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Sunday Soundbites

Sunday Soundbites is a weekly, 90-second radio homily based on the Sunday readings, written and read by Fr. Greg Friedman, O.F.M. Sunday Soundbites is also heard on Catholic radio stations around the country.

Program for Sunday, April 22, 2012
(Third Sunday of Easter)

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Sunday Soundbites Archive

Transcript

Hello, I’m Father Greg Friedman, with the Sunday Soundbite for the Third Sunday of Easter. When new employees join a company, it’s common to have an orientation to bring new people “on board.” A new employee needs to understand both the past and the future history of the company. How can they connect with what’s gone before? How can they be part of the company’s mission for the future?

In today’s Gospel, Jesus conducts a kind of “Christian orientation” for his startled and frightened disciples—most of whom are encountering him for the first time as the risen Lord. He first reassures them that he—Jesus—is the one they knew before the crucifixion. But there have been a few changes! He’s not a ghost, he is truly alive. And he shares a meal with his friends to prove it.

But they have their doubts anyway—perhaps some of the same doubts shared by Luke’s communities years later: How could Jesus be the promised Messiah, and have suffered the terrible death by crucifixion?

And so Jesus patiently interprets the Hebrew Scriptures to explain his mission as God’s “Suffering Servant.”

But the past is only preparation for the future! The message of Good News must be preached to the ends of the earth. The disciples are now his witnesses, commissioned to carry his message to the world. And so are we who gather at our Easter Eucharist with the Risen Lord today!

I’m Father Greg Friedman with the Sunday Soundbite for St. Anthony Messenger Press, on the web at FranciscanRadio.org.

Meet Father Greg Friedman

Franciscan Father Greg Friedman, O.F.M., is creative director with the Media Production Team at Franciscan Media. He also hosts American Catholic Radio each week, and produces videos for www.AmericanCatholic.org, including the "Two-Minute Take." Father Greg wrote and directed Assisi Pilgrimage: Walking in Faith with Francis and Clare, which appeared on ABC-TV stations nationwide. He also produced the popular faith-formation series Catholic Update Video, used in parishes around the U.S. He currently serves as pastor of St. Francis Seraph Parish, located in the inner-city neighborhood of "Over-the-Rhine" in Cincinnati, Ohio. You can contact him at letters@franciscanradio.org.

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