Daily Gospel for Tuesday, 29 March 2016

Daily Gospel for Tuesday, 29 March 2016
"Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life."[John 6:68]
Easter Tuesday

Tuesday in the Octave of Easter

         First Witness to the Resurrection, nowhere in scripture is Mary identified as a public sinner or a prostitute. Instead, all four Gospels show her as the primary witness to the most central events of Christian faith. She traveled with Jesus in the Galilean discipleship and, with Joanna and Susanna, supported Jesus' mission from her own financial resources (Luke 8:1-3).  
n the synoptic Gospels, Mary leads the group of women who witness Jesus' death and burial, the empty tomb, and his Resurrection.  We have Mary of Magdala to thank for having this part of The Gospel record in The Bible. It would not exist without her witness.

Christus resurrexit!- Christ is risen!

Saints of the day: St. Gladys, Hermit (5th century)

Saint Gladys
Hermit
(5th century)

        Gladyswas born in Wales in the 5th century. She was one of the 24 children of Brychan of Brecknock, wife of Saint Gundleus, and mother of Saints Cadoc and, possibly, Keyna.
        It is said that after their conversion by the example and exhortation of their son, she and Gundleus lived an austere life.
        When Gundleus died, Gladys moved to Pencanau in Bassaleg and lived as a hermit.

SAINTS JONAS, BARACHISIUS
and their Companions
Martyrs
(4th century)

