Someone posted a question on social media last week: Is there any proof that Jesus actually rose from the dead?       Sometimes you just want to chuckle at people’s ignorance. Oh, the amount of proof is astonishing! How many people saw Him! How many testified that it was Jesus indeed! People even came back from the dead to give testimony to Jesus!       Jesus Christ, as resurrected, appeared to Mary Magdalene (Mt. 28:9-10, Jn. 20:11-17 – an “idle tale” Peter says, Lk. 24:11) and to the other women.       To Simon Peter (who must have swallowed his words; Lk. 24:34; I Cor. 15:5).       To the 11 Apostles (Lk 24:36-49; Jn. 20:19-23, 26-29; I Cor. 15:5), when Jesus ate some fish and had them touch Him to prove He was real flesh and not a ghost, even rebuking them for their unbelief and hardness of heart (Mk. 16:14).       To two disciples on the ...

Proof of Christ's Resurrection.       We continue along the 50 days of the Easter Season, this week being the octave of eight days of Solemnities celebrating the Easter Resurrection of the Lord.       This Sunday, the eighth day and Second Sunday of Easter, is also Divine Mercy Sunday. The Opening Prayer (Collect) says it all: “God of everlasting mercy, who in the very recurrence of the paschal feast [Easter] kindle the faith of the people you have made your own, increase, we pray, the grace you have bestowed, that all may grasp and rightly understand in what font they have been washed [baptized], by whose Spirit they have been reborn, by whose Blood they have been redeemed.”       Naturally, being eight days after Easter, our Sunday Gospel reading is from John 20:19-31 , relating when Jesus appeared to the 11 disciples [minus Judas Iscariot] eight days after his resurrection. In the Early Church, those who were called “Ap...

Touching Christ.       Easter is an octave of eight days to celebrate the blessings and mystery of the solemnity. Mass is Monday April 18 at 6:00 PM; Tuesday April 19 will be a Communion Service at 5:30 PM; and Mass is then on Wednesday April 20 at 9:00 AM, Thursday April 21 at 5:30 PM (which will be followed by Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and Benediction), Friday April 22 at 7:45 AM, and Saturday April 23 at 9:00 AM.       As was done in the early years of the Church, each day of Easter Week we read the different Gospel accounts of Christ’s resurrection: Monday: Mary Magdalen and the “other Mary” from Matthew28 . Tuesday: Mary Magdalen from John 20 . Wednesday: disciples on the road to Emmaus from Luke 24 . Thursday: the report of those disciples gave when they returned to Jerusalem that night also from Luke 24 . Friday: Jesus’ appearance by the sea from John 21 . Saturday: the summary of the Easter day events and Jesus’ commission to “Go ...

Easter Jubilation: Victimae Paschali Laudes       The Easter Season is my favorite time of year. The joyful exuberance of praise for Christ’s majestic glory in his resurrection is mirrored in the beauty and joy of Earth’s Spring. Our souls are renewed in hope once again. The music of the season (sadly missed in public worship in these Covid-19 times) both expresses and enhances our joy and jubilation.       Speaking of jubilation, the exuberant charismatic gift of tongues the Apostles experienced on Pentecost has continued throughout Church history in various forms, most especially a well-known form of spontaneous prayer called “jubilation.” In the Middle Ages the prayer of jubilation was incorporated into the Liturgy of the Mass after the “Alleluia” and before the reading of the Gospel. The people would extend the singing of the “Alleluia” through spontaneous jubilation, even shouting loudly, and the jubilation could last for 20 minutes. In some ...

The Gospel of the Forty Days: Baptism, Part 2       Last week we began discussion of Jesus’ command to the Apostles to baptize, given during the forty days between His Resurrection and Ascension. An observant person may have asked, Why does Jesus command to baptize in the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (Mt 28:20), and yet at Pentecost Peter said to be baptized in the Name of Jesus Christ (Ac 2:38)?       There are at least two answers. First, any time Jesus Christ is mentioned in the New Testament, as Son of God He is always in reference to the Father; and in the context of baptism, Peter here, and the New Testament elsewhere, speaks of the Holy Spirit given in baptism. Therefore, one can truly say that to baptize in the Name of Jesus Christ is to reference the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Perhaps for this reason, or because of the clarity of Jesus’ command, the early Church records that the words spoken while administering baptism ...

