The Lord is truly risen
Invitation
May I ask for your attention for
reading the Gospel every day?
This invitation is to share the joy
of the gospel with you. Everyone, without exception,
can experience that joy by opening their heart
to the healing power of God’s word.
Available every day
Consideration
The evangelist John writes from the specific situation in which he and the first Christians find themselves. His stories are filled with symbolism. Today, John wants to tell us that what happened on the Sea of Galilee also takes place every day in the young Christian community.
In the story, the boat symbolises the young Church. The emphasis is on the unity of the Christians (the one boat, the bursting net that does not tear). It is also striking that there are 153 fish in the net of the apostles. In the ancient world, 153 was the total number of fish species known. The miraculous catch of fish thus tells of the universality of the mission: All peoples are invited to come to faith. In the early Church, the most diverse people ended up ‘in the nets’ of the apostles: Jews and Romans, Greeks and Syrians, Alexandrians and Persians. They saw the faith of the apostles, and that convinced them. Is it obvious to us that we are Christians? How?
FIRST READING Acts 4:1-12
There is salvation in no one else.
From the Acts of the Apostles
In those days when Peter and John
spoke to the people after healing the lame man
the priests,
the commander of the temple and the Sadducees came upon them.
Outraged that they were teaching the people
and proclaiming the resurrection of Jesus from the dead,
they laid hands on them and took them into custody
until the next day, because it was already evening.
However, many of those who had heard the speech
believed,
and the number of men grew to about five thousand.
The next day, their rulers,
elders, and scribes gathered in Jerusalem
together with the high priest Annas,
Caiaphas, John, Alexander
and all who belonged to the high-priestly family.
They had them brought before them and asked:
‘By what power or in what name have you done this?‘
Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them:
’Rulers of the people and elders!
“If we are called to account today
for a benefit to a defective proven
by which it is healed,
then let it be known to you all and to the whole people of Israel
that by the name of Jesus Christ, the Nazarene
whom you crucified
but whom God raised from the dead,
– that by this name this man stands before you healed.
‘He is the stone
which you builders considered worthless
and yet which has become the cornerstone.
’Salvation is found in no one else
and no other Name under heaven
has been given to mankind
in which we must be saved.
’ INTERLUDIUM Ps. 118(117):1-2, 4, 22-24, 25-27a
The stone which the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone.
or: Alleluia. Give thanks to the Lord, for He is gracious,
His compassion is without end!
Repeat it, tribes of Israel:
His compassion is without end!
Repeat it, servants of the Lord:
His compassion is without end! The stone which the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone.
It is the Lord who has done this,
a miracle before our eyes.
This is the day the Lord has made,
we will celebrate it in gladness. O Lord, grant us your salvation,
O Lord, grant us prosperity!
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord:
We bless you from the house of the Lord;
the Lord is God, He enlightens us.
ALLELUIA Ps. 118(117), 24
Alleluia.
This is the day the Lord has made,
we will celebrate it in joy.
Alleluia.
SEQUENCE
Let us praise the Easter Lamb,
honour the Lamb of God with sacrifices.
Yes, the Lamb saves the sheep,
Christ through his innocence
brings us poor sinners to the Father.
Death and life, oh miracle,
must fight together.
He who died, He lives, He is our King.
Tell us, Mary,
what is it that you have seen?
Christ’s tomb was empty,
the glory of Him who is risen,
angels as witnesses,
the napkin and the shroud.
My hope, my living Christ!
Behold, He goes before you to Galilee.
Truly Christ is risen: He has risen from the dead.
O King, our Hero, grant us peace. Alleluia.
GOSPEL John 21:1-14
Jesus approached, took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish.
From the holy gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to
John
At that time Jesus appeared again to the disciples
by the Sea of Tiberias.
The appearance took place in this way:
There were gathered together
Simon Peter, Thomas who is also called Didymus,
Nathanael from Cana in Galilee,
the sons of Zebedee and two more of his disciples.
Simon Peter said to them,
‘I’m going fishing.’
They replied,
‘Then we will come with you.’
So they set out and got into the boat
but that night they caught nothing.
When it was already beginning to be morning
Jesus was standing on the beach,
but the disciples did not realise that it was Jesus.
Jesus spoke to them:
‘Friends, have you caught any fish?’
‘No,’
they said.
Then He ordered them:
‘Throw the net out to the right of the boat,
and you will catch something.’
After they had done this,
they were unable to haul the net in
because of the large number of fish.
At that the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter,
‘It is the Lord!’
When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord
he put on his outer garment
– for he was lightly clad –
and jumped into the lake.
The other disciples came
for they were not far from the shore,
only about two hundred cubits,
and they dragged the net with fish behind them.
When they had gone ashore
they saw that a charcoal fire had been made
with fish on it and bread.
Jesus said to them,
“Bring some of the fish you have just caught.’
Simon Peter went back aboard and dragged the net ashore.
It was full of large fish, a hundred and fifty-three in all
and even though there were so many, the net was not torn.
Jesus said to them:
‘Come and have breakfast.’
Knowing that it was the Lord
none of the disciples dared to ask Him:
“Who are you?’
Jesus came and
took the bread and gave it to them,
and did the same with the fish.
This was now the third time that Jesus appeared to the disciples
since he had risen from the dead.
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Fratelli tutti
Encyclical of
POPE FRANCIS
On fraternity and social friendship
258. It is easy to choose war, with its seemingly
humanitarian, defensive or preventive excuses are put forward and
even use is made of the manipulation of information.
In recent decades, all wars have indeed claimed to have a
‘justification’. The Catechism of the Catholic Church speaks of the
possibility of legitimate defence by military
power, provided that it can be demonstrated that some ‘strict conditions
of moral legitimacy’ are met. However, it is easy to fall into an
overly broad interpretation of this possible right. For example,
there is an erroneous desire to justify ‘preventive attacks’ or acts of war in which
‘evil and disorder that are more serious than the evil one wants to eliminate”
are difficult to avoid. The issue is that, since the development
of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons and the enormous and
increasing possibilities offered by new technologies, war
has acquired an uncontrollable destructive power that affects many
innocent civilians. Truly, ‘never has humanity had so much power
over itself and nothing guarantees that it will use it well’.
That is why we can no longer consider war as a solution,
since the risks are likely to always outweigh the hypothetical
benefits attributed to it. Faced with this reality,
it is very difficult today to defend the rational criteria that
were developed in other centuries to speak of a possible
‘just war’. No more war!
To be continued
Every day at 1 am
The Bible text in this issue is taken from The New Bible Translation,
©Nederlands Bijbelgenootschap 2004/2007.
Considerations from Liturgical suggestions for weekdays and Sundays
Fratelli tutti Official English translation __________________________________________________________________