This is the greatest celebration of the Church. The liturgy invites us to sing, to praise, to rejoice. ALLELUIA, JESUS, THE LORD IS RISEN! During the Easter Season all the readings are taken from the New Testament. . FIRST READING – Acts 10: 34a-37-43
« This Reading is taken from Peter’s speech addressed to the household of Cornelius.
« Who is Cornelius? At the beginning of chapter 10 of the Acts we are told that Cornelius is a Centurion of the Roman Cohort called the Italica. He was stationed at Caesarea.
« Cesarea is a city mentioned several times in the book of Acts. It is a different city than the one called Caesarea of Philippi where Peter made his confession of faith in Jesus. This city where Cornelius lives is situated on the coast of Palestine, on the road from Tyre to Egypt. .
« This is a key event in the development of the community of the followers of Jesus, the “infant” church. This community will be faced with different situations which she will have to understand in the light of the faith in Jesus. They will help the believers to discover more and more the total newness of the preaching and life of Jesus the Teacher crucified and raised from the dead. The baptism of Cornelius’ household by Peter marks the entrance of the gentiles, the non Jewish people into the new community, into the Church.
« Luis Alonso Shoēkel makes a very interesting reflection on this passage:
o He calls it the conversion, not of Cornelius, but of Peter.
o Cornelius is open to the Good News, the Gospel, and he does not offer any resistance, on the contrary he wants to know it.
o Peter, on his part, is struggling and looking for answers to a problem: what has to be done with the gentiles who ask to be part of the community of Jesus?
o Luke who is the author of Acts presents to us the two characters Cornelius and Peter praying.
o Cornelius is a Roman soldier, a pagan, but he is a man of prayer, compassionate toward the poor, we can say that he was a good and honest man.
o Peter is also in prayer. We know the content of his prayer by the dream he has for three different times: what to do in this new situation they find themselves.
o Jesus intervenes moving the threats of history. At the same time 2 p.m. both characters have a dream: Cornelius receives the answer to his prayer. He is invited to look for Simon called Peter. To Peter the voice tells him to go to Cornelius’ house without hesitation.
« After this introduction to situate us, let us contemplate the Reading for this Easter Sunday.
o Peter begins recalling what had happened in Judea after the baptism of John
o All about Jesus of Nazareth who was filled with the Spirit, power. He went about doing good
o Peter and the other apostles are witnesses of what he is preaching to them. Nobody has told them, they themselves have seen Him. They have seen Jesus, they have heard him, they have experienced him. Jesus is neither an imagination nor a dream.
o Jesus was nailed to the cross, but God has raised him up from the dead, and after his resurrection Jesus has appeared to some witnesses chosen by the Father.
o These witnesses have received the mission to preach and testify to who Jesus is.
« What a complete and beautiful synthesis of our Christian faith, has Peter done.
ü The Lord has made and does every day, but this one is special, it is the day of days. It is the day of the new creation, the “eighth day” the day of the triumph of Jesus over death, the day in which the doors of heaven are opened to us; we are given again the possibility to enter into God’s intimacy.
SECOND READING COLOSSIANS 3:1-4
Ø Not all the authors agree on who is the author of this letter. There are reasons to believe it belongs to Paul, and also reasons to believe it belongs to one of Paul’s disciples.
Ø If Paul is the author the letter had to be written from Ephesus around the late 50th. If Paul is not the author then the date might be around the 80th.
Ø But let us put aside this discussion and let us center ourselves today in the message presented to us in today’s liturgy.
o It is an invitation to live according to one who has been raised with Jesus, to who has been submerged into the death and resurrection of Jesus through his or her baptism.
o Our life is a new life guided by the values of Christ, not the values we had before knowing Christ.
o This invitation to a new life is a logical consequence to have died with Christ, and to have been submerged into his life.
o Christ lives in the Father and has taken us with him, we are his body, thus where he is, we are also if we remain in Him.
o Christ through his incarnation is also in this world and remains in this world with us, even being glorified and living in the Father. Jesus has come to make all things new.
o Thus those who are in Him are called to have their feet firm on this earth, on this world, on this society to transform it with our commitment and our testimony.
PASCHAL SEQUENCE –
The sequence is an ancient and beautiful prayer that sings the glorious event of the Resurrection of the Lord. We recite it on Easter Sunday and it may be recited during the whole first week of Easter
| May you praise the Paschal Victim, immolated for Christians. The Lamb redeemed the sheep: Christ, the innocent one, has reconciled sinners to the Father. A wonderful duel to behold, as death and life struggle: The Prince of life dead, now reigns alive. Tell us, Mary Magdalene, what did you see on the way? I saw the sepulcher of the living Christ, and I saw the glory of the Resurrected one: | The Angelic witnesses, the winding cloth, and His garments. The risen Christ is my hope: He will go before His own into Galilee. We know Christ to have risen truly from the dead: And thou, victorious King, have mercy on us. Amen. Alleluia. |
The first day of the week, these words remind to us the first day of creation. Jesus’s resurrection is the beginning of the new creation. Three women, Mark mentioned two of them at the end of the Passion narrative. They were at a distance from the cross and looked where they put Him (15:47) They go to the sepulcher to anoint his body, since on Friday they had to observe the Sabbath repose that began on Friday’s evening. On the first day of the week they go to the sepulcher to give to Jesus’ body the honor due to him. They are worried because the stone is heavy and they do not know who will help them. But the stone is removed and an angel gives them a message for the disciples. They have to go to Galilee. Shoēkel says: they have to abandoned their Jewish ideals and go to Galilee to begin from there the universal mission. In Galilee is where Jesus began his mission, in Galilee is where Jesus met them for the first time and called them to his following. Galilee is the place of the first encounter, full of memories of their live with the Teacher. They have to go back to that first experience, to that first call, to that first love, before they begin the great mission that will be entrusted to them. To proclaim to the whole Roman Empire, to the whole world that JESUS IS LORD, that JESUS HAS DIED FOR OUR SALVATION and that ALL OF US ARE HIS BROTHERS AND HIS SISTERS and that we are also brothers and sisters among us. ALELUYA LET US ALSO SING WITH JOY THAT JESUS IS LORD.
| Blessed be the Lord Jesus Christ for he is pleased to send consolation in times when it is most needed! The love to your most holy will subdues me to any sacrifice. O, who may cry out to the whole world, how faithful you are to your friends! Venerable María Antonia París, Foundress of the Claretian Missionary Sisters | Jesus I love you with all my heart, with all my soul, with all my strength. I wish I love you more and that all love you also. I would like to love you for me and for all your creatures. Lord, in the same way as the water is mixed with the wine in the Eucharist, in the same way I want to unite myself to you and to offer myself with you to the Most Holy Trinity. Saint Anthony Mary Claret, Founder of the Claretian Missionary Sisters. |
BIBLIOGRAFÍA
CLARET, Antonio María. Oraciones que se encuentran en sus escritos.
PARIS, María Antonia. Oraciones que se encuentran en sus escritos.
SCHÖKEL, Luis Alonso. Comentarios en la BIBLIA DE NUESTRO PUEBLO. Ediciones Mensajero. China 2010.
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