20240401 A TRUE ENCOUNTER OF THE RISEN LORD SETS US FREE FROM FEAR
01 April 2024, Easter Monday
First reading | Acts 2:14,22-33 © |
God raised this man Jesus to life, and all of us are witnesses to this
On the day of Pentecost Peter stood up with the Eleven and addressed the crowd in a loud voice: ‘Men of Israel, listen to what I am going to say: Jesus the Nazarene was a man commended to you by God by the miracles and portents and signs that God worked through him when he was among you, as you all know. This man, who was put into your power by the deliberate intention and foreknowledge of God, you took and had crucified by men outside the Law. You killed him, but God raised him to life, freeing him from the pangs of Hades; for it was impossible for him to be held in its power since, as David says of him:
I saw the Lord before me always,
for with him at my right hand nothing can shake me.
So my heart was glad
and my tongue cried out with joy;
my body, too, will rest in the hope
that you will not abandon my soul to Hades
nor allow your holy one to experience corruption.
You have made known the way of life to me,
you will fill me with gladness through your presence.
‘Brothers, no one can deny that the patriarch David himself is dead and buried: his tomb is still with us. But since he was a prophet, and knew that God had sworn him an oath to make one of his descendants succeed him on the throne, what he foresaw and spoke about was the resurrection of the Christ: he is the one who was not abandoned to Hades, and whose body did not experience corruption. God raised this man Jesus to life, and all of us are witnesses to that. Now raised to the heights by God’s right hand, he has received from the Father the Holy Spirit, who was promised, and what you see and hear is the outpouring of that Spirit.’
Responsorial Psalm |
Psalm 15(16):1-2,5,7-11 © |
Preserve me, Lord, I take refuge in you.
or
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!
Preserve me, God, I take refuge in you.
I say to the Lord: ‘You are my God.
O Lord, it is you who are my portion and cup;
it is you yourself who are my prize.’
Preserve me, Lord, I take refuge in you.
or
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!
I will bless the Lord who gives me counsel,
who even at night directs my heart.
I keep the Lord ever in my sight:
since he is at my right hand, I shall stand firm.
Preserve me, Lord, I take refuge in you.
or
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!
And so my heart rejoices, my soul is glad;
even my body shall rest in safety.
For you will not leave my soul among the dead,
nor let your beloved know decay.
Preserve me, Lord, I take refuge in you.
or
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!
You will show me the path of life,
the fullness of joy in your presence,
at your right hand happiness for ever.
Preserve me, Lord, I take refuge in you.
or
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!
Sequence |
Victimae Paschali Laudes
Christians, to the Paschal Victim
offer sacrifice and praise.
The sheep are ransomed by the Lamb;
and Christ, the undefiled,
hath sinners to his Father reconciled.
Death with life contended:
combat strangely ended!
Life’s own Champion, slain,
yet lives to reign.
Tell us, Mary:
say what thou didst see
upon the way.
The tomb the Living did enclose;
I saw Christ’s glory as he rose!
The angels there attesting;
shroud with grave-clothes resting.
Christ, my hope, has risen:
he goes before you into Galilee.
That Christ is truly risen
from the dead we know.
Victorious king, thy mercy show!
Gospel Acclamation | Ps117:24 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
This day was made by the Lord:
we rejoice and are glad.
Alleluia!
Gospel | Matthew 28:8-15 © |
Tell my brothers that they must leave for Galilee: they will see me there
Filled with awe and great joy the women came quickly away from the tomb and ran to tell the disciples.
And there, coming to meet them, was Jesus. ‘Greetings’ he said. And the women came up to him and, falling down before him, clasped his feet. Then Jesus said to them, ‘Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers that they must leave for Galilee; they will see me there.’
While they were on their way, some of the guard went off into the city to tell the chief priests all that had happened. These held a meeting with the elders and, after some discussion, handed a considerable sum of money to the soldiers with these instructions, ‘This is what you must say, “His disciples came during the night and stole him away while we were asleep.” And should the governor come to hear of this, we undertake to put things right with him ourselves and to see that you do not get into trouble.’ The soldiers took the money and carried out their instructions, and to this day that is the story among the Jews.
A TRUE ENCOUNTER OF THE RISEN LORD SETS US FREE FROM FEAR
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ACTS 2:14, 22-33; MT 28:8-15]
There are different kinds of fear in life. There is the fear that springs from the need to protect ourselves and our interests. This was the fear of the soldiers after their dreadful encounter with the angel. “And suddenly there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord, descending from heaven, came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. For fear of him the guards shook and became like dead men.” (Mt 28:2-4) Indeed, they were so fearful that they became frozen. Such kinds of fear cripple us. But because they had no faith, they did not hear the words of the angels, nor did they meet the Risen Lord. Because they were afraid to be penalized for failing to keep guard over the body of Jesus, they reported the matter to the religious leaders.
Then we have the fear of the religious leaders who were afraid to lose their credibility and power. Instead of examining the truth of the matter, they sought to hide the truth from the public. “These held a meeting with the elders and, after some discussion, handed a considerable sum of money to the soldiers with these instructions, ‘This is what you must say, “His disciples came during the night and stole him away while we were asleep.” And should the governor come to hear of this, we undertake to put things right with him ourselves and to see that you do not get into trouble.'” Fear led to lies and deception and bribery.
