Tag Archives: Resurrection

HAPPY EASTER…CHRIST IS RISEN!!

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Resurrection of Christ and Women at the Tomb – Fra Angelico

When the sabbath was over,
Mary Magdalene, Mary, the mother of James, and Salome
bought spices so that they might go and anoint him.
Very early when the sun had risen,
on the first day of the week, they came to the tomb.
They were saying to one another,
“Who will roll back the stone for us
from the entrance to the tomb?”
When they looked up,
they saw that the stone had been rolled back;
it was very large.
On entering the tomb they saw a young man
sitting on the right side, clothed in a white robe,
and they were utterly amazed.
He said to them, “Do not be amazed!
You seek Jesus of Nazareth, the crucified.
He has been raised; he is not here.
Behold the place where they laid him.
But go and tell his disciples and Peter,
‘He is going before you to Galilee;
there you will see him, as he told you” (Mk. 16:1-7). [Gospel Reading from The Resurrection of the Lord at The Easter Vigil].

To all of my followers and readers through WordPress, Twitter, Facebook, and other social media and Catholic websites, I wish you a very Blessed, Joyful, and Happy Easter Season! Thank you for your support and your prayers.

Please continue to pray for my fiancee and I as we approach our Nuptials in just about 5 months. We are excited and still have lots to do.

Christ has Risen, indeed! Alleluia!

Quick Lessons from the Catechism: Resurrection of the Body (and One Year Without Dad)

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One year ago today, April 22, 2015, my Dad, Thomas Michael Perna Sr., passed away due to complications with Crohn’s Disease, which he endured for many years. It was the hardest day of my life as well as one of the hardest years for my entire family.

I can honestly say that this past year has taught me more about myself than any other year previously. I have realized how life short truly is. I have realized that the Christian lifestyle is not a bed of roses (not that I thought this before), but a life with experiences of suffering. And although the culture will say to us that suffering is bad and we should avoid it at all costs, enduring my Dad’s death has helped me grow more in love with Jesus Christ and the Catholic Church. The one saying that I try to embrace/apply to my life is the quote from Monsignor Lorenzo Albacete, “Suffering is not a problem to be solved; it is a mystery to be lived.”

I wouldn’t wish the pain, the nights feeling alone, and the nights struggling to sleep (like right now…it’s in the 2am hour and I am awake) on my worst enemy. Maybe it’s coming across that I am contradicting myself when I say I try to endure suffering, but wish the pain wasn’t there. This is something contradictory about death since we are made for life. It’s hard to write and explain what the last year has been like unless you have also endured this type of loss yourself.

For someone who talks about life and death on a daily basis, this year has challenged me in ways that I never thought were possible. Although I miss my Dad immensely and not a day goes by that I don’t wish I had just more day with him, he has provided me so much to teach others with – either through this blog or in my position at the parish. It was always his desire that I would be able to do the things I am doing in my writing and in my position as a catechist and evangelist in the parish. The eulogy I gave at the vigil and viewing last year was just the beginning of what Dad gave me with his exodus from this side of Heaven.

So as we do with all those that go before us – we pray for them and ask them to pray for us. We offer Masses for them in the hopes that our prayers will bring them to Heaven as well as ask them to intercede for us when we need prayers. It’s my hope that Dad is in Heaven or at least making his way to Heaven. In the end, we all will endure this thing we call death. Let us hope that through Jesus’ Resurrection, we will come to know and see our resurrection in the life to come.

So with this being said, for today’s QLC, let’s briefly examine what the Catechism of the Catholic Church has to say on Death and the Resurrection of the Body –

“’The flesh is the hinge of salvation’ (Tertullian, De res. 8, 2:PL 2, 852). We believe in God who is creator of the flesh; we believe in the Word made flesh in order to redeem the flesh; we believe in the resurrection of the flesh, the fulfillment of both the creation and the redemption of the flesh.” [#1015]

“By death the soul is separated from the body, but in the resurrection God will give incorruptible life to our body, transformed by reunion with our soul. Just as Christ is risen and lives for ever, so all of us will rise at the last day.” [#1016]

“‘We believe in the true resurrection of this flesh that we now possess’ (Council of Lyons II: DS 854). We sow a corruptible body in the tomb, but he raises up an incorruptible body, a ‘spiritual body’ (cf. 1 Cor 15:42-44). [#1017]

As a consequence of original sin, man must suffer ‘bodily death, from which man would have been immune had he not sinned’ (GS § 18). [#1018]

Jesus, the Son of God, freely suffered death for us in complete and free submission to the will of God, his Father. By his death he has conquered death, and so opened the possibility of salvation to all men. [#1019]

For a complete understanding of this topic, I would encourage you to also read paragraphs 988-1014, especially the paragraphs that speak about The meaning of Christian death.

