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The Subcommittee on the Catechism, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, has found this catechetical text, copyright 2013, to be in conformity with the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

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The Catholic Faith Handbook for Youth, Third Edition
ISBN: 978-1-59982-160-3, paper, 480 pages

by Joanna Dailey

Let us bless the Lord, alleluia! Alleluia!

Thanks be to God, alleluia! Alleluia!

Easter Week is a week of Sundays! Every day is a solemnity, and every day celebrates the Resurrection of Christ in a new way. The Easter Week readings remind us of what the resurrected Christian life is: an encounter with the Risen Lord. We encounter him in the various Galilees of our lives, where he always goes before us; we encounter him as he speaks our name in the midst of loss; we encounter him on the road, as the two disciples on their way to Emmaus did, and in the breaking of the bread; we encounter him in his wounds, as Thomas did, and in the wounds of our suffering brothers and sisters; we encounter him in friendship, where, like Jesus, we are blessed to serve and sometimes to be served; we encounter him in his challenge to us: "Go into the whole world and proclaim the Gospel to every creature" (Mark 16:15, NABRE).

The last day of the Octave (eight-day celebration) of Easter is now known as the Second Sunday of Easter. It is also called "Thomas Sunday" (mostly by Eastern Christians) and was formerly known as "Low Sunday" (perhaps as a contrast to the previous Easter Sunday, the biggest and best Sunday of all!). Pope soon-to-be-saint John Paul II designated this Sunday as Divine Mercy Sunday. (This year, Pope John XXIII and Pope John Paul II will be canonized as saints on this Sunday. See more in the Saints Spotlight in this newsletter.) In the early Church, this was also the Sunday on which the newly baptized wore their white robes for the last time, and then set them aside. At that point the new Christians looked like everybody else, but with a whole new perspective on life.

Some of that new perspective revealed itself to me this week in the word intentions. I was remembering a true-life story about friends of a friend. They were a young couple who had been dating for awhile. Let’s call them Kathy and Kevin. As it was told to me, one day Kathy said to Kevin, "You know, I really need to talk to you. What are your intentions?"

Kevin was taken aback. "What do you mean?" he asked.

"I mean," Kathy went on, "where do you want this relationship to go?"

It was only then that Kevin realized (well, he might have suspected!) that dating and having a nice time with someone were not ends in themselves. They were supposed to lead somewhere!

"Goodness," Kathy said later, when someone congratulated her for taking the bull by the horns, so to speak. "Did he think we would just go on dating forever?"

I heard that they had a beautiful wedding!

Later, I heard Dr. Phil, the TV therapist, mention this idea as I lent him an ear while feeding my dogs: "Life," he said, "is all about intentions."

The Resurrection and our recommitment to our baptismal promises can put our intentions into focus. How do I intend to live this Christian life? How do I intend to find support and encouragement in my life as a follower of Christ? How do I intend to prepare for my own death and resurrection? How do I intend to focus my faith, hope, and love as this new Easter Season of celebration begins? How do I intend to open myself to the new life that Jesus brings?

After all, we, individually and as the People of God, will not go on "dating" forever. There will be a marriage feast, and our wedding garments (the white garments we received at Baptism, symbolizing our newness of life) must be washed and ready for that occasion. For Jesus died and rose intending that we would follow him. Easter Week is a foretaste of that great wedding. Jesus, the Bridegroom of the Church, has gone before us and is waiting for us to join him. Easter Week may be the best week of all to line up our intentions with his!

Blessings on your ministry!

Peace and joy,

Joanna

Overview
The point of this relay race is to quickly find passages on Easter themes in the four Gospels. The activity is intended to increase the young teens’ skill in using the Bible and to help them become familiar with Gospel passages that recount the Resurrection of Jesus.

Suggested Time
About 15 minutes for the relay race and closing prayer; preparation time is extra.

Group Size
The ideal group size for this strategy is 16 participants. The activity can be done with a larger or smaller number of young people, though it will get a little drawn out with more than 28 or so. See the Alternative Approaches section near the end of this strategy for suggestions on accommodating different numbers of participants.

Click here to download the entire activity, "Resurrection Relay: A Bible Learning Activity for Easter." This activity is an excerpt from the book Holiday and Seasonal Ideas for Ministry with Young Teens published by Saint Mary's Press.

