FOURTH SUNDAY OF EASTER – CYCLE A - 2020

INTRODUCTION

Ø  During the second part of the Easter season the Gospels are about the person of the Risen Lord.

Ø  The central theme of today’s Gospel is Jesus, the good Shepherd, who is the gate of the sheep  and for the sheep. 

Ø  In the first and second readings Peter reminds us that Jesus has suffered in the hands of sinners.  

Ø  The theme of Jesus’ suffering is present during the whole time of Easter.  

Ø  The Risen Lord has the marks of the nails and of the spear, so that we do not forget his death even during the joyful time of Easter.   

Ø  Today the universal Church prays for vocations of special consecration, let us ask the Lord to send laborers into his field. Let us ask the Lord that young men and women may follow his call to work in his vineyard as priests, deacons, religious men and women.      

FIRST READING  – Acts 2: 14a, 36-41

« Peter is with the eleven, this means that Matthias had already been elected in the place of Judas. 

« It is the Jewish festival of Pentecost. All are surprised by the noise they have heard and for what they see. Those men, scared are now full of energy.       

« Peter announces solemnly that they crucified Jesus whom the Father has made Lord and Christ, 

« On hearing that they were deeply distressed.   

« Are we so distressed when we hear these words? We have also crucified the Lord many times during our life, especially when we have hurt anyone of our brothers and sisters. With our indifference before the suffering of those who die from hunger, the homeless, the children separated from their parents by unjust laws, the immigrants that seek a better future for their family, and some of them  seek to be able to eat  the scraps that fall our abundant tables.

« But we always have hope; Peter invites them to repent, to be sorry for their sin and to be baptized.  

RESPONSORIAL PSALM  Ps  23

The Lord is my shepherd there is nothing I shall want

The Lord is my shepherd I shall not want

In verdant pastures he gives me repose

Besides restful waters he leads me

He refreshes my soul.

The Lord is my shepherd there is nothing I shall want

He guides me in right paths

For his name’s sake

Even though I walk in the dark valley

I fear no evil; for you are at my side

With your rod and your staff

That give me courage

The Lord is my shepherd there is nothing I shall want

You spread the table before me

In the sight of my foes

You anoint my head with oil

My cup overflows

The Lord is my shepherd there is nothing I shall want

Only goodness and kindness follow me

All the days of my life

And I shall dwell in the house of the Lord

For years to come.

v Psalm 23 is one of the most beautiful psalms. 

v It speaks about unbound and filled with peace trust in the shepherd.  

v The shepherd is always there, with his staff which gives security and trust.   

v The shepherd who leads the sheep to peaceful places of repose, where pasture and water are abundant.   

v The shepherd who accompanies the sheep until the end of its life.  

v There is an author who says that this description of the shepherd cannot make us forget that the shepherd is  someone strong, sometimes even rude but that risks his life for each one of his sheep.  

v Is that our trust in our Shepherd, Jesus? 

SECOND READING  1Pe 2:20b-25

Ø  We continue reading the first letter of Peter.     

Ø  Peter says to his community that to suffer being innocent is a grace, is a gift.  

Ø  Because to this we have been called in order to be like Christ.  

Ø  He suffered and has left us and example so that we may also learn to suffer like him.   

Ø  He did not insult, or threaten, but he handed himself over to those who judged him unjustly, and for whom he also offered his sufferings.  

Ø  Is this our behavior when we are treated or judged unjustly?  

Ø  He carried our sins in his body nailed to the cross, so that on being liberated from our sin we could serve God faithfully.   

Ø   Is the thought of his love and presence in our life, consolation and comfort for us?

GOSPEL – Jn 10:1-10

ü  Jesus says that whoever does not enter through the gate of the sheepfold is a thief and a robber.  

ü  The shepherd enters through the gate     

ü  Jesus says more, he not only enters through the gate, but he is the gate.

ü  The image of the door is very eloquent and very beautiful:  

o   The sheepfold did not have a gate 

o   It was a circular place with an opening to enter and to leave.   

o   The shepherd allowed the sheep to enter at night and he slept at the entrance thus being the gate himself. 

o   If a robber or a wild animal wanted to enter into the sheepfold, it would have to be through the shepherd.   

o   This is the image, which Jesus presents to us when he says that he is the gate.   

o   We may be at peace and secure because our shepherd takes care of us, and he has come so that we may have abundant life.      

o   Are we at peace when we are with him? 