King Sapor, of Persia (modern Iran), in the eighteenth year of his reign, raised a bloody persecution against the Christians, and laid waste their churches and monasteries. Jonas and Barachisius, two brothers of the city Beth-Asa, hearing that several Christians lay under sentence of death at Hubaham, went thither to encourage and serve them. Nine of that number received the crown of martyrdom.
After their execution, Jonas and Barachisius were apprehended for having exhorted them to die. The president entreated the two brothers to obey the king of Persia, and to worship the sun, moon, fire, and water. Their answer was, that it was more reasonable to obey the immortal King of heaven and earth than a mortal prince. Jonas was beaten with knotty clubs and with rods, and next set in a frozen pond, with a cord tied to his foot. Barachisius had two red-hot iron plates and two red-hot hammers applied under each arm, and melted lead dropped into his nostrils and eyes; after which he was carried to prison, and there hung up by one foot. Despite these cruel tortures, the two brothers remained steadfast in the Faith.
New and more horrible torments were then devised under which at last they yielded up their lives, while their pure souls winged their flight to heaven, there to gain the martyr's crown, which they had so faithfully won.[Lives of the Saints, by Alban Butler, Benziger Bros. ed. [1894]]
St Mark the Confessor, Bishop of Arethusa in Syria.
Commemorated March 29 in the Orthodox Christian Menaion
From the Prologue
St Gregory the Theologian and Blessed Theodoretus have given us an account of his sufferings. According to these accounts, Mark destroyed some pagan temples and brought many to the Christian faith during the reign of the Emperor Constantine. But when the Emperor Julian came to the throne and quickly became an apostate from the Faith, some of the inhabitants of Arethusa renounced Christ and lapsed into paganism. They rose up against Mark because he had demolished the temple and demanded that he either rebuild it or pay them a very large sum of money. As Mark refused to do either the one or the other, he was flogged and flayed and dragged through the streets. They then cut off his ears with strong, fine threads, stripped him naked, smeared him with honey and left him bound to a tree in the summer heat for the wasps, mosquitoes and hornets to eat. The martyr of Christ endured all this without complaint. He was quite old, and his face shone like an angel of the Lord. The pagans lowered the price of their temple again and again, finally demanding a quite insignificant amount which Mark could easily have given. But he refused to give even a single coin for that purpose. His endurance made a great impression on the citizens, and they began to admire him for it and to feel sorry for him, and gradually reduced the price of their temple to nothing just to allow him to remain alive. Finally, they let him go free and, one by one, all came to him to receive instruction and become Christians again. A deacon, Cyril, also suffered at this time for a similar cause in Heliopolis at the foot of mount Lebanon. He had broken some idols at the time of the liberation of Christianity and was cruelly tortured under Julian for this. The pagans were so enraged with him that, after they had killed him, they tore out his teeth and ripped open his stomach. Many others suffered on the same day as St Cyril. The evil pagans cut their bodies into small pieces, coated them with barley and fed them to the pigs. But retribution came swiftly upon them; all their teeth fell out and their mouths emitted an unbearable stench.[From The Prologue From Ochrid by Bishop Nikolai Velimirovich
©1985 Lazarica Press, Birmingham UK]
Easter Tuesday
Acts of the Apostles 2:36 Therefore, let the whole house of Isra’el know beyond doubt that God has made him both Lord and Messiah — this Yeshua, whom you executed on a stake!”
37 On hearing this, they were stung in their hearts; and they said to Kefa and the other emissaries, “Brothers, what should we do?” 38 Kefa answered them, “Turn from sin, return to God, and each of you be immersed on the authority of Yeshua the Messiah into forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Ruach HaKodesh! 39 For the promise is for you, for your children, and for those far away — as many as Adonai our God may call!”
40 He pressed his case with many other arguments and kept pleading with them, “Save yourselves from this perverse generation!”
41 So those who accepted what he said were immersed, and there were added to the group that day about three thousand people.
Psalms 33:4 For the word of Adonai is true,
and all his work is trustworthy.
5 He loves righteousness and justice;
the earth is full of the grace of Adonai.
18 But Adonai’s eyes watch over those who fear him,
over those who wait for his grace
19 to rescue them from death
and keep them alive in famine.
20 We are waiting for Adonai;
he is our help and shield.
22 May your mercy, Adonai, be over us,
because we put our hope in you.
Holy Gospel of Yeshua the Messiah according to Saint John 20:11 but Miryam stood outside crying. As she cried, she bent down, peered into the tomb, 12 and saw two angels in white sitting where the body of Yeshua had been, one at the head and one at the feet. 13 “Why are you crying?” they asked her. “They took my Lord,” she said to them, “and I don’t know where they have put him.”
14 As she said this, she turned around and saw Yeshua standing there, but she didn’t know it was he. 15 Yeshua said to her, “Lady, why are you crying? Whom are you looking for?” Thinking he was the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you’re the one who carried him away, just tell me where you put him; and I’ll go and get him myself.” 16 Yeshua said to her, “Miryam!” Turning, she cried out to him in Hebrew, “Rabbani!” (that is, “Teacher!”) 17 “Stop holding onto me,” Yeshua said to her, “because I haven’t yet gone back to the Father. But go to my brothers, and tell them that I am going back to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.” 18 Miryam of Magdala went to the talmidim with the news that she had seen the Lord and that he had told her this.
Easter Tuesday

Commentary of the day:
Saint Ambrose (c.340-397), Bishop of Milan and Doctor of the Church
Treatise on Virginity 17-21

“Have you seen him whom my heart loves?” (Sg 3,3)

Why are you weeping?” You yourself are the cause of your tears, you are the one who makes yourself cry...You cry because you do not believe in Christ: believe and you will see him. Christ is there; he never misses out those who look for him. “Why are you weeping?” Tears don't serve you any good; you need to have faith, a living faith and worthy of God. Do not think about mortal things and you will stop crying...Why should you be weeping for what makes others rejoice?
"Whom are you looking for?” Can't you see that Christ is the strength of God, that Christ is the wisdom of God, that Christ is holiness, Christ is chastity, Christ is purity, Christ was born of a Virgin, Christ comes from the Father and is with the Father and is always in the Father; born and therefore not created, not rejected but always loved, true God from true God? “They have taken away my Lord and I do not know where they laid him” You are mistaken, woman; you think that Christ has been taken away from the tomb by others and you do not believe that he has risen by his own power. But nobody can take away the power of God, nobody takes away the wisdom of God, nobody can take away his venerable chastity. Christ is not taken away from the tomb of the just man nor from the intimacy of the Virgin nor from the secrecy of her faithful soul; and even if there were someone who wanted to take him away, they could not take him away.
So the Lord tells her: “Mary, look at me”. As long as she does not believe, she is called “woman”; when she begins to turn towards him she is called “Mary”. She receives the same name as the one who gave birth to Christ; for it is the soul that spiritually gives birth to Christ. “Look at me”, he says. Whoever looks at Christ, amends their life; we lose our way when we do not look at Christ. Therefore, as she turns around, she sees him and says: “Rabbouni, which means Teacher”. The one who looks, turns around; the one who turns around, is able better to lay hold; the one who sees, progresses. This is why she calls “Teacher” the one she thought was dead; she found the one she thought was lost.

