Author: ANTONINO

Scripture Readings

This chapter of Acts is the last about the Jerusalem church before Paul’s missionary journeys. We hear about Peter’s third arrest, this time by Herod who is the grandson of the Herod when Jesus was born. The story of Peter being freed from prison is so lovingly told that the parallels with Jesus’ arrest may be missed. Like Jesus, Peter was arrested during the Passover, and was also taken for a ghost, here by the maid, Rhoda, who shuts the door in his face. The angel who proclaimed Jesus to be risen, and who frees Peter, goes on to strike Herod dead.
A rather lonely Paul, abandoned in prison in Rome, writes these encouraging words to Timothy. Paul has solemnly commissioned Timothy to take over his ministry, and Paul urges him to keep on preaching the true Christian message in its entirety. But this will inevitably lead to similar suffering and Timothy will need always to rely on the Lord’s strength.
Today’s gospel is Matthew’s version of Jesus asking who people say he is. It is similar to Luke’s version. But Matthew inserts the well-known commissioning of Peter to be the rock of the Church, the only reference in all the gospels to the whole Church, and probably added later.

Psalm Response: From all my terrors the Lord set me free.

Scripture Readings

Satan challenged God that if Job lost all that he valued he would curse God. So God permitted Satan to test Job. After losing everything Job laments his losses, but rather than cursing God, Job asks why God has treated him – a just man – so badly. Eventually God answers at great length – a beautiful hymn of praise to God’s power over, and in, all creation, confirming that God is indeed “greater than any mortal”.

Paul has told the Corinthians he would prefer to be with the Lord, who has rescued him from near despair, but nevertheless he accepts that he is required to do further work on earth. He urges the Corinthians to constantly keep in mind the new creation they have become, now they know the risen Christ. So he does not lose heart nor give up hope, even though people might have thought God is no longer caring for him.

Today’s first reading supports Mark’s description of Jesus stilling the storm. But in Mark’s gospel the disciples do not understand: they cannot make the connection to the lesson learned so painfully by Job. They do not yet have faith in his continued care even when asleep! Understanding can come only after Jesus’ death on the cross.

Psalm Response: O Give thanks to the Lord, for his love endures for ever.

Job 38: 1, 8-11; Ps106(107): 23-26, 28-31; 2 Cor 5: 14-17; Mark 4: 35-41

Scripture Readings

Writing in Babylon shortly after Israel’s deportation in 587 BC, Ezekiel
has many chapters about Israel’s failure to keep faith in God, leading
to their exile. But God keeps his promises: He will restore his people
to Israel. A remnant will survive and return to Zion. But the people
must repent and submit to the sovereignty of God. The Psalm looks
forward to when “the just” “will flourish in the courts of our God”.

Paul has described his sufferings to the Corinthians. He accepts that
while we are in our mortal bodies “we are being given up to death” “so
that Jesus may be made visible in our flesh”. We should have confidence
in the Lord: whatever problems we face in our earthly lives, we look
forward, “longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling”, our future,
resurrected body which is waiting for us.

In Mark’s gospel Jesus describes the kingdom of God in parables.
Examples of transformation surround us, seeds and larvae being amazingly
transformed. We may think the kingdom of God is “somewhere else”, in
heaven, rather than on earth. But Jesus’ parables do not suggest this,
and in the Lord’s prayer we ask every day that God’s kingdom come “on
earth, as it is in heaven”.

Psalm Response: It is good to give you thanks, O Lord.

Scripture Readings

After rescuing the Israelites from Egypt God gave Moses the Law, including the Ten Commandments, saying he would help them enter the land he had promised them. Moses explains God’s laws and promises to the people, and symbolises the people’s agreement to this covenant by throwing the blood of sacrificed animals over the altar and over the people.
The blood which ratified Israel’s covenant with God foreshadowed the people’s suffering before they could build their kingdom in the promised land. So the Letter to the Hebrews sees Jesus Christ’s suffering and bloody sacrifice as marking the new covenant, which enables the new people of God to enter their eternal inheritance. But, as Paul reminded us last week, as “co-heirs with Christ” we must share in Christ’s suffering “so as to share his glory”. God’s kingdom can be built only through suffering: the Cross is the only way. Like the apostles, we must also drink the cup Christ has drunk, as well as eating the heavenly food we celebrate today.
Mark’s gospel brings us back to the Passover blood of the lamb, with which the exodus began, then forward to the Last Supper, when Jesus’ own blood was drunk to initiate the new covenant. And Jesus commanded us to repeat the Eucharistic meal “until he comes”.

Psalm Response: The cup of salvation I will raise; I will call on the Lord’s name.

Exodus 24:3-8; Ps 115(116); Hebrews 9:11-15; Mark 14:12-16, 22-26

Scripture Readings

Deuteronomy, the second book of the Law, consolidated Israel’s beliefs and rituals. A long introductory teaching by Moses emphasises the requirement for Israel to keep the Law, as its part in their covenant with God. In today’s reading Moses emphasises the uniqueness of God, who has made himself known to Israel, speaking out of a fire, and who has made a covenant with them: He will be their God and they are to be his people. Moses then repeats the ten commandments, given by God. The Psalm picks up God’s omnipotence and the confidence we can have in relying on Him.
God’s revelation in Christ fulfilled this covenant relationship: Paul tells the Romans that if we are in the Spirit we are not in the flesh. We are no longer dominated by our human tendency to turn from God. We are now God’s children, sharing in Christ’s inheritance, in his suffering and in his glory.
There only two resurrection appearances in Matthew’s Gospel. Jesus appeared very briefly to two Marys. Then the Gospel ends with Jesus commissioning the eleven disciples to “make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit”. And He promises to be with his people always.