  

ü  The whole passage has an exceptional beauty, and it transmit a peace which only the Lord can give.   

ü  Why do we still fear? Has he not given us enough proofs that he loves us? 

ü  Some time ago the Pope in one of his short daily messages said:   “Do not be afraid, open  the doors to Christ.”  

CLARETIAN CORNER

On reading both writings, we see differences and at the same time similarities: 

The Plan for the Renewal of the Church  of María Antonia  is a series of  simple points addressed to her Spiritual Director, to Claret… to concrete persons with  whom she shares her ideals of the Renewal of the Church and in which she mentions some means to accomplish it.  

The Notes of a Plan is a more theological document, addressed to the Bishops.  In it Claret shares his own experience as Bishop.  Although Claret entitles  his document  Notes, on reading them for the first time, it looks more as Points. However it is an authentic Plan to accomplish the Renewal of the Church, with a profound ecclesial foundation. 

The similarities between both Documents are  their practical nature, the theme of the Renewal of the Church in her members and the means to renew the Church. 

It is difficult to decide which one  influenced the other. If it is true that Claret had the Plan of María Antonia with him when he wrote his Notes while he was on the ship, it is also true that when María Antonia wrote her Plan for the Renewal, she had seen, incarnate in the life of Claret as Archbishop of Cuba, all that she puts down on writing,  p.71

BIBLIOGRAPHY  

BARKER, John R. ofm. BELLINGER, Karla J. Living the Word, Tear A (12/01/19- 11/22/2020)

MUÑOZ, Hortensia & TUTZO, Regina, Claretian Missionary Sisters. Two Pens Guided by the Same Spirit. 2010. 

POPE FRANCIS, Vatican web page.

STOCK, Klemens. La Liturgia de la Palabra – Ciclo A

THIRD SUNDAY OF EASTER – CYCLE A - 2020

 INTRODUCTION

Ø  On the third Sunday of Easter the liturgy, through the readings, invites us to see how a follower of Jesus lives the resurrection. We will have two readings from Luke, one from Acts, and the other from the Gospel. 

Ø  Raymond Brown in his book A Risen Christ in Easter Time, explains that Luke puts the two volumes of his work within a geographical framework.

o   The narrative begins in the Temple of Jerusalem (Lk 1:5-8.  When Zechariah, John Baptist’s father offered the incense) and the narrative ends in Rome (Acts 28:28) with an evangelization oriented towards the gentiles.   

o   The connection between both, the story of Jesus of Nazareth and the story of the Holy Spirit who guides the Church is “all the things that have happened in Jerusalem” which are the passion, death, resurrection and sending of the Holy Spirit.    

§  The passion and death  Lk 22-23  are narrated in the first volume  of Luke’s work: the Gospel 

§  The sending of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2) is found in the second volume of the work: The Acts of the Apostles. 

§  But the resurrection, being so central for our faith, is narrated twice. We find the  apparitions of the Risen Lord at the end of the Gospel and at the beginning of the Acts. (Lk 24;  Acts 1:3-9)   

o   The Gospel begins in the Temple of Jerusalem  (1: 5-8) and ends also in the Temple of Jerusalem (24:53)

o    Acts begins in Jerusalem and ends in Rome (28:28); from there the Gospel will be preached to the whole world.

    

In the Old Testament the prophet Isaiah describes how the nations invite one another to go up to Jerusalem to receive instruction from the Lord, because from Zion will come the Law and from Jerusalem the Word of the Lord.  (Is 2:1-3). According to the Work of Luke, the Good News of Jesus begin in Jerusalem and from Jerusalem they   are preached  to whole world.     

FIRST READING  – Acts 2: 14. 22-28

« In the book of Acts we find this text after the coming of the Holy Spirit in Pentecost. 

« However, the liturgy of the Church offers this text on the third Sunday of Easter because, in his proclamation, Peter announces the Paschal Mystery of Christ, which we celebrate during Easter Season. 

« The first verse introduces the proclamation 

« Verses 22-24 are the kerygma or first proclamation of the Gospel of Christ. 

« Peter is presented here as a prophet in the style of the Old Testament prophets. He denounces, “you crucified him” and announces,  “but God raised him up.” 

« Peter tells the people:

o   That Jesus is the gift that God had made to them and that they did not know how to appreciate it

o   That Jesus is the fulfillment of the promises made by God to his people Israel.

« On reading the texts it is consoling to realize that God always fulfills his promises and, that none of us is able to prevent them for being fulfilled, God is always faithful.

