Gospel Reflection

May 16, 2013

Thursday – Year of Faith – Easter Season

by Rev. Fr. Julian C. Lupot, (Vicar, St. Joseph the Work Cathedral, Tagbilaran City, Bohol)
7:15AM Mass, St. Joseph the Worker Cathedral

 

Reading 1 Acts 22:30; 23:6-11

Wishing to determine the truth about why Paul was being accused by the Jews, the commander freed him and ordered the chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin to convene. Then he brought Paul down and made him stand before them.

Paul was aware that some were Sadducees and some Pharisees, so he called out before the Sanhedrin, “My brothers, I am a Pharisee, the son of Pharisees; I am on trial for hope in the resurrection of the dead.” When he said this, a dispute broke out between the Pharisees and Sadducees, and the group became divided. For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection
or angels or spirits, while the Pharisees acknowledge all three. A great uproar occurred, and some scribes belonging to the Pharisee party stood up and sharply argued, “We find nothing wrong with this man. Suppose a spirit or an angel has spoken to him?” The dispute was so serious that the commander, afraid that Paul would be torn to pieces by them, ordered his troops to go down and rescue Paul from their midst and take him into the compound. The following night the Lord stood by him and said, “Take courage. For just as you have borne witness to my cause in Jerusalem, so you must also bear witness in Rome.”

Responsorial Psalm PS 16:1-2a and 5, 7-8, 9-10, 11

R. (1) Keep me safe, O God; you are my hope.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Keep me, O God, for in you I take refuge;
I say to the LORD, “My Lord are you.”
O LORD, my allotted portion and my cup,
you it is who hold fast my lot.
R. Keep me safe, O God; you are my hope.
or:
R. Alleluia.
I bless the LORD who counsels me;
even in the night my heart exhorts me.
I set the LORD ever before me;
with him at my right hand I shall not be disturbed.
R. Keep me safe, O God; you are my hope.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Therefore my heart is glad and my soul rejoices,
my body, too, abides in confidence;
Because you will not abandon my soul to the nether world,
nor will you suffer your faithful one to undergo corruption.
R. Keep me safe, O God; you are my hope.
or:
R. Alleluia.
You will show me the path to life,
fullness of joys in your presence,
the delights at your right hand forever.
R. Keep me safe, O God; you are my hope.
or:
R. Alleluia.

Gospel Jn 17:20-26

Lifting up his eyes to heaven, Jesus prayed saying: “I pray not only for these, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, so that they may all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us, that the world may believe that you sent me. And I have given them the glory you gave me, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may be brought to perfection as one, that the world may know that you sent me, and that you loved them even as you loved me. Father, they are your gift to me. I wish that where I am they also may be with me, that they may see my glory that you gave me, because you loved me before the foundation of the world. Righteous Father, the world also does not know you, but I know you, and they know that you sent me. I made known to them your name and I will make it known, that the love with which you loved me may be in them and I in them.”

HOMILY

We are nearing the end now of the Easter Season, we have three more days to go. And we remember today the last part of the high priestly prayer of our Lord Jesus Christ. If we want to reflect deeply on the prayer of Jesus Christ, it is the whole Chapter 17 of the Gospel of John, which consists of prayer for unity, prayer for protection, and prayer of inclusion. 

Jesus does not only pray for His Disciples, but also those who listen to Him and learn from His words. If you take note of this, this is the first tone of ecumenism, which is the movement of the mutual understanding of all the religions in the whole world. We have the same Bible. The only difference is that others have a different number of books. For example, for the Protestants, it is minus seven. Catholic Bibles have 73 books - 46 in the Old, and 27 in the New. In the Protestants, they only have 66 - 39 in the Old, and 27 in the New. They do not have the Aprocyphal books. 

This is what is meant by the prayer of Jesus. Jesus prays that we may be one, including those from other religions who read His word or learn from His word. Our religion is a religion of love, a religion of the heart. Vatican II has made the Catholic Church an open Church. It is because we belong to one flock, we belong to one Shepherd, our Lord Jesus Christ. And Jesus has prayed for that. 

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, I hope that in our personal prayer, we may always include the Church. And by Church, we mean, not only the Catholic Church, but all churches who believe in Jesus. Why should you pray for them? Because Jesus has prayed for them.  

Gospel Reflection

May 15, 2013

Wednesday – Year of Faith – Easter Season

by Rev. Fr. Jose D. Sumampong, Jr.

