By Msgr. Charles Pope

The Gospel for this Sunday speaks to the necessity of becoming witnesses of the Resurrection of Jesus. It begins with the necessary foundation of the proclamation of the Church: “The Lord is risen indeed, he has appeared to Simon!” This solemn declaration of the Church forms the doctrinal certitude of the resurrection. But on this foundation of the truth the personal witness of every Christian must be built. In this gospel we see how the Lord confirms his resurrection through the teaching authority of the Church but then confirms each apostle in the truth of it, clarifies their faith and then commissions them to be witnesses. Lets see how the Lord does this in four steps.

I. The Certainty of the Resurrection – And [the disciples from Emmaus] rose that same hour and returned to Jerusalem. And they found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together, saying, “The Lord has risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!” Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he was known to them in the breaking of the bread.

In the early hours of the first Easter Sunday, the news began to circulate that Jesus was alive and had been seen. These reports were at first disbelieved or at least doubted by the Apostles. They dismissed various reports from both women and men. Several women including Mary Magdalene had seen Jesus alive. St. John had seen the empty tomb and had “believed.” And though Luke does not mention it here, Mark records that when the disciples returning from Emmaus first sent word they had seen Jesus, they too were at first disbelieved (Mk 16:13). But suddenly that evening, as we pick up the story, there was a change, a declaration by the Apostles that the Lord “has truly risen!”

So what causes this to change? It would seem that after the early evening report from the disciples returning from Emmaus, Peter slipped away, perhaps for a walk. According to both Paul (1 Cor 15:5) and Luke (Lk 24:34) the risen Lord then appeared to Peter privately, prior to making Himself known to any of the other Apostles. Peter reports Jesus’ appearance to the others and it is at this point that the resurrection moves from being doubted to being the official declaration of the community, the Church. The official declaration is worded as follows: The Lord has truly risen, he has appeared to Simon!” (Luke 24:34)

But did the women’s and the laymen’s declarations mean nothing? Of course not. Indeed, The Lord upbraids the Apostles later for being so reluctant to accept the testimony of the others (Mk 16:14). He calls them “hard of heart” for this reluctance, especially given that he had said he would rise on the third day. Even to this day the Lord often presents apparitions of Mary, the saints or himself to the faithful. The clergy must carefully discern such actions and simply disbelieve them. But no apparition or devotion (e.g. the Divine Mercy Chaplet) can become official teaching of the Universal Church until the Church, in union with Simon Peter’s successor rules it worthy of belief.

This is even more the case with a dogma like the resurrection. It becomes an official teaching when proclaimed so by Peter and his successors. Pope Benedict, writing as Joseph Ratzinger sees an ecclesiological dimension to Peter’s special role in causing the resurrection to go from being merely attested to being “true indeed.”
… This indication of names [Cephas and then the Twelve], … reveals the very foundation of the Church’s faith. On the one hand “the Twelve” remain the actual foundation stone of the Church, the permanent point of reference. On the other hand, the special task give to Peter is underlined here. … Peter’s special witnessing role is confirmation of his commission to be the rock on which the Church is built. … So the resurrection account flows naturally into ecclesiology. … and it shapes the nascent Church [Jesus of Nzareth Vol 2., pp. 259-260].

So the resurrection is now officially declared by the Church, it is certain and true. Faith is a way of knowing, and in our faith in the Church as stated in the creed (I believe in one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church) leads us to certain knowledge of the resurrection by the Church’s dogmatic declaration: The Lord has truly risen, he has appeared to Simon!” (Luke 24:34)

But if the faith is a communal and official declaration of the Church through the college of apostles with Peter as its head, it cannot remain simply this. Faith has to reach every member at a very personal level. It is not enough for you or I to say, Peter say, or the Church says, or Scripture says, or my mother says. We must also be able to add our voice to the witness of the Church: “Jesus is risen it is true! What the Church has always taught I too have experienced. All her teachings and doctrines, all that the Lord has taught and revealed is true because in the laboratory of my own life I tested these truths and found them to be true!”

And thus we must stay with these disciples in their journey to come to experience personally the proclamation of the Church: “The Lord is truly risen, he has appeared to Simon!”

Lets observe their journey and ours unfold in the next three steps.

II. The Contact with the Resurrection - While they were still speaking about this, he stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be with you.” But they were startled and terrified and thought that they were seeing a ghost.

The truth, if we will lay hold of it, is consoling, and freeing. And so Jesus, in the truth of his resurrected glory stands before them and says to them “Shalom”, peace. And while the truth does liberate and bring peace, a journey is usually necessary to realize and accept this. Before we can receive the gift of truth, we must often accept the conflict that it introduces in our life.

For, as we all know, the truth often startles, even upsets; it often breaks conventions and challenges what we think and know. And thus here too the apostles are initially startled. It is one thing to hear and accept that the Lord is risen, that he has appeared to Peter; but it is another thing to be directly be and personally confronted with the truth.

It was one thing for them to believe with the Church, and say “The Lord is truly risen, he has appeared to Simon!” But it is another thing for them to personally experience this. It breaks through everything they have ever known. Their belief is no longer abstract, it is no longer merely communal. Now they are contact the reality of it personally.

So too for us on our journey to deeper faith, a faith declared by the Church, but a faith we must come to know and experience personally. And thanks be to God the Lord is willing to help us do so. For he does not simply shatter our notions, rather he helps us to connect the dots between his truth and what we already know. Lets see how.

III. The Clarification of the Resurrection - Then he said to them, “Why are you troubled? And why do questions arise in your hearts? Look at my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me and see, because a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you can see I have.” And as he said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. While they were still incredulous for joy and were amazed, he asked them, “Have you anything here to eat?” They gave him a piece of baked fish; he took it and ate it in front of them. He said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the law of Moses and in the prophets and psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures.

As stated earlier, the truth can often startle us, it can challenge what we think and know. For this reason some avoid or resist it initially.

