April 24: Easter Sunday

Scripture Readings:

• Acts 10:34, 37-43
• Psalm 118:1-2, 16-17, 22-23
• Colossians 3:1-4
• John 20:1-9

 

Synopsis: 
Each year during the Easter season the first reading is always taken from the Acts of the Apostles. Acts is a continuation of the narrative that began with the Gospel of Luke. It tells the story of the early Church from the ascension of Jesus in Jerusalem to Paul’s imprisonment in Rome about 30 years later.

The first half of Acts covers the spread of the Gospel in Jerusalem and the surrounding region. The second half focuses on Paul’s three missionary journeys to Cyprus, Asia Minor and Greece.

In this week’s first reading Peter preaches the basic Gospel message, or kerygma to a Roman centurion and his family in Caesarea (about 40-50 miles northwest of Jerusalem on the coast).His speech follows a typical pattern: First, he describes Jesus’ earthly ministry, culminating in his death “on a tree.”

Second, he proclaims Christ’s resurrection, which confirms everything he said and did. Third, he explains how he and other witnesses were chosen by God and commissioned to preach this message. Fourth, Peter offers the promise of salvation for all who believe.

The second reading explains, very simply, what follows from having “been raised with Christ” in baptism: we are to “seek the things that are above.”  Although details vary, each account of the resurrection in the Gospels begins by describing how the disciples discovered that the tomb where Jesus was buried was empty.

The empty tomb was a necessary condition of the resurrection, since the presence of a corpse would have certainly invalidated the kerygma.  An important sign of the resurrection, in addition to the empty tomb, were the burial cloths that were conspicuously left behind. It turns out the tomb wasn’t empty after all!

Key verse: “(Simon Peter) went into the tomb and saw the burial cloths there” (Jn 20:6).
Catechism of the Catholic Church:  “The mystery of Christ’s resurrection is a real event, with manifestations that were historically verified, as the New Testament bears witness. The disciple ‘whom Jesus loved’ affirmed that when he entered the empty tomb and discovered ‘the linen cloths lying there,’ ‘he saw and believed’” (Nos. 639; 640).

Pope Benedict XVI: “The empty tomb as such, while it cannot prove the Resurrection, is nevertheless a necessary condition for Resurrection faith, which was specifically concerned with the body and, consequently, with the whole of the person. A Resurrection proclamation would have been impossible if Jesus’ body had been lying in the grave” (“Jesus of Nazareth,” Vol. 2).

Life application: Belief in the bodily resurrection of Christ is the cornerstone of our faith. It’s not an “idle tale” (Lk 24:11) or a myth made up by the followers of Jesus. It was a real event that happened at a particular time and place.  The burial cloths are concrete evidence of the Resurrection.

Many people believe, as tradition has long held, that the Shroud of Turin is precisely just those “burial cloths” that Peter and John saw that first Easter morning. One does not have to believe that the Shroud of Turin is in fact the burial cloths of Jesus. But one does have to believe that he rose bodily from the grave.

This is our faith. This is the faith of the Church. We are proud to profess it.

 

James Cavanagh is director of Evangelization and Catechesis for Metro-area Parishes of the Denver Archdiocese. Cavanagh’s column is distributed by the Denver Catholic Register.