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Fear Is Not From God

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I can still remember clearly after St. John Paul II became Pope, he said, “Be not afraid”. It has remained with me to this day. In today’s reading from Acts, Jesus tells Paul in the vision, “Do not be afraid”. Paul would have been dead several times if it wasn’t for the Lord keeping him alive. He went through a lot of pain, including beatings and stoning. The Lord gave Paul a perk. He let him know that he would be OK while in Corinth. I’m sure Paul felt a great relief knowing he would have some smooth sailing for a while.

In today’s Gospel as usual, Jesus would fit right in. It Is a short Gospel but it says a lot. We will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. It reminds me of the life of Noah. Everybody was partying except Noah and family. They did their best to remain faithful. And because of that, and a few thousand Gopher trees and a lot of work, the Lord saved him and his family and the animals. Remember, he didn’t build the ark on a long weekend. Some say it took two to three years.

Today, there’s a lot of weeping and mourning going on. Some of it is very personal and some is going on in faraway countries. The pain and grief are indescribable. In the midst of that pain and suffering, people are opening their hearts and homes to refugees seeking some kind of safety. Praise God!

Jesus tells us that there will be time when he comes back again. He will not allow anyone to take away our joy. Can you imagine that?

For me, the best way to avoid fear is to say, Jesus. I trust in You! If I really do trust him, there is no room for fear. So, be not afraid.

Serving with joy!

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Deacon Dan Schneider is a retired general manager of industrial distributors. He and his wife Vicki have been married for over 50 years. They are the parents of eight children and thirty grandchildren. He has a degree in Family Life Education from Spring Arbor University. He was ordained a Permanent Deacon in 2002.  He has a passion for working with engaged and married couples and his main ministry has been preparing couples for marriage.

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Catch the Wind

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Didn’t we just celebrate Easter nine days ago? In fact, our eight-day celebration of Easter just came to a close on Divine Mercy Sunday. How is it that the daily Gospels have returned to a period long before the death and resurrection of Jesus? I think the Church, in its great wisdom, is telling us today, “We have celebrated well what God has done for us through Jesus Christ. Now it’s time to get to it.”

The story we have today isn’t just a narrative of where Jesus went, what he did, who he healed. This is not some appetizer we start into today. The third chapter of John shares with us the main course of our faith — the tenets of what we are to believe as followers of Christ. In the previous chapter, Jesus has performed his miracle at Cana and then cleansed the temple in Jerusalem of the money-changers, two very public and provocative acts. Chapter 3, in contrast, is a quiet conversation between our Lord and Nicodemus, the Pharisee who comes to Jesus at night, perhaps to avoid public scrutiny, but definitely because he wants to learn more. 

Jesus doesn’t hold back: “You must be born from above,” that is, of water and the Spirit, or as Nicodemus phrases it, born again. We know now that when we are baptized, in water and the Spirit, we take on a new life in Christ. Nicodemus at the time, however, didn’t get it.

Then Jesus does a little play on words. It might not come through in English, but spirit and wind are translated from the same word in both Greek and Hebrew. He says, “The wind blows where it will, and you can hear the sound it makes, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes …”

This line reminds me of the 1960s hit by Donovan — a song as old as I am, to be honest — a song about unrequited love, where the singer wishes he could be with the woman of his dreams, but alas, he “may as well try and catch the wind.”

Donovan, meet Nicodemus. Of course you can’t catch the wind. That’s not the point. The point is God sends the wind — and the Spirit — to you. To us. “So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” It is up to us to believe.

And what does believing get us? Jesus is matter-of-fact: “Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.”

The Spirit, when we believe and accept such a great gift into our lives, changes us. Look at those early disciples in Acts. They sold their possessions, they held everything in common, they listened to the Apostles bear witness to the resurrection, and “great favor was accorded them all.” Great favor is accorded to us, too, when we believe in the resurrection, the great favor of eternal life. God has given us his Son; he gives us his Spirit. Catch it — believe — and look forward to life with our loving God.

