耶穌復活主日

Fr. Fernando Cortz

復活主日呼召世人對復活和榮耀的主耶穌基督的信仰。而若望福音宣告相信主耶穌的必需事件。

首先，就像瑪利亞瑪達肋納在墳墓前一樣，我們將臨近的黑夜拋在身後。堵塞著死亡和腐爛之地入口的石頭已被移開。但瑪利亞瑪達肋納沒有進入墳墓。或者她有進入嗎？目前還不清楚。但她向伯多祿和主耶稣心愛的門徒的說話是痛苦的、令人困惑的：「有人從墳墓中把主搬走了，不知道把祂放在哪裡。」失去主耶穌的身體就好像我們失去生命一樣。當有一天我們進入死亡的奧秘時，身體就會離開我們。在發生之前，我們還有很多工作要做，才能在自己身上找到主耶穌。主耶穌的工作不是在我們身上完成的。當我們活著的時候，信德邀請我們看事物超越主耶穌可憐、殘破的身體，不是看某個地方或某個時間，而是看更遠的地方、更遠的時空。

就好像瑪利亞瑪達肋納一樣，伯多祿和主耶稣所愛的門徒對主耶穌遺體被偷竊的事件做出了反應。現在怎麼辦？為什麼會發生這種情況？悲傷是否被憤怒、恐懼或困惑取代？他們採取行動來親眼看見。年輕的門徒比伯多祿跑得快，看了一眼，但沒有進入墳墓。做所有事情之前，伯多祿必須先看見、先判斷。殮布和頭巾都保留下來了，但是汗巾捲起來放在另一邊！更多的問題和困惑發生了。

現在主耶稣所愛的門徒進來，看到了伯多祿所看到的。「他看見了，就相信了。」這是整個體驗的關鍵。主耶稣所愛所愛的門無名字，是若望還是我或是你？我們被邀請去相信主耶穌的許諾，祂從死者中復活。理解聖經就是對耶穌復活的信仰的可能性。我們每個人都可以選擇相信主耶穌是復活的主。

我們可以看到瑪利亞瑪達肋納和西滿伯多祿。沒有答案可以滿足我們的心靈。或者，就像主耶稣所愛的門徒一樣「看見就相信」，讓信德填補空的墳墓，填補我們面對死亡時心靈和思想的空虛。我們會看到同一個空墳墓，就像這三個人一樣。但我們選擇的信德是復活節最偉大的禮物。

    超越主耶穌的苦難和死亡，超越我們自己的苦難和死亡，等待主在天堂裡永生的許諾。我們可以等嗎？我們相信嗎？

今天我們將為一位兒童施洗。我們跟隨信仰祖先的道路，是他們讓我們相信復活的主耶穌。洗禮是使用一些象徵性元素：文字，用聖油傅抹嬰兒的身體和靈魂，在無聲和說話的祈禱和祝福中，用生命的淨化之水，復活節之水，來治愈。為天主至聖三位一體臨在在這個孩子身上做好準備。身為父母和代父母，我們承諾讓這個孩子越來越像主耶穌。祈求天主賜給他生命中那些特別的恩典。

就像讀經一聖伯多祿的教導一樣，我們與這個孩子和我們所有的孩子們分享主耶穌的故事。就像聖保祿的教導一樣，我們被邀請從天上思考事物。我們要把我們的生命隱藏在主耶穌裡面，直到祂回來帶我們回到天堂的那一天。我們的心真誠地愛天主，我們的思想致力於天主的真理和智慧，我們怎麼能不看見並相信主耶穌呢？主耶穌已經復活並獲得新生命並分享天主父的榮耀！

Easter Sunday (B)

Fr. Fernando Cortz

 Easter Sunday is the highest and greatest call to faith in Jesus Christ, the Risen and Glorious Lord. John’s Gospel in a few words proclaims the essential, bare events leading to the invitation to faith in Jesus.

 First, like Mary of Magdala at the tomb, we leave behind the darkness of night to draw near. The stone that obstructs the entrance to the place of death and decay has been removed. Yet, Mary does not enter. Or did she? It is not clear, but her message to Peter and the beloved disciple is painful, confusing, “They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we don’t know where they put him.” The loss of the body of Jesus is like our relationship to life. The body will leave us as we enter into the mystery of death someday. Until then we have much more to do to find Jesus in ourselves. The work of Jesus is not done in us. While we live, faith invites us to look beyond the poor, broken body of Jesus, not to a place or time, but beyond.

 Like Mary of Magdala, Peter and the beloved disciple respond to the surprise theft of the body of Jesus. What now? Why has this happened? Is grief is overtaken by anger, fear, or confusion? They take action to see for themselves. The young disciple outruns Peter, take a peek, but does not enter. On all things, Peter must be first to see and judge. The burial cloth and the head cloth remain, but the head cloth is carefully rolled and set aside! More questions and confusion.

 Now the beloved disciple enters, sees what Peter has seen. “He saw and believed.” Here is the key to the entire experience. The beloved disciple is unnamed. Is it John or could it be me or you? We are invited to cross over to faith in the promise of the Lord Jesus, that he would rise from the dead. To understand the scripture is to enter into the possibility of faith in the Resurrection of Jesus. It is left to each of us to choose to believe that Jesus is the Risen Lord.

 We can see as Mary of Magdala and Simon Peter. Our hearts and minds without answers to satisfy. Or, like the beloved disciple to SEE and BELIEVE, to allow faith to fill the emptiness of the tomb, the emptiness of our hearts and minds in the face of death. We will see the same empty tomb just like each of these three people. But what we choose to BELIEVE is the greatest gift of Easter.

    Beyond the suffering and death of Jesus, beyond our own suffering and death, awaits the Lord’s promise of eternal life in paradise. Can we wait? Can we believe?

Today we will baptize a new Christian. We follow in the ways of the ancestors who gave us faith in the Risen Lord Jesus. To baptize is to use a few words and symbolic elements: words, reaching out to touch the body and soul of the baby with oils, in silent and spoken prayers and blessings, with the cleansing waters of life, Easter Waters, to heal and to prepare the way for the presence of the Most Holy Trinity of God in this child. As parents and godparents, we promise to be more and more like Jesus for this child. Ask God for those special graces in your lives.

Like the teachings of Saint Peter in the first reading, we share the story of Jesus with this child and all our children. Like the teaching of Saint Paul, we are invited to think of things from above, from heaven. We are to hide our lives in Jesus until the day he returns to take us home to heaven. Our hearts sincere in the love of God and our minds dedicated to the truth and wisdom of God, how can we fail to see and believe in Jesus. Jesus risen to new life and sharing in the glory of God the Father!