April 5th 2015 A.D. - Easter Jn 20/1-9

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April 5th 2015 A.D

Happy Easter !

John 20:1-9

"John saw the empty tomb and believed"

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Background:

The evangelists put their books together by compiling material from the various written and oral traditions which were available to them. (Perhaps many of the oral traditions had already been written down). No attempt was made to harmonize the various traditions of resurrection stories. Perhaps the Gospel writers thought that each story was to precious to waste. Different people had different memories of their encounters with the risen. In time these memories were shaped by various theological perspectives so they became even more difficult to harmonize. However, one theme runs through them all –surprise.

Everyone who encountered the risen lord was astonished, as well they might have been. Even though we have heard these stories many times during the Easter seasons, we should try to experience once again the surprise of the first followers of Jesus. One might also note that if the stories had been written down today and we heard them for the first time, we would be shocked by the roles women played. Feminists must have written these stories, we would say.

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Story:

Once upon a time a young man came home from a prisoner of war camp who had been reported killed in action. His family and his buddies and even his girl friend had mourned him as dead and then more or less got over their grief. His sudden reappearance was disconcerting to say the least. They had all loved him, but they had in effect written him out of their lives. His girl friend was engaged to marry someone else. Moreover, he didn’t seem like the boy who had gone off to war. He was thin and haggard and haunted. However, he was now mature, self-possessed, and, astonishingly, happy. He hadn’t smiled much as a kid and rarely joked.

Now he was witty and ebullient all the time. A quiet kid had become an outgoing adult man. He didn’t fit in the patterns of relationships he had left behind. Quite the contrary, his happiness and maturity were unsettling. He congratulated his former girl friend on her coming marriage and shook hands cordially with the fiancée.

There’s something wrong with him, everyone said. His family went to the priest.

There sure is, he priest said, he has risen from the dead and now acts like a saint.

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There’s something wrong with him, everyone said. His family went to the priest. There sure is, he priest said, he has risen from the dead and now acts like a saint

April Homilies: 5th | 12th | 19th | 26th
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Psalm 118:1-2, 16-17,22-23

1 O give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his steadfast love endures for ever!
2 Let Israel say, "His steadfast love endures for ever."
16 the right hand of the LORD is exalted, the right hand of the LORD does valiantly!"
17 I shall not die, but I shall live, and recount the deeds of the LORD.
22 The stone which the builders rejected has become the head of the corner.
23 This is the LORD's doing; it is marvelous in our eyes.

Alleluia cf. 1 Cor 5:7

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Christ, our paschal lamb, has been sacrificed;
let us then feast with joy in the Lord.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel Jn 20:1-9

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.

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