THIRD SUNDAY OF EASTER  –  C – 2022

Ø  The Lords offers to Peter the opportunity to reverse his  three denials. ¿Do you lo e me?

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

THE BOOK OF ACTS

·         The book of the Acts of the Apostles is the second volume of Luke’s work.  Luc’s work has two books, one the Gospel that narrates Jesus life and ministry and the second speaks of the Church. 

·         Luke wants us to understand that the salvation promised to Israel in the Old Testament has been fulfilled by Jesus and through the guidance of the Holy Spirit it has spread to the gentiles also.

·         Those who brought the good news of salvation to the gentiles were the apostles, the 12, that Jesus prepared during his ministry among us. 

·         Jesus sents them after his resurrection telling them “go into the whole world…” This same mission is entrusted to each one of us through our baptism.     

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.

Ø   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.” 

Ø  Because the Lord has saved me.    

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 recalling  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.  

v  I have read in a commentary some questions that might be helpful for our prayer   where do I find in my life the disciple that Jesus loved?

Who helps me to see that “it is the Lord!”  

CLARETIAN CORNER

From today on I will share with you about the life and spiritual journey of one of our sisters, who died very young before her 19^th birthday. Those who knew her saw always in her something special, her beatification cause has already been introduced. 

  

MARIA DEL CARMEN ALBARRACÍN (called TERESITA ALBARRACÍN OF JAMES THE …. Sin her novitiate) She was born on May 1st, 1927, in Puerto Mazarrón of the Province of Murcia in Spain.   Her father was a hardworking and enterprising man, planning and executing various engineering projects related to mines,  honest, compassionate, always ready to help whoever needed something, great admirer of Jesus but not of the ministers of the church. He died shortly after the end of the Spanish civil war. Her mother, a woman of a great piety which she tried to instill in all her children, was also very compassionate and ready to help everyone in need.   She was number 6 among her nine children of her parents.    The childhood of Maria del Carmen, like that of all the children of her age in Spain were affected by the terrible experience of the war, she was 9 years old when the civil war began.  The death of her father before she was forteen years old deeply affected her and all that knew her then coincide in saying that the death of her father was the cause of a profound encounter with the Lord.   . (Positio super virtutibus pp. 51-58)

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Congregatio de Causis Sanctorum, Mariae Teresiae, Positio super virtutibus.

Conferencia de Obispos de España, Sagrada Biblia, versión oficial 2012