind and ran off naked" (Mark 14:51-52). Others hold Mark to be the first bishop of Alexandria, Egypt. Venice, famous for the Piazza San Marco, claims Mark as its patron saint; the large basilica there is believed to contain his remains. A winged lion is Mark's symbol. The lion derives from Mark's description of John the Baptist as a "voice of one crying out in the desert" (Mark 1:3), which artists compared to a roaring lion. The wings come from the application of Ezekiel's vision of four winged creatures (Ezekiel, chapter one) to the evangelists. (AmericanCatholic.org)

Scripture today: Acts 2:14, 22-33; Psalm 16:1-2a and 5, 7-11; Matthew 28:8-15

So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them. Greetings, he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshipped him. Then Jesus said to them, Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me. While the women were on their way, some of the guards went into the city and reported to the chief priests everything that had happened. When the chief priests had met with the elders and devised a plan, they gave the soldiers a large sum of money, telling them, You are to say, 'His disciples came during the night and stole him away while we were asleep.' If this report gets to the governor, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble. So the soldiers took the money and did as they were instructed. And this story has been widely circulated among the Jews to this very day. (Matthew 28:8-15)

Go to Galilee! Our passage today is from the Gospel of St Matthew, and there is an intriguing feature of his account of the Resurrection. The Gospels are at one in reporting the encounter of the women with the angels at the empty tomb. Matthew reports it (28:5) as does Mark (16:5) — both featuring but one angel. Luke in 24:4 reports two angels as does John in 20:13. Matthew tells us that the angel informs the women that Jesus has risen and that he goes before the disciples into Galilee where he will see them. On their way to the disciples to tell them this, the risen Jesus himself meets them and we read this in our Gospel today. Christ confirms the words of the Angel: they are to tell the disciples that they are to go to Galilee where they will see him. There is no mention in Matthew of the appearances of Christ to his disciples in Jerusalem. All we read is that “The eleven went away into Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had appointed” (Matthew 28:16). Matthew is not explicitly denying that there were appearances of Jesus to his disciples in Jerusalem, but he chooses not to mention them — though they were very important, as we read in the other Gospels. In Mark’s account there is no mention of Galilee at all. Of course, it has to be remembered that Mark’s account is probably made up of different texts, with a new text appearing (Mark 16:8-9) after the mention by the Angel of the coming meeting in Galilee, and possibly even a third (16:9-20). In these texts the chapter goes on to report on Mary Magdalene, the appearance of Christ to the eleven at the meal in Jerusalem, his giving to them of their commission to preach the Gospel to all, the Ascension and their missionary departure. St Luke reports the appearances of Christ — all in or near Jerusalem — to the two disciples on the way to Emmaus, to Simon (24:34) and to the eleven. It is at this latter meeting in Jerusalem that they are granted to understand the Scriptures and their universal mission. The Holy Spirit is promised, Christ ascends to heaven outside the City, and the disciples return to Jerusalem to await the Holy Spirit. There is no mention of Galilee. In John’s account, apart from the appearance of Christ to one of the women (Mary Magdalene), there is the appearance to the eleven in the Upper Room, the granting of the Holy Spirit and their mission, and the proclamation of Christ’s divinity by Thomas. There at chapter 20 the Gospel would have ended, were it not for what seems to have been a later addition, and it is only then that Christ’s appearance in Galilee occurs (ch.21).

It is intriguing that Matthew is the only one of the Gospels who mentions Galilee — apart from Chapter 21 in St John, and this chapter was probably added by a later compiler or author other than John himself. St Matthew, without denying a commissioning in Jerusalem, chooses to give great solemnity to the event on the mountain in Galilee where Jesus had told them to assemble. We can only speculate on the reason for this emphasis, but I would suggest the following. Matthew has already showed that the chief priests and elders had schemed to have guards assigned to Christ’s tomb so as to forestall any action of the disciples to spirit away the body and begin a rumour of his resurrection. Their man had been successfully crucified, but they remembered very well that while alive he had foretold his own resurrection after three days. Were this notion to get out, the situation would be far worse than before (Matthew 27: 64). But now there was this sudden turn of events — the guards had returned with their story of a miraculous event at the tomb (28:11). So they now schemed again, this time to negate the effects of news from the guards themselves. It bespeaks blindness, wilfulness and a stubborn hostility to the Light on the part of the highest echelons of the chosen people. Matthew, I suggest, in omitting reference to the appearances of Christ in Jerusalem may have been emphasising the consequences of the blindness of the religious rulers in the holy City. They had lost their opportunity. By recording only the reunion in Galilee he shows that a new and in some sense separate beginning is now being made. The Scriptures had been fulfilled, but those formally representing the people had not accepted it. So they were passed over. There was a new beginning, a new convocation on “the mountain,” a new Sinai around the new Moses, a new Church which would be the bearer of the Kingdom to the world. Matthew chooses to show this by describing it being done not in the City but on “the mountain” in Galilee, the region of Christ’s origin and that of most of the eleven — perhaps most of the disciples who witnessed him at this event (28:17). If this was not Matthew’s formal intent, at least we are reminded of it by his method of presentation. We could speculate further on the significance of this happening on “the mountain.” But let us not stray too far from our Gospel text today (Matthew 28:8-15) and in particular from the words of Jesus Christ to the women who are on their way to the disciples. They have nothing to fear. The brothers are to go to Galilee, and there they will see him. A grand new start is to occur.

Let us place ourselves in the presence of the risen Jesus with the women who meet him on the road. He is risen from the dead, and is about to organize his disciples for the greatest thing flowing from his resurrection. It will be the launching of his Church in its mission to bring him to the world. Let us take our stand with the risen Jesus, and cast our lot with him. Let us resolve to believe in him with all our hearts, and to place every day of our lives at his disposal for the one thing necessary: the conquest of the world for God.

