Paul is lying on the ground with his arms raised towards the heavens as light falls on him from above. Following on his conversion, Paul had returned to Tarsus, his home city. And it happened that while they were conversing and debating, Jesus himself drew near and walked with them, but their eyes were prevented from recognizing him. No earthly power can hold back the Spirit. These cookies are necessary to let our website work. We have compiled a comprehensive set of reflections on the readings, covering the entire year. When the people saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into those boats and crossed to Capernaum to look for Jesus. Given my very particular circumstances, the relationships and commitments I have at this time, the unique set of gifts and limitations that are mine, what is the Lord asking of me now? Seeing the risen Lord was enough to dispel his doubt. Reflections on Daily Readings 2023 Introduction We have compiled a comprehensive set of reflections on the readings, covering the entire year. We can sometimes find it difficult to believe in the ultimate triumph of life over death, of joy over sadness, especially during those times in our lives when we feel somewhat sad and lifeless. Jesus brings God to us and brings us to God. Once the disciples show a willingness to take Jesus into the boat with them, they reach the shore. He can only enter the kingdom of God if he is born of water and the Spirit, born from above. He goes ahead of us towards this place and he calls us to follow him. We need to open ourselves to that bigger story, to Gods story, and when we do we might find that, as was the case with the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, our hearts begin to burn within us. The Mark that Peter refers to may well be the author of the first gospel. Rather than joining a religious order, she became a Dominican tertiary. The Lord can also come to us through other people, just as the Lord came to Paul through Ananias who entered Sauls house in todays first reading. If we open ourselves to his presence, as, eventually those two disciples did, the Lord will lift us up. Yet, God is prepared to wait, as Jesus was prepared to wait for Nicodemus. and these I have to lead as well. It was a sad story, but it wasnt the whole story. We spend our lives learning to receive like little children. She exemplifies our own calling to be contemplatives in action, to bring the light of the Lord into the darkness of our world. So Jesus said again, Amen, amen, I say to you, I am the gate for the sheep. I am the bread of life. but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. Even when the church is closed the front gates tend to be open. That same early tradition places Mark in the church of Rome, the city where Peter was crucified, the city where the church experienced the first real persecution lead by the Roman state. Some of our friends went to the tomb and found everything exactly as the women had reported, but of him they saw nothing.. Jesus said to them again, Peace be with you. These basic human physical needs had to be met first. It is probably true to say that we are all searching for something. Rather, his teaching is liberating and life-enhancing. In the gospel reading, Jesus declares that he comes to us in the Eucharist so that we can draw life from him. Some are asked by Jesus; others are asked by those who meet with Jesus. Yet, Luke, who wrote the Acts of the Apostles, highlights that this experience of persecution was actually a blessing for the church. To do that well, we need a listening ear, an ear and an eye that is open to the surprising ways of the Spirit. It was that full story that Jesus went on to tell them, Was it not ordained that the Christ should suffer and so enter into his glory? Having heard Jesus version of the story, they changed direction; they went back to Jerusalem, where they found the eleven assembled together. Our heart sinks a bit when we realize that the days have begun to get shorter. Her mission in person to the Pope was a surprising success. When it was evening, the disciples of Jesus went down to the sea, embarked in a boat, and went across the sea to Capernaum. Any passage of Scripture can be used for this way of prayer but the passage should not be too long. The gospel of John frequently refers to Jesus as light. He then calls his sheep by name and he leads them out of the sheepfold to pasture. He not only calls on people to eat his flesh but to drink his blood. The risen Jesus, therefore, has to be at the centre of our faith lives and at the centre of the life of the church. He says, the wind blows where it pleases. A good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. Yet, Jesus as the gate has something important to say to us. The darkness of Good Friday was still too real for him and prevented him from being moved by their Easter proclamation. This deeper hunger is more easily neglected than our physical hunger. According to the gospel reading, God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world. We can be grateful to this former persecutor of the church for opening us for up the riches of our Christian identity and destiny. It is difficult to know exactly what happened that day in the wilderness when Jesus and his disciples found themselves before a large hungry crowd. In todays first reading, Peter asks a very important question, Who was I to stand in Gods way? God had worked in a way that Peter had not expected. What is it that makes us more alive? One of the loving services we can render each other is listening to each others heartfelt and painful stories, especially in these times of Coronavirus. In both of our readings this morning we have an example of such resistance. God continued to draw the Ethiopian to Jesus through the ministry of Philip, who was able to engage with the Ethiopians questions in a helpful way. It had already grown dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. The first words of the risen Lord to his disciples in todays gospel reading are, Peace be with you. In the immediate aftermath of the martyrdom of Stephen, Saul, the zealous Pharisee, set himself the task of destroying this heretical Jewish movement. As John the Baptist had earlier said, he is the one on whom the Spirit descended and remained and who baptizes with the Holy Spirit. There are forces in the world that seek to undermine that relationship and even destroy it. This two-fold movement of coming to Jesus and going forth in his strength expresses well the contemplative and active dimension of the Christian life. Catherines mysticism did not withdraw her from the world; she was deeply involved in what was happening in Europe and in the church in her time. It was the Holy Spirit who prompted Philip to meet the Ethiopian. No one can do that for us. He empowers us to live out his teaching. The questions and doubts of our reason are an inevitable part of seeing dimly. He calls us to lead us a place of pasture, to a place where our deepest