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. 

PALM SUNDAY – CYCLE A – 2020

« With Palm Sunday we begin Holy Week in which we will celebrate the great mysteries of our faith and  of our redemption 

« The week begins on Palm Sunday and will end on Easter Vigil. 

« The last three days of the week are the Easter Triduum : The last Supper of the Lord, the Death of the Lord and the Easter Vigil which anticipates the glory of the resurrection. 

« Because these faith-anchoring events are historical  they cannot be repeated or “reenacted”

« That is why the church’s long tradition insists that what happened once in history passes over into the mystery of the assembly’s liturgical and sacramental celebrations.  

« These holy days celebrate God’s taking possession of our hearts  at their deepest core, 

« Recreating us as a new human community broken like the bread for the world’s life 

« Community rich in compassion, steadfast in hope, and fearless in the search for justice and peace.

« The readings and the celebration of this Sunday can give strength and hope in the difficult times the whole humanity is immersed.   Time in which we see how many of our brothers and sisters all over the planet are suffering, die, suffer loneliness.   May our hearts and our prayers accompany them as well as the health care community.  

« It is also a time of light, enlightened by the good works and diverse initiatives that the people do in different parts of the world in order to cheer up, alleviate and raise the spirit.  

FIRST READING  – Is 50:4-7

This passage from the prophet Isaiah is part of a series of 4 poems called the Poems of the Servant of Yahweh:   Is 42:1-9; 49:1-6; 50:4-9; 52:13-53:12.

§  This servant can be: 

o   The faithful portion of the people of Israel, called to an especial mission. 

o   The prophet himself

o   In the Christian tradition Jesus is considered to be this faithful servant of God, the Father.

§  Sometimes the description of the servant has so many details that it seems that  they describe Christ’s sufferings and glory 

§  However the prophet does not know Jesus, but since the word of God has different levels of understanding, over the centuries the reflection and meditation of the Church has discovered that these oracles speak of Jesus. 

§  On the second poem of the Servant 

o   The Servant has been given a well-trained tongue that he might know how to speak 

o   Morning after morning his ears are opened   that he may hear. With his tongue he will speak what he hears.  

o   He accepts his mission even being difficult   

o   Because he knows that he will not be put to shame, Yahweh is his teacher. 

RESPONSORIAL PSALM Ps 22

My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?

All who see me scoff at me

They mock me with parted lips, they wag their heads:

“He relied on the Lord; let him deliver him,

Let him rescue him, if the loves him.

Indeed many dogs surround me

A pack of evildoers closes in upon me

They have pierced my hands and my feet

I can count all my bones

They divided my garments among them

And for my vesture they cast lots

But you O Lord, be not far from me

O my help, haste to aid me.

I will proclaim your name to my brethren

In the midst of the assembly I will praise you

“You who fear the Lord praise him

All you descendants of Jacob give glory to him;

Revere him, all you descendants of Israel.”

ü  The first stanzas of this psalm describe the suffering, humiliation and abuse suffered by the faithful servant.

ü  Also his suffering,  feeling his God far away from him, feeling abandoned by him.

ü  The last stanza speaks of light, joy, new life, we could say resurrection. 

 SECOND READING  – Phil 2:6-11

Paul invites his community of Philippi, and he invites us too now, to have the same attitude as Christ Jesus 

     Being in the form of God and equal to God 

     He emptied himself, in the incarnation, to be one like us, in everything except sin. 

     By the incarnation he took the form of a slave, being born in the likeness of man.

     Those who saw him, saw a vulnerable, limited, humble and simple man, full of love and tenderness always welcoming every one. 

     He was obedient as Isaiah’s servant, accepting death and death on a cross. 

     He knew that he would not be put to shame because his trust is in Yahweh,  Jesus

o   Has been exalted because he humbled himself, being obedient to the Father  

o   Thus he has received a name above every other name, He is the Lord 

o   The first communities proclaimed “Jesus is Lord“ and  everything that the Old Testament had said about Yahweh is now applied to Jesus who is our Lord and God

o   Because he is God every knee bends   in adoration before him. 

READING OF THE PASSION ACCORDING TO MATTHEW  – 26,14-27,66. 

There are several scenes in this Gospel 

1.     THE LAST SUPPER, before and during the meal

a.     Before:

                                                    i.      Judas Iscariot, one of Jesus’ disciples, makes a deal with the Jewish authorities to hand Jesus over to them. 

