Gospel
Mt 28:1-10
After the sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb. And behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, approached, rolled back the stone, and sat upon it. His appearance was like lightning and his clothing was white as snow. The guards were shaken with fear of him and became like dead men. Then the angel said to the women in reply, “Do not be afraid! I know that you are seeking Jesus the crucified. He is not here, for he has been raised just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples, ‘He has been raised from the dead, and he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him.’ Behold, I have told you.” 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.”
For the full readings, click here:
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/040823.cfm
Happy Easter! Let’s rejoice because Jesus is truly risen. The Easter Vigil is the last day of the Paschal Triduum, and it is the greatest and most noble of solemnities. On this holy night, the Church keeps watch, celebrating the resurrection of our Lord Jesus in the sacraments and awaiting His glorious second coming. Because of the importance of this celebration, we also read seven passages from the Old Testament which speak of the wonderful deeds of God, starting with the Creation account in Genesis. On the first day, God created the light and separated it from darkness. How fitting it is that Jesus Christ, the light of the world, rose on the first day of the week, Sunday, during the night of darkness. The Creation account also speaks of the earth, and the earth also symbolizes our earthly bodies. The resurrection of Jesus also showed us how His earthly body which suffered on the Cross was transformed to become a glorified body where the human nature of Jesus was perfectly united to His Divine glory. If we are united with Jesus in our sufferings, we will also be united with Him in our glorious resurrection. The purpose of the Cross is not just to grant us forgiveness of our sins. It’s also meant for us to be perfectly conformed to the image of our Resurrected Lord. As such, we should recognize that our purpose in life is to be with God in heaven and to be raised from the dead.
Although it’s difficult, but with the help of our Resurrected Savior, it’s possible. How can we do this? Just as how Jesus rose during the night of darkness, we should also rise above the darkness of our sins. We should be separated from this darkness by remaining in the state of grace, not a state of mortal sin. Obedience to God and to the teachings of the Catholic Church is necessary for us to remain in the light of Christ. For some people, this is difficult because of attachment to self-will. Instead of doing God’s will, we may be attached to our self-will, to our own wants even if these things may go contrary to the will of God. This is why other people consider their own wills as the most precious thing in their lives. When Abraham was willing to sacrifice Isaac, his beloved son, God also showed to us the importance of our willingness to sacrifice even our own desires. When we learn to submit ourselves to the holy will of God that we will begin to understand how serving God will bring us the greatest happiness and how we will receive incomprehensible joys in our resurrection . Despite seeing our imperfections, may we remember the words of Jesus, “Do not be afraid.” We have no reasons to be afraid because God is with us, and the mercy of God is even more glorified when we are transformed from our worse sins. Let’s be watchful for the glorious coming of Jesus Christ, and let’s remember that only God can fulfill the longing of our hearts.
Amen +
Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, be with us always until the hour of our death. Amen. +
May the Lord + bless us, protect us from all evil and bring us to everlasting life. Amen. +
Reflection by: Dominic
The Roman Missal and the Easter Vigil:
https://www.usccb.org/prayer-and-worship/liturgical-year-and-calendar/triduum/roman-missal-and-the-easter-vigil
Examination of Conscience and Guide to Sacrament of Confession:
https://mycatholic.life/catholic-prayers/examination-of-conscience/
Ultimate Catholic Parents Guide:
https://youtube.com/watch?v=Ls6IcexZAls
Summary and Defense of Catholic Teachings:
https://www.catholic.com/tract/pillar-of-fire-pillar-of-truth
RESURRECTION, THE TRANSFORMATION OF EARTHLY BODIES – 04/08/23 (Holy Saturday At the Easter Vigil in the Holy Night of Easter)
Sancte Michael Catholic Defense 
Amazing
This blog post is truly inspiring! The resurrection of Jesus not only granted us forgiveness of our sins but also showed us the transformation of Jesus’ earthly body to become a glorified body. My question is, what are some practical ways we can remain in the light of Christ and stay obedient to God and the teachings of the Catholic Church?
Jon
http://airiches.online/
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Blessed Easter Tuesday! Thank you for commenting to one of our blog posts, and I hope that our reflections may be helpful to your spiritual journey. With regards to your specific questions, I will start first with how we can stay obedient to God and to the teachings of the Catholic Church.
