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3rd Sunday of Easter, Year B, 14 April 2024 Note: Homilies & Angelus / Regina Caeli of Pope Saint John Paul II, Pope Benedict XVI & Pope Francis I had been compiled for you after the Mass Readings below. Happy Reading! Liturgical Colour: White.
Mass Readings from EWTN, USCCB. See our Mass Readings extracts with pictures in Encouragements-607. 8-) First Reading: Acts 3:13-15, 17-19; Responsorial: Psalm 4:2, 4, 7-8, 9; 2nd Reading: 1 John 2:1-5a; Gospel: Luke 24:35-48, Gospel video. Commentaries of the Saints: Luke Chapter 24 from CATENA AUREA BY SAINT THOMAS AQUINAS.
Others: Message to Youth | Venerable Fulton J. Sheen Macbeth | Venerable Fulton J. Sheen The Sacrament of Confession | Venerable Fulton J. Sheen Sin is in the blood- Venerable Fulton J. Sheen See the “Media Tweets” of @Michael65413248 (we have not endorsed on their other Retweets). Many Thanks, Michael Lewis & Friends.
Breakthrough on DEFEATING Dementia! New
1. Do you want this kind of “pastoral care”? Latest updates! 2. Criminal Investigation Department, Singapore Police Force harassed Law-abiding Citizen. Latest! https://twitter.com/Michael65413248/status/1510086218851270658 (2 April 2022) #Singapore Police Force harassing the same law abiding business owner again from 92298844, 97397514, 83487591, 96645914, 63914706, 82825465, 97378102, 90360045, 92981234! They can’t perform to contain COVID, so they bully to appear busy? Shameless? You decide! 3. See another Police case to frame against the Innocent! Please spread the News to help them who commit no crime. Many Thanks. Till this day, the harassment continues and there is no apology from the Rulers and no compensation paid for damages inflicted. 4. See the Bloggers went MISSING before / after the Singapore General Election on 10 July 2020. Please pray for their safety as we search for them actively. Many Thanks.
Homilies, Angelus / Regina Caeli of
Extracts: 2. Peter and John, as well as the other Apostles, became witnesses of this truth, for they saw with their own eyes the Crucified and Risen Christ. He had come among them in the Upper Room, showing them the wounds of his Passion; he had let them touch him so that from their own experience they would be convinced that he was that same Jesus whom they had known before as "the Master". And in order to confirm beyond any doubt the truth of his Resurrection, he accepted the food that they offered him, eating it with them as he had done so many Times New Roman before his death.
Jesus had kept his own identity, despite the extraordinary transformation wrought in him after his Resurrection. And he keeps that identity still. He is the same today as he was yesterday, and he will remain the same for ever (cf. Hebrews 13:8). As such, as true Man, he is the advocate of all people with the Father. Indeed, he is the advocate of all creation, redeemed by him and in him.
He stands before the Father as the most expert and competent witness of what, by his Cross and Resurrection, has been accomplished in the history of humanity and of the world. His is the language of redemption, that is, of liberation from the slavery of sin. Jesus addresses the Father as the Consubstantial Son, and at the same time as true man, speaking the language of all human generations and of the whole of human history: the language of victories and defeats, of all the sufferings and all the sorrows of individual men and women, of the individual peoples and nations of the whole earth. Pope Saint John Paul II (Homily, 13 April 1997)
See out compilation with Picture in Encouragements-607. 8-)
See out compilation with Picture in Encouragements-608. 8-)
See out compilation with Picture in Encouragements-608. 8-)
See out compilation with Picture in Encouragements-608. 8-)
See out compilation with Picture in Encouragements-608. 8-)
See out compilation with Picture in Encouragements-608. 8-)
See out compilation with Picture in Encouragements-609. 8-)
See out compilation with Picture in Encouragements-609. 8-)
See out compilation with Picture in Encouragements-609. 8-)
The disciples knew that Jesus had risen because Mary Magdalen had said so that morning; then Peter saw Him; then the disciples who had returned from Emmaus told of their encounter with the Risen Jesus. They knew it: He is risen and lives. But that truth had not entered the heart. That truth, yes, they knew it, but they were doubtful. They preferred to hold that truth in their mind, perhaps. It was less dangerous to hold a truth in one’s mind than to keep it in one’s heart. It is less dangerous.
They were all gathered and the Lord appeared. And at first they were afraid and believed that he was a spirit. But Jesus himself said to them: “look, touch me. See the wounds. A spirit has no body. See, it is I!”. But why did they disbelieve? Why were they doubtful? There is a word in the Gospel which gives us the explanation: “they still disbelieved for joy, and wondered...”. For joy they could not believe. That joy was so great! If this is the truth, it is an immense joy! “Ah, I do not believe it. I cannot”. They could not believe there was so much joy; the joy that leads to Christ.
This also happens to us when we are given good news. Before accepting it in our heart we say: “But is it true? But how do you know? Where did you hear it?”. We do so in order to be sure, because, if this is true, it is a great joy. This happens to us in our own small way; imagine the disciples! The joy was so great that it was better to say: “No, I do not believe it”. But he was there! Yes, but they could not. They could not accept it; they could not let the truth they saw pass into their heart. And in the end, naturally, they believed. This is the “renewed youthfulness” that the Lord gives us. In the Collect prayer we said: “renewed youthfulness”. We are accustomed to sin aging us.... Sin ages the heart, always. It makes your heart hard, old, weary. Sin makes the heart grow weary and we somewhat lose faith in the Risen Christ: “No, I do not think so.... This would be so much joy.... Yes, yes, he lives, but in Heaven, for his own affairs”. But I am his affair! Each of us! But we are unable to make this connection.