But the Lord in his mercy often sends us assurances and helps us to “connect the dots” between what challenges us and what we already know; between what is new and what is ancient and attested. Truth has a unity and greater truths builds on lesser ones. God prepares us in stages for the full truth. Jesus once said to the apostles: I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth (Jn 16:12-13)

And thus, in this gospel the Lord sets forth a kind of continuity and clarification for them. Through various methods he shows them that though gloriously risen and transformed, he who stands before them now is also the same Jesus who walked with them days before. He shows them his hands and side to indicate he the one they saw crucified. He bids them to touch him and see that he is not a ghost. And he eats to console them and show them he still has fellowship with them among the living, he is no shimmering apparition from another realm. Finally he open their mind to the understanding of Scripture some that they may know that everything that happened is not some radical break or tearing up of God’s plan. Rather it is a fulfillment of all that was written, all that was prophesied. What seems new and different is in fact in line with, in continuity with all that has gone before. This is the new Passover that opens the way to the true, more glorious and eternal Promised Land of Heaven. This is not failure, it is fulfillment, this is not rejection of the Old Covenant, it is the ratification of it and the transposition of it to a higher and more glorious level than ever before. Moses gave them Manna, but Jesus gives himself as the true bread from heaven. Moses gave them Water, but Jesus changed water to wine and wine to his saving blood. The blood of the Passover lamb staved off a death that would later come, but the Blood of the True Lamb cancels the second death of hell.

This is clarification. He is helping them connect the dots between what they have known and this new and startling reality that he has overcome torture and death. It is really him, though as the resurrection accounts also indicate, he is transformed. He has not merely taken up his former life, he has elevated it to a new and mysterious level. He has a humanity that is not only risen form the dead, but that is glorified. His Lordship and glory shows through as never before. He can appear and disappear at will and is able, it would seem, to alter his appearance.

So here is a truth that we must journey to. Jesus is not mere Rabbi or ethical teacher from the ancient world. He is the Lord. He is our brother and yet also our Lord. He raised our humanity from the dead but glorified it as well. He lives at a new level. And we who are baptized into his death also rise with him to a new and higher life (Rom 6:4). Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come (2 Cor 5:17).

In our journey to what is new, the Lord does not destroy what is behind, that he has done. He takes it up, fulfills it and elevates it. His truth builds and while what is new challenges us, it does not destroy or cancel our reason or what we have already come to know as true, if it was in fact true.

It is for us to cooperate with his grace and personally lay hold of the truth declared by the Church. The Lord does this in a way that respects our intellect and sense of the faith. And thus our conflicts are gradually overcome, our faith is deepened and while communal becomes also more personal. Now we are ready to become witnesses to the Church’s unchanging declaration “The Lord is risen indeed, he has appeared to Simon!” and every other teaching that flows form this.

IV. Commissioning - And he said to them, “Thus it is written that the Christ would suffer and rise from the dead on the third day and that repentance, for the forgiveness of sins, would be preached in his name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.”

What is a witness? A witness is not someone who merely repeats formulas and narratives of what others saw and heard. A witness testifies to what he or she has seen and heard. And thus, having contacted personally the certain truth proclaimed by the Church at the Church of the Resurrection, and having it clarified for them, they are now ready to go forth as witnesses. Bishops, priests, deacons, catechists and parents have to move beyond merely repeating formulas, precious and necessary thought hey are (please do not go and invent your own religion!). That Jesus is risen from the dead is certain and true because the Church solemnly proclaims it: He is risen indeed! He has appeared to Simon!”

But next must come that moment when we allow the Lord to stand before us and affirm what the Lord proclaims through the Church. And having this contact we must allow him to clarify it and then commission us to go forth as his witnesses. As witnesses we can and must say, The Church says, He is rise, the Scriptures say, He is risen, and I SAY to you, he is risen. You are witnesses of these things.

Or are you?

by Andrew Prior

Readings:

Acts 9:36-43,
John 10:22-30,
Revelation 7:9-17

Their faces were triumphant and expectant.

At his feet he saw a caterpillar in its death throes, covered with tiny ants. He bent down. A very plain caterpillar; more of a grub, really, but each detail as fresh and deliberate as the minute perfection of a new born baby's fingers. He watched it writhe. "We are the chosen people of God, and yet, no more aware of our savagery than these ants."

He saw her feet, where they had her pinned against the wall, and crushed the caterpillar's head with his finger; aware that this small mercy crushed several equally innocent ants, and wearily stood up. "Let the one who is without sin cast the first stone."

My wonder at the world still grows. It is not just the grandeur of mountain and desert, or the vastness of sky. I am stunned by the 'sweet spot' within which we live, where carbon based life just works! Life is sustained despite all the sloppiness and wastefulness, and the sheer improbability, of biological processes. That any of this survives, let alone that it somehow supports our consciousness, is a miracle beyond understanding.

My horror grows also, and sometimes more. The world is steeped in incomprehensible suffering and pain. Watching one of those mass animal migrations accompanied across Africa narrated with David Attenborough's urbane commentary, it suddenly struck me that each one of these thousands of beasts would be killed; hunted down. No Shady Acres for the wildebeest.

We humans are not spared this trauma. We know we will die. Our society limps along between outbursts of savagery we can barely contain, and which too often still equal the worst we have ever known. It is arguable that our "everyone gets a fair go, mate" democracy in Australia, is jerry-built upon injustice; the inhumanity towards the Stolen Generation is matched by the hatreds and petty shames which drove forced adoptions and all their abuses. It is still present in the demonisation of asylum seekers. Our political leadership is at the forefront; refusing to say sorry, trivialising apologies with leadership challenges in the next breath, and racing to the bottom in the dehumanising of the poor and desperate.

It is true; the poor are not sold for the price of a pair of sandals anymore; not in Australia. They are sold for the price of a place in parliament. And in too many streets, behind the brick veneers, the words of Revelation 7 are so remote they must seem an offensive joke.

and the one who is seated on the throne will shelter them.
16 They will hunger no more, and thirst no more;
the sun will not strike them,
nor any scorching heat;
17 for the Lamb at the centre of the throne will be their shepherd,
and he will guide them to springs of the water of life,
and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.’

Their great ordeal is invisible, (7:14) recognized by no one.

And in Australia, we are the lucky ones.

A theology which does not account for the pain of life is a failure. One which takes easy refuge in those words of Revelation is a denial, an insult and abuse, and a pious platitude that is blasphemous.

