THIRD SUNDAY OF EASTER  – CYCLE C – 2019

The Lord asks us a question and gives us a mandate: Do you love me?   Shepherd, take care of, love… your sisters and brothers.   

FIRST READING  – Acts  5:27-32. 40-41b.

Ø  The apostles are happy because they have been worthy to suffer humiliation  for the sake of the “Name”, that is for Jesus, whom they acknowledge as God.  

Ø  The religious leaders had forbidden them to speak about Jesus, but as the leaders tell them, they have filled Jerusalem with the message about Jesus.   

Ø  The Apostles cannot be silent, they have to proclaim what they have seen and heard. We have also seen, with our inner eyes and ears. Does it happen to us as to them that we cannot be silent? That we need to proclaim with joy, enthusiasm and strength what has happened to us.  Or do we keep it for ourselves?   

Ø  They consider themselves witnesses to the wonders God has made in Jesus. They know that the Holy Spirit is also witness to these things.   

Ø  Let us be courageous and daring witnesses for the world to believe and convert to our Lord. May all of us be able to be converted from our sins, and may us live the strength of our baptism in a renewed world.  

RESPONSORIAL PSALM  Sal 30

I will praise you, Lord, for you have rescued me.
 
I will extol you, O LORD, for you drew me clear
and did not let my enemies rejoice over me.
O LORD, you brought me up from the netherworld;
you preserved me from among those going down into the pit.

I will praise you, Lord, for you have rescued me.
 
 Sing praise to the LORD, you his faithful ones,
and give thanks to his holy name.
For his anger lasts but a moment;
a lifetime, his good will.
At nightfall, weeping enters in,
 but with the dawn, rejoicing.
I will praise you, Lord, for you have rescued me.
 
 
Hear, O LORD, and have pity on me;
O LORD, be my helper.
You changed my mourning into dancing;
O LORD, my God, forever will I give you thanks.
I will praise you, Lord, for you have rescued me

Ø  This psalm invites us to sing, praise, give thanks to the Lord  

Ø  Because he has changed “my mourning into dancing.”     

SECOND READING  Rev. 5:11-14

Ø  The author of the Book of Revelation or Apocalypse, as it is also called, describes a majestic and magnificent scene of the heavenly liturgy.  

Ø  All creatures, he describes them as angels, living beings, old people…  

Ø  All sing aloud and repeat, “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive glory and praise… “

Ø  The creatures on the earth, sea and abyss… the whole universe join their voices to this song.

Ø  What a beautiful picture, and what a wonderful invitation to us, to praise our God!  It is an invitation not so much to sing with our voices but with our whole life, with our deeds. It is an invitation to become a living praise of his glory for the world to believe.   

GOSPEL: Jn 21:1-19

This Gospel has several scenes.  

v  Peter is with some of his friends and decides to go back to his “normal” life, the life he had before encountering Jesus. He says, “I go fishing,” They answer “we too.”  

o   They catch nothing during the whole night. We can see in these words “they caught nothing…” something more than not catching fish; their lives cannot be the same anymore. 

o   The one who has encountered Jesus cannot continue to be the same, because this encounter with the Lord has changed him/her.   

o   If she or he wants to continue with the “normal” life, his or her life will be bare, will not give any fruit, will not catch any fish…  

v  When they come back, Jesus has prepared breakfast for them. They are not too sure that it is Jesus, but they do not ask, as always.  John is the one who knows that it is the Lord.

o   After breakfast Jesus has some questions for Peter  

o   Do you love me more than these? To these questions on his love for the Lord, Peter answers quickly the same to the first two questions, “yes, you know that I love you,” but the third time he hesitates remembering his experience during the Lord’s Passion  “Lord you know everything, you know that I love you.”   

v  Yes, the Lord knows that we love him, in spite of our weaknesses, and thus weak, poor, doubting about  what we are able to do, he sends us to shepherd, care for, love with tenderness and compassion.   

v  He says with power and tenderness “Follow me” His word makes our following possible.  

CLARETIAN CORNER

... the next day… our Lord told me: “My second apostles must be a living copy of the first Apostles, so as to the name as to the work. With the torch of the Gospel in one hand they must enlighten the wiser and ignorant men”. This God told to Fr. Claret and to the Order.  Venerable María Antonia París, Foundress of the Claretian Missionary Sisters.  Autobiography 31.

I learned the catechism so well that whenever I was asked to I could recite it from beginning to end without a mistake. Three of the other boys learned it as well as I had, and the teacher presented us to the pastor, Dr. Joseph Amigo. This good man had the four of us recite the whole catechism on two consecutive Sunday nights. We did it without a single mistake before all the people in the church. As a reward he gave each of us a holy card, which we have treasured ever since. Saint Anthony Mary Claret, Founder of the Claretian Missionary Sisters. Autobiography 23.