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.
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.
§
|
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.
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