Welcome to this online retreat. 

If you are following this on your own and not joining live, you will find the substance of the talks on this page for reflection.

Over the weeks of Eastertide we will follow closely the Stations of the Resurrection reflecting with the Gospels, with Art and from the Christian spiritual tradition.

We hope you will find it helpful so that these days of Eastertide may be spirit-filled, as we journey with the Disciples from the Empty Tomb to the Upper Room.

Fr Brendan

We are used to following the Stations of the Cross, the Via Crucis, but in more recent years there have developed another set of Stations to supplement and complete them - the Stations of the Resurrection, the Via Lucis. 

There is no definitive list, but this is close to the typical one. 

Via Lucis: Stations of the Resurrection

1. Jesus is raised from the dead (Matthew 28:1-10)

 2. The Discovery of the Empty Tomb (John 20:1-10)

 3. Mary Magdalene meets the risen Christ (John 20:11-18)

 4. The Risen Lord Appears on the Road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-27)

 5. Christ is Known at the Breaking of Bread (Luke 24:28-35)

 6. The Risen Lord Appears to His Disciples in Jerusalem (Luke 24:36-43)

 7. The Risen Lord Gives the Disciples the Power to Forgive Sins (John 20:19-23)

 8. The Risen Lord Strengthens the Faith of Thomas (John 20:24-29)

 9. The Risen Lord Appears by the Sea of Tiberias (John 21:1-14)

 10. The Questions to Peter (Primacy of Peter) (John 21:15-17, 19b)

 11. The Great Commission on the Mountain (Matthew 28:16-20)

12. The Ascension of Christ (Acts 1:6-12a)

13.  Mary and the Disciples wait in Prayer (Acts 1:12-14)

14. The Holy Spirit Descends at Pentecost (Acts 2:1-13)

To read more of its history:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stations_of_the_Resurrection

“There are Christians whose lives seem like Lent without Easter.”   

Pope Francis, Evangelii Gaudium 6

Am I one of those Christians? What difference does Easter make to my life on earth?

The empty tomb. The angel's message 

Matthew 28- 1 After the sabbath, and toward dawn on the first day of the week, Mary of Magdala and the other Mary went to the sepulchre. 2 And all at once there was a violent earthquake, for the angel of the Lord, descending from heaven, came and rolled away the stone and sat on it. 3 His face was like lightning, his robe white as snow. 4 The guards were so shaken, so frightened of him, that they were like dead men. 5 But the angel spoke; and he said to the women, "There is no need for you to be afraid. I know you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. 6 He is not there, for he has risen, as he said he would. Come and see the place where he lay, 7 then go quickly and tell his disciples, 'He has risen from the dead and now he is going before you to Galilee; it is there you will see him.' Now I have told you." 8 Filled with awe and great joy the women came quickly away from the tomb and ran to tell the disciples. 9 And there, coming to meet them, was Jesus. "Greetings," he said. And the women came up to him and, falling down before him, clasped his feet. 10 Then Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers that they must leave for Galilee; they will see me there."

The empty tomb

John 20- 1 It was very early on the first day of the week and still dark, when Mary of Magdala came to the tomb. She saw that the stone had been removed away from the tomb 2 and came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved. "They have taken the Lord out of the tomb," she said, "and we don't know where they have put him." 

3 So Peter set out with the other disciple to go to the tomb. 4 They ran together, but the other disciple running faster than Peter, reach the tomb first; 5 he bent down and saw the linen cloths lying on the ground, but did not go in. 6 Simon Peter who was following now came up, went right into the tomb, saw the linen cloths on the ground, 7 and also the cloth that had been over his head; this was not with the linen cloths but rolled up in a place by itself. 8 Then the other disciple who had reached the tomb first also went in; he saw and he believed. 9 Till this moment they had failed to understand the teaching of scripture, that he must rise from the dead. 10 The disciples then went home again. 

Romans 6:3-11 ·

When we were baptised in Christ Jesus we were baptised in his death; in other words, when we were baptised we went into the tomb with him and joined him in death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the Father’s glory, we too might live a new life.

    If in union with Christ we have imitated his death, we shall also imitate him in his resurrection. We must realise that our former selves have been crucified with him to destroy this sinful body and to free us from the slavery of sin. When a Christian dies, of course, he has finished with sin.

    But we believe that having died with Christ we shall return to life with him: Christ, as we know, having been raised from the dead will never die again. Death has no power over him any more. When he died, he died, once for all, to sin, so his life now is life with God; and in that way, you too must consider yourselves to be dead to sin but alive for God in Christ Jesus.