Daily Gospel for Monday, 28 March 2016
"Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life."[John 6:68]
Easter Monday

The Octave of EasterMonday in the Octave of Easter  

Easter, the most important feast of the Church year, has an "octave", that is, it is celebrated for eight days -- through the following Sunday or ""Low Sunday", the Octave of Easter Day.
Sequence
This is beautiful sequence written in 1048. Sublime, poetic, and beautiful, this hymn is considered extremely precious by the Church.   She only makes use of it once a year, during the greatest feast of the liturgical year!  
How beautiful it is, to see that the same things were believed at the beginning of the second millenium! This hymn is almost a thousand years old, yet our Faith is the same today as it was then.
How marvellous is the Catholic Faith, which doesn't change with the times, but always remains the same - "Jesus Christ yesterday, today, and tomorrow". The essentials of our Faith must never change, as there is no change with God or Jesus Christ. God is the Unchanging One.
May you praise the Paschal Victim,  immolated for Christians. 
The Lamb redeemed the sheep:   Christ, the innocent one,  has reconciled sinners to the Father. 
A wonderful duel to behold,   as death and life struggle: The Prince of life dead,  now reigns alive. Tell us, Mary Magdalen,   what did you see in the way? I saw the sepulchre of the living Christ, and I saw the glory of the Resurrected one: The Angelic witnesses,   the winding cloth, and His garments. The risen Christ is my hope: He will go before His own into Galilee. We know Christ to have risen   truly from the dead: And thou, victorious King,   have mercy on us. Amen. Alleluia.
Saints of the day: St. Gontran, King (545-592)

SAINT GONTRAN
King
(545-592)

St. Gontran was the son of King Clotaire, and grandson of Clovis I. and St. Clotildis. Being the second son, whilst his brothers Charibert reigned at Paris, and Sigebert in Ostrasia, residing at Metz, he was crowned king of Orleans and Burgundy in 561, making Chalons his capital.
When compelled to take up arms against his ambitious brothers and the Lombards, he made no other use of his victories, under the conduct of a brave general called Mommol, than to give peace to his dominions. The crimes in which the barbarous manners of his nation involved him he effaced by tears of repentance.
The prosperity of his reign, both in peace and war, condemns those who think that human policy cannot be modelled by the maxims of the Gospel, whereas nothing can render a government more flourishing.
He always treated the pastors of the Church with respect and veneration. He was the protector of the oppressed, and the tender parent of his subjects. He gave the greatest attention to the care of the sick. He fasted, prayed, wept, and offered himself to God night and day as a victim ready to be sacrificed on the altar of His justice, to avert
His indignation which he believed he himself had provoked and drawn down upon his innocent people. He was a severe punisher of crimes in his officers and others, and, by many wholesome regulations, restrained the barbarous licentiousness of his troops; but no man was more ready to forgive offences against his own person.
With royal magnificence he built and endowed many churches and monasteries.
This good king died in 592, in the sixty-eighth year of his age, having reigned thirty-one years and some months.[Lives of the Saints, by Alban Butler, Benziger Bros. ed. [1894]]
Easter Monday
Readings
Acts of the Apostles 2:14 Then Kefa stood up with the Eleven and raised his voice to address them: “You Judeans, and all of you staying here in Yerushalayim! Let me tell you what this means! Listen carefully to me!