Realizing the resurrection of Christ There is an old saying, that familiarity breeds contempt. If we are very familiar with someone, there is the danger that we will take that person for granted and fail to have and show due respect for that person. Our Lord alluded to this when he said that a prophet is honoured except among his own. A danger to our spiritual life is that we will take our Lord and the Faith — what he has revealed — for granted, including the fact that he rose from the dead. Our Gospel passage today says that “filled with awe and great joy the women came quickly away from the tomb and ran to tell the disciples” (Matt 28:8). We too ought be filled with awe and great joy, but this will not be the case if we do not truly realize the reality of Jesus and his resurrection. All too often Jesus and his resurrection is just a thought, a mere image. If we wish to realize his risen reality we must put all our powers of mind, heart, imagination and prayer into appropriating the objective fact of his resurrection. We must make genuine meditation on the resurrection a feature of the entire Easter season. In fact, meditation on the great realities of our faith must be an essential part of our daily Christian life, otherwise we shall simply take things for granted, and fail to realize them.

If this realization fills our hearts and minds, we too will “run” to tell others about it. That is to say, we shall be true apostles of the risen Jesus.

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Love Our Lord very much. Maintain and foster in your soul a sense of urgency to love him better. Love God precisely now when perhaps a good many of those who hold him in their hands do not love him, but rather ill-treat and neglect him. Be sure to take good care of the Lord for me, in the Holy Mass and throughout the whole day.

Prayers today: If men desire wisdom, she will give them the water of knowledge to drink. They will never waver from the truth; they will stand firm for ever, alleluia. (Sir 15:3-4)

Father, by this Easter mystery you touch our lives with the healing power of your love. You have given us the freedom of the sons of God. May we who now celebrate your gift find joy in it for ever in heaven. Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, .

Known as the "St. Francis of the Americas," Pedro de Betancur is the first saint to have worked and died in Guatemala. Pedro very much wanted to become a priest, but God had other plans for the young man born into a poor family on Tenerife in the Canary Islands. Pedro was a shepherd until age 24, when he began to make his way to Guatemala, hoping to connect with a relative engaged in government service there. By the time he reached Havana, he was out of money. After working there to earn more, he got to Guatemala City the following year. When he arrived he was so destitute that he joined the bread line which the Franciscans had established. Soon, Pedro enrolled in the local Jesuit college in hopes of studying for the priesthood. No matter how hard he tried, however, he could not master the material; he withdrew from school. In 1655 he joined the Secular Franciscan Order. Three years later he opened a hospital for the convalescent poor; a shelter for the homeless and a school for the poor soon followed. Not wanting to neglect the rich of Guatemala City, Pedro began walking through their part of town ringing a bell and inviting them to repent. Other men came to share in Pedro's work. Out of this group came the Bethlehemite Congregation, which won papal approval after Pedro's death. A Bethlehemite sisters' community, similarly founded after Pedro's death, was inspired by his life of prayer and compassion. He is sometimes credited with originating the Christmas Eve posadas procession in which people representing Mary and Joseph seek a night's lodging from their neighbours. The custom soon spread to Mexico and other Central American countries. Pedro was beatified in 1980. (AmericanCatholic.org)

Mary stood outside the tomb weeping. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white, seated where Shroud of Turin

Jesus' body had been, one at the head and the other at the feet. They asked her, Woman, why are you weeping? They have taken my Lord away, she said, and I don't know where they have put him. At this, she turned round and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realise that it was Jesus. Woman, he said, why are you weeping? Who is it you are looking for? Thinking he was the gardener, she said, Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him. Jesus said to her, Mary. She turned and cried out in Hebrew, Rabboni! (which means Teacher). Jesus said, Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, 'I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.' Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: I have seen the Lord! And she told them that he had said these things to her. (John 20: 11-18)

It is the truth One of the famous Evangelical writers of the eighteenth century in England was John Newton (1725-1807), the Anglican (Evangelical) author of the well-known hymn, “Amazing Grace.” Newton published the story of his conversion in his Authentic Narrative (1764), which quickly achieved popularity and went through numerous British and American editions and was translated into other languages. Many regarded it as Newton's best work and it made him an international figure within Evangelicalism. It was the story of how — as Newton summarized his life on his tombstone — once an infidel and libertine, he was by the mercy of Christ preserved, restored, pardoned, and appointed to preach the faith he had long laboured to destroy. I have visited Newton’s tomb in the churchyard of Olney, Buckinghamshire, England. His well-known conversion was triggered during a storm at sea in 1748 when two great issues of his conscience finally burst upon him: his many sins deserving of eternal punishment, and the truth of the Gospel. Much could be said of his newly-acquired sense of sin, but what was just as important was that he became utterly convinced of the objective truth of the Gospel. It was the inspired record of real facts. This sense of the objective truth of the Gospels based on objective historical facts is of fundamental importance in the Christian religion. The religions of man are imbued with myth, which is to say, with the story. In the Gospels, the “myth” is objectively true. It really happened, at a certain date, and in a certain place. One of the greatest novels of the twentieth century was The Lord of the Rings, the powerful fantasy written by the Oxford philologist, professor J. R. R. Tolkien. It is said to be the second best-selling novel ever written. Tolkien was profoundly interested in myth. He was a close friend of C.S. Lewis, and was a major influence on his conversion to Christianity — although Lewis embraced Anglicanism rather than Tolkien’s own Catholicism. One of the things which Tolkien taught Lewis was the importance of myth in literature and religion. Importantly, he taught him that, however positive was the role of myth in all religions, the distinctive thing about myth in revealed religion was that its “myth” was true.

