No Yeast Required

“ I am the resurrection and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. And whoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.”

First Reading: Acts 10:34, 37-43

Then Peter proceeded to speak and said,  "In truth, I see that God shows no partiality. What has happened all over Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached, how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the holy Spirit and power. He went about doing good and healing all those oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. We are witnesses  of all that he did both in the country of the Jews and (in) Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree. This man God raised (on) the third day and granted that he be visible, not to all the people, but to us, the witnesses chosen by God in advance, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. He commissioned us to preach to the people and testify that he is the one appointed by God as judge of the living and the dead.  To him all the prophets bear witness, that everyone who believes in him will receive forgiveness of sins through his name."

Resp. Psalm: Psalms 118:1-2, 16-17, 22-23

Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 5:6-8

You must know how even a small amount of yeast is enough to leaven all the dough, so get rid of all the old yeast, and make yourselves into a completely new batch of bread, unleavened as you are meant to be. Christ, our passover, has been sacrificed; let us celebrate the feast, then, by getting rid of all the old yeast of evil and wickedness, having only the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

Gospel: John 20:1-9

On the first day of the week, Mary of Magdala came to the tomb early in the morning, while it was still dark, and saw the stone removed from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and told them, "They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we don't know where they put him." So Peter and the other disciple went out and came to the tomb. They both ran, but the other disciple ran faster than Peter and arrived at the tomb first; he bent down and saw the burial cloths there, but did not go in. When Simon Peter arrived after him, he went into the tomb and saw the burial cloths  there, and the cloth that had covered his head, not with the burial cloths but rolled up in a separate place. Then the other disciple also went in, the one who had arrived at the tomb first, and he saw and believed. For they did not yet understand the scripture that he had to rise from the dead.

Reflection
By Pietro S. Albano

"Christ, our passover, has been sacrificed; let us celebrate the feast, then, by getting rid of all the old yeast of evil and wickedness, having only the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth."

Yeast has, for thousands of years, been used in the production of bread and alcoholic beverages.  It converts carbohydrates into carbon dioxide and alcohols. Carbon dioxide is the gas that, when released, makes our ordinary dough 'grow'.

Apart from the taste, what attracts us most of the time to any bread or pastry is their size. Sometimes though, our expectation isn't met.  "Puro hangin lang," (It's all empty air.) we would lament of what we bought from the shop.

There are moments when our lives too are just full of air - no substance and therefore no life.  We may be rich with material things, but we may still be poor in God's sight. We may be able to buy anything in this world, but of what use will it be if the money came from something illegal or immoral? We may be knowledgeable, well versed in many things including the Bible, but don't know how to practice what we know. Puro hangin lang!

At times, we can get blinded by our madness for power, wealth, prestige, etc. so much so that we start to look down on others. Our heads swell, but our hearts become little. In the end, others would call us Mahangin (boastful).

As we celebrate the Lord's Resurrection, let's get rid of being mahangin. We don't need yeast, let alone the yeast of evil that St Paul tells us. What we need is Jesus! End of story!

And if we have Jesus, I'm sure we'll become a people of substance who will speak the truth in love (Eph 4:15).  

Happy Easter!

Prayer

Lord Jesus, You have risen from the dead in fulfillment of the Father's will.  You have defeated death, You have conquered sin and evil.  Strengthen us in our baptismal promises to weed out the wickedness and hypocrisy in our heart so as to prove the others our belief in You.  May Mary, our Mother, intercede for us. Amen.