The Second Sunday of Easter
April 27, 2014
John 20:19-31

Opening Prayer

Jesus, help us in our doubting. As the disciples encountered you and believed in your risen glory, may we also experience you and believe in you. Bless us with grace so that we can believe you are the Messiah, the Son of God, even though we have not seen you with our own eyes. Amen.

Context Connection
Last Sunday we had the Gospel story of the empty tomb. This Sunday's Gospel takes place later on the same day. In the verses between these two stories is an account of Jesus appearing to Mary Magdalene, 20:11-18. After conversing with Mary Magdalene, Jesus instructs her to go and tell the disciples of their encounter. "Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, 'I have seen the Lord'" (20:18). In verse 19 the disciples are gathered together on the first day of the week. They have locked themselves in a house because they fear the Jews. Yet despite the locked door, Jesus stands among them and greets them: "Peace be with you" (20:19). Jesus speaks this greeting to calm the disciples' fear. Immediately Jesus shows the disciples his wounds from the Crucifixion: "He showed them his hands and his side" (20:20). This is all it takes to restore these disciples' hope in Jesus. "Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord" (20:20).

Next, Jesus commissions the disciples to continue his work in the world, "As the Father has sent me, so I send you" (20:21). Jesus ends the commissioning by breathing on them as God the Creator did at the creation of the world in Genesis 2:7. As a permanent gift, Jesus gives the disciples the Holy Spirit with further instructions: "If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained" (20:23). (See the Catholic Connections article in The Catholic Youth Bible® near John 20:21-23 regarding the Sacrament of Reconciliation.)

On the first day of the next week, Sunday, Jesus again appears to the disciples. This time Thomas, who was absent the week before, is also there. When the disciples told Thomas about the earlier appearance of Jesus, he responded with conditional faith, "Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe" (20:25). Thomas sets conditions on believing that the crucified Jesus now has risen. We do not see him deny the possibility of resurrection. Yet Thomas insists that he has requirements that the risen body of Jesus must fulfill in order for him to believe. Jesus again greets them: "Peace be with you" (20:26). Without delay he invites Thomas to put his finger in the wounds in his hands and to put his hand in his side. Jesus offers to meet Thomas's conditions but also challenges him to reach beyond his conditional faith. While Jesus is presenting his wounds to Thomas for him to probe, he speaks these words, "Do not doubt but believe" (20:27). Thomas answers with a profound statement of faith, "My Lord and my God!" (20:28). Thomas discovers that the risen Jesus is the crucified Jesus. Then Jesus makes this final statement, "Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe" (20:29).

John concludes chapter 20 by talking about his purpose for writing this Gospel. What we read in verses 30 and 31 relates directly to what is written in the first chapter. John's Gospel comes full circle and ends where it began. John wants to make clear to his readers the true identity of Jesus: "that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God" (20:31), and that fullness of life comes through believing in Jesus the Christ.

Tradition Connection
Jesus' Resurrection is significant because it confirms that Jesus is the Son of God; all his teachings are true, and new life comes forth from death. Because we now know that there is life after death, the suffering and pain we endure in this life are tolerable because something far better is yet to come. Peter writes: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead" (1 Peter 1:3).

Jesus' Resurrection was not a return to an earthly existence. Rather, it was a transformation to a reality that no longer held human limitations. "Christ's Resurrection was not a return to earthly life, as was the case with the raisings from the dead that he had performed before Easter: Jairus' daughter, the young man of Naim, Lazarus. . . . At some particular moment they would die again. Christ's Resurrection is essentially different. In his risen body he passes from the state of death to another life beyond time and space. At Jesus' Resurrection his body is filled with the power of the Holy Spirit: he shares the divine life in his glorious state" (Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 646).

Jesus' Resurrection is a mystery we come to believe in because of the empty tomb and the witness of the disciples who encountered the risen Jesus. No one was an eyewitness to Christ's Resurrection and no evangelist describes it. No one can say how it came about physically. Still less was its innermost essence, his passing over to another life, perceptible to the senses. Although the Resurrection was a historical event that could be verified by the sign of the empty tomb and by the reality of the apostles' encounters with the risen Christ, still it remains at the very heart of the mystery of faith as something that transcends and surpasses history. This is why the risen Christ does not reveal himself to the world, but to his disciples, "to those who came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are now his witnesses to the people" 1 (Catechism, paragraph 647).

