Tag: Resurrection

On
Fr. Robert Barron

What Easter means

In first century Judaism, there were many views concerning what happened to people after they died.

Following a very venerable tradition, some said that death was the end, that the dead simply returned to the dust of the earth from which they came.

Others maintained that the righteous dead would rise at the close of the age. Still others thought that the souls of the just went to live with God after the demise of their bodies. There were even some who believed in a kind of reincarnation.

Accounts of Jesus’ resurrection

What is particularly fascinating about the accounts of Jesus’ resurrection is that none of these familiar frameworks of understanding is invoked.

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On
Mary C. Uhler, Catholic Herald Staff

It’s more than one day: Pope Francis reminds us to continue to share Easter joy

Editor's View by Mary C. Uhler

In our fast-paced world, it seems as if one holiday is barely done and we’re starting to get ready for the next one on the horizon.

This is especially true in the greeting card sections of our stores. The Mother’s Day cards have been on display for a few weeks (even though Mother’s Day was a month away at the time), and the graduation cards are on the racks. Before we know it, the Halloween cards will be making their appearance!

We should have time to savor each special day in our lives and not be rushing past any of the religious or secular holidays.

Continue to celebrate Easter

However, Easter should be the definite exception to our quick celebrations. That’s because Easter is more than just one day, as Pope Francis reminded thousands of visitors gathered in St. Peter’s Square on Easter Monday. In fact, he told them to celebrate Easter all through the week — and beyond.

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On
Bishop Robert C. Morlino, Bishop of Madison

All time belongs to Him

This column is the bishop’s communication with the faithful of the Diocese of Madison. Any wider circulation reaches beyond the intention of the bishop.

Dear Friends,

It is always strange to prepare a column for this issue of the Catholic Herald.

As I write, it is Monday and we’ve just entered into Holy Week. When this issue arrives at your homes, it will most likely be Holy Thursday, and yet this will also serve as the “Easter issue.”

We’ve just experienced Palm Sunday, when we rejoiced and sang “Hosanna!” as Jesus rode triumphantly into Jerusalem.

So should I reflect upon those moments of worldly glory? Should I rejoice with all the gusto of Easter, knowing that you may read this in the glow of those days? Or, should I consider the darkness of Christ’s passion and death, bearing in mind that you may read this column on Holy Thursday or Good Friday?

Of course it wouldn’t be the end of the world to do any of this, and the point is not really the tension of writing this column.

We live in a world of tension

I reflect upon it though, because it’s actually the tension in which we live day-in and day-out.

For us, Christ’s life, His passion, His death, and His raising to new life all are present at once.

 

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On
Bishop Robert C. Morlino, Bishop of Madison

Being ‘with the Lord’

This column is the bishop’s communication with the faithful of the Diocese of Madison. Any wider circulation reaches beyond the intention of the bishop.

Dear Friends,

“With the Lord there is mercy and fullness of redemption (Ps 130:7).” We were reminded in the Responsorial Psalm of this past Sunday. And these are precisely the thoughts to which we should turn our minds and hearts as we come upon Holy Week, Easter, and the celebration of His Divine Mercy.

I would like to take a look briefly at the three major ideas in the above verse, “With the Lord there is mercy and fullness of redemption.”

What does it mean to be ‘with the Lord’?

“With the Lord . . .” What does it mean to be with the Lord?

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On
Audrey Mettel Fixmer

Funerals: Not a time for remorse but celebration

Grand Mom column by Audrey Mettel Fixmer

When I was a kid back in the 30s and 40s, Grandma often came for a visit, always dressed in black, and usually it was a funeral that brought her to town.

I thought that was so weird. Did she enjoy funerals? Was that the only thing on her social calendar?

Well, guess what? I’ve arrived at that age when I open the paper first to the obituary page. First I check out to see if there’s someone I know. Then, I average the ages to see how I’m doing.

On a good day I’m younger than any of them. On a bad day I’m older. Too often, it seems, I find a friend has passed and I feel a stab of pain for the spouse and I want to express my sympathy and attend the funeral.

Final salvation at last

When I recently attended the funeral of my dear friend Betty, it occurred to me that funerals are really good for us seniors. They remind us of our own mortality, of course.

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On
Bishop Robert C. Morlino, Bishop of Madison

Seeking peace of God through repentance

Dear Friends,
In the Gospel passages of the last few weeks, we have heard time and again how real the Resurrection is. Jesus rose, not with the same physical body He had before, but He rose with a real body that could be touched. His real glorified body could somehow be touched, with the nail marks in the hands and the feet, and the wound in the side from the soldier’s lance. All those wounds were visible and tangible in Jesus’ glorified body.

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On
Fr. Donald Lange

Encountering the risen Lord

Seeing with Jesus' Eyes, by Fr. Don Lange

Cecil DeMille, the famous movie director, was enjoying an overdue vacation at a Maine lake resort.

He was reading a book in a canoe, when he noticed a water beetle crawling up the boat’s side. When the beetle got halfway up, it stuck the talons of its legs to the canoe’s wood and died.

DeMille resumed reading. Three hours later he glanced again at the water beetle. What he saw amazed him. The beetle had dried up and its back began to crack open. First, a moist head, then wings, and finally a tail emerged. Out of apparent death, new life emerged in the form of a magnificent dragonfly.

As the dragonfly dazzled his eyes with its acrobatic flight, Cecil De Mille nudged the dried out beetle shell with his finger. It looked like a tomb.

From Good Friday to Easter

The water beetle’s amazing transformation reminds us of what happened to Jesus on Good Friday when he truly died on the cross and rose from the dead.

Jesus’ body that rose on Easter was different from the body buried on Good Friday. It was not a resuscitated body, restored to its original life like that of Lazarus or Jairus’ daughter. It was a risen glorified body.

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