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Mike Karpus is a regular guy. He grew up in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, graduated from Michigan State University and works as an editor. He is married to a Catholic school principal, raised two daughters who became Catholic school teachers at points in their careers, and now relishes his two grandchildren, including the 3-year-old who teaches him what the colors of Father’s chasubles mean. He has served on a Catholic School board, a pastoral council and a parish stewardship committee. He currently is a lector at Mass, a Knight of Columbus, Adult Faith Formation Committee member and a board member of the local Habitat for Humanity organization. But mostly he’s a regular guy.

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Launching Disciples

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There comes a time in every parent’s journey where they have to step aside and let their children come into their own as persons. My mother-in-law calls this process “launching.” In little ways throughout a child’s development, parents are preparing them for life on their own. We teach our children how to bathe on their own, how to cook a meal, how to fold laundry (or at least wash their clothes). As they grow, children learn how to drive, how to manage finances, how to make wise decisions. Some of these lessons they internalize and begin to use immediately, others take more time and sometimes are rejected before they are well learned. 

In today’s Gospel, we see Jesus “launching” the disciples into the world. They have been formed, they have been tested, and now they are being empowered to go out “to all creation” proclaiming Jesus’ Resurrection. Then, Jesus steps aside, or in the case of most artwork of the Ascension, He steps up, rising to heaven to sit at His Father’s right hand. While remaining with the disciples and indeed, all baptized members of the Church up to this present moment and beyond, Jesus removes His bodily presence from this earth. 

Just as a parent cannot live the life of their child, it was vitally important for the Church that Jesus allow His disciples to come into full ownership of their faith. Peter couldn’t have become the leader of the Church if Jesus had remained. That role would have remained Jesus’. The apostles could not have had the authority or boldness to go out and preach as they did if they were constantly running back to Jesus to check in or verify their work. Jesus filled them with the Holy Spirit and sent them out in His place. 

How good, wise and selfless our Savior is. Even in this moment, after giving up everything on the Cross and returning with our salvation in hand, still He sacrifices for us. He leaves His beloved creation as was the Father’s Will and ascends to Heaven. In His abundant generosity, He gives to all of us the gift of the Spirit which has been handed down from generation to generation. And even more abundantly, He gives us a foreshadowing of Heaven within the Mass, a taste of complete union with God by the offering of His own Body and Blood for us in the Eucharist. Let our Easter Alleluia’s continue to ring out joyfully as we contemplate just how much Jesus has done for us.

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Kate Taliaferro is an Air Force wife and mother. She is blessed to be able to homeschool, bake bread and fold endless piles of laundry. When not planning a school day, writing a blog post or cooking pasta, Kate can be found curled up with a book or working with some kind of fiber craft. Kate blogs at DailyGraces.net.

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Mercy Across the Ages

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“And fear nothing, dear soul, whoever you are; the greater the sinner, the greater his right to Your mercy, O Lord.”

This quote from St. Faustina Kowalska is one of my absolute favorites and it is one we should all keep in mind as we celebrate this great feast of mercy – Divine Mercy Sunday. While the widespread devotion has only come about in recent years thanks to the work of St. Faustina and Pope St. John Paul II, the message of God’s great mercy is one that came wayyyyy before these two great saints walked the earth. 

The message of Divine Mercy is rooted in the simple truth that God loves us. Because He loves us, He forgives us of our sins – even the worst of the worst sins. That’s mercy, mainly, God’s love being bigger and more powerful than our sins. That’s the gift that we receive every time we step into the confessional. That’s the grace that God pours out on us, the grace that flows through us and out to others. 

Jesus shows us this great mercy in today’s Gospel. We are all familiar with the story of “doubting Thomas” (and probably identify with him more often than we care to admit). So what’s Thomas’ sin, then, that Jesus overwhelms with His great love? Thomas didn’t believe that his fellow disciples had seen the risen Lord. Through his words of “unless I see the mark of the nail in his hands and put my finger into the nail marks and put my hand into his side, I will not believe” (Jn 20:25), we can also reasonably assume that Thomas didn’t believe Jesus had, in fact, risen from the dead. 

