THIRD SUNDAY OF EASTER – CYCLE A - 2020

 INTRODUCTION

Ø  On the third Sunday of Easter the liturgy, through the readings, invites us to see how a follower of Jesus lives the resurrection. We will have two readings from Luke, one from Acts, and the other from the Gospel. 

Ø  Raymond Brown in his book A Risen Christ in Easter Time, explains that Luke puts the two volumes of his work within a geographical framework.

o   The narrative begins in the Temple of Jerusalem (Lk 1:5-8.  When Zechariah, John Baptist’s father offered the incense) and the narrative ends in Rome (Acts 28:28) with an evangelization oriented towards the gentiles.   

o   The connection between both, the story of Jesus of Nazareth and the story of the Holy Spirit who guides the Church is “all the things that have happened in Jerusalem” which are the passion, death, resurrection and sending of the Holy Spirit.    

§  The passion and death  Lk 22-23  are narrated in the first volume  of Luke’s work: the Gospel 

§  The sending of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2) is found in the second volume of the work: The Acts of the Apostles. 

§  But the resurrection, being so central for our faith, is narrated twice. We find the  apparitions of the Risen Lord at the end of the Gospel and at the beginning of the Acts. (Lk 24;  Acts 1:3-9)   

o   The Gospel begins in the Temple of Jerusalem  (1: 5-8) and ends also in the Temple of Jerusalem (24:53)

o    Acts begins in Jerusalem and ends in Rome (28:28); from there the Gospel will be preached to the whole world.

    

In the Old Testament the prophet Isaiah describes how the nations invite one another to go up to Jerusalem to receive instruction from the Lord, because from Zion will come the Law and from Jerusalem the Word of the Lord.  (Is 2:1-3). According to the Work of Luke, the Good News of Jesus begin in Jerusalem and from Jerusalem they   are preached  to whole world.     

FIRST READING  – Acts 2: 14. 22-28

« In the book of Acts we find this text after the coming of the Holy Spirit in Pentecost. 

« However, the liturgy of the Church offers this text on the third Sunday of Easter because, in his proclamation, Peter announces the Paschal Mystery of Christ, which we celebrate during Easter Season. 

« The first verse introduces the proclamation 

« Verses 22-24 are the kerygma or first proclamation of the Gospel of Christ. 

« Peter is presented here as a prophet in the style of the Old Testament prophets. He denounces, “you crucified him” and announces,  “but God raised him up.” 

« Peter tells the people:

o   That Jesus is the gift that God had made to them and that they did not know how to appreciate it

o   That Jesus is the fulfillment of the promises made by God to his people Israel.

« On reading the texts it is consoling to realize that God always fulfills his promises and, that none of us is able to prevent them for being fulfilled, God is always faithful.

« Jesus is the great gift from God, not only to his people but also to the whole human race, but we continue to crucify him in the millions of our brothers and sisters who suffer because of our lack of love, our ambition, our avarice and our indifference. As St Peter puts it “you have crucified him” and we could rephrase this sentence saying: you continue to crucify your brothers and sisters today.

RESPONSORIAL PSALM: Ps 16

R. Lord, you will show us the path of life.or:
 Keep me, O God, for in you I take refuge;
I say to the LORD, "My Lord are you."
O LORD, my allotted portion and my cup,
you it is who hold fast my lot.
R. Lord, you will show us the path of life.or:   
I bless the LORD who counsels me;
even in the night my heart exhorts me.
I set the LORD ever before me;
with him at my right hand I shall not be disturbed.
R. Lord, you will show us the path of life.  
Therefore my heart is glad and my soul rejoices,
my body, too, abides in confidence;
because you will not abandon my soul to the netherworld,
nor will you suffer your faithful one to undergo corruption.
R. Lord, you will show us the path of life.  
You will show me the path to life,
abounding joy in your presence,
the delights at your right hand forever.
R. Lord, you will show us the path of life.
 

Ø  What a beautiful psalm, we perceive in it the trust that its author had and his complete abandonment in the hands of God.

Ø  The liturgy puts these words in the mouth of Jesus

Ø  O, if we had these absolute trust in our God and Father!

Ø  Jesus has taught this during his life

Ø  May we be able to say to God the Father as Jesus did “my heart rests in you.” 

