EASTER SUNDAY – CYCLE C – 2019
v The resurrection is the high point of
Jesus’ earthly life among us.
v The Lord has been faithful to his mission
until the end, he has loved us and continues to love with an unfathomable love,
too great and too selfless for us to understand.
v The Lord lives! He is risen as he
said!
v Karl Rahner said once “God has become
the eternal unrest of the world.”
FIRST READING
Ø The reading is taken from the book of
the Acts of the Apostles, whose author is the same as the author of the Gospel,
Saint Luke.
Ø The book is about the history of the
nascent Church, small, humble, sometimes afraid, sometimes courageous,
sometimes faithful, sometimes unfaithful.
Ø Church persecuted. From the very beginning of the book we read
about the martyrdom of Deacon Stephen, and of James the son of Zebedee. Jesus
called him one of the first and he promised him that he would drink from his
same chalice.
Ø The book has many chapters about
Paul, the great apostle. At the end of the book, Paul is in home arrest in
Rome, he teaches freely, in spite of the chains that keep him in the house.
Ø He is the image of what the church will
be over the centuries. Persecuted but evangelizing.
Acts
10:34.37-43
Peter
speaks at Cornelius home, a pagan soldier, in whose house Peter has come in
response to the petition of Cornelius, who wants to know about Jesus.
He
explains the events that have happened, not only in the last days, but since John’s baptism.
He
tells them that Jesus, anointed by the Spirit, went about doing good.
How good would it be if they can say that about each one of us! We still have time.
How good would it be if they can say that about each one of us! We still have time.
Afterwards
Peter reminds them, how Jesus was condemned to death, how he was raised on the
third day and how only some chosen witnesses saw him.
Jesus
has been appointed by God, judge of the living and of the dead. Jesus has power
over all, he is the Lord.
Whoever
believes in him, will receive forgiveness of his/her sins.
To
believe it is not only to say “I believe”, it is to live saying with our life,
our choices, our actions… “I believe in you Lord” and I want to be like you,
going about doing good to all without
distinction.
RESPONSORIAL PSALM Ps 118
This
is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad.
Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good,
for his mercy endures forever.
Let the house of Israel say,
“His mercy endures forever.”
This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad.
“The right hand of the LORD has struck with power;
the right hand of the LORD is exalted.
I shall not die, but live,
and declare the works of the LORD.”
This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad.
The stone which the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone.
By the LORD has this been done;
it is wonderful in our eyes.
Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good,
for his mercy endures forever.
Let the house of Israel say,
“His mercy endures forever.”
This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad.
“The right hand of the LORD has struck with power;
the right hand of the LORD is exalted.
I shall not die, but live,
and declare the works of the LORD.”
This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad.
The stone which the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone.
By the LORD has this been done;
it is wonderful in our eyes.
This
is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad.
ü Today it is the day of the Lord’s
triumph, the most wonderful day that the Lord has made.
ü We sing his mercy and we repeat some phrases
from Scripture about Jesus, the Lord, the Messiah.
ü Jesus can say “I will not die, I will
continue living to sing what the Lord has done for me.”
ü He is the stone rejected by the
builders. The religious and political
leaders of his people rejected him; they did not consider him useful.
ü How often we make mistakes, sometimes
in good faith, others with ill intentions.
ü This rejected stone is the
cornerstone of the church, the salvation, God’s work.
ü The psalmist exclaims: This is wonderful, a real miracle!
ü So many miracles, wonderful works God
does every day before our eyes, with the little ones, the despised, those
considered a burden or non-useful: sick, older people, poor of all sorts, foreigners, migrants, babies destroyed in
their mother’s womb because they do not fit in our plans, prisoners tortured,
abused women and children. With all of them and in all of them God does
wonderful things, that confronts our self-sufficiency, our power, our knowledge…
Below I put
the paschal sequence and a reflection on it. I will omit the second reading and
the Gospel.
SEQUENCE
Christians, to the Paschal Victim
Offer your thankful
praises!
A lamb the sheep
redeems: Christ who only is sinless
Reconcile sinners to the Father.
Death and life have contended in that combat stupendous
The Prince of life who died reigns immortal.
Speak Mary declaring
what you saw wayfaring
“The tomb of Christ, who is living. The glory of Jesus’
resurrection,
|
Bright angels attesting, the shroud and napkin resting
Yes, Christ my hope is arisen!
To Galilee he goes before you.”
Christ indeed from death is risen, our new life obtaining
Have mercy, victor
King ever reigning!
Amen, alleluia.
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v In
the great solemnities, the Church has a sequence, which is recited or sung
before de Reading the Gospel.
v They
are a masterpiece of poetry and music.
v As
we read this sequence of Easter we realize that it tells us the mystery of our
redemption.
v Mary
Magdalene is asked about her experience on the road, what she has seen on the
way.
v She
confesses her faith in the resurrection, I have seen the Risen Lord who invites
his own to meet him in Galilee.
v Galilee
o
Concrete geographical place, but also a
place in the geography of the spirit.
o
Place of the first encounter.
o
They have to go back there to encounter
anew the enthusiasm, the joy, the energy and the strength to proclaim what eye
has not seen and ear has not heard.
o
Encounter that will make them able to proclaim that our God has
saved us, that he is in our midst, that he walks with each one of us and will
be with us until the end of history.
o
Galilee, place where Peter will be able
to confess his love to his friend and Lord, after having experienced the depth
of human misery denying to know the one he loved so much.
v Yes,
let us also go back to our own Galilee, the place where we met the Lord for the
first time. Hope, joy and enthusiasm will come back into our life,
our first experience will be renewed. (Luis Alonso Schökel, comentario en La Biblia de nuestro Pueblo, 2015.)
CLARETIAN
CORNER
When my spiritual
director commanded me to write the outline that our Lord had indicated me for
the formation of the new order, I had so much pain, that I confessed that if it
were not for the grace of the Blessed Mother who comforted me and assured me of
her aid in everything, I would have died of pain. I would have preferred to
publish my big sins by the streets and plazas of the city rather even the stone
would know the slightest benefits the Lord has showered on me. While I wrote
these note (it took me along time because of the great repugnance I had to do
it, for I had in mind more the great and many offences I committed against my
sovereign creature, that the graces which I was receiving from His generous
mercy). There were many nights that our Lord kept me company while I stayed up
praying and writing on my knees. Venerable María Antonia París, Foundress of the Claretian Missionary Sisters. Autobiography 20
For my greater
embarrassment I should like to quote the words of the author of the Book of
Wisdom (8:19): "I was a boy of happy disposition. I had received a good
soul as my lot." That is, I received a good nature or disposition from
God, out of his sheer goodness .I remember that during the war of
independence, which lasted from 1808 to 1814, the people of Sallent were so
frightened of the French--and with good reason, since the French had burned the
city of Manresa and the town of Calders, near Sallent -that everyone
fled when they heard the news that the French army was on its way. During the
first evacuation I recollect being carried on someone's shoulders; but during
the last evacuation, when I was four or five, I went on foot and gave
grandfather Clara, my mother's father, a helping hand . It was at
night, and his eyesight was failing, and I guided him through the obstacles
with such patience and kindness that the poor old man was very glad to see that
I hadn't run off to join my brothers and cousins who had abandoned the two of
us. I always showed him a great deal of affection until he died, and not only
him but also all those who were elderly and disabled. Saint Anthony Mary Claret, Founder
of the Claretian Missionary Sisters. Autobiography,
18-19.
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