22 “Men of Isra’el! Listen to this! Yeshua from Natzeret was a man demonstrated to you to have been from God by the powerful works, miracles and signs that God performed through him in your presence. You yourselves know this. 23 This man was arrested in accordance with God’s predetermined plan and foreknowledge; and, through the agency of persons not bound by the Torah, you nailed him up on a stake and killed him!

24 “But God has raised him up and freed him from the suffering of death; it was impossible that death could keep its hold on him. 25 For David says this about him:

‘I saw Adonai always before me,

for he is at my right hand,

so that I will not be shaken.

26 For this reason, my heart was glad;

and my tongue rejoiced;

and now my body too will live on in the certain hope

27 that you will not abandon me to Sh’ol

or let your Holy One see decay.

28 You have made known to me the ways of life;

you will fill me with joy by your presence.’[Acts 2:28 Psalm 16:8–11]

29 “Brothers, I know I can say to you frankly that the patriarch David died and was buried — his tomb is with us to this day. 30 Therefore, since he was a prophet and knew that God had sworn an oath to him that one of his descendants would sit on his throne, 31 he was speaking in advance about the resurrection of the Messiah, that it was he who was not abandoned in Sh’ol and whose flesh did not see decay. 32 God raised up this Yeshua! And we are all witnesses of it!

33 “Moreover, he has been exalted to the right hand of God; has received from the Father what he promised, namely, the Ruach HaKodesh; and has poured out this gift, which you are both seeing and hearing.

Psalms 16:(0) Mikhtam. By David:

(1) Protect me, God,

for you are my refuge.

2 I said to Adonai, “You are my Lord;

I have nothing good outside of you.”

5 Adonai, my assigned portion, my cup:

you safeguard my share.

7 I bless Adonai, my counselor;

at night my inmost being instructs me.

8 I always set Adonai before me;

with him at my right hand, I can never be moved;

9 so my heart is glad, my glory rejoices,

and my body too rests in safety;

10 for you will not abandon me to Sh’ol,

you will not let your faithful one see the Abyss.

11 You make me know the path of life;

in your presence is unbounded joy,

in your right hand eternal delight.

Holy Gospel of Yeshua the Messiah according to Saint Matthew 28:8 So they left the tomb quickly, frightened yet filled with joy; and they ran to give the news to his talmidim. 9 Suddenly Yeshua met them and said, “Shalom!” They came up and took hold of his feet as they fell down in front of him. 10 Then Yeshua said to them, “Don’t be afraid! Go and tell my brothers to go to the Galil, and they will see me there.”

11 As they were going, some of the guards went into the city and reported to the head cohanim everything that had happened. 12 Then they met with the elders; and after discussing the matter, they gave the soldiers a sizeable sum of money 13 and said to them, “Tell people, ‘His talmidim came during the night and stole his body while we were sleeping.’ 14 If the governor hears of it, we will put things right with him and keep you from getting in trouble.” 15 The soldiers took the money and did as they were told, and this story has been spread about by Judeans till this very day.

Easter Monday
Commentary of the day:

Saint John Chrysostom (c.345-407), priest at Antioch then Bishop of Constantinople, Doctor of the Church
Homily on the Great Saturday, 10-12

“Jesus met them on their way and greeted them”

“Come and see the place where he lay” (Mt 28,6)...Come and see the place where the act that guarantees your resurrection was composed. Come and see the place where death was buried. Come and see the place where a body, a seed not sowed by man, produced a multitude of shoots for eternal life...”Go tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and they will see me. Tell my disciples the mysteries you have seen.”
This is what the Lord told the women. And now once again, he stands at the edge of the baptismal pool, invisible, near the faithful, he hugs the newly baptized as his friends and brothers...He fills their hearts and their souls with jubilation and joy. He washes their sins in the fountains of his grace. He anoints with the perfume of the Spirit those who have been regenerated. The Lord becomes the one who feeds them and he becomes their food. He provides for his servants their part of spiritual nourishment. He tells all the faithful: “Take and eat the bread from heaven, receive the source that comes out from my side, the source from which one can always draw without it ever drying up. You who hunger, satisfy your hunger; you who thirst, get drunk with a sober and health giving wine”. 

