3rd Sunday of Easter Time (B)
3rd week of the Psalter
Texts taken from the Missalette “On Your Word” March-April 2021
The common theme of today's three readings is the following: Jesus, through his Passover, has gained forgiveness of sins for all humanity. To benefit from it, we must first understand what sin is and acknowledge that we are sinners. Sins erect a wall between us and God, a wall that, once we have built it, we are unable to tear down. But through his death and resurrection Jesus has torn down the wall and broken the chain: whoever wishes can thus obtain forgiveness and begin a new life. Forgiveness, generously offered through baptism and then continually renewed through confession, expresses God's love for his children. Let us not allow our sins to condition us, but let us press forward, renewed in the joyful commitment to strive toward Him, the only one able to fulfill the deepest and most genuine longings of our hearts.
FIRST READING
From the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 3:13-15, 17-19)
In those days, Peter said to the people: “The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus, whom you handed over and disowned before Pilate, while he had decided to release him; you instead disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked for a murderer to be granted to you. You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead: we are witnesses of this. Now, brothers, I know that you acted out of ignorance, as did your leaders. But God has thus fulfilled what he had foretold through the mouth of all the prophets, namely, that his Christ would suffer. Therefore repent and change your lives, so that your sins may be blotted out.”
Commentary on the First Reading
“The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers”: this insistence on affirming that God is always present throughout the chronology of the Old Testament leads us to think that there is no break between the past and the present moment. What unites and gives meaning to the whole of history is the certainty that God is with us; he knows neither abandonment nor enmity. Jesus himself says that God was, is, and will be. If he speaks of the “God of your fathers,” it means that he is always present, as in the time of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He is not a museum god, now confined to the history books, but a living and active God beyond time: past-present-future. “I am,” says Jesus; I am the eternal made flesh in time, I have always existed out of love, I continue my presence today by loving everything and everyone, I am the future of love for every creature, I am the goal of earthly life spent in love. I am not the god of the dead, but the God of the living, the Risen One who has defeated death; I am the Eternal: and this is the horizon within which we are to live our existence. He alone is our guarantor, the God of our fathers.
SECOND READING
From the First Letter of the Apostle Saint John (1 John 2:1-5a)
My children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin; but if anyone does sin, we have an Advocate with the Father: Jesus Christ, the righteous one. He is the expiation for our sins; not only for ours, but also for those of the whole world. And by this we know that we have come to know him: if we keep his commandments. Whoever says, “I know him,” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps his word, in him the love of God is truly perfected.
Commentary on the Second Reading
“But whoever keeps his word, in him the love of God is truly perfected”: during the Easter season, the theme of Jesus' word returns constantly, the Father's word entrusted to the Apostles so that it might be proclaimed in the communities. It also serves as catechesis for individuals eager to know the Jesus of the Gospels. What a splendid idea to make the entire first part of the Eucharistic celebration revolve around the Word, dividing Holy Mass into two parts: the liturgy of the Word and the Eucharistic liturgy. And the Word exhorts us and urges us to live Jesus' one commandment, that of love. Thus a connection is established between the Word and love: the Father's love for us, the Son who accepts the Father's plan of love for humanity, and the Holy Spirit proceeding from the love of the Father and the Son. The Christian faith is identified with Sacred Scripture and love. We come to affirm that the Word observed out of love leads us toward perfection. It seems to me an exaggeration of God's love for us! But those who love know how to dream of unimaginable and original horizons, because they spring from love.
GOSPEL OF THE DAY
From the Gospel according to Luke (Luke 24:35-48)
At that time, [the two disciples who had returned from Emmaus] recounted [to the Eleven and to those who were with them] what had happened along the way and how they had recognized [Gesù] in the breaking of the bread. While they were speaking about these things, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them: “Peace be with you!” They were startled and frightened and thought they were seeing a ghost. But he said to them: “Why are you troubled, and why do questions arise in your hearts? Look at my hands and my feet: it is truly I! Touch me and see; 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. But since they still did not believe for joy and were filled with amazement, he said: “Have you anything here to eat?” They offered him a piece of baked fish; he took it and ate it in front of them. Then he said: “These are the words that I spoke to you when I was still with you: everything written about me in the law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures and said to them: “Thus it is written: the Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.”
Commentary on the Gospel of the Day
“Jesus himself stood among them and said to them: ‘Peace be with you!’”: Jesus never tires of being with his disciples after the resurrection; they need to be encouraged, to overcome the fear and shame of fleeing during the Passion and death. All this hiding leads to confusion, agitation, and fear of being treated like the Master. So Jesus addresses them with this enchanting greeting: peace be with you. Move from fear to serenity, from hiding to showing your friendship with the Crucified One, from silence to proclaiming with amazement that he is risen. Awake, you who sleep; Christ our Passover has risen, he has dispelled every fear, he comes to bring peace where there was fear, where death seemed to reign. The peace of Christ transforms every closed and fearful attitude into joyful, open ways of life, like the situations in the world where peace is needed. And it is not peace understood superficially as the absence of war, but the theological place of God's presence, of love's victory over sin, of serenity over arrogance, of peaceful relationships over domination and oppression. Peace that restores meaning to every person we meet, worthy of our greeting: SHALOM.