SECOND READING  1Pt 1:17-21

We continue to read the First Letter of Peter, which we began on the Second Sunday of Easter. 

Ø  The Father judges us according to our own behavior.

Ø  Peter invites us to live during our earthly life, as a sojourn in a strange land, remembering that we have been liberated from our old ways of life, not by money, but by the blood of the lamb. 

Ø  During the first Passover celebrated in Egypt before leaving the country; the blood of the lamb  that had been sacrificed, and was going to be eaten during the Passover meal, smeared on the doors, would be a sign for the angel to spare the household members. Peter uses this image to remind us that the true lamb whose blood saves and redeems us is the blood of Christ the true lamb, sacrificed on the cross, and raised from the dead by the Father.

GOSPEL Lk  24,13-35.

     This passage is the image or representation of the journey of faith of a disciple of Jesus.

     And also of the Eucharistic celebration (Word and Body of the Lord) 

     It describes the journey of faith based on Scriptures, which the Lord clarifies for us on the way   (vv.17; 25-23)

     Journey of faith  that has its ups and downs    (vv. 21-24)

     Their heart was enkindled as the Lord was speaking  to them, but they were not aware of it,  until   the breaking of the bread    (v.33)

     Faithful to the precept of hospitality that God had given in the law, they invited the foreigner to stay for the night since it was already dark. (v.29)

     The action of Jesus together with the fire that had been enkindled in them on the way, through the words of the traveler, prepared their hearts to recognize him in the “breaking of the bread.”  (v.30)

     When the man on the road joined them, they were tired and sad; now after discovering that the man on the road was Jesus, the same Jesus whom the women had seen they got the strength to go back to Jerusalem.

      When they arrived, all the others told them that the Lord was risen indeed, because Peter had seen him. 

     Let us reflect and meditate: 

o   When we come to the Eucharistic Celebration, do we allow the Lord to enkindle our heart with his love?   

o   Do we listen to his Word with the same attention that we had the first time we listen to it?    

o   Do we receive the Bread of the Eucharist, his body and blood, with the same enthusiasm and joy of the first time?

o   Do we ask the Lord to explain to us the meaning of what is going on in our life, in our family, in our community, in our society, in our world?  Do we listen to what he says?

Rev. Dionisio González, in a letter to S. Anthony M. Claret written from Cuba on July 31st 1858 says,

                        I write to your Excellency about the sisters’ business, on which occasion I have read again very carefully the Plan for the Renewal. I like it very much, and it is clear that they address the main problem. On reading it again, and on thinking about those written by your Excellency for the Bishops,  I realize that Maria Antonia’s Plan prepares the ground to accomplish the Renewal proposed in yours  in such a way that on comparing them,  I think that a same spirit is guiding both pens.

Rev. Dionisio considers that María Antonia’s Plan prepares the way to realize the Renewal proposed by Claret. He expresses this with a very beautiful comparison: a same spirit has guided both pens. 

In the correspondence between Claret, Currius, D. Dionisio González and María Antonia, whenever we find the phrases our Project, the main goal or our main purpose,    they are speaking about the Renewal of the Church, with which they identify and to which they commit  themselves.    

BIBLIOGRAPHY

BROWN, Raymond, A Risen Christ in Easter Time.

MUÑOZ, Hortensia & TUTZO, Regina Claretian Missionary Sisters. Two Pens Guided by the Same Spirit. 2010

SECOND SUNDAY OF EASTER – CYCLE A – 2020

Ø  We have celebrated during the whole week, the joy of the resurrection of our  Lord Jesus.

Ø  This second Sunday used to be called in the ancient tradition of the Church  “Sunday in Albis”, in this Sunday the newly baptized participated in the liturgy wearing their white robe, received in Baptism,  for the last time.      

Ø  Now, this Sunday is called  Divine Mercy Sunday, but in reality we are called to celebrate every day  the mercy of our God.   

FIRST READING

Acts of the Apostles  

·       This book was written by Luke as the second volume of his work: Gospel and Acts – Jesus de Word of God made flesh (Gospel) and the Risen Lord Jesus present in his body the Church (Acts).   

·       The first chapters narrate the events of the first community of followers of Jesus of Nazareth. The rest of the chapters are dedicated to the missionary action of the apostles, the church, in a very especial way of Paul.   

