Thursday of the Second Week of Easter
Lectionary: 270
Lectionary: 270
When the court officers had brought the Apostles in
and made them stand before the Sanhedrin,
the high priest questioned them,
"We gave you strict orders did we not,
to stop teaching in that name.
Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching
and want to bring this man's blood upon us."
But Peter and the Apostles said in reply,
"We must obey God rather than men.
The God of our ancestors raised Jesus,
though you had him killed by hanging him on a tree.
God exalted him at his right hand as leader and savior
to grant Israel repentance and forgiveness of sins.
We are witnesses of these things,
as is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey him."
When they heard this,
they became infuriated and wanted to put them to death.
and made them stand before the Sanhedrin,
the high priest questioned them,
"We gave you strict orders did we not,
to stop teaching in that name.
Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching
and want to bring this man's blood upon us."
But Peter and the Apostles said in reply,
"We must obey God rather than men.
The God of our ancestors raised Jesus,
though you had him killed by hanging him on a tree.
God exalted him at his right hand as leader and savior
to grant Israel repentance and forgiveness of sins.
We are witnesses of these things,
as is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey him."
When they heard this,
they became infuriated and wanted to put them to death.
Responsorial
PsalmPS 34:2 AND 9, 17-18,
19-20
R. (7a) The
Lord hears the cry of the poor.
or:
R. Alleluia.
I will bless the LORD at all times;
his praise shall be ever in my mouth.
Taste and see how good the LORD is;
blessed the man who takes refuge in him.
R. The Lord hears the cry of the poor.
or:
R. Alleluia.
The LORD confronts the evildoers,
to destroy remembrance of them from the earth.
When the just cry out, the LORD hears them,
and from all their distress he rescues them.
R. The Lord hears the cry of the poor.
or:
R. Alleluia.
The LORD is close to the brokenhearted;
and those who are crushed in spirit he saves.
Many are the troubles of the just man,
but out of them all the LORD delivers him.
R. The Lord hears the cry of the poor.
or:
R. Alleluia.
or:
R. Alleluia.
I will bless the LORD at all times;
his praise shall be ever in my mouth.
Taste and see how good the LORD is;
blessed the man who takes refuge in him.
R. The Lord hears the cry of the poor.
or:
R. Alleluia.
The LORD confronts the evildoers,
to destroy remembrance of them from the earth.
When the just cry out, the LORD hears them,
and from all their distress he rescues them.
R. The Lord hears the cry of the poor.
or:
R. Alleluia.
The LORD is close to the brokenhearted;
and those who are crushed in spirit he saves.
Many are the troubles of the just man,
but out of them all the LORD delivers him.
R. The Lord hears the cry of the poor.
or:
R. Alleluia.
AlleluiaJN 20:29
R. Alleluia,
alleluia.
You believe in me, Thomas, because you have seen me, says the Lord;
blessed are those who have not seen, but still believe!
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
You believe in me, Thomas, because you have seen me, says the Lord;
blessed are those who have not seen, but still believe!
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
GospelJN 3:31-36
The one who comes from above is above all.
The one who is of the earth is earthly and speaks of earthly things.
But the one who comes from heaven is above all.
He testifies to what he has seen and heard,
but no one accepts his testimony.
Whoever does accept his testimony certifies that God is trustworthy.
For the one whom God sent speaks the words of God.
He does not ration his gift of the Spirit.
The Father loves the Son and has given everything over to him.
Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life,
but whoever disobeys the Son will not see life,
but the wrath of God remains upon him.
The one who is of the earth is earthly and speaks of earthly things.
But the one who comes from heaven is above all.
He testifies to what he has seen and heard,
but no one accepts his testimony.
Whoever does accept his testimony certifies that God is trustworthy.
For the one whom God sent speaks the words of God.
He does not ration his gift of the Spirit.
The Father loves the Son and has given everything over to him.
Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life,
but whoever disobeys the Son will not see life,
but the wrath of God remains upon him.
Meditation: "He who believes in the
Son has eternal life"
Do you hunger for the true and abundant life which God
offers through the gift of his Holy Spirit? The Jews understood that God gave a
certain portion of his Spirit to his prophets. When Elijah was about to depart
for heaven, his servant Elisha asked for a double portion of the Spirit which
Elijah had received from God (2
Kings 2:9).
