Easter Monday

FIRST READING                       

A reading from the Book:  Acts of the Apostles                   2:14, 22-32
God raised this man Jesus to life, and all of us are witnesses to that.

 On the day of Pentecost, Peter stood up with the Eleven and addressed them in a loud voice: 'Men of Israel, listen to what I am going to say: Jesus the Nazarene was a man commended to you by God by the miracles and portents and signs that God worked through him when he was among you, as you all know. This man, who was put into your power by the deliberate intention and foreknowledge of God, you took and had crucified by men outside the Law. You killed him, but God raised him to life, freeing him from the pangs of Hades; for it was impossible for him to be held in its power since, as David says of him:

I saw the Lord before me always,
for with him at my right hand nothing can shake me.
So my heart was glad
and my tongue cried out with joy;
my body, too, will rest in the hope
that you will not abandon my soul to Hades
nor allow your holy one to experience corruption.
You have made known the way of life to me,
you will fill me with gladness through your presence.

'Brothers, no one can deny that the patriarch David himself is dead and buried: his tomb is still with us. But since he was a prophet, and knew that God had sworn him an oath to make one of his descendants succeed him on the throne, what he foresaw and spoke about was the resurrection of the Christ: he is the one who was not abandoned to Hades, and whose body did not experience corruption. God raised this man Jesus to life, and all of us are witnesses to that.

'Now raised to the heights by God's right hand, he has received from the Father the Holy Spirit, who was promised, and what you see and hear is the outpouring of that Spirit.'

The Word of the Lord.    

Responsorial Psalm             Ps 15
Response                                  Preserve me, Lord, I take refuge in you.
Or                                                Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!

1. Preserve me, God, I take refuge in you.
I say to the Lord: 'You are my God.
O Lord, it is you who are my portion and cup;
it is you yourself who are my prize.'                        Response

2. I will bless the Lord who gives me counsel,
who even at night directs my heart.
I keep the Lord ever in my sight:
since he is at my right hand, I shall stand firm.   Response

3. And so my heart rejoices, my soul is glad;
even my body shall rest in safety.
For you will not leave my soul among the dead,
nor let your beloved know decay.                            Response

4. You will show me the path of life,
the fullness of joy in your presence,
at your right hand happiness for ever.                   Response

Gospel Acclamation          Ps 117: 24
Alleluia, alleluia!
This day was made by the Lord;
we rejoice and are glad
Alleluia!

GOSPEL                          

 A reading from the holy Gospel according to Matthew          28: 8-15
Tell my brothers that they must leave for Galilee; they will see me there.

Filled with awe and great joy the women came quickly away from the tomb and ran to tell the disciples.

And there, coming to meet them, was Jesus. 'Greetings' he said. And the women came up to him and, falling down before him, clasped his feet. Then Jesus said to them, 'Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers that they must leave for Galilee; they will see me there'.

While they were on their way, some of the guard went off into the city to tell the chief priests all that had happened. These held a meeting with the elders and, after some discussion, handed a considerable sum of money to the soldiers with these instructions, 'This is what you must say, "His disciples came during the night and stole him away while we were asleep". And should the governor come to hear of this, we undertake to put things right with him ourselves and to see that you do not get into trouble.' The soldiers took the money and carried out their instructions, and to this day that is the story among the Jews.

The Gospel of the Lord.    


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Gospel Reflection        Easter Monday           Matthew 28:8-15

We have been hearing a lot about ‘fake news’ recently. There is an example of such fake news in today’s gospel reading. When the soldiers who had guarded the tomb of Jesus went to the chief priests and told them what they witnessed, the chief priests, with the elders, told the soldiers to spread a fake news story, according to which Jesus’ disciples came during the night and stole the body of Jesus while the soldiers slept. This story, false as it is, nonetheless presupposes that the tomb of Jesus was empty on the morning of the first day of the Jewish week, our Sunday. In yesterday’s gospel reading, when Mary Magdalene saw the tomb was empty, she came to the conclusion that someone had stolen the body, ‘They have taken the Lord out of the tomb and we do not know where they have put him’. This was simply a misunderstanding, which was clarified when the risen Lord appeared to Mary. There is a big difference between misunderstanding and the propagation of a deliberate falsehood. There is nothing false about Easter. It is the truth that grounds all other Christian truths. As Paul declares in his first letter to the Corinthians, ‘if Christ has not been raised, then our proclamation has been in vain and your faith has been in vain’. An essential part of the Church’s mission is to proclaim the truth of Easter and all that it implies. In raising his Son from the dead, God demonstrates his faithfulness to his Son and his faithfulness to all humanity, in spite of its sinful rejection of his Son. Easter announces, again in the words of Saint Paul, that ‘God is for us’. This is a truth which the world needs to hear. 

