The Sunday following Easter Sunday has been traditionally called "Dominica in albis" because it was the Sunday when the newly baptized celebrated their one-year anniversary. It is a special day for the those "in albis" (in white robes) who are depicted in John's Apocalypse as the 144,000 who follow the Lamb wherever he goes. The Johanine resurrection account about the eighth day was especially meant for them, and us, who wonder whether the apostles had it better because they saw the Lord. Read the article entitled Belief and Unbelief and My Lord and My God and reflect on the following...
1. The appearance of the Risen Lord to his disciples on the first day of the week continues until now: "Where two or three are gathered in My Name, I am there in their midst." He stands in the midst of His Church (cf. Psalm 22:23, LXX). Absence from that assembly occasssions failure in knowing the Lord as in the case of Thomas.
What will you do to make the Sunday assembly of the baptized to be an important day of the week for you and your family?
2. The marks of the Lord's death on the cross are also the marks that identify Him as the Risen Christ. Even St. Paul includes them as an essential element of His gospel. He writes: "Before you has been proclaimed Christ as the Crucified" (Gal. 3:1)
The crucifix is a symbol that the Church has used to constantly remind itself of the wounds of Her Lord. But it is a symbol that has been trivialized.
How do you see the crucifix as a symbol of the Risen Lord and of the salvation that was won through the Paschal mystery?
3. The ministry of reconciliation and forgiveness of sins has been given to the apostles and their successors. This mission is carried out in a particular way through the sacrament of penance and reconciliation. In the light of John's resurrection narrative, this sacrament takes on a special coloring: it is a gift that is given to the Church as a means for applying to each individual the benefits of Christ's sacrifice on the cross as the Lamb of God.1
What importance do you give to the Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation? How do you halp others deepen their appreciation for it?
1 The connection of the title "Lamb of God" to the Resurrection is captured by the liturgy in the Preface I for Easter:
He is the true Lamb who took away the sins of the world.
By dying he destroyed our death, by rising he restored our life.
