Easter Sunday – The Lord’s Resurrection from the Dead
Acts 10:3, 37-43; Psalm 117; Colossians 3:1-4; John 20:1 -9
Read: Peter started speaking and said: “You must have heard about the recent happenings in Judea; about Jesus of Nazareth and how he began in Galilee, after John had been preaching baptism. God had anointed him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and because God was with him, Jesus went about doing good and curing all who had fallen into the power of the devil. Now I, and those with me, can witness to everything he did throughout the countryside of Judea and in Jerusalem itself; also, to the fact that they killed him by hanging him on a tree.
Yet, three days afterwards God raised him to life and allowed him to be seen, not by the whole people but only by certain witnesses God had chosen beforehand. Now we are those witnesses – we have eaten and drunk with him after his resurrection from the dead – and he has ordered us to proclaim this to his people and to tell them that God has appointed him to judge everyone, alive or dead. It is to him that all the prophets bear this witness; that all who believe in Jesus will have their sins forgiven through his name”.
Reflect: St. Peter’s and the other apostles who had the grace to “eat and drink” with Jesus was a unique experience which is repeatable. Nonetheless, to be a witness to Christ, it is not necessary to have physically walked with Jesus of Nazareth in the streets of Palestine. St. Paul, who himself had not even known Jesus personally, was called to be a witness of what he had seen (Acts 26:16) and to receive his mission from God “As you bore witness for me in Jerusalem, it is also necessary that you give witness for me in Rome”. (Acts 23:11).
To be a witness does not imply giving a good example. This is definitely necessary, but being a witness is something different. This can be done only by someone who has passed from death to life; somebody who can confirm that his life has changed and made sense when it became enlightened by the light of Easter; someone who has experienced that faith in Christ gives a meaning to moments of happiness and to moments of unhappiness, and who is enlightened by whatever is experienced in such moments. If our heart is open to understand the Scriptures, we will be able to see the Lord.
Pray: Praise the Lord, because He is good, because His goodness is for ever! Let the children of Israel say: “His goodness is for ever”.
Act: Let us ask ourselves: Is Jesus’ death and resurrection a point of reference in all the projects we undertake, when we go shopping, when we sell something, when we dialogue, when the time comes to share out an inheritance, when we chose to have another child …… or do we believe that the realities of this world have nothing to do with Easter? Anyone who has “seen” the Lord will be incapable to do anything without Him.