« Jesus is the great gift from God, not only to his people but also to the whole human race, but we continue to crucify him in the millions of our brothers and sisters who suffer because of our lack of love, our ambition, our avarice and our indifference. As St Peter puts it “you have crucified him” and we could rephrase this sentence saying: you continue to crucify your brothers and sisters today.

RESPONSORIAL PSALM: Ps 16

R. Lord, you will show us the path of life.or:
 Keep me, O God, for in you I take refuge;
I say to the LORD, "My Lord are you."
O LORD, my allotted portion and my cup,
you it is who hold fast my lot.
R. Lord, you will show us the path of life.or:   
I bless the LORD who counsels me;
even in the night my heart exhorts me.
I set the LORD ever before me;
with him at my right hand I shall not be disturbed.
R. Lord, you will show us the path of life.  
Therefore my heart is glad and my soul rejoices,
my body, too, abides in confidence;
because you will not abandon my soul to the netherworld,
nor will you suffer your faithful one to undergo corruption.
R. Lord, you will show us the path of life.  
You will show me the path to life,
abounding joy in your presence,
the delights at your right hand forever.
R. Lord, you will show us the path of life.
 

Ø  What a beautiful psalm, we perceive in it the trust that its author had and his complete abandonment in the hands of God.

Ø  The liturgy puts these words in the mouth of Jesus

Ø  O, if we had these absolute trust in our God and Father!

Ø  Jesus has taught this during his life

Ø  May we be able to say to God the Father as Jesus did “my heart rests in you.” 

SECOND READING  1Pt 1:17-21

We continue to read the First Letter of Peter, which we began on the Second Sunday of Easter. 

Ø  The Father judges us according to our own behavior.

Ø  Peter invites us to live during our earthly life, as a sojourn in a strange land, remembering that we have been liberated from our old ways of life, not by money, but by the blood of the lamb. 

Ø  During the first Passover celebrated in Egypt before leaving the country; the blood of the lamb  that had been sacrificed, and was going to be eaten during the Passover meal, smeared on the doors, would be a sign for the angel to spare the household members. Peter uses this image to remind us that the true lamb whose blood saves and redeems us is the blood of Christ the true lamb, sacrificed on the cross, and raised from the dead by the Father.

GOSPEL Lk  24,13-35.

     This passage is the image or representation of the journey of faith of a disciple of Jesus.

     And also of the Eucharistic celebration (Word and Body of the Lord) 

     It describes the journey of faith based on Scriptures, which the Lord clarifies for us on the way   (vv.17; 25-23)

     Journey of faith  that has its ups and downs    (vv. 21-24)

     Their heart was enkindled as the Lord was speaking  to them, but they were not aware of it,  until   the breaking of the bread    (v.33)

     Faithful to the precept of hospitality that God had given in the law, they invited the foreigner to stay for the night since it was already dark. (v.29)

     The action of Jesus together with the fire that had been enkindled in them on the way, through the words of the traveler, prepared their hearts to recognize him in the “breaking of the bread.”  (v.30)

     When the man on the road joined them, they were tired and sad; now after discovering that the man on the road was Jesus, the same Jesus whom the women had seen they got the strength to go back to Jerusalem.

      When they arrived, all the others told them that the Lord was risen indeed, because Peter had seen him. 

     Let us reflect and meditate: 

o   When we come to the Eucharistic Celebration, do we allow the Lord to enkindle our heart with his love?   

o   Do we listen to his Word with the same attention that we had the first time we listen to it?    

o   Do we receive the Bread of the Eucharist, his body and blood, with the same enthusiasm and joy of the first time?

o   Do we ask the Lord to explain to us the meaning of what is going on in our life, in our family, in our community, in our society, in our world?  Do we listen to what he says?

Rev. Dionisio González, in a letter to S. Anthony M. Claret written from Cuba on July 31st 1858 says,

                        I write to your Excellency about the sisters’ business, on which occasion I have read again very carefully the Plan for the Renewal. I like it very much, and it is clear that they address the main problem. On reading it again, and on thinking about those written by your Excellency for the Bishops,  I realize that Maria Antonia’s Plan prepares the ground to accomplish the Renewal proposed in yours  in such a way that on comparing them,  I think that a same spirit is guiding both pens.

Rev. Dionisio considers that María Antonia’s Plan prepares the way to realize the Renewal proposed by Claret. He expresses this with a very beautiful comparison: a same spirit has guided both pens. 

