Monday, April 19, 2021

  FOURTH SUNDAY OF EASTER  –   2021

«  We continue celebrating the Resurrection of the Lord Jesus.

«  On This fourth Sunday the Church will meditate and pray for vocations. 

«  The Pope says that the vocation comes from the unconditional love of God our creator. He invites us to pass on this message to the new generations. 

«  The readings remind us that Jesus has given his life for us. 

«  He is the corner stone rejected by the builders, as we repeat  in the psalm.    

ALLELUIA! JESUS THE LORD IS RISEN!!!!!!!    

FIRST READING  – Acts  4:8-12

«  Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit speaks to the leaders of his people to explain the miracle which they just have witnessed. They did not do the miracle in their own name, but in the name of Jesus. 

«  He reminds them also that they condemned Jesus to death, but God raised him up.  

«  All these Easter Sundays we hear a refrain, as if it was a background melody: Christ Jesus whom you killed and the Father has raised.    

«  This Jesus is the cornerstone which the builder rejected, and which is now the stone which supports the building, the church.     

«  Peter repeats over and over again “there is no salvation in any other name, but only in the mane of Jesus.

«  It is Jesus who calls and sends us to share our gifts with every man and woman who lives with us in this planet earth, that common house according to the words of Pope Francis.   

Psalm  118:1.8-9,21-23,26,21,29 

The stone which the builders rejected

Has become the cornerstone

Give thanks to the Lord for he is good

For his mercy endures forever

 `     It is better to take refuge in the Lord

Than to trust in man

It is better to take refuge in the Lord

Than to trust in princes.

The stone which the builders rejected

Has become the cornerstone

I will give thanks to you, for you have answered me

And have been my savior

The stone which the builders rejected

Has become the cornerstone.

By the Lord has this been done

It is wonderful in our eyes

The stone which the builders rejected

Has become the cornerstone

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord

We bless you from the house of the Lord

I will give thanks to you, for you have answered me

And has been my savior.

Give thanks to the Lord for he is good

For his kindness endures forever.

The stone which the builders rejected

Has become the cornerstone 

Ø  This is a psalm of thanksgiving and praise for the wonderful works that God has made. 

Ø   In this psalm we find individual and also communal expressions. 

Ø  It seems to be a liturgical psalm.    

Ø  The psalmist gives thanks to God FOR HE IS GOOD, FOR HIS MERCY IS EVERLASTING.  

Ø  For what wonderful work of God in our life, do we want to thank him and sing his mercy toward us?  

SECOND READING : 1 Jn 3:1-2

*      This reading is very short but very rich in meaning.  

*      The author speaks of how great is the love that  the Father has shown to us. 

*      Because he has called us, therefore  we truly are his children.  

*      For this same reason the world does not know us, and does not accept us, as it did neither recognize nor accept Him as Father.   

*      We already are God’s children. 

*      But all of this is like in a shadow; we cannot see him clearly. 

*      When he appears, we will be like him and we will see him as he is.  

*      “When he appears” may be a reference to the second coming of the Lord or to the encounter of each one of us with him at the end of our earthly journey.

*       Today it is a day to pray for vocations to the priesthood, diaconate and religious life. (I invite you to read the message of Pope Francis for the day of prayer for vocations, which you will find in the Vatican web.)   

GOSPEL OF JOHN 10:11-18

«  The reading for this coming Sunday is taken from the speech of Jesus on the Good Shepherd.   

«  In the first part, which we will not read today,  Jesus speaks of the gate for the sheep.

«  In the second part he says “I am the good shepherd” 

«  And he continues saying what to be a good shepherd means: 

o   The good shepherd gives his life for the sheep. This is precisely what Jesus has done; so much great is his love for us, his sheep. Like the good shepherd who lies down at the entrance of the  gate becoming himself the gate, to protect the sheep from the wolf, because the  sheepfold did not had a gate to protect the flock.    

o   The next two verses describe the difference between the mercenary and the shepherd.  

o   He says again “I am the good shepherd” 

o   The Good Shepherd defends the sheep and gives his life for them  

o   He knows his sheep; the sheep know him.  

o   Let us reflect on the biblical meaning of the verb “to know”

§  To know someone is not only to know intellectually    

§  In this knowing the mind, the heart, the passion, the feelings, the will, the imagination and the body   are involved. 

§  This verb is used when the bible speaks about the deep love and relationship in marital life

o   The sheep have an intimate and deep relationship with their shepherd Jesus; very similar to the relationship between the Father and his Son (Jesus) 

o   As a consequence of this knowledge, this intimate love between Jesus and his sheep, He gives his life so that they may have abundant life.    

o   What a wonderful image! Our shepherd invites us to enter into the deep intimacy which he has with the Father in the Trinity.  

o   For this he has died, he is risen and he has ascended into heaven taking us with him, as a warrior takes the spoils of war with him.   

o   THANK YOU GOOD SHEPHERD!    