This sense of the reality of the Objects of the Christian religion is a key feature in Christian conversions — or it should be. The genuine Christian realizes that the dogma of the one and only God, Creator of heaven and earth, is objectively true. This one God is real. Cardinal Newman taught that it is the conscience that brings this home to people. Whatever be the way one comes to realize that the dogmas of God, Christ, the Incarnation and the Atonement, the divine element in the Church, the Christological meaning of the Sacraments, are all objectively true, it is precisely this which is all-important. We must come to appreciate that Jesus Christ is an objective and living person. The one who possesses all authority in heaven and on earth, the one who died for our sins and rose again to bring us divine life, is real and living. He is a fact, though unseen. If a person understands this, then he has passed an important line. Now, all of this brings us to our Gospel today (John 20: 11-18). Within a day, Good Friday, the foundation of the lives of Christ’s disciples seemed to have been destroyed. Jesus was suddenly gone, snatched from them in a series of sudden and immensely brutal actions. He was no more. At best, the prospects were that he would become a mythical figure, a mythical memory, the stuff of religious legend, a powerful story to be told and retold, an ideal of fantasy rooted in a limited historical setting. Myths of this kind are common — comic books have been written in countless numbers developing the myth of some past figure. Take the myths of Buffalo Bill, Wyatt Earp, Wild Bill Hickok, Ned Kelly, and many other past figures good and bad. There was a past basis to them, but the more the past is looked into, the more the myth deflates. The “story” is not objective — rather it reveals the culture or religion which produced it. But the case of Jesus Christ is radically different, and what made all the difference was his rising from the dead. He lived, he died, but he rose again in the flesh — now, though, glorious. In our Gospel today Mary Magdalene is filled with the sorrowful thought that he is dead. She asks the “gardener” nearby where he might have laid him, for she wishes to take him away. But wonder of wonders! It is the risen Jesus who stands before her and quietly addresses her, Mary!

The news spread, and the same living, tangible, real and objective Jesus met others. He is no mere story, no mere myth. The distinctive thing about the extraordinary story of the Gospel, which is what will be brought to all the nations, is that it is objectively true. The resurrection is an objective fact, and this is what gives to the Christian religion its distinctive character. Especially in this sense is the Christian religion distinctive. Its mysteries, so high, are objective realities, rooted in the objective reality of the risen Jesus. Because he is truly there, all that he has revealed to us is truly out there. It is not just the gradual effusion of the religious yearnings and imaginations of a people or the peoples. It happened, it exists, and what it promises will exist too.

Love for the risen Jesus Our scene today is that of the conversation between Mary Magdalene who had been grieving at the empty tomb of Jesus, and the risen Jesus himself. Mary Magdalene, so full of love for Jesus, is a wonderful model for every Christian. Delivered by our Lord from her demon-possession, she became his ardent follower. On the other hand we have Jesus our Lord, now the victor and Lord of death, unconquerable. Satan had been vanquished. Christ is the Lord of lords, and King of kings, and here he shows himself to be so human, so approachable, so loving: Jesus said, “Mary!” He addresses Mary by name, after playfully asking her why she was weeping. Then he gives her the work of telling the others that he has risen and is on his way to the Father.

Christ addresses each one of us by name too. He knows each of us through and through, and has called us from sin into a life of friendship with him. We are, in our way, in the position of Mary Magdalene. Let us love Jesus with all our heart, and go and tell all the others about him.

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Prayer is the most powerful weapon a Christian has. Prayer makes us effective. Prayer makes us happy. Prayer gives us all the strength we need to fulfil God’s commands. Yes, indeed, your whole life can and should be prayer.

Prayers today: Come, you whom my father has blessed; inherit the kingdom prepared for you since the foundation of the world, alleluia. (Mt 25:34)

God our Father, on this solemn feast you give us the joy of recalling the rising of Christ to new life. May the joy of our annual celebration bring us to the joy of eternal life. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,

Louis's life is inseparable from his efforts to promote genuine devotion to Mary, the mother of Jesus and mother of the Church. Totus St Louis Mary de Montford

tuus (completely yours) was Louis's personal motto; Karol Wojtyla chose it as his episcopal motto. Born in the Breton village of Montfort, close to Rennes (France), as an adult Louis identified himself by the place of his Baptism instead of his family name, Grignion. After being educated by the Jesuits and the Sulpicians, he was ordained as a diocesan priest in 1700. Soon he began preaching parish missions throughout western France. His years of ministering to the poor prompted him to travel and live very simply, sometimes getting him into trouble with Church authorities. In his preaching, which attracted thousands of people back to the faith, Father Louis recommended frequent, even daily, Holy Communion (not the custom then!) and imitation of the Virgin Mary's ongoing acceptance of God's will for her life. Louis founded the Missionaries of the Company of Mary (for priests and brothers) and the Daughters of Wisdom, who cared especially for the sick. His book, True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin, has become a classic explanation of Marian devotion. Louis died in Saint-Laurent-sur-Sèvre, where a basilica has been erected in his honour. He was canonized in 1947. “Mary is the fruitful Virgin, and in all the souls in which she comes to dwell she causes to flourish purity of heart and body, rightness of intention and abundance of good works. Do not imagine that Mary, the most fruitful of creatures who gave birth to a God, remains barren in a faithful soul. It will be she who makes the soul live incessantly for Jesus Christ, and will make Jesus live in the soul” (True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin). (AmericanCatholic.org)

Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. They were talking with each other about everything that had happened. As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them; but they were kept from recognising him. He asked them, What are you discussing together as you walk along? They stood still, their faces downcast. One of them, named Cleopas, asked him, Are you only a visitor to Jerusalem and do not know the things that have happened there in these days? What things? he asked. About Jesus of Nazareth, they replied. He was a Shroud of Turin

prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place. In addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morning but didn't find his body. They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels, who said he was alive. Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but him they did not see. He said to them, How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory? And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself. As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus acted as if he were going further. But they urged him strongly, Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over. So he went in to stay with them. When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognised him, and he disappeared from their sight. They asked each other, Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us? They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together and saying, It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon. Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognised by them when he broke the bread. (Luke 24:13-35)