In the correspondence between Claret, Currius, D. Dionisio González and María Antonia, whenever we find the phrases our Project, the main goal or our main purpose,    they are speaking about the Renewal of the Church, with which they identify and to which they commit  themselves.    

BIBLIOGRAPHY

BROWN, Raymond, A Risen Christ in Easter Time.

MUÑOZ, Hortensia & TUTZO, Regina Claretian Missionary Sisters. Two Pens Guided by the Same Spirit. 2010

SECOND SUNDAY OF EASTER – CYCLE A – 2020

Ø  We have celebrated during the whole week, the joy of the resurrection of our  Lord Jesus.

Ø  This second Sunday used to be called in the ancient tradition of the Church  “Sunday in Albis”, in this Sunday the newly baptized participated in the liturgy wearing their white robe, received in Baptism,  for the last time.      

Ø  Now, this Sunday is called  Divine Mercy Sunday, but in reality we are called to celebrate every day  the mercy of our God.   

FIRST READING

Acts of the Apostles  

·       This book was written by Luke as the second volume of his work: Gospel and Acts – Jesus de Word of God made flesh (Gospel) and the Risen Lord Jesus present in his body the Church (Acts).   

·       The first chapters narrate the events of the first community of followers of Jesus of Nazareth. The rest of the chapters are dedicated to the missionary action of the apostles, the church, in a very especial way of Paul.   

·       In today’s reading, Luke explains how the first community of brothers and sisters lived its faith.  

Acts 2:42-47

Ø  How do the first followers lived their faith?  

o   They listen to the teaching of the Apostles   

o   They live in community   

o   They break the bread and pray   

o   This seems to be a description of our liturgical assemblies in which  

§  We read the Scriptures – the teaching of the Apostles    

§  We celebrate the Eucharist – the bread (the Body) and the wine (the blood) of the Lord – the breaking of the bread (the Mass).   

§  And we pray in community – common life.   

o   That community of brothers and sisters does something more, they share their goods, they put them in common  

§  The church of all times has dreamed to continue to make real in practice this sharing of goods  

§  Some groups have done and do it literally – the monks and the religious and some other small groups of lay persons.  

§  Others share some of their goods    

§  The members of the parish community share some of their goods to help those in need.

Ø  Luke says that the people who observed the community were in awe and that everyday some were added to the number of the community. 

 

 RESPONSORIAL PSALM  – Ps 118: 2-4,13-15, 22-24

Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, his love is everlasting.
 Let the house of Israel say,
"His mercy endures forever."
Let the house of Aaron say,
"His mercy endures forever."
Let those who fear the LORD say,
"His mercy endures forever."
R. Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, his love is everlasting.
 I was hard pressed and was falling,
but the LORD helped me.
My strength and my courage is the LORD,
and he has been my savior.
The joyful shout of victory
in the tents of the just:
R. Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, his love is everlasting.
 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 be glad and rejoice in it.
R. Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, his love is everlasting.

v This psalm of thanksgiving seems to be composed of an introduction  vv. 1-4 which we use as the first stanza of the responsorial psalm.  

v After this introduction, which is an invitation to acknowledge that “his mercy is everlasting

v Two hymns follow:   

o   The first vv 5-18 sung in the tents of the just and  

o   The second  vv 19-29 sung in the temple

v In the responsorial psalm after the first stanza we use the second hymn for the rest of the psalm

v As a background music we repeat “his mercy….. is eternal” 

v Maybe it is a good opportunity for all of us to dedicate some time during the week to remember with a joyful and grateful heart, the mercy of the Lord in concrete moments of our life.

v Mercy made visible, made flesh,  in all the persons who take care of the affected by the pandemic of corona virus.  All those who fulfill the necessary services to take care of the sick, persons that we do not see and so many times ignore, quiet and humble services, sometimes even unpleasant, and all of them dangerous for their own life. Nobody can do that if our God and Creator does not give it to her or him. Our Father/Mother God gives to all of us this capacity, to be believers and unbelievers, because we are his creatures made in his image. 

SECOND READING  1 Peter 1:3-9

ü  Peter blesses God the Father of Our Lord Jesus Christ for having given us the living hope; thanks to the resurrection of Jesus Christ form the dead.   