In the [First] Letter the Apostle John says: “if any one does sin, we have an advocate with the Father”. Do not be afraid; he forgives. He renews us. Sin ages us, but Jesus, Risen, living, renews us. This is the power of the Risen Jesus. When we approach the Sacrament of Penance it is in order to be renewed, to rejuvenate. And the Risen Jesus does this. It is the Risen Jesus who is in our midst today: he will be here on the altar; he is in the Word.... And he will be likewise on the altar: Risen! It is Christ, the Advocate, who wants to defend us when we have sinned, to rejuvenate us.
Brothers and sisters, let us ask for the grace to believe that Christ is alive, is Risen! This is our faith, and if we believe this, other things are secondary. This is our life; this is our true youthfulness. Christ’s victory over death, Christ’s victory over sin. Christ is alive. “Yes, yes, now I will receive Communion...”. But when you receive Communion, are you certain that Christ is alive, there; he is Risen? “Yes, it is a piece of blessed bread...”. No, it is Jesus! Christ is alive; he is Risen among us, and if we do not believe this we will never be good Christians. We cannot be.
But “they still disbelieved for joy, and wondered”. Let us ask the Lord for the grace that joy not hinder us from believing, the grace to touch the Risen Jesus: to touch him in the encounter through prayer; in the encounter through the sacraments; in the encounter with his forgiveness which is the renewed youthfulness of the Church; in the encounter with the sick, when we go to visit them, with the imprisoned, with those who are most needy, with children, with the elderly. If we feel the wish to do something good, it is the Risen Jesus who spurs us to this. It is always joy, the joy that makes us youthful. Let us ask for the grace to be a joyful community, because each of us is certain, has faith, has encountered Jesus Christ. Pope Francis I (Homily, 15 April 2018)
At the centre of this Third Sunday of Easter there is the encounter with the Risen One experienced by his disciples, all together. This is evidenced especially by the Gospel which introduces us once again to the Upper Room, where Jesus manifests himself to the Apostles, addressing this greeting to them: “Peace to you” (Luke 24:36). It is the greeting of the Risen Christ, who gives us peace: “Peace to you!”. It is a matter of both inner peace and the peace that is established in interpersonal relationships. The episode recounted by Luke the Evangelist rests heavily on the realism of the Resurrection. Jesus is not a spirit. Indeed, it is not about an apparition of Jesus’ spirit, but of his real presence with his risen body.
Jesus realizes that the Apostles are unsettled in seeing him, that they are bewildered because the reality of the Resurrection is inconceivable to them. They believe they are seeing a spirit; but the Risen Jesus is not a spirit; he is a man with body and soul. This is why, in order to convince them, he says to them: “See my hands and my feet” — he shows them his wounds — “that it is I myself; handle me, and see; for a spirit has not flesh and bones as you see that I have” (v. 39). And since this did not seem enough to overcome the disciples’ disbelief — the Gospel says something interesting: there was so much joy they had within that this joy prevented them from believing it: ‘No, it cannot be! It cannot be so! So much joy is not possible!’. And Jesus, in order to convince them, asks them: “Have you anything here to eat?” (v. 41). They offer him some broiled fish; Jesus takes and eats it in front of them, in order to convince them.
Jesus’ insistence on the reality of his Resurrection illuminates the Christian perspective of the body: the body is not an obstacle nor a prison of the soul. The body is created by God, and mankind is not complete if there is no union of body and soul. Jesus, who has triumphed over death and risen in body and soul, helps us to understand that we must have a positive idea of our body. It can become an occasion or instrument of sin, but sin is not provoked by the body, but rather by our moral weakness. The body is a wondrous gift from God, intended, in union with the soul, to express in fullness the image and likeness of Him. Therefore, we are called to have great respect and care for our body and that of others.
Any offense or wound or violence to the body of our neighbour is an affront to God the Creator! My thoughts go, in particular, to the children, the women, the elderly who are physically abused. In the flesh of these people we find the Body of Christ. Christ wounded, mocked, slandered, humiliated, scourged, crucified.... Jesus taught us love. A love that, in his Resurrection, is demonstrated to be more powerful than sin and death, and seeks to redeem all those who experience in their own body the slavery of our time.
In a world where too often self-importance prevails over the weakest and materialism stifles the spirit, today’s Gospel passage calls us to be people capable of looking deeply, full of wonder and great joy at having encountered the Risen Lord. It calls us to be people who know how to welcome and appreciate the novelty of life that He sows in history, in order to direct it toward new heavens and the new land. May we be sustained in this journey by the Virgin Mary, to whose maternal intercession we entrust ourselves with faith. Pope Francis I (Regina Caeli, 15 April 2018)
4th Sunday of Easter (Good Shepherd Sunday), Year B, 25 April 2021.
Important Note: We have found these News record (non-exhaustive) (starting from 19 April 2023), we are overwhelmed by these massive records... We prayed to God for direction on what to do next, we were instructed to stop updating the Homilies, Regina Caeli/ Angelus and the General Audiences from the Vatican (until the matters are resolved) as we lay persons are unable to discern quickly what is beneficial/detrimental to our souls and yours, and this work is supposed to be a Thanksgiving to Him who loves us and has blessed us. Thanks for following us.
Daily Blessings to You from Emmanuel Goh & Friends
Note: This webpage has many hyperlinks to the Vatican Webpage. The above extracts were compiled for your easy reading. This Publication is aimed to encourage all of Goodwill around the World. It is not for business or profit purposes but it is our way to thank our Creator for His continuous blessings!
Compiled on 11 April 2021, 17:20 SGT Last updated:13 April 2024, 15:38 SGT
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