"Take advantage of little sufferings even more than of great ones. God considers not so much what we suffer as how we suffer. . . Turn everything to profit as the grocer does in his shop." (St. Louis de Montfort) God does not will suffering in our life. He permits suffering, which is a consequence of Original

sin. We should never ask to suffer, for it is already a part of our journey. But what matters is what do we do with those sufferings when they come. Yes, we can take medicine to alleviate the pain. But while we
wait, do we unite it to the sufferings of Jesus in reparation of our sins and the sins of the world? Do we bring our suffering into prayer? Can the way we embrace our sufferings be a witness to others, like St John Paul II? Suffering can be a stumbling block or a stepping stone on our journey to holiness.

Our present day culture insists that we are to be self made, self

sufficient and independent, and self focus. These are all lies. Such
a world view is not based on reality. We are not self made. Our
existence comes from God. We are not self sufficient and
independent. We need others and we need resources we did not create to sustain myself. When we become self focus, we forget that it takes a village to form a person. We could become isolated from others or we use and manipulate others for our advantage. In
contrast to this secular culture view, there is the truth. To
recognize that being dependent on God for existence,
sustenance, maintenance and finality does not diminish our
identity and self worth but enhances them. Likewise, to
acknowledge that "no man is an island" keeps us grounded and
connected in the receiving and giving of life. Live life fully in
God.

"The Cross had asked the questions; the Resurrection had answered them...The Cross had asked: 'Why does God permit evil and sin to nail Justice to a tree?' The Resurrection answered: 'That sin, having done its worst, might exhaust itself and this be overcome by Love that is stronger than either sin or death.'" (Archbishop Fulton Sheen, Lent and Easter Wisdom, 110) Both the Cross and the Resurrection will remain a mystery to the unaided eyes of faith. A stumbling block for some. A grace for others. In love Jesus embraced both to teach us that love is the only way to understanding. We will have many crosses in our life. Each is meant to lead to a type of resurrection. The extent of resurrection will depend on the degree of our love for God. Like the dry bones in Ezekiel's prophesy, though they came back to life, something essential was missing, namely the spirit. Embracing our crosses in love will mean our resurrection, in the present and in the end, will be in love.

Now that very day two of them were going to a village seven miles from Jerusalem called Emmaus, and they were conversing about all the things that had occurred. And it happened that while they were conversing and debating, Jesus himself drew near and walked with them, but their eyes were prevented from recognizing him.

In each of the post-resurrection appearances of Jesus there seems to be a consistent feature, namely the risen Jesus was different and at first he is not recognized. It is only in some external sign or gesture or intonation of voice that confirms in their hearts that it is the same Jesus. Here it will be the breaking of the bread.
Lk wants to emphasize that Jesus physically rose from the dead and not just spiritually. Thus, his glorified body was somehow unlike his previous human body, but it was truly he.
"Their eyes were prevented from recognizing him." Because of their discouragement they were spiritually blinded to the reality of the risen Jesus. They were thinking of Jesus as he was. The point, which will be made at the end, will be that it takes faith, a gift of new vision, to recognize Jesus as he is, not as he was.
Is it possible that sometimes we have a hard time seeing Jesus because we are looking for the Jesus of the past and not of the present?


He asked them, "What are you discussing as you walk along?" They stopped, looking downcast. One of them, named Cleopas, said to him in reply, "Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know of the things that have taken place there in these days?" And he replied to them, "What sort of things?" They said to him, "The things that happened to Jesus the Nazarene, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, how our chief priests and rulers both handed him over to a sentence of death and crucified him. But we were hoping that he would be the one to redeem Israel; and besides all this, it is now the third day since this took place. Some women from our group, however, have astounded us: they were at the tomb early in the morning and did not find his body; they came back and reported that they had indeed seen a vision of angels who announced that he was alive. Then some of those with us went to the tomb and found things just as the women had described, but him they did not see."

Can you relate to the discouragement and disillusionment of the two disciples, whose hope in Jesus as Messiah was shattered? Have you ever felt like walking away from it all at times?


And he said to them, "Oh, how foolish you are! How slow of heart to believe all that the prophets spoke! Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and enter into his glory?"

Jesus himself predicted several times before the event of his crucifixion that the Son of Man would suffer and die a cruel death. Because the disciples did not want to hear of that, they dismissed the possibility. But there is no sharing in his glory without sharing in his cross.


Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them what referred to him in all the scriptures. As they approached the village to which they were going, he gave the impression that he was going on farther. But they urged him, "Stay with us, for it is nearly evening and the day is almost over." So he went in to stay with them. And it happened that, while he was with them at table, he took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them. With that their eyes were opened and they recognized him, but he vanished from their sight. Then they said to each other, "Were not our hearts burning (within us) while he spoke to us on the way and opened the scriptures to us?"

Recognizing Jesus in his present state was the confirmation of the word he spoke to them from the scriptures. The interpretation of the scriptures opened their hearts to see Jesus.
We hear the scriptures each week at Mass, are our hearts burning within us on hearing the Word of God and its interpretation during the homily?
They had to invite Jesus to stay with them before they could recognize him. Maybe Jesus is waiting for us to invite him now in a new way into our hearts so that we can have a new experience of the risen Lord.
So they set out at once and returned to Jerusalem where they found gathered together the eleven and those with them who were saying, "The Lord has truly been raised and has appeared to Simon!" Then the two recounted what had taken place on the way and how he was made known to them in the breaking of the bread.
In what way do I experience the risen Christ in the Scriptures and in the Sacraments? Do we recognize Jesus in the "breaking of the bread?"
The two disciples experienced the risen Lord and went back to Jerusalem to share their story, to give testimony to the marvelous love of God. Do we do the same each time we experience that same love of God in our lives? Do we witness that marvelous love to others?
What application do you make in your life after your reflections?

We have a mission and purpose in life. This mission and purpose began when we came into existence. But it was not until we were baptized that this mission and purpose begin to come into focus. For it was then that our true identity was revealed to us. We are sons and daughters, disciples, of the living God. He shared his own divine life with us. We are meant to live with him eternally. From the moment of our baptism to the inevitable moment of physical death, we have a mission to grow in relationship with God and to share what God is doing in our lives with others. Everything else is, in reality, secondary and is to be directed to our primary mission and purpose.

Jesus Christ is risen! He lives! Alleluia! This is a fact of

faith. But is it a fact of faith in my life? I am a new creation
in faith. Am I a new creation in fact? What has and does
the risen Christ made and make in my life today? How
conscious am I that I live now, not I, but Christ Jesus in
me? For the first eye witnesses the resurrection of Jesus,
their encounter with him, meant closing the door of the
past and living in the present reality of a daily new
beginning. It meant to totally surrender to the Lordship of
the risen Savior. It meant following the lead of the Holy
Spirit. It meant saying and meaning with Peter, "I love you
more than anything else." It meant being a light to the
world, allowing their life and words to witness to the fact of
faith that indeed Jesus lives! There is more: the rest of
your life!

On the evening of that first day of the week, when the doors were locked, where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, "Peace be with you."
How often are we paralyzed by fear and lack of trust in the word of God?
Notice that Jesus= resurrected body is different yet the same: different, it is not limited by a closed door; the same, it is the person of Jesus. When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. (Jesus) said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you."  What is it that Jesus was sent to do by the Father that the disciples and we are equally sent to do? And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained." In John=s theology we can=t separate the death and resurrection of Jesus from the gift of the Holy Spirit. Together the two events make up the Paschal Mystery of God=s plan. In Luke the two events are separated by fifty days.
Just as Jesus received the anointing of the Spirit after his baptism, empowering him to do the work of the Father, so the disciples and we are given the gift of the Spirit for the same purpose. How have we responded?
This mandate to forgive sins is one of the scriptural foundations for the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Do we take advantage of this gift of reconciliation from Jesus? Thomas, called Didymus, one of the Twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples said to him, "We have seen the Lord." Following what Jesus told them to do, the first person the disciples witnessed to was to Thomas. But he said to them, "Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger into the nailmarks and put my hand into his side, I will not believe."
Have we found ourselves at times in the same place as Thomas was, struggling with doubts, in spite of what others tell us about Jesus and what he has done?
Have we at times put conditions to Jesus to fulfill before we acted in faith? Now a week later his disciples were again inside and Thomas was with them. Jesus came, although the doors were locked, and stood in their midst and said, "Peace be with you." Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here and see my hands, and bring your hand and put it into my side, and do not be unbelieving, but believe." Thomas answered and said to him, "My Lord and my God!"  Jesus does not chastise or condemn Thomas for his unbelief. He reaches out in compassion and love.
Of all the confessions of faith in Jesus found in John=s Gospel this is the highest. 

