The Seventh Sunday of
Easter
Is-Seba' Ħadd
tal-Għid
Messalin A
pp 217
ACTS 1:1-11
In the first book, Theophilus, I dealt with all that Jesus did and taught until the day he was taken up, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. He presented himself alive to them by many proofs after he had suffered, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about thekingdom
of God Jerusalem Israel Jerusalem , throughout Judea and Samaria
In the first book, Theophilus, I dealt with all that Jesus did and taught until the day he was taken up, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. He presented himself alive to them by many proofs after he had suffered, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the
Bidu tal-Ktieb ta' l-Atti ta'
l-Appostli 1, 1-11
Fl-ewwel rakkont tiegħi, Teofilu, tkellimt fuq dak kollu li Ġesu' kien
għamel u għallem minn
Responsorial Psalm
R.
Alleluia.
All you peoples, clap your hands,
shout to God with cries of gladness,
For the LORD, the Most High, the awesome,
is the great king over all the earth. R/
God mounts his throne amid shouts of joy;
the LORD, amid trumpet blasts.
Sing praise to God, sing praise;
sing praise to our king, sing praise. R/
For
king of all the earth is God;
sing hymns of praise.
God reigns over the nations,
God sits upon his holy throne. R/
sing hymns of praise.
God reigns over the nations,
God sits upon his holy throne. R/
Salm
Responsorajli
Salm 46
(47)
R/
Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah.
Popli kollha, ċapċpu idejkom,
għajtu b'leħen ta' ferħ lil Alla!
Għax il-Mulej, l-Għoli, hu tal-biża',
sultan kbir fuq l-art kollha. R/
Tela' Alla b'għajat ta' ferħ,
il-Mulej bid-daqq tat-trombi.
Għannu lil Alla għannu,
għannu lis-sultan tagħna, għannu. R/
Għax Alla s-sultan ta' l-art kollha:
għannulu bis-sengħa għanja sabiħa.
Isaltan Alla fuq il-ġnus kollha,
joqgħod Alla fuq it-tron imqaddes tiegħu. R/
Reading II
Brothers
and sisters: May the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, give
you a Spirit of wisdom and revelation resulting in knowledge of him. May the eyes of your Hearts be enlightened, that
you may know what is the hope that belongs to his call, what are the riches of
glory in his inheritance among the holy ones, and what is the surpassing
greatness of his power for us who believe, in accord with the exercise of his
great might, which he worked in Christ, raising him from the dead and seating him at his
right hand in the heavens, far above every principality, authority, power, and
dominion, and every name that is named not only in this age but also in the one
to come. And he put all things beneath his feet and gave him as head over all
things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of the one who fills all
things in every way. This is the Word of
the Lord.
It-Tieni
Lezzjoni
Qari mill-Ittra ta' San Pawl
Appostlu lil Efesin 1, 17-23
Ħuti, Alla ta' Sidna Ġesu' Kristu, il-Missier
tal-glorja, jagħtikom spirtu ta' għerf u rivelazzjoni biex tagħrfuh sewwa. Hu
jdawlilkom l-għajnejn ta' qalbkom biex tagħrfu x'inhi t-tama
tas-sejħa tagħkom; x'inhu l-għana
tal-glorja tal-wirt li takom taqsmu mal-qaddisin. Tagħrfu x'inhu l-kobor bla
qjies tas-setgħa tiegħu fina li emminna, skond il-ħila tal-qawwa kbira tiegħu
li ħaddem fi Kristu, meta qajmu mill-imwiet, u qiegħdu
fil-lemin tiegħu fis-smewwiet, 'il fuq minnkull Saltana u Setgħa, minn kull
Qawwa u Ħakma, 'il fuq minn kull isem li
jissemma,mhux biss għaż-żmien ta' issa, imma wkoll għal li ġej. Iva, qiegħed
kollox taħt riġlejh,u għamlu ras fuq il-Knisja kollha, li hi Ġismu, il-milja ta' dak li jimla kollox f'kollox. Il-Kelma tal-Mulej
Gospel
The
eleven disciples went to Galilee , to the
mountain to which Jesus had ordered them. When they saw him, they worshiped,
but they doubted. Then Jesus approached and said to them, “All power in heaven
and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all
nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the
Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And
behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.” This is the Word of the Lord.
L-Evangelju
Għeluq ta' l-Evanġelju skond
San Mattew 28, 16-20
F'dak iż-żmien, il-ħdax id-dixxiplu telqu lejn il-Galilija u
marru fuq il-muntanja fejn kien ordnalhom Ġesu'. Kif rawh, inxteħtu quddiemu,
għalkemm xi wħud iddubitaw, Ġesu' resaq ikollimhom u qalilhom: "Lili ngħatat kull setgħa fis-sema u fl-art. Morru, mela, agħmlu dixxipli mill-ġnus
kollha, u għammduhom fl-isem tal-Missier u ta' l-Iben u ta' l-Ispirtu s-Santu,
u għallmuhom iħarsu dak kollu li ordnajtilkom jien. U ara, jiena magħkom dejjem sa l-aħħar taż-żmien.
Il-Kelma tal-Mulej
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Knowing the Only True God
B y Fr. Paul G.
Hinnebusch, O.P., S.T.M.
