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  • Writer's pictureImmersed in Christ
    • Apr 6

Easter Saturday

by Fr. David M. Knight


April 6, 2024

Saturday within the Octave of Easter

Lectionary No. 266

Acts 4:13-21/Mk 16:9-15


The Responsorial Psalm gives us one source of the assurance we need to have if we are going to stand up as prophets in spite of rejection and opposition: “I will give thanks to you, for you have answered me” (Psalm 118).


The whole Psalm is a hymn of confidence based on the experience of calling on God and being rescued. What gives confidence to prophets is the experience of following inspirations that were proven — by their fruits, usually — to have been true.


Acts 4: 13-21 shows us Peter and John standing up to the highest authorities in Israel, daring them to tell them whether “it is right in the sight of God for us to obey you rather than God.”


This is a scary position to take. The Jewish authorities were established by God. It was a religious duty to obey them, and the only justification for disobedience would be an assurance that their command was contrary to God’s. The Apostles had this assurance, based on a conviction that Jesus had sent them to proclaim the Good News (Matthew 10:7; 28: 18-20): “It is impossible for us not to speak about what we have seen and heard.” Where does our assurance come from?


In Mark 16: 9-15 we see Christ’s messengers being rejected by the highest authorities in Christ’s own Church. He sent Mary Magdalen to the Apostles, “but when they heard that he was alive and had been seen by her, they would not believe it.” He sent the two he had joined on the road to Emmaus, “but they did not believe them” either. But God vindicated them. Jesus “appeared to the Eleven themselves as they were sitting at the table; and he upbraided them for their lack of faith and stubbornness, because they had not believed those who saw him after he had risen.” (Add Galatians 2: 1-14).


If the Apostles themselves would not believe the eyewitnesses Jesus sent to them, should we be surprised if Church authorities are slow to accept the insights of the prophets in the Church today? Prophets must expect rejection and even hostility as normal. They must be prepared to accept this with peaceful and loving hearts. They don’t have to prove they are right; God will do that. He does it especially by confirming with peace in their hearts the truth they live out in action. “I will give thanks to you, for you have answered me.” Prophets simply have to proclaim the truth with peace — and live it peacefully themselves.


Initiative: Be a prophet. Combine courage with love. Be ready to accept rejection and hostility — even from authorities — without withdrawing faith, loyalty or love. When you take a stance that is radical, look for the confirmation of interior peace.


Reflections brought to you by the Immersed in Christ Ministry




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  • Writer's pictureImmersed in Christ
    • Apr 5

Easter Friday

by Fr. David M. Knight


Friday, April 5, 2024

Friday within the Octave of Easter

Lectionary No. 265

Acts 4:1-12/Jn 21:1-14


The Responsorial Psalm gives us the key to Christian living: “The stone rejected by the builders has become the corner- stone” (Psalm 118).


Our life must be built on interacting with Jesus, consulting his mind, responding to his inspirations, relying on his strength. The cornerstone of Christian life is constant interaction with the living person of Jesus, who is with us and within us.


Acts 4: 1-12 contrasts Israel’s “leaders, elders and scribes… and all who were of the high-priestly caste” with the disciples of Jesus. For the authorities and recognized leaders in Israel, Jesus was “the stone rejected by the builders.” But for those who believe, he “has become the cornerstone” — of the Church, of life, and of that “life to the full” which is salvation. “There is no salvation through anyone [or anything] else.” If we want to “have life and have it to the full” (John 10:10), we have to deal with Jesus.


What other options are there?


The most common wrong choice for religious people is to build their lives and base their security on keeping God’s laws. But those who do this do not build their lives on God’s deepest, most fundamental and all-embracing laws — such as “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might,” “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (changed by Jesus to “Love one another just as I have loved you,” and “The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among you; you shall love the alien as yourself.”1 These are all general principles that, instead of spelling out precisely what we should do, require us to think. But many prefer to focus on concrete rules, usually of minor (although real) importance, and to obey them rigidly, refusing the challenge of personal interpretation and prophetic application to particular situations. This is called legalism. It was the religion of the Pharisees and the “chief priests,” who rejected Jesus because he was summoning them to interact with the living God. The prophets are those who try to apply rules and principles to concrete circumstances according to the mind of God — by consulting the Spirit of Jesus within them.


John 21: 1-14 gives us a guideline for discerning whether an inspiration is from God. When they followed the voice from the shore and their nets were filled, John said, “It is the Lord!” The sign it was Jesus was the fruit his instructions bore.


We should ask if the choices we make are life-giving. Life is a sign of God.


1Deuteronomy 6:5; John 13:34); and Leviticus 19: 18, 34.


Initiative: Be a prophet. Focus on the living Jesus, not on the dead letter of law.


Reflections brought to you by the Immersed in Christ Ministry




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  • Writer's pictureImmersed in Christ
    • Apr 4

Easter Thursday

by Fr. David M. Knight


April 4, 2024

Thursday within the Octave of Easter

Lectionary No. 264

Acts 3:11-26/Lk 24:35-48


The Responsorial Psalm is our response of faith to Jesus’ death and resurrection: “O Lord, our God, how wonderful your name in all the earth!” (Psalm 8).


The theme of Acts 3: 11-26 is that through the resurrection of Jesus — as made manifest in the Church, his risen body on earth today — God “has glorified his servant Jesus” and made clear to all that he “has thus brought to fulfillment what he had announced beforehand through the mouth of all the prophets.”


God’s promise to Abraham was, “In your offspring all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” This was not the blessing of prosperity through political justice and peace. Jesus did not come to achieve political reforms. He came, not to change the environment, but to change people who would change the environment. He came to establish peace and justice on earth, but indirectly, by first establishing the peace of justice and love in human hearts. Then in and through those hu- mans, his own risen body, he would work “until the time of universal restoration that God announced long ago through his holy prophets.” The blessing Jesus gives is conversion and transformation of heart: “God raised up his servant and sent him to bless you by turning each of you from your evil ways.” This is how God chooses to “renew the face of the earth.”


What God promised through the prophets of old he will bring about through the prophets of today — through those who apply his teaching and principles creatively to current reality. The true mission of the prophets is not to predict the future but to create it by living it out in preview. The lifestyle and behavior of the prophetic Church should make the whole world cry out in admiration: “O Lord, our God, how wonderful your name in all the earth!"


Luke 24: 35 to 48 makes the point that the risen Jesus is only revealed in flesh and blood. Jesus said, “Look at my hands and my feet…. Touch me and see that a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you can see I have.” And he “ate in front of them.”


The role of the Church is to give the risen Jesus visible “flesh and bones.” We who live and work and eat and drink with others must do it in such a way that we reveal the presence of the living Jesus in us. Our witness is in what we embody. If in our actions we “give flesh” to the words of Jesus, then indeed we are “witnesses of these things” and the world will cry out, “O Lord, our God, how wonderful your name in all the earth!”


Initiative: Be a prophet. Embody the Good News in your lifestyle: in your words, actions and choices; in what you buy, use and produce; in your profits and losses.


Reflections brought to you by the Immersed in Christ Ministry




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