All are called The event described in our Gospel today from St Luke is briefly referred to in the Gospel of St Mark, which is recognized as the account of Simon Peter’s recollections and preaching. St Mark’s account of the day of the resurrection begins with the encounter of the three women with the angel in the tomb who told them that Jesus had arisen. They were to go and “tell his disciples and Peter that Jesus goes before them to Galilee.” Mary of Magdalene’s meeting with Jesus is mentioned together with her announcement to the disciples that he had risen. Then, we read, “after that he appeared in another form to two of them as they walked out into the country. They went and reported it to the others” (Mark 16:12-13). Our Gospel today is Luke’s detailed description of this appearance to the “two of them as they walked out into the country.” Luke’s account of the resurrection extends over the last fifty-three verses of his Gospel. He describes how the women who came with Jesus from Galilee, who had watched his last hours on the cross and who saw where he had been buried, returned on the first day of the new week — early on the third day following his death. They had their meeting with the two angels, heard their words and went to the eleven to tell them. Two of the women mentioned by Mark are cited by Luke: Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James. Luke adds Johanna as a third woman instead of Salome, who is the third one given in Mark. Luke does say, though, that there were “other women” too, which would include the Salome of Mark. We are then told that Peter ran to the tomb and saw the linen cloths. This is told at length in John, with John adding that he himself was with Peter on this occasion. In today’s Gospel from Luke we have the long description of what is only passingly referred to in Mark — Christ’s meeting with the two disciples who were walking out into the country. It occupies 20 of Luke’s 53 verses given over to the resurrection appearances (24: 13-33). Further, the two who were involved were not members of the Eleven. Indeed, on this point it ought be noticed that Luke gives more than half of his last chapter to Christ’s appearances to disciples who were not among the Eleven. Luke, himself a layman and doctor, perhaps is betraying a special interest in this feature of the resurrection.

Let us take up this point, because it can at times be thought that the advancement of the Gospel is only the work of the ordained or consecrated religious professionals. It can also be thought that they are the only favoured ones in terms of the life of grace. But as I have said, in Luke’s last chapter on the resurrection of Jesus Christ, more than half is given over to the angels’ appearances to the women, and then Christ’s appearance to the two disciples who were not of the Eleven. In fact, Christ spent several hours with these two disciples. There is no record of his spending so much time on the day of his resurrection with any others. We know that he appeared to others, but not as much time was given to them as was given to the two disciples on the way to Emmaus. This privileged pair were not of the Eleven. At least that is how Luke chooses to record it (Luke 24:13-35). Whether or not this stress in Luke was his formal intent, at least the fact reminds us of this point I am making about the average lay disciple of Jesus Christ, the ordinary member of the Church. Just as Christ took special notice not just of the Eleven, but of the women, and then of Cleopas and his friend, so he will take special notice of each and every ordinary member of the Church and, of course, those outside the Church. We are all his close and special friends. He wants to be with each and all of us, and he wishes to spend time with each and all of us, helping us to understand the Scriptures and his teaching, and by his grace enkindling our hearts as he enkindled the hearts of the two disciples on their way to Emmaus. Look at him as he walks in company with the two disciples! He patiently and genially instructs them, dispelling their depression and creating anew in them the ardour of his personal love. He explains to them the meaning of the Scriptures and points to the Eucharist by his action at the table. Let each and every member of the Church understand that the Lord Jesus walks with them on their way through life.

We are all called to love Jesus Christ and to accept him as our Saviour, the Saviour of the world. He has broken the power of sin that bound us, and if we live by his teaching and his grace we shall be led by him through life to our destination. Whoever we are, each of us has a special dignity in his sight. We are children of God by our baptism. He has not called us servants but friends. Let us make him our friend, then, and never do anything that imperils that friendship.

The true path to glory Let us notice something about the conversation going on between the two disciples on their way to Emmaus. They were talking about all that had happened to our Lord in his passion and death. Our Lord had had so much going for him, proving that he was a great prophet by the things he had said and done. But it all had come to nothing. He had been sentenced and put to death. Our Lord joined the two without their knowing who he really was, and proceeded to show from the Scriptures how those very sufferings and that very death were to have been the necessary means for entering into his glory. The glory they thought had so suddenly eluded our Lord, had been attained by means of his suffering and death. But it was an altogether different kind of glory than that which they had hoped for. It was the glory of heaven.

Let us take to heart the pattern our Lord told them was so necessary: suffering in the doing of God’s will is the path to glory. Let us pray for the grace to follow that path daily.
(E.J.Tyler)

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Personal sanctity is not an abstruse theory, but a specific reality, which is both divine and human. And it manifests itself constantly in daily acts of Love.

Prayers today: Your people praised your great victory, O Lord. Wisdom opened the mouth that was dumb, and made the tongues of babies speak, alleluia (Wis 10:20-21)

Father, you gather the nations to praise your name. May all who are reborn in baptism be one in faith and love. Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, . .