But there is another kind of fear that does not paralyze us. Rather, it sets us free from all fears. This is the holy fear in the presence of God. It fills one with awe and great joy, as in the case of the women who met the angel who said to them, “Do not be afraid; I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for he has been raised, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples, ‘He has been raised from the dead, and indeed he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him.’ This is my message for you.” (Mt 28:5-8) Such an encounter set them free from fear, knowing that the Lord has been raised. When He is with us, we cannot contain the joy in us. It is significant that those of us who have genuine religious experiences are not filled with fear but with gratitude and wonder. But those who have encounters with the Evil One are filled with fear and are paralyzed from living a life of freedom.
What is significant is that in their process of running to inform the disciples of the message from the angel they encountered the Risen Lord themselves. “And there, coming to meet them, was Jesus. ‘Greetings’ he said. And the women came up to him and, falling down before him, clasped his feet. Then Jesus said to them, ‘Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers that they must leave for Galilee; they will see me there.'” It appears that as we believe in faith like the women that the Lord is risen, we will also see Him. This was why the soldiers and the priests did not see the Risen Lord even though they knew what happened because they did not have faith. To those who have faith and seek to evangelize Him, they will encounter Jesus in the process.
Such is the Good News they received, and it had to be shared. So “filled with awe and great joy the women came quickly away from the tomb and ran to tell the disciples.” Indeed, if it is Good News, we will run quickly, like the women, to share with others. Consequently, the measure of our faith in the Risen Lord is seen in our desire to share the Good News of His resurrection with others. St Peter, at Pentecost with the Eleven, testified to Jesus after receiving the Holy Spirit. “God raised this man Jesus to life, and all of us are witness to that. ‘Now raised to the heights by God’s hand, he has received from the Father the Holy Spirit, who was promised, and what you see and hear is the outpouring of that Spirit’.”
But how does one come to faith in the resurrection? We begin with a sense of wonder. We read that the people were amazed at what they encountered when the Holy Spirit came upon them. There were devout Jews from every nation, each one heard them speaking in their native language. They were amazed and astonished. Indeed, when God comes into our lives, we are filled with wonder and amazement. “All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” But others sneered and said, “They are filled with new wine.” (cf Acts 2:5-13) Every religious encounter begins with a sense of wonder. What happened?
A religious experience needs an explanation; otherwise it is an empty experience. It was true in the case of the women and the apostles in their encounter with the angel and the Risen Lord. Perhaps, most of us have such wondrous experience in life. But we missed it because no one helped us to understand the significance of such an experience. Some of us, because of ignorance, brushed it off as some coincidence, or dismiss it as some emotional outburst or hallucination. This is why when we have some religious experience, we need to search and find the significance of what God wants to reveal to us.
Fortunately, for the women, they had the grace of the angel to explain to them the significance of the empty tomb, and later the assurance of our Lord that He is risen. So, too, for the apostles, they receive the grace of encountering Him because, like the women, they were people of faith. They were not closed to encountering God in Jesus because their minds and hearts were open even though it took them some time to come to understand what was happening. It was the same story for the diverse crowd that gathered in Jerusalem for the feast of Pentecost. After the spectacular experience of xenoglossia, that is, hearing in their own language when the apostles were speaking their native language, they needed explanation.
So Peter began by going back to the historical facts. He said, “Men of Israel, listen to what I am going to say: Jesus the Nazarene was a man commended to you by God by the miracles and portents and signs that God worked through him when he was among you, as you all know. This man, who was put into your power by the deliberate intention and foreknowledge of God, you took and had crucified by men outside the Law. You killed him, but God raised him to life, freeing him from the pangs of Hades.”
But historical facts, whilst important to make sense of our experience, cannot provide the meaning. It has to be supplemented by revelation in scriptures. Jesus helped the disciples at Emmaus to understand His passion and resurrection by going through the teaching of Moses and the prophets, “He interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures.” (Lk 24:27) Peter, starting from the historical facts, brought them through the scriptures, quoting David who said, “My body, too, will rest in the hope that you will not abandon my soul to Hades nor allow your holy one to experience corruption. You have made known the way of life to me, you will fill me with gladness through your presence.” Peter concluded that this prophecy was in reference to the Messiah and made in view of the resurrection of the Christ because “he is the one who was not abandoned to Hades, and whose body did not experience corruption.” It could not be referring to himself since David died and was buried.
So, today, as we celebrate the Monday after Easter Sunday, which is traditionally so-called Angel’s Monday, we are reminded to be like the angels who were messengers of the Good News. Before we can do that, we need to imbue ourselves with the scriptures to help us understand our Easter experiences. As the psalmist says, “I will bless the Lord who gives me counsel who even at night directs my heart.” God will lead us to encounter Him if we remain open in faith. And even if we do not yet encounter Him radically yet, by sharing about Him, we too will come to a deeper faith and encounter as we see the effects of those who are touched by what we share.
Written by His Eminence, Cardinal William SC Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved.
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