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People in North Mississippi prepared for Easter on Good Friday. "[We're] shopping for the kids, making sure the kids have their Easter dresses," Tupelo resident Andre Johnson said. The Mall at Barnes Crossing was the place to be Friday. Many start their holiday weekend by searching for not just any outfit, but a special Easter look. "Something that looks like spring and doesn't look like it's going to rain outside," Fulton resident Judy McFadden said. "Something bright and cheery." Painting and hunting Easter eggs is also on the top of the list. "I like to draw and stuff, so that's...

Tradition is the simple matter of doing something once because it’s the right thing to do, and then doing it again (and again) for no good reason at all. And traditions that have withstood the warping effects of hundreds of passing years are even harder to explain than those with a clear mandate from the recent past. The British Isles are riddled with traditions like these, especially around Easter, when superstitions around crops and growth get muddled up with Christian imagery and a sudden glut of rabbits and eggs. Some of them are eccentric, some are downright dangerous, but to...

Tradition that goes back centuries is kept alive by faithfulOn Sunday morning, as Christians in the region and around the world take part in the Easter traditions they enjoy, an observer might be tempted to ask: How do the ways they celebrate the holiday reflect its meaning? Children pet bunnies and gobble jelly beans. Wal-Mart sells more than 500 types of Easter confection, including unicorn- and space alien-themed baskets. Just a few of them allude to Christianity. How does eating a package of Peeps recall the man Christians believe redeemed the world by rising from the dead nearly 2,000 years...

I'm not a Christian but nearly all my friends are Christians and I have great respect for them. There are two stories that have been circulating around the Internet for years. I'd like to dedicate these to my Christian friends. Three Trees Once there were three trees on a hill in the woods. They were discussing their hopes and dreams when the first tree said, "Someday I hope to be a treasure chest. I could be filled with gold, silver and precious gems. I could be decorated with intricate carving and everyone would see the beauty." Then the second tree...

President Reagan’s Radio Address to the Nation on the Observance of Easter and Passover on April 2, 1983. Reagan talks about freedom and tyranny. I bet Obama’s on the golf course.

Our Lord is risen. Our God lives. The Shroud of Turin is speaking to all Christians now more than at any other time in our current history when so many of our religious freedoms are under attack by the US government. John C. Iannone is a Catholic writer and lecturer who is traveling throughout the South during our pre- Easter preparations to bring the story of the holy Shroud to us. One can only marvel at what this holy garment reveals to us about the suffering Jesus went through to be one of us and to suffer in such horrible...

A Happy and Blessed Easter to all of MOTUS’ Christian friends, along with anyone else who cares to reflect on the life of Christ.   “He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay.” - Matthew 28:6 I hope you all  take the time to relax, reflect and forget all the troubles in the world on this, the most sacred day of the Christian calendar. After church I’m on kitchen duty today in my little bunker, assigned to baking the Easter Ham, making the lemon tarts and laying out the Peeps,...

So I am writing this on Easter Saturday. We celebrated the death of Jesus yesterday at our Good Friday services and on Sunday we will celebrate his resurrection . So what happened between Friday and Sunday? Ever Wondered.Well here is what I see in scripture happened. First a little context.Recently I was preaching on types of Christ and I came across this scripture and it troubled meMatt 12:40For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the...

Much of the world will be celebrating Easter this week. Unfortunately, in the West, secular humanism has relegated the Christian Easter to mere “Easter bunnies” and “Easter eggs.” That degeneration can be closely linked to Western society’s replacement of “thinking” with “feeling.” We have replaced the thermostat with the thermometer. We have given up on rigorous intellectual debate of facts and irrefutable truth and replaced it with “that’s fine if that’s how you feel about it.” Perhaps the trend is no clearer than when the media—and consequently, the man on the street—expresses an opinion on the resurrection of Jesus Christ....

Resurrexi, et adhuc tecum sum, alleluia! Introit, Easter Sunday.

This Easter many will go through the robotic motions of celebrating Easter without any possession of the REALITY of the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. They will gather with loved ones, family and friends to color Easter eggs; have Easter egg hunts; eat baked ham, candy and fine desserts; maybe watch a sporting event and perhaps even attend church for the first time since Christmas. This tragically happens every year in a never-ending cycle of tradition and hypocrisy. Oh my friend, what is truly needed this Easter is a dose of the heavenly reality of Christ’s triumphant resurrection...

“Amen” (The Lord’s Prayer; 2 Corinthians 1:18-22)Alleluia! Christ is risen! (He is risen indeed! Alleluia!) Yes, “Alleluia” of course is the word of the day for Easter Day. We’ve been saving it up all Lent, and now today we finally get to let it loose. And what a day to do so! Our Lord Jesus Christ rose from the dead on this day, winning the victory for us over death and the grave. If that doesn’t elicit an “Alleluia,” I don’t know what will. “Alleluia” is a Hebrew word originally, and it means “Praise ye the Lord.” And praise is...

Along with Medvedev and his wife.

Bringing our consideration of certain texts from the Matthean Passion Narrative to an end, let’s conclude with the immediate aftermath of Jesus’ Death and see what it has to teach us. There are essentially four immediate results that are described of Jesus’ death, and while they are historical happenings, they also signal deeper spiritual truths. Let’s observe the text and consider the four results, each in turn.And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit. At that moment, the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth...

April 20, 2014The Resurrection of the LordThe Mass of Easter Sunday    Reading 1 Acts 10:34a, 37-43 Peter proceeded to speak and said:“You know what has happened all over Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptismthat John preached, how God anointed Jesus of Nazarethwith the Holy Spirit and power.He went about doing goodand healing all those oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.We are witnesses of all that he didboth in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem.They put him to death by hanging him on a tree.This man God raised on the third day and...

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - A woman from west Knoxville found a body under her deck while hunting for Easter eggs with her son Wednesday. The Knoxville News Sentinel reports Tara Hanouskova smelled an odor that progressively got worse over the past week, but could never pinpoint the source. On Wednesday, however, while hunting for Easter eggs with her three-year-old, she noticed something with a pair of feet clad in tennis shoes in the crawl space under her deck. She explained that the odor wasn't consistent nor strong; she only smelled it off and on until it got so bad she decided...

John 20:1-10 (KJV) 1The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre. 2Then she runneth, and cometh to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and saith unto them, They have taken away the LORD out of the sepulchre, and we know not where they have laid him. 3Peter therefore went forth, and that other disciple, and came to the sepulchre. 4So they ran both together: and the other disciple did out run Peter, and came first to...

U2 frontman Bono talks about his faith and answers the question "Who is Jesus?" in the video below. Click play to watch. Link Here with Video (2 mins 46 secs)

Don't worry, the REAL easter graphics are being saved for Sunday...

Limbo by Sister Mary Ada, OSJ The ancient grayness shifted Suddenly and thinned Like mist upon the moors Before a wind. An old, old prophet lifted A shining face and said: “He will be coming soon. The Son of God is dead; He died this afternoon.” A murmurous excitement stirred All souls. They wondered if they dreamed – Save one old man who seemed Not even to have heard. And Moses, standing, Hushed them all to ask If any had a welcome song prepared. If not, would David take the task? And if they cared Could not the three young...