(Teaching to Mother
Teresa’s Sisters)
Nowadays,
we give that prayer of Jesus, “that they may all be one,” (John 17:21) too
narrow a meaning. We think only of praying for the intentions of the present
day ecumenical movement of Protestants, Catholics and Orthodox and all other
Christians in one visible Church. That, however, is but a secondary meaning of
Our Lord’s prayer. That unity of the now-divided Churches would surely come
more quickly if we all really lived and savoured that interior communion in the
life of the Holy Trinity, that unity which is an entering into the unity that
exists between the Father and Jesus, Himself. The oneness of all believers in
the unity of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit is what Jesus
primarily had in mind in this prayer: “That you all may be one; as You Father
are in me and I am in you, that they may be one in Us.” (Jn 17:21) “This is
eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom
you have sent.” (17:3) Jesus calls the Father “the only true God,” not as if He
were saying that He, Himself, is not God.
He
adds immediately, “and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” In fact, we know that
only true God only knows the one whom He sent. “No one has ever seen God. The
only Son, God, who is at the Father’s side, has revealed Him.” (Jn 1:18) Or as
Jesus explains it, “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.” (Jn 14:9) We have
not really known the one true God till we have known Him in Jesus Christ whom
He sent. The only true God can be known in no other way. Thus it is not a
matter of knowing the one true God in one act of knowledge and knowing the One
whom He sent in another act of knowledge. In the one act of knowing Jesus
Christ whom He sent, we know Son and Father as the one true God.
We
have not really known the one true God until we have known Him in the Son.
Until the Word was made flesh, the true nature of God as Holy Trinity of
Persons was unknown, and in that sense, the one true God was unknown. The
people of Israel
Thus
in calling the Father “the one true God” (John 17:3) Jesus is not denying that
He, Himself, is God, just as in the Gloria of the Mass when we say to Jesus,
“You alone are the Holy One, you alone are the Lord, You alone are the Most
High, Jesus Christ,” we are not denying that the Father and the Holy Spirit are
God, for we add immediately, “with the Holy Spirit in the glory of God the
Father.” Along with the Father and the Holy Spirit, Jesus is the only true God.
And so, too, in this prayer at the Last Supper, Jesus says that the Father is
“the only true God,” together with Jesus Christ whom He sent. Eternal life is
knowing both of them, knowing the Father by knowing Jesus Christ whom He sent.
In other words, eternal life is this: to know that the only true God is Holy
Trinity, a communion of three divine persons and to respond to this knowledge
with love. Eternal life is to enter into that communion of the divine persons
by knowing the Father and the Son in love, [and responding to God’s love by
living in a communion of all persons].
“This
is eternal life: to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have
sent.” (17:3) One sending refers to the Incarnation. Jesus Christ was sent into
the world in the incarnation, the Son coming into the world as man to reveal
the Father. Thus, in eternal life we rejoice also in the humanity of the Son of
God. Even in heaven, we will see the Father in the glory of the Son, Jesus
Christ. Therefore Jesus prays, “Father, glorify your Son so that your Son may
glorify you.” (Jn 17:5) He also prays, “Father, I will that where I am, they
also may be with me, that they may see my glory that you gave me because you
loved me before the foundation of the world.” (Jn 17:24) Only in seeing the
glory of Jesus Christ will we truly know the one true God. It is absolutely
essential that we see the glory of Jesus, for only thus is His mission of
glorifying God, that is, revealing Him accomplished.
Only
then is His work complete. Therefore Jesus prays, “Father, glorify Your Son,
(that is reveal His Divinity) so that your Son may glorify you.” (John 17:1)
The divinity of Jesus has to be revealed, otherwise God cannot be known. If God
is to be known, Jesus has to be known. “Now glorify Me, Father, with you, with
the glory that I had with you before the world began.” (Jn 17:5) In seeing the
divine glory the Father has given this man Jesus, we see our own glory as sons
and daughters of God in His eternal Son. It is only when we see the full
revelation of divinity in Christ that we appreciate ourselves as sharers in
that divinity. In other words, we have to know what God is to appreciate what
we are as His children. The more clearly we see God as revealed in Jesus, the more
clearly we will experience our own glorious condition as children of God.
To
see the glory of Jesus, to see the fullness of divinity in Him, is to see what
it means for any man or woman to be child of God, sharer in the divinity, life
of the Trinity. God loved Jesus before the creation of the world. “Do you now
Father give me glory at your side, a glory I had with you before the world
began.” (John 17:5) “I wish that where I am they also may be with me, that they
may see my glory that you gave me, because of the love you bore me before the
world began.” (Jn 17:24)
He
loved this Son of Mary and in that love endowed Him with the fullness of
divinity, because in that same eternal love He loved us. That is, He gave
divinity to Jesus, a member of the human race, precisely because in this love
He wanted to bring all of us into His divine, eternal life. Therefore Jesus
ends His prayer at the Last Supper saying, “Righteous Father…I made known your
name and will make it known, that the love with which you loved me may be in
them, and I in them.” (Jn 17:26) The whole purpose of the Father loving the man
Jesus and giving Him the grace of divinity in the very instant of His
conception in Mary’s womb was that this love for Jesus might be in us, forming
us in divine life as children of God, sharers in His divinity. And this love
for Jesus is in us through the presence of Jesus in us forming us as sons and
daughters of God
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