[00:00] In the reading from the Acts of the Apostles that we heard read today, St. Peter outlines exactly what it is that we're rejoicing over. And I'll just get my glasses so I can see all of your faces. I can't read with my glasses, I can't read, but I can see everyone. St. Peter is speaking to the crowd and he says to them,

[00:34] "Repent and be baptized, 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." The gift of the Holy Spirit is the very life of God. The people of Israel were the chosen people, but they still needed to receive that gift, which was the reward for the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is the indwelling

[01:08] of the Holy Trinity. So the whole, everything that we, the mystery that we rejoice in is obviously the Resurrection of Jesus, but it is for a reason, because it's through the Resurrection that we finally are able to enter into the life of God, His life principle, like the soul of the soul, the theologians call it. So we have a soul when we're born in the natural life that helps us live, breathe, move, and exist, but we have a supernatural principle of life, which is called the soul of the soul,

[01:41] which is the very life of God, which we enter into through Baptism, and we continue to grow through acts of kindness, through charitable works, through receiving our Lord in the Eucharist, through Confession if we lose that life that's within us, through mortal sin, and many, many other tools that our Lord has given to us to grow, just as a babe would grow in grace. And St. Peter was exhorting the people.

[02:16] He realized their sinfulness, he realized their weaknesses, and he was offering them a remedy stemming directly from the Crucifixion, the burial, or the death, the burial, and the Resurrection of Jesus. And he testified with many other arguments than what he actually had said here or what was recorded. But one of the things that we have to really hone in on is when he says, "Save yourselves

[02:48] from this corrupt generation." He exhorts them, and then he tells them, "Save yourselves from this corrupt generation," because we all know what it's like to fall into sin, to not take it seriously, and realize that we actually have the power of God to be able to overcome any sin in our life. And St. Peter is telling them the remedy for everything that has been the problem in the

[03:18] salvation history since the beginning. The coming to our Lord, then falling away, coming to our Lord, then falling away. It was the history of the Hebrew people while our Lord was constantly faithful to the covenant and His promises, but they were constantly falling away and to the point where our Lord would call them an adulterous nation because they were constantly falling into idolatry, worshiping of false gods, and even worshiping of themselves and not relying on Him.

[03:50] So when St. Peter was saying, "Save yourselves from this corrupt generation," he was saying much the same words as the prophets did before him, but now he was offering them a remedy, the very life of God, the grace of God in their souls. And Mary Magdalene, still a babe in the spiritual life, when she saw our Lord in the garden weeping and not recognizing Him, our Lord asked, "Who are you looking for?"

[04:25] And she obviously, through the narrative, she didn't recognize Him, thought He was the gardener, and our Lord said her name and she instantly recognized Him. And all these people at the beginning of the Resurrection, the Apostles, Mary Magdalene, all the first disciples would grow in leaps and bounds. Why? Because of their love for our Lord. They would become the pillars of the Church, the martyrs of the Church, those who would

[04:58] hand on the faith to us, even 2,000 years later. And it's up to us to listen to the words of St. Peter, to rejoice in the Resurrection because we understand that we receive the life of God, and then it's up to us to grow in that faith and mature in that faith because we are to be the pillars for the next generation. We are the ones that are supposed to be handing on a firm foundation to those who will come

[05:29] after us, and we don't know how long that will be before our Lord comes again. So let us build our foundation on the grace of God, on the principles that St. Peter lays out before us, "save ourselves from this corrupt generation," grasp on to the life of God that He gives us through His cross, His death, His burial, and His Resurrection, and we will

[06:00] be able to support those who come after us, not just ourselves, but to think about others as well. So let us remember that we rejoice in the Resurrection of our Lord, and we're in the garden near the tomb with St. Mary Magdalene, but we have a long way to go yet before we're fully mature. We must work with the grace of God, and our Lord will allow us to grow in leaps and bounds,

[06:35] just as the early Christians did in their growth in the spiritual life, but always with that firm faith and trust in our Lord that if He has given us a mission and a purpose, He will also give us the grace to be able to fulfill that, and to overcome ourselves and win all the victories that He wants us to win in our lives.