Anyone who has worked in loneliness, with great adaptation required and with little apparent success, will find a kindred spirit in Peter Chanel. As a young priest he revived a parish in a "bad" district by the simple method of showing great devotion to the sick. Wanting to be a missionary, he joined the Society of Mary (Marists) at 28. Obediently, he taught in the seminary for five years. Then, as superior of seven Marists, he travelled to Western Oceania where he was entrusted with a vicariate. The bishop accompanying the missionaries left Peter and a brother on Futuna Island in the New Hebrides, promising to return in six months. He was gone five years. Meanwhile, Pedro struggled with this new language and mastered it, making the difficult adjustment to life with whalers, traders and warring natives. Despite little apparent success and severe want, he maintained a serene and gentle spirit and endless patience and courage. A few natives had been baptized, a few more were being instructed. When the chieftain's son asked to be baptized, persecution by the chieftain reached a climax. Father Chanel was clubbed to death, his body cut to pieces. Within two years after his death, the whole island became Catholic and has remained so. Peter Chanel is the first martyr of Oceania and its patron. (AmericanCatholic.org)

Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognised by them when he broke the bread. While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, Peace be with you. They were startled and frightened, Shroud of Turin

thinking they saw a ghost. He said to them, Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds? Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have. When he had said this, he showed them his hands and feet. And while they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement, he asked them, Do you have anything here to eat? They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate it in their presence. He said to them, This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms. Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. He told them, This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. (Luke 24:35-48)

Christ risen In the first book of Samuel we read that after the death of the prophet Samuel, Saul was confronted by vast forces of the Philistines. He completely lost heart and attempted to consult the Lord “whether in dreams or by the Urim or through prophets. So, even though he himself had driven mediums and fortune-tellers out of the land, he resolved to resort to one himself. When still alive Samuel had told Saul that the kingship was taken from him and given to David. So we read (1 Samuel 28:8-25) that Saul disguised himself and with two companions went to the woman of Endor by night. There he directed her, assuring her despite her fears, to call up Samuel. He wished to consult the deceased prophet. She did so, and Samuel rose before her — “I see a preternatural being rising from the earth,” she said. “It is an old man who is rising, clothed in a mantle.” Saul knew it was Samuel, and so he bowed face to the ground in homage. It is the one case in the Scriptures of a ghost being summoned from the abode of the dead, and of that ghost telling a living person what is going to happen to him. Such attempts as this were strictly forbidden in Israel (Deuteronomy 18:11), for it could easily displace the worship of the one God. In the ancient world ancestors were frequently deified. The point here, though, is that the reality of the spirits of the dead was commonly accepted in Judaism. When the witch of Endor saw the figure of the old man rising before her, she had no doubt that it was a ghost. There was nothing about it that was “in the flesh.” When she described the spectre to Saul, he instantly recognized it as a spirit. When Samuel spoke to Saul, he spoke as one on the other side of the grave. Saul had, he complained, disturbed him from his rest. He proceeded to repeat the woe he had pronounced on Saul when still alive. The next day would be Saul’s last. We remember how, when our Lord strode across the swirling Sea of Galilee in the midst of the storm, he was taken by his disciples to be a ghost. There he stood, rising and falling with the Sea, and said to them, Do not be afraid. It is I. As soon as he spoke, they recognized that it was no ghost but Jesus.

There is another feature about the abode of the spirits of the dead — it is not particularly attractive. When Samuel was conjured up, he speaks as one who has been disturbed, but from a place that appears bleak. Nothing much is happening there — it seems like a twilight existence devoid of the full-bodied joys of this life. In our Gospel today (Luke 24:35-48), we read that “the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognised by them when he broke the bread.” This is a reference to the experience, lasting over at least a few hours, which the two had of the risen Jesus on the way to Emmaus. There was no question of their having spoken to a ghost. He was a real and normal man who had joined them on their walk and in their sombre discussion of the events of the past few days. When at table in Emmaus, they finally recognized him — and then he vanished. He was a concrete, living man, come back from the grave in the flesh. This is, as one might say, the “sticking point” in Christian belief. I clearly remember watching a television interview some decades ago with a prominent Australian politician. He was asked if he were a Christian, and he said that inasmuch as the resurrection of Christ is the yardstick of Christian belief, he had to be regarded as a fellow-traveller of Christianity. He did not accept that Christ rose from the dead. Some years back there was controversy even in Catholic circles about the meaning of Christ’s resurrection from the dead. It looked as if some theologians were maintaining that this doctrine was compatible with the proposition that Christ did not rise in his flesh. Despite all the subtleties, distinctions and qualifications, such a position is indeed incompatible with the Christian religion. In our Gospel today, our Lord appears to the Eleven in the room where the doors had been shut for fear of the Jews. The first thing our Lord had to prove to them was that he was not a ghost — that he had risen in the flesh, in his body. “They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost. He said to them, Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds? Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have. When he had said this, he showed them his hands and feet.”

As we contemplate the Gospel scene of today, let us appreciate with renewed clarity the wonderful fact of Christ’s resurrection. He did not simply return to his previous bodily existence prior to his Passion and Death — as had Lazarus prior to his being raised by Christ from the grave at Bethany, as had the young man of the village of Nain, and as had the daughter of the Synagogue official. Christ rose in his flesh, but to glory. If we live in him, and if we die in him, we shall rise with him to glory. Let us take our stand with Jesus, then, and in him seek the glory.

The power of Jesus in our life In the first reading from the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 3:11-26) Peter explains his healing of the man who was lame. He said it was not done by his own power or holiness but by the power of Jesus. Faith in him had restored the man to health. This same power is at work in Jesus still, and we encounter Jesus in the life of the Church or which he is the head. We encounter him in her ministry, in her teaching, and in her sacraments. This power is the power of Jesus who is God, and we call this power his grace. We ought entrust ourselves to Jesus where he truly is, especially in the Church’s ministry of word and sacrament. He came to take away our sins and to sanctify us, and by his grace, his power, this can truly be done. Just as it was by faith in Jesus that the man was restored to health, so it is an active faith in Jesus’ loving power that will bring us to sanctity. We must have faith in it, and cooperate with the grace that makes it possible.

Let us ask God for a deep faith in the active and powerful presence of Jesus in the life of the Church’s ministry of word and sacrament. Let us seek Jesus where he truly is, and open ourselves to his grace.

