As he is recognised he vanishes from sight. All of Jesus' showing of himself at this Eastertide have this in common. Jesus is always present but not too our senses of this world. We still live in the  pre-resurrection world part of the Universe created by God. With the resurrection there is a new life that must be lived in a new world a new creation where Christ will be all in all. We call this heaven.

Dear Lord may my wish to be fully your servant not vanish as I come to recognise you and let your will be done at my end-times.

Jesus gave a mission to his disciples., particularly to Peter and John. In today's Gospel  their mission to go out and proclaim the Glory of God and the Sonship of Christ begins in the temple where they have become familiar figures. Familiar too is the beggar who astounds the regulars by his leaps and bounds. Jesus too performed many miracles but those signs had no effect on the Temple authorities.

Dear Lord may we the non seeing but believing spiritual descendants of your disciples know that we are always supported by you and that you will cleanse us of the negatives that blight  your Church

 God promises us wisdom to use our freedom to follow him. I try my best to use this gift of God but still i am alone. Not one of my family can be with me in worshiping as did the disciples. the Risen Lord. Peter's missionary efforts in the temple were highly fruitful but that ground had been well prepared by Jesus himself. This is why I am alone but known by God,

Lord let me improve my acceptance of life with you. Open the hearts of my family to receive the blessings that you have for them. Let us follow you to Galilee the place where you are.

The wrappings that are left behind prompt Mary's first reaction and thoughts. Someone must have taken him. She does not ask why the wrappings of a corpse have been removed. The gardener is questioned and Jesus speaks to her. All the encounters with the Lord  of New Life are initiated by him. Mary did not recognize, it was the Lord that revealed himself.

Lord I am not worthy but you in your infinite mercy have become my Saviour. Please show the same mercy to those I love.

 St. Peter is a new man today, surely a leader tasked by the risen Lord.  Out of him has grown the Institution we know as the Church. Jesus gave him the keys. But Jesus also showed his risen self first to the women who had returned to the tomb. What of John? "What is it to you? These events of 2000 years ago are the key to God's revelation of how we should lead our lives today. But for each of the women and Apostles present at that time millions of us have lived and strived to do God's will. Some of us are still striving.

Lord help me to be with you always in my thoughts words and deeds.

The story of the abducted body is still with us to this day among the chosen people and others. Paschal sees the persistence of this story even its being recorded in the Scriptures as a "proof" of the veracity of the Resurrection. The first converted Jews made no effort to suppress it for they had seen the risen Lord and inspired  by the Holy Spirit knew and proclaimed that he was the living Son of God. God is with us we must not fear.

Let the Holy Spirit be manifest in our Church leaders let not the troubles of being a human organisation obscure the Living Lord who must be proclaimed to all the world again and again and again!!!!

 The truth is that the Resurrection was witnessed by no man. The missing body from the empty tomb could have had no meaning for the scattered disciples. Those first moments without neither hope nor comprehension were torment for those whose guilt at their desertion of their Master could not be forgotten. What did Peter feel in his self knowledge? The grief of Mary and the women was overwhelming. Then the Lord showed Truth to His witnesses.

Dear Lord your resurrection into new-life can only be witnessed by my life in a Church that is true to you . Enter into the hearts of the descendants of your apostles that they may sincerely minister to us your flock on earth.

The human weakness of Peter during the events of Thursday and Friday would seem to be unforgiveable and yet the The Resurrection chose him to be one of the witnesses of the Son of God in bodily form. By the time he preached to Cornelius he too was a new man reinforced by the grace poured out freely without regard to merit.

Dear Lord let me know truthfully that it is you that chooses me not I you.. With your grace let me respond to do what you require of me.

 Today is a day of emptiness for the Church. Jesus is dead. Our source of right living is no more. Peter is an empty shell of a man . His brother can offer no comfort. The close disciples sleep in the upper room the others are scattered throughout the city, Some have even returned to their homes remote from Jerusalem. But the devastation in their hearts is shared by all. Jesus their teacher, their hope for change, their hope for freedom, their hope for favour from God lies rotting in a borrowed tomb. Where are the blessings promised by the Lord?

Dear Lord let me sincerely share in the dejection of your disciples and let daily cares of my life not absorb me to forgetfulness of you.

Has there ever been such a day as today before or after this . The night of the Passover must have been similarly momentous for the families preparing to flee with Moses and worse for those who lost their first-borns. But Moses was still there visible as a leader. And since then there has been and still are days and nights of slaughter. But even Hiroshima is not of such terror as today .The author of life is dead.  What will happen to our being. " The God of the living and the dead" is dead.

Dear God  send your Spirit into the hearts of all your people and let the emptiness of the whited sepulchres be open to receive the grace that should be spread by your sacraments that are in their charge.

 I must try to approach the Lord with true emptying of self; and yet it is myself that wants to to d the approaching."iI" want to pray as a soul before his master. The typo at the beginning of the last sentence shows my mind. My little "i" cannot get on with being true to the belief that sometimes fills my being for the the big "I" is always there in the background wondering whether what I write would appear sincere to a reader.

Lord let my soul sincerely belong to you and let me "Bless you Unawares". Let me be always aware of the cross on which you cried out in despair this day 2000 years ago. 

John's account of the events of Good Friday is surely the account of an eyewitness but without the profound emotion of that day; the despair felt by all the disciples; the utter shame of Peter ; the desperation of Judas unable to change the course of his actions. And what about Mary who watches her only son bleed to death; is this the Father's business that he must be about? What can she make of his words to John.? All of these were there in this time  but John writes his account after the being of the world has become totally changed by the Lord's resurrection The world is totally changed by God's resurrection as Son with Holy Spirit to guide and support us through our lives. This is what we must find in the corruption  that is Church.

 This day is the day of death for God whose love knew no limit to bring salvation to us all. Dear Lord, Let me not refuse this love by forgetting my place within your loving mercy.

 The Lord's passing through the land of Egypt destroying all the first born is a cruel image of our God. How can we reconcile that cruelty with the love that God was showing for his chosen ones Israel. It is quite terrible to think about. But God so loved the world that he as his Son brought His Spirit into the world by the killing of Himself He allowed to happen tomorrow. His Spirit is the guidance that the Church is to pass on to us who are left in the belief of this day.

Dear Lord send you Spirit into our hearts that we might today we able to withstand all temptation and be a people fitting for your love.

Jesus washing the feet of his disciples is an image that is much more comfortable than the "Passover of the Lord". But it is the same God in both. How can we know and love God who is so seemingly contradictory. It seems that the answer which we must find in the freedom God allows to us in our being  must be used to know him, love him and serve him in this world and be happy with him in the next.

Lord let our clergy be for us examples of right being and loving service, and not of hollow knowledge.