Il-Ħames Ħadd
ta’ l-Għid
2018
Messalin B 294
When
Saul arrived in Jerusalem he tried to join the disciples, but they were all
afraid of him, not believing that he was
a disciple.Then Barnabas took charge of him and brought him to the apostles,
and he reported to them how he had seen the Lord, and that he had spoken to
him, and how in Damascus he had spoken out boldly in the name of Jesus. He
moved about freely with them in Jerusalem Tarsus Samaria
L-Ewwel Lezzjoni = Qari
mill-Ktieb ta' l-Atti ta' l-Appostli 9,
26-31
F'dak
iż-żmien, meta Sawl wasal Ġerusalemm beda jfittex li jissieħeb
mad-dixxipli. Imma lkoll kienu jibżgħu minnu, għax ma kinux emmnux li tassew ikkonverta. Imbagħad Barnaba qabdu u ħadu miegħu għand l-appostli. Hu qalilhom kif Sawl kien ra lill-Mulej
fit-triq u semgħu jkellmu, u kif f'Damasku kien tkellem b'wiċċu minn Meta
l-aħwa saru jafu b'dan, niżżluh lejn Ċesarija u bagħtuh Tarsu. Il-Knisja kienet
fis-sliem fil-Lhudija u l-Galililja u s-Samarija kollha; kienet dejjem tikber u timxi 'l quddiem
fil-biża' tal-Mulej u tiżdied fl-għadd bl-għajnuna tal-Ispirtu s-Santu.
Il-Kelma tal-Mulej
Responsorial Psalm - Psalm
22:26-27, 28, 30, 31-32
I
will fulfill my vows before those who fear the LORD.
The
lowly shall eat their fill;
they
who seek the LORD shall praise him:
"May
your hearts live forever!"
R./ Alleluia.
All
the ends of the earth
shall
remember and turn to the LORD;
all
the families of the nations
shall
bow down before him.
R./ Alleluia.
To
him alone shall bow down
all
who sleep in the earth;
before
him shall bend
all
who go down into the dust.
R./ Alleluia.
And
to him my soul shall live;
my
descendants shall serve him.
Let
the coming generation be told of the LORD
that
they may proclaim to a people yet to be born
the
justice he has shown.
R./ Alleluia.
Salm Responsorjali Salm 21 (22)
Irrodd
il-wegħdiet tiegħi
quddiem
dawk li jibżgħu minnu.
Jieklu
l-fqajrin u jixbgħu;
ifaħħru l-Mulej dawk li jfittxuh.
Ħa tgħix qalbhom għal dejjem!
R/ Hallelujah
Jiftakru
t-truf kollha ta' l-art;
u
jerġgħu lura lejn il-Mulej;
u
quddiemu jixteħtu r-razez kollha tal-ġnus.
Lilu jqimu l-bnedmin, li jmutu;
quddiemu
jmil lull min nieżel ġot-trab
Ugħalih tgħix ir-ruħi.
R/ Hallelujah
Lilu
jaqdi n-nisel tiegħi.
Ixandru 'l Sidi lin-nisel li għad jiġi,.
ixandru
l-ġustizzja tiegħu
lill-poplu
li għad jitwieled:
"
Dan għamlu l-Mulej "
R/
Hallelujah
Reading 2 - 1 John 3:18-24
Children,
let us love not in word or speech but in deed and truth. Now this is how we
shall know that we belong to the truth and reassure our hearts before him in
whatever our hearts condemn, for God is greater than our hearts and knows
everything. Beloved, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence in God
and receive from him whatever we ask, because we keep his commandments and do
what pleases him. And his commandment is
this: we should believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one
another just as he commanded us. Those who keep his commandments remain in him,
and he in them, and the way we know that he remains in us is from the Spirit he
gave us. This is the Word of the Lord.
It-Tieni Qari mill-Ewwel Ittra ta' San Ġwann
3, 18-24
Uliedi,
ma nħobbux bil-kliem u t-tpaċpiċ, imma bl-għemil u bis-sewwa. Minn
Gospel
- John 15:1-8
Jesus
said to his disciples: "I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine
grower. He takes away every branch in me that does not bear fruit, and every
one that does he prunes so that it bears more fruit. You are already pruned
because of the word that I spoke to you. Remain in me, as I remain in you. Just
as a branch cannot bear fruit on its own unless it remains on the vine, so neither
can you unless you remain in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever
remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit, because without me you can do
nothing. Anyone who does not remain in me will be thrown out like a branch and
wither; people will gather them and throw them into a fire and they will be
burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask forwhatever you
want and it will be done for you. By this is my Father glorified, that you bear
much fruit and become my disciples."
This is the Word of the Lord.
Evanġelju Qari skond San Ġwann
15, 1-8
F'dak
iż-żmien, Ġesu'
qal lid-dixxipli tiegħu: "Jiena d-dielja
vera u Missieri l-bidwi. Kull fergħa fija li ma tagħmilx frott jaqtagħha; u kull waħda li tagħmel il-frott jiżborha u
jnaddafha, biex
tagħmel frott aktar.
