«
The first three
Sundays of Easter the liturgy presented to us different manifestations of the
Risen Lord.
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Last Sunday, we
reflected on Jesus as the Good Shepherd.
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From the fifth
Sunday until de Ascension the readings prepare us for the celebration of the
Ascension of the Risen Lord.
FIRST READING – Acts 9: 26-31
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In the Acts of
the Apostles Luke narrates some of the events of the first community.
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But his interest
was not in giving an account of these events, which were already known by the
readers of the book of Acts.
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His interest was
to invite the community as such and each one of the members of the community to
look again to these events but from the perspective of the Lord, allowing the
Holy Spirit to teach them.
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Maybe this can
help all the communities of the Church, all our parishes and groups within them
to look at our history and to discover in it the living presence of the Risen
Lord who has sent his Spirit to lead us.
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But not only the
communities, each one of us in invited to revisit our own life and discover in
the many events that have already happened the presence of the Lord, and thus
discover the real meaning of these events.
«
On the preceding
Sundays we have seen Peter acting, today Luke presents Paul who has returned to
Jerusalem.
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Paul tries to
relate with the other disciples, but they fear him, they do not trust him.
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But among the
disciples there is one who allows the Spirit of Jesus to lead him, and tries to
live the commandment of the Lord “love one another as I have loved you.” This
disciple called Barnabas (Son of consolation) trusts Paul whom he had met in
Damascus.
«
Paul continues to
be the man full of passion for God. Before he persecuted the followers of “the
way” out of zealous love for YHWH the God of Israel, the one and only God. Now his passion is for Christ. He wants to
know Him more and more, and wants others to know and love him too. The Lord had
said to Ananias, the disciple who baptized Paul that he will let Paul know how
much he will have to suffer for the Lord.
«
Paul begins to
suffer the mistrust of his Christian brothers and of his Jewish brothers as
well.
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The Christian
brothers do trust him; the Jewish brothers plan to kill him.
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The last verse of
the reading describe the situation of the first community:
o
They enjoy peace
and this is the environment that will help the church
o
To progress and
increase in number.
o
What kind of
progress does Luke present to us? In the fear of the Lord, that is in the
loving faithfulness to her Lord, as we have seen in the example of Barnabas.
The small church tries t olive the commandment of the Lord “love one another as
I have loved you”
o
The result of
this is the consolation of the Holy Spirit.
o
This consolation
comes from the certainty to be surrounded or engulfed in the loving presence of
the Spirit, although as in a shadow, to be submerged into
the intimate life of the Most Holy Trinity, in the circle of love of the
Three.
Responsorial Psalm. Psalm 22:26-27 28.
30. 31-32
Let
us make a brief meditation on the first and last stanza.
vv. 26-27
§
I will fulfill my
vow in the presence of those who fear the Lord. My behavior will be the manifestation of my faith.
§
The lowly shall
eat their fill. We could say: those who fear the Lord shall
eat their fill. Of what? Of
joy because there are others who are faithful to their
vows.
§
Those who seek
the Lord shall praise him, because they discover his presence in those who are
faithful.
§
The psalmist
invites us “May your hearts be ever merry!”
Why?
§
Because the Lord
is in the midst of his people.
vv. 31-32
§
“My descendants”
who are they?
§
He will serve the
Lord and will speak tell the wonderful deeds of the Lord to the future
generation. He will proclaim his justice to a generation which has not been
born yet.
§
Faith is
transmitted from one generation to the next, from one believer to the next.
Thus faith has come to us from the generations that were before us.
SECOND READING: 1 Jn 3:18-24
John invites his
community to love, not only to talk about love.
The love we have
assures us that we are in the Truth. Let
us remember that Scriptures says that God is Love, and also that God is Truth.
To be in the Truth is to be in God.
Our consolation
when our conscience accuses us is that God knows everything, He knows all about
us.
And on the other
hand, if our conscience does not accuse us, we may be sure that we will get
what we ask for.
