Easter is the most important Christian feast. Christians celebrate from
their faith that Jesus rose from the dead
Invitation
May I hereby draw your attention to
the daily reading of the Gospel?
This invitation wants to share with you the joy of the Gospel.
of the Gospel. Everyone, no one excepted,
can experience that joy by opening their hearts
to the healing power of God’s word.
Available every day
Consideration
First, a peripheral remark: Isn’t it strange that Peter and John – after all the founding fathers of the young Christian Church – go to the temple after Jesus’ death and resurrection as of old? Clearly, the apostles did not immediately understand the sacrificial nature of Jesus’ death, nor did they appreciate the implications of breaking bread and sharing wine. They did gather to celebrate supper in remembrance of Jesus, as he had asked them to do. But it was too early to realise that this ritual would one day replace the liturgy of the Temple. Acts is the account of that evolution, of a growing faith in the resurrection. The disciples hesitate, but the Lord knows their trial and error; again and again He appears to them to make it clear that He is alive. The Emmaus story emphasises the journey one has to make to experience the nearness, the presence of the Lord. The disciples on their way to Emmaus seem to be carrying nothing but grief, confusion, disillusionment, homesickness. It is these situations where the Lord Jesus comes to be present – in extremely meagre signs – and makes the difficult journey with us.
FIRST READING Acts 3, 1-10
What I have I give you: “In the name of Jesus: Use your feet!”
From the Acts of the Apostles
In those days Peter and John once went to the temple
at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour.
There was a man there who had been lame from birth
and was carried to the temple gate every day
called the Beautiful One ,
to sit down there and ask alms
to those who entered the temple.
When he saw Peter and John
who were just about to enter the temple
he asked for alms.
Peter, as well as John looked at him sternly and said :
“Look at us.”
He fixed his gaze on them
expecting to get something from them.
Yet Peter spoke :
“Silver or gold I have not
but what I have I give you.
“In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene :
use your feet!”
He grabbed him by his right hand
and helped him up.
At the same moment, strength came into his feet and ankles,
with a leap he stood upright,
began to walk
and went running and jumping with them into the temple
while glorifying God.
All the people saw that he was walking and glorifying God.
They recognised him as the man
who was always begging at the Beautiful Gate of the temple
and they were beside themselves with amazement
at what had happened to him.
INTERLUDIUM Ps. 105(104), 1-2, 3-4, 6-7, 8-9
Never forget the miracles the Lord did.
Or : Alleluia. (Ps. 32, 5b)
Glorify the Lord and worship His Name,
Proclaim to the nations His deeds.
Sing to Him and pluck the strings for Him,
recount all His wonderful works.
Go great on the holy Name of the Lord,
rejoice, ye that follow Him.
Abide in Him, in His mighty arm,
always seek His Face.
Ye offspring of His servant Abraham,
ye sons of Jacob, his beloved.
The Lord, He is our only God,
what He decrees applies to all the earth.
For ever and ever His covenant remains in force,
which He has promised for a thousand generations.
The covenant He made with Abraham before,
the oath He once swore to Isaac.
ALLELUIA Ps. 118(117), 24
Alleluia.
This is the day which the Lord has made,
we will celebrate it in joy.
Alleluia.
SEQUENCE
Let us praise the Lamb of Easter,
Honour the Lamb of God with sacrifices.
Yes the Lamb saves the sheep,
Christ by his innocence brings
Us poor sinners to the Father.
Death and life, O miracle,
must fight together.
He who died, He lives, He is our King.
Tell us, Mary,
what is it you saw?
The tomb of Christ that was empty,
the glory of Him who is risen,
angels as witnesses,
the sweatcloth and the shroud.
My hope, my Christ alive !
Behold He goes before you to Galilee.
Truly Christ is risen : rose from the dead.
O King, our Hero, give us peace. Alleluia.
GOSPEL Lk. 24, 13-35
They recognised Him by the breaking of bread.
From the holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to
Luke
On the first day of the week
there were two disciples of Jesus on their way to a village
which was called Emmaus
and which lay sixty stadia from Jerusalem.
They were talking to each other about everything that had happened.
While they were talking like this
and exchanging thoughts,
Jesus himself came towards them
and He walked with them.
But their eyes were prevented from recognising Him.
He asked them :
“What is this conversation
that ye are having with one another on the way?”
With a depressed face, they remained standing.
One of them, whose name was Kléopas took the floor and spoke to Him :
“Art thou then the only stranger in Jerusalem ,
that thou knowest not what hath happened there these days?”
He asked them :
“What then ?”
They answered Him :
“That with Jesus the Nazarene ,
a man who was a prophet,
mighty in deed and word
in the sight of God and of all the people ;
how our high priests and government officials
handed Him over
to have Him condemned to death
and how they struck Him on the cross.
And we lived in the hope
that He would be the one who was going to redeem Israel !
“But with all this, it is already the third day
since those things happened.
“Well have some women from among us
confused us ;
they had been to the tomb in the early morning
but had not found his body
and they came to say
that they had also had an apparition of angels
who declared that He was alive again.
“Thereupon some of us went to the tomb
and they found it as the women had said,
but they did not see Him.”
Now He spoke to them :
“O unwise ones ,
who are so slow of heart
in believing all that the prophets have said !
“Did not the Messiah have to suffer all that
to enter into His glory?”
Beginning with Moses, He explained to them from all the prophets
what was related to Him in all the scriptures.
Thus they came to the village they were going to,
but He pretended that He had to go further.
They urged Him :
“Stay with us, for it is already evening and the day is drawing to a close.”
Then He went in to stay with them.
As He dined with them, He took bread,
pronounced the blessing,
broke it and reached out to them.
Now their eyes opened and they recognised Him,
but He disappeared from their faces.
Then they said to one another :
“Did not our hearts burn within us ,
as He spoke to us on the way and opened the scriptures to us?”
They immediately got up and returned to Jerusalem.
There they found the eleven gathered with the people of their group.
These declared :
“The Lord has truly risen,
He has appeared to Simon.”
And they, for their part, told what had happened on the road
and how He was recognised by them
at the breaking of bread.
__________________________________________________________________________
Laudato Si
Encyclic of
POPE FRANCIS
On caring for the common home
245. God, who calls us to generous devotion and calls us to give everything, offers us the strength and light we need to go forward. In the heart of this world, the Lord of life always remains present, who loves us so much. He does not abandon us, he does not leave us alone, because he has united himself definitively to our earth, and his love always leads us to find new ways. Praise be to Him!
To be continued
The Bible text in this issue is taken from The New Bible Translation,
©Dutch Bible Society 2004/2007.
Considerations from Liturgical suggestions for weekdays and Sundays
Laudato Si Official English translation
_________________________________________________________________