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The spirit of prayer which fills the entire life of Jesus Christ among men teaches us that all our actions — great or small — ought to be preceded by prayer, accompanied by prayer and followed by prayer.

Prayers today: The Lord led his people out of slavery. He drowned their enemies in the sea, alleluia. (Ps 77:53)

Eternal Father, you gave us the Easter mystery as our covenant of reconciliation. May the new birth we celebrate show its effects in the way we live. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,

The value Catherine makes central in her short life and which sounds clearly and consistently through her experience is complete surrender to Christ. What is most impressive about her is that she learns to view her surrender to her Lord as a goal to be reached St Catherine of Siena

through time. She was the 23rd child of Jacopo and Lapa Benincasa and grew up as an intelligent, cheerful and intensely religious person. Catherine disappointed her mother by cutting off her hair as a protest against being overly encouraged to improve her appearance in order to attract a husband. Her father ordered her to be left in peace and she was given a room of her own for prayer and meditation. She entered the Dominican Third Order at 18 and spent the next three years in seclusion, prayer and austerity. Gradually a group of followers gathered around her—men and women, priests and religious. An active public apostolate grew out of her contemplative life. Her letters, mostly for spiritual instruction and encouragement of her followers, began to take more and more note of public affairs. Opposition and slander resulted from her mixing fearlessly with the world and speaking with the candour and authority of one completely committed to Christ. She was cleared of all charges at the Dominican General Chapter of 1374. Her public influence reached great heights because of her evident holiness, her membership in the Dominican Third Order, and the deep impression she made on the pope. She worked tirelessly for the crusade against the Turks and for peace between Florence and the pope. In 1378, the Great Schism began, splitting the allegiance of Christendom between two, then three, popes and putting even saints on opposing sides. Catherine spent the last two years of her life in Rome, in prayer and pleading on behalf of the cause of Urban VI and the unity of the Church. She offered herself as a victim for the Church in its agony. She died surrounded by her "children."
Catherine ranks high among the mystics and spiritual writers of the Church. In 1939, she and Francis of Assisi were declared co-patrons of Italy. Paul VI named her and Teresa of Avila doctors of the Church in 1970. Her spiritual testament is found in The Dialogue. Catherine's book The Dialogue contains four treatises—her testament of faith to the spiritual world. She wrote, "No one should judge that he has greater perfection because he performs great penances and gives himself in excess to the staying of the body than he who does less, inasmuch as neither virtue nor merit consists therein; for otherwise he would be an evil case, who for some legitimate reason was unable to do actual penance. Merit consists in the virtue of love alone, flavoured with the light of true discretion without which the soul is worth nothing." (AmericanCatholic.org)

Afterwards Jesus appeared again to his disciples, by the Sea of Tiberias. It happened this way: Simon Peter, Thomas (called Didymus), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples were together. I'm going out to fish, Simon Shroud of Turin

Peter told them, and they said, We'll go with you. So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing. Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realise that it was Jesus. He called out to them, Friends, have you caught anything? No, they answered. He said, Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some. When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish. Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, It is the Lord! As soon as Simon Peter heard him say, It is the Lord, he wrapped his outer garment around him (for he had taken it off) and jumped into the water. The other disciples followed in the boat, towing the net full of fish, for they were not far from shore, about a hundred yards. When they landed, they saw a fire of burning coals there with fish on it, and some bread. Jesus said to them, Bring some of the fish you have just caught. Simon Peter climbed aboard and dragged the net ashore. It was full of large fish, but even with so many the net was not torn. Jesus said to them, Come and have breakfast. None of the disciples dared ask him, Who are you? They knew it was the Lord. Jesus came, took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. This was now the third time Jesus appeared to his disciples after he was raised from the dead. (John 21:1-14)

Ever so real It has long been known that some people have an uncanny skill at interpreting features of the personality of the one whose handwriting they have before them. The flow of the lettering, the shape and strength of the script, all contribute to form the profile of the person whose writing it is. That some have such a skill makes sense, just as a set of answers to various questions can indicate a certain personality profile because those answers are set against a norm established by reliable research. It is an instance of what we might call internal evidence. The very document in question (in this case, the handwriting) indicates objective facts of which the document does not formally speak. That is to say, it tells us about the writer, even though there is nothing written about the writer himself. The evidence is internal to the document. A person who is steeped in the writings of William Shakespeare may be able to tell very quickly whether a newly-discovered sonnet was authored by the great bard himself. His evidence would be internal to the sonnet. It is not because he has some evidence external to it, say, a contemporary letter from a different poet that establishes that poet’s authorship. I remember reading of a priest who became a skilled amateur geologist. He was shown a piece of rock by a friend and was able instantly to identify the location of its origin. The rock came from an area on the other side of the country. His evidence for this was internal to the rock. Now, over the past few centuries as religious agnosticism and atheism have gained ground, external evidences for the truth of the Scriptures have been the object of much attention. It is always most interesting when something of this nature is discovered. Probably, though, in the nature of the case, external evidence will always be very limited. I am not sure that any external evidence for the existence of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, David, Elijah, Elisha, Jeremiah, Ezechiel, and John the Baptist has ever been found — in the sense of, say, archaeological inscriptions, or reliable references to them in the literatures of other societies. Most evidence is internal to the documents and texts themselves, the witnesses to the great tradition, their credibility, and so forth.

