Apr 11, 2023 | DAILY BREAD
Easter Wednesday
First reading – Acts 3:1-10
‘I have neither silver nor gold, but I will give you what I have: in the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, walk!’ Peter then took him by the hand and helped him to stand up. In the words and gesture of Peter we see something very deep. “I will give you what I have”. What is that Peter and John had? Peter and John had the eyes to see the necessity of this person. Peter and John had the ears to hear the begging of that person. Peter and John had the heart to stop at the pleading of that crippled man. And they had something unique to share. Peter and John had Jesus to share with the man in need. Peter and John possessed Jesus, or they belonged to Jesus. This is faith, being in possession of Jesus, to feel that you have Jesus, that you can share Jesus, because you become completely docile to the Risen Lord so that you become a channel of His grace. Here faith is not anymore some theory, but concrete and real. There is something more interesting in this episode. Peter is not only asking the person to walk but going to him, taking him by the hand and helping him to stand up. This is sharing of Jesus. Going to others, taking them by hand and helping them to stand up from their problems, crisis, situations, and questions. This is where our sharing of Jesus with others becomes real and concrete. Let’s reflect: how much am I transforming so that I can present Jesus concretely to others?
Apr 10, 2023 | DAILY BREAD
Easter Tuesday
First reading – Acts 2:36-41
“God has made this Jesus whom you crucified both Lord and Christ”. This is the essence of our faith. The crucified Jesus is our Lord and Christ. The Crucified became the Lord through resurrection. Resurrection is the power of God who forgives. Resurrection is the power of God who gives the Holy Spirit as a gift to the believers. Resurrection is the power of the Lord which fulfils all His promises to our forefathers. Resurrection is the power of the Lord who calls those who are far away and those who are near to Himself. Resurrection is the miracle of God’s love which brings merges together our temporality and the divine eternity. In order to participate in this great reality, we must repent and be united with Jesus through the sacraments. Let’s reflect: How much am I aware about my unity to the Jesus crucified and risen in the sacraments?
Apr 9, 2023 | DAILY BREAD
Easter Monday
First reading – Acts 2:14,22-33
“You have made known the way of life to me, you will fill me with gladness through your presence”. This is the experience of resurrection. Knowing the way of life. The way of life which cannot be corrupted, which cannot be abandoned to Hades. The way of life which can never be conquered by the power of death. This life is made known to man in Jesus Christ. This experience is not just an epistemological experience. It is not just a knowledge. But it is a concrete reality. That is what we can read in the next sentence. “You fill me with gladness through your presence”. God filling man with gladness by His presence. The corruption of decay and death come from deprivation and separation. This is transformed. The decay and death are substituted with gladness. Gladness of fullness and integrity. This gladness comes from the presence of the Lord in me. He fills me with His presence which gives me gladness. This pure gladness is the Paschal Joy. The joy that Lord is present in us and fills us. Jesus going out of the tomb is the human nature liberated by gladness by the presence of the Lord in us. Gladness of reconciliation and forgiveness. Let’s reflect: Am I experiencing the presence of Resurrected Lord in me?
Apr 8, 2023 | DAILY BREAD
Easter Sunday
First reading – Acts 10:34,37-43
“we have eaten and drunk with him after his resurrection from the dead”. This is the resurrection experience that touches our daily life. Resurrection is not something abstract, but very concrete. It is Lord being with us and shares our table, shares our joys, and shares our sorrows. And He want that we tell everyone that in Him all the sins will be forgiven. And His authority is over both alive and dead. That is over everything that existed or exits or will exist. Through Resurrection, Jesus Christ, Son of God became man becomes the Lord of the creation. He was the Lord always but with Resurrection, He is sharing His power with us so that we can get out of our sins and our shortcomings. He is sharing with us as sharing around a table, His love, forgiving and embracing, to make us also sons and daughter of God the Father. By conquering death, He conquered the most powerful evil and liberated us from that too. In the person of Jesus Christ, the mystery of Resurrection becomes a concrete reality of everyday life and naturally the life after death too. Let’s reflect: how much I feel the Resurrection as a everyday concrete reality?
Apr 8, 2023 | POSITIVE IMPULSES
Easter is not just a perspective, but it is reality that changed the course of human history. Easter is when the human mortality broke into eternity. Easter is when we found the key to human happiness irrespective of the situations around us or in us. Easter is when tears found its value by substituting the fear and anxiety with hope and joy. Easter is when our suffering becomes redemptive because it does not end in the Cross but at the dawn of resurrection. Easter is when human solitude comes to end with the infinite friendship of God.
Don Giorgio
