FIFTH SUNDAY OF EASTER – 2015
«
Starting with the
5th Sunday of Easter the church, through her liturgy, prepares us for the
approaching celebration of the Ascension of the Lord
«
The Gospels are
taken from the discourses of Jesus at the Last Supper.
«
Today the Gospel
reminds us that Jesus has told us that with him we can do anything and, that
without him we can do nothing.
«
This is made
clear for us in the Acts of the Apostles where the church is faithful to the
word of Jesus who invites us to love one another as he has loved us.
FIRST READING – Acts 9:
26-31
-
In the Acts Luke
narrates some events of the first communities.
-
He is not
interested in giving us information about historical deeds, which were already
known by the communities.
-
Luke wants to
invite his addressees to look these events and, reinterpret them in the light of faith and love of Jesus and,
discover in them the presence of the Holy Spirit who impels them to live as
Jesus lived.
-
Perhaps it would
help all our communities, parishes and groups within them, to look our communal
history and discover in them the living presence of the Spirit, who is leading
us through the events, which sometimes may seem to us unrelated to our faith
and with one another.
-
And not only the
communities as such, but each one of us
could do the same with our life as followers of Jesus and members of an
ecclesial community.
«
In past Sundays
we have heard Peter speaking of Jesus to the Jews.
«
Today Luke
introduces to us Paul who has come back from Jerusalem.
«
As much as he
wanted to be part of the community of believers, they were afraid.
«
But there is a
disciple who allows the Spirit of Jesus to lead him and, tries to make real in
his life the precept of “love one another as I have loved you.” And he trusts
in Paul whom he met in Damascus.
«
Paul continues to
be the man full of passion for the cause of God. He used to persecute the new
sect called the “way” because, in his heart, he believed that this group
offended YHWH, the God of Israel, the only true God. Now his passion is oriented to make known
Jesus, to be his witness. Jesus who encountered Saul on the way and had shown to
him how much he will have to suffer for the sake of the Name.”
«
He already begins
to suffer the mistrust of his Christian brothers and also his Jewish
brothers.
«
The former do not
trust in him, the others want to kill him.
«
Today’s reading
ends with some words which are the summary that Luke presents of the Church:
o
She is in peace
and this helps her
o
To progress and
grow in numbers
o
What is the
progress which Luke describes? The church progresses in the fear of the Lord,
that is to say, in the loving faithfulness to her Lord, as we have heard in the
reading for this Sunday. The little church, which is being born and developing,
tries to live the commandment of the Lord “love one another as I have loved
you.”
o
As a consequence
of all of this the Church enjoys the consolation of the Holy Spirit, Jesus
Spirit whom he has sent to his Church.
o
This consolation
comes from the certainty to be, as a church, immersed in the loving presence of
the Spirit thus, although as in a shadow, immersed in the life of the Trinity
within the continuous exchange of love among the three Divine Persons.
Responsorial Psalm. Ps 22:26-27. 28. 30. 31-32
I
WILL PRAISE YOU LORD IN THE ASSEMBLY OF YOUR PEOPLE
I will fulfill my vows before those who fear the Lord
The lowly shall eat their fill
They who seek
the Lord shall praise him
May your hearts live forever!
All the ends of the earth
Shall remember and turn to the Lord
All the families of the nations
Shall bow down before him
To Him alones hall bow down
All who sleep in the earth
Before Him shall bend
All who go down into the dust
And to Him my soul shall live
My descendants shall serve Him
Let the coming generation be told of the Lord
That they may proclaim to a people yet to be born
The justice he has shown
SECOND READING : 1 Jn 3:18-24
John invites his
community to truly love and, not only speak of love.
The love we
have assures us that we are dedicated to the truth.
Let us remember that Scriptures speaks of God saying that God is love, God is
Truth.
The consolation
we have when our conscience accuses us, is that God knows us, all that is ours
is known to Him.
And on the other
hand, if our conscience does not accuse us, we can be sure to obtain whatever
we ask for.
What does that mean? Is it something magical?
No, the answer is
given to us in the next verse, it is
because we keep his commandments.
Then this means
that what is given to us is given as a reward for our faithfulness to the
commandments?
No. If we are
faithful in keeping his commandments this means that we have allowed the Spirit
of the Lord to enter into our heart, the Holy Spirit that makes us like Jesus.
We have the same feelings of Jesus, thus we ask only what Jesus would also
ask.
GOSPEL JOHN 15: 1-8
Ø The theme of the vineyard reminds us that in the Old
Testament Israel is called the “vineyard of the Lord.”
Ø Jesus says that He is the vine, he is the fullness of
what Israel was called to be “the vine, the vineyard.”
Ø John describes God as the vine grower who takes good
care of the vine: he takes away what is dead, prunes what is alive so that it
may have abundant life.
Ø Jesus invites his own to live in Him, as He lives in
us.
Ø He says that if we are not united to Him we will not
give fruit.
Ø When we become
disciples of Jesus and we give fruit, we glorify the Father. The image of the
vine should fill us with so much trust
in the Lord, whom we contemplated last week as the Good Shepherd.
Ø José A. Pagola says: The church will not be able to
fulfill his mission in the world today, if those who called themselves
Christians do not become disciples of Jesus, encouraged by his spirit and his
passion for a more human world.
Ø Karl Rahner said that in the future to be Christian
will require to be a mystic. A mystic is someone who has entered into the deep
intimacy of the Shepherd, of the Teacher, allowing the sap of the vine to circulate through his/her veins thus having abundant life.
Ø
All the Gospels
during the Easter Season remind and invite us to enter into the intimacy of the
Lord, and to find our joy in this same intimacy with Him.
CLARETIAN CORNER
God was preparing me with so
many troubles to receive the great, the indescrcribable joy which had to flood
my soul with the arrival of the Bull from Rome on July 16, 1855, as rapidly as
I was expecting and I had told the Archbishop every time he presented me so
many difficulties.
The
fights and quarrels, tears and sighs that the foundation of this first house is
costing me. Only God, who is pleased with the sighs of a heart distressed for
his love, knows them. María
Antonia París, Foundress of the Claretian Missionary Sisters. Autobiography
202.
These were the helpers who accompanied me in my apostolic
labors amid the thorns and thistles of my diocese. I owe God endless thanks for
providing me such good companions. The conduct of all of them was above
reproach. They never caused me a moment's pain; on the contrary, they were all
a great comfort to me. All had good dispositions and solid virtue, and they
were so detached from worldly cares that they never once spoke or thought of
self-interest or honors. Their only concern was for God's greater glory and the
conversion of souls. Antonio
María Claret, founder of the Claretian Missionary Sisters. Autobiography
606.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
CLARET, Antonio María.
Autobiografía.
FLOR SERRANO, Gonzalo. Los Salmos
en Comentario al Antiguo Testamento II. La Casa de la Biblia 1997.
PAGOLA,
JOSE A. Following in the Footsteps of
Jesus. Meditations on the Gospels for Year B. Miami 2011
PARIS, María Antonia.
Autobiografía en Escritos, con
Comentarios por Juan Manuel Lozano.
RAVASI, Gianfranco. Según las Escrituras. Año B. Ediciones
San Pablo. Bogotá 2005.
SCHÖKEL, Luis Alonso. Comentarios
en la BIBLIA DE NUESTRO PUEBLO. Ediciones Mensajero. China 2010