·       In today’s reading, Luke explains how the first community of brothers and sisters lived its faith.  

Acts 2:42-47

Ø  How do the first followers lived their faith?  

o   They listen to the teaching of the Apostles   

o   They live in community   

o   They break the bread and pray   

o   This seems to be a description of our liturgical assemblies in which  

§  We read the Scriptures – the teaching of the Apostles    

§  We celebrate the Eucharist – the bread (the Body) and the wine (the blood) of the Lord – the breaking of the bread (the Mass).   

§  And we pray in community – common life.   

o   That community of brothers and sisters does something more, they share their goods, they put them in common  

§  The church of all times has dreamed to continue to make real in practice this sharing of goods  

§  Some groups have done and do it literally – the monks and the religious and some other small groups of lay persons.  

§  Others share some of their goods    

§  The members of the parish community share some of their goods to help those in need.

Ø  Luke says that the people who observed the community were in awe and that everyday some were added to the number of the community. 

 

 RESPONSORIAL PSALM  – Ps 118: 2-4,13-15, 22-24

Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, his love is everlasting.
 Let the house of Israel say,
"His mercy endures forever."
Let the house of Aaron say,
"His mercy endures forever."
Let those who fear the LORD say,
"His mercy endures forever."
R. Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, his love is everlasting.
 I was hard pressed and was falling,
but the LORD helped me.
My strength and my courage is the LORD,
and he has been my savior.
The joyful shout of victory
in the tents of the just:
R. Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, his love is everlasting.
 The stone which the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone.
By the LORD has this been done;
it is wonderful in our eyes.
This is the day the LORD has made;
let us be glad and rejoice in it.
R. Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, his love is everlasting.

v This psalm of thanksgiving seems to be composed of an introduction  vv. 1-4 which we use as the first stanza of the responsorial psalm.  

v After this introduction, which is an invitation to acknowledge that “his mercy is everlasting

v Two hymns follow:   

o   The first vv 5-18 sung in the tents of the just and  

o   The second  vv 19-29 sung in the temple

v In the responsorial psalm after the first stanza we use the second hymn for the rest of the psalm

v As a background music we repeat “his mercy….. is eternal” 

v Maybe it is a good opportunity for all of us to dedicate some time during the week to remember with a joyful and grateful heart, the mercy of the Lord in concrete moments of our life.

v Mercy made visible, made flesh,  in all the persons who take care of the affected by the pandemic of corona virus.  All those who fulfill the necessary services to take care of the sick, persons that we do not see and so many times ignore, quiet and humble services, sometimes even unpleasant, and all of them dangerous for their own life. Nobody can do that if our God and Creator does not give it to her or him. Our Father/Mother God gives to all of us this capacity, to be believers and unbelievers, because we are his creatures made in his image. 

SECOND READING  1 Peter 1:3-9

ü  Peter blesses God the Father of Our Lord Jesus Christ for having given us the living hope; thanks to the resurrection of Jesus Christ form the dead.   

ü  We rejoice in it, even if we have to suffer for our faith  

ü  Toward the end of this fragment Peter says something very beautiful 

o   Although you have not seen him (Jesus) you love Him  

o   Although you do not see him now, you believe in Him   

o   And you rejoice with an indescribable joy while you reach the joy of your faith, your salvation.   

ü  Yes, we have, neither seen him nor see him now, but we love him and trust him and we strive so that this trust be unconditional.   

GOSPEL Jn 20:19-31

v We continue with the events that happened on the first day of the week, the day of the resurrection of Jesus.   

v Jesus has appeared to the women, and has walked with the disciples to Emmaus and he has revealed himself to them    

v Now he meets his disciples   

o   The disciples are behind closed doors for fear of the Jews

o   Jesus comes in, he does not need to open the doors “Peace to you”  

o   He shows to them his hands to help them to believe   

o   They are overwhelm with joy on seeing him     

o   “I send you”… “as the Father has sent me”… He breathes on them “receive the Holy Spirit.”  

o   For John Jesus on the cross “gave us his Spirit” and now John says that Jesus gives his Spirit breathing on them. John makes great emphasis in making us understand that the Spirit comes to us, to the Church, as the fruit and consequence of the death and resurrection of Jesus.  For John Jesus does not wait until the day of Pentecost as in Luke to give to us the Spirit.   

o   To whom you forgive their sins they will be forgiven; to those you do not forgive they will  be retained. 

o   Thomas is not with them, why? Probably he was discouraged and stopped believing and hoping, he allowed sadness to overcome him…  

o   “We have seen the Lord”  “I cannot believe it, only if I touch his wounds….”   

o   A week later Jesus comes back to visit them again   

§  Peace to you, Thomas put your finger…. put your hand… 

§  My Lord and my God, I believe Lord, how did you know that I needed to touch you in order to believe?   

