Peter said to the people: “The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus, whom you handed over and denied in Pilate’s presence when he had decided to release him.
You denied the Holy and Righteous One and asked that a murderer be released to you.
The author of life you put to death, but God raised him from the dead; of this we are witnesses.
Now I know, brothers, that you acted out of ignorance, just as your leaders did;
but God has thus brought to fulfillment what he had announced beforehand through the mouth of all the prophets, that his Christ would suffer.
Repent, therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be wiped away.”
Responsorial Psalm – Psalms 4:2, 4, 7-8, 9
R. (7a) Lord, let your face shine on us. or: R. Alleluia.
When I call, answer me, O my just God, you who relieve me when I am in distress; have pity on me, and hear my prayer! R. Lord, let your face shine on us. or: R. Alleluia.
Send this special Miracle Healing Prayer to your friends
Know that the LORD does wonders for his faithful one; the LORD will hear me when I call upon him. R. Lord, let your face shine on us. or: R. Alleluia.
O LORD, let the light of your countenance shine upon us! You put gladness into my heart. R. Lord, let your face shine on us. or: R. Alleluia.
As soon as I lie down, I fall peacefully asleep, for you alone, O LORD, bring security to my dwelling. R. Lord, let your face shine on us. or: R. Alleluia.
2nd Reading – 1 John 2:1-5A
My children, I am writing this to you so that you may not commit sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous one.
He is expiation for our sins, and not for our sins only but for those of the whole world.
The way we may be sure that we know him is to keep his commandments.
Those who say, “I know him,” but do not keep his commandments are liars, and the truth is not in them.
But whoever keeps his word, the love of God is truly perfected in him.
Alleluia – CF. Luke 24:32 R. Alleluia, alleluia. Lord Jesus, open the Scriptures to us; make our hearts burn while you speak to us. R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel – Luke 24:35-48
The two disciples recounted what had taken place on the way, and how Jesus was made known to them in the breaking of bread.
While they were still speaking about this, he stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be with you.”
But they were startled and terrified and thought that they were seeing a ghost.
Then he said to them, “Why are you troubled? And why do questions arise in your hearts?
Look at my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me and see, because a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you can see I have.”
And as he said this, he showed them his hands and his feet.
While they were still incredulous for joy and were amazed, he asked them, “Have you anything here to eat?”
They gave him a piece of baked fish;
he took it and ate it in front of them.
He said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the law of Moses and in the prophets and psalms must be fulfilled.”
Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures.
And he said to them, “Thus it is written that the Christ would suffer and rise from the dead on the third day
and that repentance, for the forgiveness of sins, would be preached in his name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem.
WORDS OF THE HOLY FATHER The illness Christians have is this: we are afraid of joy. It is better to think: “Yes, God exists, but he is out there. Jesus is risen, he is out there!”. A little distance. We are afraid of Jesus drawing near because this gives us joy”. Many times we are either startled when this joy comes to us, or we are full of fear or we believe we are seeing a ghost, or we think that Jesus is a way of acting: “We are Christians and we have to do it this way!”. But where is Jesus? “No, Jesus is in Heaven”. Do you speak with Jesus? Do you tell Jesus: “I believe that you are alive, that you are risen, that you are close to me, that you will not abandon me”? The Christian life must be a dialogue with Jesus because – this is true – Jesus is always with us, he is always with our problems, with our struggles and with our good works. (Homily, Santa Marta, 24 April 2014)
. FAUSTI- "Blessed are the eyes that see what you see!" It is our holy envy and Luke's envy for the first disciples, who saw Him that they witnessed to us. Here we are told how even though they have seen and touched him, they too must, like us, recognize and believe Him through the memory of His Word and His Banquet. The Word and the Bread are the constant presence of the Risen One in His Church. The first explains the promise of God to us and touches us, warming our hearts, the second opens our eyes to its realization, is seen in the gift of Himself. In this way, we also experience for ourselves the truth of what the eyewitnesses have transmitted to us and we make our own the cry of wonder for the great work of God: "truly the Lord has risen and was seen by Simon". In this passage Luke directly connects our recognition with experience of Simon and that of others with him. The difference between us and them lies in the fact that they contemplated and touched His Flesh also physically, while we contemplate it and touch it only spiritually, through the witness of Word and the Eucharistic memorial. What they touched with their hands, touches our hearts and gives us new eyes. Luke insists very much on the corporeity of the Risen Lord. It is in controversy with the Hellenistic environment, which believed in the immortality of the soul, but not in the resurrection of bodies. With this lies or falls both the promise of God and the very hope of man to overcome the ultimate enemy, death. This victory is the fruit of the tree of the Cross, where God's solidarity with our evil is offered to us. The key to reading and synthesizing the scriptures is the Crucified One, which offers us the vision of a God who is infinite love and mercy. His Resurrection is almost a corollary, which confirms on the one hand His Divinity and on the other hand the gift that has come to bring us. In His name, the conversion and remission of sins is proclaimed to all. In Him we see the Truth of the One from whom the lie made us turn away, and we return to turn to Him, who is our Life. At the foot of the cross our fear of God and our flight from Him ceases, because we see that He has always addressed us and forgives us forever. The disciples will be witnesses of this: they will make known to all the brothers the Lord Jesus as the new Face of God and Salvation of man. The strength of this witness is the Holy Spirit, the power from on high. As he descended upon Mary, He will descend upon them. The incarnation of God in history not only continues, but thus reaches its definitive stage. We are in the last days, when we live what is forever. God has made His solidarity with man perfect: at the time of the ancients He was "before us" as the law to lead us to the promised land; at the time of Jesus He was "with us" to open up and teach us the way to the Father; now, in the time of the Church, He is "in us" as a new life. The Father, in His Love, has given us the Son; the Son, in the same Love, has given us His Spirit; now the Spirit is our full Life in the Son, in whom we love the Father and our brothers and sisters. Jesus has completed His Mission. We continue it in space and time. In Him and like Him, we are close to all our brothers and sisters, sharing the Word and the Bread with them, healing their mortal wounds with oil and wine. From Jerusalem to the ends of the earth, the universe and all it contains, everything will be filled with Glory. Then man will have fully found himself. And he and his history will be saved.
