Fourth Sunday of Easter — Liturgy Preparation
The fourth Sunday of Easter is often called Good Shepherd Sunday, because the readings are about the care we receive from Christ, our true shepherd. This Sunday is also the day of prayer for vocations.
Saturday Feast of St Matthias, Apostle.
Apostolic Qualifications
The qualifications of an Apostle as explained by Peter, head of the original apostolic group, are important to remember. For him it was essential for a member of the apostolic circle to have been with the Christian movement “from the beginning” and to have been “a witness to all Jesus said and did.” Matthias meets both criteria and could bear personal witness to the life and mind of Jesus of Nazareth.
Friday in the Third Week of Easter
Persecutor to Promoter
St Paul’s conversion is here presented for the first of three times in the Acts of the Apostles (see also 22:4-26; 26:12-18). Here it highlights the movement of the church beyond Judaism to the gentile world. This account is preceded in Acts by the story of the Ethiopian eunuch who was baptized by deacon Philip and then followed by the conversion of the Roman centurion Cornelius.
Thursday in the Third Week of Easter
Explaining the Inspired Text
Our heavenly Father was already drawing the Ethiopian eunuch and royal treasurer to a life-giving faith. This foreigner was already a “God-fearer,” the term for gentiles who believed in Israel’s God Yahweh, and followed those prescriptions of the Torah which would not alienate the foreigner from his own family and country.
Wednesday in the Third Week of Easter
Study in Contrasts: Jerusalem and Samaria
Jerusalem, which had been a special object of Jesus’ ministry, now violently rejects his disciples, while the countryside, particularly Samaria, listens carefully to the word, is willing to accept miracles, and converts to the Lord. Sophisticated Jerusalem with its religious schools and centuries-old traditions, never gives Jesus or his disciples a fair chance to explain themselves; while Samaria, neglected, oppressed, fearful of mass
Tuesday in the Third Week of Easter
Effects of Martyrdom
In presenting the martyrdom of St. Stephen, in Acts, Luke carefully models the death scene of Stephen upon Jesus’ death on the cross. Each, accused of blasphemy, is condemned to death by the Sanhedrin. Each sees a vision of someone coming on the clouds, at the right hand of God, a reference to
Monday in the Third Week of Easter
Stephen’s character
The key word here linking today’s Scripture is “look” – how we look and what we see! When the members of the Sanhedrin looked on the face of Stephen it “looked like that of an angel.” Jesus tells the crowd: “You are not looking for me because you have seen signs but because you have eaten your fill of the loaves.”
Third Sunday of Easter
Theme: God our life-giver
Recognising God’s living presence with us and among us is a great gift, which is the heart of the faith. Above all, recognising God as our personal life-giver, the one who raised Jesus and who will also raise up each of us. Peter and the first community were acutely aware of God’s life-giving presence. St Luke tells of a recognition experience by two walkers on the road to Emmaus, who knew that the crucified Jesus was still alive with them.
Third Sunday of Easter – Liturgy Preparation
During the Easter season, the Church continues to celebrate Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. Today, we join together to worship God, who has brought about this great victory over sin and death. In joy and gratitude, we praise God who saves us ….
Saturday in the Second Week of Easter
Ministries needed to serve the Church
Today’s gospel presents two scenarios: one in which we travel without Jesus and are engulfed by waves that can destroy us; another in which Jesus is with us and we come safely to our destination. In the Acts we read how the apostles healed a major division in the ranks by compromise and common sense.
Friday in the Second Week of Easter
Motivation that Matters
We are asked to examine our motives for following Jesus and our norms for judging other institutions. Personal advancement and pleasure are ruled out by the scriptural readings. When the people proclaim Jesus as the
Thursday in the Second Week of Easter
The courage to take risks
It is always difficult to distinguish internal strength from stubborn manipulation of others. How can we know if our convictions are from God and must be obeyed at all costs, or whether it is just from pride that we resist authority? Very few have had immediate revelations from God. How then do we know that our convictions are from God?
Wednesday in the Second Week of Easter
A Matter-of-fact approach
The Scriptures present two aspects of our salvation. On one side we are told about forces at war with the ways of the Lord. Peter and John are caught in a struggle that involves the high priest and the entire Sanhedrin. They are arrested by the temple guards and imprisoned. This same struggle at universal level is echoed in John’s gospel about God’s sending
Tuesday in the Second Week of Easter
An ideal, united community?
Today’s Scriptures present us with the question of whether and how a fair sharing of property can be achieved within the church. We see how, at least for a while, the early Christians at Jerusalem pooled all their resources, and there was no one in financial distress. Later, however, their destitution was
Monday in the Second Week of Easter
The Spirit shakes at our roots
When and where the Spirit comes upon a person, with what signs and consequences, cannot be determined ahead of time. “The wind blows where it will…. You do not know where it comes from or where it goes.” In both Hebrew (ruah) and Greek (pneuma)
Second Sunday of Easter
Theme
Sharing, at various levels, emerges as a linking theme in today’s Scriptures. The earliest generation of christians were a sort of consecrated commune, with total sharing of all that they had. Their Eucharist was just the high-point of an already deep union, like an extended family, where each individual worked for the good of the family as much as for his own. Then from Peter we hear of the shared joy and faith of that first group of Christians. And in the story of Thomas we find that even a sharing of doubt can be healthy for the community….
Second Sunday of Easter – Liturgy Preparation
Even though a week has passed since Easter Sunday, today’s liturgy is still filled with good news. We praise God for the life and love poured out for us in the raising of Jesus, which makes divine mercy possible — and available to all.
Easter Saturday
The courage to trust him
The Sanhedrin, the supreme ruling body of Judaism, found it impossible to consider that Jesus could be the Messiah, and that he had really risen from the dead. To believe in him would demand a major change in the whole furniture of their belief-system; nothing less than a total reinterpretation of their Scripture and cherished traditions.
Easter Friday
Hauling in the Net
The apostles went back to where they started, to Galilee, where they continued their work as fishermen. But their lives had been transformed by their contact with Jesus, and when they met him by the lakeshore, they recognised him, hauled in the net at his advice, and heard his guidance for their future, building on the past.
Easter Thursday
Clothed with Power from on High
Peter shares his conviction that Jesus was the fulfilment of all that the Jews had hoped, over many centuries: “All the prophets have announced the events of these days.” This echoes what Jesus himself said on the evening of Easter day, “Everything written about me in Moses and the prophets had to be fulfilled.”