"Lord, may we always live in the joy and hope of the resurrection."

＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊  

Acts 2:14, 22-33

 Then Peter stood up

With the Eleven and, with a loud voice, addressed them, “Fellow Jews and all foreigners now staying in Jerusalem, listen to what I have to say.   Fellow Israelites, listen to what I am going to tell you about Jesus of Nazareth.

God accredited him and through him did powerful deeds and wonders and signs in your midst, as you well know.   You delivered him to sinners to be crucified and killed, and in this way the purpose of God from all times was fulfilled.   

But God raised him to life and released him from the pain of death, because it was impossible for him to be held in the power of death.  David spoke of him when he said: I saw the Lord before me at all times; he is by my side, that I may not be shaken.   

Therefore my heart was glad and my tongue rejoiced; my body too will live in hope.   Because you will not forsake me in the abode of the dead, nor allow your Holy One to experience corruption.   You have made known to me the paths of life, and your presence will fill me with joy.

 Friends, I don’t need to prove that the patriarch David died and was buried; his tomb is with us to this day.   But he knew that God had sworn to him that one of his descendants would sit upon his throne and,   as he was a prophet, he foresaw and spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah.

So he said that he would not be left in the region of the dead, nor would his body experience corruption.  This Messiah is Jesus and we are all witnesses that God raised him to life.  He has been exalted at God’s right side and the Father has entrusted the Holy Spirit to him; this Spirit he has just poured upon us as you now see and hear.

 

Ps 16:1-2a & 5, 7-8, 9-10, 11

 

＊＊＊＊ Gospel ＊＊＊＊ 

 Matthew 28:8-15

 In fear, yet with great joy, the women left the tomb and ran to tell the news to his disciples.

 Suddenly, Jesus met them on the way and said, "Rejoice!" The women approached him, embraced his feet and worshiped him. But Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid! Go and tell my brothers to set out for Galilee; there, they will see me."

 As the women proceeded on their way, some of the guards went into the city, and reported to the chief priests all that had happened. The chief priests met with the elders, and decided to give the soldiers a large sum of money, with this order, "Say that his disciples came by night while you were asleep, and stole the body of Jesus.

If Pilate comes to know of this, we will explain the situation and keep you out of trouble." The soldiers accepted the money and did as they were told. This story has circulated among the Jews until this day.

 Gospel Reflection：

Truth vs Lie

 An extraordinary event has happened, which makes it impossible to keep silent. The out-of-the-world event of the Resurrection triggers two kinds of responses: a passion to spread the news about it to everyone around, as the women in the story do, and even to the ends of the earth, as the apostles would later do.

The other response, which is more of a reaction, is to suppress the truth, falsify it, and even kill it. Even when the fabricated lie of the stealing of the body of Jesus by the disciples has survived even to this day, the truth of the Resurrection has unleashed the reign of the Spirit that no lies can stop.

How do I respond to the truth of the Resurrection – by affirming and claiming it or by falsifying and rejecting it? Or, still worse, by being indifferent to it?