§  Happy those, Thomas, who have neither seen nor will see, but will keep believing and trusting.    

§  Happy are we if we walk in faith in the company of Jesus, without asking for visions and miracles, only faith sometimes full of light most of the time dark and incomprehensible.  

§  He walks with each one of us, when we see as well as when we do not see Him.   

§  Faith is not about knowing but about love and an unconditional love, that only He can give to us. He can also help us to grow in this love during the journey of our life.   

§ 

CLARETIAN CORNER

John says that Jesus did many more signs, but that they cannot be recorded because they will be too many. The Lord continues to perform signs, but we need eyes to see them.

 Through the last two chapters we have seen how the ecclesial vocation of Paris and Claret has been enfolding and deepening through their lives; how both of them have worked to give back to the Church the face of Christ.  But they did something else; they left their own writings on the Renewal of the Church. María Antonia is the first in doing it and after her Claret. 

From María Antonia herself we know that on June 9, 1856, she handed over to Claret her Plan for the Renewal of the Church,  which she had written in 1855.

On March 18, 1857 Claret received a letter from Queen Isabel II asking him to go immediately to Madrid. On March 28 he travels to La Habana in order to embark for Spain.  He leaves on Easter Sunday, April 12, 1857.  He takes with him the Plan for the Renewal of the Church written by María Antonia.

In a letter from Claret to Currius, dated June 5, 1857, he says that he has with him in Madrid, the Plan for the Renewal of the Church:  

                        "I have with me the two notebooks of the Plan for the Renewal, and besides during the trip to Spain I have written a Plan that with the grace of God has to produce the good results we need. I have given them to the Bishop of Cádiz, who is a man of spirit and zeal, and he has praised it very much, and he says that this is what we really need."

He will publish a Plan in the following months. This Plan is what María Antonia wanted, to restore the beauty or to restore the fervor of the Church.  

We may infer from this letter  that Claret got the idea to write his Notes on the Church, on reading the two notebooks of Maria Antonia’s Plan for the Renewal of the Church, which he carried with him on his trip from Cuba to Spain.  He himself puts them together in a letter to Currius.  Besides,   a week before he had told Caixal, 

                        "I do not know if the Lord has arranged  my coming to the Peninsula in order to plan the great project  of the clergy’s morality… when I was in Cuba, we already began a project with María Antonia, on the ship I have written a Plan…" Two Pens… chapter 3, pg. 69 of the Spanish edition)

BIBLIOGRAPHY

MUÑOZ, Hortensia and TUTZO, Regina, Claretian Missionary Sisters. Two Pens Guided by the Same Spirit, 2010.

SCHÖKEL, Luis Alonso. La Biblia de nuestro Pueblo. Ediciones Mensajero. 2015.

   EASTER SUNDAY: THE RESURRECTION OF THE LORD JESUS – CYCLE A – 2020

ALLELUIA! CHRIST OUR LOVE AND OUR HOPE IS RISEN!   

 FIRST READING  – Acts  10:34. 37-43

-        Peter is now at the house of the gentile Cornelius.    

-        In his dream, Peter heard a voice telling him to kill and eat from some of those animals who were considered impure by the tradition of Israel. Peter does not understand why he has to eat impure meat. He does not want to eat, he refuses for three times. Then somebody knocks at the door,  they are the people Cornelius has sent to ask Peter to come to his home.

-        Peter enters Cornelius home and answers to his questions about Jesus. Peter  had spoken about Jesus before  to a Jewish audience, but now it is to a  gentile audience. 

-        He explains all that had happened all over Judea about Jesus of Nazareth, beginning in Galilee.   Galilee is home for Jesus and for his disciples. It is the place where they first encounter the Lord and where the preaching about the Kingdom began. After his resurrection, he will summon them to Galilee. 

