Daily Reflection | Gospel Reading | RVA

THE WORD

Ac 2,36-41 / Jn 20,11-18

But Mary stayed outside the tomb weeping. And as she wept, she bent over into the tomb and saw two angels in white sitting there, one at the head and one at the feet where the body of Jesus had been. And they said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “they have taken my Lord, and I don’t know where they laid him.” When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus there, but did not know it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?” She thought it was the gardener and said to him, “Sir, if you carried him away, tell me where you laid him, and I will take him.” Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni,” which means Teacher. Jesus said to her, “Stop holding on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am going to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” Mary of Magdala went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord,” and what he told her.

IN OTHER WORDS

In today’s gospel , we see Mary Magdalene wanting to anoint Jesus’ body but getting the shock of her life when she discovers that the body is no longer there. She gets even more shocked when she sees two angels sitting there asking why she is weeping. Then she sees a man whom she thinks as a gardener only to realize later that it was Jesus.

Sometimes, we Catholics are accused of having a very long Good Friday and a very short Easter Sunday. We tend to dwell more on the sadness of Jesus’ passion and death. You can see it in our churches. They are absolutely full during Maundy Thursday and Good Friday, but during the greatest celebration of the Easter Triduum, the Easter Vigil on Saturday night, you’ll be lucky if you get the church half- filled.

As Catholics, we should realize that like Mary Magdalene, we need Jesus to jolt us out of our sadness and to start rejoicing. Easter is the greatest season in the liturgical calendar. The whole eight days from Easter Sunday to the Second Sunday of Easter is so important that any feast or memorial should give way to the Easter celebrations because we should emphasize the glorious resurrection of Jesus from the dead. And even the Easter season is longer than Lent to tell us that we should live in joy and happiness after experiencing the sorrow and sadness of meditating on our sinfulness that sent Jesus to the cross.

May the following days be celebrated with joy and happiness. May our “mea culpa” be replaced with “Alleluia, Jesus is Risen

• Fr. Elmer I. Ibarra, SVD | Sydney, Australia

The Word in other words 2016

An annual project of Logos Publications, The WORD in Other Words Bible Diary contains daily scripture readings and reflections written by priest, brothers, and sisters of the three congregations founded by St. Arnold Janssen (the SVD, SSpS, and SSpSAP). It hopes to serve as a daily companion to readers who continually seek the correlation of the Word of God and human experience.

	Production : Fr. Carlos Maria de Guzman, Jr., SVD and Staff of Logos Publications
	Cover Design : Malou E. Domingo
	Liturgical Calendar : Fr. Atilano Corcuera, SVD
	Production Consultant : Fr. Gerardo del Pinado, SVD
	Scriptural Texts : New American Bible and Daily Roman Missal
	Cover artwork based on photos by Fr. Bar Fabella, SVD
	Published by : Logos Publications, Inc. 1916 Oroquieta St., Sta. Cruz, Manila
	Email Address: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
	Telephone : +63 2 711 1323
	Fax : +63 2 732 273
	Copyright © 2015 Society of the Divine Word

 

THE WORD

Ac 2 14.22-33 / Mt 28, 8-15

Then they went away quickly from the tomb, fearful yet overjoyed, and ran to announce this to his disciples. And behold, Jesus met them on their way and greeted them. They approached, embraced his feet, and did him homage. Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.”

While they were going, some of the guard went into the city and told the chief priests all that had happened. They assembled with the elders and took counsel;

then they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers, telling them, “You are to say, ‘His disciples came by night and stole him while we were asleep.’ And if this gets to the ears of the governor, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.” the soldiers took the money and did as they were instructed. And this story has circulated among the Jews to the present day.

IN OTHER WORDS

As Matthew recounts, it was Mary Magdalene and the other Mary (mother of James and Joseph) who first saw the risen Jesus on their way from the tomb to see and inform the disciples. We must congratulate them for such a great privilege! They were given such privilege because they must have loved Jesus very much. We salute so many women throughout history who have shown great love for Jesus. In Christianity then, women are very much highly regarded.

“Rejoice!” That is Jesus’ greeting to the women. Rejoice! That must be the spirit and feeling of Easter. Who can be sad when Jesus who was crucified, died and buried is risen and is therefore alive? Wow! So, fellow Christians, let us rejoice and be happy for indeed our Lord is alive and therefore cannot die anymore. He will be with us always.

The guards were bribed by the chief priests to tell a lie that the body of Jesus was “robbed” by the disciples. Why? One reason, as Henry M. Morris would say, could be that they were afraid the resurrection “would vindicate the faith of the followers that Jesus indeed was the Messiah”. Consequently, “they were afraid they would lose their religious power and control”. It is said that for a while many believed in the lie that the chief priest and the soldiers concocted to tell. Some say the lie persisted for around 30 years and others say until the time of the writing of Matthew’s Gospel.