FAUSTI - The Word and the breaking of the Bread put the two pilgrim disciples from Emmaus in communion with those of Jerusalem. Their experience is compared and enters into dialogue with that of Simon and the other disciples. Paul too, who met the Risen Lord on the road to Damascus, will return to Jerusalem to consult Cephas so as not to run the risk of running or having run in vain. Every believer is called to verify his own experience on that of the first ones, and to join in it. The Lord cannot be delimitated in any previous experience; He is always New, Other. He is the Lord of both those that are on the road and those in the home. And His definitive Gift is "Shalom", the kissing of every human desire with the promise of God, the indubitable sign of God's presence, the harmonious whole of the multiple aspects of the fruit of the Spirit. The disciples are disturbed because they think that He is not the Risen One in person, but His ghost. Every past memory is now of death. God fulfills His promise ." Behold, I create new heavens and new earth. Behold, I make a new thing, just now sprouting, do you not see it?" (Is 65:17- 43:19). The hands and feet show the identity of the Risen One with the Crucified One. It is true that the Crucified One is Risen. But the real mystery is that the Risen One is the Crucified One. The hands, the feet and the side are the signs of the One who was pierced. "Blessed are the eyes that see what you see!" We too, through their witness , are invited with them to touch and see the Lord in order to share in their own joy. The Gift of God always exceeds all expectations! The Word and the Bread are the constant presence of the Risen One in His Church. With the first, He explains God's promise and touches us, warming our hearts; with the second, He opens our eyes to His realization, He makes Himself seen in the gift of Himself. In this way, we too experience at first person the truth of what the eyewitnesses have transmitted to us and we make our own the cry of wonder for the great work of God: "Truly the Lord is risen and was seen by Simon". The difference between us and them lies in the fact that they contemplated and touched His Flesh even physically, while we contemplate and touch only spiritually, through the testimony of the Word and the Eucharistic memorial. What they touched with their hands, it touches our hearts and gives us new eyes. Luke insists much on the corporeality of the Risen Lord. He presents great part of His activity at the table or on the road, he insists very much on the eating of the Risen Jesus to indicate His Corporeality. He is in controversy with the Hellenistic community, that believed in the immortality of the soul, but not in resurrection of the body. Everything in the Bible, Jesus says: "It is written about me" and is fulfilled in His Death and Resurrection. He, as He opens the Scriptures to the mind, so He opens the mind to the Scriptures. For in Him we see the Truth of the One from whom lies made us turn away, and we turn back to Him, who is our Life. In His name conversion and remission of sins is announced to all. The disciples will be witnesses of this: they will make known to all the brothers the Lord Jesus as the new Face of God and Salvation of man. The strength of this testimony is the Holy Spirit, the Power from above. The Father, in His Love, gave us the Son; the Son, in the same Love, gave us His Spirit; now the Spirit is our full Life in the Son, in whom we love the Father and our brothers. Jesus has finished His Mission. We continue it in space and time. In Him and like Him, we make ourselves close to all our brothers and sisters, sharing with them the Word and the Bread, healing their mortal wounds with oil and wine. From Jerusalem to the ends of the earth, the universe and all it contains will be filled with Glory. Then man will have fully found himself. And he will be saved, he and his history.
1st Reading – Acts 3:13-15, 17-19
RispondiEliminaPeter said to the people:
“The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus, whom you handed over and denied in Pilate’s presence when he had decided to release him.
