Contemplating today's Gospel
Today's Gospel + homily (in 300 words)
When Silas and Timothy came down from Macedonia, Paul began to occupy himself totally with preaching the word, testifying to the Jews that the Christ was Jesus. When they opposed him and reviled him, he shook out his garments and said to them, «Your blood be on your heads! I am clear of responsibility. From now on I will go to the Gentiles». So he left there and went to a house belonging to a man named Titus Justus, a worshiper of God; his house was next to a synagogue. Crispus, the synagogue official, came to believe in the Lord along with his entire household, and many of the Corinthians who heard believed and were baptized.
The Lord has made his salvation known: in the sight of the nations he has revealed his justice. He has remembered his kindness and his faithfulness toward the house of Israel.
All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation by our God. Sing joyfully to the Lord, all you lands; break into song; sing praise.
“You will grieve, but your grief will become joy”
Fr. Joan Pere PULIDO i Gutiérrez (Sant Feliu de Llobregat, Spain)Today, we again contemplate the Word of God with the help of Evangelist John. In these final days of Easter, we feel especially uneasy, wanting to make God's Word ours and be able to understand it. The very uneasiness shared by the first disciples. Which is profoundly expressed in Jesus' words — “A little while and you will no longer see me, and again a little while later and you will see me.” (Jn 16:16). These words focus our tension and concern about our faith and our search of God in our daily life.
We, Christians of the 21st century, feel the same urge as those of the 1st century. We also want to see Jesus, to experience His presence amongst us, to reinforce the virtues of faith, hope and charity. This is why we feel sad if we think He is not among us, or if we may not feel and detect His presence, or hear and listen to His words. But this sadness becomes deep joy when we experience His definite presence among us.
As Saint John Paul II reminded us in his last encyclical letter Ecclesia de Eucharistia, this presence is concrete —specifically— in the Eucharist: “The Church draws her life from the Eucharist. This truth does not simply express a daily experience of faith, but contains in synthesis the core of the mystery of the Church. In a variety of ways, she joyfully experiences the constant fulfillment of the promise: ‘I am with you always, until the end of the age.’ (Mt 28:20) ... The Eucharist is both a mystery of faith and a ‘mystery of light’. Whenever the Church celebrates the Eucharist, the faithful can in some way relive the experience of the two disciples on the road to Emmaus: ‘Their eyes were opened and they recognized him’ (Lk 24:31).”
Let us turn to God and beg for a deep faith, a constant uneasiness to quench our thirst in the Eucharistic Source, while listening to and understanding God's Word; by eating and satiating our spiritual hunger with the Body of Christ. May the Holy Spirit enlighten our search for God.
Thoughts on Today's Gospel
“First, he did sacrifice in the earth when he suffered his passion. After, in a new clothing or garment, the vesture of immortality, and with his own precious blood he entered into sanctum sanctorum that is to say into heaven when he showed before the throne of his father his most precious blood which he shed for all sinners.” (Saint John Fisher)
“We cannot discover life by being sad, bereft of hope. Let us not stay imprisoned within ourselves, but let us break open our sealed tombs to the Lord so that he may enter and grant us life. Christ wants to come and take us by the hand to bring us out of our anguish.” (Francis)
“Before his Ascension Christ affirmed that the hour had not yet come for the glorious establishment of the messianic kingdom awaited by Israel (Cf. Acts 1:6-7) which, according to the prophets, was to bring all men the definitive order of justice, love and peace. According to the Lord, the present time is the time of the Spirit and of witness.” (Catechism Of The Catholic Church, Nº 672)
