The question you must ask yourself is: "do I really believe Jesus rose from the dead on Easter Sunday?" The Apostle Thomas, at first, did not believe that Christ rose. The disciples said to him: "We have seen the Lord." But Thomas said in reply: "Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger into the nailmarks and put my hands into his side, I will not believe" (Jn 20, 25). 

In my experience, I havn't encountered many young people who think like Thomas. The vast majority of young people I teach believe quite readily that Jesus is the Christ and that he did indeed rise from the dead. And so if you are one of those who firmly believe, count yourself blessed, like Peter. 

When Peter made his profession of faith that Jesus is the Christ, Jesus said to him: "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father" (Mt 16, 17). 

You see, faith is a gift that a person cannot earn, nor can a person bring himself to believe. It is a free gift from God, and it is a great mystery why some have it and others do not. So consider yourself blessed and cherish your faith. Nourish it, pray for more faith, and pray for the gift of final perseverance.

After seeing the risen Jesus one week later, Thomas said to him: "My Lord and my God!" Jesus then said to him, "Have you come to believe because you have seen me? 

Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed" (Jn 20, 28-29). You are the ones Jesus refers to as blessed for believing without having seen.

So do not fall into the temptation of trying to figure out when the world will end, and do not listen to those who believe they have determined the time of the world's end through the Scriptures. We are not to concern ourselves with "the times or seasons". Our task is to witness to the risen Christ while there is time left, to proclaim what he has done for us.

The disciples must be feeling certain loneliness at this time. For they spent forty days with Jesus after his resurrection, and now he is gone to the Father. And it is true that you too, if you stand up for Christ and live your life in him, will come to know loneliness soon enough. All I can say is that you will find Christ within that loneliness if you listen for him. And remember what he told his Apostles: "Wait for the promise of the Father." Jesus does not simply leave us alone to continue his work on our own strength. No, he empowers us well beyond our human capabilities, and he promises us that we will do even greater things than he: "Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes in me will do the works that I do, and will do greater ones than these, because I am going to the Father. And whatever you ask in my name, I will do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything of me in my name, I will do it" (Jn 14, 12-14).

How can this be, you ask? The next mystery will provide the answer.

Let us pray

The Holy Spirit descends upon the Apostles. From the sky there came a noise like a powerful driving wind, and the sound filled the entire house in which they were. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they began to speak in different tongues. In Jerusalem at that time there were Jews from every nation in the world. They were astounded to hear these poor, uneducated Galileans speaking a language they never learned before, the language of their own nation. Some wondered what it all meant, others said that they are drunk on new wine.

Then Peter stood up and delivered a powerful speech that cut to the heart of all who listened. Three thousand people were converted and baptised that day. Remember, this is the same Peter who denied Christ three times. Notice the change that has come over him. He is filled with supernatural courage and wisdom. Peter said: "Repent and be baptised, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." Peter then exhorted them saying: "Save yourselves from this corrupt generation".

I believe young people today have it tougher than any other era of teenagers ever had it in the twentieth century. It is very difficult for a teenager to be a practising Catholic today. Teenagers are continually bombarded with messages in the various media that are totally at odds with the teachings of Christ and his Church.

But you have the power to "save yourself from this corrupt generation", the generation of leaders who make it difficult for you to follow Jesus today. You have been confirmed, strengthened, that is, sealed with the Holy Spirit. Pray that the Holy Spirit may be fully released in you. You were baptised not just with water, but with the Holy Spirit, and you have received many gifts of the Holy Spirit as well. Pray that those gifts may emerge in your life and that you may begin to use them for the building up of Christ's body, the Church. And when Peter speaks, listen to him and obey him, that is, his successor the Pope.

Let us pray: 

Why did Jesus preserve his mother from the stain of Original Sin? And why did he preserve her body from destruction after death? Simply because the fourth commandment tells us: "Honour your father and mother". To honour, in Hebrew, is to `bestow glory upon'. Jesus was faithful to the commandments and so he bestowed glory upon his mother. He preserved her from Original Sin and filled her with grace. We know that Christ filled her with glory right from the beginning because the angel addressed her as "full of grace", and Mary herself said, "all ages will call me blessed" (Lk 1, 48). Because she was preserved from Original Sin, she was preserved from its consequences, namely death, the kind of death that is the tragic and lonely destruction of the human self. She is blessed, and all the graces we receive come to us through Mary. And so all of you who believe that Mary is your mother and have a devotion to her are also blessed. For there is ultimately only one reason why she is so full of grace, and that is to bless you with a sharing in the fullness of her graces.

St. Joachima Vedruna de Mas says: "My daughters! Rejoice and be glad to have the Blessed Virgin for your Mother. Serve her with great joy, for she well deserves it. Go to her in all your straits and you will always come out successfully.

Bathsheba was the Queen Mother (Hebrew: Gebiyrah) of King Solomon. And every king in Israel from the beginning of the monarchy to the end will have his Queen Mother who will receive homage from the king and will sit enthroned on his right.

Now Jesus is the true son of David, the fulfilment of God's promise to David: "I will raise up your heir after you, sprung from you loins, and I will make his kingdom firm. It is he who shall build a house for my name. And I will make his royal throne firm forever. I will be a father to him, and he shall be a son to me...Your house and your kingdom shall endure forever before me" (2 S 7, 12-16). Since Jesus is the king of Israel and the true son of David, he too must have his Queen Mother, and just as Solomon paid his Queen Mother homage in fulfilment of the commandment to honour (glorify) one's mother, so does Jesus pay his Queen Mother homage and enthrone her at his right.

We can have more confidence than Adonijah who believed that the king would not refuse his mother anything. Jesus will never refuse his mother's request, so call on Mary and have confidence in her intercession.

The book of Revelation describes a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. Mary is that crowned Queen, the Queen of the twelve Apostles. And so she is the Queen of the new Israel, the Church. Other titles in the Litany of the Blessed Virgin are "Queen of Mercy" and "Queen of Peace". If you seek mercy and peace, approach her throne with confidence. She is the Queen of Angels and the Queen of all Saints. She is the Queen of Heaven and the Queen of the Universe. If Jesus has entrusted her with total authority, should we not also begin to place our total confidence in her?
 

St. Bernard of Clairvaux 

Let Us Pray   O God, whose only begotten Son, by His life, death, and resurrection has purchased for us the rewards of eternal life, grant, we beseech Thee, that meditating upon these mysteries in the most Holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary, we may imitate what they contain, and obtain what they promise: through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.