31/03/2024
Brian Cells Die??
W/ Gospel for today
Gospel | John 20:1-9 (or Luke 24:13-35)
March 31, 2024
The Power That Changes
Then the other disciple also went in . . . and he saw and believed. – John 20:8
I read this funny meme that borders on the irreverent but somehow contains some truth: “Brain cells die. Skin cells die. Even hair cells die. But the fat cells in my stomach must have accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior since they seem to have eternal life.”
Seriously, anyone who encounters Jesus will be changed forever. This was the story of St. Josephine Bakhita, who hails from a wealthy Sudanese family but was kidnapped when she was nine. She was sold as a slave numerous times to masters who tortured her mercilessly. Her last master was an Italian, whose daughter brought her to church for the first time. When she saw the cross, she felt that the Jesus was saying, “I know your wounds.” She finally found her real Master, whom she served for the rest of her life as a Canossian sister.
The power that has resurrected Jesus from the dead is the same power that runs through our very being once we meet Him. The power of the Risen Christ lives in us if only we let Him into our hearts.
Gospel | John 20:1-9 (or Luke 24:13-35)
“Seeing” does not only refer to physical sight. In today’s Gospel, “seeing” could easily refer to an understanding of the resurrection of Jesus. When Mary and the disciples say that they have seen the Lord, they refer not just to seeing Him in person but also to that growing understanding in their hearts of the fact that Jesus has been raised from the dead. With this in mind, it becomes possible for us to proclaim that: “We, too, have seen the Lord!”
Gospel Acclamation
Christ, our paschal lamb, has been sacrificed; let us then feast with joy in the Lord.
1 On the first day of the week, Mary of Magdala came to the tomb early in the morning, while it was still dark, and saw the stone removed from the tomb. 2 So she ran and went to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and told them, “They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we don’t know where they put him.” 3 So Peter and the other disciple went out and came to the tomb. 4 They both ran, but the other disciple ran faster than Peter and arrived at the tomb first; 5 he bent down and saw the burial cloths there, but did not go in. 6 When Simon Peter arrived after him, he went into the tomb and saw the burial cloths there, 7 and the cloth that had covered his head, not with the burial cloths but rolled up in a separate place. 8 Then the other disciple also went in, the one who had arrived at the tomb first, and he saw and believed. 9 For they did not yet understand the Scripture that he had to rise from the dead.
