SIXTH SUNDAY OF EASTER - A – 2023
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It is almost the end
of the Easter season. Let us review the messages given by the Gospels during
these six Sundays of Easter before the Asension 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 the beautiful gospel about the two disciples on their way to Emmaus
and how Jesus joined them in their journey, and how they recognized Him in
the breaking of the bread. ·
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 on 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”
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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.
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And Jesus tells us
that he/she who beleives 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 dedicate
themselves to serve the needs of the Church. 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 in
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 young 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 little church makes real the mandate of Jesus
“go, proclaim, baptize, teach” what? All that I have taught you. 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 following a process of continual conversion to the Lord and to our brothers and sisters? RESPONSORIAL PSALM - Ps
66:1-3, 4-5, 6-7, 16, 20
R. (1) Let all the earth cry out to
God with joy.
Ø Creation Ø
Exodus, liberation: he has changed the sea in dry
land Ø
The Salmist 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
silent prayer and in solitude with the
Lord and, let us think 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 the Lord
through our ancestors. ü Peter tells us 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 by the Spirit ü How do I react to the injust suffering in my life? When I suffer without having done the evil I am accused GOSPEL Jn 14,15-21
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
beleivers. But the community of believers is greater
than us Catholics, even to the Christian community, I think that each one of
our brothers or sisters who follow the inner law that God has put inside each
person belongs also to the community of believers. I believe we will have a
lot of surprises when we get to heaven. 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.
·
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 O, My Lord
and my God, in what way you are the most loving father and the most faithful
friend! All left us in the hands of unknown people and not even one had the
courage to accompany us, but you my most loving father, carried us on the
palm of your hand! O, who could shout all around the world to say how
faithful you are to your friends! Since you have been so to the one who has
been so great an enemy of yours, and, God grant that she may not continue to
be such after receiving so many delicacies of love! (Venerable María Antonia París, Foundress of
the Claretian Missionary Sisters, 140) On Tuesday, the eighth, I left Vich for Barcelona and
Madrid, where the Papal Nuncio, Msgr. Brunelli, invested me with the pallium
on the thirteenth. I was presented to Her Majesty and the Ministers of State. During the time it took
to arrange all my credentials, I busied myself preaching and hearing confessions
in Madrid. When all was in order I returned to
Catalonia. I arrived in Igualada on October 31 and preached there for All
Saints' Day. The following day I visited Montserrat, where I also preached. Next I went to
Manresa, where Father Mach was conducting an All Souls' Novena. I preached there in the evening, and on the
following morning gave Holy Communion to a large crowd who had heard that I
would be there and so had prepared for it. (St.
Anthony Mary Claret, Founder of the Claretian Missionary Sisters, 500) BIBLIOGRAPHY CLARET, Antonio María. Autobiografía. PARIS, María Antonia. Autobiografía. SCHÖKEL, Luis Alonso, La Biblia de nuestro Pueblo. DAILY ROMAN
MISSAL – Midwest Theological Forum |
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