20190505
PROCLAMATION
AND DISCIPLESHIP
05 MAY, 2019,
Sunday, 3rd Week of Easter
Readings at Mass
Liturgical Colour:
White.
|
First reading
|
|
Acts 5:27-32,40-41 ©
|
|
We are witnesses to all this: we and the
Holy Spirit
|
The high priest demanded an explanation of
the Apostles. ‘We gave you a formal warning’ he said ‘not to preach in this
name, and what have you done? You have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and
seem determined to fix the guilt of this man’s death on us.’ In reply Peter and
the apostles said, ‘Obedience to God comes before obedience to men; it was the
God of our ancestors who raised up Jesus, but it was you who had him executed
by hanging on a tree. By his own right hand God has now raised him up to be leader
and saviour, to give repentance and forgiveness of sins through him to Israel.
We are witnesses to all this, we and the Holy Spirit whom God has given to
those who obey him.’ They warned the apostles not to speak in the name of Jesus
and released them. And so they left the presence of the Sanhedrin glad to have
had the honour of suffering humiliation for the sake of the name.
|
Responsorial Psalm
|
|
Psalm
29(30):2,4-6,11-13 ©
|
I will praise you, Lord,
you have rescued me.
or
Alleluia!
I will praise you, Lord, you have rescued
me
and have not let my enemies
rejoice over me.
O Lord, you have raised my soul from the
dead,
restored me to life from those
who sink into the grave.
I will praise you, Lord,
you have rescued me.
or
Alleluia!
Sing psalms to the Lord, you who love him,
give thanks to his holy name.
His anger lasts a moment; his favour all
through life.
At night there are tears, but
joy comes with dawn.
I will praise you, Lord,
you have rescued me.
or
Alleluia!
The Lord listened and had pity.
The Lord came to my help.
For me you have changed my mourning into
dancing:
O Lord my God, I will thank
you for ever.
I will praise you, Lord,
you have rescued me.
or
Alleluia!
|
Second reading
|
|
Apocalypse 5:11-14 ©
|
|
The Lamb that was sacrificed is worthy
to be given riches and power
|
In my vision, I, John, heard the sound of
an immense number of angels gathered round the throne and the animals and the
elders; there were ten thousand times ten thousand of them and thousands upon
thousands, shouting, ‘The Lamb that was sacrificed is worthy to be given power,
riches, wisdom, strength, honour, glory and blessing.’ Then I heard all the
living things in creation – everything that lives in the air, and on the
ground, and under the ground, and in the sea, crying, ‘To the One who is sitting
on the throne and to the Lamb, be all praise, honour, glory and power, for ever
and ever.’ And the four animals said, ‘Amen’; and the elders prostrated
themselves to worship.
|
Gospel Acclamation
|
cf.Lk24:32
|
Alleluia, alleluia!
Lord Jesus, explain the Scriptures to us.
Make our hearts burn within us as you talk
to us.
Alleluia!
|
Or:
|
Alleluia, alleluia!
Christ has risen: he who created all
things,
and has granted his mercy to men.
Alleluia!
EITHER:
|
Gospel
|
John 21:1-19 ©
|
|
Jesus stepped forward, took the bread and gave it to
them, and the same with the fish
|
Jesus showed himself again to the
disciples. It was by the Sea of Tiberias, and it happened like this: Simon
Peter, Thomas called the Twin, Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of
Zebedee and two more of his disciples were together. Simon Peter said, ‘I’m
going fishing.’ They replied, ‘We’ll come with you.’ They went out and got into
the boat but caught nothing that night.
It
was light by now and there stood Jesus on the shore, though the disciples did
not realise that it was Jesus. Jesus called out, ‘Have you caught anything,
friends?’ And when they answered, ‘No’, he said, ‘Throw the net out to
starboard and you’ll find something.’ So they dropped the net, and there were
so many fish that they could not haul it in. The disciple Jesus loved said to Peter,
‘It is the Lord.’ At these words ‘It is the Lord’, Simon Peter, who had
practically nothing on, wrapped his cloak round him and jumped into the water.
The other disciples came on in the boat, towing the net and the fish; they were
only about a hundred yards from land.
As
soon as they came ashore they saw that there was some bread there, and a
charcoal fire with fish cooking on it. Jesus said, ‘Bring some of the fish you
have just caught.’ Simon Peter went aboard and dragged the net to the shore,
full of big fish, one hundred and fifty-three of them; and in spite of there
being so many the net was not broken. Jesus said to them, ‘Come and have
breakfast.’ None of the disciples was bold enough to ask, ‘Who are you?’; they
knew quite well it was the Lord. Jesus then stepped forward, took the bread and
gave it to them, and the same with the fish. This was the third time that Jesus
showed himself to the disciples after rising from the dead.
