Monday, April 27, 2009

Monday of the Third Week of Easter


Readings for Monday of the Third Week of Easter[1][2]
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible

Readings and Commentary:
[3]

Reading 1:
Acts 6:8-15

Stephen, filled with grace and power,
was working great wonders and signs among the people.
Certain members of the so-called Synagogue of Freedmen,
Cyreneans, and Alexandrians,
and people from Cilicia and Asia,
came forward and debated with Stephen,
but they could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he spoke.
Then they instigated some men to say,
"We have heard him speaking blasphemous words
against Moses and God."
They stirred up the people, the elders, and the scribes,
accosted him, seized him,
and brought him before the Sanhedrin.
They presented false witnesses who testified,
"This man never stops saying things against this holy place and the law.
For we have heard him claim
that this Jesus the Nazorean will destroy this place
and change the customs that Moses handed down to us."
All those who sat in the Sanhedrin looked intently at him
and saw that his face was like the face of an angel.

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Commentary on
Acts 6:8-15

The first deacon, St. Stephen, through his zeal has angered the Jewish community in Jerusalem (as if the Apostles were not enough) by placing Jesus above Moses in his teaching. The witnesses testified that Stephen placed Jesus above Moses which was in fact true and there would have been no defense possible. Later, with the introduction of false witnesses, St. Luke draws a parallel between St. Stephen and the fate of Jesus in the hands of the Sanhedrin.

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Responsorial Psalm:
Psalm 119:23-24, 26-27, 29-30

R. (1ab) Blessed are they who follow the law of the Lord!
or:
R. Alleluia.
Though princes meet and talk against me,
your servant meditates on your statutes.
Yes, your decrees are my delight;
they are my counselors.
R. Blessed are they who follow the law of the Lord!
or:
R. Alleluia.
I declared my ways, and you answered me;
teach me your statutes.
Make me understand the way of your precepts,
and I will meditate on your wondrous deeds.
R. Blessed are they who follow the law of the Lord!
or:
R. Alleluia.
Remove from me the way of falsehood,
and favor me with your law.
The way of truth I have chosen;
I have set your ordinances before me.
R. Blessed are they who follow the law of the Lord!
or:
R. Alleluia.
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Commentary on
Ps 119:23-24, 26-27, 29-30

Continuing the theme of being opposed to civil authority for the sake of God, this psalm response praises those who are steadfast in the face of such opposition. Psalm 119 is an individual lament asking for God’s support in times of difficulty.

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Gospel:
John 6:22-29

[After Jesus had fed the five thousand men, his disciples saw him walking on the sea.]
The next day, the crowd that remained across the sea
saw that there had been only one boat there,
and that Jesus had not gone along with his disciples in the boat,
but only his disciples had left.
Other boats came from Tiberias
near the place where they had eaten the bread
when the Lord gave thanks.
When the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there,
they themselves got into boats
and came to Capernaum looking for Jesus.
And when they found him across the sea they said to him,
"Rabbi, when did you get here?"
Jesus answered them and said,
"Amen, amen, I say to you, you are looking for me
not because you saw signs
but because you ate the loaves and were filled.
Do not work for food that perishes
but for the food that endures for eternal life,
which the Son of Man will give you.
For on him the Father, God, has set his seal."
So they said to him,
"What can we do to accomplish the works of God?"
Jesus answered and said to them,
"This is the work of God, that you believe in the one he sent."

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Commentary on
Jn 6:22-29

This dialogue with the people begins St. John’s great discourse on the bread of life. In this selection Jesus begins by telling the crowd, which had just been witness to the feeding of the multitude with the barley loaves, that they should focus on spiritual food rather than filling their stomachs. His reference here is that through their belief in him as the Son of God, they are doing God’s will.

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Reflection:

Sacred scripture emphasizes how difficult it is to follow the great Christian paradox of being part of the world but separate from it. Jesus make this point, although somewhat veiled, as he begins the great “Bread of Life” discourse in the Gospel selection. He tells the crowd that followed him after he fed the multitude that they should be less worried about what fills the belly and more worried about what fills the spirit.

In the story about the trial of St. Stephen in the reading from Acts, it is clear that he has taken a more “in your face” approach with the Hebrews and has invited the wrath of the Sanhedrin. Ultimately this will cost him his life. Assuming that most of us would not choose martyrdom, we must ask ourselves what kind of balance we should strike between living in the world as witness to Christ’s love and opposing the world as anathema to that spirit.

We must recognize that the more completely we adopt that loving attitude of Christ, the more we will be seen as fanatics or as strange to those who have taken a more casual approach to their spiritual lives (even more so to those who reject God entirely). We must realize that most people see in the faithful follower an image of what they believe they should be and seeing that image, they become uncomfortable. It is like they have looked into the mirror before leaving for a social engagement and discovered that what they are wearing is inappropriate for the event and there is no time to change. They become angry at the mirror or rationalize that everyone should appear as they do.

The more they are reminded that they should love others, the more uncomfortable they become and their tolerance for the one who reminds them becomes less. There is a serous possibility that they may feel threatened and take action to insure that they are no longer forced to be reminded of what they should be. We do not need to look too far to see the signs of this attitude at the macro level. There are plenty of law suits against people, companies, and even the government to eliminate objects of faith – the Ten Commandments and prayer in schools to mention a few.

Our Easter Celebration offers us the reward for zeal in following the Risen Christ. We must recognize that if we are doing Christianity right, we will not be loved by the world, as the Savior himself was not loved by the world. But by living our faith to the best of our ability, we hope that we will be buoyed up by the community to which we belong, the spirit dwelling within us, and by our hope in the reward for fidelity to the one who offers us spiritual food to sustain us on our journey.

Pax

[1] ALTRE
[2] The picture used is “St. Stephen the Martyr” by Vincenzo Foppa, 1480s
[3] Text of Readings is taken from the New American Bible, Copyright © Libreria Editrice Vaticana, Excerpts from the English translation of The Roman Missal © 1973, International Committee on English in the Liturgy, Inc. All rights reserved.

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