You denied the Holy and Righteous One and asked that a murderer be released to you.
The author of life you put to death, but God raised him from the dead; of this we are witnesses.
Now I know, brothers, that you acted out of ignorance, just as your leaders did;
but God has thus brought to fulfillment what he had announced beforehand through the mouth of all the prophets, that his Christ would suffer.
Repent, therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be wiped away.”
Responsorial Psalm – Psalms 4:2, 4, 7-8, 9
R. (7a) Lord, let your face shine on us.
or:
R. Alleluia.
When I call, answer me, O my just God,
you who relieve me when I am in distress;
have pity on me, and hear my prayer!
R. Lord, let your face shine on us.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Send this special Miracle Healing Prayer to your friends
Know that the LORD does wonders for his faithful one;
the LORD will hear me when I call upon him.
R. Lord, let your face shine on us.
or:
R. Alleluia.
O LORD, let the light of your countenance shine upon us!
You put gladness into my heart.
R. Lord, let your face shine on us.
or:
R. Alleluia.
As soon as I lie down, I fall peacefully asleep,
for you alone, O LORD,
bring security to my dwelling.
R. Lord, let your face shine on us.
or:
R. Alleluia.
2nd Reading – 1 John 2:1-5A
My children, I am writing this to you so that you may not commit sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous one.
He is expiation for our sins, and not for our sins only but for those of the whole world.
The way we may be sure that we know him is to keep his commandments.
Those who say, “I know him,” but do not keep his commandments are liars, and the truth is not in them.
But whoever keeps his word, the love of God is truly perfected in him.
Alleluia – CF. Luke 24:32
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Lord Jesus, open the Scriptures to us;
make our hearts burn while you speak to us.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel – Luke 24:35-48
The two disciples recounted what had taken place on the way, and how Jesus was made known to them in the breaking of bread.
While they were still speaking about this, he stood in their midst and said to them,
“Peace be with you.”
But they were startled and terrified and thought that they were seeing a ghost.
Then he said to them, “Why are you troubled? And why do questions arise in your hearts?
Look at my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me and see, because a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you can see I have.”
And as he said this, he showed them his hands and his feet.
While they were still incredulous for joy and were amazed, he asked them, “Have you anything here to eat?”
They gave him a piece of baked fish;
he took it and ate it in front of them.
He said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the law of Moses and in the prophets and psalms must be fulfilled.”
Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures.
And he said to them, “Thus it is written that the Christ would suffer and rise from the dead on the third day
and that repentance, for the forgiveness of sins, would be preached in his name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem.
You are witnesses of these things.”
WORDS OF THE HOLY FATHER
RispondiEliminaThe illness Christians have is this: we are afraid of joy. It is better to think: “Yes, God exists, but he is out there. Jesus is risen, he is out there!”. A little distance. We are afraid of Jesus drawing near because this gives us joy”.
Many times we are either startled when this joy comes to us, or we are full of fear or we believe we are seeing a ghost, or we think that Jesus is a way of acting: “We are Christians and we have to do it this way!”. But where is Jesus? “No, Jesus is in Heaven”. Do you speak with Jesus? Do you tell Jesus: “I believe that you are alive, that you are risen, that you are close to me, that you will not abandon me”? The Christian life must be a dialogue with Jesus because – this is true – Jesus is always with us, he is always with our problems, with our struggles and with our good works. (Homily, Santa Marta, 24 April 2014)
. FAUSTI- "Blessed are the eyes that see what you see!" It is our holy envy and Luke's envy for the first disciples, who saw Him that they witnessed to us. Here we are told how even though they have seen and touched him, they too must, like us, recognize and believe Him through the memory of His Word and His Banquet.
RispondiEliminaThe Word and the Bread are the constant presence of the Risen One in His Church.
The first explains the promise of God to us and touches us, warming our hearts, the second opens our eyes to its realization, is seen in the gift of Himself.
In this way, we also experience for ourselves the truth of what the eyewitnesses have transmitted to us and we make our own the cry of wonder for the great work of God: "truly the Lord has risen and was seen by Simon".
In this passage Luke directly connects our recognition with experience of Simon and that of others with him. The difference between us and them lies in the fact that they contemplated and touched His Flesh also physically, while we contemplate it and touch it only spiritually, through the witness of Word and the Eucharistic memorial. What they touched with their hands, touches our hearts and gives us new eyes.
Luke insists very much on the corporeity of the Risen Lord. It is in controversy with the Hellenistic environment, which believed in the immortality of the soul, but not in the resurrection of bodies.
With this lies or falls both the promise of God and the very hope of man to overcome the ultimate enemy, death.
This victory is the fruit of the tree of the Cross, where God's solidarity with our evil is offered to us.
The key to reading and synthesizing the scriptures is the Crucified One, which offers us the vision of a God who is infinite love and mercy.
