VI SUNDAY OF EASTER – CYCLE A - 2020

It is almost the end of the Easter season. Let us review the message given by the Gospels during these six Sundays of Easter before the Ascension of the Lord. 

·       On Easter Sunday we contemplated Peter and John going to the tomb and,  on seeing the burial cloths John believed.

·       On the second Sunday we saw the goodness and tender love of Jesus in his dialogue with Thomas, and with the other apostles, and we heard the Lord saying  that those who believe without seeing are blessed.  

·       On the third Sunday we read about the two disciples on their way to Emmaus and how Jesus joined them in their journey. The Lord continues to journey with each one of us.  

·       On the fourth Sunday Jesus said that he is the good Shepherd and the door of the sheep.  

·       On the fifth and Sixth Sundays the Gospels are taken from the conversation of Jesus with his disciples in the Last  Supper: 

·       Fifth Sunday:

-        Heaven is like a house with many rooms, one for each one 

-        Jesus is the way, the truth and the life to get to this “house” 

-        Jesus is the image of God the Father, the sacrament of the Father as we read in the document Lumen Gentium of the Council  Vatican II.  

-        And Jesus tells us that he/she who believes in Him will do greater works than him, because He goes to the Father.  

·       Sixth Sunday:   

-        The promise of the Holy Spirit 

-        We are in Christ   

FIRST READING  – Acts  8:5-8; 14-17

Ø   Last Sunday we heard that, as the community of the church was growing, they had to create more ministries, and thus the diaconate was established for the first time in the Church.  Deacons were to devote themselves to serve the needs of the Church.  This ministry has experienced changes and evolved through history.

Ø  Today Philip, one of the deacons that had been chosen by the community to serve the needs of the widows and other persons in need, goes to Samaria to bring there the Good News.  

Ø  They were suffering persecution for their faith in Jesus, and Paul was more and more against the new faith of the followers of Jesus

Ø  Following what the Lord had told them, they went from one place to another to protect themselves from the persecution, and on so doing they also proclaimed in the different places the good news of Jesus. 

Ø  The Samaritans who  listened to Philip proclaiming the Good News about Jesus, accepted the faith and were baptized.   

Ø  When the news reached the Apostles, they sent Peter and John to Samaria. 

Ø  And impose hands upon them so they could  receive the Holy Spirit.  

Ø  This is a beautiful image of the infant church, they take advantage of all situations to announce. The persecution is the occasion to announce the good news to other brothers and sisters. 

Ø  This young and little church makes real the mandate of Jesus “go, proclaim, baptize, teach” what? All that I have taught you.

Ø  And what has he taught   by words and deeds? That God is love, and that we are called to love, since we are the image of our Creator who knows only to love without conditions. To this we are called, and this is what we have to announce by words and deeds.

Ø  Is our enthusiasm for the Lord, like that of this young church? That we do not waste any occasion to live up to this mandate of the Lord, not so much by our words but by our life that cries out that the Lord is alive, and in encountering him in the community every Sunday, our life keeps changing? 

 RESPONSORIAL PSALM. Ps 66: 1-7.16.20.

R. (1) Let all the earth cry out to God with joy.
 Shout joyfully to God, all the earth,
sing praise to the glory of his name;
proclaim his glorious praise.
Say to God, "How tremendous are your deeds!"
R. Let all the earth cry out to God with joy.
 "Let all on earth worship and sing praise to you,
sing praise to your name!"
Come and see the works of God,
his tremendous deeds among the children of Adam.
R. Let all the earth cry out to God with joy.
 He has changed the sea into dry land;
through the river they passed on foot;
therefore let us rejoice in him.
He rules by his might forever.
R. Let all the earth cry out to God with joy.
 Hear now, all you who fear God, while I declare
what he has done for me.
Blessed be God who refused me not
my prayer or his kindness!
R. Let all the earth cry out to God with joy.

     This psalm is an invitation to sing the wonderful Works of God 

     What works?

