LORD JESUS, I BELIEVE. INCREASE IN ME FAITH, HOPE AND LOVE.

Sunday April 17, 2022, EASTER SUNDAY. The Resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

When Peter and John entered the empty tomb, they saw what gave them a pause and serious matter for reflection. Jesus was not in the tomb. But the burial clothes were neatly arranged as if the person simply slipped through the clothes without disturbing them in any way. John observed this and concluded that there could be only one explanation: Jesus has risen from the dead.

This incident explains why Jesus forecast His passion and death and none of the disciples remembered it.  "They did not yet understand the scripture that he had to rise from the dead." (John 20: 9). Nothing like the Resurrection of a dead person had ever happened before. There is no historical precedence in the Scriptures.

With the reality of the Resurrection, we can heed the Scriptures when it tells us to:

“Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.
See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland." (Isaiah 43: 18 - 20).

Have you observed anything that make you believe that Jesus is risen and alive?  There are two incontrovertible reasons to believe in the Resurrection of Jesus:
#1. The existence of the Church.
#2. The self-sacrificing work of missionaries all over the world for 2000 years.

Daily Bible Verse @ SeekFirstcommunity.com

JESUS CHRIST WAS WOUNDED FOR OUR SINS.

“Look, I am bringing him out to you, so that you may know that I find no guilt in him.”
So Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple cloak. And Pilate said to them,
“Behold, the man!”
When the chief priests and the guards saw him they cried out,
“Crucify him, crucify him!”
Pilate said to them,
“Take him yourselves and crucify him. I find no guilt in him.” (The Passion of the Lord according to St John).

Friday 15th April 2022, Good Friday of the Lord's Passion.

The Jewish leaders see the death of Jesus on the Cross as the execution of a criminal.  “If he were not a criminal, we would not have handed him over to you.”

"But he was pierced for our sins,
crushed for our iniquity.
He bore the punishment that makes us whole, by his wounds we were healed." (Isaiah 52: 5).

How do you see the death of Jesus on the Cross?
"It is love "to the end" that confers on Christ's sacrifice its value as redemption and reparation, as atonement and satisfaction. He knew and loved us all when he offered his life. Now "the love of Christ controls us, because we are convinced that one has died for all; therefore all have died." (CCC 616).

We adore You O Christ and worship You because of Your Holy Cross You have redeemed the world.

Daily Bible Verse @ SeekFirstcommunity.com

THE WOMEN GAVE THE NEWS OF THE RESURRECTION TO THE APOSTLES BUT THEY DID NOT BELIEVE 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." (Luke 24: 1 - 12).

Saturday April 16th, Holy Saturday at the Easter Vigil in the Holy Night of Easter. 

My brothers and sisters, we celebrate tonight the Great Easter Vigil. The Church allover the world will be trembling with excitement and joy when the great Easter Proclamation (Exsultet) rings out. I want to offer for our reflection some key truths from the Easter Proclamation:

#1 "This is our Passover feast, when Christ, the true lamb is slain, whose blood consecrates the homes of all believers."

#2 "What good would life have been to us if Christ had not come as our Redeemer?"

#3 "The power of this holy night dispels all evil, washes guilt away, restores lost innocence, brings mourners joy; it casts out hatred, brings us peace and humbles earthly pride."

#4 "Therefore heavenly Father, in the joy of this night, receive our evening sacrifice of praise, your Church's offering."

#5 "May the Morning Star which never sets find this flame still burning:

Christ, that Morning Star, who came back from the dead, and shed his peaceful light on all mankind, your Son who lives and reigns forever and ever. Amen."

This is our Passover Feast.

“God raised up Jesus, freeing him from the pains of death” (Acts 2:24).

Daily Bible Verse @ SeekFirstcommunity.com

YOU WILL NEVER WASH MY DIRTY FEET. NO WASHING YOUR FEET, NO INHERITANCE WITH ME.

"If I, therefore, the master and teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash one another’s feet.  I have given you a model [example] to follow, so that as I have done for you, you should also do." (John 13: 14 - 15).

Thursday 14th April 2022, Holy Thursday, Evening Mass of the Lord's Supper.

Jesus gives us a new commandment this evening:  "Love one another as I have loved you." (John 13: 34).

This new commandment is now enfleshed in an unforgettable Example. Consider for a moment the power of example, testimony and biography. The three which are synonymous are unparalleled way of teaching. It works for kids. It works for their parents.

Today is Holy Thursday.  According to ancient tradition, the Church celebrates this evening the Mass of the Last Supper.  When Jesus celebrated the first Mass at the Last Supper, the Apostles did not understand what He was doing.  The narrative of today's Gospel is dominated by the event of the washing of the feet of the apostles, an event so significant that it was incorporated into the Holy Thursday liturgy from ancient times.  What does this event mean for us?

Jesus the Lord and Teacher of the Apostles just washed the dirty feet of the astounded Apostles and then called it an example.

Whose feet will you prefer to wash?
"If I, therefore, the master and teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash one another’s feet.  I have given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you, you should also do."  (John 13: 14 - 15).

Daily Bible Verse @ SeekFirstcommunity.com