The Holy Spirit opens our minds to understand God's
word of truth
Jesus tells his disciples that they can believe the words he speaks because God the Father has anointed him by pouring out his Spirit on him in full measure, without keeping anything back. The function of the Holy Spirit is to reveal God's truth to us. Jesus declared that "when the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth" (John 16:13). When we receive the Holy Spirit he opens our hearts and minds to recognize and understand God's word of truth.
Jesus tells his disciples that they can believe the words he speaks because God the Father has anointed him by pouring out his Spirit on him in full measure, without keeping anything back. The function of the Holy Spirit is to reveal God's truth to us. Jesus declared that "when the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth" (John 16:13). When we receive the Holy Spirit he opens our hearts and minds to recognize and understand God's word of truth.
Saint Augustine of Hippo (354-430 AD) said, "I
believe in order to understand; and I understand the better to believe."
Faith opens our minds and hearts to receive God's word of truth and to obey it
willingly. Do you believe God's word and receive it as if your life depended on
it?
God gives us the freedom to accept or reject what he
says is true. But with that freedom also comes a responsibility to recognize the
consequences of the choice we make - either to believe what he has spoken to us
through his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, or to ignore, reject, and chose our own
way apart from God. Our choices will either lead us on the path of abundant
life and union with God, or the path that leads to spiritual death and
separation from God.
Love the Lord, cling to him, and you will have life
God issued a choice and a challenge to the people of the Old Covenant: "See I have set before you this day life and good, death and evil. ...I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse; therefore choose life, that you may live, loving the Lord your God, obeying his voice, and cleaving to him" (Deuteronomy 30:15-20). And God issues the same challenge to the people of the New Covenant today. Do you weigh the consequences of your choices? Do the choices you make lead you towards life or death - blessing or cursing?
God issued a choice and a challenge to the people of the Old Covenant: "See I have set before you this day life and good, death and evil. ...I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse; therefore choose life, that you may live, loving the Lord your God, obeying his voice, and cleaving to him" (Deuteronomy 30:15-20). And God issues the same challenge to the people of the New Covenant today. Do you weigh the consequences of your choices? Do the choices you make lead you towards life or death - blessing or cursing?
If you choose to obey God's voice and to do his will,
then you will know and experience that abundant life which comes from God
himself. If you choose to follow your own way apart from God and his will, then
you choose for death – a spiritual death which poisons and kills the heart and
soul until there is nothing left but an empty person devoid of love, truth,
goodness, purity, peace, and joy. Do your choices lead you towards God or away
from God?
"Lord Jesus Christ, let your Holy Spirit fill me
and transform my heart and mind that I may choose life - the abundant life you
offer to those who trust in you. Give me courage to always choose what is good,
true, and just and to reject whatever is false, foolish, and contrary to your
holy will."
Daily Quote from the early church fathers: Always bless the Lord! by Augustine
of Hippo, 354-430 A.D.
"When are you to 'bless the Lord?' When he
showers blessings on you? When earthly goods are plentiful? When you have a
plethora of grain, oil, wine, gold, silver... - while your mortal body remains
healthy, uninjured and free from disease; while everything that is born on your
estate is growing well, and nothing is snatched away by untimely death; while
every kind of happiness floods your home and you have all you want in
profusion? Is it only then that you are to bless the Lord? No, but 'at all
times.' So you are to bless him equally when from time to time, or because the
Lord God wishes to discipline you, these good things let you down or are taken
from you, when there are fewer births or the already-born slip away. These
things happen, and their consequence is poverty, need, hardship, disappointment
and temptation. But you sang, 'I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise
shall be in my mouth always,' so when the Lord gives you these good things,
bless him, and when he takes them away, bless him. He it is who gives, and he
it is who takes away, but he does not take himself away from anyone who blesses
him. (excerpt from EXPOSITIONS OF THE PSALMS 34.3)
THURSDAY, APRIL 12, JOHN 3:31-36
Easter Weekday
(Acts 5:27-33; Psalm 34)
Easter Weekday
(Acts 5:27-33; Psalm 34)
KEY VERSE: "Whoever has accepted his testimony has certified this, that God is true" (v.33).
