Mary Magdalene stayed outside the tomb weeping.
And as she wept, she bent over into the tomb
and saw two angels in white sitting there,
one at the head and one at the feet
where the Body of Jesus had been.
And they said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?”
She said to them, “They have taken my Lord,
and I don’t know where they laid him.”
When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus there,
but did not know it was Jesus.
Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?
Whom are you looking for?”
She thought it was the gardener and said to him,
“Sir, if you carried him away,
tell me where you laid him,
and I will take him.”
Jesus said to her, “Mary!”
She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni,”
which means Teacher.
Jesus said to her, “Stop holding on to me,
for I have not yet ascended to the Father.
But go to my brothers and tell them,
‘I am going to my Father and your Father,
to my God and your God.’”
Mary went and announced to the disciples,
“I have seen the Lord,”
and then reported what he had told her.
Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went away quickly from the tomb,
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.
Let us pray that our Universal Church may radiate joy in our fragile world this day, that we may offer hope and inspiration through prayer, poetry, art and loving service to people who are fragile and worn down by society. We pray for people surviving isolation and illness during this period of COVID-19.
We pray to the Lord.
Let us pray for people lost among grief and hardships among our families and neighborhoods. Help us all proclaim new life in the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus’ compassion toward all people.
We pray to the Lord.
Let us pray for our own lives within the Catholic Church as we welcome our new members in joy who will be baptised, confirmed and received Holy Eucharist at a later date, and for those who will receive sacraments in the Easter Season or beyond.
We pray to the Lord.
Let us pray for those who live without hope this Easter Day, for those trapped in ill health, unemployment and fragile marriages, that we may offer Easter hope to people in our families and those in need.
We pray to the Lord.
Let us pray for all members of our parish community this day that we may be inspired by the Holy Spirit to pray more fervently and to serve others even beyond our expertise.
We pray to the Lord.
Let us pray for our beloved dead this Easter morning. For our loved ones and parishioners, that they may find their eternal home in the promise of the resurrection of Christ Jesus.
We pray to the Lord.
Bulletin Column:
Dear Believers in the Christ,
I never imagined I would say this to an empty church, “Happy Easter!” We are reading this on line and viewing recordings of Easter Mass. Some are watching live stream from churches across the globe. Some people are praying at home alone and others are praying with their children. Some people may have even forgotten that today is Easter. Our lives are incredibly different. The way we express our faith today is unprecedented.
Nevertheless, Easter is here! So, I still invite you into the most incredible miracle of faith. This is the core of our faith even though we are not together to proclaim a new, “Alleluia!” Please know of my concern for you in this fearful and uncertain time. News about COVID-19 changes every day. We will continue to communicate to you about the parish and our future together. Here is a reflection on today’s gospel.
We proclaim John 20:1-9 on this Easter morning. I love this gospel. Mary Magdalene comes to the tomb unsure about what just had happened to Jesus. Her inner turmoil kept her awake. She must have come to the tomb feeling empty. She was exhausted. Her inner loss and grief filled the night. I wonder how she found her way, stumbling on the path as the dawn cracked the sky.
Mary Magdalene was first to discover the empty tomb. History has not given her enough credit for this find, this spiritual encounter. She is called, “The Disciple to the Disciples”, for this very discovery and then telling the men. I can imagine she wiped the weariness from her eyes and still could not imagine such a finding. She panics. The emptiness filled her imagination about who took Jesus from the tomb. She needed another set of eyes to comprehend such an event.
Mary’s news to John and Peter caused alarm. They ran to verify the words of Mary. John arrived first to the place where Jesus was buried. John saw the cloths but could not bring himself to enter the tomb. His grief must have been overwhelming. Peter entered the tomb. He overcame his fear of what the tomb would reveal.
The tomb revealed the cloth that had covered Jesus’ head. Had someone moved the body, that cloth would still surround the head of Christ. Instead, it was rolled up, tucked in the corner of the tomb. It seems that Peter was still not making all of the connections. John saw the cloth and he believed. Something clicked in the heart of John. He knew Jesus had risen. He knew that through all of the turmoil, something new was happening.
Today, we are grateful for the lives of Mary Magdalene, Peter and John, for their willingness to enter the tomb. Their courage speaks to us today. Their inner turmoil gave way to centuries of hope for many people. Today, we celebrate that fear does not win. Today, we journey to the tombs that we have built from our own fear, discouragement and hopelessness. Jesus overwhelms the darkness with his light. Love has the last word.
We build our lives on Jesus’ resurrection. This is the core of our faith. We celebrate the resurrection at each Mass. This is the story we share at every Eucharist. I realize that so many areas of our human lives have yet to experience hope. Every day we are surrounded by grief at the death of a loved one. We lose hope as we face the dark issues of Church including sex crimes and infidelity. We find only discouragement when we do not live up to our potential or when we discover others have not lived up to their commitments. Life is really tough. Easter does not gloss over heartbreak. Easter invites us realize we share the crosses of life. As we encounter myriads of deaths, God is with us.
