“Do not be amazed! You seek Jesus of Nazareth, the crucified. He has been raised; he is not here.” MK 16:1-7
Humbly submit your will to God (Thy Will be done) and consecrate yourself to the Sacred Heart of Jesus through Mary.
“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. Our earthly lives and Purgatory is heaven’s kindergarten where we learn how to love and suffer. 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.
I would like to pray for all of those who are entering the Church today. May God’s grace continue to transform you and may you continue to be a light for others.
Today’s Gospel is about the resurrection of Jesus Christ. What a difficult mystery to believe in, but one each Christian must face and answer for themselves. Everything, for Christians, depends on this mystery, it’s a whopper! It gives us our identity which gives us our purpose and mission. All of our actions and the way we live depend on it being true.
Most importantly, it opens the door to a new life, a spiritual realm, a spiritual Kingdom, where the Creator who is love dwells. A place of eternal bliss, no more brokenness, pain, suffering, anxiety, depression, sin, attacking each other, death, war, pandemics, natural disasters, work, loss of a loved one, cancer, but One who brought all of these things upon Himself on the cross so that we may have this new life here on earth (giving purpose to that suffering; sacramental life where His grace freely flows to us if we are open to it) and in heaven (a place of peace, adoration, perfect love).
Is the resurrection of Jesus real or fake, a myth, a fairy tail, or an actual event that took place in Jerusalem, Israel in 33 A.D. We must all decide, love is a decision. God is trying to call his human family together in communion. May we respect Him and take some time to reflect on the resurrection especially at Mass, do some research, find a book about it, but most importantly pray with Him and ask Him, “I believe Lord, help my unbelief”!
It comes down finally to this: if Jesus was not raised from death, Christianity is a fraud and a joke. But if he did rise from death, then Christianity is the fullness of God’s revelation, and Jesus must be the absolute center of our lives. There is no third option. –Bishop Barron
God bless to all of our RCIA and RCIC!
Be a servant, be a saint today!
#Christian YOLO
Today’s challenge: After learning about the resurrection, what is one habit you want to make in your life that you know will bring you into union with God, our heart’s greatest desire? Watch the latest evidence that Jesus rose from the dead by Fr. Robert Spitzer and the Shroud of Turin.
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