Jesus said to him, "Have you come to believe because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed." To believe without seeing is a greater sign of faith than seeing and then believing.
Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of (his) disciples that are not written in this book. But these are written that you may (come to) believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through this belief you may have life in his name.
The closing verses are addressed to us today. How has our faith in Jesus impacted our lives?
Other reflections?

He is risen, indeed! Alleluia! Encountering the risen Christ

forever changed the lives of the first eye witnesses. They
had doubted and refused to believe in his word before his
crucifixion. They abandoned him in the moment of his
greatest need for support. They hid themselves from the
authorities for fear of being arrested and killed. Their
hopes of Jesus being the Messiah, who would deliver
Israel, were now shattered. In the depth of their pain and
darkness came the light of the risen Christ. Their chains of
despair were broken by his simple gift of forgiveness and
peace. Their hearts were burning again within them for
love of him. The risen Christ had given meaning to their
lives, when they had thought all was lost. The past was
gone. Living in the present moment in, for and with the
risen Christ was all that matter. There is more.

Jesus is risen from the dead! Alleluia! This indeed is Good

News that must be told! Therefore, Jesus says to the initial
eye witnesses, the women, that they are to tell the
Apostles what they have seen and heard. This is the role
of an eye witness, namely to testify to the truth of the
experience. Have we encountered the risen Christ? Then
we are called to tell others, so that they may experience
and believe as well. Herein lies the possibility of a
breakdown in the process. If there is no personal
encounter with the risen Christ, there is no faith
breakthrough. If there is no living faith, there is no Good
News told. If there is no telling of the Good News, the
grace of Jesus' resurrection is blocked or denied. We are
not responsible for what the hearer does with our witness,
but we are responsible to witness the truth we have
experienced. But there is more.

Jesus has risen from the dead! Death has no dominion

over him! Alleluia! What does his resurrection mean for
me? I have been redeemed and my sins have been
forgiven. Alleluia! Death has no final victory. Death is not to
be feared. If I die in Christ, I shall live with him eternally.
Alleluia! Because of Jesus resurrection, my body, though it
may decay in the tomb, will be raised up and be glorified
eternally. Alleluia! Sharing in his divine life through
Baptism, I am a new creation! Alleluia! Because of the
risen Christ, I now have access to the Father in the Spirit!
Alleluia! Do I not have ample reason to rejoice? But there
is more.

He is risen! Alleluia! Initially our faith is based on the

eyewitness of those who encountered the risen Lord.
Without this personal encounter, their faith would be based
only on the words of others. How long can that be
sustained? This has been our journey. We were baptized
because of the faith of our parents, strong or weak as it
was. But that faith, handed to us, needs to be personally
owned for it to fully transform us. We have had many
encounters with Jesus from baptism to the Sacrament of
Reconciliation, to communion with him in Eucharist, to
receiving the fresh anointing of the Holy Spirit in
Confirmation. But each will remain like a passing in the
night, until in faith we confidently acknowledge that Jesus
has truly risen from the dead and I now live in him. But
there is more.

He is risen! Alleluia! Jesus Christ is risen from the dead! A

survey taken last year showed in the U.S one out of four
Christians did not believe in Jesus' resurrection from the
dead. Why do you and I believe? True, no one was an eye
witness of the moment of resurrection. But there were
many who were eye witnesses of the risen Christ. They
touched him; they spoke to him; they ate with him, over a
period of forty days. Because of these post-resurrection
encounters they believed and they knew in faith that Jesus
rose from the dead as he had predicted. Their faith
conviction was so strong, they were willing to die for him,
rather than deny what they had experienced. The initial
reason we believe is their testimony and their conviction
even to suffer death for it. But there is more.

He died for our sins. He rose to give us life.
May we die to our sins, so that we can rise in his new life.
May the grace of the new life of Easter transform our
life each day.  A Blessed Easter.! He is risen! Alleluia!

The fifth word that Jesus cried out from the cross was, "I

thirst!" After enduring so much abuse and pain, after losing
so much blood, his body has dehydrated from lack of water.
But his cry of thirst is more than for physical water. He had
previously cried out, "My God, my God, why have you
abandoned me?" He thirsts for the Father's love, the
separation from whom he feels. In faith, he knows he can
entrust his life into the Father's arms. He also thirsts for
our love. He is dying a cruel death in our place because of
our sins. Do we love him? Will we show our love by
seeking to avoid the sins of separation? Jesus thirsts for
our understanding and response. Will we quench his thirst
or deepen it?