What does that
mean? Is it some kind of magic?
No. The answer is
given in the following verse, “because we keep his commandments.”
Is it then a reward?
No. If we are
faithful in keeping the commandments of the Lord it means that we have allowed
the Spirit of the Lord to take possession of our heart. Therefore our thoughts
and feelings are like those of the Lord Jesus and what we ask in prayer is what
Jesus himself would ask. We do not need anything else than what the Lord Jesus
wants. Thus our prayer is heart by the Father as the prayer of Jesus.
GOSPEL
JOHN 15: 1-8
Ø In the Old Testament the people of Israel was called
the “vine of the Lord.”
Ø Jesus says that he is the vine; he is the fulfillment
of what Israel was called to be “the vine of YHWH.”
Ø John describes God the Father as the vine grower who
takes good care of the vine: he prunes away the barren branches and trims the
good ones.
Ø Jesus invites us to live in him as he lives in
us.
Ø He says that we cannot bear fruit apart from him.
Ø John repeats here what we have just read in his first
letter: If you live in me and my words (commandments) stay part of you, you may
ask what you will and it will be done to you.
Ø When we become disciples of Jesus and produce fruit,
the Father is glorified.
Ø These words should fill us with joy and unconditional
trust in our Lord, the Good shepherd, the Vine.
Ø A. Pagola says: The
church will not be able to fulfill its mission in the contemporary world if
those of us who call ourselves Christian do not become disciples of Jesus,
animated by his spirit and his passion for a more humane world.
Ø And Karl Rahner, a great contemporary theologian said
that the Christian and thus have abundant life.
of the future will have to be a mystic or will not be Christian at
all. A mystic is somebody who has
Ø
The gospels we
read during the Easter season invite us to allow our Lord to take possession of
our being and enter into his intimacy, the intimacy of love that Jesus enjoys
in the Most Holy Trinity.
CLARETIAN CORNER
We arrived in the port of Lanzarote on March 29 and we left on May 3.
They treated us with the same love and comfort on the last day as in the first
and they showed a love so great that they offered me a house and promised to do
all the negotiations to found there a monastery, with at least two of us. (The
Lord had done to me this grace of being loved extremely by the person with whom
I have lived.) Blessed be God our Lord who did so for his glory! O, my heavenly
father, you are a true Father and men do not know You! What father more caring
and a mother more compassionate could come more eagerly to care and assist us
in all our needs? No one. Venerable María Antonia París, Foundress of the Claretian
Missionary Sisters. Autobiography 154.
Because,
as I have already said, I was driven to work for God's greater glory and the
salvation of souls, I shall now say something of the means that the Lord showed
me were the best and most fitting to attain that goal.The first means I have
always employed and still do is prayer.
In my opinion, this is the greatest means that can be used for the conversion
of sinners, the perseverance of the just and the relief of the souls in
purgatory. Hence in my meditations, Masses, recitation of the breviary and
other devotions, as well as in my aspirations, I always asked God and the
Blessed Virgin Mary for these three intentions. St. Anthony Mary Claret, Founder of the Claretian Missionary
Sisters.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
CLARET,
Antonio María. Autobiography.
FLOR
SERRANO, Gonzalo. Los Salmos en Comentario al Antiguo Testamento II. La Casa de
la Biblia 1997.
PAGOLA,
JOSE A. Following in the Footsteps of
Jesus. Meditations on the Gospels for Year B. Miami 2011
PARIS,
María Antonia. Autobiography in Escritos(Writings), with
commentaries by Juan Manuel Lozano.
RAVASI,
Gianfranco. Según las Escrituras. Año B(According to the Scriptures. Year B.) Ediciones
San Pablo. Bogotá 2005.
SCHÖKEL,
Luis Alonso. Commentaries in the BIBLIA
DE NUESTRO PUEBLO(The Bible of our People) . Ediciones Mensajero. China 2010
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