Daily Gospel for Sunday, 27 March 2016
"Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life."[John 6:68]
Easter Sunday - Solemnity

Easter Sunday  

ON THE THIRD DAY HE ROSE FROM THE DEAD
We bring you the good news that what God promised to the fathers, this day he has fulfilled to us their children by raising Jesus." The Resurrection of Jesus is the crowning truth of our faith in Christ, a faith believed and lived as the central truth by the first Christian community; handed on as fundamental by Tradition; established by the documents of the New Testament; and preached as an essential part of the Paschal mystery along with the cross:  

Christ is risen from the dead!  
Dying, he conquered death;
To the dead, he has given life.

I. THE HISTORICAL AND TRANSCENDENT EVENT
The mystery of Christ's resurrection is a real event, with manifestations that were historically verified, as the New Testament bears witness. In about A.D. 56 St. Paul could already write to the Corinthians: "I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, and that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the Twelve. . ." The Apostle speaks here of the living tradition of the Resurrection which he had learned after his conversion at the gates of Damascus.
The empty tomb
"Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen." The first element we encounter in the framework of the Easter events is the empty tomb. In itself it is not a direct proof of Resurrection; the absence of Christ's body from the tomb could be explained otherwise. Nonetheless the empty tomb was still an essential sign for all. Its discovery by the disciples was the first step toward recognizing the very fact of the Resurrection. This was the case, first with the holy women, and then with Peter. The disciple "whom Jesus loved" affirmed that when he entered the empty tomb and discovered "the linen cloths lying there", "he saw and believed". This suggests that he realized from the empty tomb's condition that the absence of Jesus' body could not have been of human doing and that Jesus had not simply returned to earthly life as had been the case with Lazarus.
The appearances of the Risen One
Mary Magdalene and the holy women who came to finish anointing the body of Jesus, which had been buried in haste because the Sabbath began on the evening of Good Friday, were the first to encounter the Risen One. Thus the women were the first messengers of Christ's Resurrection for the apostles themselves. They were the next to whom Jesus appears: first Peter, then the Twelve. Peter had been called to strengthen the faith of his brothers, and so sees the Risen One before them; it is on the basis of his testimony that the community exclaims: "The Lord has risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!"
Everything that happened during those Paschal days involves each of the apostles - and Peter in particular - in the building of the new era begun on Easter morning. As witnesses of the Risen One, they remain the foundation stones of his Church. the faith of the first community of believers is based on the witness of concrete men known to the Christians and for the most part still living among them. Peter and the Twelve are the primary "witnesses to his Resurrection", but they are not the only ones - Paul speaks clearly of more than five hundred persons to whom Jesus appeared on a single occasion and also of James and of all the apostles.
Given all these testimonies, Christ's Resurrection cannot be interpreted as something outside the physical order, and it is impossible not to acknowledge it as an historical fact. It is clear from the facts that the disciples' faith was drastically put to the test by their master's Passion and death on the cross, which he had foretold. The shock provoked by the Passion was so great that at least some of the disciples did not at once believe in the news of the Resurrection. Far from showing us a community seized by a mystical exaltation, the Gospels present us with disciples demoralized ("looking sad") and frightened. For they had not believed the holy women returning from the tomb and had regarded their words as an "idle tale". When Jesus reveals himself to the Eleven on Easter evening, "he upbraided them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they had not believed those who saw him after he had risen."
Even when faced with the reality of the risen Jesus the disciples are still doubtful, so impossible did the thing seem: they thought they were seeing a ghost. "In their joy they were still disbelieving and still wondering." Thomas will also experience the test of doubt and St. Matthew relates that during the risen Lord's last appearance in Galilee "some doubted." Therefore the hypothesis that the Resurrection was produced by the apostles' faith (or credulity) will not hold up. On the contrary their faith in the Resurrection was born, under the action of divine grace, from their direct experience of the reality of the risen Jesus.
The condition of Christ's risen humanity
By means of touch and the sharing of a meal, the risen Jesus establishes direct contact with his disciples. He invites them in this way to recognize that he is not a ghost and above all to verify that the risen body in which he appears to them is the same body that had been tortured and crucified, for it still bears the traces of his Passion. Yet at the same time this authentic, real body possesses the new properties of a glorious body: not limited by space and time but able to be present how and when he wills; for Christ's humanity can no longer be confined to earth, and belongs henceforth only to the Father's divine realm. For this reason too the risen Jesus enjoys the sovereign freedom of appearing as he wishes: in the guise of a gardener or in other forms familiar to his disciples, precisely to awaken their faith.
