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.