GOD’S WORD FOR THE DAY (based on Catholic Liturgical Readings)
DATE: 17TH APRIL 2017
EASTER MONDAY
FIRST READING: Acts 2: 14, 22-33
PSALM: Psalm 16:1-2, 5, 7-11
GOSPEL: Matthew 28:8-15
THEME: THE PROOF OF THE RESURRECTION
In a world that is becoming increasingly secular, materialistic and sophisticated, our faith in the resurrection of Jesus is destined to be queried. People are asking, ‘What shows that Jesus resurrected? Where is the proof?’ It is not enough to say that my catechist or pastor told me so. Neither is it enough to say that I read it in the Bible. Even the evidence of an empty tomb was not enough to convince everyone in Jerusalem that Jesus had risen from the dead.
In today’s Gospel text, we are afforded an insight into a challenge that the early Christians faced in their quest to proclaim the Easter message. We read that the chief priests and the elders, in an attempt to stop the message of the resurrection from spreading, “gave a sum of money to the soldiers and said, “Tell people, `His disciples came by night and stole him away while we were asleep.’” (Matt. 28:12-13). This is one of many such arguments that have been raised over the years to water-down faith in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. However, the transformed lives of the disciples was the greatest argument in favour of the resurrection. One such transformed life was that of Peter. In the First Reading, filled with ‘the power of the resurrection’, Peter boldly stood up and declared, “God raised him up, having loosed the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it. This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses.” (Acts 2:24, 32)
In the face of the various attempts to discredit our faith in Jesus and his church, it is not enough to know the Dogmas, Canon Laws and the Catechism of the Church (very important though they are). What this generation needs most is our shared-personal-faith experiences of Jesus Christ. Each one of us should be able to say confidently, “I know the one that I have placed my faith in.” A transformed life is the greatest testimony that affirms that indeed Jesus is alive. Your beautiful life of faith is the proof of the resurrection.
I pray that the resurrected Christ may reveal himself anew to us as he did to Mary Magdalene and the other disciples, and that our faith may be so deep that no argument whatsoever can break us down. May we be filled with so much joy on account of the resurrection that we would run to announce the good news that Jesus is alive!!!
Andrews Obeng, svd
DIVINE WORD MISSIONARIES
BIBLICAL PASTORAL MINISTRY
(Ghana Province)
“May the darkness of sin and the night of unbelief vanish before the light of the Word and the Spirit of grace. And may the heart of Jesus live in the hearts of all people” (St. Arnold Janssen).