THIRD SUNDAY OF EASTER – 2021
«
We continue
celebrating with joy the resurrection of Jesus.
«
In the first
reading Peter addresses the people and tells them that they rejected life and chose
death.
«
John in his
letter says that we know that we are in Jesus when we fulfill the commandments.
«
And in the Gospel
Jesus comes amid his own to strengthen their weak faith.
FIRST READING – Acts 3: 13-15.17-19
«
Peter and John go
up to the Temple on a regular day for the official evening worship and they see
a paralytic that asks them for alms. They gave him what they have that is the
power of the risen Jesus that heals the man.
o
In today’s reading Peter reminds his audience
how the God of Abraham… has glorified his servant Jesus.
o
Whom they denied asking freedom for a
criminal.
o
He says clearly
how they killed the Prince of life, but God has raised Him up.
o
Yes, God has
raised Him from death, and he adds “we are witnesses to this”
§
Are we witnesses
of the resurrection, of the new life, with our life also new and transformed after
we have encountered the Risen Lord?
§
Do we really
believe in the resurrection of Jesus and in our Resurrection?
o
Peter continues saying that he knows that they
acted in such a way by ignorance.
o He invites them to convert and to repent to have their sins forgiven.
RESPONSORIAL PSALM: Ps 4:2.4.7-8.9
R. Lord, let your face shine on us.
When
I call, answer me, O my just God,
you who relieve me when I am
in distress;
have pity on me, and hear my
prayer!
R. Lord, let your
face shine on us.
Know that
the LORD does wonders for his faithful one;
the LORD will hear me when I
call upon him.
R. Lord, let your
face shine on us.
O LORD,
let the light of your countenance shine upon us!
You put gladness into my
heart.
R. Lord, let your
face shine on us.
As soon as I lie down, I fall peacefully asleep,
for you alone, O LORD,
bring security to my dwelling.
R. Lord,
let your face shine on us..
Ø The tone of this psalm is of complete trust in God because, “I have had the experience that he answers me when I call.”
Ø
The theme of the
psalm coincides with the Easter celebration, God, the Father has liberated
Jesus from death, he has raised him up to new life.
Ø
Some of the
verses of this psalm have an extraordinary beauty, through them the person who
prays manifests his trust in God: “You have put joy into my heart.”
SECOND READING 1 Jn 2:1-5
«
Let us
contemplate some aspects of this letter:
o
The letter is
addressed to a community of Asia Minor, of disciples of John. His members
belong to the second and third Christian generation.
o
They are new Christians,
their behavior is based on the witnesses who saw, heard and touched the Word of
life.
o
They are faced
with a heresy about Jesus: devaluation
of the historical Jesus and of the redemption in his blood.
o
The author helps
his brothers and sisters in the following way:
§
He reminds the
community the demands of Christian life.
§
Discernment
between what is to be a Christian and being a fraud.
§
He offers some criteria
to make this discernment.
«
Let us meditate
on the message that this coming Sunday offers to us:
§
John writes to help the addressees of the
letter to keep away from sin.
§
But if we sin, we
have an intercessor Jesus Christ, the Just One.
§
John says that we
will be sure that we know the Lord if we keep his commandments. This knowledge is
not only intellectual but through our life in love.
§ We live a life in love when we are faithful to his commandments, when we are faithful to the new covenant in his blood, when we are faithful to the only commandment Jesus has given us.
GOSPEL OF LUKE 24:35-48
I want to share with you a commentary I have read in a French booklet. Here below I put the translation
When Jesus comes amid his eleven Apostles,
they are afraid because they think it is a ghost. They did not expect to see
him alive; they do not dare to believe it is he; indeed, who can come back from
death? The Risen Lord must overcome their incredulity and open their heart to
his new way of presence. He shows them his crucified hands and feet, he eats in
front of them and he explains the Scriptures to them. It is truly Jesus of
Nazareth, the one they knew and loved; but he is different, so transformed that
they cannot recognize him.
After his resurrection Jesus lives a
new life, new in his whole humanity. God, the Father, makes him live again with
his own life that goes beyond our experiences and expectations. Easter is an
event without precedent. It is the unexpected apparition of the new world where
death has no strength and life reaches a fullness that no one can imagine. Thus,
only faith, this second sight, will allow his disciples to recognize and
encounter the Risen Lord.
Thanks to his testimony, we believe that Jesus is always our contemporary, who journeys with us through our ways so many times torturous and dark. What the living God has made in the Crucified Lord, he does as well for each one of us. (Normand Provencher).
CLARETIAN CORNER
Triune and One God Father, Son and Holy Spirit, I beg you to enlighten me with you infinite wisdom, so I can know You and know me, and may know also all you want me to do, to serve you and to love you with all the perfection that is possible in this life with your divine favor; teach me my God, all that is good for the whole family you entrusted to me, and for each one of my beloved sisters; please enlighten them all so that they may know all you want from each one of them, so that we may be docile and not opposed to your divine inspirations and most holy will. (Venerable María Antonia París, Foundress of the Claretian Missionary Sisters, fragment of the Morning Prayer)
"What is
lacking then, my Mother? Would you perhaps avail yourself of some instrument
with which to remedy so great an evil? Here is one who however vile and
contemptible he knows himself to be, is yet assured that he will serve the
better for this end, since your power will shine forth all the brighter, and
all will see that it is you who are at work, not I. Come now, loving Mother,
let us lose no time. Here I am: dispose of me as you will, for you know that I
am wholly yours. I trust that you will do this out of your great kindness,
pity, and mercy, and I ask you this through the love you bear for the Father,
Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen."(Saint Anthony Mary Claret,
Founder of the Claretian Missionary Sisters, Autobiography 156.)
BIBLIOGRAPHY
CLARET, S.
Antonio María , Autobiografía.
PARIS, Ven.
María Antonia, Orar con Cristo orando (Oraciones Claretianas). Roma 2004
PROVENCHER, Normad, « Vainqueur
de la mort et de l’incrédulité ». Prions en Église, edition mensuelle vol.
33 Nº 4.
No comments:
Post a Comment