Ø  Creation 

Ø  Exodus, liberation: he has changed the sea in dry land 

Ø  The Psalmist invites us to listen to what God has done for him  

Ø  What has God done in my life?  Let each one of us dedicate some time in solitude and silent prayer with the Lord thinking about the wonderful works that the Lord has done in our  life.   

SECOND READING  – 1Pt 3:15-18

ü  Peter invites us to have Christ as the Lord of our heart, the Lord of our life.     

ü  He also says that we have to be ready to give an account of our faith when we are asked. This means that we have to know what we believe, to have ownership of the faith we have received from our ancestors.  

ü  Peter tells us also that it is better to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.  

ü  Because Jesus who was innocent suffered for us sinners.  

ü  He was condemned to death, but God brought him to life again by the Spirit

ü  How do I react to the unjust suffering in my life? When I suffer without having done the evil I am accused of?  

GOSPEL   Jn 14,15-21

     Jesus says to his disciples “if you love me, you will keep my commandments” 

     What are his commandments? In the Last Supper he said that he has only commandment “love one another…” but to learn how to make real this commandment in our life, we have to look at Jesus, his life, his ministry, the way he relates to other persons, because Jesus is the new Law that has come  to fulfill the Old Covenant, the Law given on Mount Sinai.  

     If we live according to his commandments Jesus will ask the Father for another advocate who will always be with us.   

     Why only with those who live according to his commandments who believe in Him? I have read something that may help us to answer this question:  

ü  The Spirit is the anointing that Jesus receives as Head of the body which is the Church 

ü  From Him, Head, the Spirit overflows as a sacred ointment over his whole body, the Church. 

ü  This Spirit that Jesus pours over his whole Church makes possible, the life, the faith and the ministries of the community of believers.  

ü  I think that this can be the explanation to what Jesus says that He will ask for the Spirit for those who keep his commandments.  

ü  That is to say to those who are united with Him the head of the body.  

     In silent prayer, united to Jesus, let us ask the grace to understand this beautiful image of Christ head of the Church-faith community- body.  

     The reading ends with these words of Jesus 

·       He who loves Jesus, will be loved by the Father  

·       Jesus too will love him/her and will reveal himself to him/her   in the intimacy of love.  

CLARETIAN CORNER

  

 After her Initial Experience, María Antonia goes through a normal process of deepening in the understanding of what the Lord had revealed to her.  Little by little she learns that the Renewal is not only about the New Order, but also about something larger and deeper; it is the whole Church that has to be renewed, converted and   returned to her first love. And in the Church, two groups of persons have a greater responsibility: the Hierarchy and the Religious men and women, because the conversion of the people of God depends on their conversion. Thus María Antonia writes this Plan to contribute, for her part, to the Renewal of the Church which she has understood as a must in the Initial Experience.  Let us see how she conceives it and how she translates it later on in the Plan for the Renewal.  (Two Pens Moved by the Same Spirit, Spanish edition pp.73-74)

This is the title of the second edition in 1865,   Claret edited    with notes and explanations, the first edition which he had composed on the ship on his return to Spain in 1857.   This is the edition we will transcribe in our book.  It has a simpler and more discrete title than the original one.  “Notes Of a Plan To Keep The Beauty Of The Church And To Preserve Her From Error And Vices, Which Are The Weed That The Enemy Takes Advantage of Any Opportunity To Sow It Among The Good Wheat.” 

Both titles are not too good for advertisement… but it gives us an idea about the goal of the writing.  They are Notes and thus we are going to find in them a simple style, but at the same time with a sound theological foundation.  These notes are at the same time a Plan written with a purpose, which is expressed in the title by two verbs: to keep and to preserve the beauty of the Church. (Two Pens Moved by the Same Spirit, Spanish edition pp.100-101)

BIBLIOGRAPHY

MUÑOZ, Hortensia & TUTZO, Regina Misioneras Claretianas. Two Pens Moved by the Same Spirit. 2010

SCHÖKEL, Luis Alonso, La Biblia de nuestro Pueblo.

Midwest Theological Forum. DAILY ROMAN MISSAL