Sad to say that some people of the present time persist in their unbelief of Jesus’ resurrection, including the so-called “Christian” modernists, liberals, etc.(Ibid).

How much did the soldiers receive to suppress the truth? It must have been a real good sum as to convince them to agree on the fabricated story. Bribery is not something new then. Sad to say, however, that many corrupt people in our present time continue to use bribery as a way of achieving their selfish interests. It is said that the Philippines still suffers widespread corruption and one manifestation is bribery.

Finally, can you imagine how both the chief priests and soldiers involved in falsifying the truth of Jesus’ resurrection spent the rest of their lives? Do you think they slept well at night? Your answers can be as good as mine.

• Fr. Ernesto Salvar, SVD | Davao City

The Word in other words 2016

An annual project of Logos Publications, The WORD in Other Words Bible Diary contains daily scripture readings and reflections written by priest, brothers, and sisters of the three congregations founded by St. Arnold Janssen (the SVD, SSpS, and SSpSAP). It hopes to serve as a daily companion to readers who continually seek the correlation of the Word of God and human experience.

	Production : Fr. Carlos Maria de Guzman, Jr., SVD and Staff of Logos Publications
	Cover Design : Malou E. Domingo
	Liturgical Calendar : Fr. Atilano Corcuera, SVD
	Production Consultant : Fr. Gerardo del Pinado, SVD
	Scriptural Texts : New American Bible and Daily Roman Missal
	Cover artwork based on photos by Fr. Bar Fabella, SVD
	Published by : Logos Publications, Inc. 1916 Oroquieta St., Sta. Cruz, Manila
	Email Address: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
	Telephone : +63 2 711 1323
	Fax : +63 2 732 273
	Copyright © 2015 Society of the Divine Word

 

THE WORD

FIRST READING: Acts 10, 34.37-43

Then Peter proceeded to speak and said, what has happened all over Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached, how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the holy Spirit and power. He went about doing good and healing all those oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. We are witnesses of all that he did both in the country of the Jews and (in) Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree. This man God raised (on) the third day and granted that he be visible, not to all the people, but to us, the witnesses chosen by God in advance, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. He commissioned us to preach to the people and testify that he is the one appointed by God as judge of the living and the dead. To him all the prophets bear witness, that everyone who believes in him will receive forgiveness of sins through his name.”

SECOND READING: Col 3, 1-4

Brothers and sisters: If then you were raised with Christ, seek what is above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Think of what is above, not of what is on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ your life appears, then you too will appear with him in glory.

or 1 Cor 5, 6-8

Your boasting is not appropriate. Do you not know that a little yeast leavens all the dough? Clear out the old yeast, so that you may become a fresh batch of dough, inasmuch as you are unleavened. For our paschal lamb, Christ, has been sacrifi ced. Therefore let us celebrate the feast, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

GOSPEL: Jn 20, 1-9

On the first day of the week, Mary of Magdala came to the tomb early in the morning, while it was still dark, and saw the stone removed from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and told them, “They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we don’t know where they put him.” So Peter and the other disciple went out and came to the tomb. They both ran, but the other disciple ran faster than Peter and arrived at the tomb first; he bent down and saw the burial cloths there, but did not go in.

When Simon Peter arrived after him, he went into the tomb and saw the burial cloths there, and the cloth that had covered his head, not with the burial cloths but rolled up in a separate place. Then the other disciple also went in, the one who had arrived at the tomb first, and he saw and believed. For they did not yet understand the scripture that he had to rise from the dead.

IN OTHER WORDS

It has been a perennial comment that Mary of Magdala was the first herald of the Resurrection, for as a woman she knew how to spread the news! Today, I am again confronted with the question, how did she became the first herald of good news? My reflection leads me only to one answer because she was among the very few that stood by Jesus until his last moments before dying, and Mark’s gospel testifies that she was at the burial place, too. (Mk 15:42)

The best heralds of good news are those who have seen how another person struggled to get to victory. They have experienced how another person entered darkness, yet they stood by. Easter is the time when our gratitude focuses on those beloved who stood by us through thick and thin of life. Easter is also the time when we become grateful because we have been given the grace to be a support to a beloved both in good and bad times.

Only the gospel according to John mentions “the cloth that had covered his head”. What was that? The cloth that covered his head covered his face. For all who did not believe in Jesus and condemned him, his Passion and Death prove that he failed. He lost face! Shame on him who claimed to be God! But the Resurrection is a living proof that he won over death. The Resurrection allowed Jesus to leave behind the cloth that covered his face. Tragedy becomes comedy.

Only the person who does not have to cover one’s face because of shame can be a herald of the good news. Mary Magdala had failures in the past; but in life she met the Jesus who enabled her to live again, giving her another chance. Jesus restored her self-respect and dignity, and she with

the grace of the Resurrection brought it to fulfillment. As the old adage goes, “Heaven and hell are full of sinners; but the difference is that those who are in heaven, believed again in themselves, in others, and in God!”