Our link to Easter is our second birth in baptism. We are born again in Jesus’ resurrection. God is among us. Hope is alive. Love pierces even our darkest pain. Our commitment to one another in baptism is the way in which we live out Easter morning. The virus has ruptured our common life. The Church and all of society will never be the same. Our life of worship will change in ways we still do not understand. Yet, our life together in baptism will challenge us to be prophetic witnesses of life and hope for many people. I wait in great hope this Easter morning that I will stand on the floor of Sacred Heart Church an preach an Easter message viewing your faces.
The white garment tucked away in the corner of the tomb is essentially the white garment given to us when we were baptized. We are clothed in glory, given a share in the hope of the empty tomb. We shall proclaim this message like prophets and bring people together like sages of the past. We shall witness our faith in good times and in bad. Alleluia!!
“For they did not yet understand the Scripturethat he had to rise from the dead.”
For integrity, love and hope within our Universal Church on this most holy night, that we may learn to pray fervently in the Holy Spirit so to serve the least among us.
We pray to the Lord.
For all believe in the love of Christ Jesus, that we may stir up our own baptismal commitments during this holy night even though we are not assembled to welcome new members to the font of the Holy Spirit.
We pray to the Lord.
For people who long for our new found hope this night, our terminally ill, our desperate poor, our beloved in the streets, people surviving in our jails, for families who live in cars and under bridges. We beg God to show us the compassion of the Risen Savior.
We pray to the Lord.
For all members of our parish community, that we may be unified in our holy search for God and remember our call to serve from the depths of our baptism. We pray that our future may be guided in the Holy Spirit.
We pray to the Lord.
For our loved ones who have died since our last Easter Vigil, that God may receive our friends, parishioners and family members in the everlasting Kingdom of Heaven. For all who have died in our world during these months of COVID-19.
Before the feast of Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come
to pass from this world to the Father.
He loved his own in the world and he loved them to the end.
The devil had already induced Judas, son of Simon the Iscariot, to hand him over.
So, during supper,
fully aware that the Father had put everything into his power
and that he had come from God and was returning to God,
he rose from supper and took off his outer garments.
He took a towel and tied it around his waist.
Then he poured water into a basin
and began to wash the disciples’ feet
and dry them with the towel around his waist.
He came to Simon Peter, who said to him,
“Master, are you going to wash my feet?”
Jesus answered and said to him,
“What I am doing, you do not understand now,
but you will understand later.”
Peter said to him, “You will never wash my feet.”
Jesus answered him,
“Unless I wash you, you will have no inheritance with me.”
Simon Peter said to him,
“Master, then not only my feet, but my hands and head as well.”
Jesus said to him,
“Whoever has bathed has no need except to have his feet washed,
for he is clean all over;
so you are clean, but not all.”
For he knew who would betray him;
for this reason, he said, “Not all of you are clean.”
So when he had washed their feet
and put his garments back on and reclined at table again,
he said to them, “Do you realize what I have done for you?
You call me ‘teacher’ and ‘master,’ and rightly so, for indeed I am.
If I, therefore, the master and teacher, have washed your feet,
you ought to wash one another’s feet.
I have given you a model to follow,
so that as I have done for you, you should also do.”
Prayers of the Faithful
For the Universal Church, for Pope Francis, bishops and clergy, that we may learn to wash the feet of those who know the effects of long-term poverty, incarceration, illness and severe hardships, so to build the Church on love.
We pray to the Lord.
For all ministers at Sacred Heart, Our Lady of Perpetual Help and Holy Rosary, that we may learn a new humility in serving people at the Altar of God, in our daily lives, and in our parish outreach.
We pray to the Lord.
For the unity and integrity of all believers even though we are unable to share the Body and Blood of Christ during this year’s Triduum. May we yearn for the Real Presence of Christ in our daily lives.
We pray to the Lord.
For our alcohol addicted children, for those who ponder suicide, for those who have been abused, and for our families who are starving for hope and comfort. We pray for all people suffering from COVID-19, and for all who have lost jobs.
We pray to the Lord.
For our young people and adults who desire to receive Eucharist for the first time during the Easter season, that they may be converted to serve people in need, to feed people who are starving for daily bread. We pray for our worried children during this time of pandemic.
We pray to the Lord.
For our desperate poor, our terminally ill, our family members without hope, our loved ones who are estranged from us, our friends who no longer pray, our neighbors who cannot support themselves, that our faith even in the absence of the Eucharist may challenge us to serve tirelessly.
We pray to the Lord.