Now, look at our Gospel passage of today (John 21:1-14). We are speaking of a Man who has risen from the dead! As modern people aware of the power of the religious imagination and its undoubted capacity to project to the external realm what are but internal hopes, we would expect that a story of such a thing would have just a touch of the fairy tale to it. It is so far out of the ordinary that we would assume that it is fantasy. It being fantasy, we would expect that the narrative of it would be like narratives of fantasy. It would betray, in its very account, its fantastic character. Now, something of this issue was at work in our Lord’s own life. He was repeatedly pounded by his enemies, especially the Temple aristocracy of Jerusalem, with the demand for external proof. Give us signs from heaven, they would demand, for your authority! He did give them many signs of this nature, but he also resisted it to a point too. Instead, he insisted that they look to him, to himself. The only sign this generation will be given, he said on one occasion, is the sign of Jonah. For just as Jonah preached to the (pagan) Ninevites and they repented, so will the Son of Man be to this generation. He himself was the “sign” they needed. Our Lord was pointing, we might say, to the abundant internal evidence that was available in him. Look at me, get to know me, and you will have all the evidence you really need to be convinced of my claims. And indeed, the best way of gradually becoming convinced of the truth of Jesus Christ and his claims is to get to know him profoundly as a revered Friend. In the case of our Gospel passage today, look at its character! Jesus is risen from the dead! But the events portrayed have the character of calm and simply ordinariness. It is all so real, so down-to-earth, so simple. Our Lord is there on the shore. He calls out. He gets breakfast ready. There is a conversation between him and Simon. It is what we would expect of real life. We almost forget, as we read, the marvel of Christ’s resurrection from the dead. The disciples themselves, aware that this is Jesus who has died and is now risen from the dead, themselves act towards him as towards a normal, living man — and certainly no ghost. It is all so very real.

Yes, Jesus Christ is very real. One of the most important things in any true conversion to the Christian religion, be it a conversion of someone who is not yet a Christian, or a conversion of someone who is but nominally so, is the appreciation of the very reality of Jesus Christ. He is real, he existed, and he now exists. He was alive, he died, and he lives now. His claims are true. He is God, Man, and our Redeemer. The very reading of the Gospel texts can help give us this realization because there is a sense in which these very texts show forth their own evidence. They have all the signs of truth and reality. Let us steep ourselves in the reading of the Gospels. They help us to know, love and serve Jesus Christ who is our life now and hereafter.

Jesus the only Saviour In the presence of the rulers, the elders, the scribes and the members of the high-priestly families, Peter made an extraordinary statement: that “of all the names in the world given to men this (that is, Jesus) is the only one by which we can be saved.” (Acts 1:12). Peter was facing the leaders of the people who looked to Abraham, Moses and the prophets. Ultimately they recognised God as the only saviour, and here was Peter claiming that only Jesus was the Saviour. The implication to them was, surely, that Jesus was claimed to be God. Peter here was also speaking against the backdrop of Roman rule, and Rome allowed for many gods who could bring help and salvation in various forms. We see in Peter’s statement the beginnings of what would ultimately lead to the fierce and protracted persecution of the Christian church by the Roman empire. Christianity claimed that Jesus was the only Saviour — and that no other ‘god’ could save at all. This great teaching about the absolute uniqueness of Jesus has profound implications for our attitude to the various religions of man and their great founders: Mahomet, Buddha, Confucius, whoever.

Let us then resolve to love Jesus with our whole heart, for he is our God and the only redeemer of man. He lives and saves in and through the Church his body. Let us guard this doctrine and make it our business to bring it in all its purity and starkness to others, as did Peter, whatever be the cost.

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Contemplate and live the Passion of Christ, with Him. Proffer your own shoulders frequently, daily, when he is scourged; offer your own head to be crowned with thorns. Where I come from they say: “Love is repaid with love.”

Prayers today: The Lord led his people to freedom and they shouted with joy and gladness, alleluia. (Ps 104:43)

Father of love, by the outpouring of your grace you increase the number of those who believe in you. Watch over your chosen family. Give undying life to all who have been born again in baptism. Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, . .

This is the pope whose job was to implement the historic Council of Trent. If we think popes had difficulties in implementing Vatican Pope Pius V

Council II, Pius V had even greater problems after that historic council more than four centuries ago. During his papacy (1566-1572), Pius V was faced with the almost overwhelming responsibility of getting a shattered and scattered Church back on its feet. The family of God had been shaken by corruption, by the Reformation, by the constant threat of Turkish invasion and by the bloody bickering of the young nation-states. In 1545 a previous pope convened the Council of Trent in an attempt to deal with all these pressing problems. Off and on over 18 years, the Church Fathers discussed, condemned, affirmed and decided upon a course of action. The Council closed in 1563. Pius V was elected in 1566 and was charged with the task of implementing the sweeping reforms called for by the Council. He ordered the founding of seminaries for the proper training of priests. He published a new missal, a new breviary, a new catechism and established the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine (CCD) classes for the young. Pius zealously enforced legislation against abuses in the Church. He patiently served the sick and the poor by building hospitals, providing food for the hungry and giving money customarily used for the papal banquets to poor Roman converts. His decision to keep wearing his Dominican habit led to the custom of the pope wearing a white cassock. In striving to reform both Church and state, Pius encountered vehement opposition from England's Queen Elizabeth and the Roman Emperor Maximilian II. Problems in France and in the Netherlands also hindered Pius's hopes for a Europe united against the Turks. Only at the last minute was he able to organize a fleet which won a decisive victory in the Gulf of Lepanto, off Greece, on October 7, 1571. Pius's ceaseless papal quest for a renewal of the Church was grounded in his personal life as a Dominican friar. He spent long hours with his God in prayer, fasted rigorously, deprived himself of many customary papal luxuries and faithfully observed the spirit of the Dominican Rule that he had professed. (AmericanCatholic.org)

When Jesus rose early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had driven seven demons. She went and told those who had been with him and who were mourning and weeping. When they heard that Jesus was alive and that she had seen him, they did not believe it. Afterwards Jesus appeared in a different form to two of them while they were walking in the country. These returned and reported it to the rest; but they did not believe them either. Later Jesus appeared to the Eleven as they were eating; he rebuked them for their lack of faith and their hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who had seen him after he had risen. He said to them, Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. (Mark 16:9-15)

