Contemplating today's Gospel
Today's Gospel + homily (in 300 words)
For if the dead are not raised, neither has Christ been raised, and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is vain; you are still in your sins. Then those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are the most pitiable people of all. But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.
I call upon you, for you will answer me, o God; incline your ear to me; hear my word. Show your wondrous mercies, o savior of those who flee from their foes to refuge at your right hand.
Hide me in the shadow of your wings, but I in justice shall behold your face; on waking, I shall be content in your presence.
"Jesus journeyed from one town and village to another, preaching and proclaiming the good news of the Kingdom of God"
Fr. Jordi PASCUAL i Bancells (Salt, Girona, Spain)Today, in the Gospel, we can appreciate what a normal day in the three years of Jesus' public life should have been. St. Luke explains it in a few words: “Jesus journeyed from one town and village to another, preaching and proclaiming the good news of the Kingdom of God” (Lk 8:1). This is what we contemplate in the third Mystery of Light of the Holy Rosary.
While commenting this mystery His Holiness St. John Paul II says: “Another mystery of light is the preaching by which Jesus proclaims the coming of the Kingdom of God, calls to conversion and forgives the sins of all who draw near to him in humble trust: the inauguration of that ministry of mercy which he continues to exercise until the end of the world, particularly through the Sacrament of Reconciliation which he has entrusted to his Church.”
Jesus keeps on passing by close to us and offering us His supernatural goods: when we pray; when we read and ponder over the Gospel, to know and love Him better and imitate His life; when we receive a sacrament, especially the Eucharist and the Penance; when we devote ourselves with effort and perseverance to our every day’s chores; when we have to deal with our family, our friends or our neighbors; when we help that person who is in need of material or spiritual help; when we have a rest or amuse ourselves... In all those circumstances we may find Jesus and follow Him just as those Twelve and those saintly women also did.
But, above all, each one of us is called by God to also be “the passing Jesus”, that is, to speak to those we deal with —with our deeds and our words— about the faith that fills our existence with meaning, about the hope that impels us to go on forward through the paths of life designed by God, and about the charity that should guide all our acts.
The first one to follow Jesus and “to be Jesus” is Mary. That with her example and mediation she may help us!
Thoughts on Today's Gospel
“It is better for a man to confess of his sins than to harden his heart.” (Saint Clement of Rome)
“In contrast to the contemporary Jewish custom, by which women were viewed as being secondary status, Christ achieved something like an emancipation of women.” (Benedict XVI)
“From the very beginning of the Church there were men and women who set out to follow Christ with greater liberty, and to imitate him more closely, by practicing the evangelical counsels. They led lives dedicated to God, each in his own way (...)” (Catechism Of The Catholic Church, Nº 918)