(Assistant Resident Priest, St. Anthony of Padua Quasi-Parish, third District, Tagbilaran City, Bohol)

6:00PM Mass, St. Joseph the Worker Cathedral, Tagbilaran City, Bohol

 

Reading 1 Acts 20:28-38

At Miletus, Paul spoke to the presbyters of the Church of Ephesus: “Keep watch over yourselves and over the whole flock of which the Holy Spirit has appointed you overseers, in which you tend the Church of God that he acquired with his own Blood. I know that after my departure savage wolves will come among you, and they will not spare the flock. And from your own group, men will come forward perverting the truth to draw the disciples away after them. So be vigilant and remember that for three years, night and day, I unceasingly admonished each of you with tears. And now I commend you to God and to that gracious word of his that can build you up and give you the inheritance among all who are consecrated. I have never wanted anyone’s silver or gold or clothing. You know well that these very hands have served my needs and my companions. In every way I have shown you that by hard work of that sort we must help the weak, and keep in mind the words of the Lord Jesus who himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”

When he had finished speaking he knelt down and prayed with them all. They were all weeping loudly as they threw their arms around Paul and kissed him, for they were deeply distressed that he had said that they would never see his face again. Then they escorted him to the ship.

Responsorial Psalm PS 68:29-30, 33-35a, 35bc-36ab

R. (33a) Sing to God, O kingdoms of the earth.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Show forth, O God, your power,
the power, O God, with which you took our part;
For your temple in Jerusalem
let the kings bring you gifts.
R. Sing to God, O Kingdoms of the earth.
or:
R. Alleluia.
You kingdoms of the earth, sing to God,
chant praise to the Lord
who rides on the heights of the ancient heavens.
Behold, his voice resounds, the voice of power:
“Confess the power of God!”
R. Sing to God, O kingdoms of the earth.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Over Israel is his majesty;
his power is in the skies.
Awesome in his sanctuary is God, the God of Israel;
he gives power and strength to his people.
R. Sing to God, O kingdoms of the earth.
or:
R. Alleluia.

Gospel Jn 17:11b-19

Lifting up his eyes to heaven, Jesus prayed, saying: “Holy Father, keep them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one just as we are one. When I was with them I protected them in your name that you gave me, and I guarded them, and none of them was lost except the son of destruction, in order that the Scripture might be fulfilled. But now I am coming to you. I speak this in the world so that they may share my joy completely. I gave them your word, and the world hated them, because they do not belong to the world any more than I belong to the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world but that you keep them from the evil one. They do not belong to the world any more than I belong to the world. Consecrate them in the truth. Your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I sent them into the world. And I consecrate myself for them, so that they also may be consecrated in truth.”

HOMILY

This Sunday, we are going to commemorate one of the great solemnities of our Church - the day of the Pentecost. When you receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, the easiest way to understand the role of the Holy Spirit in our lives, in our families, in our Christian communities, and in the world around us, is to understand the Church's teaching about prayer. It is because prayer is the movement of the Holy Spirit in us. When we pray, we are creating a kind of space in our life. And what is that space for? That is the space for the Holy Spirit who descended from God, from the heavens. When we pray, we let the Spirit of God occupy the inner space in our life that we are reserving for it. That is why in order to understand the Feast of the Pentecost in our Church, we go into a vigil - a moment of prayer for Pentecost. 

If we take note of today's Gospel, Jesus was praying. And when He was praying, His basic attitude, according to the Gospel of John, was to look up to the heavens and pray. Why look up the heavens? This is to welcome the gift of the Holy Spirit. 

What was the prayer of Jesus? There are two things. Number one, Jesus prayed that we will all be united. It is the gift of the Holy Spirit that unifies us. People from all walks of life, people from all races, regardless of the color of our skin - are united through the Holy Spirit. Second, Jesus prayed that we are to be consecrated, that we are to be made whole. That is why we have to create in our life an empty space within ourselves in order to accommodate the gift of the Holy Spirit. 

I remember Thomas Merton, a very popular monk. He was asked what he wanted in life. And he said that he wants to be a good Catholic. His companion said, "Thomas, don't just be a good Catholic. Be a saint." And that opened a new world for Thomas Merton. As he was open to the possibility that he can be a saint, Thomas dedicated 27 years of his life in prayer and in accepting the movement of the Holy Spirit in his life. 

Let us bow down our heads and pray. God our Father, we are anticipating this Sunday the gift of the Holy Spirit to Your Church. Through that gift, the Church becomes alive. We ask You, O Lord, that we may create in each one of us, through prayer, a space to accommodate very gently this gift in our life. Amen.