One way of doing it is by being familiar first with the teachings of the Catholic Church. If we are familiar with it, especially with our core teachings, specifically that Jesus Christ established the Catholic Church and that He’s always protecting it until the day of His coming, we will have a guide of knowing what is the truth. Below is one good article that gives a summary of the teachings of the Catholic Church, from the website “Catholic Answers”.
https://www.catholic.com/tract/pillar-of-fire-pillar-of-truth
You may also research using this website and other Catholic websites as well on different topics. Other than this, it’s important to remember that our Catholic faith is not merely an intellectual thing, it’s also spiritual. As such, we shouldn’t be surprised when the time comes that we may experience temptations from the devil to reject Catholic teachings or we may be influenced by the world to not follow Catholic teachings. Because this is also a matter of spirituality, it is necessary for us to turn to prayer for the grace to resist temptations, especially immediately when we have the thoughts in our mind of being against the Church. Even the saints experienced being tempted to reject the faith but they persevered through prayer 🙏
Speaking of prayers, it is also important to pray the rosary everyday. In the Apostle’s Creed, we can also hear the prayer, “I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Catholic Church,…” This is also crucial because this is our profession before God that we really believe in the teachings of the Catholic Church. Also, the Blessed Virgin Mary, our Mother, is also the Mother of the Church. She will protect us with her prayers so that we may be more faithful to her Son, our Lord Jesus. Our Mother Mary will lead us closer to Jesus, and as such, it’s also good to speak to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. This can be done in the Church by praying in front of the Tabernacle, by praying in front of the Adoration Chapel where the Holy Eucharist is exposed, or by going to YouTube, searching “Online Adoration” and doing the Adoration at home through this. You can do your prayers while doing Adoration, such as reflecting on the Bible, doing the examination of conscience, reflection on our sins and on our life or anything you want to speak to our Lord. Other prayers may also be helpful but these two, the Eucharistic Adoration and the Rosary, are really helpful if we incorporate it in our daily life.
With regards to the other question of how can we remain in the light of Christ, it also pertains to how we can remain in the state of grace and persevere in virtues, especially in our love for God. In the reflections that we post, we always include a link regarding “Examination of Conscience.” This is usually done every evening, but we can also do this throughout the day. Examination of conscience is done to prepare oneself for the sacrament of confession because through this examination, we ponder, in the presence of God, the sins that we have committed. And, if we are doing this examination of conscience, we will be more sensitive to the inspiration from the Holy Spirit and be more cautious when there are temptations from evil spirits to commit sins. When temptations arise, it’s good to immediately turn to prayer to reject such temptations and reflect as to why we are tempted, or if we have fallen to sins, what are the reasons that made us fall to sins. And, through reflection, we can also ask the Lord as to how we can avoid these sins/temptations in the future and what we learned from it.
The saints also advocated what we may hear as “frequent confession.” Though we are obliged to go to confession at least once a year, the saints also recommended going to confession more frequently such as going to confession at least once a month, once every two weeks while others go to confession once a week. We don’t oblige anyone with the specific number of times, but it’s dependent on the inspiration of the individual. This is important, not just because it helps us to examine ourselves even more for the upcoming confession, but because even if we have not committed mortal sins, confession still purifies us from all sins, including venial sins, and it helps us to receive graces to avoid the sins we usually fall into.
If you are also interested and if you have time, you may also consider doing spiritual reading. Spiritual reading is done by reading and reflecting on the writings of the saints or writings about spirituality (similar to Bible Reading or Lectio Divina though this is specific only for the Bible). Its because the writings of the saints are inspirational and practical for us to grow in our love for God and in the path to holiness. If there is one book that I will recommend, it’s the “Introduction to Devout Life” by St. Francis of Sales. This has helped me, and a lot of Catholics as well. He had advice on how to deal with common temptations, some advice on prayer life, etc. He was motivational, and I felt as if he was speaking directly to me. This book is about how we, lay individuals, can persevere to holiness even though we are not priests, etc. You may search this on Google, and you may find pdf of this book there. I hope that my reply, though a bit lengthy, may be helpful for you as you seek to deepen your relationship with God.
May God bless you always and grant you a fruitful Easter Season!
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