Monday in the Octave of Easter

Jesus the Nazorean was a man commended to you by God with mighty deeds, wonders, and signs, which God worked through him in your midst, as you yourselves know. This man, delivered up by the set plan and foreknowledge of God, you killed, using lawless men to crucify him. But God raised him up, releasing him from the throes of death, because it was impossible for him to be held by it.

We have all contributed to the death of Jesus in one way or another. No one, except Mary is blameless for Christ’s Passion and Death. We have all sinned in great and small ways and each of those failings have added to the burden of the cross. We know of Jesus’ mighty deeds, wonders, and signs through the scriptures and the traditions of the Church, and yet we still fall into temptation and sin. We might wonder how others could’ve put Jesus to death, but we do so ourselves when we choose what is wrong over what is right. However, like the children of Israel, we are given a chance to recognize our sins, confess them, and repent. When Jesus rose from the dead, he brought us the Holy Spirit and a new opportunity to do God’s Will over our own. It is up to us to accept this chance at a new life and then live it to the best of our abilities.

In what ways have we contributed to the death of Jesus? How can we make amends for our failings? What can we do to both celebrate and live out the promise of Christ’s Resurrection from the dead?

O Lord, raise us up from the death of sin into the new life of the risen Christ.

Amen.