Saturday May 22

SEVENTH WEEK OF EASTER

 

DEDICATED TO THE GOSPEL  

                                     

Introduction

The books that have been our main companions throughout the Easter Season end with the committed, enthusiastic witness to the Good News of Jesus: Paul in his captivity, and Peter, whose martyrdom is predicted, and John, the beloved apostle, who has given a true testimony of Jesus in his Gospel.

What is the witness we can give to Jesus? Does our way of life show that we believe in him and love him?

 

Opening Prayer

Lord, our God,
like Mary, the women and the apostles
on the day before the first Pentecost,
we are gathered in prayer.
Let the Holy Spirit come down also upon us,
that we may become enthusiastic believers
and faithful witnesses to the person
and the Good News of Jesus.
May our way of living bear witness
that Jesus is our light and life,
now and forever.

 

Reading 1: ACTS 28:16-20, 30-31

When he entered Rome, Paul was allowed to live by himself,
with the soldier who was guarding him.

Three days later he called together the leaders of the Jews.
When they had gathered he said to them, “My brothers,
although I had done nothing against our people
or our ancestral customs,
I was handed over to the Romans as a prisoner from Jerusalem.
After trying my case the Romans wanted to release me,
because they found nothing against me deserving the death penalty.
But when the Jews objected, I was obliged to appeal to Caesar,
even though I had no accusation to make against my own nation.
This is the reason, then, I have requested to see you
and to speak with you, for it is on account of the hope of Israel
that I wear these chains.”

He remained for two full years in his lodgings.
He received all who came to him, and with complete assurance
and without hindrance he proclaimed the Kingdom of God
and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ.

Responsorial Psalm: Ps 11:4, 5 AND 7

(see 7b) The just will gaze on your face, O Lord.
or:
R. Alleluia.
The LORD is in his holy temple;
the LORD’s throne is in heaven.
His eyes behold,
his searching glance is on mankind.
R. The just will gaze on your face, O Lord.
or:
R. Alleluia.
The LORD searches the just and the wicked;
the lover of violence he hates.
For the LORD is just, he loves just deeds;
the upright shall see his face.
R. The just will gaze on your face, O Lord.
or:
R. Alleluia.

Alleluia: JN 16:7, 13

Alleluia, alleluia.
I will send to you the Spirit of truth, says the Lord;
he will guide you to all truth.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

 

Gospel: JN 21:20-25

Peter turned and saw the disciple following whom Jesus loved,
the one who had also reclined upon his chest during the supper
and had said, “Master, who is the one who will betray you?”
When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, “Lord, what about him?”
Jesus said to him, “What if I want him to remain until I come?
What concern is it of yours?
You follow me.”
So the word spread among the brothers that that disciple would not die.
But Jesus had not told him that he would not die,
just “What if I want him to remain until I come?
What concern is it of yours?”

It is this disciple who testifies to these things
and has written them, and we know that his testimony is true.
There are also many other things that Jesus did,
but if these were to be described individually,
I do not think the whole world would contain the books
that would be written.

 

Intercessions

–   That Pentecost may be for the Church, not something that happened in the past but a repeated renewal in the forgiveness and the life of Christ, we pray:

–   That by the power of the Holy Spirit, we may be faithful to our faith and commitment to all that Jesus taught us, we pray:

–   That the Holy Spirit may keep recreating us anew in the love of God and the love of people, we insistently pray:

 

Prayer over the Gifts

Our loving, faithful God,
in these signs of bread and wine,
we want to celebrate the memory
of Jesus, our Lord and our Savior.
By the power of the Holy Spirit,
make us one heart and soul in him.
May our love and concern for one another
express a strong faith in Jesus’ person and message,
and bear witness that he is alive among us
and that we are united in Jesus, our Lord.

 

Prayer after Communion

Lord, our God,
in this Eucharist,
Jesus has nourished us
with his word and his body.
Allow us to go with him
in our journey through life,
strong and confident through the Holy Spirit,
that we will build up your kingdom
of love and justice,
and that we will reach our destiny
of happiness without end.
We ask this through Christ, our Lord.

 

Blessing

May the Church be an open book in which people can read the Word of God. The Lord be in your hearts and on your lips, that you may worthily proclaim his Gospel, in the name of the Father and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

 

Commentary

Today’s passage is the closing scene of John’s gospel, and Peter is invited once again by Jesus to “Follow him!” At an earlier time Peter sounded very courageous, even heroic. “I will lay down my life for you” (Jn 13:37). As events unfolded, he failed to live up to his brave talk, preferring instead to save his own skin. That was a profound lesson in humility, and that experience and later the dramatic turns in the life of the Community has made Peter a transformed man. Peter is now in a better position to understand what does following Jesus mean. The demand of Jesus is nothing but “love Jesus – love God” and loving Jesus means to care for one’s brothers and sisters. And Peter has just professed his love for Jesus three times.

Jesus’ final words recorded in the Gospel are his invitation to Peter: Follow me. If Peter had asked, “Where, Lord?”, the response of Jesus may well have been: Come and see. The Gospel ended as it had begun –“Jesus said to them: Come and you will see” [1:39]. From the point of view of the evangelist, Christian life is always the disciple’s response to Jesus’ invitation: Come and see!
The invitation that Jesus makes to every disciple calls for a deliberate and determined response. The disciple’s task is to refuse to be distracted by the experience of others and to remain ever faithful to the personal call of Jesus. The Gospel shows us that the decisive thing is to follow Jesus. Tomorrow we celebrate the solemnity of Pentecost. Let us renew our yes to the Lord to follow him. In prayer with Mary, our Mother, we ask the Holy Spirit to fill our lives: Following is a prayer composed by late Bishop Pedro Casaldaliga, Spanish Claretian missionary, who was known as bishop of the poor and the forgotten in Brazil, and died on 8 August 2020, at the age of 92.
Come Holy Spirit Creator Now.,
Stay with us today, give us your intelligence
and fill our hearts with goodness.
Your name is: comfort, inspiration, life, grace.
You are novelty: creative force.
Come Holy Spirit, so that your Light
illuminates our course
and strengthens our decisions.
You are the one who has done all the good things,
–the one who presides over our discernment
and points the way of our options–
Your name is unity, hope and love.
Keep us from evil, from selfishness, from injustice,
from intolerance and from divisions.
Give us your peace, your blessing, your comfort,
your serenity and your wisdom;
so that we transform our present
into the will of the Father who is in heaven.