“Never let anything cause you so much sorrow that you forget the Risen Christ” …. Mother Theresa of Calcutta
My dear friends in Christ, welcome to the period we call “Mystagogia,” a time of intense study of our Catholic Faith…. A time to personally and perpetually say YES to Jesus and His plan for your life.
Acts 4: 6-12 “And Annas the high priest, and Caiphas, and John, and Alexander, and as many as were of the kindred of the high priest. And setting them in the midst, they asked: By what power, or by what name, have you done this? Then Peter, filled with the Holy Ghost, said to them: Ye princes of the people, and ancients, hear: If we this day are examined concerning the good deed done to the infirm man, by what means he hath been made whole: Be it known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God hath raised from the dead, even by him this man stands here before you whole. This is the stone which was rejected by you the builders, which is become the head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in any other. For there is no other name under heaven given to men, whereby we must be saved. Now seeing the constancy of Peter and of John, understanding that they were illiterate and ignorant men, they wondered; and they knew them that they had been with Jesus. Seeing the man also who had been healed standing with them, they could say nothing against it. But they commanded them to go aside out of the council; and they conferred among themselves,”
Have you ever thought that the Garden of Eden may have been located in the State of Missouri? …. “THE Show me State?” After all, Satan, Eve and Adam all challenged God’s clear teachings. Each in their own way said to God; “SHOW ME!”
There seems to me to exist in all of humanity, a natural propensity to doubt much that we can’t see, taste, smell or touch. This inborn trait then might explain why so many doubt the Resurrection of our God; Jesus THEE Christ, and or, other must be held beliefs critical to our salvation.
I continue to be puzzled by the many that do proclaim to hold to a belief in the Risen Christ; and do it with limited understanding, strictly on the words of others. Yet many of these same folks choose not to accept the clear evidence of the Teachings of Christ who is our perfect and Infallible God, on the Primacy of Peter; God’s planned role for His Catholic Church; the reality of the Most Holy Eucharist, the Sacraments; notably Confession of sins and Ordination as being Creations of and by God Himself. Each having a clear Biblical and historical foundation.
For those of you who [THANK GOD and THANK YOU too!], have been with me awhile. You may recall that I try to re-read Archbishops Fulton Sheen’s book: “LIFE OF CHRIST” every year. While listening to today’s homily by Father Anthony on EWTN; I was reminded that I’m due to do it again. Father quoted his Excellency in regard to the disciples on the ROAD TO Emma'us, while discussing amongst themselves the bitter disappointment they were experiencing because Jesus failed to “meet there human expectations” of the long awaited MESSIAH, whom they foresaw as only a “physical redeemer,” and of ONLY the Jewish Nation and its peoples.
I’d like to share by way of introduction to today’s MAIN TOPIC; “How Can We Believe in the Resurrection?”, a few quotes from this book and a few bible passages to give evidence of my “Eden- Missouri” opening.
Archbishop Fulton Sheen, hereafter referred to as “[BFS]” ….“The refusal of men to accept the indisputable evidence of their unbelief is inexcusable.” … Some would not believe though one were to rise DAILY from the dead. No sign could be wrought which would bring complete convection. For the will can refuse assent what the intellect knows [OR OUGHT TO] to be true.” ….
Those who refuse to believe lose the power to see. [To Understand correctly]. …God was ratifying an attitude to which men had come by there own choice. Foretelling judgment on unbelief, He warned: … John 12: 48-49 He who rejects me and does not receive my sayings has a judge; the word that I have spoken will be his judge on the last day. For I have not spoken on my own authority; the Father who sent me has himself given me commandment [of] what to say and what to speak.” … [BSF] Continued: There would be nothing arbitrary in the Judgment HE will administer to men on the Last Day; the glorious words of mercy would be invested with judicial authority. This foretelling of how all men would be judged by their attitude towards HIM was because He was sent by God.”
More [BFS] “As the sun shines on mud and hardens it, it shines on wax and melts it, so too this great miracle of our Blessed Lord hardened some unto unbelief, and others unto belief.” … “If all mankind needed was a teacher, man would long ago been holy, for he had teachers from the Indian sages up to the present hour. BUT it takes more than the spirit of man to make to make a man holy, or to know the [singular] truth; it requires the SPIRIT OF TRUTH. Human truths can be known only by living them and DEVINE TRUTHS can be lived only by living in the Spirit.”
[BFS] “Mary Magdalen and the other women at first did not believe in the Resurrection: Mark 16: 5-11 “And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe; and they were amazed. And he said to them, "Do not be amazed; you seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen, he is not here; see the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him, as he told you." And they went out and fled from the tomb; for trembling and astonishment had come upon them; and they said nothing to any one, for they were afraid. [9] Now when he rose early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, from whom he had cast out seven demons. She went and told those who had been with him, as they mourned and wept. But when they heard that he was alive and had been seen by her, [Nor did the Apostles at first believe] they would not believe it.”
So then is any surprise that the disciples on the Road to Emma'us too did not believe? [BFS] “There skeptism was even more difficult to overcome, because they started with a hope that was seemingly disappointed on Calvary.”
The moral teaching here is critical to ones salvation. How did these disciples come to recognize Christ as God? Luke 24:28-31 “So they drew near to the village to which they were going. He appeared to be going further, but they constrained him, saying, "Stay with us, for it is toward evening and the day is now far spent." So he went in to stay with them.
When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed, and broke it, and gave it to them. And their eyes were opened and they recognized him; and he vanished out of their sight.” [BFS] “With the conferring of the bread came knowledge with greater clarity than ALL OTHER INSTRUCTIONS. The Breaking of the Bread had introduced them into an experience of the Glorified Christ.”
When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed, and broke it, and gave it to them. And their eyes were opened and they recognized him; and he vanished out of their sight.” [BFS] “With the conferring of the bread came knowledge with greater clarity than ALL OTHER INSTRUCTIONS. The Breaking of the Bread had introduced them into an experience of the Glorified Christ.”
My dear friends, the Resurrection of Christ is the “corner stone” of all Christian belief. But it’s not quite as clear as this statement may imply? One CAN most assuredly know that they DO KNOW rightly or fully Christ and are in reality fully, following Him ONLY if and when, like the disciples on the Road to Emma'us; they too recognize Christ as God “in the breaking of the bread.” We to must do the identically same thing. IF one is unable to “see” in Faith and believe what Christ who is God claims is true; that HE IS the REAL Presence [John 6: 53-56] “So Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you; he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. “
This is NOT an optional belief. Just as the “breaking of the bread” led to the eventual salvation of the Emmaus disciples; [and too the Apostles ..John 21:12-14], so too it is intended by Christ to enable us to accomplish that same end. The “Real Presence” is in FACT Christ Himself; Real, Glorified, and Risen in Glorified Splendor and Majesty; really, truly, and substanually Present: Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity: the COMPLETE CHRIST, in Catholic Holy Communion; denial of the REAL Presence is denial of God Himself; through the denial of Christ and puts one at very GREAT GRAVE risk of meriting their salvation.”
The ability to accept, explain and defend Christ Resurrection is critical to our core beliefs as Catholics and as Christians. The enclosed material ought to prepare us to do just that.
God Bless you,
Pat
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