The mystery of the Resurrection of Jesus continues to be the source of hope for the Christian community today.

Wisdom Connection
Jesus' appearance in the midst of the disciples on that first Easter Sunday renewed their hope. Just three days earlier their hopes had been shattered when Jesus had died on the cross. Now in seeing the wounds in Jesus' hands and side they know that the risen Jesus is the same person as the crucified Jesus. Seeing the risen Jesus strengthens their faith. Thomas, however, wants tangible proof that this is indeed the same Jesus and that the other disciples had not been deceived by their own eyes. In Greek, the word used for putting his finger in the nail wounds and putting his hand into Jesus' side is "balo." It carries the action of thrusting his finger and hand into the wound. Such a vivid and forceful action definitely proves that the risen Jesus and the crucified Jesus are the same person.

John gives us a second model of coming to believe in Christ. Last Sunday the beloved disciple, John, experienced the empty tomb and believed. This Sunday Thomas seeks empirical evidence so he can believe. How one comes to believe in Jesus is not important, what Jesus stresses is, "Do not doubt but believe" (20:27). Jesus challenges us not to persist in our unbelief. Rather, we must simply believe! John concludes with a statement that sounds like a beatitude: "Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe" (20:29).

The early Christian community to whom John is writing, and indeed all Christian communities, are called to proclaim their belief in Jesus as the Messiah based upon the faith Tradition of the Church. We have not encountered the risen Jesus as the disciples did, nor have we placed our finger and hand in the risen Jesus' wounds. But we are all called to believe because of the witness of the first disciples. Today we trust and have faith in the first Christian community's witness of Easter. Are we able to make the same profession of faith as Thomas in recognizing the true identity of Jesus, "My Lord and my God!" (20:28)?

Acknowledgments
The scriptural quotations contained herein are from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, Catholic Edition. Copyright © 1993 and 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. All rights reserved.

The quotations labeled Catechism are from the English translation of the Catechism of the Catholic Church for use in the United States of America. Copyright © 1994 by the United States Catholic Conference, Inc.--Libreria Editrice Vaticana. Used with permission.

Endnotes cited in quotations from the Catechism of the Catholic Church

1. Acts 13:31; cf. John 14:22.

The Third Sunday of Easter
May 4, 2014
Luke 24:13-35

Opening Prayer

Jesus, our hearts burn within us when we celebrate the Eucharist because we recognize you in the breaking of the bread. Renew our commitment to regularly celebrate the Eucharist, for it is in the word and the meal that we encounter you. Amen.

Context Connection
This Sunday's Gospel continues to recount the events of the first Easter Sunday. Luke preserves the account of two disciples returning to Emmaus from Jerusalem after celebrating the Passover feast. Before they left Jerusalem, they heard that the women discovered the open tomb and that Peter reported the tomb was empty. As they talk about these things that happened over the past three days, Jesus draws near to them, but they do not recognize him. When Jesus asks, "What are you discussing with each other while you walk along?" (24:17), they can only stand there looking sad. Finally Cleopas, one of the disciples, says to Jesus, "Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have taken place there in these days?" (24:18). Jesus responds as if he has no knowledge of the events: "What things?" (24:19). Then the disciples share with the stranger, "The things about Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how our chief priests and leaders handed him over to be condemned to death and crucified him" (24:19-20). The two disciples share their hope that this Jesus would have been a political messiah that would have freed Israel. They also mention the morning's discovery that the body of Jesus was not in the tomb where it was buried on Friday. The three of them continue walking and talking. The stranger helps the two disciples understand how the Hebrew Scriptures foretold of the suffering and death of the Messiah.

When they draw near to Emmaus, Jesus continues to walk, but the two disciples invite him to join them for the night. At the dinner table, in the blessing and breaking of the bread, they come to understand the true identity of the stranger: "Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him; and he vanished from their sight" (24:31). They immediately reflect on their encounter with the risen Jesus: "Were not our hearts burning within us?" (24:32). They begin to realize that it was the risen Jesus they experienced and that he caused their hearts to burn within them. Luke wants his readers to know that the experience of the risen Jesus that the two disciples had is available to everyone in the church through the Eucharist and the reading of Scripture.