hungers and thirsts are satisfied. We all have the potential to be a Barnabas, to open doors for others so that the Lord can work powerfully through them. This gospel emphasizes their failure. Both share the same role, that of looking after and caring for the sheep. We keep it under wraps or find ourselves being apologetic about it. When it comes to our faith, there is a great deal to understand. The Jews gathered round him and said, How much longer are you going to keep us in suspense? We reach out towards the Lord who journeys with us in the context of the church, in the company of our fellow pilgrims, those who are stumbling along the path of discipleship with us. If we are to pass through the gate that is Jesus, we have to consciously choose this gate and exclude other gates. They want more of the bread that he multiplied in the wilderness. In the gospel reading, after Jesus fed the multitude in the wilderness, the people wanted to take him by force and make his king. We are very dependent on each other on this communal journey. If we become too attached to our way of telling the story, we can become blind to other ways of seeing and of understanding what has happened in our lives. The gospel reading suggests that we respond by listening to his voice and allowing his word to make its home in us. However, Jesus as the gate calls out to us because he is also the shepherd who knows each of us personally, by name. When a stranger joined them and asked them what they were discussing, we are told that their faces were downcast. They may have been asking themselves, Are we next? They wanted to keep their association with Jesus hidden, out of the public glare. We are very security conscious in these times. It is also true that just as we can eat poor quality food in an effort to satisfy our physical hunger, we can try to satisfy our spiritual hunger on poor quality fare. God's blessings! The circumstances of our own lives can make it very difficult for us to sing the Easter Alleluia with any conviction. She insisted that she was betrothed to Christ. In response, he looks to us for something of the same openness to being drawn displayed by the Ethiopian in our first reading. Come to me, all you who labour and are overburdened, and I will give you rest. In todays gospel reading, Jesus tells Nicodemus, a leading Pharisee and expert in the Jewish Law, that he needs the Holy Spirit. Like the disciples, we can feel hopeless before certain situations. The relationship between the shepherd and his sheep was more immediate than it is today. We can never underestimate the ways that the Lord can touch the lives of people today, if we allow him to work through what we have, even if what we have seems very insignificant at times. In the words of todays gospel reading, one by one, the Lord calls his own. An Ethiopian officer at the court of the Queen of Ethiopia was on his way from Jerusalem to Gaza. We can be tempted to ask the somewhat despairing question of Andrew in todays gospel reading, What is that between so many? We sense that there is much for the church to do and our resources seem so small at times. Through her own faithful celebration of the Eucharist the Lord came to live in her and the Lord came to others, especially to young people, through her. However, in raising Jesus from the dead God was announcing that human rejection of Gods love did not have the last word. Pick and choose as you please. Although Peter and the other apostles had been given a formal warning by the religious authorities not to preach the gospel, they carried on regardless because they understood that this was their calling in life, the mission they had received from the risen Lord. He listens to and respects the stories we tell, but he is always trying to open us up to that bigger story of Gods life-giving work among us. Thomas stood in the light of Easter, yet that light did not dispel his darkness. It is now recognized for the wonderful literary and theological masterpiece it is. The Lord spoke of himself as the good shepherd. The life which flowed from the side of Jesus as he hung from the cross, symbolized by the blood and water, is conveyed personally to each of us when we eat his body and drink his blood. and my blood is real drink. This practise offers a short time of concentration and reflection on the Gospel of the day. Above is the Holy Spirit radiating down on this ministry of mercy and compassion. His intimate relationship with God flows over into a loving and caring relationship with all who struggle under heavy burdens. They feared that what was done to Jesus could be done to them. In the words of Saint Paul that Gods power was made perfect in weakness. Reflection: While all Scripture is the living word of God carrying a message to us as individuals and as part of the Community of Faith there is something very special about the readings during the Easter season. We may not be physically present at the Eucharist these days, but we are spiritually present and we continue to recognize the Lord in the breaking of bread. Jesus appeared to the Eleven and said to them: Go into the whole world and proclaim the Gospel to every creature. Everything is so fresh in nature at the moment as it comes to life again after the winter. If we remain true to our spiritual search, the Lord has his own way to meet each one of us and to invite us, as he invited Thomas, Doubt no longer but believe. We lock everything we can. On one occasion he stood up to his fellow Pharisees and challenged them to give Jesus a proper hearing, declaring that this would be in keeping with the spirit of the Jewish Law. The rapid expansion of new means of communication in recent decades can mean that we are on call more often. Student Daily Reflection. According to the reading, it was in Antioch that the followers of Jesus were first called Christians. We can also, of course, have the wind at our back, helping us along, like a friend. Todays gospel reading encourages us to trust that if we are generous with the resources we have, small as they seem to us, the Lord will work powerfully through them in ways that will surprise us. The third stage is oratio (response) where we leave our thinking aside and simply let our hearts speak to God. Most of us like the light. Do not be afraid. They saw the Lord; they now knew that the crucified one had been raised from the dead, as he promised. Even when we turn from his presence, he remains present to us and will work with us as we strive to proclaim the gospel by our lives. The first reading suggests that Barnabas knew how to listen to the voice of the shepherd. Whoever eats my Flesh and drinks my Blood remains in me and I in him. speaks Gods own words: As Jesus says, it blows where it pleases. Eternal life, this sharing in the life of God, begins now and will extend beyond the barrier of physical death into the undying life of God. A little can go a long way when it is placed in the hands of the Lord.
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