Saturday, April 11, 2020

Easter Sunday Morning Mass of the Resurrection, April 12th 2020. (For you at Home).

Easter Sunday Morning of the Resurrection,
April 12th 2020.
(For you at Home).
Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Holy week liturgies which we feature here, are specially approved shortened and adapted liturgies for this time of difficulty. You will notice that some options are not featured this year.  But we are still united in Spirit, in our Lord.
 

Image: Shutterstock stock photo ID: 722611741. Abstract and surrealistic image of a cave with light. revelation and open the door, Holy Bible story concept. By tomertu

THE LITURGY OF THE WORD

First Reading: Acts 10:34. 37-43
Psalm: Ps 117:1-2. 16-17. 22-23. "This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad."
Second Reading: Colossians 3:1-4
Paschal Sequence
Gospel Acclamation: 1 Corinthians 5:7-8
Gospel: John 20:1-9
Homily
Renewal of Baptismal Promises
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Please listen to my audio recordings of the readings, prayers and reflections for Easter Sunday of the Resurrection -  by clicking this link here:   https://soundcloud.com/user-633212303/easter-sunday-morning-year-a-2020/s-OILb4nJQsm6     (EPISODE:222 )
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The homily will be given by Surfers Paradise Parish Priest, Fr Peter Dillon.

Easter Sunday Morning

In the early 1920s, when Communism was in the ascendancy in Russia, a Communist leader called Bukharin was sent from Moscow to Kiev to address a rally. For nearly an hour he used every anti-God argument he could muster, and then turned to abuse and ridicule of the Christian faith till it seemed that the whole structure of belief was in ruins. At the end, there was a deathly silence. Then he invited questions from the floor. Quietly one man rose to his feet. He was a priest of the Russian Orthodox Church. Standing beside Bukharin, he turned his face to the people and simply addressed them with the ancient liturgical greeting: 'Christ is risen'. Instantly the vast crowd rose to its feet, and the reply came thundering back like the crashing of breakers against a cliff face: 'He is risen indeed'. Bukharin remained silent. There was nothing he could say in the face of such strong faith. When every argument against God has been marshalled, there remains the colossal truth that Jesus is risen from the dead.
The gospels tell us about three occasions when Jesus called people back from the dead and restored them to their family and friends. He did this for the daughter of Jairus at Capernaum, for the widow's son at Nairn, and for his friend Lazarus.

Can you imagine the change of emotion that accompanied these miracles? The bystanders watch as Jesus goes into the room where the twelve-year-old girl's body lay in death. They see him invite the parents and three apostles to join him. From outside they hear the screams of ecstasy as that mother and father see their little girl sit up and holdout her arms once again to be hugged by them.

Can you imagine the scene at Nairn where there was a funeral procession but the young man being carried out to the tomb suddenly walks back to his own home, in the company of his mother and the astounded neighbours? Food and drink intended for the wake are now shared to celebrate a miraculous homecoming.

Can you imagine the scene at Bethany when Lazarus who had spent three nights as one of the dead in the cemetery walked again and talked again and entered through his own front door to sleep in his own bed?

These gospel scenes are tantalizing. We have all sat in a bedroom and looked at the lifeless body of someone we loved. No miracle-worker, followed by a group of disciples, entered to take them by the hand and restore life to their lifeless limbs. We have all followed the hearse from church to the cemetery. There was no wonder-worker to stop the procession and send us home rejoicing. We have all gone to a loved one's grave – days, months, years later and there is only a deathly silence.

Theologians describe these three incidents in the life of Jesus as the revivifying miracles. Jesus puts an end to the tears, the sorrow and the mourning but it was a temporary measure. He restored them to the life they were already living. All three would have to face death again. A popular pilgrimage place in Israel today is the burial place of Lazarus in Bethany.

However, there is another miracle in the Gospels where death gives way to life - the miracle of Easter. It is the greatest of all miracles. On Easter Sunday morning Jesus was not called back to a further period c earthly existence. He was called to take his place beside his Heavenly Father. He is the firstborn of the human dead. Born to a new and everlasting life. He says that where he goes we can hope to follow, hope to have a share of this eternal life.

Today is the great day of hope. Christian hope is a hope firmly grounded in the past, in the Easter event, but always looking inwards and forwards to the future - to a time when we will see again those who have gone before us in faith.

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Poem:
'That Nature Is a Heraclitean Fire and of the Comfort of the Resurrection'
By Gerard Manley Hopkins.


"Enough! The Resurrection.
A heart's-clarion! Away griefs gasping, joyless days, Dejection.
Across my foundering deck shone A beacon, an eternal beam. ...
I am at once what Christ is, since he was what I
am."


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References:
Fr Peter Dillon PP.

Poetic Reflection (not quoted in Homily): Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844–89).  Poems.  1918.
"That Nature is a Heraclitean Fire and of the comfort of the Resurrection." The poem can be seen in full at  https://www.bartleby.com/122/48.html

Image: Shutterstock stock photo ID: 722611741. Abstract and surrealistic image of a cave with light. revelation and open the door, Holy Bible story concept. By tomertu
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Archive of homilies and reflections:  http://homilycatholic.blogspot.com.au
To contact Fr. Paul, please email:  
paulwkelly68@gmail.com

To listen to my weekly homily audio podcast, please click this link here.
NB - It is often a week or so Ahead:  https://soundcloud.com/user-633212303/tracks

You are welcome to subscribe to Fr Paul's homily mail-out by sending an email to this address: 
paulkellyreflections+subscribe@googlegroups.com

Further information relating to the audio productions linked to this Blog:
"Faith, Hope and Love - Christian worship and reflection"  - Led by Rev Paul Kelly

Prayers and chants  — Roman Missal, 3rd edition, © 2010, The International Commission on English in the liturgy. (ICEL)

Scriptures - New Revised Standard Version: © 1989,  and 2009 by the NCC-USA. (National Council of Churches of Christ - USA)

"The Psalms" ©1963, 2009,  The Grail - Collins publishers.

Prayers of the Faithful -   " Together we pray" by Robert Borg'.   E.J. Dwyer, Publishers, (1993) . (Sydney Australia).

Sung "Mass In Honour of St. Ralph Sherwin" -  by Jeffrey M. Ostrowski. The ….Gloria,  copyright 2011 
ccwatershed.org. }

"Today I Arise" - For Patricia Kelly.  Original words and music by Paul W. Kelly. Inspired by St Patrick's Prayer.  Arranged and sung, with additional lyrics by Stefan Kelk. 2019.
[ Production -  KER -  2020]
May God bless and keep you.
 
Easter Sunday of the Resurrection,
(EPISODE: 222)

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
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Brothers and sisters, let us acknowledge our sins,
and so prepare ourselves to celebrate the sacred mysteries.
Lord Jesus, you have revealed yourself as the way to the Father: Lord, have mercy//You have poured out on your people the Spirit of truth: Christ, have mercy//You are the Good Shepherd, leading us to eternal life: Lord, have mercy.//
May almighty God have mercy on us, forgive us our sins, and bring us to everlasting life.  Amen.
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Memorial Acclamation

We proclaim your Death, O Lord, and profess your Resurrection until you come again.

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Easter I

Euch Prayer II

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Go in the peace of Christ. Alleluia, Alleluia.



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