That day, the Lord’s love was greater than Thomas’ doubt and his lack of faith. Jesus allowed Thomas to put his hands in His wounds while also charitably calling him out for his lack of faith, saying, “Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.” He was inviting Thomas into a deeper faith and a deeper relationship with the Risen One. 

Where in your life are you in need of God’s mercy? Take that leap of faith, approach Him with true contrition for your sins and allow His love to wash over you.

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Erin Madden is a Cleveland native and graduate of Franciscan University of Steubenville. She is passionate about the Lord Jesus, all things college sports and telling stories and she is blessed enough to get paid for all three of her passions. You can catch her on old episodes of the Clarence & Peter Podcast on YouTube as well as follow her on Twitter@erinmadden2016.

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Be Bold, Speak Truth

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Happy Easter! I love how we celebrate during the Octave and continue on to Pentecost.

In both Acts and Mark’s Gospel passage for today we find belief and unbelief. Mark tells us that Jesus revealed Himself to Mary Magdalen and two others and their response is to go to the others who are mourning and tell them about seeing Jesus; yet they do not believe. Jesus then takes matters into His own hands and appears to them; he “rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart,” (Mark 16:14). I can see this scene in my mind. I can hear these words being directed toward me. 

Now, when I rebuke a person, I am often harsh and my face shows the emotions I feel – anger, disappointment, annoyance. That is not what I see when Jesus stands and rebukes. On his face I see an invitation, a reminder, the gentle correction of the One who loves me to death and hurts because I am not with him. Is he annoyed? Maybe, but the overriding sense I have is one of sorrow because I have turned from him. I repent, not out of fear but out of love. 

And in that repentance, I find the courage to do as Peter and John, to tell others about Jesus and all he has done for me and all he wants to do for everyone. We are not given the gift of belief and faith to keep it to ourselves. Mary did not go back to the apostles to tell them about Jesus to make herself important. She does it to ease their pain but also because she could not encounter the Lord and keep it to herself. Do you keep your encounters to yourself? I am going to encourage you, no – challenge you – to stop keeping your faith to yourself. When you are given answers to prayer, when your life moves in a way that can only be God it is imperative that we tell others. 

And each of us will do this in the way that is in keeping with our nature. It may be difficult or awkward at first but keep at it. The Good News is meant to be shared as Jesus tells us, “Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature,” (Mark 16:15). 

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Deanna G. Bartalini, M.Ed.; M.P.A., is a certified spiritual director, writer, speaker and content creator. The LiveNotLukewarm.com online community is a place to inform, engage and inspire your Catholic faith. Her weekly Not Lukewarm Podcast gives you tips and tools to live out your faith in your daily life.

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Easter People

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He is Risen! Indeed He is Risen!

How powerful is today’s First Reading from Acts of the Apostles! We hear that Peter and John are arrested for doing good and miraculous works in the name of Christ. We should have the same confidence in Christ that Peter and John do. In defense of their actions, they defend the name and person of Christ: “There is no salvation through anyone else, nor is there any other name under heaven given to the human race by which we are to be saved”. Peter and John testify to Jesus Christ as Truth incarnate who became man for the sake of our salvation. Their testimony–in both word and deed–show us that when we do good works in the name of Christ, there are two possible outcomes: the conversion of others or the persecution by others. Peter and John experience both and face both with unwavering faith in Christ. 

The story we hear in the Gospel tells of the third time Jesus reveals Himself to the disciples after His death and resurrection. Christ seeks out his disciples in the ordinariness of their lives. They are fishing, something that supports their livelihood. Christ knows that His followers need inspiration in every aspect of their lives, especially in the midst of the ordinary. It is in our everyday lives that we should be living out the Gospel. We should seek Jesus in the faces of the people who we encounter in the midst of our typical day, in the tedium of sending emails or returning phone calls, in the mundane tasks of picking up milk or driving kids to swim lessons, and in the normality of conversations with our families, co-workers, and friends. Those we encounter should also see the face of Christ in us when they meet us in the humdrum of everyday life. 