Having become sin for us, Jesus experienced the real

effects of sin, separation from God. This awareness
becomes so interiorly intense that Jesus cries out from the
depth of this anguish, "My God, my God, why have you
abandoned me?" It is the beginning of a psalm that Jesus
prayed many times in different circumstances. But now he
felt the meaning of those words. In faith he knew that he
was the beloved Son of the Father. This acute sense of
abandonment was not final. However, in feeling the reality
of sin overwhelmed him. In fact, the Father did not
abandon his Son. Unseen, the Father was there. For our
sake the Father endured the cry of the Son. We can never
begin to comprehend the pain, because of our sins, Jesus
endured. The only meaningful response we can give is to
choose not to separate ourselves from God again.

The third word uttered by Jesus on the cross was the fruit of his preaching on discipleship. Crucified with him were two criminals. Hearing the crowds taunting Jesus to come down from the cross, if he was the Son of God, one of the criminals shouted at Jesus to save him as well. When nothing happened, he started cursing Jesus. The other criminal rebuked him, professing Jesus' innocence. To Jesus he asked to be remembered when he came into his kingdom. This one acknowledged Jesus publicly before others, while at the same time repenting of his own sins. In his preaching Jesus had said that anyone who acknowledged him before others will be acknowledged by Him before his Father. Fulfilling that promise, Jesus said to this new disciple, "Today, you will be with me in paradise." How important for our salvation is it to publicly acknowledge Jesus by our words and actions!

The cross for Jesus meant separation from the meaningful

relations that were integral in his life. As he emptied
Himself of his divinity to take on the human nature, so on
the cross he allows himself to be stripped, not only of his
clothes, but of all meaningful relations. The disciple
friends, except for John and the few women standing there
under the cross, had deserted him. Standing there also
with them was his mother, Mary. As death will temporarily
separate Mother and Son, Jesus is to experience total
abandonment, which sin brings about. Thus, before
allowing that separation with Mary to take place, he
entrusts her to John and all of us, through John, to her.
"Woman, behold your son. Son, behold your mother." The
sword that would pierce her side, predicted by Simeon, is
now felt. Both Jesus and Mary embraced that separation.
It was the completion of Mary's words: "Behold the
handmaid of the Lord. Be it done to me according to your
word."  We cannot begin to imagine or understand the depth of pain that Jesus and Mary felt at this separation.

The first words Jesus utters from his final pulpit, the cross,

were "Father, forgive them for they do not know what the
do." Why these words to the very people who sought his
death? First of all, he was putting into action his own
teaching to others. Though sinless, He came to forgive the
sins of others. The intent of the other did not matter.
Second, he did not want un-forgiveness to root itself in his
heart. Third, he was witnessing to the unconditional love of
God for us, even when we choose to sin. Fourth, Jesus
did not justify or play down the enormity of their sin. To
better prepare our hearts to enter into the Passion of
Christ, we need to follow his example. We need, with the
help of his grace, to choose to forgive all whom we
perceive have injured us in some way. This forgiveness is
not only a verbal utterance but a choice from the heart, for
God has thus forgiven us. Our forgiveness does not rest
on the right or wrong of what was done but on our need to
be in right order with God.

"The object of prayer is of secondary importance; what

matters above all is one's relationship with the Father. This
is what prayer does: it transforms the desire and models it
according to the will of God, whatever that may be, because the one who prays aspires first of all to union with God, who is merciful Love." (Pope Francis) The object of prayer is the intention we are praying for. But the reality of prayer is focusing on God as the beginning and end of one's life. Whether God grants the prayer request is not as important as allowing prayer to draw me into a deeper union with God through fully embracing his will in each situation. Growing in love with God is the purpose of prayer, not getting something from God.

The preponderance of God's revelation is overwhelming

when it comes to his desire to be with us at all times. Why
would the Almighty and infinite God choose to be with us
all the time? Because he loves us. From the beginning of
human existence God wanted to enhance our life through
sharing with us his own divine life. Even after sin entered
the world, God did not abandon us, but promised to be
with us and reconcile us to himself, so that we can share
in his divine life. To accomplish this, God took on fresh so
that he can be visibly and physically with us. He is
Emmanuel, God with us. But the ultimate desire of God is
to share his life with us, to draw us into deeper union and
intimacy with him. Jesus expressed this through the
parable of the vine and the branches. He taught this when
he shared that the Father and he would come to us and abide within us. Our God desires to be with us and in us,so that we can be with him and in him. Wonderful mystery!

"A Christian life without temptations is not Christian: it is

ideological, it is gnostic, but it is not Christian”. In fact it happens that “when the Father draws people to Jesus, there is another who draws in the opposite way and wages war within you!” (Pope Francis) Yes, we pray to be deliver from temptations, but it is through these moments of trials that we experience grace to grow closer to God. The Evil one seeks to draw us away from God. The Holy Spirit enables us to make the right choice. Even Jesus was tempted in his humanity to turn from fulfilling the Father's plan to save the world from sin by embracing the cross of salvation. When St. Paul pleaded with God to take away the thorn in his side, the response he got was "My grace is sufficient for you. For when you are weak then my strength will be there for you."

When Jesus and the disciples drew near Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, "Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find an ass tethered, and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them here to me. And if anyone should say anything to you, reply, ‘The master has need of them.’ Then he will send them at once." How did Jesus know this? This is another manifestation of one of the gifts of the Spirit which Jesus exercised: the gift of word of knowledge. Can you imagine the reaction of the disciples when they experienced this as Jesus had said? What would have been your reaction? This happened so that what had been spoken through the prophet might be fulfilled: Say to daughter Zion, "Behold, your king comes to you, meek and riding on an ass, and on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden." The prophesy is found in Zechariah 9:9. Read it. It reflects the humility of a great person as he rides not on a stallion but on a donkey.The disciples went and did as Jesus had ordered them. They brought the ass and the colt and laid their cloaks over them, and he sat upon them. The very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and strewed them on the road. The crowds preceding him and those following kept crying out and saying: "Hosanna to the Son of David; blessed is the he who comes in the name of the Lord; hosanna in the highest." The disciples and the accompanying pilgrims going to Jerusalem recognize that Jesus was the Son of David prophesied in the scriptures, the Messiah. Their actions are a response to this conviction. And when he entered Jerusalem the whole city was shaken and asked, "Who is this?" And the crowds replied, "This is Jesus the prophet, from Nazareth in Galilee." Can you picture the consternation in the city when this throng of people, shouting and waving branches, enter Jerusalem. It was a procession akin to that of a victorious king after a battle.
See yourself among the pilgrims and then among the people in Jerusalem, what do you feel and experience? What application do you make in your life?

What happens when Jesus is at the center of our lives as the true Lord and Savior that he is? There will be right order in our lives, first things will be first. With that order will come an inner peace, the peace that only comes with the real presence of sharing life in Jesus. Jesus, at the center of our lives, will then enable us to see things through his perspective, not just with our limited human awareness of reality. With this spiritual insight and the grace given to us, we will freely choose "the will of God, which is good, pleasing and perfect." As a result, we will experience the real freedom of living in Christ. With this freedom will come the fruit of the Spirit, unsurpassable joy. This joy will overflow into the desire

to be with Christ forever in glory, where his Lordship over us will be complete.

Information:
Women's April Mass
Saturday, April 8. 2017
Bishop's House
107 Albany Dr. Houma, La
8:00am
Come. Bring a friend. 
Share in the fellowship afterwards.

It is a “today after which there will be no replay”, in other words, no “tomorrow”, only “today”. And “the sunset may be closer or farther off, but it is today, a today chosen by God, a today in which we have received God’s love, God’s promise that we can find him, be with him”. It is “a today in which, in every day of this today, we can renew our covenant by faithfulness to God”. But it is a “today”, because “there is only one today in our life”....The tomorrow will be the eternal tomorrow, with no sunset, with the Lord, for ever, if I am faithful to this today”. And, the Pope continued, “the question I ask you is this one that the Holy Spirit asks: ‘how am I living this today?’”....It is precisely “in our heart” that “the today is at play”. This is why we must ask ourselves if “our heart is open to the Lord”. (Pope Francis) Many of us miss the grace of today because we are trying to relive yesterday, which is gone, or live in tomorrow, which is not here. It is what we do today that will impact what was done yesterday. It is what we do today that prepares us for the future. As St. Paul says, "Today is the day of salvation."