-        We too need to return to the place of our first encounter with the Lord, it is not a physical returning to a given place, but a spiritual returning where we feel at home with the Lord.  

-        He goes on telling them how Jesus went about doing good, how he had been anointed by the Spirit. 

-        He explains how Jesus was condemned to die on the cross, but God raised him on the third day. 

-        Peter tells Cornelius and his household that whoever believes in Jesus will be granted the forgiveness of sins. 

-        This is the reason for the Incarnation; to reconcile us with the Father forgiving our sins, which he takes on him. Jesus has come to give life to us revealing the Father, but sometimes we, human beings,  do not like that kind of God who is always loving, forgiving, welcoming; because he calls us to do the same. 

-        In this account about Cornelius we see the first fruits of the redemption among the gentiles.    

 Responsorial Psalm Ps 118:1-2, 16-17, 22-23

R. (24) This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad.
 Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good,
for his mercy endures forever.
Let the house of Israel say,
"His mercy endures forever."
R. This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad.
 "The right hand of the LORD has struck with power;
the right hand of the LORD is exalted.
I shall not die, but live,
and declare the works of the LORD."
R. This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad.
 The stone which the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone.
By the LORD has this been done;
it is wonderful in our eyes.
R. This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad.

« This psalm sings the triumph of Jesus our God over death and sin.

« We thank him because he is good

« Because his right hand is powerful

« He is the cornerstone rejected by the builders

SEQUENCE

Christians, to the Paschal Victim Offer your thankful  praises!  A lamb the sheep redeems: Christ who only is sinless Reconcile sinners to the Father. Death and life have contended in that combat stupendous The Prince of life who died reigns immortal. Speak Mary declaring  what you saw wayfaring “The tomb of Christ, who is living. The glory of Jesus’ resurrection,

Bright angels attesting, the shroud and napkin resting Yes, Christ my hope is arisen! To Galilee he goes before you.” Christ indeed from death is risen, our new life obtaining  Have mercy, victor King ever reigning!   Amen, alleluia.

v In the great solemnities, the Church has a sequence, which is recited or sung before de reading of the Gospel. 

v They are masterpieces of poetry and music.

v This was composed on the XI century and three different authors are mentioned.   

v As we read this sequence of Easter, we realize that it tells us the mystery of our redemption.  

v Mary Magdalene is asked about what has she seen on the way 

v She confesses her faith in the resurrection “I have seen the Risen Lord” who invites his own to meet him in Galilee

v Galilee  

o   Concrete geographical place, but also a place in the geography of the spirit. 

o   Place of the first encounter.   

o   They have to go back there to encounter a new the enthusiasm, the joy, the energy and the strength to proclaim what eye has not seen and ear has not heard. 

o   Encounter that will  make them able to proclaim that our God has saved us, that he is in our midst, that he walks with each one of us and will be with us until the end of history. 

o   Galilee, place where Peter will be able to confess his love to his friend and Lord, after having experienced the depth of human misery denying to know the one he loved so much. 

v Yes, let us go back to our Galilee, each one knows what it is, and there we will meet the Risen Lord, our love and our hope.   

GOSPEL – John  20,1-9

-        Mary Magdalene is the first witness of the resurrection.

-        She finds out that the stone has been removed. John does not say that Mary enters into the tomb, but  that,  she ran to inform Peter and the other disciple … about the tomb. 

-        Her word is accepted and Peter with the other disciple start out their way to the tomb. 

-        The other disciple,  which the evangelist identifies as “the beloved disciple, or the disciple who was a dear friend of Jesus.” 

o    This disciple arrives to the tomb before Peter

o   But he does not enter, he waits for Peter who on arriving enters first.  

o   When the beloved disciple can enter, the author of the Gospel says, that he “saw and believed.”  

o   What did he see?  The empty tomb.   

o   What did he believe?  The resurrection    

§  Luis Alonso Schöekel, a Bible scholar, says that more than believe, what the Greek verb  says is that he began to believe. 

§  This belief is still very weak, it is the faith of a beginner, because it rests on the experience of empty tomb, not yet in the word of Jesus.  Our faith has also grown from a very small concrete fact,   later little by little this faith has become adult and strong, there is no more need for concrete material or spiritual experiences, but it is based on faith alone.