- - -

On the fourth Sunday after Easter, we are going back to work after the holydays of resurrection. Now resurrection must be lived out. We have heard the Lord has been raised; how then, will we live?

This life begins in Acts 9. There is a startling continuity between Peter, the head of the church, and Jesus. Dorcas, a shining light in her community, dies. There is no last minute call for help as with Jairus' daughter (Luke 8, Mark 5) Dorcas is dead, and laid out. The story in Acts mirrors the story of the little girl, but is also more extreme.

"The echoes of Jesus' raising of the dead girl in Mark 5 are striking, not least in Jesus' words, "Talitha com" (Little girl arise), which sounds so much like "Tabitha, arise!"" (Bill Loader) I want to be convinced by this comment, but wonder why Luke does not then use the word talitha in Chapter 8 in his own version of the story. Notwithstanding this, we are meant to see the similarity of the two events.

•There are mourners
•Peter puts all the people outside.
•He gives Dorcas his hand to help/lift her up.
•The same word aneste is used for the girl getting up in Mark 5:42, Luke 8:55 and for Jesus being raised in Luke 24:7; we use the same Paschal greeting today: "Χριστός ἀνέστη!" Aneste is used of Aeneas in Acts 9.34, and is the command Peter gives to Dorcas in Acts 9:40.

The message is clear: there is continuity between Peter and Jesus. In all the suffering of the world, the church carries on the ministry of its Christ. Acts show us faith, hope and love in action; the beginnings of resurrection. [More on Acts 9]

- - -

In John Chapter 10, the significance of the continuity between Peter and Jesus is emphasised by the continuity between Jesus and the Father.

27My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me. 28I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand. 29What my Father has given me is greater than all else, and no one can snatch it out of the Father’s hand. 30The Father and I are one.

Here are words of hope! "No one will snatch them out of my hand."

Bill's First Thoughts encouraged me to re-read the whole of Chapter 10 in John. The words of hope are not fanciful, but born out of grief and loss.

The language of John, which so easily seems 'other worldly' to our ears, is uncompromising and subversive.

To call Jesus the Shepherd is always to make a political statement, never a pastoral platitude. Psalm 23's idyllic green pastures and still waters are also a table prepared in the presence of our enemies. As in the arid grazing lands of Australia, the still waters are always rare places in a hard landscape.

The shepherd was the King who was to protect the nation. By styling himself as the good shepherd Jesus, was aligning himself to the tradition of the prophets who wrote

Many shepherds have destroyed my vineyard,
they have trampled down my portion,
they have made my pleasant portion
a desolate wilderness. Jer 12:10

and

Mortal, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel: prophesy, and say to them—to the shepherds: Thus says the Lord God: Ah, you shepherds of Israel who have been feeding yourselves! Should not shepherds feed the sheep? Ezekiel 34:2

By saying "the Father and I are one," he claimed that his politics were also the politics of God! No wonder they hated him.

By the time we come to the set text for the week we have long departed from the optimism of Acts Chapter 9. The church in which people are raised from the dead is beset by strangers; wolves indeed, and failed by hired hands, (10:1-13) who are thieves and bandits. These verses imply that, in fact, some people have listened to the strangers, even though it had once seemed they were good sheep who only listened to the voice of Jesus.(10:14,16)

Our text heaps on the irony. It is the Feast of Dedication. This remembered the great event of the Maccabean rededication of the temple after the sacrilege of the Seleucids. It is a winter feast, but the fact that John, apparently needlessly, mentions "it was winter," sounds just like Nicodemus "coming by night," and when Judas went out, "and it was night." (13:30)

Jesus is standing in the Portico of Solomon the wisest of Kings. There, at the time of renewal and rededication, he, the one who brings it, is accused of blasphemy. It truly was winter.

So it also seemed for John's community in its battle with the false shepherds and worthless hirelings. But there was growth, too. They were recognising God's other sheep, who did not belong to the fold from which they had come. There was one flock and one shepherd. (10:16)

- - -

I stand uneasy before the vision of Revelation 7. My friends who are among the few survivors of the massacre of their entire town do not only dumbfound me with their resilience, civility and hope. They teach me that I have only the barest notion what it means to "come out of a great ordeal." (7:14) Even the one to whom the vision was given, was wary of making his own interpretation of what he saw: "Sir, you are the one that knows."

I am not sure I have any right to speak on this text. In our privileged western society, too many of us who talk of persecution, betray our lack of discipleship. We display, instead, a denial of decent society's impatience with our religious intolerance, and narrowness of vision.

For all this, I meet people, too many, whose life situation is terrible beyond my ability to imagine. I cannot comprehend how they manage to keep functioning despite trauma which refuses to subside, and while for many, abuse and horror continues. I could not deny such a person taking refuge in the hope that, one day, they will hunger and thirst no more, and that God will shelter them, and will wipe away every tear.

God's faithful ones are safe. Even though there is no hope left for the earth; it must be destroyed, the angel of God cries "Do not damage the earth or the sea or the trees, until we have marked the servants of our God with a seal on their foreheads." (7:3)

The imagery from John 10 is at home here. The shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep, becomes the lamb who was slain, yet stands alongside God. The faithful are in the white robes of the transfiguration; they have entered the realm of the Divine. They come from every tribe and people; one flock with one shepherd. And they are clear: this Jesus Christ who came that they might have life, and have it more abundantly, is the Lamb who is one with God who sits on the throne; the God who is the source of salvation.

No matter how bad things are, there is hope. There is salvation even from the great ordeal.

- - -

What gives substance to hope? What takes the church beyond desire for an abundant life to an actuality? At best we might be seen as people who take refuge in an understandable, but vain hope for a shalom that cannot be had. What prevents us from also being abusers who make the lives of those who suffer even worse, as we offer them a mirage, and exploit them as well?

The hope is that we are a people in between. The hope is that Jesus' resurrection is real, and will raise us up to justice and peace. The greatest hope, perhaps, is that God's love encompasses some variation of Origen's vision: the end will not come until even Satan is loved into heaven. And God will wipe away every tear from our eyes.

The faith is that we will trust the Christ, and trust the vision; that we will actively hope.

