God, you gave us everything that is good, help us to appreciate your gifts of this world.
When you put us to our tests, help us to respond consistently to your will. When you fulfill our prayers, let us sing gloriously to you in praise and thanksgiving.
Though the mountains leave their place, and the hills be shaken, your love never leaves us. Give us the faith to seek you where you are found and the fortitude to call you when you are near, which is always.
God, you challenge us because your thoughts are not of our world nor are your ways easy to follow. Send your Mother and a cloud of witnesses to help us walk in your ways and answer your challenge with a confident, “Here I am!”
Help me to understand what to do with the new heart and new spirit that you have placed within me. Help me to live by your rules and fulfill my part of the covenant with you.
Today, new Christians come into your Church. Help me realize that we are all baptized into Christ Jesus and his death. Help us be dead to sin and live for God in Christ Jesus.
When we truly live for God faithfully, we will no longer worry about “Who will roll back the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?” We know you will do that for us. However, now we are your body on earth, show us the stones that you want us to roll back for others.
Give to us an encounter with your Risen Son. Amen.
Study
The Salvation Story is laid out before us in tonight’s Vigil Mass. Help us to understand and respond as true seekers: http://www.usccb.org/nab/041506.shtml
The angel promises that, “You will see him.” After hearing the salvation story from Genesis to the Good News, how will you respond? Where do you see Jesus?
Will you respond like Mary Magdalene and the women of the community who sought to anoint the body of Jesus Christ? As they sought him out, he came to them. They worried about earthly concerns. Who will roll away the stone? Instead, they found the stone moved for them. They sought to serve God. And God answered their prayers and concerns.
Today, when we get to the tomb and the tomb is empty. How will you react to this news? Do you think they have stolen the body of the Lord? Are you ready to “seek the Lord where he may be found?” If so, stop looking in the empty tomb…start looking in your heart and in the people around you.
God’s ways are not our ways but are above our ways. Are you really ready to follow his God’s laws? Do you understand that God goes before you always? If you are driving to work on the Beltway, those cars ahead of you are filled with God.
If you are in line in the Church parking lot trying to get home, God is ahead of you.
If you are waiting for that promotion that never comes, God gets it before you.
If you are waiting to get the highest grade on a test, God gets one even better.
But, when you face illness, God has the bed next to you.
When you fear for the future, God has experienced that first.
God truly has been our prayer partner this Lenten season. It was God, through his son Jesus who helped us carry our cross.
Now in the Resurrection, as we go forth from the empty tomb, let us make Jesus and Mary our “acompañante” our companion on this journey for we can not face the tests alone. They don’t want us to. They want to be with us when we seek their help.
Action
As God’s gifts and covenant are established for us, how will we fulfill our end of the bargain?
Again we are confronted by the possible use of the death penalty in just over 10 days. Will you help to stop the execution of Dexter Lee Vinson? The Virginia Catholic Conference provides a way to contact Governor Tim Kaine, a Catholic, to remind him of his response-ability.
What other stones do you need to roll away with God? What other empty tombs do you encounter?
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