THE POST RESURRECTION ACCOUNTS

During the season of Easter, we read of the early Church’s mysterious encounters with the risen Jesus. The Lord spends time reassuring his Church before he ascends to the right hand of the Father.

There are elements in the narratives I would encourage you to note. First, the resurrected Jesus has a body, but it is not quite the same as his pre-resurrection body. Resurrection is very different than resuscitation. One reason the disciples have trouble recognizing Jesus is probably the result of the splendor of the resurrected body.

The resurrected Jesus is not bound by the physical laws of time and space. He can pass through locked doors and appear and disappear at will. As I mentioned in a homily recently, when reading these passages, remember that eternity and time mingle in this brief period between the resurrection and the ascension.

Finally, note that the purpose of the appearances is to instill faith and courage in the disciples. A doubting and fearful Church cannot accomplish the works the Lord has planned. Even after encountering the risen Jesus, the disciples would fall back into timidity. They obviously doubted their own eyes. We should realize that our own doubts require repeated encounters with Christ through prayer, sacrament, and scripture.

VANDALISM AND OUR SCHOOL PLAYGROUND

We recently had an ugly incident of vandalism on our school playground. Equipment was intentionally broken. Playgrounds are expensive to install and expensive to maintain. While we want to keep it available after hours for non school kids, vandalism may not allow us to do this.

Please help us by being observant. If you see any suspicious activity on our grounds, please let us know. I would not encourage you to confront vandals, but I will.