Contemplating today's Gospel
Today's Gospel + homily (in 300 words)
The Lord came down to see the city and the tower that they had built. Then the Lord said: ‘If now, while they are one people, all speaking the same language, they have started to do this, nothing will later stop them from doing whatever they presume to do. Let us then go down and there confuse their language, so that one will not understand what another says’. Thus the Lord scattered them from there all over the earth, and they stopped building the city. That is why it was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the speech of all the world. It was from that place that he scattered them all over the earth.
Blessed the nation whose God is the Lord, the people he has chosen for his own inheritance. From heaven the Lord looks down; he sees all mankind.
From his fixed throne he beholds all who dwell on the earth, He who fashioned the heart of each, he who knows all their works.
“Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me”
Fr. Joaquim FONT i Gassol (Igualada, Barcelona, Spain)Today the Gospel speaks to us of two complementary themes: our daily cross and its fruit, that is, Life with a capital L, supernatural and eternal.
We stand up to listen to the Holy Gospel, as a sign of wanting to follow its teachings. Jesus tells us to deny ourselves, a clear expression of not following "the pleasure of our whims" - as the psalm mentions - or of putting aside "deceitful riches", as St. Paul says. Taking up one's own cross is accepting the small mortifications that we find each day along the way.
The phrase that Jesus said in the priestly sermon in the Cenacle can help us in this: "I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine grower. He takes away every branch in me that does not bear fruit, and every one that does he prunes so that it bears more fruit." (Jn 15:1-2). An enthusiastic gardener pampering the bunch so that it may reach a great height! Yes, we want to follow the Lord! Yes, we are aware that the Father can help us to bear abundant fruit in our earthly life and then to enjoy eternal life.
St. Ignatius guided St. Francis Xavier with the words of today's text: "What profit is there for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life?" (Mk 8:36). Thus, he became the patron of the Missions. In the same vein, we read the last canon of the Code of Canon Law (n. 1752): "(...) the salvation of souls, which must always be the supreme law in the Church, is to be kept before one’s eyes." St. Augustine has the famous lesson: "Animam salvasti tuam predestinasti," which the popular adage has been translated as: "Whoever obtains the salvation of a soul, has his own already assured." The invitation is obvious.
Mary, the Mother of Divine Grace, gives us her hand to advance on this path.
Thoughts on Today's Gospel
"I am still a slave. But if I suffer, I shall be emancipated by Jesus Christ; and united to him, I shall rise to freedom." (Ignatius of Antioch)
"The theological, spiritual and ascetic tradition, from the most ancient times, has maintained the need to follow Christ in the passion, not only as an imitation of his virtues, but also as a cooperation in the universal redemption" (St. John Paul II)
"The cross is the unique sacrifice of Christ, the "one mediator between God and men" (1 Tim 2:5). But because in his incarnate divine person he has in some way united himself to every man, "the possibility of being made partners, in a way known to God, in the paschal mystery" is offered to all men (Second Vatican Council). He calls his disciples to "take up [their] cross and follow (him)" (Mt 16:24) (...)." (Catechism Of The Catholic Church, Nº 618)
April 27th
Second Sunday of Easter
Gospel and commentary video
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The calendar of Saints and Solemnities for May
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