After
the meal Jesus said to Simon Peter, ‘Simon son of John, do you love me more
than these others do?’ He answered, ‘Yes Lord, you know I love you.’ Jesus said
to him, ‘Feed my lambs.’ A second time he said to him, ‘Simon son of John, do
you love me?’ He replied, ‘Yes, Lord, you know I love you.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Look
after my sheep.’ Then he said to him a third time, ‘Simon son of John, do you
love me?’ Peter was upset that he asked him the third time, ‘Do you love me?’
and said, ‘Lord, you know everything; you know I love you.’ Jesus said to him,
‘Feed my sheep.
‘I tell you most solemnly,
when you were young
you put on your own belt
and walked where you liked;
but when you grow old
you will stretch out your hands,
and somebody else will put a belt round
you
and take you where you would rather not
go.’
In these words he indicated the kind of
death by which Peter would give glory to God. After this he said, ‘Follow me.’
PROCLAMATION AND
DISCIPLESHIP
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ Acts 5:27-32.40-41; Ps 30; Apoc 5:11-14; Jn 21:1-19 (or >< 21:1-14) ]
The Catholic Church is
losing both members and influence in many parts of the world because she has
lost its vibrancy.
This is particularly true for churches that live on institutions and
traditions. While we take pride that the Catholic Church is more than
2,000 years old, which makes it the longest and oldest institution in the
history of humanity, yet this enormous giant of 1.2 billion Catholics in many
quarters is lacking growth, not just in membership but in its dynamism, as seen
in its indifference and apathy to the work of mission and evangelization, in a
mere routine practice of the faith, without fervor and conviction, scandals and
a lack of enthusiasm in the proclamation of the gospel. If the Church
were to be alive, she must be vibrant. Vibrancy depends on three factors,
zeal in the proclamation of the gospel, personal encounter with the Risen Lord
and ongoing discipleship. These three dimensions of faith are closely
related. This is the theme of today’s scripture readings.
Firstly, on the work of
proclamation. In
the first reading, Peter and the apostles proclaimed the name of Jesus as the
Saviour of the world before the Sanhedrin. Not only were they adamant in
proclaiming the name of Jesus, they “left the presence of the Sanhedrin glad to
have had the honour of suffering humiliation for the sake of the name.”
They were courageous in giving witness to the Lord in spite of opposition,
imprisonment and persecution. Indeed, it was their steadfast faith in the
Lord that won the admiration of many and eventually many were brought to the
faith.
Many of us today fight
shy even of being known as Catholics, much less to proclaim the name of Jesus
to our friends and lesser still, to announce Him to the world. We are afraid of suffering, being
ridiculed, being questioned or attacked by others. When it comes to
defence of Jesus, His gospel and our faith, we are silent before the
world. We allow the world to attack our faith and the values of the gospel.
We lack courage because our conviction of our faith is weak. Without a
deep conviction of what we believe, whom we believe and why we believe, we are
not motivated to proclaim the good news of the Risen Lord. For those of
us who know that we have an obligation to evangelize, we choose to do it
through humanitarian works, helping the poor, the disadvantaged and the
marginalized. In itself, this is a great form of evangelization and the
love of God is shown to the world in a very concrete and personal way.
This is commendable. However, this is still implicit proclamation of the
gospel.
Without mentioning the
name of Jesus, such works of evangelization fall short of the explicit and full
proclamation of the gospel. This
explains why the Sanhedrin, did not stop the apostles from performing their
good works of healing and exorcizing demons. The truth is that they could
not deny the fact that the sick were healed by them. “So they called them
and ordered them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus.” (Acts 4:16-18) This is also what the
world wants us to do. We can do good works, help the poor, educate our
young, care for the sick, so long as we do it without proclaiming the name of
Jesus.
Indeed, there was once a
Catholic missionary who did a very good job in his mission in one of the rural
villages in Africa. In
a few years he baptized many people and built a church, two schools, three
orphanages, a clinic and a home for the elderly. As a result of his
punishing schedule, he fell sick and had to return to his native country in
Europe for treatment and recuperation. After a year or so, he recovered
and return to Africa. To his surprise and utter disappointment, he
discovered that the whole village had abandoned his church and became
Protestants. Even the church he built now became an evangelical church.
What went wrong? How did his flourishing mission collapse overnight?