Paul said of the times-in-between, that "now faith, hope, and love abide. And the greatest of these is love." Love provides the substance of hope. The fruits of sacrificial love give us reason to hope. My loving may even help others, but it transforms me!

It is one more incomprehensible of the 'sweet spot' in which we live. It transforms the words of John and Revelation and Acts, from ancient foolishness to cogent, compelling wisdom. It fills the sweet spot with beauty and wonder, transforming it from an horrific biological accident or a perverted divine torture.

Living love; that is, imperfectly practising agape, lets me see the wonder of even a plain grubby caterpillar amongst all the savagery that can drain the wonder and hope from everything.

Andrew Prior

Direct Biblical quotations in this page are taken from The New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

More on Acts 9:
Two other things occur: the story emphasises the room upstairs; it is mentioned twice. Luke's last supper was in an upstairs room. (The Greek words are different.) Peter is on the upstairs on the roof in Acts 10, when he receives his next insight into the meaning of the gospel. Is there a connection? I note too, that Simon the Tanner is not someone for whom ritual cleanliness would come easily. Our chapter finishes with reference to him. The reference to Peter is repeated as God prepares Peter for his next 'spiritual growth spurt' in Chapter 10.

Bill's comment about the almost homophones Tabitha and talitha, leave me with a new thought. I know Luke knew Mark's gospel. How much did the people for whom Luke was writing know Mark? Back

by Scott Hahn Ph D

Readings:

Acts 5:12–16
Psalm 118:2–4, 13–15, 22–24
Revelation 1:9–13, 17–19
John 20:19–31

The prophet Daniel in a vision saw “One like the Son of Man” receive everlasting kingship (see Daniel 7:9–14). John is taken to heaven in today’s Second Reading where he sees Daniel’s prophecy fulfilled in Jesus, who appears as “One like a Son of Man.”

Jesus is clad in the robe of a High Priest (see Exodus 28:4; Wisdom 18:24) and wearing the gold sash of a king (see 1 Maccabees 10:89). He has been exalted by the right hand of the Lord, as we sing in today’s Psalm.

His risen body, which the Apostles touch in today’s Gospel, has been made a lifegiving Spirit (see 1 Corinthians 15:45).

As the Father anointed Him with the Spirit and power (see Acts 10:38), Jesus pours out that Spirit on the Apostles, sending them into the world “as the Father has sent Me.”

Jesus “breathes” the Spirit of His divine life into the Apostles—as God blew the “breath of life” into Adam (see Genesis 2:7), as Elijah’s prayer returned “the life breath” to the dead child (see 1 Kings 17:21–23), and as the Spirit breathed new life into the slain in the valley of bones (see Ezekiel 37:9–10).

His creative breath unites the Apostles—His Church—to His body, and empowers them to breathe His life into a dying world, to make it a new creation.

In today’s Gospel and First Reading, we see the Apostles fulfilling this mission with powers only God possesses—the power to forgive sins and to work “signs and wonders,” a biblical expression only used to describe the mighty works of God (see Exodus 7:3; 11:10; Acts 7:36).

by Stephen Altrogge

Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way when you criticize them, you are a mile away from them and you have their shoes. – Jack Handey

My friend Adam is a wise guy. Not in a, “A rabbi, a priest, and a vegan walk into a bar” sort of way, but in a Proverbs, real life street wisdom sort of way. He is a residence director at our local university, which means he works with college students every day. He deals with students in trouble, students in the dumps, students on academic probation, students on drugs, students who have been assaulted, and students who are on the verge of dropping out of college. In other words, he deals with kids who are pretty vulnerable. Kids who have really been slapped around by life.

When interacting with vulnerable kids Adam could easily resort to saying, “I know what you’re going through.” After all, that’s what we say when someone is in a tough spot. We try to relate their experience to our experience. We try to sympathize with them. To comfort them out of our own experience. To let them know they’re not alone. To make them feel loved. And that impulse to comfort others is a good impulse. But Adam doesn’t always do that. Why? Because he knows that in most cases he doesn’t really know what a person is going through. He may be able to relate to some circumstances, but he can’t really know what a person is going through. That is wisdom.

The reality is, when someone is suffering we don’t know what they’re going through. Even if we have experienced similar circumstances as a person who is suffering we don’t process the world the way they do. And we don’t have the same personal history, biological makeup, or support system. When someone is going through the meat grinder we can only know a tiny portion of what they are really experiencing.

Our limited ability to know the suffering of others is what makes 2 Corinthians 7:6 so precious. It says, “But God, who comforts the downcast….”

Jesus knows us fully. He knows our strengths and weaknesses, our family history, our biological makeup, our worldview. He knows every nook and cranny of us. He knows us better than we know ourselves. And he also knows suffering on an intense, personal level. Jesus’ knowledge of suffering is not abstract, ivory tower, textbook knowledge. Jesus was a man of sorrows. He was mocked, betrayed, and humiliated. As he hung on the cross he was cut off from the Father. Jesus knew excruciating, overwhelming, crushing sorrow.

The combination of Jesus’ omniscience and personal experience with deep suffering perfectly equip him to comfort us in our own suffering. He really does know what we’re going through, and he is ready to comfort us when we are downcast. He doesn’t leave us to muddle and slog through suffering on our own. He doesn’t tell us to suck it up, buck up, and get up. He meets us in our downcast state and pours out grace upon us.

Suffering tempts us to withdraw from God when in reality we should press hard into God. Are you downcast? Are you suffering? Do you feel like you’ve been chewed up and spit out? Do you feel like butter scraped over too much bread? Draw near to the God who comforts the downcast. Draw near to the God who knows you exactly and knows exactly what you need. Draw near in your weakness and weariness and ready-to-call-it-quits-ness.

God has a special place in his heart for the downcast. Move toward that place.

About The Author:

Stephen Altrogge serves as a pastor at Sovereign Grace Church, Indiana, PA.

by Msgr. Charles Pope

The video at the bottom of this post is a heartwarming one, and with a surprise ending. I see in it an illustration of something St. Paul wrote about the sacrificial nature of evangelization:

Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law. To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.
(1 Cor 9:19-23).