TO KNOW: The Gospel of John continually contrasts the radical difference between salvation in Christ and the workings of the Evil One. Jesus brought light into the world, while the Evil One brought darkness. Jesus followers believed in him, while the unbelievers refused to listen to his words. Jesus was the one from the heavenly world "above" whom God sent to the world "below" (this description is theological, not geographical). The Son shares the fullness of the Spirit with the Father, who withheld nothing from him. The Son in turn imparts the Spirit to his followers. Throughout salvation history, God gave partial revelation to God's people. God was fully revealed through the Son, who "spoke the words of God" (v.34). Whoever accepts this revelation receives eternal life; those who reject this gift bring God's judgment upon themselves.
TO LOVE: Do I give thanks for the divine gift of God's Son?
TO SERVE: Risen Lord, help me to listen to your words so that I might know how to act in truth.
Thursday 12
April 2018
St Benedict Biscop.
Acts 5:27-33. Psalm 33(34):2, 9, 17-20. John 3:31-36.
The Lord hears the cry of the poor-Psalm
33(34):2, 9, 17-20
It is not by measure that the Spirit is given.
This small remark suggests abundance of help and plentiful gifts. The
Holy Spirit is the love between the Father and the Son and is therefore an
undeniable source for activating Christian action. As with a superbly
engineered vehicle, mobility and distance are possible. Ignatius reminds us
that we have growth, being and understanding, far surpassing the best motor
car.
The Holy Spirit enables us to be active and alive in our lives. Mary and
her Son lived simple powerful lives, accompanied by the Spirit. The gifts
the Spirit gives are lavish and plentiful and fit the bill for any
particular need in our life. As we run over them—wisdom, understanding,
counsel, knowledge, fortitude, piety and fear of the Lord, which equals awe—we
wonder at such generosity.
Let us take the time to ponder on our favourite gift. Do we use and
polish and perfect our gift? We give thanks for the people in our life who
magnify this gift for us. We pray to the Holy Spirit to be re-energised
for the coming day.
Saint Teresa of Los Andes
Saint of the Day for April 12
(July 13, 1900 – April 12, 1920)
 |
| Prayer wall at the Santuario de Saint Teresa de los Andes | photo by Malissette |
Saint Teresa of Los Andes’ Story
One needn’t live a long life to leave a deep imprint. Teresa of
Los Andes is proof of that.
As a young girl growing up in the early 1900’s in Santiago,
Chile, Juana Fernandez read an autobiography of a French-born saint—Thérèse,
popularly known as the Little Flower. The experience deepened her desire to
serve God and clarified the path she would follow. At age 19 Juana became a
Carmelite nun, taking the name of Teresa.
The convent offered the simple lifestyle Teresa desired and the
joy of living in a community of women completely devoted to God. She focused
her days on prayer and sacrifice. “I am God’s,” she wrote in her diary. “He
created me and is my beginning and my end.”
Toward the end of her short life, Teresa began an apostolate of
letter-writing, sharing her thoughts on the spiritual life with many people. At
age 20 she contracted typhus and quickly took her final vows. She died a short
time later, during Holy Week.
Known as the “Flower of the Andes,” Teresa remains popular with
the estimated 100,000 pilgrims who visit her shrine in Los Andes each year.
Canonized in 1993 by Pope John Paul II, she is Chile’s first saint.
Reflection
The special graces given Saint Teresa reflect the
mysterious wisdom of God at work in individuals whether young or old. It
appears God has his own logic when it comes to who gets what in the realm of
grace. All we can say is; “Praised be the Lord.”
LECTIO DIVINA: JOHN 3,31-36
Lectio Divina:
Thursday, April 12, 2018
Easter Time
1) OPENING PRAYER
Lord our God,
your Son Jesus Christ came from you
and bore witness to the things
he had heard and seen.
He could not but bear witness to you.
Give us the Spirit of your Son, we pray you,
to speak your word and to live it,
that we may show Christ, your living Word,
to those who have not seen him.
We ask you this through Christ our Lord.
your Son Jesus Christ came from you
and bore witness to the things
he had heard and seen.
He could not but bear witness to you.
Give us the Spirit of your Son, we pray you,
to speak your word and to live it,
that we may show Christ, your living Word,
to those who have not seen him.
