Readings
Acts 10:34a, 37-43
Colossians 9 3:1-4 or 1 Corinthians 5:6b-8
John 20:1-9 or Mark 16:1-7 or Luke 24:13-35
Calendar
April 16: Easter Sunday
April 22: Earth Day
April 22: March for Science
Quotes
Readings
Acts 10:34a, 37-43
Colossians 9 3:1-4 or 1 Corinthians 5:6b-8
John 20:1-9 or Mark 16:1-7 or Luke 24:13-35
Calendar
April 16: Easter Sunday
April 22: Earth Day
April 22: March for Science
Quotes
Genuine progress does not consist in wealth sought for personal comfort or for its own sake; rather it consists in an economic order designed for the welfare of the human person, where the daily bread that each person receives reflects the glow of human love and the helping hand of God.
-Paul VI, Populorum Progressio, 86
Hope in the coming kingdom is already beginning to take root in the hearts of people. The radical transformation of the world in the Paschal Mystery of the Lord gives full meaning to the efforts of people, and in particular of the young, to lessen injustice, violence and hatred and to advance all together in justice, freedom, kinship and love.
-Synod of Bishops, Justice in the World, 76
By immersing ourselves into the death and resurrection of Christ through the Sacrament of Baptism, we are moved to free our hearts every day from the burden of material things, from a self-centered relationship with the “world” that impoverishes us and prevents us from being available and open to God and our neighbor.
-Benedict XVI, 2011 Message for Lent, 3
Francis of Assisi tells us we should work to build peace. But there is no true peace without truth! There cannot be true peace if everyone is his own criterion, if everyone can always claim exclusively his own rights, without at the same time caring for the good of others, of everyone, on the basis of the nature that unites every human being on this earth.
-Pope Francis, March 22, 2013
Being with Jesus demands that we go out from ourselves, and from living a tired and habitual faith.
-Pope Francis @Pontifex March 27, 2013
O God of the poor, help us to rescue the abandoned and forgotten of this earth, so precious in your eyes. Bring healing to our lives, that we may protect the world and not prey on it, that we may sow beauty, not pollution and destruction.
-Pope Francis, Laudato Si’, 246
Let us sing as we go. May our struggles and our concern for this planet never take away the joy of our hope.
-Pope Francis, Laudato Si’, 244
Thoughts for Your Consideration
An understanding of resurrection which does not address issues of justice is shallow and not consistent with the spirit of Jesus who lived, died, and rose to bring an end to all oppression and injustice and to bring together the whole world in peace.
The death of Jesus is not the last word or the end of the story.
Resurrection is the ultimate word of God about life and death.
In a world with lots of death and suffering, we are called to share Resurrection today.
In a world that seeks justice, we are invited to be people of the Resurrection.
Today’s letter to the Corinthians reminds us that something new is possible: “Let us celebrate the feast, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.” In the midst of awesome human problems, great social sins, all kinds of violence, extreme economic inequalities, destruction to our planet, terrorism and war, ecological destruction, and serious injustices of all kinds, we believe something more is possible. We affirm life. We believe that resurrection is possible.
Change is possible. Growth is possible. Peace and reconciliation are possible. Something new is possible. Healing of relationships is possible. Liberation for the poor and oppressed is possible. Social change is possible. Nations can work together for justice and peace. People can stand up and demand human rights. Society can provide health care for all. There is enough food so that everyone can eat if we only learn how to distribute it. All our children can have access to a good education. All people can have meaningful employment. We can live in a way that does not destroy the planet. We can work to end war and violence. We can live in solidarity.
Our world knows the tragedy of divisions and hatreds between peoples and nations. Our world knows the scandal of poverty and economic injustice. We live in a world where the system is structured to increase economic inequalities between people. Meanwhile, the developing world has been dealing with widespread poverty for a long time. More than ever the world needs to experience resurrection.
More than ever we need a spirit that will help and heal the death, violence, and injustice of the world. More than ever we need to create a world where people are not oppressed by sinful structures. Peter in Acts reminds us that Jesus “… went about doing good and healing all those oppressed ….” We are called to do the same.
An understanding of resurrection which does not address issues of justice is shallow and not consistent with the spirit of Jesus who lived, died, and rose to bring an end to all oppression and injustice.
Questions for Reflection in your Faith Sharing Group
In today’s letter to the Corinthians we read: “Let us celebrate the feast, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.” Name the malice and wickedness you see around us. Name the places of sincerity and truth.
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When have your experienced the cycle of death & resurrection in your own ministry?
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In light of Laudato Si, what does resurrection mean for our “common home” the earth?
Stories
The Experts: A Sufi Tale by Anthony de Mello, S.J.
A dead man suddenly came to life and began to pound on the lid of the coffin.
The lid was raised; the man sat up. “What are you doing?” he said to the assembled crowd, “I am not dead.” His words were met with silent disbelief. One of the mourners finally said, “Friend, the doctors and the priests have certified that you are dead. So dead you are.” And he was duly buried.