On this day, I ask for prayers for the repose of the soul of my Dad, Thomas M. Perna, Sr. Thank you.

All Glory, Praise, and Thanksgiving to Jesus Christ Our Lord. Amen.

“The Historical and Transcendent Event”

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“Christ is risen from the dead! Dying, he conquered death; To the dead, he has given life.”                                                        – Byzantine Liturgy, Troparion of Eater

What does the Catechism of the Catholic Church state about the Resurrection of Jesus Christ?

CCC 639 – The mystery of Christ’s resurrection is a real event, with manifestations that were historically verified, as the New Testament bears witness. In about A.D. 56, St. Paul could already write to the Corinthians: “I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, and that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the Twelve…” Apostle speaks here of the living tradition of the Resurrection which he had learned after his conversion at the gates of Damascus.” 

CCC 646 – Christ’s Resurrection was not a return to earthly life, as was the case with the raisings from the dead that he had performed before Easter: Jairus’ daughter, the young man of Naim, Lazarus. These actions were miraculous events, but the persons miraculously raised returned by Jesus’ power to ordinary earthly life. At some particular moment they would die again. Christ’s Resurrection is essentially different. In his risen body he passes from the state of death to another life beyond time and space. At Jesus’ Resurrection his body is filled with the power of the Holy Spirit: he shares the divine life in his glorious state, so that St. Paul can say that Christ is “the man of heaven.”

CCC 647 – O truly blessed Night, sings the Exsultet of the Easter Vigil, which alone deserved to know the time and the hour when Christ rose from the realm of the dead! But no one was an eyewitness to Christ’s Resurrection and no evangelist describes it. No one can say how it came about physically. Still less was its innermost essence, his passing over to another life, perceptible to the senses. Although the Resurrection was an historical event that could be verified by the sign of the empty tomb and by the reality of the apostles’ encounters with the risen Christ, still it remains at the very heart of the mystery of faith as something that transcends and surpasses history. This is why the risen Christ does not reveal himself to the world, but to his disciples, “to those who came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are now his witnesses to the people.”

CCC 652 –  Christ’s Resurrection is the fulfillment of the promises both of the Old Testament and of Jesus himself during his earthly life. The phrase “in accordance with the Scriptures”  indicates that Christ’s Resurrection fulfilled these predictions.

For more on the Resurrection of Jesus Christ in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, please see paragraphs 638-658. Remember that the Catechism of the Catholic Church is the tool of the New Evangelization (Scott Hahn). It must be read, studied, and passed on to others. If you don’t have a copy of it in  your home, you need to order one as soon as possible. Pope Francis is going to bring the New Evangelization to the Church like no other has before him.

On Good Friday, Fr. John Lankeit, Rector at Sts. Simon and Jude Cathedral in Phoenix, Arizona said that Blessed John Paul II opened up the doors to the New Evangelization, Pope Emeritus Benedict explained the New Evangelization to our minds, and now Pope Francis is going to bring the New Evangelization to our hearts. Heart and Mind or philosophically, Faith and Reason. As Catholics, we know our Faith through both of these avenues. In the Catechism of the Catholic Church, these two avenues (or wings – Bl. John Paul II), intersect and synthesize with each other. Let us all come to know our faith with both heart and mind. The saints before us have done the same. It is now our time to do this and proclaim it to the world.

ALLELUIA!

HE HAS RISEN!

PRAISE BE JESUS CHRIST!

The Resurrection of the Lord!

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“T0 behold the risen Christ was an experience that burst the bounds of the ordinary.” — Romano Guardini

“Jesus’ Resurrection was about breaking out into an entirely new form of life, into a life that is no longer subject to the law of dying and becoming, but lies beyond it — a life that opens up a new dimension of human existence.” – Pope Benedict XVI, Jesus of Nazareth – Holy Week: From the Entrance into Jerusalem to the Resurrection

HAPPY EASTER!

HE IS RISEN TODAY!

ALLELUIA!

As an Easter gift, send my blog to a friend who is a practicing Catholic seeking more knowledge about the Faith, a Catholic who only comes to Mass twice a year or a friend who is thinking about coming into the Catholic Church.

You are all in my prayers! Praise Be Jesus Christ!