As we continue through this Easter season, may we remember to be a witness to the miracle of the Resurrection in our everyday lives. May our hearts be ever ready to see the face of Christ in every person we encounter and may we be a light for others on the path to Christ.

“We are the Easter people and hallelujah is our song!” – St. John Paul the Great

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Dakota currently lives in Denver, CO and teaches English Language Development and Spanish to high schoolers. She is married to the love of her life, Ralph. In her spare time, she reads, goes to breweries, and watches baseball. Dakota’s favorite saints are St. John Paul II (how could it not be?) and St. José Luis Sánchez del Río. She is passionate about her faith and considers herself blessed at any opportunity to share that faith with others. Check out more of her writing at https://dakotaleonard16.blogspot.com.

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An Untroubled Heart

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Jesus stands amid the Apostles, offers his peace, and then further offers words of comfort with a proclamation to not let our hearts be troubled. Although not always the simplest task, God never asks for the impossible; therefore, we can be assured of the graces necessary to accomplish it.

As worries mount, so too is the tendency to feel God has forgotten us or abandoned us. Perhaps the Apostles felt that way following the death of our Lord and before he appeared with this greeting of peace. In Christ, there is always hope; we have in both the Old and New Testament the assurance to never be forsaken nor abandoned (Hebrews 13:5); recalling Jesus remains with us always, until the end of the age, to be exact ( Matthew 28:20).  

It is precisely those moments when we struggle the most to see God amid our circumstances that we should rely on the gift of hindsight. Looking back to the outcomes of other hardships or trials (especially those beyond our control), carefully and prayerfully recognize all the graces bestowed. The situation possibly didn’t resolve as wished, yet there is a discernable peace associated with that time and some greater good that comes from it.

Like the Apostles between the Resurrection and Pentecost, we too may see our peace disturbed, or doubts creep in when we don’t know the path to the place Jesus has for us. It is human nature to want all the details, and we want them before we act. That is not the trust to which Jesus calls us. The road may seem confusing or beyond our reach. The promises, while trustworthy, may feel for someone else and not for someone so filled with doubt, sin, or fear. Remember, out of great love for us, while we were still sinners, God sent his only Son to die for our redemption (Romans 5:8).

Jesus is truly the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and we don’t have to search far to find He is always with us. He journeys alongside our darkness and our joy. He is the embodiment of the unseen God; if we have seen him, then we have seen the Father. We don’t need to search far to find signs and wonders of a God; we can witness his almighty love in a sunrise, the sweet smile of a child, and the peace which comes in prayer. And most notably, in the Eucharist, “The disciples of Jesus recounted what had taken place along the way, and how they had come to recognize him in the breaking of bread” (Luke 24:35). Amen, this is where hope prevails amid the most challenging and uncertain times in Christ, always by our side.

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Allison Gingras is a Deacon’s wife and seasoned mom of three. Allison works for Family Rosary as a social media and digital specialist, as well as a new media consultant for Catholic Mom and the Diocese of Fall River. She is the author of Encountering Signs of Faith: My Unexpected Journey with Sacramentals, the Saints, and the Abundant Grace of God (Fall 2022, Ave Maria Press). Allison developed the Stay Connected Journals for Women series including her two volumes – The Gift of Invitation and Seeking Peace (OSV). She’s hosted A Seeking Heart with Allison Gingras podcast since 2015.

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The views and opinions expressed in the Inspiration Daily blog are solely those of the original authors and contributors. These views and opinions do not necessarily represent those of Diocesan, the Diocesan staff, or other contributors to this blog.

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Rejoice

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The Octave of Easter is full of redemptive resurrection joy. Each day is a celebration of Easter and the joy it brings to believers.  The readings today bring forth two stories of rejoicing: the healing of a man crippled from birth by two of the apostles and the road to Emmaus. The Psalm calls on the hearts that seek the Lord to rejoice!

