What would Easter have been like the very first time? I think that it would be a time of great perplexity. We hear in John’s gospel that Mary of Magdala was the first to find the tomb empty. She ran to spread the news, but I think her message was not of belief—but rather a message of concern for someone had potentially stolen the Body of Christ. The 
gospel of John ends with disbelief and confusion—the disciples did not understand what had happened. Yet, there was one “beloved” disciple that did understand and believe. It is in the early followers felt the same way! We should not lose sight of the notion that we live by faith, and seek understanding. We should almost create a sense of a blending of Christmas and Easter—in the sense that Easter morning, and the resurrection should become our North Star; the guiding light by which we should live our lives. The death of Jesus was not the end, He was raised to new life. His destiny is in fact OUR destiny, the new life that is created through Him will be shared with all those that seek Him. We should let Christ in, so that we may open ourselves to the unexpected ways that God will work in our lives.
Thoughts/Questions to reflect on:
–Psalm—We hear, “The stone which the builders rejected has become the corner stone.” God in fact does exalt the lowly and humbles those that are exalted. How are you living this in your daily life?
–Today we “feast with joy in the Lord”. How are you keeping the Easter feast in your family?
–When the disciples finally entered the tomb, they “saw and believed.” What has been your journey into belief?
Nothing can keep us from God. Death is not even powerful enough to accomplish this. The stone on the tomb was not removed by an act of human hand, it was divine—it is God’s LOVE that does this. Today we come face-to-face with this empty tomb, but NOTHING will or could ever separate us from the LOVE of God in Christ. There exists NO BARRIER to the LOVE of God! Remember that and celebrate in JOY the Risen Lord Jesus Christ!
And this exchange of gifts, as described by St Augustine—“God became man, so that man might become God.”
Christmas gives you.” [Pope St Leo]. Christmas, the Incarnation, gives us the best of both worlds! “God became man so that man might become God.”
included. There might be many things happening in your life, and it might pass you by, or you might fail to see the importance, but this Canticle of Zachary, is a great hymn of gratitude to God. It allows us to discover the spirit around us, and it welcomes the new day-one fill with Love and Compassion of God’s unending Love.
enemies. This litany leads to a great celebration of those last of the great prophets who “will go before the Lord to prepare his ways.” Zachary’s canticle radiates the new order the high priest’s own son; he will bridge the old and the new. He will become the mouthpiece announcing the coming of the Messiah who is to come.
Elizabeth, as they were well beyond their child bearing years, and yet they had been blessed with a baby. Not only were they now blessed with this gift of new life, they were also greeted with the notion that this young baby boy—John—would be someone with an important vocation, “For surely the hand of the Lord was with him.” This was reaffirmed as Zachary had been struck “dumb”, but when he finally was able to speak, he spoke of the blessing that God had given to them. God had truly been so good to them, and it was all such a welcomed and joyous gift. They could not have known that the greatest gift of all was soon to be given. The gift of the Father’s Son, Jesus Christ, would soon be upon them and the whole world. He would soon come to begin His mission of salvation.
Sometimes the words of “gratitude” and “thankfulness” are not easily found in our own vocabulary. We often hear people refer to the act of “giving thanks to”, but never do we hear giving thanks because. We forget that at times we fail to be thankful for what God has granted us. When we see others that need more than we—we should not grumble but rather give thanks. When we are interrupted because someone calls, or comes to see us—we should not become irritated, but rather to welcome it as a visit or call from Christ. The Gospels tach us to have gratitude, to come to understand that all we have is a gift from God, and that we should always remain truly grateful for these gifts.
their undeniable joy and thanksgiving to God for his many gifts and graces each day. Every day was met with a reversal: a sinner repents and is forgiven, the lonely hears a friend coming, those sick and infirmed begin to experience new life. Even Mary herself comes to experience a reversal. She experiences the notion of the empty being filled, the childless bearing children the virgin becoming the mother.
was never a confirmation that she was with child. It was when Elizabeth told Mary that the child in her womb leapt with joy at the sound of her voice, that Mary was comforted that Her God was indeed great, and that the light of faith burned brightly. The darkness of unknowing, mixed with a faint light of faith, resolves into the full light of knowledge: YES, the Lord is with me, within me!
significance the first thing you do is go and tell someone. We just simply desire to share good news and to do it in a spirited gratitude. We also should in turn celebrate with those who have received good fortune—a sense of charity.
These good zeal impelled Mary to take the Word to Elizabeth as swiftly as she could. This is a act of bearing Christ to another, to share that message. It is through zeal that baby John begins to react while inside of Elizabeth’s womb. Later in life, John the Baptist will point to Jesus as the Messiah and will embody zeal. A sense of good zeal towards others is highly contagious. This type of gratitude can grab a person and pull them near and within a circle of trust.
called to do. AS St benedict says in the Rule for monastic living, “As we progress in this way of life and in faith, we shall run on the path of God’s commandments, our hearts overflowing with the inexpressible delight of love” (Prologue: 49).
Mary is able to shake off the worries that surely were coming to her in this instance and doing so with the understanding that God surely had a plan for her, and for this situation. Mary is able to take God at His word, and with that trust the Word made flesh is dwelling within Mary—and is soon to be the Savior of the world.
bear in our body the Body of our Savior. This is why we are always greeted by the Priest with the words from the angel—“The Lord be with you” (cf. Lk. 1:28)—because it is at this sacrifice that we are also offered the opportunity to choose to carry Christ in our bodies, if we all could only understand this concept fully and would allow it to become our fiat.
many of us! After sharing the message Zachariah was rendered mute, unable to speak. So, for nine months he spent waiting for the birth of their child. They may not have known it, but they were VERY much part of God’s plan.
the image of God? Afterall we were indeed created in the image of God and in his likeness. Christ, God become human, spent his life showing us the human dignity of living in the image and likeness of God. Since Jesus died and rose from the dead, he sent the Spirit to live within us so we can live as Jesus lived, and be his presence in the world which we live. We must take this message and share with others, as we have been given the greatest gift of all.
A more exact statement is to; Do Not Be Afraid! And we are indeed blessed with four different accounts of the Birth of Jesus. Each of the Gospel narratives have their own theology, creating a unique and somewhat different point of view. In this Year A, we come across Matthew’s encounter with the birth of Jesus. It is important to note and understand that Matthew was writing for a Jewish community—which is why he begins with the male aspect of the family, St. Joseph. Matthew places emphasis on the fact that Joseph is a man that is suffering from the news that Mary is indeed pregnant. And that it is not biologically of his line. Joseph is at a crossroads. What should he do? When we look at Luke’s account, which is at contrast, Mary becomes the central figure. Her fiat from the question posed by the Archangel 
Gabriel – this narrative is a much different angle of the story of the incarnation. You can see how the different accounts take on new meaning depending on which “lens” one looks through: In Matthew it is through the lens of Joseph, and in Luke’s account it is through Mary’s. The result is in fact the same, the one central difference is that instead of an excited young girl happy to give birth to the Messiah, we get the image of a man who is slightly shocked and saddened that his soon to be bride is pregnant. The one centralized focal point, and point of “unity” in the two differing account is when the angel says to Joseph, as when Gabriel said unto Mary, DO NOT BE AFRAID!
Dr. Lawrence V. McCrobie 
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