Matt Maher has released a load of reflections for the Easter period. They seem really good. The first one is below and the rest can be found fairly easily by clicking around Youtube. You might wonder why I am posting this in July rather than at Easter, and it's a good question. The answer is that I have a poor memory and will almost certainly lose it by next Easter unless I post in in the right category now!! So, here you go...

Another great video from Busted Halo

Since we don't have to give anything up for Easter, it's a lot easier than Lent to forget when it actually ends and to assume that it just sort of fades away after a few weeks. As we all know though, Easter is actually longer than Lent and I always thing that the fact we don't make more of the whole Easter Season is one of the great missed opportunities in the Catholic Church. Sadly, one of many.

Anyway, this is all a preamble to my pointing out an article which appeared on the website of the Catholic Herald a few weeks back. It was called How the disciples' alarm at the Risen Lord became a joy so great it left them dumbfounded. Okay, so it's not exactly a snappy title, but it's a really good piece by Bishop David McGough. here's a slice...

"Now you must repent and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out." This invitation to repentance formed the conclusion of Peter's address to the people of Jerusalem at Pentecost. It was a call to repentance unlike any that had preceded it, since it flowed from the power and presence of the Risen Lord. The Resurrection transforms the possibilities of repentance.

St Paul, in the seventh chapter of his Letter to the Romans, had despaired of sinful humanity, left to itself, ever finding true repentance. We long to do what is right, but instead we find ourselves committing the very faults that we seek to avoid. The Risen Lord, by his death and Resurrection, became the power by which we not only hear the call to repentance, but are enabled to respond in a new way of life. When we repent in the Risen Lord, we rise to a new life. Faith enables a change of heart whose possibilities are rooted in the power that raised Jesus from the dead.

Go, read the rest...

[image hotlinked from The LifeTeen Store. Yes, you can buy it!!]

Busted Halo has an interesting article about the women at Jesus' tomb and the Resurrection Women of today. Here's a slice:

In almost every corner of this world and in almost every epoch of recorded history, women have been entrusted with the care of bodies. We birth them. We feed them. We wash them. We mend them. We comfort them. We fret over them. So it is nothing short of utterly unremarkable that it is women who arrive at the tomb of Jesus to anoint him for burial. It is obvious. It is commonplace. The women who fed him and washed him and looked after him in life come to care for his body one last time. And this is where the story is transformed. This is where it ceases to be ordinary.

The earth shakes. The stone in front of the tomb is rolled away. The body of Jesus is not there. He is risen. He is risen, indeed.

Resurrection is absolutely central to the Christian faith. If the Resurrection does not happen the Church is little more than a failed movement of individuals of questionable moral character whose megalomaniacal leader is subjected to a painful demise as a warning against further insurrection. End of story. The Resurrection means that Jesus is precisely who he claims to be and that he has accomplished precisely what he intended to accomplish. It means that for one brief moment in human history God walked among us to teach us about the Kingdom of God and to show us how to live it into being by acts of justice, mercy, and unflinching love. It means that we are loved so fiercely and with such abandon that death and brutality and evil are conquered. It means that we are not mourning the end of something but anticipating the beginning of something new … the Reign of Love made manifest and complete and resplendent here on earth.

Go, read the rest...

Oh, and b the way, the article isn't actually called Easter Girls. That's my title. I think it's catchy though!

Easter is more than just a single day — it's 50! Fr. Dave Dwyer, CSP, and Fr. Larry Rice, CSP, discuss the difference between the Easter season and Lent. Because this Church season is longer than Lent it shows the emphasis in our faith on the great goodness and mercy of God, new life and resurrection. The Season of Resurrection calls us into the deeper mystery of God and all God is doing in the world today. Happy Easter Season!

[Source]

Interesting article from LifeTeen.com. Here's a slice:

I recently heard someone ranting about how commercialized Easter has become and how there is "no trace of Christ" left in His holiday. I understood the person's concerns and agreed, in part, with their assertions. The more I got to thinking about it, though, I felt like their thoughts, while valid, were a little bit short-sighted.

Christ is everywhere. His death and resurrection are everywhere. We just need to know where to look and how to uncover them.

If your focus is on Christ and your heart set on His love, you can take almost anything the world dishes out and point it back to the message of the cross, THE message of love and freedom.

Go, read the rest...

Okay, okay, I know it's Easter now, but we've still got a backlog of Lent & Holy Week stuff, and since I'm sure it will still be useful next year, we're gonna post a little bit of it. Like this, for instance, from the BBC...

A contemporary retelling of the last hours of the life of Jesus has been televised live from Preston.

The Preston Passion combined live performance, music and pre-recorded drama, broadcast live from the city centre.

Fern Britton hosted the event and introduced three short pre-recorded dramas, shown simultaneously on a big screen in Preston and on BBC One.

All three dramas were filmed around the North West.

'Spectacle to feast on'

Documentaries were themed around the Passion of Christ, with inspiration drawn from the real lives of Preston residents, now and in the past.

The three documentaries culminated in a live extravaganza, featuring thousands of residents.

The production was directed by Mark Murphy who worked on Liverpool's 2008 Capital of Culture opening ceremony.

In addition to local choirs singing traditional Easter music, large-scale choreographed crowd movements across the city created "human crosses".

There were also contemporary dance pieces and traditional local brass band music.

To close Preston Passion's live programme of performance, Mobo award-winning singer Jamelia performed Candy Staton's gospel classic You Got The Love.

Britton described the performance as "very, very moving".

"There are so many different parts and all of us have been working on it individually, and then yesterday we saw it all come together and it's incredible."

LifeTeen.com has a great piece summing up Good Friday. Go, have a look...