WEEKLY PRAYER SERVICE
/ EASTER SUNDAY
John 20:1-9April 16, 2006
Theme:He saw… and he believed.
Introduction to the Reading
Signs are objects, situations, gestures, postures, sounds, etc. which point to something else and convey a message about the thing they point to. In the reading the Beloved Disciple went into the empty tomb after Peter and with Peter saw the burial cloths lying in the tomb. The way they were laid indicated that a) Jesus’ Body was not stolen as Mary Magdalene thought, and b) that something mysterious had happened to the Body so that it was not there, as though it had evaporated through the wrappings. Seeing this symbol of the Faithful Christian “BELIEVED” even though at that time he could not have explained what precisely he believed in. The writer hints at the fact of the resurrection.
First Reading: Jn 20:1-9
Reflection on the Reading
Once we have seen facts we cease to believe for we KNOW. What the witness, the Beloved Disciple, saw, however, were mere signs which indicated something. That thing is the object of belief. First, he saw that the tomb was empty. The Body of Jesus was not where it had been laid on Friday afternoon. Secondly, the burial cloths were so neatly folded so no thief went to steal the Body. Whoever was there had time to fold winding cloths that covered the Body’s Head. Since the cloth indicated that the Body had passed through vaguely, the apostle must have believed, that it was the meaning of Jesus’ prediction that He would rise on the third day. So he went away believing in the resurrection.
As a people we communicate very much nonverbally – through looks, gestures, indirect speech, and so forth. By signs we understand many things. Therefore it is not hard for us to understand how faith can be developed through signs. The signs which develop and increase our faith and intimacy with God in Jesus, are the SACRAMENTS. By the sacraments we encounter Jesus as Brother, as Savior, as Healer, as Priest, and as Spiritual Food. But we can only encounter him according to the light of faith. If we truly believe in Jesus we profit much from every sacramental encounter with Him, especially through the Eucharist and Reconciliation. By faith we encounter Him in people and become more like Him as we do. By faith we strive to serve Him in others. Without faith all this is folly.
Preparation for Contemplation
Second Reading/Contemplation/Faith Sharing
Application to Life:
How important is it for me to be present at Mass?
Do I realize that at the Sacrament of Reconciliation I meet sacramentally in the person of the priest, Jesus the Healer?
How do I/we make the people we live and work with believe in the presence of Christ in the Sacraments and in people? What obstacles make this very difficult for us? Can we diminish the obstacles? How?
Word of Life: He saw… and he believed. (believing by seeing the signs only.)
SECOND SUNDAY OF EASTER
John 20:19-31April 23, 2006
Theme: Happy are those who believe without seeing Me.
Introduction to the Reading
The reading today is about the two apparitions of the Risen Jesus to the apostles in the Cenacle, the first, when Thomas was absent, where Jesus assured the apostles that they had to be at peace. Then Jesus privately gave them the Holy Spirit and the power to forgive sins. The second apparition, a week later, was more for the benefit of the doubting Thomas and all the people who refused to believe in the resurrection. Here Jesus challenged Thomas. And the repentant apostles made one of the most beautiful confessions of faith in the Bible, as response; “My Lord and my God!”
First Reading:Jn 20:19-31
Reflection on the Reading:
Today we are confronted with many reports of visions and miracles. This are, in their own way, challenges to faith. In fact the attractive offers of healing and miracle of Baptist Crusaders have won over many Catholics who had been close to the Church. Did they actually see miracles? Did they really increase their faith in Christ or did they have faith in the evangelist instead? These are very vital questions that need to be answered lest we find ourselves beguiled by sweet but empty talk.
We believe something that we ourselves have not experienced. Therefore faith is based more often than not on the testimony of people who claim to have the experience and prove to us, by the sincerity of their words that they witness to the truth.
For this reason, Jesus told the apostles that those who would come to believe in Him through the witness of the apostles who had personally experienced Him would be most blessed indeed. Today we to be careful that we listen to those who are authentic witnesses of our faith. These people are those who remain within the fold of the Catholic faith and abide by the teachings of the Catholic Church. Those who preach the Gospel but seriously cause others to doubt their faith should be critically evaluated lest they be false prophets who, driven by personal ambition, misled others, by their unfounded teachings and contrived miracles.
We must be discerning people, habitually critical of the things presented to us for our consideration. Discernment is a process by which, in a prayerful spirit we look at what we are considering in the light of the Gospel being open to what God maybe saying to us through His word. If several people are involved an honest discussion makes discernment possible. In this case, we become more secure in what we believe in.
Preparation for Contemplation
Second Reading/Contemplation/Faith Sharing
Application to Life:
Why are we more fortunate than the apostles in their time even if we believe in what we have not seen with our physical eyes? This calls for letting Christ come through our person, our words, our actions.