For our beloved dead, for our families who still grieve this night, that we may receive a new hope of eternal life. May those who have died of COVID-19 find comfort in eternal life.
One of the Twelve, who was called Judas Iscariot,
went to the chief priests and said,
“What are you willing to give me
if I hand him over to you?”
They paid him thirty pieces of silver,
and from that time on he looked for an opportunity to hand him over.
On the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread,
the disciples approached Jesus and said,
“Where do you want us to prepare
for you to eat the Passover?”
He said,
“Go into the city to a certain man and tell him,
‘The teacher says, “My appointed time draws near;
in your house I shall celebrate the Passover with my disciples.”‘“
The disciples then did as Jesus had ordered,
and prepared the Passover.
When it was evening,
he reclined at table with the Twelve.
And while they were eating, he said,
“Amen, I say to you, one of you will betray me.”
Deeply distressed at this,
they began to say to him one after another,
“Surely it is not I, Lord?”
He said in reply,
“He who has dipped his hand into the dish with me
is the one who will betray me.
The Son of Man indeed goes, as it is written of him,
but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed.
It would be better for that man if he had never been born.”
Then Judas, his betrayer, said in reply,
“Surely it is not I, Rabbi?”
He answered, “You have said so.”
Reclining at table with his disciples, Jesus was deeply troubled and testified,
“Amen, amen, I say to you, one of you will betray me.”
The disciples looked at one another, at a loss as to whom he meant.
One of his disciples, the one whom Jesus loved,
was reclining at Jesus’ side.
So Simon Peter nodded to him to find out whom he meant.
He leaned back against Jesus’ chest and said to him,
“Master, who is it?”
Jesus answered,
“It is the one to whom I hand the morsel after I have dipped it.”
So he dipped the morsel and took it and handed it to Judas,
son of Simon the Iscariot.
After Judas took the morsel, Satan entered him.
So Jesus said to him, “What you are going to do, do quickly.”
Now none of those reclining at table realized why he said this to him.
Some thought that since Judas kept the money bag, Jesus had told him,
“Buy what we need for the feast,”
or to give something to the poor.
So Judas took the morsel and left at once. And it was night.
When he had left, Jesus said,
“Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him.
If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself,
and he will glorify him at once.
My children, I will be with you only a little while longer.
You will look for me, and as I told the Jews,
‘Where I go you cannot come,’ so now I say it to you.”
Simon Peter said to him, “Master, where are you going?”
Jesus answered him,
“Where I am going, you cannot follow me now,
though you will follow later.”
Peter said to him,
“Master, why can I not follow you now?
I will lay down my life for you.”
Jesus answered, “Will you lay down your life for me?
Amen, amen, I say to you, the cock will not crow
before you deny me three times.”
Finger Painting: This dinner is an intimate experience. Jesus gathers those he loves, the people who will continue his message of the Kingdom. John lays his head on Jesus’ chest. Judas and Peter will betray and deny him. Those experiences of love and betrayal live within us. In this simple painting, we see ourselves as we long to be closer to the Master. Love and Betrayal become hope for us today. My finger paintings this week try to get at an immediate experience of expression. We do not know what is happening in our world, we have little control, we only have this moment. I want to express through paint on my fingers the immediate, the now experience, of faith and trust in the Master in this week we call holy.
Six days before Passover Jesus came to Bethany,
where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead.
They gave a dinner for him there, and Martha served,
while Lazarus was one of those reclining at table with him.
Mary took a liter of costly perfumed oil
made from genuine aromatic nard
and anointed the feet of Jesus and dried them with her hair;
the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil.
Then Judas the Iscariot, one of his disciples,
and the one who would betray him, said,
“Why was this oil not sold for three hundred days’ wages
and given to the poor?”
He said this not because he cared about the poor
but because he was a thief and held the money bag
and used to steal the contributions.
So Jesus said, “Leave her alone.
Let her keep this for the day of my burial.
You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.”
The large crowd of the Jews found out that he was there and came,
not only because of him, but also to see Lazarus,
whom he had raised from the dead.
And the chief priests plotted to kill Lazarus too,
because many of the Jews were turning away
and believing in Jesus because of him.
I dipped my fingers in paint to create this image last week. I am filled with anxiety that overflows my heart which no alabaster jar could contain. Mary holds the lavish expression of care and consolation not in a jar but in an awareness of Jesus. She knows who Jesus really is for her and Lazarus. She is one of my most beloved characters in the gospels. I wait every year for this Monday of Holy Week to listen to Mary’s encounter one more time. She prepares my heart so I will be able to hear the rest of the story this week. I want to pour out what is in my own heart to the Once who faced condemnation from those who loved him. I ache to bend down to anoint the feet of the Master, the Beloved, because he has first forgiven me and set me free. This is behind the paint I dabble on paper.
Broken But Not Divided 