The "Gospel of the Forty Days"       This Sunday is Pentecost Sunday which remembers the descent of the Holy Spirit as told in chapter 2 of the Acts of the Apostles. Last Sunday we celebrated the Ascension of Jesus which remembers Christ’s ascent into Heaven as told in chapter 1 of Acts.       The Gospel of Mark also mentions the Ascension: “So then the Lord Jesus ... was taken up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God.” (Mk 16:19.) Mark might have been there to see Jesus ascend – as he may have been at Jesus' arrest (Mk 14:51-52), and the Apostles and disciples regularly met at his mother's house (Ac 12:12) – but how did he know Jesus “sat down at the right hand of God?” That wasn’t anything anyone could have seen.       In Peter’s Pentecost sermon he says Jesus was “exalted at the right hand of God” (Ac 2:33; cf., 1 Pet 3:22). How did he know that? Where did he get this? When?    ...

Sermon on Our Lord       The Deacon St. Ephrem the Syrian (306-373) has a wonderful (and lengthy) sermon simply called Sermon on Our Lord . In St. Ephrem's poetic and imaginative language, he describes the Easter victory of Christ Jesus over death, which he personifies as a contest between the Lord and Death. Note that "Sheol" is the Biblical term for the place of the dead.       "Our Lord was trampled on by Death; and in His turn trod out a way over Death.       "This is He Who made Himself subject to and endured death of His own will, that He might cast down death against its will.       "For our Lord bare His cross and went forth according to the will of Death: but He with a loud cry upon the cross [Mt 27:50] brought forth the dead from within Sheol [Mt 27:53] against the will of Death.       "In that very body by which Death had slain Him, in that as a weapon,...

Skeptical about Resurrection Proof?       Was Jesus’ appearances after His resurrection any kind of proof of who He said He was? That He is God incarnate? That He had indeed risen from the dead – not resuscitated but with an entirely new human body, resurrected with new qualities and nature?       Skeptics say no. No proof at all. Jesus only appeared to people who believed in Him. What proof is that? They already believed.       Well, let’s take another look at the historical account.       Early that Easter Sunday morning Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and other women (including Salome, Mk 16:1) came to Jesus’ tomb and found it empty. Two men “in dazzling apparel” appeared and said Jesus had risen. The women returned to the “eleven and to all the rest” and “the apostles” and relayed what had happened – “but these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not beli...

The Centrality of the Resurrection       In Jaroslav Pelikan, Ph.D.’s book, Acts , part of the Brazos Theological Commentary on the Bible series, he pulls together all the numerous references to the resurrection of Christ throughout the Biblical book of the “Acts of the Apostles," and makes several general observations, as follows.       Pelikan, who was a Yale historian of Christian doctrine, notes that Luke, the author of both the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles, ties together his Gospel and the Acts “preeminently by the resonances of the Easter narrative.” Luke 24 ends with the women, and then Peter and John, at the empty tomb; with Jesus meeting up with the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, followed by His appearance to the apostles, and ending with His ascension. Acts, then, begins with Jesus’ “presenting Himself alive” “by many proofs,” followed by a more detailed account of His ascension. Luke is writing both as a historia...

Easter is Not Over!       Well, Easter is over.  Back to normal.  Half-priced chocolate bunnies and eggs in the store.        No, no, no! Easter is not over!  The Easter season continues until Pentecost, this year on May 31st, 50 days after Easter.  Easter is the most important celebration for a Christian, and we need a lot of time to absorb the richness, and the grace.  We need to journey with the apostles (Peter, John, James, Thomas), men and women disciples, Mary Magdalene, Jesus’ mother, the two disciples on the way to Emmaus (Mk. 16:12-13; Lk. 24:13-35), the centurion converted at the foot of the cross (Mt. 27:54).  Or how about the people of Jerusalem who saw the resuscitated dead who had come out from their tombs after the earthquake when Jesus died on Good Friday (Mt. 27:53)?  They must have stayed around for some time as it says they were still appearing after Easter Sunday when Jesus was resurr...

The Raising of Lazarus from the Dead       The Diocese of Fresno has extended the suspension of all Masses, classes, meetings, and other events until after Palm Sunday – and it could go longer. So there is no Sunday Mass this weekend of March 28-29, nor Palm Sunday Weekend of April 4-5. Keep checking our website for the most current updates – ollcalcity.org . Also, daily Mass from Bishop Barron's chapel in Santa Barbara is now broadcast each day on our website during this closure.       While we cannot feed just now on the Bread of Life, the Eucharist, Christ is still present in His Word which each family or individual at home (hopefully safe from any virus) can open, read, and meditate on. The Gospel for this Sunday is the raising of Lazarus from the dead. If you have a Missal, open it up to the Fifth Week of Lent and pray through the entire Mass: antiphons, readings, the special Preface for the raising of Lazarus, chose one of the Eucharisti...