Christ's Resurrection was not a return to earthly life, as was the case with the raisings from the dead that he had performed before Easter: Jairus' daughter, the young man of Naim, Lazarus. These actions were miraculous events, but the persons miraculously raised returned by Jesus' power to ordinary earthly life. At some particular moment they would die again. Christ's Resurrection is essentially different. In his risen body he passes from the state of death to another life beyond time and space. At Jesus' Resurrection his body is filled with the power of the Holy Spirit: he shares the divine life in his glorious state, so that St. Paul can say that Christ is "the man of heaven".
The Resurrection as transcendent event
O truly blessed Night, sings the Exsultet of the Easter Vigil, which alone deserved to know the time and the hour when Christ rose from the realm of the dead! But no one was an eyewitness to Christ's Resurrection and no evangelist describes it. No one can say how it came about physically. Still less was its innermost essence, his passing over to another life, perceptible to the senses. Although the Resurrection was an historical event that could be verified by the sign of the empty tomb and by the reality of the apostles' encounters with the risen Christ, still it remains at the very heart of the mystery of faith as something that transcends and surpasses history. This is why the risen Christ does not reveal himself to the world, but to his disciples, "to those who came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are now his witnesses to the people."
II. THE RESURRECTION - A WORK OF THE HOLY TRINITY
Christ's Resurrection is an object of faith in that it is a transcendent intervention of God himself in creation and history. In it the three divine persons act together as one, and manifest their own proper characteristics. the Father's power "raised up" Christ his Son and by doing so perfectly introduced his Son's humanity, including his body, into the Trinity. Jesus is conclusively revealed as "Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his Resurrection from the dead". St. Paul insists on the manifestation of God's power through the working of the Spirit who gave life to Jesus' dead humanity and called it to the glorious state of Lordship.
As for the Son, he effects his own Resurrection by virtue of his divine power. Jesus announces that the Son of man will have to suffer much, die, and then rise. Elsewhere he affirms explicitly: "I lay down my life, that I may take it again. . . I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again." "We believe that Jesus died and rose again."
The Fathers contemplate the Resurrection from the perspective of the divine person of Christ who remained united to his soul and body, even when these were separated from each other by death: "By the unity of the divine nature, which remains present in each of the two components of man, these are reunited. For as death is produced by the separation of the human components, so Resurrection is achieved by the union of the two."
III. THE MEANING AND SAVING SIGNIFICANCE OF THE RESURRECTION
"If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain." The Resurrection above all constitutes the confirmation of all Christ's works and teachings. All truths, even those most inaccessible to human reason, find their justification if Christ by his Resurrection has given the definitive proof of his divine authority, which he had promised.
Christ's Resurrection is the fulfilment of the promises both of the Old Testament and of Jesus himself during his earthly life. The phrase "in accordance with the Scriptures" indicates that Christ's Resurrection fulfilled these predictions.
The truth of Jesus' divinity is confirmed by his Resurrection. He had said: "When you have lifted up the Son of man, then you will know that I am he." The Resurrection of the crucified one shows that he was truly "I AM", the Son of God and God himself. So St. Paul could declare to the Jews: "What God promised to the fathers, this he has fulfilled to us their children by raising Jesus; as also it is written in the second psalm, 'You are my Son, today I have begotten you.'" Christ's Resurrection is closely linked to the Incarnation of God's Son, and is its fulfilment in accordance with God's eternal plan.   
The Paschal mystery has two aspects: by his death, Christ liberates us from sin; by his Resurrection, he opens for us the way to a new life. This new life is above all justification that reinstates us in God's grace, "so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life." Justification consists in both victory over the death caused by sin and a new participation in grace. It brings about filial adoption so that men become Christ's brethren, as Jesus himself called his disciples after his Resurrection: "Go and tell my brethren." We are brethren not by nature, but by the gift of grace, because that adoptive filiation gains us a real share in the life of the only Son, which was fully revealed in his Resurrection.   Finally, Christ's Resurrection - and the risen Christ himself is the principle and source of our future resurrection: "Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. . . For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive." The risen Christ lives in the hearts of his faithful while they await that fulfilment. In Christ, Christians "have tasted. . . the powers of the age to come" and their lives are swept up by Christ into the heart of divine life, so that they may "live no longer for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised."[Catechism of the Catholic Church, n° 638-655]
Saints of the day: St. John of Egypt (+ 394)