Gospel of the Day

May 14, 2013

Tuesday – Year of Faith – Easter Season

Feast of Saint Matthias, Apostle

 

Reading 1 Acts 1:15-17, 20-26

Peter stood up in the midst of the brothers and sisters (there was a group of about one hundred and twenty persons in the one place). He said, “My brothers and sisters, the Scripture had to be fulfilled which the Holy Spirit spoke beforehand through the mouth of David, concerning Judas, who was the guide for those who arrested Jesus. Judas was numbered among us and was allotted a share in this ministry. For it is written in the Book of Psalms:

Let his encampment become desolate, and may no one dwell in it. and: May another take his office.

Therefore, it is necessary that one of the men who accompanied us the whole time the Lord Jesus came and went among us, beginning from the baptism of John until the day on which he was taken up from us, become with us a witness to his resurrection.” So they proposed two, Joseph called Barsabbas, who was also known as Justus, and Matthias. Then they prayed, “You, Lord, who know the hearts of all, show which one of these two you have chosen to take the place in this apostolic ministry from which Judas turned away to go to his own place.” Then they gave lots to them, and the lot fell upon Matthias, and he was counted with the Eleven Apostles.

Responsorial Psalm PS 113:1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 7-8

R. (8) The Lord will give him a seat with the leaders of his people.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Praise, you servants of the LORD,
praise the name of the LORD.
Blessed be the name of the LORD
both now and forever.
R. The Lord will give him a seat with the leaders of his people.
or:
R. Alleluia.
From the rising to the setting of the sun
is the name of the LORD to be praised.
High above all nations is the LORD;
above the heavens is his glory.
R. The Lord will give him a seat with the leaders of his people.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Who is like the LORD, our God, who is enthroned on high
and looks upon the heavens and the earth below?
R. The Lord will give him a seat with the leaders of his people.
or:
R. Alleluia.
He raises up the lowly from the dust;
from the dunghill he lifts up the poor
To seat them with princes,
with the princes of his own people.
R. The Lord will give him a seat with the leaders of his people.
or:
R. Alleluia.

Gospel Jn 15:9-17

Jesus said to his disciples: “As the Father loves me, so I also love you. Remain in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and remain in his love.

“I have told you this so that my joy might be in you and your joy might be complete. This is my commandment: love one another as I love you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I no longer call you slaves, because a slave does not know what his master is doing. I have called you friends, because I have told you everything I have heard from my Father. It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give you. This I command you: love one another.” 

Gospel of the Day

May 13, 2013

Monday – Year of Faith – Easter Season

 

Reading 1 Acts 19:1-8

While Apollos was in Corinth, Paul traveled through the interior of the country and down to Ephesus where he found some disciples.  He said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you became believers?” They answered him, “We have never even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” He said, “How were you baptized?” They replied, “With the baptism of John.” Paul then said, “John baptized with a baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, in Jesus.” When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied. Altogether there were about twelve men.

He entered the synagogue, and for three months debated boldly with persuasive arguments about the Kingdom of God.

Responsorial Psalm PS 68:2-3ab, 4-5acd, 6-7ab

R. (33a) Sing to God, O kingdoms of the earth.
or:
R. Alleluia.
God arises; his enemies are scattered,
and those who hate him flee before him.
As smoke is driven away, so are they driven;
as wax melts before the fire.
R. Sing to God, O kingdoms of the earth.
or:
R. Alleluia.
But the just rejoice and exult before God;
they are glad and rejoice.
Sing to God, chant praise to his name;
whose name is the LORD.
R. Sing to God, O kingdoms of the earth.
or:
R. Alleluia.
The father of orphans and the defender of widows
is God in his holy dwelling.
God gives a home to the forsaken;
he leads forth prisoners to prosperity.
R. Sing to God, O kingdoms of the earth.
or:
R. Alleluia.

Gospel Jn 16:29-33

The disciples said to Jesus, “Now you are talking plainly, and not in any figure of speech. Now we realize that you know everything and that you do not need to have anyone question you. Because of this we believe that you came from God.” Jesus answered them, “Do you believe now? Behold, the hour is coming and has arrived when each of you will be scattered to his own home and you will leave me alone. But I am not alone, because the Father is with me. I have told you this so that you might have peace in me. In the world you will have trouble, but take courage, I have conquered the world.”