Today I ask you to pray with me a prayer and hymn of praise, the Te Deum, as it appears in the Liturgy of the Hours, the Office of Readings for this day. Rejoice!

You are God: we praise you;

You are God: we acclaim you;

You are the eternal Father:

All creation worships you.

To you all angels, all the powers of heaven,

Cherubim and Seraphim, sing in endless praise:

Holy, holy, holy, Lord, God of power and might,

Heaven and earth are full of your glory.

The glorious company of apostles praise you.

The noble fellowship of prophets praise you.

The white-robed army of martyrs praise you.

Throughout the world the holy Church acclaims you:

Father, of majesty unbounded,

Your true and only Son, worthy of all worship,

And the Holy Spirit, advocate and guide.

You, Christ, are the king of glory,

The eternal Son of the Father.

When you became man to set us free

You did not spurn the Virgin’s womb.

You overcame the sting of death,

And opened the kingdom of heaven to all believers.

You are seated at God’s right hand in glory.

We believe that you will come, and be our judge.

Come then, Lord, and help your people,

Bought with the price of your own blood,

And bring us with your saints

To glory everlasting.

Save your people, Lord, and bless your inheritance.

Govern and uphold them now and always.

Day by day we bless you.

We praise your name forever.

Keep us today, Lord, from all sin.

Have mercy on us, Lord, have mercy.

Lord, show us your love and mercy;

For we put our trust in you.

In you, Lord, is our hope:

And we shall never hope in vain.

Alleluia! Amen! Rejoice!

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Beth Price is part of the customer care team at Diocesan. She is a Secular Franciscan (OFS) and a practicing spiritual director. Beth shares smiles, prayers, laughter, a listening ear and her heart with all of creation. Reach her here bprice@diocesan.com.

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This Changes Everything

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While the phrase, “This changes everything” could be seen as overused or an over exaggeration, in today’s Gospel no phrase could be more apt. However, in the strange and mysterious ways of God, there is an element that remains unchanged, even while the whole course of human history has been rerouted. 

Today, we hear the story of Mary Magdalen’s encounter with the risen Jesus just outside the tomb. In her distress, when she first hears Jesus she doesn’t look at Him. She assumes He is the gardener. Only when He calls her by name does she look up to see the resurrected Christ. 

By name He calls her. Just as during Jesus’ previous ministry, He intimately knows each one of His followers. He calls them, singles them out of the crowd, to come and follow Him. Even after going through His Passion, even after the mystery of His Resurrection, Jesus, the Good Shepherd, still does not lose sight of one member of His flock. Nothing has changed. 

And yet as we know, everything changed. Without speaking in a parable, Jesus identifies His disciples as His “brothers.” He claims them as siblings, explaining that they would now share one Father, one God. This statement makes it clear that this relationship is changing, it has been transformed. 

As baptized Christians, we are given a claim to this status of sibling. We are sons and daughters of God, brothers and sisters of Jesus. We share one Father and can pray the prayer Jesus taught us with renewed meaning. “Our Father” is not a theoretical statement, or some lofty metaphor. This is my Father, and your Father. We are made into a new family. No one we encounter can truly be a stranger, for everyone we meet is another brother, another sister, within God’s extensive family. 

We are just beginning the Easter celebrations. Just as Jesus instructed Mary to go and announce what she had seen and heard, so too are we called. We are called to share the Good News with our brothers and sisters and to live our lives in such a way that they can see something is different. We too have been transformed. The Resurrection changes everything.

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Kate Taliaferro is an Air Force wife and mother. She is blessed to be able to homeschool, bake bread and fold endless piles of laundry. When not planning a school day, writing a blog post or cooking pasta, Kate can be found curled up with a book or working with some kind of fiber craft. Kate blogs at DailyGraces.net.

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Fearful Yet Overjoyed

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Think back on a moment of life where everything changed. One of those crystal moments, where you know things will never be the same. Think of that moment when something you had been looking forward to became real; you were accepted at college, got your dream job, the moment your vocation became clear, the day of your marriage, the birth of your child.

