1. What is the significance of the word “witness,” in the sentence, “We are witnesses of all that he did”? Peter uses it both as a noun  (meaning “observer”) and a verb (meaning “corroborate,” “testify”). It is something you can be (how are you a witness?) and do (what is your action to witness to truth?).

2. Should we witness with more than words? Peter bore witness in a different manner after the Resurrection than he did before Christ died. To what do you attribute this? Was he consumed by love for Christ and his Gospel? Could the source of strength for Peter be the same source for us?


Second Reading (Easter Sunday)
Colossians 3:1-4

1. “Brothers and sisters: If then you were raised with Christ, seek what is above.” (See later in Colossians 3 for Paul’s meaning of “above”).  He says that we should put on heartfelt compassion. What does compassion look like in our immediate world and in the larger one? What cries of the poor “deeply move” you? Dying children in Ukraine? People suffering from effects of global warming, unhoused people and starvation?

Discuss Pope Francis’ statement:

We incarnate the duty of hearing the cry of the poor when we are
deeply moved by the suffering of others.                                         

 Evangelii Gaudium  #193

2. One of St Paul’s last directives was to let the peace of Christ control our hearts. How do you do that when you’re feeling negative, cynical, despondent, or paralyzed with fear? Where do you find help? What happened to the desolate women when they found the tomb empty?

Gospel:
Vigil: Luke 24:1-12 
Easter: John 20:1-9

1. The same women who came to anoint his body in the morning had been with Jesus when he died. Were they deterred from their task by fear? Compare and contrast their behavior with some of Jesus’ other disciples.

Think about events like the Ukrainian war and protests against injustice. Is President Zelenskyy stopped by fear? Were people like John Lewis, Gandhi, Doctors without Borders, and Dorothy Day? Where is your courage on a scale of 1 to 10? Will it look different on every person and in every situation?

2. What is it that allowed John to “see and believe,” to have this kind of clarity? Does love give you knowledge about a person, or insights into their behavior? In John, Jesus said “Whoever loves me, I will love him [her] and reveal myself to him [her]” (Jn 14:21). Is there a connection between Jesus’ statement and John’s “seeing and believing”?