To be clear, what St. Paul describes here must be understood as solidarity and brotherhood, not compromise with sin or evil. St. Paul is willing to set aside anything that hinders preaching the truth of the gospel. Every pretense, every honor, every distinction, and every preference that interferes with the gospel message is forsaken when necessary. St. Paul describes here a great willingness for kenosis (emptying of oneself).

And of course St. Paul is imitating Jesus, who,

though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
(Philippians 2:6-8).

It is remarkable that Jesus, though sinless, was not ashamed to be identified with sinners. He took baptism in the Jordan. He associated with sinners and even ate with them. He underwent the most humiliating punishment, one typically meted out only to the worst of sinners. Yes, He was crucified—and between two thieves at that! Everyone walking by that Friday probably remarked, “Look at that sinner!” Jesus was willing to be viewed as a sinner (by us sinners) in order to save us sinners. And, finally, He was assigned a grave with the wicked (Is 53:9).

There is an old saying that Jesus didn’t come just to get us out of trouble; He got into trouble with us. Yes, He endured every blow this world and Hell itself could dole out. Nobody knows the trouble I’ve seen. Nobody knows but Jesus.

Surely he endured our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all (Isaiah 53:4-6).

Yes, He joined us and got into trouble with us in order to save us:

In bringing many sons and daughters to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through what he suffered. Both the one who makes people holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers He says, “I will declare your name to my brethren …” (Heb 2:9-11)

I thought of all these Scripture passages as I watched this commercial. To be clear, there is no sin in paralysis. Let it be a metaphor for our weakness, which the Lord took up. Let it symbolize our sin, with which the Lord, though sinless, was willing to be identified. And what about us? Can we be like St. Paul and imitate Christ in this manner?

Video: https://youtu.be/IO6nrDKTm2c

By Fr. Regional Walsh, OP

1st Prelude: History.--- "Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in Me. If I shall go and prepare a place for you, I shall come again, and will take you to myself, that where I am you also may be." After the departure of Judas, Jesus addressed His Apostles in words of consolation and encouragement. He strengthens their faith, promises to send the Holy Spirit, and leaves them His peace.

2nd Prelude: Composition of Place.--- The Supper-room --- Jesus surrounded by His Apostles; the traitor is gone, so the atmosphere is pure, and the surroundings safe. Jesus is not among cold, indifferent, unbelieving souls, but surrounded by pure, childlike, loving hearts sincerely devoted to Him. Now He can speak heart to heart with His own. I shall keep close to my Lord and my God.

3rd Prelude: Ask what I want.--- Ah! more and more must I ask, and entreat and long for that grace of graces --- the intimate knowledge of my Jesus. O Mother, I have need of thee. Teach me to know and love thy Son.

Points:

I. Our Lord's word of encouragement.
II. Proof of love.
Ill. "My peace I give to you."

I OUR LORD'S WORD OF ENCOURAGEMENT

As Judas went out the white light of the Paschal moon shone into the room and fell full on the Master's face. It was pale and troubled, and its trouble was reflected on all the faces round. The disciples were so accustomed to lean on Him that they could only see with blank dismay the cloud upon that brow hitherto serene in every storm. A dim apprehension of coming sorrow, of parting from Him who was all in all to them, weighed heavily on them, and they looked at Him helplessly for comfort.

He did not disappoint them. Never before had His words been so tender. Now Jesus can lay aside all reserve and open His Heart to His own, giving them confidence for confidence and love for love. He can now communicate unreservedly the deepest secrets of His Heart. Little children, He said, looking around upon them --- they are His loved little ones whom Satan hates. "Yet a little while I am with you, you shall seek Me, but whither I go, you cannot come." Peter said to Him, "Lord, whither goest Thou?" Peter, though not sufficiently grounded in humility and mistrust of himself, has a strong love of our Lord, and is distressed at that word Jesus has spoken --- "Whither I go you cannot come." Ah, blessed Apostle, obtain for me some share in thy love for Jesus, and in thy desire to be ever near to Him, and a great sorrow if I am not where He is.

Jesus said: "Thou canst not follow Me now, but thou shalt follow Me hereafter." "Why cannot I follow Thee now? I will lay down my life for Thee." Peter presumes rashly that even now he can die for the beloved Master. Jesus answered him: "Wilt thou lay down thy life for Me? Amen, Amen, I say to thee, the cock shall not crow till thou deny Me thrice."

Peter deny the Master! The disciples are filled with apprehension. Of all the surprises tonight this was the greatest. Our Lord went on: "Simon, Simon, behold Satan hath desired to have you that he may sift you as wheat, but I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not, and thou being once converted confirm thy brethren." From St. John's narrative we gather that our Lord uttered this sad warning before the celebration of the Holy Mysteries. After the Institution of the Blessed Eucharist, Jesus again repeated the warning, wishing to check in Peter his presumption and self-reliance.

Every act, every word of our Lord's speaks of love. Jesus is about to leave His dear disciples, and must now give them His farewell instructions, which begin and end with words of loving encouragement. Jesus knew the importance of courage and confidence, and that without these they would never do great things for God. He knew, too, how liable we are to be discouraged and cast down when troubles and trials arise; how hard it is to struggle on when all seems dark around.

To us, as well as to the Twelve, He says: "Let not your hearts be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me." Why do we not believe more in Christ --- the loving Heart of Jesus, our Master --- trust Him more, appeal more to Him in times of desolation and darkness? He is always loving us, always pleading for us. O Jesus, make Thyself to me a living bright reality. He is the same Jesus yesterday, today, and for ever. He will always have a word of comfort for us --- "Let not your heart be troubled, I go to prepare a place for you. Be not afraid, it is I. Arise, and fear not."

The Apostles were in some trouble of mind, and not without reason. Why? (1) Because Jesus, their dear Master, had told them that He was going. (2) And that He was going whither they could not follow. (3) Because He had said that Peter would follow later, and had not given any assurance to the rest. (4) Because He had told them that one of them was about to betray Him. (5) And lastly, because He had said that Peter would deny Him before the cock-crow. Therefore Jesus begins to prepare them by saying: "Let not your heart be troubled --- you believe in God, believe also in Me." This is one of the many sentences whereby Jesus teaches that He is God, equal to the Father.

