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Monday, April 6, 2015

Rolling Our Stone

Christ is Risen!

Jesus has defeated death!

& the Glory of God is revealed to all people of every nation.

It's interesting, Jesus was put away in a tomb behind a rock that was keeping him from Eternal Glory. We all know the story, the rock is rolled away and Jesus is resurrected into heaven, defeated death by death, rose to restore our broken selves and repay the debt that had been due. I like the symbolism of the rock that there is in the story. It's a heaviness, a burden, some kind of distress or discomfort for us and just as Jesus rolled away the stone, we too are called to roll away our stone and remove that burden that is keeping us from a perfect relationship with Christ. What better example do we have than Christ who defeated death by pushing a rock aside. This means Christ is the victor, the winner and greater then any sin, any stress, depression, anxiety, loneliness, weariness, even doubts and fears! Jesus is greater and the message is clear to me, that He can fill those voids with the same spirit that conquered death.

Christ is Risen!

We are called to roll away the stone that keeps us from Christ, we are called to rise up with Christ just as He rose. To die to ourselves, go to mass, do the sacraments, be holy and be people of faith. The joy this Easters, is of course the resurrection of Christ, but also knowing that this resurrection leads to something great, it points us to heaven, a deeper reality of how we each are called to be and how we each are to live. The risen Christ, sends us a message to love as he loved, to die with him and rise with him to take on a new life.

Friday, April 3, 2015

Good Friday: Dying with Christ

Christ in his love for us, gave himself up for the world, so that we might live. He became obedient for us even unto death, death on a cross. By his wounds we are healed and by his rising we can come to know new life in him. Today Jesus is arrested, tried, condemned, scourged, crucified and buried. It's a death that neither of us can imagine. And to think that it was for us, should restore faith in ourselves, confidence, hope and love. Faith that we are loved by the Father, confidence that we won't find content in the world, hope that we can look and seek the Father for help and love that we can share to all. The gospel for today is from Romans 8 when Paul is speaking about dying before we can ultimately rise. For us experiencing this Holy Week, we share in Christ's passion and death, and "If then, we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him." Sharing in this passion and death for me has been a reminder that we are not bound to sin, or bound to fear, worry and shame but born to strength, courage and hope. We die to our old selves, and rise with Christ to take on our new selves. The people and Christians of good faith we are called to be.

So today, we remember not only Christ death so we can live, but also the call for us to die to our own selves. 


Thursday, April 2, 2015

Holy Thursday: a Call to Love

It's easy to forget the message of Jesus in Gospels. With the world today filled with so much hate and violence. Society has created divisions of people that decides if we are worthy of love, worthy of likings, worthy of compassion. All of this, leaves room for rejection and dissatisfaction, which has made a path for a culture of death with abortion, war, violence, and murder. With Jesus, it led to his Crucifixion, all because he wasn't what we wanted him to be. It shows how full of change our humanity is, one day we like this and the next day we don't. It was the same with the King who came into Jerusalm on a donkey with crowds of people proclaiming him as the King, the Son of David who is Blessed. (Matt 21:1-11) 

Today, Holy Thursday is the day that emphasizes a call to return to love, it seems to me like a reminder for love and care for everyone, regardless of class. During the Last Supper, the very first mass, Jesus institutes the Holy Eucharist for us to be in union with Him, Jesus is present in the Eucharist body, blood, soul and divinity and its for us to receive. This alone is a declaration of Christs' love for us. It is a call to compassion, peace and unity with all people from every nation. Saint John Paul II said, "The Eucharist is the sacrament of the presence of Christ, who gives Himself to us because he loves us." John in his gospel, writes about this love. Jesus, the Son of Man starts washing the very feet of his disciples, these guys have been walking for days. Jesus in his love for our humanity, not only became man, but became lesser than man by kneeling down to wash the feet of his apostles. (John 13:3-5) The message is to care for those we meet each day, serve the people, be there for them, don't hurt, don't kill with our words, instead of violence show peace, instead of hate show compassion. Jesus not only sets the example to love, but institutes and upholds the role of the priests. "So if I, your Lord and teacher have washed your feet, you must wash each other's feet. I have given you an example that you should follow." (John 13:14-15)

So this Holy Thursday, I remember the act of love that Jesus taught, to love, to care and to serve. To be there for my friends, my family, my brothers and sisters as a reminder to myself that through that love, we are demonstrating that we are also disciples of Christ our Savior. 


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