My friends,
     The refrain from our Responsorial Psalm says:  I will give thanks to you, for you have rescued me.  Just think about all the times in your life when you needed rescuing by the Lord.  The times we have done things we’re not too proud of and the Lord reached out to us and forgave us.  Maybe there were times when you or a loved one were extremely sick and the Lord’s healing hand took care of that.   There are so many instances in your life and mine when we are overwhelmed  by things that life seems to throw at us and  through the grace of God and the strength that He gives us, we get through it.  
    The pandemic you and I are going through will eventually be a part of our past.  With the Lord’s help and the grace that He gives us,  we too will be able to pray: I give thanks to you Lord, you have rescued me. 
 
God Bless,
Father John

     The scribes and elders don’t know what to do with Peter and John.  Their curing of the lame man had spread and more and more people are believing in this Jesus.  They give Peter and John a stern warning not to preach in Jesus’ name but they’re compelled to do it because they cannot control the power and wonder of what the Resurrection of Christ had done for them.  
In the Gospel, Jesus tells His disciples and through them, tells us.  Go out and preach to all people the Gospel of Christ.  
     The event we celebrated last Sunday, Easter Sunday, is not an event of the past.  It’s the hub of what we believe, the focal point of the Catholic faith.  You and I are like Peter and John commissioned by the Lord to live the Gospel message in our own lives.  We have to make the results of Christ rising from the dead a reality in our lives.  What that means is that as the Lord in His lifetime showered people with love, forgiveness, kindness, mercy, compassion, you and I are to do likewise.  
     Death is no longer the end for the Christian.  Sin has been conquered.  The gates of heaven are now opened for those who are faithful to the Lord to the end.  This is the great heritage that belongs to you and me as a result of Christ rising from the dead.  
Like the Psalmist, you and I cry out to the Lord: I give you thanks Lord for you have rescued me.  You have answered my plea.  
     Since the Lord has loved us to the point of death, and given us the great opportunity to live with Him forever in heaven, you and I have to do the best that we can to inject into a very secular world- all that Christ stood for while He was on this earth.  We are to be Christ’s mouthpiece speaking to our brothers and sisters words of peace, joy and hope.  We are to be Christ’s healing hands offering comfort and consolation to all we meet.  The task ahead of us is not an easy one but one which all who call themselves followers of the Christ must take upon themselves if we are to be true disciples of the One who died for your sins and mine.