• Fr. Bernard Espiritu, SVD | New Zealand

The Word in other words 2016

An annual project of Logos Publications, The WORD in Other Words Bible Diary contains daily scripture readings and reflections written by priest, brothers, and sisters of the three congregations founded by St. Arnold Janssen (the SVD, SSpS, and SSpSAP). It hopes to serve as a daily companion to readers who continually seek the correlation of the Word of God and human experience.

	Production : Fr. Carlos Maria de Guzman, Jr., SVD and Staff of Logos Publications
	Cover Design : Malou E. Domingo
	Liturgical Calendar : Fr. Atilano Corcuera, SVD
	Production Consultant : Fr. Gerardo del Pinado, SVD
	Scriptural Texts : New American Bible and Daily Roman Missal
	Cover artwork based on photos by Fr. Bar Fabella, SVD
	Published by : Logos Publications, Inc. 1916 Oroquieta St., Sta. Cruz, Manila
	Email Address: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
	Telephone : +63 2 711 1323
	Fax : +63 2 732 273
	Copyright © 2015 Society of the Divine Word

 

THE WORD

HOLY SATURDAY, Gen 1, 1-2, 2 / Rm 6, 3-11 / Lk 24, 1-12

But at daybreak on the first day of the week they took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb; but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were puzzling over this, behold, two men in dazzling garments appeared to them. They were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground. They said to them, “Why do you seek the living one among the dead? He is not here, but he has been raised. Remember what he said to you while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners and be crucified, and rise on the third day.” And they remembered his words.

Then they returned from the tomb and announced all these things to the eleven and to all the others. The women were Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and Mary the mother of James; the others who accompanied them also told this to the apostles, but their story seemed like nonsense and they did not believe them. But Peter got up and ran to the tomb, bent down, and saw the burial cloths alone; then he went home amazed at what had happened.

IN OTHER WORDS

“Do you miss me?” “Yes, I miss you so much!” “Where have you been?” “What are you doing?” “When will I see you again?” “I really wish you are here with me!” This could be a conversation of lovers separated by time and space. But could this also capture the sentiment of Black Saturday, the day after the death and burial of the One whom the disciples loved so dearly?

Do you miss the Lord so badly, feel the pinch of loneliness in your heart and die to come to him

in the tomb or the tabernacle only to find it empty? Before we fast-forward to the alleluia and

Gloria, it might be worth our curiosity to ask: What happened on black Saturday?

When we say the Apostle’s Creed, we note that after Jesus died and was buried, “he descended into hell.” Holy Saturday commemorates this event. Where the bible is silent about, our catechism lls the gap. Here is how the Catechism of the Catholic Church explains it. 633 Scripture calls the abode of the dead, to which the dead Christ went down, “hell” - Sheol in Hebrew or Hades in Greek - because those who are there are deprived of the vision of God.

Such is the case for all the dead, whether evil or righteous, while they await the Redeemer: which does not mean that their lot is identical, as Jesus shows through the parable of the poor man Lazarus who was received into “Abraham’s bosom”: “It is precisely these holy souls, who awaited their Savior in Abraham’s bosom, whom Christ the Lord delivered when he descended into hell.” Jesus did not descend into hell to deliver the damned, or to destroy the hell of damnation, but to free the just who had gone before him. 634 “The gospel was preached even to the dead.” The descent into hell brings the Gospel message of salvation to complete fulfillment.

The last phase of Jesus’ messianic mission is the spread of Christ’s redemptive work to all men of all times and all places, for all who are saved have been made sharers in the redemption.

• Fr. Emil Lim, SVD | Saint Jude Catholic School Manila

The Word in other words 2016

An annual project of Logos Publications, The WORD in Other Words Bible Diary contains daily scripture readings and reflections written by priest, brothers, and sisters of the three congregations founded by St. Arnold Janssen (the SVD, SSpS, and SSpSAP). It hopes to serve as a daily companion to readers who continually seek the correlation of the Word of God and human experience.

	Production : Fr. Carlos Maria de Guzman, Jr., SVD and Staff of Logos Publications
	Cover Design : Malou E. Domingo
	Liturgical Calendar : Fr. Atilano Corcuera, SVD
	Production Consultant : Fr. Gerardo del Pinado, SVD
	Scriptural Texts : New American Bible and Daily Roman Missal
	Cover artwork based on photos by Fr. Bar Fabella, SVD
	Published by : Logos Publications, Inc. 1916 Oroquieta St., Sta. Cruz, Manila
	Email Address: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
	Telephone : +63 2 711 1323
	Fax : +63 2 732 273
	Copyright © 2015 Society of the Divine Word