How much have we done this?
What can we do, alone and as a group to improve our witnessing to Christ?
Word of Life: Doubt no longer but believe.
THIRD SUNDAY OF EASTER
Luke 24:35-48April 30, 2006
Theme: They recognized Him at the breaking of the bread.
Introduction to the Reading:
From a study of the different apparition stories of the Risen Lord one thing is commonly noticed: that Jesus could not be recognized immediately even by His closest friends. Another fact is clear: the means by which they are able to identify Him was something linked with their experience of Him or something they experienced while they were with Him, such as: the way He used to call Mary Magdalene, or the miraculous catch of fish which reminded them of another, similar experience, or by the way He broke the bread. It is also obvious that Jesus appeared and disappeared as He willed. For the Risen body cannot be hindered by anything material like closed doors and barred windows. Finally, the Risen Lord appeared only to those who had faith in Him so there is no report of any appearances to the officials of His day who have posed as His enemies and persecutors.
First Reading: Lk 24:35-48
Reflection on the Reading:
The disciples at Emmaus recognized Jesus at the breaking of the bread. When they saw how He prayed over the bread and broke it to be given to them they recalled how at the last supper He blessed the bread and changed it into His body to become food for the People. This was one reason why the early Christians remembered Jesus and what happened to Him by “the breaking of the bread” in obedience to His command: “Do this in memory of Me.” The breaking of the bread became the first form of what we now know as the Mass.
Thisimplies that through the Sacrament of the Eucharist – by the sacrifice of the Mass and through Communion we must recognize Jesus present among the people as His community, in His word, in the priest, in the sacred species, the Bread and Wine consecrated at Mass, and in the people receiving His in Communion. The more we partake of the Eucharist the greater must be our knowledge and intimacy with Jesus whom we recognize as present there in many ways, although sacramentally.
The reading tells of other ways by which Jesus was recognized: by His customary greeting, “Peace be with you.”, by the glorified signs which proves He is the same Crucified Savior--the five wounds, and possibly by His behavior among them. Since the risen state is different from our present state of existence, the apostles found it hard to believe what they were seeing. Jesus had to give evidences that it was really Himself – alive and not a mere ghost, who is before them. He showed His wounds and even showed that He could still eat and be touched. Thus Jesus prepared them for witnessing to Him.
We can admire Jesus very deeply for His great patience in trying to convince His unbelieving disciples. After all, it never happened before. But we see that the motive of Jesus is in trying to convince them was to prepare them to WITNESS to the Resurrection. No one can effectively witness to something he has not understood nor experienced. Jesus, the good teacher that He is, made us of their senses and then the Scripture, to make them ready for witnessing.
Preparation for Contemplation
Second Reading/Contemplation/Faith Sharing
Application to Life:
Christians are to be living witnesses of Jesus’ resurrection. The problem is that most of us never become witnesses in fact because we have not “experienced Christ” or we have not taken time to consult the Scripture to understand what we experience of Him. If this is the case WHAT CONCRETE STEPS can we make to experience Him, to know from the Scripture that He was really the one we encountered and move us to show by our lives that we so believe it?
Word of Life: They recognized Him at the breaking of the bread.
/ FOURTH SUNDAY OF EASTER(Good Shepherd Sunday)
John 10:11-18May 7, 2006
Theme: They will listen to my voice
Introduction to the Reading:
Today’s reading is taken from John’s discourse on the Good Shepherd. In the liturgy, the fourth Sunday of Easter is always assigned to the Feast of the Good Shepherd. The Resurrection and the Good shepherd theme are linked together by the fact that as Good shepherd Jesus so loves Hid flock that He lays down His life for them. But, as Jesus explained in this discourse, He has the power both to lay down His life and the power to take it up again (Jn 10:18) hence, the Good Shepherd theme includes both the passion-death and the resurrection of Jesus. In fact it is with this claim that today’s reading ends.
First Reading:Jn 10:11-18
Reflection on the Reading:
From the previous Sundays we have attained a growing understanding of the requirements of faith, namely: that it may emerge even in negative experiences therefore we must be open to the possibility; that we must be ready to believe if we see the signs which indicate the truth to be believed, that faith is basically believing something on the strength of the word of another who claim to have the experience; and that faith is nourished by the Eucharist through which we find many chances of recognizing the Lord present before us.
Today we are to begin the theme of faith-response. To be able to get close to Jesus WE MUST LISTEN TO HIS VOICE. The Good Shepherd claims that He knows His sheep and that His sheep KNOW HIS VOICE and would follow ONLY HIS VOICE. They would run away from the hireling whose voice and lack of dedication repulse them.
