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All throughout these 50 days of Easter, our first reading will come not from the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament), but from the Acts of the Apostles. The Acts of the Apostles are stories about the beginnings of the Church and how the Early Church survived and thrived under the influence of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit promised and delivered by Jesus.

Today’s first reading speaks about how the early Christians came together for the breaking of the bread (Eucharist) and prayers. ...

All four gospel writers (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) have slightly different versions of the resurrection story as you probably know. They are not contradictory stories per se but stories that give us four different angles on the one truth, that Jesus is risen and is still bringing about God’s kingdom in our world.

Today’s story, John’s version, begins this way: Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb. By ...

You might remember how the Passion story ended last Sunday, on Passion Sunday (Palm Sunday). After Jesus is crucified, he’s placed in a tomb. Matthew, the gospel writer, throws in this little hint that Mary Magdalene and the other Mary sat opposite the tomb. This is a clue of what is to come. Pretend you never heard the story and have no idea that it ends in resurrection. Mary Magdalene isn’t just sitting anywhere; she’s sitting opposite the tomb. What ...

Of all the creatures that God created the only one that foresees and, therefore, fears death is the human being. Every other form of life on this planet accepts the natural cycle of death and life. I suppose the reason we fear death and postpone thinking about it until the very end, often only when we’re on our deathbeds, is because death is the entry into the great unknown. Many of us fear what we don’t know and can’t control. ...