Our Lord wants to restore peace to their souls --- they must be in peace whilst He speaks to them. He begins by helping them to an increase of faith --- to believe in God and in Jesus means to believe in His omnipotent goodness. "Let not your heart be troubled. I go to prepare a place for you. And I will come again and will take you to Myself, that where I am you also may be" --- the separation will be only for a time --- all His Own will rejoin Him.

It was by His Death, Resurrection, and Ascension that Jesus made all quite ready and opened the gates of Heaven. "And if I shall go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to Myself, that where I am you also may be." (1) I will come again after My Resurrection. (2) I will come again in the Holy Eucharist. (3) I will come again and take you to Myself at the hour of your death --- if you are then ready.

"That where I am you also may be." This word comes from the very depth of our Lord's Heart. All His suffering life and His bitter death will be offered for this end. For this He took our human nature --- for this He gives us His Body and His Precious Blood in the Blessed Eucharist. To this end, too, our Lady will devote herself --- Our Lord might easily create as our eternal reward a Paradise unspeakably beautiful. But nothing can content His loving Heart but this --- "that where I am you also may be."

If this is our Lord's wish that throughout eternity, "where I am you also may be," how fervently we ought to answer in the words of Ethai to David: "In what place soever thou shalt be, lord my king, either in death or in life, there shall thy servant be." Look into the eyes of Jesus --- read there the love of His Heart for us --- each one --- dwell on this thought, that, if He wishes us to be with Him now in poverty, in labour, in lowliness, it is only that the union may be eternal in His Father's home.

O Passion of Christ, strengthen me, that I may with courage and a cheerful heart deny myself, take up my cross, and follow Thee, Lord Jesus. Let me pray earnestly for courage to die to myself and the world for my Blessed Master. Rabboni! Take and receive my entire liberty. Mother, I have need of thee!

II PROOF OF LOVE --- RABBONI!

"He that hath My Commandments and keepeth them: he it is that loveth Me. And he that loveth Me shall be loved of My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him."

Here Jesus carefully teaches us how true love shows itself. If you love Me keep My Commandments --- do My will. Love is proved by deeds! In all the circumstances of life, from its most important events to its least details, the will of our Lord must be my actuating principle. How happy I am as a Catholic, especially if a religious, for I can never be in doubt as to God's will --- that will is always made clear to me by obedience. By giving myself up to perfect obedience I prove my love for Jesus, for then, indeed, do I keep His Commandments --- do His blessed will.

Our Lord then adds this most powerful argument to move us to increase love in our hearts: "He that loveth Me shall be loved by My Father, and I will love him." If our poor, small, miserable hearts will love the infinite loveliness and goodness of God, then the Eternal Father and His only Son will, with all their boundless power of loving, love us.

"I will love him and will manifest Myself to him." Is it not then our want of love that keeps us in darkness and blindness; and hinders our Blessed Lord from manifesting Himself to us? Cleanse me, O God, O most kind and Merciful Jesus, from those hidden sins that deaden love in my soul. Mother of God, my mother, turn thine eyes of mercy towards me.

"Judas, not the traitor" --- St. Jude --- says to our Lord: "How is it that, Thou wilt manifest Thyself to us and not to the world?" The Apostle does not understand that our Lord, when He speaks of manifesting Himself, does not mean that He will render Himself visible to the eye, but through a lively faith, known to the soul. "Judas, not the traitor" --- happy, thrice happy the religious the Apostle of Jesus after whose name the blessed Angels can add, "not the traitor," not the sinner, or if once a sinner --- now quite contrite.

Jesus answers and corrects the mistake of His Apostle. "If anyone love Me, he will keep My Word, and My Father will love him; and We will come to him, and will make Our abode with him. He that loveth Me not, keepeth not My words." Jesus will not only manifest Himself to every soul that loves Him, but His Eternal Father will come with Him, and both will abide in that soul.

Here Jesus brings clearly before His Own the doctrine of the Trinity, mentioning distinctly the Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost. Let me recall with sorrow those hours in the past in which I may have driven God, my Father, my Redeemer, and the Holy Ghost my Comforter, out of my heart and given admittance to the enemy. Mother of God, pray for me a sinner now and at the hour of my death --- "Know thou and see that it is an evil and a bitter thing for thee to have left the Lord thy God" (Jer. 2.).

"He that loveth Me not, keepeth not My words." If we love anyone very much, we not only do what he commands, but we watch every sign of his will. If love grows cold, we become less keen to do our Lord's will. If there is no love of our Lord we break rules without difficulty --- we drink iniquity like water. Therefore, our great effort must be to increase in love --- study earnestly and constantly the life of our Lord --- be generous --- from knowledge springs love. Love is the greatest commandment of the Law --- therefore, God requires it, and we can love --- for God never requires impossibilities.

Let each of us remember that --- "The beginning of wisdom is the most true desire of discipline, and the care of discipline is love: and love is the keeping of the laws: and the keeping of the laws is the foundation of incorruption: and incorruption bringeth near to God. Therefore the desire of wisdom bringeth to the everlasting kingdom" (Wisdom).

Love is the best separation for our past want of love. Remember our Lord's word to Magdalen: "Many sins are forgiven thee because thou hast loved much." Ah, Jesus, my Divine Master, shall I not love Thee, and love Thee always and ardently --- and live for Thee only. Help me, dear Lord, to prove my love for Thee. Renew me wholly, I entreat Thee; create a clean heart in me, and renew a right spirit within me. Enliven me with Thy Spirit which will urge me strongly and gently to a more perfect imitation of Thee. Dearest Jesus, may all in me express my love for Thee. O Sacred Heart of Jesus, I believe in Thy love for me. O may my heart be disposed to offer Thee every sacrifice --- "Veni, Domine Jesu." Mother, I have need of thee. Ah, show me Jesus, give me to Jesus.. Virgin Mary, Mother of God, pray to Jesus for me.

III "My peace I give you."

See the persons --- listen to the words --- consider the actions. Reflect! Our Blessed Lord is disposing and strengthening the souls of the Apostles more and more; raising them out of despondency, and increasing their faith, hope, and love --- "I am going, but I leave My peace with you, not a false peace, such as the world gives, but true and real peace."

