This week's readings Week of Apr. 27 - May 3 Sunday, April 27, 2003 Reading I: Acts 4:32-35 Reading II: 1 Jn 5:1-6 Gospel: Jn 20:19-31 Monday, April 28, 2003 Reading I: Acts 4:23-31 Gospel: Jn 3:1-8 Tuesday, April 29, 2003 Reading I: Acts 4:32-37 Gospel: Jn 3:7b-15 Wednesday, April 30, 2003 Reading I: Acts 5:17-26 Gospel: Jn 3:16-21 Thursday, May 1, 2003 Reading I: Acts 5:27-33 Gospel: Jn 3:31-36 Friday, May 2, 2003 Reading I: Acts 5:34-42 Gospel: Jn 6:1-15 Saturday, May 3, 2003 Reading I: 1 Cor 15:1-8 Gospel: Jn 14:6-14 Pope's Prayer Intentions May General Intention Mary Mother of Life: That children in difficulty and their caretakers may find in Mary support and help. May Mission Intention The evangelization of Asia: That in the local Churches the Holy Spirit may kindle renewed ardor for evangelizing the entire continent.

Peace be with you:
Now I send you

		Word of God  Word of Life  Fr. John G. Stillmank

Now that we have celebrated Easter and the candy rabbits and baskets are on the sale shelf, it seems the time to say "Easter is over."

It would really be more truthful to say "Easter has just begun."

Easter has just begun for us, first of all because we have several weeks of Easter time to celebrate until the day of Pentecost, the birth of the Church.

"Easter has just begun for us because Jesus has sent his followers on a mission into the world."

The Easter season has a special character and it is as if the Easter events of the Lord's resurrection are stretched out over forty days, giving us time to absorb the fact that he is risen.

Easter has just begun because, as John writes in his first letter, Jesus is the one who has come through water and blood, and he came so that we might have life. The morning when Jesus came out of the tomb to a new, risen life is the first day of the new creation, in which we are called to have a vital part.

Readings for Second Sunday of Easter (April 27, 2003) Acts 4:32-35 Psalm 118:2-4, 13-15, 22-24 1 John 5:1-6 John 20:19-31

Easter has just begun for us because Jesus has sent his followers on a mission into the world. Just as Thomas placed his fingers and hand into the wounds of Jesus and recognized him as "my Lord and my God," so do we recognize in the world the wounds of Jesus: the suffering, pain, and death caused by our sin.

Our mission from Jesus is to touch those wounds with his love, to bring his healing to those in sorrow, and to do it by spreading his word to everyone with ears to hear.

Easter has just begun for us because the gift of the forgiveness of sins which he entrusted to the Apostles and to the Church is a gift of a new lease on life. We need not be bound by the debts and sins of the past, for Christ has freed us to live a new life of joy. He forgives our sins and empowers us to avoid sin, providing we live in the fullness of faith the baptismal promises made for us as infants and which we have often renewed.

Easter has just begun for us because we are the community described in Acts of Apostles, "the community of believers (which is) of one heart and mind." We give from what God has given us to serve the needs of others. It's interesting that this stewardship is a hallmark of the early Church, and one of the earliest ways to describe the community of those who believed in the risen Jesus.

Easter has just begun for us because there is much to do. "Peace be with you," Jesus said when he appeared to his Apostles. Then he sent them into the world, with the power of the Holy Spirit to guide and protect them. He gave them the gift of his Gospel of love, and he made them his missionaries. His work on earth is complete. Our work has begun.

Easter has just begun for us because each time we celebrate the mysteries of Holy Week and the Triduum, and when we sing with gusto the Easter Alleluia, we are renewed in a special way with zeal for the Gospel. Jesus is no less real to us than he was to the first believers on that first Easter morn.

His peace he still gives us. On his mission he always sends us.

Fr. John G. Stillmank is Moderator of the Curia for the Diocese of Madison and pastor of St. Andrew Parish, Verona, and St. William Parish, Paoli.