                                                  ii.     Before Judas goes to the authorities, the Gospel tells us that a woman buys a very expensive perfume to anoint Jesus, and Judas considers that this money could have been used to buy food for the poor. 

                                                 iii.     The disciples prepare the room for the Passover meal 

b.     During the supper  

                                                    i.     Jesus sits at table with them 

                                                  ii.     During the Passover meal, which is the celebration of the liberation from Egypt and the Covenant on Mount Sinai, Jesus institutes the Eucharist of his body and blood.    

                                                 iii.     He transforms  the paschal lamb meal in the Eucharistic meal of the true lamb. He does sacramentally  what he will do on the next day, when he will give his life on the cross for us, for our love. 

                                                 iv.     He institutes also the New Covenant which will substitute the Old Covenant made on Mount Sinai. 

c.      In the garden of Gethsemane

                                                    i.     Jesus prays, feels sorrow and distress. 

                                                  ii.     He asks his disciples to be awaken to stay with him because his heart is broken. These are the same disciples who were witnesses of the transfiguration. 

                                                 iii.     He also prays the Father, if it is possible to take away this suffering from him, but the answer from the disciples and also apparently from the Father is silence.  

                                                 iv.     But in some way the Father has answer his prayer and given him strength because he has the energy to meet his friend. 

                                                   v.     Judas leads the group that comes to take him. 

d.     The Religious and Civil  Trials  

                                                    i.     He is taken in front of the Jewish authorities, who look for a reason to condemn him. This humble and simple man is a threat for them. Too many people are following him.

                                                  ii.     He is condemned as blasphemer because he makes himself son of God 

                                                 iii.     They insult and enjoy themselves torturing him. 

                                                 iv.     The trial before the Roman authority, Pilate. He tries by all means to absolve him, but overcome by fear to lose his political position, he sets free a criminal and condemns the author of life and of our salvation. 

e.     His two disciples Peter and Judas 

                                                    i.     While He is interrogated and mistreated by the authorities, Peter, who had said at the last supper that he was ready to  die with Jesus, fears now when a woman accuses him to be one of the followers of Jesus and denies even to know him. 

                                                  ii.     Judas the other disciple, who has never been able to really know the goodness and forgiveness of his teacher, hangs himself out of desperation realizing what he has done led by his ambition. 

f.       The way to Golgotha

                                                    i.     They stripped him of the cloak and dressed him in his own clothes. 

                                                  ii.     They put on his shoulder the cross, instrument of torture and death

                                                 iii.     They press a man from Cyrene to carry the cross for Jesus. Jesus is too weak to be able to carry his cross up to Golgotha. He would have probably died before reaching the place, but the authorities wanted  to kill him on the cross between his companions two criminals. 

1.     Maybe we can imagine the experience of Simon of Cyrene. 

2.     In the movie The Passion, the man from Cyrene goes   through a process of conversion. At the beginning he is reluctant and does not want to carry the cross, but as he walks with that man who does not complain and answers with love to all these mistreatments.  He has not done anything bad.

3.     Certainly Jesus has not done anything wrong, he has taken our place. 

g.      The Death of Jesus  

                                                    i.     After a long agony  Jesus cried out in a loud voice and gave up his spirit.  

                                                  ii.     To give the spirit may simply mean, he died. 

                                                 iii.     But it may also signify that Jesus gives us his spirit. John also uses the same words as Matthew to indicate Jesus’ death and meaning that he gives us the Holy Spirit.  

                                                 iv.     In the gospel of Matthew, Jesus dies alone, some women are looking from a distance,  they are: Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of Zebedee’s sons.    

                                                   v.     To help us to understand the horror of this death, Matthews says that the dead rise from their tombs, the earth is shaken by an earthquake; the sun becomes dark as when it is night. Whenever there is a theophany nature is shaken. We have been able to kill the author of our life, the Creator. In paradise Eve and Adam wanted to be like gods, on Calvary the human race wants to eliminate God to take its place. 

                                                 vi.     At the death of Jesus, the soldiers who are pagans, in contemplating what is happening and the way he has died acknowledge that Jesus was the Son of God. 

                                               vii.     Many of our brothers and sisters die alone, as Jesus on the cross. They are also crucified by COVID 19. We will never know how many beautiful stories of love between each one of them and their Creator. This virus is helping us to rediscover and discover the beauty of love, self-giving, smiling, helping, promoting harmony and peace, give joy to the suffering.

                                              viii.     From the cross, instrument of humiliation and death came the resurrection. From the sickness and death produced by COVID 19 life will flourish again renewed and appreciated, more be