Posted on 04/24/2011 1:39:43 PM PDT by streetpreacher
Stupid Hippies crying over dead trees...
4/20/11
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Today, Christians around the globe celebrate the truth that Jesus Christ is risen from the tomb. We rejoice that God the Father confirmed every promise of new life that He made to us in His Son. Jesus Christ rose from the dead, and as victor over sin and death, became the unique source of new life for all who believe in Him. We marvel anew that love triumphs over hatred and selfishness.
It helps to note that the central event of human history gets a remarkably slow start. In todays Gospel, which is taken from John, Mary Magdalene and Peter are slow to believe. This seems strange at first. Mary Magdalene was one of Jesus closest supporters and collaborators during His public ministry. She was likely present for one of the times that He alluded to and spoke about His upcoming death and resurrection. The Lord expelled seven demons from her, so she must have trusted in His great power. She had been faithful during His passion and did not fail to remain by His side through the darkest moment of His life. Yet, when she sees the empty tomb, she assumes that someone had taken His body.
I propose two reasons for the surprisingly slow response of the Twelve Apostles and disciples.
First, the painful events of Good Friday are weighing heavily on Mary Magdalenes heart. She is so caught up in the pain of having watched her Lord and Savior suffer His passion; plus, she is also enveloped in the experience of losing the One who had given her new life. Consequently, she is unable to grasp the good news of the empty tomb that is staring her in the face. Mary Magdalene is, in fact, so distracted that she even mistakes Jesus for the gardener. It is not until Jesus speaks her name that she sees and believes.
I think that this happens to us plenty as modern-day followers of Christ.
I think that we get so overwhelmed by the suffering that we endure sometimes, that we are unable to see the risen Christ in our lives, to experience the new life that God wishes to give us. We easily let the daily trials and tribulations of life keep us overwhelmed so that we are unable to see, experience and be transformed by the risen Christ present in our midst.
Second, the Scriptures suggest that for Jesus disciples, belief in the Resurrection required a new level of faith that was dependent upon an experience of the risen Lord. Mary Magdalene is clearly an example. So is the apostle Thomas, who refused to believe the other 10 apostles who told him that they had seen the Lord alive until he had an encounter with the risen Lord.
Their faith in the Lord, as strong as it was until then, was incomplete. The Lords apostles and disciples needed to embrace the fullness of Christ, which included the truth that He had to rise from the dead in order to conquer our greatest enemies, sin and death. As important as His life, suffering and death were, their full meaning could only be grasped in light of the mystery of the empty tomb and the truth that Jesus truly rose from the dead.
One way to experience the risen Lord today is in the lives of Jesus faithful followers. As a member of Youth Apostles, I have the privilege of serving mostly among young people. My faith in Jesus is renewed and strengthened by watching God work in amazing ways in the lives of students. When young people have an authentic encounter with Jesus, He lights up their lives. They begin to desire prayer, find comfort and refuge in the Eucharist, spontaneously bear witness to Him on campus, seek life-giving fellowship with other believers, and develop a heart for serving their neighbor. This year, three seniors from Marymount University in Arlington will be going off to give a year or more of their lives in service to their neighbor in need. Their lives bear witness to the risen Christ. Their service proclaims that Love triumphs over hatred and selfishness. Jesus Christ is risen today. Alleluia! Alleluia!
Fr. Peterson is assistant chaplain at Marymount University in Arlington and director of the Youth Apostles Institute in McLean.
And yes, it's OK to cry for these Holy Innocents too.
Three cheers for WI! You guys are doing great work!
Well, they’d have a real problem around me. I would guess they would need a shrink after they got a look at how many I mow down in a day.
And who is crying over the dead babies?? Those who have been aborted?I thought about that the instant I started watching the video but I decided to concentrate on making fun of them as morons and leave it to someone else to bring in the very, very serious issue that the morons refuse to consider.
Thank you for being the someone else to bring up the very obvious question that comes to mind when you see PEOPLE crying over DEAD WOOD.
What about dead PEOPLE?
What about murdered BABIES?
I havent tried this yet, but I am thinking a leg of lamb marinated in olive oil, dijon mustard, garlic, rosemary and cracked pepper, and a bit of salt, spit roasted over pecan would be most glorious.
Happy Easter.
With any luck at all, they discovered another plant variety that thrives in NC, poison oak.
Not to go off on an tangent, but it’s really getting tiring. Every day in these parts, a new ‘crisis to critical to waste’ pops up. It’s getting old, but we’re determined. There is a STRONG conservative base, and we’re not going away anytime soon. I pray, if another state faces what we’re going through, they’ll have the willingness to fight this battle. We have great conservative talk radio, that’s a big boost to the information flow. Any state that gets assaulted like we are, I’ll be there, helping to fight the fight.
I guess the bottom line is, it’s a war against oppression, and we’re not going to take it. Whether it’s tree huggers or politicians. They can go straight to hell. The conservatives here PROVED, we can beat back these bastards who want to destroy our country.
I live in NJ. I take inspiration from what you are doing in WI.
I see lots of posts about how great Christie is, but isn’t he just loud? He has a few issues we can all get behind, and he’s passionate about, but there are other issues, like, why not join the obamacare lawsuit? The second thing Walker did here in WI after he was sworn in, was, summit a letter to our AG to join that battle. We are #26 in that lawsuit. Christie real strong on one or two issues, but it appears he’s weak on most others. We like how he fights the teacher union, but what else is there? What’s your take, living there?
I think you’ve got it about right. Christie’s about as good as we can hope for here in NJ but he’s no Walker, not by a longshot. He’s good, though, and he has my support. But he’s no Walker. Not by a longshot.
But then again, NJ has a thinner mix of conservatives than WI does. Both states have a solid core of leftists but NJ has a lot more people on the dole. A lot more. And they all vote like robots.
It really does look like they are desperately trying to make themselves cry - maybe they get more hugs if they cry the hardest in their group?
Lamb for Easter ping.
Cut them down...and plant a few more...so we can cut those down...and plant a few more... etc etc
Why can’t liberals get that this is what is happening?
JoMa
Screaming in the woods.....and this helps how?
Libtards do nothing and have no answers.
Well, he’s probably the most ‘conservative’ governor you’ve had there in decades. I’m glad he’s fighting the battles he’s fighting. But presidential? He’s a rino overall. Good luck, you do have a good start. It can get better. Work hard, don’t give up. Hopefully you can change things. This didn’t happen overnight. It won’t change overnight.
Now THAT'S awesome!
Exactly my thoughts. This video does not inspire in me a great deal of hope for the human race. And yes, it embarrasses me to think that I am related to these idiots by species.
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