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.