Peter proceeded to speak and said:
“You know what has happened all over Judea,
beginning in Galilee after the baptism
that John preached,
how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth
with the Holy Spirit and power.
He went about doing good
and healing all those oppressed by the devil,
for God was with him.
We are witnesses of all that he did
both in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem.
They put him to death by hanging him on a tree.
This man God raised on the third day and granted that he be visible,
not to all the people, but to us,
the witnesses chosen by God in advance,
who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead.
He commissioned us to preach to the people
and testify that he is the one appointed by God
as judge of the living and the dead.
To him all the prophets bear witness,
that everyone who believes in him
will receive forgiveness of sins through his name.” Acts of the Apostles 10:34, 37-43
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. JN 20:1-9
It’s been a 40 day journey to get to today. If your fasting, prayer, and almsgiving has been anything like mine it has been all over the place. Some days I did great and was inspired and motivated; other days I did terrible. It takes a lot of failing to be successful, but the most important thing I have learned is that fasting, praying, and giving alms makes me spiritually stronger. I have learned that losing makes me stronger. It reminds me to dust myself off and get up again. It made me come back to the foot of the cross and ask Jesus for help. It made me humble. It reminded me of where I came from and where I am going. It reminded me that it is hard to be spiritually strong. It taught me to fight for what is right. It reminded me that I am in control of myself and that God gave me a free will to love Him and others. It reminded me to establish good habits in my life; this makes it easier to control my fallen human nature/desires. Reflecting on the Passion renewed my passion to sin less, be unselfish, and complain less. It helped motivate me to love God with my whole heart, soul, mind, and strength, to love others and myself. I remember that God’s grace is a free gift and I can fight as hard as I can, but only God’s grace will help me do the impossible. Now comes the hard part. What am I going to do now that Lent is over. The easy thing is to go back to my old self, but God has asked us to make stronger resolutions. He wants us to draw closer to Him and use the experience of fasting, prayer, and almsgiving to stay closer to Him.
Good people don’t go to heaven and bad people go to hell. Good people sin and bad people can repent and change their life and be forgiven by God at any time. Jesus taught us that those who believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ by faith (meaning that our human reasoning will take us only so far) will be saved. We must be baptized and repent. Baptism gives us God’s sanctifying grace and takes away Original Sin, repentance is a daily battle overcoming our fallen human nature (desires/concupiscence) fighting the Devil, and loving. We must come to the gifts that Jesus set up while on earth to give us grace and win these battles-the Sacraments. Jesus taught us to pray and pray unceasingly. We cannot worship someone we do not know. We must talk to Jesus and learn from Him at the foot of the cross daily. If we are to be forgiven, we must forgive. It is impossible to be at peace and have joy without forgiveness. We do not stand a chance on judgement day without forgiveness from God, through Jesus Christ, our savior, through our priests. Last, Jesus brought compassion to the stone cold tablets (10 commandments). We must suffer with Him and others. We must be the hands, heart, and feet of Christ in the world today. Jesus said at the Last Supper, “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” JN 13:35 We have no scientific proof that Jesus Christ resurrected. We have 500 witnesses He appeared to after He rose from the dead. There are many stories of what could have happened to His body, but Jesus already told us what we must have if we want to enter into His heavenly glory with Him, we must believe without seeing. We must have faith! Do you really believe? If so, get off the fence and start living your life for Christ!
Today’s challenge: Believe, Never allow the Devil or anyone else to steal your joy-Jesus resurrected and desires nothing else but to have us with Him for eternity. All pain and suffering on earth are nothing but a cough due cold compared to the joy of heaven-Peter Kreeft
Be a servant, Become a saint!
Christian YOLO
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