We ask you this through Christ our Lord.
2) GOSPEL READING - JOHN
3,31-36
John the Baptist said to his disciples:
"He who comes from above is above all others; he who is of the earth is
earthly himself and speaks in an earthly way. He who comes from heaven bears
witness to the things he has seen and heard, but his testimony is not accepted
by anybody; though anyone who does accept his testimony is attesting that God
is true, since he whom God has sent speaks God's own words, for God gives him
the Spirit without reserve.
The Father loves the Son and has
entrusted everything to his hands. Anyone who believes in the Son has eternal
life, but anyone who refuses to believe in the Son will never see life: God's
retribution hangs over him."
3) REFLECTION
• During the month of January we
meditated on John 3, 22-30, which shows us the last witness of John the Baptist
concerning Jesus. It was a response given by him to his disciples, in which he
reaffirms that he, John, is not the Messiah, but rather his precursor (Jn 3,
28). On that occasion, John says that beautiful phrase which summarizes his
witness: “It is necessary that he grows greater and I grow less!” This phrase
is the program for all those who want to follow Jesus.
• The verses of today’s Gospel are,
again, a comment of the Evangelist in order to help the communities to understand
better all the importance of the things that Jesus did and taught. Here, we
have another indication of those three threads of which we spoke about before.
• John 3, 31-33: A refrain which is
always repeated. Throughout the Gospel of John, many times there appears the
conflict between Jesus and the Jews who contest the words of Jesus. Jesus
speaks of what he hears from the Father. He is total transparency. His enemies,
not opening themselves to God and because they cling to their own ideas here on
earth, are not capable to understand the deep significance of the things that
Jesus lives, does and says. In last instance, this is the evil one which pushes
the Jews to arrest and condemn Jesus.
• John 3, 34: Jesus gives us the Spirit
without reserve. John’s Gospel uses many images and symbols to signify the
action of the Spirit. Like in the Creation (Gen 1, 1), in the same way the
Spirit descends on Jesus “like a dove, come from Heaven” (Jn 1, 32). It is the
beginning of the new creation! Jesus repeats the words of God and communicates
the Spirit to us without reserve (Jn 3, 34). His words are Spirit and life (Jn
6, 63). When Jesus is about to leave this earth, he says that he will send
another Consoler, another defender, to be with us forever (Jn 14, 16-17). By
his Passion, Death and Resurrection, Jesus obtains for us the gift of the
Spirit. Through Baptism all of us have received this same Spirit of Jesus (Jn
1, 33). When he appears to the apostles, he breathed on them and said: “Receive
the Holy Spirit!” (Jn 20, 22). The Spirit is like the water which springs from
the persons who believe in Jesus (Jn 7, 37-39; 4, 14). The first effect of the
action of the Spirit in us is reconciliation: “”If you forgive anyone’s sins
they will be forgiven; if you retain anyone’s sins, they are retained!” (Jn 20,
23). The Spirit is given to us to recall and understand the full significance
of the words of Jesus (Jn 14, 26; 16, 12-13). Animated by the Spirit of Jesus
we can adore God in any place (Jn 4, 23-24). Here is fulfilled the liberty of
the Spirit of which Saint Paul speaks: “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there
is freedom” (2 Co 3, 17).
• John 3, 35-36: The Father loves the
Son. He reaffirms the identity between the Father and Jesus. The Father loves
the Son and places all things in his hand. Saint Paul will say that the
fullness of the divinity dwells in Jesus (Col 1, 19; 2, 9). This is why the one
who accepts Jesus and believes in Jesus has eternal life, because God is life.
The one who does not accept to believe in Jesus, places himself outside.
4) PERSONAL QUESTIONS
• Jesus communicates the Spirit to us,
without reserve. Have you had some experience of this action of the Spirit in
your life?
• He who believes in Jesus has eternal
life. How does this take place today in the life of the families and of the
communities?
5) CONCLUDING PRAYER
Proclaim with me the greatness of
Yahweh,
let us acclaim his name together.
Taste and see that Yahweh is good.
How blessed are those who take refuge in him. (S 34,3.8)
let us acclaim his name together.
Taste and see that Yahweh is good.
How blessed are those who take refuge in him. (S 34,3.8)
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