The Resurrection accounts As far as I am aware there is no credible account outside of the Judaeo-Christian tradition of a dead person being raised by someone to life and resuming the life that he had before his death. It is occasionally recorded in pre-Christian Judaism. In 1 Kings 18:19 the prophet Elijah takes the dead son of the woman of Zarepath and carries him to the upper room of the house and lays him on his own bed. There he prays to God, stretches himself out on the child three times and calls on the Lord to give the breath of life back to the child. The child revived and Elijah gave him to his mother. In 2 Kings 4: 32-37, Elijah’s successor, the prophet Elisha, likewise lay on the body of a dead child, and placed his mouth on the child’s mouth, his eyes upon the eyes and his hands upon the hands. Gradually the child became warm — and slowly revived. The prophet then gave him back to his mother. In 2 Kings 13:20-21 we read that after the death of Elisha, a dead man was hurriedly placed in the grave of Elisha because of a raiding party. The dead man, in contact with the bones of Elisha, “came back to life and rose to his feet.” Now, of course, none of these instances of persons being brought back to life can compare with the power displayed by Jesus Christ in raising persons from the dead. Our Lord does not pray that God would raise up the dead person. He himself raises the dead person at a word. He shows that he can give life to whomsoever he pleases. Further, Elijah and Elisha never promised to raise themselves from the dead, least of all giving the day when they would do it. Christ said he would rise from the dead on the third day. He had power to lay down his life, and power to take it up again. He repeatedly foretold he would do this, and he did it despite his disciples not expecting it. It ever there has been an exercise of almighty power it is this. But of course it was powerful in other ways too — it opened up the gates of grace and heaven. The greatest event in the history of mankind was Christ raising himself from the dead. It is the climax of each of the four Gospels. This having been said, let us pause to notice the historical and human elements that have gone into the formation of the inspired account of the Resurrection. Let us look at, say, St Mark.

The manuscripts of the Gospel of St Mark are not identical in their presentation of the Resurrection. Two important fourth-century manuscripts simply end after 16:8. Other versions of Mark’s Gospel add a brief ending of some two sentences (verses 9-10) after verse 8. Most include the longer ending from verses 9 to 20. The important thing is what the Church teaches to be part of Scripture and therefore inspired. According to the Council of Trent, the canon of Scripture includes all that is contained in the Vulgate edition, and this embraces all twenty verses of Mark chapter 16. The New Latin Vulgate, replacing St Jerome’s Vulgate, was promulgated by Pope John Paul II. Standard scholarship on the Greek manuscripts, such as that represented by the Nestle and The Greek New Testament, take the last chapter of Mark to be as the Vulgate has it. So then, with it clear in our minds that the whole chapter on the Resurrection is inspired, let us notice the variation in the texts that seem to make up the chapter. The three women arrive at the tomb and discover the great stone rolled back. Entering the tomb the first thing they see is not the empty tomb, but a young man clothed in white. He tells them not to fear. They seek Jesus of Nazareth, but he has risen. See — the body has gone, and it is then that they see that the body has gone. So they have been given notice of the fact before witnessing it. A second message from the young man then follows in verse 7, that they were to tell his disciples and Peter that Jesus is on his way to Galilee before them. They will see him there. Then the women go. There is no further report in the chapter of the promised meeting of Jesus with the disciples in Galilee. In fact, verse 9 seems to represent a new beginning in the account. Earlier in the chapter (verses 1-6, 7-8) we were already told of the arrival of the three women, their meeting with the angel, their discovery of the empty tomb, and their departure for the disciples. We are now told in verse 9 that when Jesus rose he appeared to Mary Magdalene, and she went and told the disciples. There is no mention of Mary the mother of James, and Salome. Then there follow resurrection appearances in the Jerusalem area, the ascension and missionary departure of the infant Church.

My point in outlining some of these textual facts is to hint at the scholarship that has been devoted to the inspired text. But my purpose in doing this is to illustrate the fact that with different hands in the formation of the text being brought to light, we are able to see more clearly the different purposes and emphases of the inspired authors. It means that a new richness in our perception of Jesus Christ is possible. Each authoring hand adds certain colours to the inspired picture of the Saviour that is before us. Let us pray for the light to see what God means us to see of his divine Son, so as to love him the more, to follow him the more, and attain life everlasting.

The Christian life is apostolic There is a long-standing problem in the life of many Catholic Christians. They are often devout — though many are not — and faithful to several religious practices. But many of them have little or no apostolic spirit, despite the insistent teaching on this by the Church and the Popes. But right from the very beginning our Lord made it clear that the love and service of him — in which consists the Christian life — involves being apostolic, which is to say it involves bringing the knowledge and love of Jesus to as many as possible. In our Gospel passage today (Mark 16:9-15) our Lord, having risen from the dead reproached his disciples for their refusal to believe those who had seen him after he had risen. Then he said to them that they were to go to the whole world and proclaim the good news to all creation. He is the good news.

Belief in the risen Jesus is not enough for the true disciple of Jesus. He must be very apostolic as well. As we begin every day our ambition ought be to believe in Jesus totally. But an essential element of this belief must be to bring others to this belief too. This will please God. The Christian life is essentially apostolic. Strangely, too many Christians have never realized this.

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A person in love doesn’t miss the tiniest detail. I have seen it in so many souls. Those little things become something very great: Love!

Liturgical Season	Sun	Mon	Tues	Wed	Thurs	Fri	Sat
Fifth week of Lent A-1							16
Holy Week A-1	17 Palm Sunday	18	19	20	21 Holy Thursday	22 Good Friday	23 Holy Saturday
Octave of Easter A-1	24 Easter Vigil and Easter Sunday	25	26	27	28	29	30