The Love of the Disciples: The Second Sunday of Easter

                                                The Love of the Disciples:

The Second Sunday of Easter 

April 16, 2023

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Acts 2:42-47; Psalm 118; 1 Peter 1:3-9; John 20:19-31

 

The community of disciples that gathered after the Resurrection showed us the type of community that Jesus preached could and must exist under the reign of God. This was how he wanted us to live – with unity, caring for one another’s needs, and devoting themselves to worship and the breaking of bread. It was a community that enjoyed harmonious relations with those around them, and their happiness and way of life was so appealing that many others joined them. This was a testament to the power of love and the trust they placed in the experience of the Resurrection. It was what St. Peter wrote in his epistle: It was a new birth to a living hope.

 

          The mercy that we received gives us freedom to live in hope and to be like God, creative in ways to renew our common life together, so a sign of our belief in the resurrection is a unified life. We must find ways to live together more harmoniously. A key to it is to live without fear. In the Gospel, we hear about the Apostles once cowering in fear and now ready to live boldly as Jesus breathes the Spirit upon them, which causes them to live without fear, to see no limits to their love, to assert the truth of their experiences. In that encounter, they received God’s mercy that forgave and reconciled. The power of this divine action changed the face of the course of their lives. 

 

There is a universal force that includes and governs all others and even creates every phenomenon which operates in the universe. This force explains everything and gives meaning to life. This is Love, and it is the only energy in the universe that we have not learned to manage at all. This Love is light, because it illuminates both the one who gives it and the one who receives it. It is like gravity because it allows the attractions of beings towards each other. It is a power because it multiplies the best we have in ourselves and it perfects us. When we are loved by someone, their love perfects us. Love unfolds and reveals itself. We live for love, and we are willing to die for love. Through our pondering about love, we may conclude that it is the strongest force in life, so powerful because it has no limits. 

 

We may try to control all the other forces in the universe, and we recognize that we bump up against our limits all too often. We pray when we are at the limits of our love. We realize that we have to nourish ourselves with this divine lover because it is where we find meaning in life, and it is needed for our survival, well-being, and happiness. If we are going to create a new world in Christ, and make it a better place, then love is the only possible answer. This love is difficult to do, and it is always victorious. It can transcend anything and everything, and it remains the most unknown energy in the world. This is the love that was given on Easter Sunday; this is the love that remains available for us today to reshape the world. 

 

Scripture for Daily Mass

 

Monday: (Acts 4) Peter and John return to their people after being released from the religious authorities. They prayed about their ordeal and the whole house shook and all were filled with the Holy Spirit. 

 

Tuesday: (Acts 4) The community of believers was of one heart and mind and together they bore witness to the Resurrection. Joseph, called Barnabas, sold a property and give money to the Apostles. 

 

Wednesday: (Acts 5) The high priest with the Sadducees jailed the Apostles but during the night the Lord opened the prison doors and the Apostles returned to the Temple area to preach.

 

Thursday: (Acts 5) The Apostles were brought forth again during their arrest and they were reminded that they were forbidden to preach. Peter said on behalf of the Apostles that they are to obey God, and not men.  

 

Friday (Acts 5) Gamaliel, the Pharisee, urges wisdom for the Sanhedrin declaring that if this is of God, it cannot be stopped, but if it is of men, it will certainly die out. 

 

Saturday (Acts 6) The number of disciples grew. The Hellenists complained to the Hebrews that their widows were being neglected. The Twelve decided it was right to select seven reputable men (deacons) to take care of the daily distribution while they continued with prayer and the ministry of the word. Meanwhile the number of disciples in Jerusalem increased greatly. Even a large group of priests were becoming obedient to the faith.

 

Gospel: 

Monday: (John 3) Nicodemus, a Pharisee, a ruler of the Jews comes to Jesus wondering about where he is able to do the great miracles and teachings. He tries to understand. 

 

Tuesday: (John 3) Jesus answered Nicodemus saying, “you must be born from above” to accept this testimony. 

 

Wednesday (John 3) God did not send his Son into the world to condemn it, but that the world might be saved through him. 

 

Thursday (John 3) Jesus explains that he was come from above and speaks of the things that are from above. Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life. 

 

Friday (John 6) Near a Passover feast, Jesus miraculously feeds the hungry crowds as a good shepherd would. He reminds the people that the actions in his earthly life were precursors of the meal that they are to share. They are to eat his body and drink his blood.  

 

Saturday (John 6) Jesus then departs to the other side of the sea. When a storm picks up, he walks on the turbulent waves and instructs them not to be afraid. He is with them. He has power over the natural and supernatural world. 

 

Saints of the Week

 

April 21: Anselm, bishop and doctor (1033-1109), was a monastic abbot in Normandy who became Archbishop of Canterbury in 1093 after the Norman conquest of England in 1066 when the English hierarchy was displaced. Church-state relations peppered his term, but he became known to the church because of his theological and philosophical treatises, mostly for his assertion about the existence of God – an idea greater than that which no other idea can be thought. His method of theology is summed up in “faith seeking understanding.”

 

April 22: Jesuits honor Mary as the Mother of the Society of Jesus. In the Gesu church in Rome, a painting of Our Lady of the Way (Maria della Strada) is portrayed to represent Jesuit spirituality. Mary had been a central figure to Ignatius’s spirituality. In 1541, seven months after papal approval of the Jesuit Order and two weeks after his election as the first general, Ignatius celebrated Mass at Our Lady’s altar in the basilica of St. Paul Outside-the-Walls in Rome.

 

This Week in Jesuit History

 

• April 16, 1767. Pope Clement XIII wrote to Charles III of Spain imploring him to cancel the decree of expulsion of the Society from Spain, issued on Aprilil 2nd. The Pope's letter nobly defends the innocence of the Society. 
• April 17, 1540. The arrival in Lisbon of St Francis Xavier and Fr. Simon Rodriguez. Both were destined for India, but the King retained the latter in Portugal. 
• April 18, 1906. At Rome, the death of Rev Fr. Luis Martin, twenty-fourth General of the Society. Pope Pius X spoke of him as a saint, a martyr, a man of extraordinary ability and prudence. 
• April 19, 1602. At Tyburn, Ven. James Ducket, a layman, suffered death for publishing a work written by Robert Southwell. 
• April 20, 1864. Father Peter de Smet left St Louis to evangelize the Sioux Indians. 
• April 21, 1926. Fr. General Ledochowski sent out a letter De Usu Machinae Photographicae. It stated that cameras should belong to the house, not the individual. Further, they should not be used for recreation or time spent on trifles rather than for the greater glory of God. 
• April 22, 1541. Ignatius and his first companions made their solemn profession of vows in the basilica of St Paul Outside-the-Walls.