The response in faith here is LOYALTY TO CHRIST PRESENT IN HIS CHURCH. The Church is the official voice of Christ on earth. His disciples, His sheep, are recognized by their ability to recognize which of the many voices is HIS VOICE. They follow only HIS VOICE.
Preparation for Contemplation
Second Reading/Contemplation/Faith Sharing
Application to Life:
What voice do we hear these days?
How do we distinguish the Voice of the Good Shepherd from among the many voices?
What do we actually see in the community as a result of the many voices?
What can we do as an individual… as a group? When do we do it?
Word of Life:They will listen to my voice.
FIFTH SUNDAY OF EASTER
John. 15: 1-8May 14, 2006
Theme: Remain in Me and Bear Fruit.
Introduction to the Reading
The reading is part of the Last Supper discourse of Jesus where he bared His heart to the disciples. It was his farewell address delivered to His closest friends just before He was taken by His enemies.
The metaphor of the Vine and the Vinedresser was used by Jesus to portray the degree of closeness dependence which must exist between Him and His followers. He also hinted at an explanation of the sufferings which His followers would undergo. Through it all Jesus reiterates: REMAIN IN ME AND BEAR FRUIT.
First Reading:Jn 15: 1-8
Reflection on the Reading:
The reading tickles our imagination. Jesus tells us that we are like branches grafted upon the True Vine which is Himself so that the life-blood which runs through us and make us grow and bear fruit is His own life-blood.
Then he tells us that the Father, like a real caretaker of the grapevines, comes around inspecting the Vine pruning off those which show they were not likely to bear fruit because they were wild. He also cleans the Vine and branches of parasites, which would weaken them assuring himself, afterwards, of a good harvest. But the comparison stops there. Jesus knows that the engrafted branches are human beings endowed with intelligence and freedom. Therefore, each one of them has the ability to decide whether to remain and cooperate, whether to allow the pruning to be done, whether to stop producing useless leaves. For this reason Jesus invites Christians to remain in Him so that they can bear good fruit which would remain for eternal life. Those who choose to separate themselves from the True Vine would be like broken branches which would soon wither, die and be gathered up to be burned in the pains of total separation from life.
Therefore the reading tells us that a) Being in Jesus—at one with Him, doing His will, that is seeking His voice and “Listening” to Him in loving obedience is the only means to salvation. b) He honestly tells us that being with Him does not save us from sufferings but they will be like the pain of pruning which is needed for a healthier, more fruitful and happier life.
c)the decision to remain with Him or to be cut off from Him remains with us.
d)Our bearing much fruit is the way to glorify the Father who made us takes care of us;
e)since the life-blood which makes us function as we can is from Christ, we are assured of assistance in moments of trials and pains.
Preparation for Contemplation
Second Reading/Contemplation/Faith Sharing
Application to Life
Do I experience this union with Christ? How? Or Why not?
From observation do most of the people around me/us aware of this intimate union between them and Jesus? What can I/We do to help them?
Word of Life: Unless you remain with me you cannot bear fruit.
SIXTH SUNDAY OF EASTER
John 15: 9-17May 21, 2006
Theme: Obey My commands and Remain in My Love.
Introduction to the Reading:
In chapter 15 John’s Gospel emphasizes the need to remain close to Jesus. Hence, in the reading today He tells us how we can REMAIN IN HIM. But the emphasis goes a step further. Jesus speaks about love. He assures us of His love and asks us to remain in His love through obedience. Then he commands love for one another. A little further on He spoke of friendship and discloses the purpose why He chose and appointed people to do their work: that their joy maybe complete and they bear fruits that abide- - synonymous ideas for joy is complete when one is aware that his/her efforts have borne fruit which has value and can last for a long time.
First Reading:Jn 15: 9-17
Preparation for Contemplation
Second Reading/ Contemplation/ Faith Sharing
Reflection on the Reading:
The first faith-response Jesus asks for is LISTENING—seeking the will of God—in the day- to- day living. The Second is REMAINING IN HIM in spite of trials which are for one’s growth. This means the only way to remain in good relationship with God in and through Jesus is THROUGH OBEDIENCE to His expressed commands. This is really what SALVATION is all about.
What is Christ’s Command? LOVE ONE ANOTHER JUST I LOVED YOU.
Not that there was no commandment of love before Jesus came. People did love with the love given to them by God from the beginning. But the original commandment which asked that ALL be given to God and others be loved, the model of love then was THE LOVE OF THE SELF.
It is interesting to note that in the culture where the commandments found expression the SELF found meaning and importance only as a member of the community - - the tribe or the family. Outside of this he/ she had no identity, so it seems that love of the self was presumed but not much understood.