SAINT JOHN OF EGYPT
(+ 394)

Till he was twenty-five, John worked as a carpenter with his father. Then feeling a call from God, he left the world and committed himself to a holy solitary in the desert. His master tried his spirit by many unreasonable commands, bidding him roll the hard rocks, tend dead trees, and the like. John obeyed in all things with the simplicity of a child.
After a careful training of sixteen years he withdrew to the top of a steep cliff to think only of God and his soul. The more he knew of himself, the more he distrusted himself. For the last fifty years, therefore, he never saw women, and seldom men. The result of this vigilance and purity was threefold: a holy joy and cheerfulness which consoled all who conversed with him; perfect obedience to superiors; and, in return for this, authority over creatures, whom he had forsaken for the Creator.  
St. Augustine tells us of his appearing in a vision to a holy woman, whose sight he had restored, to avoid seeing her face to face. Devils assailed him continually, but John never ceased his prayer.
From his long communings with God, he turned to men with gifts of healing and prophecy. Twice each week he spoke through a window with those who came to him, blessing oil for their sick and predicting things to come. A deacon came to him in disguise, and he reverently kissed his hand. To the Emperor Theodosius he foretold his future victories and the time of his death.
The three last days of his life John gave wholly to God: on the third he was found on his knees as if in prayer, bud his soul was with the blessed. He died in 394.[Lives of the Saints, by Alban Butler, Benziger Bros. ed. [1894]]

St. Rupert

Feastday: March 27

Birth: 60

Death: 717

Bishop and missionary, also listed as Robert of Hrodbert. A member of a noble Frankish family, he was appointed bishop of Worms, Germany, and then dedicated himself to spreading the faith among the Germans. With the patronage of Duke Thedo of Bavaria, he took over the deserted town of luvavum about 697, which was renamed Salzburg, Austria. Rupert founded a church, a monastery, and a school; brought in groups of missionaries; and established a nunnery at Nonnberg with his sister, Eerentrudis, serving as the first abbess. He died at Salzburg and is venerated as the first archbishop of this major diocese in the West. Rupert is revered as the Apostle of Bavaria and Austria.

