“DO NOT BE AFRAID. GO TELL MY BROTHERS TO GO TO GALILEE, AND THERE THEY WILL SEE ME.” MT 28:1-10

Humbly submit your will to God (Thy Will be done) and consecrate yourself to the Sacred Heart of Jesus through Mary.

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, 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.” MT 28:1-10

“The resurrection of Jesus Christ changes the world in 3 fundamental ways”, says Bishop Barron. First, this life is not the final horizon. Our earthly life is a gift of time from God to come to know Him, recognize how much He loves us, love Him back and love others doing His Will, and then return to Him. This life is the pre-game for eternal life. Purgatory is heaven’s kindergarten. We have earthly bodies with a heavenly homeland. Christ came to reveal that the Father is a Spirit. We are made for eternal life in a spiritual kingdom. This is hard for us to wrap our minds around.

Second, “the tyrants rule is over”. There is no human or Devil who has power over God. God’s love is the most powerful thing in the world. Jesus is the King of the Universe. We are nothing without God and His love. We often try to make our self God. We try to boost our ego, always winning because losing would make us look weak, always trying to be right because being wrong would make us look weak, always being successful because failure would make us look weak. Every relationship problem is based on these 3 things: winning, being right, being successful. We ARE WEAK! WE are BROKEN! WE are SINNERS! Christ’s death and resurrection was sufficient enough to please the Father so that there is no longer a barricade in our way to get back to the Father. Swallow your pride, put away your ego, and allow God to love you!

Third, the resurrection gives hope to the hopeless. The power of God’s love reaches all the way to the enemy. Those who beat Him, spit on Him, who don’t deserve His love. It reaches down to the alcoholic, druggy, and even to the murderer. It reaches all the way down to the prostitute and the one who is stuck in the addiction of pornography. It reaches out to all of the prisoners of the world. It reaches out to suffer with all of those who are suffering (all of us). The thing is God doesn’t see us any different, we are all sinners in need of His mercy! He doesn’t need us, we need Him! He just wants to be friends and give us a share of the eternal glory He created for us. Hope, an anchor, the thing that gets us out of bed every day to keep going! Hope during a pandemic! God is here with us!

Most importantly, for these fundamental changes to take place, we have to believe He rose! All of the Apostles and early followers of Christ went to their death preaching Jesus is Lord, not Caesar. The Romans used the cross to scare people and put them to death. Christians wave it today showing that there will be judgment, there is a higher power, and we will die for Christ. Jesus is fully alive and among us now, bring yourself to Him in prayer, the guidance of the Holy Spirit, the sacraments especially the Eucharist, the Scriptures, and all the avenues of grace He has given Himself to us.

Today’s challenge: After learning about the resurrection, what is one change you want to make in your life? Watch the latest evidence that Jesus rose from the dead by Fr. Mike Spitzer and the Shroud of Turin.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=N93T-DppU6U%3Ffeature%3Doembed%26wmode%3Dopaque