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The scripture readings are taken from THE JERUSALEM BIBLE, published by Darton, Longman and Todd Ltd and used with the permission of the publishers. http://dltbooks.com/

The Gospel reflection comes from: Weekday Reflections for the Liturgical Year 2017/2018; ‘LET THE WORD OF GOD DWELL IN YOU' by Martin Hogan, published by The Messenger c/f   www.messenger.ie/bookshop/                                                                                                            

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FIRST READING                Acts of the Apostles 5:12-16
The numbers of men and women who came to believe in the Lord increased steadily.

The faithful all used to meet by common consent in the Portico of Solomon. No one else ever dared to join them, but the people were loud in their praise and the numbers of men and women who came to believe in the Lord increased steadily. So many signs and wonders were worked among the people at the hands of the apostles that the sick were even taken out into the streets and laid on beds and sleeping-mats in the hope that at least the shadow of Peter might fall across some of them as he went past. People even came crowding in from the towns round about Jerusalem, bringing with them their sick and those tormented by unclean spirits, and all of them were cured.

Responsorial Psalm  Ps 117
Response                       Give thanks to the Lord for he is good,
for his love has no end.
or                                     Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!

1. Let the sons of Israel say:
'His love has no end.'
Let the sons of Aaron say:
'His love has no end,'
Let those who fear the Lord say:
'His love has no end.'                        Response

2. The stone which the builders rejected
has become the corner stone.
This is the work of the Lord,
a marvel in our eyes.
This day was made by the Lord;
we rejoice and are glad.                   Response

3. O Lord, grant us salvation;
O Lord grant us success.
Blessed in the name of the Lord
Is he who comes.
We bless you from the house of the Lord;
The Lord God is our light.               Response

SECOND READING           Apocalypse 1:9-13. 17-19
I was dead and now I am to live for ever and ever.

My name is John, and through our union in Jesus I am your brother and share your sufferings, your kingdom, and all you endure. I was on the island of Patmos for having preached God's word and witnessed for Jesus; it was the Lord's day and the Spirit possessed me, and I heard a voice behind me, shouting like a trumpet, 'Write down all that you see in a book, and send it to the seven churches of Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea.' I turned round to see who had spoken to me, and when I turned I saw seven golden lamp-stands and, surrounded by them, a figure like a Son of man, dressed in a long robe tied at the waist with a golden girdle.

When I saw him, I fell in a dead faint at his feet, but he touched me with his right hand and said, 'Do not be afraid; it is I, the First and the Last; I am the Living One, I was dead and now I am to live for ever and ever, and I hold the keys of death and of the underworld. Now write down all that you see of present happenings and things that are still to come.'

Gospel Acclamation         Jn 20: 29

Alleluia, alleluia!
Jesus said to him: 'You believe because you can see me.
Happy are those who have not seen and yet believe.'
Alleluia!


THE GOSPEL                  John 20:19-31
Eight days later, Jesus came.

In the evening of that same day, the first day of the week, the doors were closed in the room where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews. Jesus came and stood among them. He said to them, 'Peace be with you', and showed them his hands and his side. The disciples were filled with joy when they saw the Lord, and he said to them again, 'Peace be with you.
'As the Father sent me,
so am I sending you.'
After saying this he breathed on them and said:
'Receive the Holy Spirit.
For those whose sins you forgive,
they are forgiven;
for those whose sins you retain,
they are retained.'
Thomas, called the Twin, who was one of the Twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. When the disciples said, 'We have seen the Lord', he answered, 'Unless I see the holes that the nails made in his hands and can put my finger into the holes they made, and unless I can put my hand into his side, I refuse to believe.' Eight days later the disciples were in the house again and Thomas was with them. The doors were closed, but Jesus came in and stood among them. 'Peace be with you' he said. Then he spoke to Thomas, 'Put your finger here; look, here are my hands. Give me your hand; put it into my side. Doubt no longer but believe.' Thomas replied, 'My Lord and my God!' Jesus said to him:
'You believe because you can see me.
Happy are those who have not seen and yet believe.'
There were many other signs that Jesus worked and the disciples saw, but they are not recorded in this book. These are recorded so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing this you may have life through his name.

 



Taken from THE JERUSALEM BIBLE, published and copyright 1966, 1967 and 1968 by Darton, Longman and Todd Ltd and Doubleday, a division of Random House Inc, and used by permission of the publishers.