Psalm Response: Happy the people the Lord has chosen as his own.

Deut 4: 32-34, 39-40; Psalm 32; Romans 8:14-17; Matthew 28: 16-20

Scripture Readings

Pentecost, 50 days after Passover, was one of the three Jewish pilgrimage feasts. Nomadic Hebrews sacrificed lambs in the spring to ensure adequate water for their flocks through the dry season. Settled into agriculture, they celebrated the barley harvest a few days later. These two linked feasts became associated with the Passover in Egypt when the plague “passed over” houses with doorposts marked with the blood of a lamb. Tabernacles, when everyone slept in tents on the hillsides for the grape harvest, was associated with the temporary shelters during the 40 years of wilderness wandering.

The Dead Sea Scrolls showed new community members were enrolled at Pentecost, which was associated with God giving the Covenant on Sinai. Pentecost fits neatly with this Covenant feast: the formal birth of the Christian Church and the commitment and strengthening of the Christian community for its task.

Being filled with the Holy Spirit not only enabled the disciples to speak in foreign languages: it gave them the courage to travel throughout the countries listed in the first reading, fearlessly proclaiming “the marvels of God”. The Holy Spirit gives each person the skills they need and the strength to avoid self-indulgence. And the Church, Christ’s presence on earth, is promised the constant support and guidance of the Advocate.

Psalm Response: Send forth your Spirit, O Lord, and renew the face of the earth.

(Acts 2: 1-11; Psalm 103(104); Gal 5: 16-25; John 15: 26-27, 16: 12-15)

Scripture Readings 17th May 2015, Ascension, Year B

Luke begins Acts by repeating Jesus’ ascension, both to emphasise its importance and to link the coming work of the apostles with Jesus’ earthly ministry. Before Pentecost the disciples still do not understand, asking if the time has come for the kingdom of Israel to be restored. But Jesus’ restored kingdom will be the people of God: it is about mission, not knowledge. Jesus must return to the Father so that the Holy Spirit can come and give them power to be his witnesses “to the ends of the earth”. The two men from the Transfiguration and the empty tomb appear again promising Jesus will return. But we are not to know when.
Both alternative second readings are from Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, which gives a broad, developed understanding of Jesus. So the “hymn in Ephesians” praises the glorified Christ, revealed by his resurrection and ascension, now ruling as universal king and head of the Church, his body. The alternative reading urges us to behave charitably, seeking unity in the one Lord, and using the share of grace we have each been given after Jesus’ ascension.
In the second ending of Mark’s gospel, before the Lord was taken up into heaven, the apostles are commissioned as his witnesses.

Psalm Response: God goes up with shouts of joy, the Lord goes up with trumpet blast.

(Acts 1: 1-11; Psalm 46(47); Eph 1:17-23 or Eph 4: 1-13; Mark 16: 15-20)

Scripture Readings

Much has happened in Acts since last Sunday’s reading: Peter and some apostles have been imprisoned and beaten before being set free again. Some “Hellenists” – apparently Greek-speaking Christians – complained about their treatment by the Hebrew-speaking Christians, and seven Greeks were appointed to look after the Hellenists. Stephen was arrested and his speech to the Jewish leaders suggests that the Hellenists were persecuted by the Jews because they did not join in the Jewish Temple worship.
Today we hear how Paul returns from his conversion near Damascus and is accepted by the Hebrew Christians. But not by the Hellenists, so has to be hustled out of town. The Hellenists were also driven out by the Jews, and so the Gospel spreads – to Phoenicia, Antioch and Cyprus.
John’s First Letter continues with John insisting that we must show our faith by our actions: keeping God’s commandments and living the kind of life God wants. Providing we obey our conscience we can be sure we are doing right. But our conscience must be guided by God’s Spirit dwelling in us.
In John’s gospel Jesus gives his disciples detailed teaching at the last supper, just before his arrest. We must be bound closely to Christ: He is the vine, we are the branches, gaining sustenance and support from him.

Psalm Response: You, Lord, are my praise in the great assembly.

(Acts 9: 26-31 ; Ps 21(22) ; 1 John 3: 18-24 ; John 15: 1-8)

Scripture Readings

After healing the cripple in Jesus’ name and calling on the people to repent, Peter and John were put in prison overnight. Peter then repeats his preaching to the Jewish leaders. The leaders accept that “a notable miracle has been worked through them”, and cannot decide what to do. They simply order the Apostles not to speak in Jesus’ name again. The apostles reject this warning, but are released without being punished – at least this time.
John’s first letter insists that the love the Father has given us makes us his children now, anticipating already in some way what we shall be “when he appears”. John then contrasts the righteous who do not sin with those who commit sin and are “of the devil”. You are either for God or against him – there is nothing between.
In John’s gospel, after healing the man born blind, Jesus describes himself both as the door through which we can enter and be saved, and also as the good shepherd, whom the sheep know and follow. In contrast to the false shepherds criticised by Exekiel, the good shepherd cares for his sheep, even at the cost of his life. Jesus emphasises that he is in control of his life, causing division among the Jews.

Psalm Response: The stone which the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.

(Acts 4: 8-12 ; 117(118); 1 John 3: 1-2 ; John 10: 11-18)