Monday in the Octave of Easter
WE ARE EASTER WITNESSES
Introduction
Peter had refused to say that he knew Jesus. Now, he cannot stop proclaiming that Jesus is risen. Mary Magdalene and Mary, the mother of James, rush to tell the apostles that Jesus is risen. The readings of today are all about witnessing to the resurrection. Peter proclaims it as the key to his faith: Jesus who had been killed is truly risen and we, his disciples, are witnesses to this fact and this person. Mary Magdalene and her companion are told by the angels at the tomb that Jesus is risen. Then, they themselves encountered him. The Risen Jesus instructed them to convey this news to his other disciples. For now, they too, are witnesses that Christ is alive. We are these witnesses today.
Opening Prayer
Our living God,
our heart is glad and rejoices
and we feel secure in our faith,
that we have a living person to believe in,
Jesus Christ, who is risen from the dead.
Let him show us the path of life,
let us live in the joy of his presence
and give us the grace to make us witnesses,
so that we can proclaim with our whole life,
that Jesus is our risen, living Lord,
now and for ever.
Reading 1:Acts 2:14, 22-33
raised his voice, and proclaimed:
“You who are Jews, indeed all of you staying in Jerusalem.
Let this be known to you, and listen to my words.
“You who are children of Israel, hear these words.
Jesus the Nazorean was a man commended to you by God
with mighty deeds, wonders, and signs,
which God worked through him in your midst, as you yourselves know.
This man, delivered up by the set plan and foreknowledge of God,
you killed, using lawless men to crucify him.
But God raised him up, releasing him from the throes of death,
because it was impossible for him to be held by it.
For David says of him:
I saw the Lord ever before me,
with him at my right hand I shall not be disturbed.
Therefore my heart has been glad and my tongue has exulted;
my flesh, too, will dwell in hope,
because you will not abandon my soul to the nether world,
nor will you suffer your holy one to see corruption.
You have made known to me the paths of life;
you will fill me with joy in your presence.
My brothers, one can confidently say to you
about the patriarch David that he died and was buried,
and his tomb is in our midst to this day.
But since he was a prophet and knew that God had sworn an oath to him
that he would set one of his descendants upon his throne,
he foresaw and spoke of the resurrection of the Christ,
that neither was he abandoned to the netherworld
nor did his flesh see corruption.
God raised this Jesus;
of this we are all witnesses.
Exalted at the right hand of God,
he poured forth the promise of the Holy Spirit
that he received from the Father, as you both see and hear.”
Responsorial Psalm: Ps 16:1-2a and 5,7-8, 9-10,11
or:
R. Alleluia.
Keep me, O God, for in you I take refuge;
I say to the LORD, “My Lord are you.”
O LORD, my allotted portion and my cup,
you it is who hold fast my lot.
R. Keep me safe, O God; you are my hope.
or:
R. Alleluia.
I bless the LORD who counsels me;
even in the night my heart exhorts me.
I set the LORD ever before me;
with him at my right hand I shall not be disturbed.
R. Keep me safe, O God; you are my hope.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Therefore my heart is glad and my soul rejoices,
my body, too, abides in confidence;
Because you will not abandon my soul to the nether world,
nor will you suffer your faithful one to undergo corruption.
R. Keep me safe, O God; you are my hope.
or:
R. Alleluia.
You will show me the path to life,
fullness of joys in your presence,
the delights at your right hand forever.
R. Keep me safe, O God; you are my hope.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Alleluia: Ps 118:24
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
This is the day the LORD has made;
let us be glad and rejoice in it.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel: Mt 28:8-15
fearful yet overjoyed,
and ran to announce the news to his disciples.
And behold, Jesus met them on their way and greeted them.
They approached, embraced his feet, and did him homage.
Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid.
Go tell my brothers to go to Galilee,
and there they will see me.”
While they were going, some of the guard went into the city
and told the chief priests all that had happened.
The chief priests assembled with the elders and took counsel;
then they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers,
telling them, “You are to say,
‘His disciples came by night and stole him while we were asleep.’
And if this gets to the ears of the governor,
we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.”
The soldiers took the money and did as they were instructed.
And this story has circulated among the Jews to the present day.
Intercessions
– For all the newly-baptized, that they may keep growing nearer to the risen Lord, we pray:
– For the missionaries, that they may proclaim to all those who are willing to listen that Jesus is the Risen Lord, who raises us above our selfishness and limitations, we pray:
– For all of us, that we may be joyful people, firm in our faith, because we have a Lord who has overcome evil and death, we pray:
Prayer over the Gifts
God,
it is a real joy for us
that your Son, Jesus, has invited us
to sit at table with him.
Let him again break for us
the bread of himself
and let him make us a people of joy and hope,
who live close to Jesus
and close to our brothers and sisters,
as we are bound together
by the life and love of Jesus Christ,
our risen Lord, now and for ever.
Prayer after Communion
Lord God,
your Son Jesus, has spoken to us
his Word of greeting that takes away our fears
and that fills us with joy.
He has nourished us at his table
with the warmth of his loving presence.
Give us now the inspiration
to let our whole life bear witness to him,
to say that we believe in his message of hope
and that he is the center and meaning of our life.
For he is Jesus, our living Lord,
now and for ever.
Blessing
Do not be afraid. Tell your brothers and sisters that the Lord is risen and alive. Let him also be alive in our communities, in our joy, in our faith, in our readiness to serve and love. May Almighty God bless you, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Reflection:
Octave of Easter, Monday
1 April 2024
Gospel: Mt 28:8-15
Inclusive love and forgiveness
We begin the Octave of Easter. Throughout this week, the liturgy focuses on the appearances of Jesus to his disciples in varied situations and forms.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus appears to women who return scared but happy from the empty tomb. They were the first to notice the episode of the resurrection. Therefore, they ran to break the news to the other disciples when Jesus himself approached them. They were scared, but the first word of Jesus to them was to “Rejoice.” The resurrection is the greatest of all joys. This resurrection experience and the invitation to rejoice are also directed to us today.
His second message to the women: “Do not be afraid; go, tell my brothers to go to Galilee; they will see me there”. The theme of fear is recurrent in the hours following the crucifixion and even in the resurrection scenes.
The Risen Jesus called his former deserters his brothers. That was the first and only time in the whole of the Gospel narrative that Jesus referred to the disciples in that intimate way. Matthew invites his readers into the new nature of the relationship between Jesus and those who would become his followers. With Jesus, they could now share the risen life – as sons and daughters of God and brothers and sisters of Jesus. The risen Jesus has no enemies. His response to the sin of the world was forgiveness. Jesus had learnt the heart of his Father perfectly. His love excluded no one.
While Jesus was on the Cross, dying, the chief priests taunted him by saying: Let him come down from the Cross now, and we will believe in him [27:42]. Confronted now with the mystery of resurrection, they still refused to believe. What the chief priests asked the guards to declare was not logical. If the guards were asleep while the body of Jesus disappeared, how would they know it was ‘the disciples of the dead man’ who came and stole the body? If they were asleep, they would not know how the sealed tomb got breached and how the body disappeared! And if they were awake, the forces that breached the tomb were beyond the guards’ control to stop them.
If we believe in everything we celebrate these days, it is time to go out to meet our brothers and sisters and tell them that we, too, have met the risen Jesus, and He is alive in our midst. For this, we must go to the “Galilee” of our times, and there we rediscover the suffering faces that need the good news of the resurrection.