What did I do wrong?” he asked his former parishioners. The truth hit
home one day when a woman said to him, “Father, you did a lot for us. You gave
our children clothes and built up our village. You gave us education and
food. You taught us how to read and provided medicine for us. But
there was one thing you did not do. You did not bring us to know Jesus as our
personal Lord and Saviour whereas the evangelical preacher did!”
This brings us to the
second factor in building a vibrant church. If our Catholics are
not passionate in proclaiming Christ, it is because they lack a radical
personal encounter of the Risen Lord. In other words, are we a witness to His
resurrection? Unless we have seen the Risen Lord, there is no Good News
to proclaim. In the gospel, we have Jesus appearing to the disciples at
the very place they were first called, in the Sea of Galilee catching
fish. “Jesus said to them, ‘Come and have breakfast.’ None of the
disciples was bold enough to ask, ‘Who are you?’; they knew quite well it was
the Lord. Jesus then stepped forward, took the bread and gave it to them, and
the same with the fish. This was the third time that Jesus showed himself to
the disciples after rising from the dead.”
How, then, can we see
the Risen Lord today? We see the Risen Lord when we are enlightened in
the truth. The
gospel tells us that “it was light by now and there stood Jesus on the shore,
though the disciples did not realise that it was Jesus.” Darkness is the
opposite of ignorance and evil. The Risen Lord appears to us and reveals
His face to us when we give up our sins. The moment, we decide to give up
our evil, futile and foolish way of life, we will find ourselves living in the
light. Many cannot accept the Word of God because their minds are
darkened. (cf Rom 1:21-23) However,
when we come to realize that Jesus is Lord, the Way, the Truth and the Life, it
means we have encountered the Risen Lord. Following this encounter, we
also come to discover the meaning of life, our purpose on earth and our true
identity as God’s children.
Secondly when we
encounter God’s mercy through forgiveness of sins. This is why the Sacrament of
Reconciliation, when properly and meaningfully celebrated by both the penitent
and the confessor, brings about deep healing, reconciliation, peace and
freedom. This is the way we are made clean. But we still need
healing and to hear the words of forgiveness which is rendered through the
Sacrament of Reconciliation. Hence, our Lord gave Peter the opportunity
for a closure by allowing him to confess his love for Him when He asked Peter,
three times, “Do you love me?” His three denials were cancelled out by
his threefold affirmation of love. So too, we encounter the Risen Lord
when we find closure in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. By articulating our
pain and listening to the Lord, we find closure and experience forgiveness.
Thirdly, we encounter
the Risen Lord in the celebration of the Eucharist when we are in union with
the Lord and with our brothers and sisters. This was why Jesus celebrated their
reconciliation with a meal, taking fish and bread, the same tokens he used to
multiply the loaves for five thousand, which anticipates the Bread of Life
which He wants to give us all in the Eucharist. We feel His presence not
just in the Sacrament itself when we receive Holy Communion but also in the
Christian community. Only Christian fellowship can make the presence of
Jesus real in our lives.
However, proclamation
through a personal encounter with the Risen Lord is unsustainable unless we
grow in discipleship.
This is our real weakness. Many of us are baptized and born again, but
before we grow into maturity, we die. We do not take our faith formation
or discipleship seriously. We think faith can grow without
formation. This is why the Lord instructed Peter after his profession of
faith, “Feed my lambs and sheep” and to look after them. There can be no
mission unless we are all growing in discipleship each day. The pastoral
dimension of the Church is to support the missionary and evangelistic dimension
of faith. Hence, a vibrant and strong faith demands a missionary
response, a deepening encounter with the Risen Lord and ongoing discipleship in
faith and obedience.
To be disciples means to
be obedient to the truth and to Him. Discipleship means walking with
Jesus in faith and in obedience. This
was what the Lord said to Peter, “‘I tell you most solemnly, when you were
young you put on your own belt and walked where you liked; but when you grow
old you will stretch out your hands, and somebody else will put a belt round
you and take you where you would rather not go.’ In these words he indicated
the kind of death by which Peter would give glory to God. After this he said,
‘Follow me.'”
In the final analysis,
we must remember that it is in evangelizing that we evangelize ourselves. This is a very important principle in
growing in faith. That is why the Lord commands us to proclaim the good
news to all creation. When we evangelize others, our faith
increases. This was the case of the disciples when they had a huge catch,
not with their own strength but with God’s grace at work in their life.
When we see lives changed, souls redeemed, people set free to love and serve,
we ourselves are inspired to do more in proclaiming Christ to others. The
work of evangelization is not just to bring others to faith but primarily, it
is a cause to strengthen our faith.
Written
by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All
Rights Reserved
No comments:
Post a Comment