It is almost the end of the Easter
season. Let us review the message given by the Gospels during these six Sundays
of Easter before the Asension of the Lord.
·
On Easter Sunday we contemplated Peter and John going to the
tomb and on seeing the burial cloths John believed.
·
On the second Sunday we saw the goodness and tender love of
Jesus in his dialogue with Thomas, and with the other apostles, and we heard
the Lord saying that those who believe
without seeing are blessed.
·
On the third Sunday we read about the two disciples on their
way to Emmaus and how Jesus joined them in their journey.
·
On the fourth Sunday Jesus said that he is the good Shepherd
and the door of the sheep.
·
On the fifth and Sixth Sundays the Gospels are taken from
the conversation of Jesus with his disciples in the Last Supper:
·
Fifth Sunday:
-
Heaven is like a house with many rooms, one for each
one
-
Jesus is the way, the truth and the life to get to this
“house”
-
Jesus is the image of God the Father, the sacrament of the
Father as we read in the document Lumen
Gentium of the Council Vatican
II.
-
And Jesus tells us that he/she who beleives in Him will do
greater works than him, because He goes to the Father.
·
Sixth Sunday:
-
The promise of the Holy Spirit
-
We are in Christ
FIRST READING – Acts 8:5-8;
14-17
Ø Last Sunday we heard that, as the
community of the church was growing, they had to create more ministries, and thus
the diaconate was established for the first time in the Church. Deacons were to dedicate themselves to serve
the needs of the Church.
Ø Today
Philip, one of the deacons that had been chosen by the community to serve the
needs of the widows and other persons in need, goes to Samaria to bring there
the Good News.
Ø They were
suffering persecution for their faith in Jesus, and Paul was more and more
against the new faith of the followers of Jesus
Ø Following
what the Lord had told them, they went from one place to another to protect
themselves from the persecution, and on so doing they also proclaimed in the
different places the good news of Jesus.
Ø The
Samaritans who listened to Philip proclaiming
the Good News about Jesus, accepted the faith and were baptized.
Ø When the
news reached the Apostles, they sent Peter and John to Samaria.
Ø And impose
hands upon them so they could receive
the Holy Spirit.
Ø This is a
beautiful image of the young church, they take advantage of all situations to
announce. The persecution is the occasion to announce the good news to other brothers and sisters.
Ø This little
church makes real the mandate of Jesus “go, proclaim, baptize, teach” what? All
that I have taught you.
Ø Is our
enthusiasm for the Lord, like that of this young church? That we do not waste
any occasion to live up to this mandate of the Lord, not so much by our words
but by our life that cries out that the Lord is alive, and in encountering him
in the community every Sunday, our life keeps changing?
RESPONSORIAL PSALM. Ps 66: 1-7.16.20.
LET
ALL THE EARTH CRY OUT TO GOD WITH JOY
Shout joyfully to God, all the earth
Sing praise to the glory of his name
Proclaim his glorious praise
Say to God “How tremendous are your deeds.”
Let all on earth worship and sing praise to you
Sing praise to your name!
Come and see the works of God
His tremendous deeds among the children of Adam.
He has changed the sea into dry land
Through the river they passed on foot
Therefore let us rejoice in him
He rules by his might forever.
Hear now, all you who fear God, while I declare
What he has done for me.
Blessed
be God who refused me not
My
prayer or his kindness.
This psalm is an
invitation to sing the wonderful Works of God
What works?
Ø Creation
Ø Exodus, liberation: he has changed the sea in dry
land
Ø The Salmist invites us to listen to what God has done
for him
Ø What has God done in my life? Let each one of us dedicate some time in
silent prayer and in solitude with the
Lord and, let us think about the wonderful works that the Lord has done in
our life.
ü Peter
invites us to have Christ as the Lord of our heart, the Lord of our life.
ü He also says
that we have to be ready to give an account of our faith when we are asked. This
means that we have to know what we believe, to have ownership of the faith we
have received from our ancestors.
ü Peter tells
us also that it is better to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.
ü Because
Jesus who was innocent suffered for us sinners.
ü He was
condemned to death, but God brought him to life by the Spirit
ü How do I
react to the injust suffering in my life? When I suffer without having done the
evil I am accused of.
GOSPEL
Jn 14,15-21
Jesus says to his disciples “if you love me, you will keep
my commandments”
What are his commandments?
In
the Last Supper he said that he has only commandment “love one another…” but to
learn how to make real this commandment in our life, we have to look at Jesus,
his life, his ministry, the way he relates to other persons, because Jesus is
the new Law that comes to complete the Old Covenant, the Law given on Mount
Sinai.
If we live according to his commandments Jesus will ask the
Father for another advocate who will be with us always
Why only with those who live according to his commandments
who believe in Him? I have read something that may help us to answer this
question:
ü The Spirit
is the anointing that Jesus receives as Head of the body which is the
Church
ü From Him,
Head, the Spirit overflows as a sacred ointment over his whole body, the
Church.
ü This Spirit
that Jesus pours over his whole Church makes possible, the life, the faith and
the ministries of the community of beleivers.
ü I think that
this can be the explanation to what Jesus says that He will ask for the Spirit
for those who keep his commandments.
ü That is to
say to those who are united with Him the head of the body.
In silent prayer, united to Jesus, let us ask the grace to
understand this beautiful image of Christ head of the Church-faith community-
body.
The reading ends with these words of Jesus
·
He who loves Jesus, will be loved by the Father
·
Jesus too will love him/her and will reveal himself to
him/her in the intimacy of love.
CLARETIAN CORNER
O, My Lord and my God, in what
way you are the most loving father and the most faithful friend! All left us in
the hands of unknown people and not even one had the courage to accompany us,
but you my most loving father, carried us on the palm of your hand! O, who
could shout all around the world to say how faithful you are to your friends!
Since you have been so to the one who has been so great an enemy of yours, and,
God grant that she may not continue to be such after receiving so many
delicacies of love! (Venerable María Antonia París, Foundress of
the Claretian Missionary Sisters, 140)
On Tuesday, the eighth, I
left Vich for Barcelona and Madrid, where the Papal Nuncio, Msgr. Brunelli,
invested me with the pallium on the thirteenth. I was presented to Her Majesty
and the Ministers of State. During the time it took
to arrange all my credentials, I busied myself preaching and hearing
confessions in Madrid. When all was in order I returned to Catalonia.
I arrived in Igualada on October 31 and preached there for All Saints' Day. The
following day I visited Montserrat, where I also preached. Next
I went to Manresa, where Father Mach was conducting an All Souls' Novena. I preached there in the evening, and on the
following morning gave Holy Communion to a large crowd who had heard that I
would be there and so had prepared for it. (St.
Anthony Mary Claret, Founder of the Claretian Missionary Sisters, 500)
BIBLIOGRAPHY
CLARET,
Antonio María. Autobiografía.
PARIS,
María Antonia. Autobiografía.
SCHÖKEL,
Luis Alonso, La Biblia de nuestro Pueblo.
DAILY
ROMAN MISSAL – Midwest Theological Forum
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