The risen Lord stayed with His apostles for 40 days after Easter before ascending into heaven and as per Church traditions 10 days later the Holy Spirit descended upon the apostles gathered around in the upper room. During these 40 days, He taught & shared more of the eternal mysteries about Himself and the salvation through Him. I think those 40 days with the risen Lord must have given them a lot of hope, conviction about following him and must have done wonders to their faith. The season, which is also known as the Paschal season, ends on the 50th day with the feast of the Pentecost. It is in the season (as also some other special occasions as baptisms etc.) the big candle which was newly (freshly) lit on Easter night vigil mass is lit during all masses till the feast of Ascension. The candle known as Paschal candle symbolises the presence of Christ as the Light of the world post His resurrection. Of all the seasons in the Church calender this is my favourite season as the thought of the risen Lord creates a lot of excitement and hope in my heart and also because of the deep meaning in the beautiful readings selected for this season by the Church.
Today's first reading is taken from Acts 2: 14,22-32 .It's taken from the part just immediately after the Pentecost and once again it's our old friend Peter. But no longer is he the impetuous and scared Peter who denied the Lord 3 times. This is the new Peter. He has witnessed the greatest miracle of seeing the Lord, His master come back from the dead. he had seen His master being crucified and buried and then the risen Lord encountered Him and revealed Himself to him. Nothing can make Him deny Jesus anymore. Once you taste the Lord, and know that he is the pearl of great price, nothing else in this world looks lucrative, attractive enough. It was as if he himself has been resurrected from the dead. Though he is surrounded by the same people who put the Lord to death, the fear of death no longer has any power of him. Our Peter has gone through his conversion. It's so beautifully in line with the Gospel passage of the day viz, Matt 28:8-15 , where Jesus tells them not to be afraid and to go to Galilee, where they will see Him.
In this passage from Acts Peter explains to the Jews gathered around, in no mean terms, about the revelation of God in Christ. That the man whom they crucified and buried was the same man who raised up again by the power of God and this very man was God incarnate, the messiah whom they had been waiting since the time of David and even before. How the Jews , Romans and everyone else had missed the plot completely. That Jesus is the real deals. This passage showing Peter in his post resurrection 'version' is a great place to start the Easter season leading upto Pentecost, when we will return to the same place again after 50 days.
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