1st Reading – Acts 3:13-15, 17-19
Peter and John have gone to the Temple to pray. They encounter a man crippled from birth who begs daily at the Temple gate called “beautiful.” Instead of giving the man money, Peter heals him. Upon seeing the healed man, whom the crowds recognize, a crowd gathers around them at Solomon’s porch (the eastern side of the Temple enclosure). When Peter saw the crowd he addressed them “Men of Israel, why does this surprise you? Why do you stare at us as if by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk?”
2nd Reading – 1 John 2:1-5a
Continuing with the theme of repentance and re-ordering our lives which we have heard in the first reading, we now hear John the Apostle tell us how this is done.
Gospel – Luke 24:35-48
The time is that first Easter Sunday. Jesus’ tomb has been found to be empty by the women who took spices there to prepare His body (our Easter Vigil gospel reading). The women reported this fact to those who were awaiting them (presumably in the Upper Room) but they were not believed except by Peter who went to the tomb to verify their
report. What we hear as our gospel reading is the second resurrection appearance in the Gospel of Luke – the first having occurred to the two disciples who were on the road to Emmaus (about seven miles from Jerusalem).