Easter Sunday - Solemnity

Acts of the Apostles 10:34 Then Kefa addressed them: “I now understand that God does not play favorites,
37 You know what has been going on throughout Y’hudah, starting from the Galil after the immersion that Yochanan proclaimed; 38 how God anointed Yeshua from Natzeret with the Ruach HaKodesh and with power; how Yeshua went about doing good and healing all the people oppressed by the Adversary, because God was with him.
39 “As for us, we are witnesses of everything he did, both in the Judean countryside and in Yerushalayim. They did away with him by hanging him on a stake;[Acts 10:39 Deuteronomy 21:23] 40 but God raised him up on the third day and let him be seen, 41 not by all the people, but by witnesses God had previously chosen, that is, by us, who ate and drank with him after he had risen again from the dead.
42 “Then he commanded us to proclaim and attest to the Jewish people that this man has been appointed by God to judge the living and the dead. 43 All the prophets bear witness to him, that everyone who puts his trust in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”
Psalms 118:1 Give thanks to Adonai; for he is good,
for his grace continues forever.
2 Now let Isra’el say,
“His grace continues forever.”
16 Adonai’s right hand is raised in triumph!
Adonai’s right hand struck powerfully!”
17 I will not die; no, I will live
and proclaim the great deeds of Yah!
22 The very rock that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone!
23 This has come from Adonai,
and in our eyes it is amazing.

Letter to the Colossians 3:1 So if you were raised along with the Messiah, then seek the things above, where the Messiah is sitting at the right hand of God.[Colossians 3:1 Psalm 110:1] 2 Focus your minds on the things above, not on things here on earth. 3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with the Messiah in God. 4 When the Messiah, who is our life, appears, then you too will appear with him in glory!
Holy Gospel of Yeshua the Messiah according to Saint John 20:1 Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Miryam from Magdala went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. 2 So she came running to Shim‘on Kefa and the other talmid, the one Yeshua loved, and said to them, “They’ve taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they’ve put him!”
3 Then Kefa and the other talmid started for the tomb. 4 They both ran, but the other talmid outran Kefa and reached the tomb first. 5 Stooping down, he saw the linen burial-sheets lying there but did not go in. 6 Then, following him, Shim‘on Kefa arrived, entered the tomb and saw the burial-sheets lying there, 7 also the cloth that had been around his head, lying not with the sheets but in a separate place and still folded up. 8 Then the other talmid, who had arrived at the tomb first, also went in; he saw, and he trusted. 9 (They had not yet come to understand that the Tanakh teaches that the Messiah has to rise from the dead.)

Easter Sunday - Solemnity
Commentary of the day:
Saint Epiphanius of Salamis (?-403), Bishop
Homily 3 for the Resurrection
“This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice in it and be glad” (Ps 117,24) The Sun of Justice (Mal 3,20) that had disappeared for three days, today rises and shines on the whole creation. Christ was in the tomb for three days but he existed before the ages! He comes up like a vine and fills the earth with joy. Let us behold the rising sun that will never set; let us anticipate the day and be filled with the joy of this light!

The gates of Hell have been broken by Christ, the dead awake from sleep. Christ rises, he, the resurrection of the dead, and comes to awaken Adam. Christ, the resurrection of all who have died, rises and comes to free Eve from malediction. Christ rises, he who is the resurrection, and he transforms in all its beauty what had “no stately bearing to make us look at him” (Is 53,2). As a sleeper the Lord awoke and confounded all the deceitfulness of the enemy. He was raised and gave joy to the whole creation; he was raised and the prisonhouse of Hell was emptied; he was raised and transformed what is corruptible into incorruptibility (1 Cor 15,53). The risen Christ clothed Adam with incorruptibility, his original dignity.
Today, through Christ, the Church becomes a new heaven (Rev 21,1), a more beautiful vault to contemplate than the visible sun. The sun that we see every day cannot compare with this Sun: as a servant filled with respect, it eclipsed before him, when it saw him hanging on the cross (Mt 27,45). It is of this Sun that the prophet said: “For you who fear my name, there will arise the Sun of Justice with its healing rays” (Mal 3,20)...Through him, Christ, the Sun of Justice, the Church becomes a beautiful heaven filled with a multitude of stars that emerge from the baptismal waters in their new light. “This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice in it and be glad” (Ps 117,24), filled with the joy that comes from God.

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