& Saint Peter Chanel, Priest, Martyr
Or Saint Louis Marie Grignion de Montfort, Priest
Biographical information about St. Peter Chanel
Biographical Information about St. Louis [1]
Readings for Saturday of the Third Week of Easter[2]
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible at Universalis
Commentary:
Reading 1Acts 9:31-42
The Church is at peace following Paul’s conversion and the cessation of persecution by the Sanhedrin’s main enforcer. Peter now demonstrates through miraculous healings that the authority of Christ over illness and death has been passed on to the Apostles.
Responsorial Psalm Ps 116:12-13, 14-15, 16-17
R. How shall I make a return to the Lord for all the good he has done for me?
Psalm 116 is a song of thanksgiving. This selection is an individual prayer and promise to God. The singer understands that the Lord is his salvation. A little confusing is -“Precious in the eyes of the Lord is the death of his faithful ones.”- The meaning is that the death of God's faithful is grievous to God, not that God is pleased with the death.
Gospel Jn 6:60-69
Today we come to the ebb and flow of the Lord’s followers. He is concluding his discourse on the bread of life and has just told the disciples once more: “For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him.” This was cannibalism, they did not get it and they did not like what they did get, so many who had seen him perform the sign of the Multiplication of the Loaves and followed him now were turned off and went home.
The twelve stayed with him and in response to Jesus question; “Do you also want to leave?" Simon Peter answered; “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God."
Reflection:
The Church was at peace and Peter is moving from community to community strengthening the faith of these new believers with miraculous signs. Like a flash back running through his head, the end of the “Bread of Life” discourse at Capernaum must be flowing through his mind. In our minds eye we can see him, a little tired, but buoyed up by the recent conversion of Paul and the great threat that had lifted.
As he walks, leaving Lydda, where he had just cured the paralyzed Aeneas, headed for Sharon, he hears the Lord’s voice; “Do you also want to leave?” He probably also remembers the denials, three times he said he did not even know Jesus because he was afraid. Under what were undoubtedly tan cheeks, redness creeps up as he remembers his humiliation? He also remembers his own thoughts as over and over the Lord had shown him that he was the Son of God. Then that final encounter – three times the Lord asked him. “Simon son of Jude, do you love me?” Three times to make up for his denials that night. Three times he had answered, “Lord you know I love you.” And what did the Lord tell him? “Feed my Sheep.”
Well, Peter must have thought as he turned now to the disciple who laid dead in Joppa, it’s time to feed the sheep.
If we ever doubt that God can give us all we need to accomplish what he calls us to, all we need to do is look at Peter. The First Shepherd, the rock upon which Jesus founded his Church, Peter was just an ordinary person who responded to God in an extraordinary way. With Saints Louis Marie and St. Peter Chanel we are given examples of what we can accomplish if we accept that call. So the Lord asks us today. “Do you also want to leave?”
Pax
[1] The image today is a portrait of St. Louis Marie painted shortly after his death, preserved at Saint Laurent-sur-Sèvre
[2] After Links Expire
Or Saint Louis Marie Grignion de Montfort, Priest
Biographical information about St. Peter Chanel
Biographical Information about St. Louis [1]
Readings for Saturday of the Third Week of Easter[2]
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible at Universalis
Commentary:
Reading 1Acts 9:31-42
The Church is at peace following Paul’s conversion and the cessation of persecution by the Sanhedrin’s main enforcer. Peter now demonstrates through miraculous healings that the authority of Christ over illness and death has been passed on to the Apostles.
Responsorial Psalm Ps 116:12-13, 14-15, 16-17
R. How shall I make a return to the Lord for all the good he has done for me?
Psalm 116 is a song of thanksgiving. This selection is an individual prayer and promise to God. The singer understands that the Lord is his salvation. A little confusing is -“Precious in the eyes of the Lord is the death of his faithful ones.”- The meaning is that the death of God's faithful is grievous to God, not that God is pleased with the death.
Gospel Jn 6:60-69
Today we come to the ebb and flow of the Lord’s followers. He is concluding his discourse on the bread of life and has just told the disciples once more: “For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him.” This was cannibalism, they did not get it and they did not like what they did get, so many who had seen him perform the sign of the Multiplication of the Loaves and followed him now were turned off and went home.
The twelve stayed with him and in response to Jesus question; “Do you also want to leave?" Simon Peter answered; “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God."
Reflection:
The Church was at peace and Peter is moving from community to community strengthening the faith of these new believers with miraculous signs. Like a flash back running through his head, the end of the “Bread of Life” discourse at Capernaum must be flowing through his mind. In our minds eye we can see him, a little tired, but buoyed up by the recent conversion of Paul and the great threat that had lifted.
As he walks, leaving Lydda, where he had just cured the paralyzed Aeneas, headed for Sharon, he hears the Lord’s voice; “Do you also want to leave?” He probably also remembers the denials, three times he said he did not even know Jesus because he was afraid. Under what were undoubtedly tan cheeks, redness creeps up as he remembers his humiliation? He also remembers his own thoughts as over and over the Lord had shown him that he was the Son of God. Then that final encounter – three times the Lord asked him. “Simon son of Jude, do you love me?” Three times to make up for his denials that night. Three times he had answered, “Lord you know I love you.” And what did the Lord tell him? “Feed my Sheep.”
Well, Peter must have thought as he turned now to the disciple who laid dead in Joppa, it’s time to feed the sheep.
If we ever doubt that God can give us all we need to accomplish what he calls us to, all we need to do is look at Peter. The First Shepherd, the rock upon which Jesus founded his Church, Peter was just an ordinary person who responded to God in an extraordinary way. With Saints Louis Marie and St. Peter Chanel we are given examples of what we can accomplish if we accept that call. So the Lord asks us today. “Do you also want to leave?”
Pax
[1] The image today is a portrait of St. Louis Marie painted shortly after his death, preserved at Saint Laurent-sur-Sèvre
[2] After Links Expire
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