The blogger's angelic sister, Betina Marie Riñon at the center as main angel at the Salubong in their place, Our Mother of Perpetual Help Community, Springville Heights Subd., Our Lady Queen of Peace Parish, Queen's Row, Bacoor, Cavite. This was taken after her Luwa (Praise Speech to the Risen Lord and to the Queen of Heaven) and after she unveiled the Blessed Mother.
First Reading: Acts 10:34a; 37-43
Responsorial Psalm: This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad. /Alleluia. (Ps 118:1-2, 16-17, 22-23)
Second Reading: Col. 3: 1-4 or 1 Cor. 5:6b-8
Gospel Reading: Jn. 20:1-9/Lk. 24:1-12/Lk. 24:13-35 (Gospel frequently read in bold)
Jn 20:1-9
On the first day of the week,
Mary of Magdala came to the tomb early in the morning,
while it was still dark,
and saw the stone removed from the tomb.
So she ran and went to Simon Peter
and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and told them,
“They have taken the Lord from the tomb,
and we don’t know where they put him.”
So Peter and the other disciple went out and came to the tomb.
They both ran, but the other disciple ran faster than Peter
and arrived at the tomb first;
he bent down and saw the burial cloths there, but did not go in.
When Simon Peter arrived after him,
he went into the tomb and saw the burial cloths there,
and the cloth that had covered his head,
not with the burial cloths but rolled up in a separate place.
Then the other disciple also went in,
the one who had arrived at the tomb first,
and he saw and believed.
For they did not yet understand the Scripture
that he had to rise from the dead.
or
Lk 24:1-12
At daybreak on the first day of the week
the women who had come from Galilee with Jesus
took the spices they had prepared
and went to the tomb.
They found the stone rolled away from the tomb;
but when they entered,
they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.
While they were puzzling over this, behold,
two men in dazzling garments appeared to them.
They were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground.
They said to them,
“Why do you seek the living one among the dead?
He is not here, but he has been raised.
Remember what he said to you while he was still in Galilee,
that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners
and be crucified, and rise on the third day.”
And they remembered his words.
Then they returned from the tomb
and announced all these things to the eleven
and to all the others.
The women were Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and Mary the mother of James;
the others who accompanied them also told this to the apostles,
but their story seemed like nonsense
and they did not believe them.
But Peter got up and ran to the tomb,
bent down, and saw the burial cloths alone;
then he went home amazed at what had happened.
or
Lk 24:13-35
For afternoon or evening MassThat very day, the first day of the week,
two of Jesus’ disciples were going
to a village seven miles from Jerusalem called Emmaus,
and they were conversing about all the things that had occurred.
And it happened that while they were conversing and debating,
Jesus himself drew near and walked with them,
but their eyes were prevented from recognizing him.
He asked them,
“What are you discussing as you walk along?”
They stopped, looking downcast.
One of them, named Cleopas, said to him in reply,
“Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem
who does not know of the things
that have taken place there in these days?”
And he replied to them, “What sort of things?”
They said to him,
“The things that happened to Jesus the Nazarene,
who was a prophet mighty in deed and word
before God and all the people,
how our chief priests and rulers both handed him over
to a sentence of death and crucified him.
But we were hoping that he would be the one to redeem Israel;
and besides all this,
it is now the third day since this took place.
Some women from our group, however, have astounded us:
they were at the tomb early in the morning
and did not find his body;
they came back and reported
that they had indeed seen a vision of angels
who announced that he was alive.
Then some of those with us went to the tomb
and found things just as the women had described,
but him they did not see.”
And he said to them, “Oh, how foolish you are!
How slow of heart to believe all that the prophets spoke!
Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things
and enter into his glory?”
Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets,
he interpreted to them what referred to him
in all the Scriptures.
As they approached the village to which they were going,
he gave the impression that he was going on farther.
But they urged him, “Stay with us,
for it is nearly evening and the day is almost over.”
So he went in to stay with them.
And it happened that, while he was with them at table,
he took bread, said the blessing,
broke it, and gave it to them.
With that their eyes were opened and they recognized him,
but he vanished from their sight.
Then they said to each other,
“Were not our hearts burning within us
while he spoke to us on the way and opened the Scriptures to us?”
So they set out at once and returned to Jerusalem
where they found gathered together
the eleven and those with them who were saying,
“The Lord has truly been raised and has appeared to Simon!”
Then the two recounted
what had taken place on the way
and how he was made known to them in the breaking of bread.
Information:
There are varied meanings where the word "Easter" came from.
In mythology, it was from the Anglo-Saxon goddess Ēostre, the goddess of spring. this was the etymology given by Saint Bede the Venerable, and was actually one of the variations of the Proto-Indo-European goddess of the dawn, Hausos (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easter).
Another meaning would be the word "east," which is actually a layman's term--and a more theological one. By becoming the Firstborn of the dead, Christ became our Sun, the Light of life and love that rises from the east that would forever defeat the darkness of death and evil; thus, Christ, the Sun of Righteousness, is our "EAST-er," whether we face Him in His sanctuary at the west, north, south, or any direction.
Reflection:
There is no life without death, that is what some elders say. Thus, life is not complete without being in the depths of our distresses. Jesus WAS in this state; but after His resurrection, it was His duty as a Son to reveal to His Mother--and ours--to share His happiness of fulfilling His Father's will. In Scriptures, it was to Mary Magdalene that the Risen Christ first revealed Himself. But in Filipino tradition, and because of our deep devotion to His Mother, we believe that Jesus, the Risen Lord--maybe as soon as He got out of the grave where He was placed lifeless--went to His Mother to assure her that He fulfilled His promise to rise from the dead after three days: this is the rubric of the Salubong (Filipino for meeting), a paraliturgical procession only practiced in the Philippines where the icons or statues of the Risen Lord and the Mater Dolorosa start from opposite points of the community and would meet up at any part outside the church that would materialize the above-mentioned explanation.
In this context, Christ does not only wants to reveal to His mother, rather, being one of Christ's last words on the cross where Mary became our Divine Mother, and in our behalf, Christ wants to reveal Himself to us that He is truly risen. Just imagine that our Mother is with us seeing her Son glorious and victorious! What would you feel? You would feel patriotic and you could not control your eyes from becoming wet, right? You may even come to the point that you would not help but give Him a military salute (being the Lord of Hosts)! That is what I did last night and just last morning! If you were me, you would understand this....
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