"My peace!" Peace was our Lord's first promise to men on the night of His birth --- peace to men of good will. And now that His last hour is at hand, He repeats His promise: "My peace I give you."

"Not as the world giveth." The peace which the world offers is that false, delusive peace which the Holy Ghost speaks of (Ecclus. 41), that peace which a man has in his possessions, a peace of the most fragile nature and entirely insecure; the moth can consume it, the thief can at any moment steal it. Our Lord gives a peace which the moth cannot spoil, nor the thief steal away from us. Jesus, our Good Master, effects by His grace a thorough and complete cure, and deadens within us all the disturbing passions. The peace which our Lord gives is like a hardy evergreen which stands through all the blasts of winter. St. Paul was sure that neither death nor life, nor things present nor things to come, nor might, nor height, nor depth, could ever take this heavenly peace from him. Even death, which has such irresistible power to strip and. consume, cannot deprive a servant of God of the peace of Christ. The first Martyr's face was bright as an Angel's with joy when they were dragging him to death.

Amid all the troubles that our Lord foretells to His Apostles, He promises them one gift that will enable them to rise above all their difficulties and all their sorrows. He promises to leave with them His peace. What gift in the world is there which is like this? If we are at peace, we can bid defiance to all our foes; if we are not at peace, we might be lords of the universe, yet we should be miserable.

No wonder in Holy Mass we pray --- "Dona nobis pacem" (Give us peace). Then remember the peace our Lord promises is His peace --- "My peace I give unto you." What sort of peace is this? It is the peace He enjoyed all through His life --- the peace of perfect union of His will with the Father's. If we are thus united to God by perfect resignation, we too shall have unutterable and eternal peace.

COLLOQUY. --- Dear Lord, say to my soul, "Let not your heart be troubled, nor let it be afraid" --- let these blessed words sink into my soul and bring me courage and strength to conquer myself and be true till death; help me to prove to the world that I do indeed love Thee. Pour forth Thy grace, water my heart with the dew of Heaven; supply fresh waters of devotion, to wash the face of the earth of my heart, and to bring forth good and perfect fruit. Snatch me away, and rescue me from all fleeting consolation of creatures, for no created thing can fully quiet or satisfy my desire. O Sacred Heart of Jesus, I believe in Thy love for me. O Mother, I have need of thee!

They do not use crucifixion, the cross with an image of the crucified Jesus on it, because they would like even their cross to communicate the importance of the Risen Christ. He is no more on the cross or in a cave but trampling down death by death he is living unto the ages of ages.

The Lost Tomb of Jesus, the documentary film directed by James Cameron, which became a 'sensational news' during the great Lent of 2007, draws attention to a burial box found near Jerusalem in 1980 which the movie with its experts claim to be containing the bones of Jesus and his family. Even if there is an inscription of Jesus' name on an ancient burial box, why do the director and other experts deliberately hide the fact that Jesus was a common name in Palestine in the first century.

Unfortunately human creativity is misused for the business purpose or for some other hidden agendas or it is enslaved by the western rationalism repeatedly. Committed Christians have no difficulty to believe that the resurrection of Jesus Christ was really a fact which has far reaching consequences. According to the teaching of Christ we are the blessed ones because we believe without seeing Him with our naked eyes. However our faith is based on those who saw him which means the apostolic witness is the foundation of the faith of the church.

Even if faith does not need any evidence, we can see a couple of supporting factors to prove that the apostolic preaching about the resurrection of Jesus Christ as recorded in gospels is true: 1.) Number of the witnesses: More than five hundred people saw the risen Christ.(I Corinthians15:3-7) Since Hallucination and dream are individual experience, the experience of risen Lord by a large number of people cannot be understood as a result of a dream or hallucination. 2.) Women as the first witnesses: Mary Magdalene and other women saw the risen Jesus Christ first time and they were entrusted by Him to pass on this message to the apostles. If the Gospel account of the resurrection of Jesus was only a fabricated story by the apostles they would not have presented women as the first witnesses because in those days evidence of women had no value. 3.) Self criticism: According to the gospel accounts the apostles did not believe the words of the women about the resurrection of Christ and when Jesus met them he criticized them for not believing. (Mathew 28:17;Mark16:14) St. Mark who was a close associate of St. Peter writes as he heard from the apostles especially from St. Peter: "He scolded them, because they did not have faith and because they were too stubborn to believe those who had seen him alive."(Mk 16:14). Even in a true account normally selfish minds will not write this kind of self depreciating words. Then if it was a false account they would never have used this criticism which is humiliating. This self criticism point to the fact that the apostles were confessing in humility what really had happened. 4.) Empty tomb: Even if Jesus could have come out with out moving the stone which covered the tomb, it was removed so that the world could see the empty tomb as an evidence of His resurrection. When the guards reported it to the high priests they were bribed to tell the lie that Jesus' body was stolen by the disciples while the guards were sleeping.(Mt.28:12-15) Why the guards were not punished for failing to be vigilant? Instead of that they received money for spreading a lie. If it was done by the disciples why did not the Jewish religious authorities who took initiative to kill him with the help of the Roman authorities try to recover the dead body by arresting the weak disciples of Jesus Christ and foil the Jesus movement fully.? There is no reasonable answer to these questions except the truth that Jesus was really risen from the dead which was not graspable easily to human minds. 5.) Enthusiasm and fervor of the apostles: The frustrated and disappointed disciples of Jesus Christ who were able to take up the ministry entrusted to them with added vigor and increased enthusiasm mainly because of the vision of the risen Lord. They started spreading the good news and the Jesus movement became powerful enough to challenge even the mighty Roman Empire and turn the world upside down.

If the resurrection of Jesus was a real fact, what does it mean for us today? It gives liberation from fear:

a) the fear of death.
b) the fear of cross and
c) the fear of loneliness.

Jesus' resurrection shows that through death he was not entering into emptiness but to eternity and through that opened window we can have a glimpse of eternity which is the foundation of our hope. Resurrection of Christ is a God given certificate to the success of the way of cross which encourages to commit to the discipleship of Him. The Lord Jesus is no more imprisoned in a tomb but is with us till the end strengthening to finish our race successfully.