These are such happy spots in our earthly lives! We are overcome with joy and delight. And, often, then reality sinks in. Can I cut it in college? What if I can’t? What if I am not as good at this job as I think I will be? Can I really spend the rest of my earthly life this way? Am I willing to give everything to get this person to heaven? What if I fail as a parent? How does this change tomorrow? Will anything in my life ever be the same?

The same can happen as we experience the joy of Easter. Christ is risen, Alleluia! Something so minor as death cannot overtake our Lord!

But the questions come, what does this mean to me? Is Easter simply the ending of my Lenten penance? Can I now go back to eating chocolate and putting cream in my coffee without giving it another thought? Can I pick up that weekly grande latte again rather than giving to someone in greater need? Do I just pick up where I left off on Mardi Gras like Lent (and Easter) never happened? What has to change in my life because Jesus has risen? How does this change tomorrow? Will anything in my life ever be the same?

The Church, in her infinite motherly wisdom, again provides. Easter is not a single day after which we put away the bunnies and baskets and go back to our daily routine. Easter is a season which begins with the rising of Jesus and ends with the descent of the Holy Spirit as the grand finale! Lent was 40 days. Easter gives us 50 days to soak it all in. We have time to meditate on the reality of Easter, not to be fearful but to let our senses, honed by abstinence and penance, truly consider what it means to serve a risen Lord. Our Lenten penance isn’t a thing of the past, it is now the prepared bedding where our Easter joy takes root. Our hearts and souls are ready to turn back to God for this time of grace and joy.

My prayer for you is that you are able to spend this Easter, all of Easter, not as a “getting back to normal” but as a time to find a new normal. To integrate in new ways, what it means to serve the One who overcame death through love. Like Mary Magdalene and the other Mary, may your joy at Easter so fill your heart that you run to share the news of Christ’s love with all you meet.

Easter blessings!

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Sheryl gratefully serves the St. Therese Catholic School community as both the kindergarten teacher and the school principal. When not teaching, she takes the roll of student as she studies with her husband who is in formation to be Deacon in the Diocese of Kalamazoo. Their home is kept lively by their golden retriever, Carlyn and new puppy, Lucy.

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All About Us

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It is fairly common for us to hear in popular culture and public conservations someone being told, “It’s not all about you” when they are perceived as being selfish, self-centered or self-serving. It’s a very public and definite rebuke, a complete put-down. Get over yourself, it says. Think about someone else for once, it implies.

And then we come to Holy Week and Easter. Jesus Christ is risen today! Alleluia! He is risen indeed! Praise be to God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ! A reflection on all the drama, all the emotion, all the theology of the past few days, and one thing that arises – a little bit unexpected, quite honestly – is that all of it, Christ’s passion, death and resurrection, are, in fact, all about us.

We are sinners. We fail God and others. God in his infinite power and majesty could do anything at all about it – forget us, leave us to flounder, even destroy us and start over. Yet God decides in his infinite love and mercy instead to save us. The incarnation, the loving act of sending his only Son into this world to be a ransom for our sins, would never have to happen if not for our sinfulness. 

And Jesus submits to the will of the Father, emptying himself and becoming human. He is born as we are born, grows as we grow, lives like us in all ways, yet he does not sin. His commitment is completely to the Father, giving us the example of how we should live. He teaches us, he heals us, he gives us his very self in the Eucharist at the Last Supper on Holy Thursday. He does it all for us.

And we reject him. He is betrayed, arrested, tried, falsely accused, falsely convicted. He is tortured and ridiculed, crucified and killed. And he humbly accepts it all. He who never had sin takes on our sins and is killed for them. His death is all about his love for us.

But it’s not the end. Two thousand years later, we repeat it almost as a matter of fact, that Jesus rose from the dead. But think about that! He was dead, but then he was no longer dead! No wonder his disciples couldn’t comprehend what that meant when he told them it would occur. And it happened for us, that we, too, might have everlasting life with God in heaven. Because God loves us so much that he willed this all for our salvation. 