The two disciples return to Jerusalem to the eleven Apostles and their companions. This group shares with the two disciples that "The Lord has risen indeed, and he has appeared to Simon!" (24:34). In turn, the two disciples share that they experienced the risen Jesus "in the breaking of the bread" (24:35).

Tradition Connection
"Oh, how foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have declared! Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and then enter into his glory? Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures" (24:25-27). Jesus helps us understand the importance of the Old Testament in the plan of salvation set forth by God the Father. It is the Old Testament that points to Jesus as the long-awaited Messiah that brings salvation to the world. The New Testament helps us to live in keeping with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

"The Old Testament is an indispensable part of Sacred Scripture. Its books are divinely inspired and retain a permanent value,1 for the Old Covenant has never been revoked" (Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 121). Christians value the Old Testament just as Jesus valued it. He used it to instruct the two disciples on the way to Emmaus and give them a perspective on his Passion and death. The New Testament is a continuation of the record of God's direct intervention into salvation history. Therefore Christians revere the whole of Scripture: "Christians venerate the Old Testament as true Word of God. The Church has always vigorously opposed the idea of rejecting the Old Testament under the pretext that the New has rendered it void" (Catechism, paragraph 123). Within liturgy we give testimony to the Old Testament's importance by using readings from it: "The books of the Old Testament bear witness to the whole divine pedagogy of God's saving love: these writings 'are a storehouse of sublime teaching on God and of sound wisdom on human life, as well as a wonderful treasury of prayers [an example would be the Psalms]; in them, too, the mystery of our salvation is present in a hidden way"2 (Catechism, paragraph 122).

Wisdom Connection
"Were not our hearts burning within us?" (24:32). For the two disciples the experience of the risen Lord could not be contained within themselves. They needed to share it and proclaim what they had come to know as the truth about Jesus of Nazareth. By the time they returned to Jerusalem to tell the eleven Apostles about their encounter, the good news was already known. The unique part of the two disciples' account is their recognition of Jesus "in the breaking of the bread" (24:35). Luke emphasizes this point because it is the way future generations will come to know Jesus. He will be known in the Church's celebration of the Eucharist. The two parts of our Eucharistic celebration are the Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the Eucharist. In the Eucharistic Liturgy, Jesus makes himself known through both the Scriptures and the Sacrament of Eucharist. It is in the Eucharist that we experience the real and wholesome presence of Jesus Christ.

Acknowledgments
The scriptural quotations contained herein are from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, Catholic Edition. Copyright © 1993 and 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. All rights reserved.

The quotations labeled Catechism are from the English translation of the Catechism of the Catholic Church for use in the United States of America. Copyright © 1994 by the United States Catholic Conference, Inc.--Libreria Editrice Vaticana. Used with permission.

Endnotes cited in quotations from the Catechism of the Catholic Church

1. Cf. Dei Verbum 14.
2. Dei Verbum 15.

This year, on the Second Sunday of Easter (Divine Mercy Sunday), Pope John XXIII and Pope John Paul II will be canonized as saints! The liturgy will begin at 10 a.m. in Saint Peter’s Square in Rome. If you go to the Vatican Web site, you will find a calendar page with all the information there. (http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/francesco/calendar/papa-francesco_calendario_en.html).

Links are provided there to the beatification addresses (Pope John Paul II beatified Pope John XXIII in the year 2000, and Pope Benedict XVI beatified Pope John Paul II on May 1, 2011).

There is also a link to the canonization booklet, in Italian, English, Spanish, and Polish.

If you go to the Saint Mary’s Press Resource Center at https://www.smp.org/resourcecenter/ and scroll down toward the bottom, you will find two articles in the "Top 10 Articles" column, one about Blessed Pope John Paul II and the other about Blessed Pope John XXIII. On the page with Pope John XXIII’s article, you will find links to videos highlighting the life of Pope John Paul II.

When we think of the history of the Church, and especially the history of the papacy, we can feel blessed to have been led, in the 20th century, by saints. May they continue to intercede for the Church here on earth, the Church they served with their whole hearts.