«  In the next section Jesus says that he has other sheep which do not belong to the same fold. 

o   These are all our brothers and sisters who do not know yet our Shepherd, they are not yet part of the flock. 

o   But the Good Shepherd has to find them, and they will listen to his voice 

o   The voice of the Shepherd, it does not mean only a voice heard with our ears. It is the voice which resonates in our heart, and which leads us to the knowledge of the Shepherd.    

o   In the same way as the human love between a man and a woman.  It begins with an external attraction between the two of them, and as they relate to each other this attraction leads to the intimate knowledge between them.    

o   All the sheep that hear, listen to and know the Shepherd form one flock, because the knowledge of the Shepherd, his voice resonates in their most inner being, and bonds us to the Shepherd and among ourselves. We are strangers no more, we are enemies no longer, we are BROTHERS AND SISTERS OF THE RISEN LORD AND AMONG OURSELVES.  

«   Jesus tells something that makes us wonder: The Father loves him because he gives his life to get it back again.  

«  Nobody takes his life from him; He himself gives it because he has the power to give it and to take it back. He is the Lord.  

«  This is the mission he has received from the Father.   

«  We have a long way in front of us, as followers of Jesus, our Teacher and Shepherd.  

o   The openness of our heart, to seek, with him, the sheep who are not yet with the Shepherd and with us

o   The welcoming so that they feel part of our faith family.   

o   This openness and welcoming cannot have any limits caused by resentments, vengeance, judgments on the life of our brothers and sisters who are not yet with us.  

o   The joy experienced when a brother or a sister comes back or comes for the first time to our family.   

o   Each one of us may look into his or her own heart to discover the doors closed so often by our vindictive justice. 

o   Each one of us needs to work in a close relationship with our Shepherd to learn how to give life, like he has given his life for the lost sheep, which all of us are.   

o   The reality is that each one enters into the flock at our own pace, time and process. Who welcomes us is the Shepherd who invites all of us to be also welcoming of those who have not yet begin the journey or are at the beginning or at any other moment of their journey.  

CLARETIAN CORNER

 J.M.J

To Rev. M. Antonia de S. Pedro

Madrid, December 2  1864

My dear Mother in J.C.: I have received your kind letter from the 18th of the present month, and in response I have to tell you that I am glad for the hope that the Diocese of Tarragona has given to you, to establish there a house.

            I do not understand why you interpreted in a negative way my silence, when there is not any reason for this.

            I did not have anything especial to write about, and thus I would have considered a loss of time, which I need so much for so many things; I have given exercises to diverse groups of Nuns, Sisters and the day before yesterday I arrived at the Escorial where I gave the spiritual exercises to all, those who live in the Monastery are many and they give great hope for our project[1]. I ask Jesus many times every day, to let me know what he wants me to do in relation with our projects; because I am ready to work and to die for his love. Several times He has said to me internally that it is not yet the time, I have consulted with zealous persons of my entire trust and they say the same. I understand that before building the ground has to be cleaned […] meanwhile  young people are being prepared in knowledge and virtue, because the others are too rotten and  we can count very little  on them ; however, we try to make the best of the good that might still exist, so that they might be able to keep  the fruit made by the Missionaries, at this end I have published the booklet The Common Life. 

            We are offering good books to the people, since we cannot send yet missionaries, and to this end I have written the Rules for the Public Libraries, which all like them very much. These libraries are spreading marvelously, even in the Army,  so that the soldiers may have good books to read, instead of bad books. It is a blessing from God.

            I wish to you and to all the Sisters very happy feasts of the birth of the Child Jesus; this past night I have had  the Pontifical Mass in the Chapel of the  Adoration Sisters. I have preached to them and I have made them realize how Jesus from the manger teaches us the perfect Christian life… Letters from the Origins. Letter 233 from  Anthony Mary Claret to Mother M. Antonia Paris.      

BIBLIOGRAPHY

FLOR SERRANO, Gonzalo. Los Salmos en Comentario al Antiguo Testamento II. La Casa de la Biblia 1997.

RAVASI, Gianfranco. Según las Escrituras. Año B. Ediciones San Pablo. Bogotá 2005.

RELIGIOSAS DE MARÍA INMACULADA MISIONERAS CLARETIANAS, Cartas de los Orígenes. Madrid 2009.  

SCHÖKEL, Luis Alonso. Comentarios en la BIBLIA DE NUESTRO PUEBLO. Ediciones Mensajero. China 2010



[1] The project he is referring is the Renewal of the Church designed some time before by Mother Antonia…

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