Source: http://bit.ly/1Ml1Kzh
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Projection by Anthony de Mello, S.J.
“Why is everyone here so happy except me”, asked the disciple.
“Because they have learned to see beauty and goodness everywhere”, said the master.
“Why don’t I see beauty and goodness everywhere”?
The master replied: “because you cannot see outside of you, what you fail to see inside of you.”
Source: http://bit.ly/2oV7WHD
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A Miser’s Death
A miser had accumulated five hundred thousand dinars and looked forward to a year of pleasant living before he made up his mind how best to invest his money, when suddenly the Angel of Death appeared before him to take his life away.
The man begged and pleaded and used a thousand arguments to be allowed to live a little longer, but the angel was obdurate. “Give me three days of life and I shall give you half my fortune,” the man pleaded. The angel wouldn’t hear of it and began to tug at him.
“Give me just one day, I beg of you, and you can have everything I accumulated through so much sweat and toil.”
The angel was adamant still.
He was able to wring just one little concession from the angel—a few moments in which to write down this note: “Oh you, whoever you are that happen to find this note, if you have enough to live on, don’t waste your life accumulating fortunes. Live! My five hundred thousand dinars could not buy me a single hour of life!”
Source: http://bit.ly/2o3PmJx
Actions – Links
Catholics Confront Global Poverty
- The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and Catholic Relief Services are trying to address global poverty, refugees, human trafficking, and other issues. Get involved at: http://www.confrontglobalpoverty.org.
Earth Day
- Saturday, April 22, is Earth Day and it is also the day for the March for Science. Get info about Earth Day at: http://www.earthday.org.
- Get info about March for Science at: https://www.marchforscience.com. Science and religion are not necessarily in conflict with each other. Care for their earth is an essential part of our social teaching.
- Read the Encyclical, Laudato Si’, at: http://bit.ly/1SGuv5R.
“Crazy Facts”
Alternative Energy
- 7 in 10 Americans want to emphasize alternative energy, not oil, gas and coal.
Source: http://bit.ly/2o3GkvR.
Deforestation
- Our planet is currently losing over 15 billion trees each year—that’s 56 acres of forest every minute.
Source: http://www.earthday.org.
Prayers of Intercession
Response: Risen Jesus, lead us to new life.
For an end to the death and suffering that follows from our wars and fighting, we pray….
For an end to the death and suffering that follows from poverty and economic injustice, we pray….
For an end to terrorism and other forms of violence, we pray….
For an end to all our policies and practices that do not respect life, we pray…..
For an end to all the distortions caused in our economic system that are caused by human greed, we pray….
For a new spirit of care and respect for every human person, we pray….
For a new spirit of joyful acceptance of our diversity, we pray….
For a new era without war and the preparations for war, we pray…..
For a new era of respect for our planet and its environment, we pray…..
For a renewed human community, healed of all divisions, we pray….
Prayers
Lord Jesus, our Peace,
Word made flesh two thousand years ago,
who by rising from the dead have conquered evil and sin,
grant the human family of the third millennium
a just and lasting peace;
Bring to a happy outcome the talks undertaken
by people of good will who,
despite so many doubts and difficulties,
are trying to bring an end to the troubling conflicts in Africa,
the armed clashes in some countries of Latin America,
the persistent tensions affecting
the Middle East, vast areas of Asia,
and some parts of Europe.
Help the nations to overcome old and new rivalries,
by rejecting attitudes of racism and xenophobia.
May the whole of creation,
inundated by the splendor of the Resurrection,
rejoice because “the brightness of the eternal One
has vanquished the darkness of the world.”
-John Paul II, Urbi et Orbi Message, April 23, 2000
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God, you are a loving parent to all people;
help us to claim your children as our brothers and sisters.
Out of this understanding
of being in actual familiar relationship to those in need,
send us your Spirit to speak, act and advocate wholeheartedly.
Today give us the confidence to take the first step towards justice,
towards service,
towards you:
knowing that you will strengthen us with your love and example.
Amen.
Source: http://bit.ly/2o3Zy4F
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God’s Grandeur by Gerard Manley Hopkins, S.J.
The world is charged with the grandeur of God.
It will flame out, like shining from shook foil;
It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil
Crushed. Why do men then now not wreck his rod?
Generations have trod, have trod, have trod;
And all is seared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil;
And wears man’s smudge and shares man’s smell: the soil
is now bare, nor can foot feel, being shod.
And for all this, nature is never spent;
There lives the dearest freshness deep down things;
And though the last lights off the black West went
Oh, morning, at the brown brink eastward, springs –
Because the Holy Ghost over the bent
World broods with warm breast and with ah! bright wings.
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The encyclical Laudato Si concludes with two prayers. You can find them at: http://bit.ly/1Sgyyps.
Images
Copyright © 2017, Education for Justice, a project of Center of Concern.
Easter Sunday [a]
April 16, 2017
Date Added: April 11, 2017