By Carl Bunderson

Miao, India, Apr 3, 2015 / 04:29 am

In the (Catholic) Diocese of Miao, located in India's northeasternmost state of Arunachal Pradesh, Bishop George Pallipparambil is not staying quietly in his cathedral for Holy Week, but is rather holding services across the diocese in an effort to better serve his people.

“What we're trying to do is to reach to as many places as possible. I'm not confining myself to the main church in Miao,” the bishop told CNA April 1. “I'll be there only for the Easter Sunday Mass.”

“I finished today in one place, tomorrow I'll be in a big community called Khonsa, and for Good Friday I'll be in another district headquarters. For the [Easter] Vigil I'll be in another place, and then for Sunday Mass I'll be in Miao.”

The Miao Diocese covers a vast area of nearly 17,000 square miles, and it is home to the easternmost portions of the Himalayas.

The terrain ranges “from the very low plains to the high snow-covered Himalayan peaks,” Bishop Pallipparambil explained. “Some of the biggest rivers in the world are in this region, coming down from the Himalayas flowing down to the plains.”

Mountainous terrain coupled with a lack of infrastructure explains why the diocese held its Chrism Mass entirely outside of Holy Week, on March 26.

The Chrism Mass is traditionally said on the morning of Holy Thursday, and it gathers all the priests of a diocese together with their bishop to emphasize their common ministry. The bishop blesses three kinds of oil – chrism, oil of the catechumens, and oil of the sick – which are distributed to the priests and used in sacramental anointings throughout the following year.

However, the Diocese of Miao has had to change this practice to adapt to its needs. The diocese was established in 2005, and Bishop Pallipparambil is its first ordinary.

“The first year we had [Chrism Mass] on Tuesday of Holy Week, and we found many of the priests could not reach back to their own places for Holy Thursday,” he explained. “So, we started in the last eight years to have the Chrism Mass in the previous week.”

Bishop Pallipparambil himself was beset by travel difficulties this week: heavy rains had made the road to Kulagaon village extremely muddy, and on his way to Holy Week services there, he had to get out and push his jeep along with passersby.

Another adaptation: the Chrism Mass last Thursday was not held in the cathedral at Miao, but rather in Minthong parish in the Longding district.

“It is one of the decisions we made when the diocese was created,” Bishop Pallipparambil said.

He explained that “having the Chrism Mass in the cathedral, at least for me, didn't make sense,” because each year, the same people would attend and carry the holy oils back to the distant villages and parishes, where the local people “just don't know what it is.”

“(W)hereas if the Chrism Mass is held in their place, they come to know because it is always done in their language, and so they know what it is. And when it's time to have an anointing, whether it be for baptism or confirmation or another occasion, they know the sacredness of this oil.”

He added that “it brings all the priests and religious to pray together with the people the whole day before the Mass, so that also has a positive catechetical influence.”

This year, the Chrism Mass was the occasion for Bishop Pallipparambil to present the first translation of the entire New Testament into the Wancho language.

At the bishop's request, Father TJ Francis spent three years working with Wancho leaders in preparing the translation, which will serve the 60,000 Wancho people who live in the Longding and Tirap districts.

Fr. Francis' work “must inspire many of us to take up a similar responsibility to translate the Message of the Gospel to the language of the people we serve,” Bishop Pallipparambil said at the Mass. The Miao diocese is home to more than 100 distinct tribes, many of which have their own language.

Bishop Pallipparambil told CNA that the Wancho, of whom 95 percent are Christian, now have printed in their own language only the Bible and a few prayer and hymn books.

As the language had no written form, it also lacked its own script, the bishop noted, and Fr. Francis wrote the works with Latin letters. The priest has also produced a Wancho grammar.

Despite lacking access to written Scripture until now, many of the Wancho have converted “just by hearing and seeing” the Gospel.

“Some of their children in the '80s and '90s travelled outside their area and attended Christian schools, and when they got knowledge of Christianity they helped by teaching Bible in their own language,” he explained. The diocese also hold four to five-day Bible camps in which biblical stories and the catechism are explained.

Asked if the diocese hopes that the Old Testament will now be translated into Wancho, Bishop Pallipparambil affirmed “yes, we want to do it by all means at the earliest.”

By Sarah Palin - April 20, 2019

But now, Lord, what do I look for? My hope is in you.
Psalm 39:7

Easter is the celebration of what ultimate hope really means. In Jesus’ triumph over death through His Resurrection, death was defeated and hope became the expectation of eternal life with God.

Hope is the great driving force in many of our lives, and it has been the driving force in our country’s history. America has always had a strong sense that God’s Providence is abundant, that no challenge can ever be too great and no enemy too strong. It was this hope that inspired us to carve a nation out of the wilderness, to appreciate opportunities to responsibly utilize nature’s resources, to engineer skyscrapers towering over our gleaming cities, and to fly to the moon.

As a country and as individuals, we can always have true hope to guide us. Put your faith in that, not in man. The world and its leaders will always come up short; people will disappoint us; governments will never be able to meet our needs. But if we look to our Savior to lead us, we will find answers and our hope will be proven and strengthened.

It is from that solid hope that we can truly help our fellow man and help lead our government back toward the only One who can redeem us.

Sweet Freedom In Action

This Easter, remember our Lord’s sacrifice that led to the Resurrection, and don’t keep the joy of the day inside! Find helpful, practical ways to share what you know about Jesus’s sacrifice.

by Rev. Leo M. Krenz, S.J.

Shallow minds are easily scandalized at the thought that, despite Christ Jesus' divine mission and His heroic earnestness in fulfilling it, despite the limitless possibilities of the Sacrifice of Calvary glorified in the power of the Resurrection, even now so many human souls are still sick and diseased, even dead in sin and seemingly lost in impenitence.

But think for a moment of some definite astounding force in nature, as for instance lightning, or even better, of so simple a force as the stroke of a hammer or the approach of a lighted match; notice the vast difference in the effects produced on a block of granite, on a cake of ice, and on a keg of powder. Even so, the definite effect of the same graces upon different individual souls depends on the receptivity of each. Yet never doubt, the doors of the treasury of the merits and fruits of Calvary are wide open; the fountains of the Savior are pouring out heavenly waters to purify and cure and refresh souls; the invitation goes out to all: