Easter: We Have Been Raised with Christ. Easter is More Than a Day; it is a Way
extraordinary by living their lives in Him. No longer afraid, these witnesses of the Resurrection, in the words of the Acts of the Apostles, "turn the world upside down with their preaching." They became so configured to the Lord that they lived and died like Him, for the sake of the world which is being re-born now, because he has been raised. So too can we turn our world upside down because the Resurrection makes all things new, beginning now!
The implications of the Resurrection unfolded for them as they reflected on His saving life and death and yielded to the work of the Holy Spirit in their own lives. So it must for us now, as we realize that Easter is more than a day, it is a way. Time became for them a tutor, no longer a tyrant. Because the sting of death, sin, had been defeated, it became for them a portal into eternal life and communion with the One who has been raised. So it is for each of us who now bear His Name. Time invites us into a field of choice where we can progress in freedom and become configured to the One whose Holy Resurrection we are celebratring.
Easter is more than a Day, it is a Way; A Way of living our lives differently now in Him. We are invited to do that by living them in His Church, which is His Body, for the sake of the world. The Church is the new world, in the course of transfiguration. That world created through Him out of love but which was lost due to sin, is now being made new because that tomb is empty. He came among us and began creation anew. That is what we celebrate. Death has been defeated by His Saving Death. In His Resurrection, we now live no more to die. Darkness has been scattered by the Light which breaks forth from that empty tomb and is meant to infuse our daily lives with the radiance of Resurrected love. What a Day! What a Way, the Easter Way, Alleluia!
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Pope Benedict XVI's Prayer Intentions for January 2013
General Intention: The Faith of Christians. That in this Year of Faith Christians may deepen their knowledge of the mystery of Christ and witness joyfully to the gift of faith in him.
Missionary Intention: Middle Eastern Christians. That the Christian communities of the Middle East, often discriminated against, may receive from the Holy Spirit the strength of fidelity and perseverance.
Keywords: Easter, Resurrection, Exultet, Easter Vigil, Empty Tomb, Alleluia, Deacon Keith Fournier
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Stations of the Cross
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Stations of the Cross refers to the depiction of the final hours (or Passion) of Jesus, and the devotion commemorating the Passion.
Opening Prayer
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An addendum.....................Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich, in writing about this subject states, (April 12, 1820) 'For a long while I have had interior lights on the state of children dying without Baptism, and I have seen the unspeakable blessings, the treasures they lose when deprived of this Sacrament. I cannot express what I feel on beholding their loss!'
The importance of Baptism cannot be overemphasized............
It is a great tragedy in our times to see so many children deprived of Holy Baptism. While the governments call it a crime, and rightly so, if parents deprive their children of the natural necessities of life: such as food, education and medicine, yet when they deprive them of the supernatural life of baptism, it is looked upon as if it were some trivial. O how gravely men error! How foolish and vain is their thinking! If we are heading overseas to a foreign country and we do not our passport we will not be allowed entry. It is that simple. Likewise, a soul who is not baptized cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven. (John 3:5) Amen, Amen, I say to thee, unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Ghost, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. Aside from the baptism of blood and desire, the early Church speculated as to the fate of unbaptized infants. Augustine thought that they would suffer the least in hell. Bellarmine held that they would experience only the pain of loss but not the pain of sense. St. Thomas taught that they would have neither pain of sense nor loss, but would only possess a natural happiness. This he called limbo. It would be like an Eskimo who has gone through life without ever having visited the tropics. He cannot be sad for he was never aware of there being a better place. Some mystics have said that souls in limbo can be lifted into Heaven with either a baptism for the unborn or a Requiem Mass – but these claims are not certain. As Jesus tells the mystic Luisa Piccarreta, ‘through Baptism I restore {man’s} innocence, I find my child again, I give back to him the rights over Creation which he had lost…I make the enemy flee from him, that he may no longer have any right over him, I entrust him to the Angels, and all of Heaven makes feast for him.’ St. Faustina in her diary relays the following story, ‘there was a Jewish woman who was seriously ill. I went to see here three days ago and was deeply pained at the thought that she would soon die without having her soul cleansed by the grace of baptism. I had an understanding with her nurse, a religious sister, that when her last moment would be approaching, she would baptize her. There was this difficulty however, that there were always some Jewish people with her. However, I felt inspired to pray before the image which Jesus had instructed me to have painted. I have a leaflet with the Image of the Divine Mercy on the cover. And I said to the Lord, “Jesus, you yourself told me that you would grant many graces through this image. I ask You, then, for the grace of Holy Baptism for this Jewish lady. It makes no difference who will baptize her, as long as she is baptized. After these words, I felt strangely at peace, and I was quite sure that, despite the difficulties, the waters of Holy Baptism would be poured upon her soul. That night, when she was very low, I got out of bed three times to see her, watching for the right moment to give her this grace. The next morning, she seemed to feel a little better. In the afternoon her last moment began to approach. The sister who was her nurse said that baptism would be difficult because they were with her. The moment came when the sick woman began to lose consciousness, and as a result, in order to save her, they began to run about; some went to fetch the doctor, while others went off in other directions to find help. And so the patient was left alone, and sister baptized her, and before they had all rushed back, her soul was beautiful, adorned with God’s grace. Her final agony began immediately, but it did not last long. It was as if she fell asleep. All of a sudden, I saw her soul ascending to heaven in wondrous beauty. Oh, how beautiful is a soul with sanctifying grace! Joy flooded my heart that before this image I had received so great a grace for this soul.' Considering the wonderful privileges attached to baptism those Christian parents who knowingly and willingly deprive their children of this great sacrament will have to answer to God for their crime on Judgment Day. However, just being baptizing is not enough. The real challenge is for the baptized to persevere in that state. An analogy which may help is to think of the grace of baptism as a supernatural flame. After this holy flame has been ignited in our souls it must be protected from the gusts of sin. Venial sin makes it flicker and smoke and mortal sin blows it out. Now if we are so unfortunate as to fall into mortal sin we cannot reignite that flame ourselves – neither our faith nor prayers is sufficient, it requires a new initiative of God’s Mercy which He normally extends to us in the sacrament of reconciliation. In sum, baptism puts us in a state of grace; obeying the Commandments keeps us in the state of grace and confession restores us to the state of grace if we have lost it.
.............Levels of Heaven and Hell...............
Once we are baptized all the trials and sufferings that we go through in life become meritorious. The Cross no longer takes on the appearance of a curse or a burden but as a blessing and an opportunity because with each suffering we increase our capacity to participate in God’s Life - in His power, glory, honor, wisdom, beauty and all the other attributes. In Heaven, all will be glorious but there will be varying degrees of glory. As Jesus told St. Faustina, (Divine Mercy in my Soul, §1811) Each Holy Communion makes you more capable of communing with God throughout eternity. Take as an example two containers, one large and one tiny, and fill them each with water. They will be equally full, but with unequal amounts. So there will be varying degrees of blessedness in Heaven. And just as the unblemished saint will occupy a much higher place in Heaven than the death-bed convert, the unrepentant mass murderer will occupy a much deeper place in Hell than the unrepentant fornicator.
Mudjugore as an advertiser ? I now this isn't about the article but I know the good Deacon often reads and responds here. Is it wise to put an unapproved apparition on your web page? There has been much disobedience with regards to the alleged seers to the point where the Bishop really put the stops on publicly promoting this. It would seem obedient to not advertise and wait until the now formed commission by Holy Mother Church makes its call. I would not want to have advertisements on my web site promoting this to find the Church makes a ruling against this apparition. Seems prudent to now allow this on the web site? I was taken aback to see this scrolling on your home page in large fashion. I know it’s a popular apparition but until the church approves it, it seems prudent to wait.
May Jesus look down with love on those Christians who are prevented to celebrate Easter they would like to. Countries where the governments persecute Christians May Jesus protect them.
Easter is indeed a way of living, thanks to God for this new way & may He uphold us to live it.
Happy Easter everyone!
Thank you Dcn. Fornier, may you and your have a blessed Easter Season!!!