His Resurrection is almost a corollary, which confirms on the one hand His Divinity and on the other hand the gift that has come to bring us.
In His name, the conversion and remission of sins is proclaimed to all.
In Him we see the Truth of the One from whom the lie made us turn away, and we return to turn to Him, who is our Life. At the foot of the cross our fear of God and our flight from Him ceases, because we see that He has always addressed us and forgives us forever.
The disciples will be witnesses of this: they will make known to all the brothers the Lord Jesus as the new Face of God and Salvation of man.
The strength of this witness is the Holy Spirit, the power from on high. As he descended upon Mary, He will descend upon them. The incarnation of God in history not only continues, but thus reaches its definitive stage. We are in the last days, when we live what is forever.
God has made His solidarity with man perfect: at the time of the ancients He was "before us" as the law to lead us to the promised land; at the time of Jesus He was "with us" to open up and teach us the way to the Father; now, in the time of the Church, He is "in us" as a new life.
The Father, in His Love, has given us the Son; the Son, in the same Love, has given us His Spirit; now the Spirit is our full Life in the Son, in whom we love the Father and our brothers and sisters.
Jesus has completed His Mission.
We continue it in space and time.
In Him and like Him, we are close to all our brothers and sisters, sharing the Word and the Bread with them, healing their mortal wounds with oil and wine.
From Jerusalem to the ends of the earth, the universe and all it contains, everything will be filled with Glory.
Then man will have fully found himself. And he and his history will be saved.
FAUSTI - The Word and the breaking of the Bread put the two pilgrim disciples from Emmaus in communion with those of Jerusalem. Their experience is compared and enters into dialogue with that of Simon and the other disciples. Paul too, who met the Risen Lord on the road to Damascus, will return to Jerusalem to consult Cephas so as not to run the risk of running or having run in vain. Every believer is called to verify his own experience on that of the first ones, and to join in it. The Lord cannot be delimitated in any previous experience; He is always New, Other. He is the Lord of both those that are on the road and those in the home. And His definitive Gift is "Shalom", the kissing of every human desire with the promise of God, the indubitable sign of God's presence, the harmonious whole of the multiple aspects of the fruit of the Spirit.
RispondiEliminaThe disciples are disturbed because they think that He is not the Risen One in person, but His ghost.
Every past memory is now of death. God fulfills His promise ." Behold, I create new heavens and new earth. Behold, I make a new thing, just now sprouting, do you not see it?" (Is 65:17- 43:19). The hands and feet show the identity of the Risen One with the Crucified One. It is true that the Crucified One is Risen. But the real mystery is that the Risen One is the Crucified One. The hands, the feet and the side are the signs of the One who was pierced. "Blessed are the eyes that see what you see!"
We too, through their witness , are invited with them to touch and see the Lord in order to share in their own joy.
The Gift of God always exceeds all expectations!
The Word and the Bread are the constant presence of the Risen One in His Church.
With the first, He explains God's promise and touches us, warming our hearts; with the second, He opens our eyes to His realization, He makes Himself seen in the gift of Himself.
In this way, we too experience at first person the truth of what the eyewitnesses have transmitted to us and we make our own the cry of wonder for the great work of God: "Truly the Lord is risen and was seen by Simon".
The difference between us and them lies in the fact that they contemplated and touched His Flesh even physically, while we contemplate and touch only spiritually, through the testimony of the Word and the Eucharistic memorial.
What they touched with their hands, it touches our hearts and gives us new eyes.
Luke insists much on the corporeality of the Risen Lord. He presents great part of His activity at the table or on the road, he insists very much on the eating of the Risen Jesus to indicate His Corporeality.
He is in controversy with the Hellenistic community, that believed in the immortality of the soul, but not in resurrection of the body.
Everything in the Bible, Jesus says: "It is written about me" and is fulfilled in His Death and Resurrection.
He, as He opens the Scriptures to the mind, so He opens the mind to the Scriptures.
For in Him we see the Truth of the One from whom lies made us turn away, and we turn back to Him, who is our Life.
In His name conversion and remission of sins is announced to all.
The disciples will be witnesses of this: they will make known to all the brothers the Lord Jesus as the new Face of God and Salvation of man.
The strength of this testimony is the Holy Spirit, the Power from above.
The Father, in His Love, gave us the Son; the Son, in the same Love, gave us His Spirit; now the Spirit is our full Life in the Son, in whom we love the Father and our brothers.
Jesus has finished His Mission.
We continue it in space and time.
In Him and like Him, we make ourselves close to all our brothers and sisters, sharing with them the Word and the Bread, healing their mortal wounds with oil and wine.
From Jerusalem to the ends of the earth, the universe and all it contains will be filled with Glory.
Then man will have fully found himself. And he will be saved, he and his history.