Let us latch onto that this Easter and always with rejoicing and praise. Jesus became man, suffered, died and rose again, all for us. And it happened because God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, loves us in spite of us. God, who does not need us in the slightest, has chosen to make it all about us with His infinite love. Let us live on in that love, taking it and spreading it and making it all about someone else, just as God has done with us. Happy Easter! Alleluia!

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Mike Karpus is a regular guy. He grew up in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, graduated from Michigan State University and works as an editor. He is married to a Catholic school principal, raised two daughters who became Catholic school teachers at points in their careers, and now relishes his two grandchildren, including the 3-year-old who teaches him what the colors of Father’s chasubles mean. He has served on a Catholic School board, a pastoral council and a parish stewardship committee. He currently is a lector at Mass, a Knight of Columbus, Adult Faith Formation Committee member and a board member of the local Habitat for Humanity organization. But mostly he’s a regular guy.

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The Liturgy of the Magnificent Easter Vigil

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Holy Saturday…

A day of quiet and calm. A day of intimacy and hope.

A day when all creation sighed in exhaustion after witnessing the sorrowful and tragic events of Calvary the day before.

A day when the earth trembled as it held the sacred Body of the Savior as it lay in the silent darkness.

A day of waiting….

The liturgy on Holy Saturday, the magnificent Easter Vigil, teaches us the divine art of waiting. We wait in the dark around the Easter Fire, usually shivering in the early spring evening for the service to begin. We wait as the Paschal candle precedes us into a darkened church and our tiny candles gradually become a sea of lights punctuating the shadows. We wait for everyone to take their place before the lovely Exultet is proclaimed in song. And then finally we wait for the reading of the Gospel of the resurrection as the Liturgy of the Word “takes us by the hand” in the words of Benedict XVI and walks us through the whole trajectory of salvation history. If your parish proclaims all the readings for Holy Saturday Liturgy there will be seven Old Testament readings and one from the Epistles in the New Testament.

As these readings follow upon each other, one after another, I feel that in some way I take my place in the long centuries of creation waiting for redemption as I look through the “scrapbook” of memories and miracles, of suffering and assurance that is the heartbeat of the Liturgy of the Word of the Easter Vigil. Story after story is read from creation through the promise made to Abraham and the miraculous freeing of the Hebrew slaves as they raced across the path made by the Lord for them through the Red Sea, to the prophecies of how God has chosen Israel, making with them a covenant, inviting them to fidelity, through to God sorrowing over his unfaithful people to whom he promises a new heart and a new spirit. 

Every baptized person stands in this arc of salvation, this mysterious longing of the Father’s heart for our return to him. We are baptized into Christ’s death and rise with him.

In the Easter Vigil, the readings assure us with the unmistakable echoes of a Father’s heart: “I love you. All of this was for love of you. I have always stood by my covenanted people and I will do so forever. I will stand by you. Even if you walk away. Even if you are weak and wobbly in your love for me, I will love you. You do not need to be afraid.”

And lastly, the community breaks out with joy as we celebrate the Baptisms of those who have waited many months of preparation. I always feel more complete as we welcome them among us, each of us holding them spiritually to our hearts.

If you have never been to an Easter Vigil, someday give yourself that gift. Don’t wait any longer!

Contact the author

Sr. Kathryn J. HermesKathryn James Hermes, FSP, is the author of the newly released title: Reclaim Regret: How God Heals Life’s Disappointments, by Pauline Books and Media. An author and spiritual mentor, she offers spiritual accompaniment for the contemporary Christian’s journey towards spiritual growth and inner healing. She is the director of My Sisters, where people can find spiritual accompaniment from the Daughters of St. Paul on their journey. Website: www.touchingthesunrise.com Public Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/srkathrynhermes/ For monthly spiritual journaling guides, weekly podcasts and over 50 conferences and retreat programs join my Patreon community: https://www.patreon.com/srkathryn.

Feature Image Credit: paulcamposraw, https://www.cathopic.com/photo/17957-luz-cristo