Easter

you ascended into the heavens

/ Eric Mathews / Leave a comment
Rabula Gospels / 6th Century Dsmdgold / Wikimedia Commons
 
To complete your seamless robe, 
    and so to complete our faith,
you ascended through the air into the heavens,
    before the very eyes of the apostles.
In this way you showed that you are Lord of all,
    and are the fulfillment of all creation.
Thus from that moment every human and every living creature
    should bow at your name.
And, in the eyes of faith,
    we can see that all creation proclaims your greatness.
 
Bernard of Clairvaux, 1090-1153, French abbot and Cistercian mystic
 
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After saying this, he was taken up into a cloud while they were watching, and they could no longer see him.  As they strained to see him rising into heaven, two white-robed men suddenly stood among them.  “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why are you standing here staring into heaven? Jesus has been taken from you into heaven, but someday he will return from heaven in the same way you saw him go!”

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from solitude to communion

/ Eric Mathews / Leave a comment
 The Walk to Emmaus / Ilyas Basim Khuri Bazzi Rahib/ CC BY-SA 3.0 / Wikimedia Commons
 
Lord Jesus,
you alone can reveal to us
the riches of God’s solitude
in the communion of persons.
 
Alone in the desert
and alone in Gethsemane,
alone on your cross,
between men who were alone on theirs,
you assumed everyone’s solitude
within yourself
so that everyone might commune
with God.
 
O God of encounters,
may each of us 
in his desert
detect a sign of your presence.
With you,
may each of us be
for his brothers
a travelling companion
in the fellowship of the Father
and the Spirit.
 
Lord Jesus, 
by taking part
in your death and resurrection,
we pass from solitude to communion.
 
Pierre Talec, 1933- 2016, French priest and author
 
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So they approached the village where they were going. 
He acted as though he wanted to go farther, but they urged him, 
“Stay with us, because it is getting toward evening and the day is almost done.” 
So he went in to stay with them.

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Risen Lord, we come to you

/ Eric Mathews / Leave a comment
At the Throne of Grace / Lawrence OP / Flickr / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 
 
Risen Lord, we come to confess our sins.
Our hearts are full of impatience, frustration,
    and sometimes even bitterness with one another.
We find it hard to be accepting.
 
    Break the seals, Lord, roll away the stone,
    rip open the protective bandages.
    Breathe the breath of life into our cold, dead hearts.
 
Risen Lord, we come to petition you.
Our minds are so often full of doubt
    and we are shy about sharing 
    the good news of your resurrection.
 
    Break the seals, Lord, roll away the stone,
    rip open the protective bandages.
    Breathe the breath of life into our cold, dead hearts.
 
Risen Lord, we come to adore you.
We desire to know you as living Lord
    and to experience your vitality within us.
 
    Break the seals, Lord, roll away the stone,
    rip open the protective bandages.
    Breathe the breath of life into our cold, dead hearts.
 
Risen Lord, we come to worship you.  
The world waits for your coming through us.
We want to be filled with joy
    and to have the freedom to be your true disciples.
 
As we come, we thank you that you do break the seals, Lord,
    you roll away the stone and rip open the protective bandages.
You breathe the breath of life into our cold, dead hearts,
    and by your resurrection we are made new.
 
prayer from New Zealand
 
__________________
 
 
With great power the apostles were giving testimony 
    to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, 
    and great grace was on all of them.
 

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But I confess that you are God

/ Eric Mathews / 3 Comments
image / Lawrence OP / Flickr / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
 
With all my heart I worship you, O hidden God.
You who hide yourself behind the things of your creation.
My heart submits to you, and so does my mind.
Compared with contemplating you, all else is nothing.
I cannot touch you, taste you, see you.
All senses are cheated of you – except the ear.
Your Son has spoken, and I believe.
Nothing has truth beyond the word I hear.
On the cross your divinity was hidden,
And now on earth you humanity is hidden,
But I acknowledge you and cry to you.
I do not gaze, like Thomas, on your wounds,
But I confess that you are God.
Give me a stronger faith, a surer hope,
And a deeper love for you, my Lord.
You gave us a memorial of your dying
In the living Bread that gives life to men.
As I eat your bread, may you live in me.
And may I always turn to you for strength.
O Christ, who gave your heart for all men,
Cleanse my sin in your blood which was spilt.
A single drop of it would save the world,
Cleansing every man from his foul guilt.
A veil is over your face, I cannot see you.
I cry to you to show me yourself,
To let me see you face to face.
With that vision my soul will be at peace.
 
Thomas Aquinas, 1225 – 1274, Roman Catholic philosopher and theologian
 
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Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

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This is Jesus Christ

/ Eric Mathews / Leave a comment
image / pixabay
 
Born as a Son,
led forth as a Lamb,
sacrificed as a Sheep,
buried as a Man,
He rose from the dead as a God,
for He was by nature God and man.

He is all things:
He judges, and so he is Law;
He teaches, and so he is Wisdom;
He saves, and so he is Grace;
He begets, and so he is Father;
He is begotten, and so he is Son;
He suffers, and so he is Sacrifice;
He is buried, and so he is man;
He rises again, and so he is God.
This is Jesus Christ,
to whom belongs glory for all ages.
 
Melito of Sardis, d. 180, Bishop of Sardis
 
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The Good News is about his Son.
In his earthly life he was born into King David’s family line, 
and he was shown to be the Son of God 
when he was raised from the dead by the power of the Holy Spirit. 
He is Jesus Christ our Lord.

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O wondrous power of the cross!

/ Eric Mathews / Leave a comment
Bonnat Crucifixion Detail / sdalry / Flickr / CC BY-NC 2.0
 
O wondrous power of the cross!
O unspeakable glory of the passion 
    which became the Lord’s tribunal, the world’s judgment, 
    and the power of the Crucified!
From Your cross You draw all things to Yourself, O Lord!
When You stretched out Your hands to an unbelieving people that mocked You,
    the whole world was finally brought to confess Your majesty. . . .
In this way type gave way to truth, prophecy to revelation,
    the ancient law to the gospel.
You drew all things to Yourself, Lord, 
    so that what previously was performed 
         in the one temple of the Jews in mystic signs
    is now celebrated everywhere by holy men
         in every country in revealing rites. . . .
Your cross is the font of all blessings, the source of all graces,
    and through it the believers receive strength in return for weakness,
    glory in return for shame, life in return for death.
 
Pope Leo the Great, c.400-461, influenced the Chalcedonian Creed and Attila the Hun
 
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So he delivered him over to them to be crucified.  So they took Jesus, and he went out, bearing his own cross, to the place called The Place of a Skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha. There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, and Jesus between them. Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It read, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.”

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