ü  We rejoice in it, even if we have to suffer for our faith  

ü  Toward the end of this fragment Peter says something very beautiful 

o   Although you have not seen him (Jesus) you love Him  

o   Although you do not see him now, you believe in Him   

o   And you rejoice with an indescribable joy while you reach the joy of your faith, your salvation.   

ü  Yes, we have, neither seen him nor see him now, but we love him and trust him and we strive so that this trust be unconditional.   

GOSPEL Jn 20:19-31

v We continue with the events that happened on the first day of the week, the day of the resurrection of Jesus.   

v Jesus has appeared to the women, and has walked with the disciples to Emmaus and he has revealed himself to them    

v Now he meets his disciples   

o   The disciples are behind closed doors for fear of the Jews

o   Jesus comes in, he does not need to open the doors “Peace to you”  

o   He shows to them his hands to help them to believe   

o   They are overwhelm with joy on seeing him     

o   “I send you”… “as the Father has sent me”… He breathes on them “receive the Holy Spirit.”  

o   For John Jesus on the cross “gave us his Spirit” and now John says that Jesus gives his Spirit breathing on them. John makes great emphasis in making us understand that the Spirit comes to us, to the Church, as the fruit and consequence of the death and resurrection of Jesus.  For John Jesus does not wait until the day of Pentecost as in Luke to give to us the Spirit.   

o   To whom you forgive their sins they will be forgiven; to those you do not forgive they will  be retained. 

o   Thomas is not with them, why? Probably he was discouraged and stopped believing and hoping, he allowed sadness to overcome him…  

o   “We have seen the Lord”  “I cannot believe it, only if I touch his wounds….”   

o   A week later Jesus comes back to visit them again   

§  Peace to you, Thomas put your finger…. put your hand… 

§  My Lord and my God, I believe Lord, how did you know that I needed to touch you in order to believe?   

§  Happy those, Thomas, who have neither seen nor will see, but will keep believing and trusting.    

§  Happy are we if we walk in faith in the company of Jesus, without asking for visions and miracles, only faith sometimes full of light most of the time dark and incomprehensible.  

§  He walks with each one of us, when we see as well as when we do not see Him.   

§  Faith is not about knowing but about love and an unconditional love, that only He can give to us. He can also help us to grow in this love during the journey of our life.   

§ 

CLARETIAN CORNER

John says that Jesus did many more signs, but that they cannot be recorded because they will be too many. The Lord continues to perform signs, but we need eyes to see them.

 Through the last two chapters we have seen how the ecclesial vocation of Paris and Claret has been enfolding and deepening through their lives; how both of them have worked to give back to the Church the face of Christ.  But they did something else; they left their own writings on the Renewal of the Church. María Antonia is the first in doing it and after her Claret. 

From María Antonia herself we know that on June 9, 1856, she handed over to Claret her Plan for the Renewal of the Church,  which she had written in 1855.

On March 18, 1857 Claret received a letter from Queen Isabel II asking him to go immediately to Madrid. On March 28 he travels to La Habana in order to embark for Spain.  He leaves on Easter Sunday, April 12, 1857.  He takes with him the Plan for the Renewal of the Church written by María Antonia.

In a letter from Claret to Currius, dated June 5, 1857, he says that he has with him in Madrid, the Plan for the Renewal of the Church:  

                        "I have with me the two notebooks of the Plan for the Renewal, and besides during the trip to Spain I have written a Plan that with the grace of God has to produce the good results we need. I have given them to the Bishop of Cádiz, who is a man of spirit and zeal, and he has praised it very much, and he says that this is what we really need."

He will publish a Plan in the following months. This Plan is what María Antonia wanted, to restore the beauty or to restore the fervor of the Church.  

We may infer from this letter  that Claret got the idea to write his Notes on the Church, on reading the two notebooks of Maria Antonia’s Plan for the Renewal of the Church, which he carried with him on his trip from Cuba to Spain.  He himself puts them together in a letter to Currius.  Besides,   a week before he had told Caixal, 

                        "I do not know if the Lord has arranged  my coming to the Peninsula in order to plan the great project  of the clergy’s morality… when I was in Cuba, we already began a project with María Antonia, on the ship I have written a Plan…" Two Pens… chapter 3, pg. 69 of the Spanish edition)

BIBLIOGRAPHY

MUÑOZ, Hortensia and TUTZO, Regina, Claretian Missionary Sisters. Two Pens Guided by the Same Spirit, 2010.

SCHÖKEL, Luis Alonso. La Biblia de nuestro Pueblo. Ediciones Mensajero. 2015.