Intom ġa ndaf minħabba fil-kelma li għidtilkom. Ibqgħu fija, u jien nibqa'
fikom. Kif il-fergħa ma tistax tagħmel frott minnha
nfissha jekk ma tibqax
fid-dielja, hekk
anqas intom jekk ma tibqgħux fija. Jiena d-dielja,
intom il-friegħi. Min jibqa' fija u jiena
fih, dan jagħmel ħafna frott; għax mingħajri ma tistgħu tagħmlu xejn. Jekk wieħed ma jibqax
fija, jintremma barra bħal fergħa u jinxef; imbagħad, friegħi bħal dawn jiġbruhom u
jixħtuhom fin-nar u jinħarqu.Jekk tibqgħu fija u kliemi jibqa' fikom, itolbu kull ma tridu, u jingħatalkom. Din hi
l-glorja ta' Missieri, li intom tagħmlu ħafna frott u tkunu dixxipli tiegħi." Il-Kelma tal-Mulej
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Making Our Home in Jesus
Fr. Thomas Rosica, CSB
In
John's Gospel (15:1-8) for the 5th Sunday of Easter, we have the image of the
vine and its branches to express the relationship between Christ and his
disciples. We should not be surprised that at one level it seems utterly
simple, but that at other levels it fills us with a sense of mystery, awe, and
beauty, always leaving us wanting more.
The
branches of a vine have an intimate relationship with the vine, depending on it
at all times and forming one living organism with it. The vine, which can be a
bit foreign in northern climates, is natural for anyone in the Middle East , where many families possess a vine, a fig
tree, or olive trees in their gardens.
Jesus
tells his followers that he is the true vine, the real vine, and that they are
the branches, whose task is to bear fruit by sharing his life: "I am the
true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Abide in me, and I in you. If you
abide in me, and my words in you, ask whatever you want. Apart from me, you can
do nothing."
While
the images of Christ as king and lord, teacher, shepherd and judge, have their
own importance in forming our perspective on how Christ relates to us, these
images need to be balanced by such images as the vine, which integrate the
disciple into the life of Christ and Christ into the life of the disciple in an
intimate unity and closeness that the other images might not always convey.
Sunday's
passage is one of the classic descriptions of authentic Christian spirituality.
The image of the vine, while inviting us to a depth of spirituality, sets that
personal quest within the larger context of the family of God, stretching
through time from Abraham to the present day and beyond, and through space from
the Middle East in the first century to the four corners of the earth today.
If
Jesus is the vine, we are summoned to ‘abide,' to ‘live,' to make our home ‘in
him.' The Gospel text of the vine challenges us: How do we maintain intimacy
with the living God as we strive to be obedient to our vocation of bearing
fruit for the world? What does it mean, to ‘abide' or ‘dwell' in the vine, to
be intimately attached to Jesus?
Abiding
in Jesus includes being part of the life of the Church, committed to the daily
and weekly fellowship of his people, in mutual support, prayer, common worship,
sacramental life, study and not least, work for the Gospel in the world. In
every Eucharistic celebration we are drawn into that intimate fellowship both
with Jesus himself and with each other at his table.
Authentic
Christian spirituality is the personal knowledge of Jesus Christ given to us,
as the vine gives its sap to the branches, so that we can be extensions of his
work, his love, his fruitbearing, his glorifying of the Father. That is the
heart of the Eucharistic mystery. And yet, as soon as Jesus introduced the
theme of the vine and the branches in the Gospel passage, he speaks of his
Father, the vinedresser, doing two things that require a knife. Every branch
that doesn't bear fruit, the Father removes, cuts away; and every branch that
does bear fruit the Father prunes, so that it may bear more fruit.
The
spirituality to which this Gospel passage invites us is not one of unbridled
personal development, fulfilling all the potential we might discover within
ourselves. As we follow Jesus and come to know him personally, we find him
calling us to submit to the pruning-knife, to cut out some things from our
lives that are good in themselves and that would even have had the potential to
develop into fruitbearing branches, in order that other things may flourish.
Pruning is always a painful process. It is a form of loss or death. The
vinedresser is never more intimately involved than when wielding the
pruning-knife!
The
call to abide in the vine is a call to a personal and intimate knowledge of
Jesus himself, not an idea, but a living person. True disciples of Jesus are
dependent on the inner presence and activity of Christ for the renewal and
regeneration of their own life into one of faith and love. True disciples can
only be effective in the regeneration of the lives of others when they are
"plugged into Jesus," grafted onto his life, allowing his very
presence to pulsate through their minds and hearts.
The
images of vine and vineyard are brought together beautifully in that well-known
passage from "Lumen Gentium," No. 6, the Second Vatican Council's
Dogmatic Constitution on the Church:
"The Church is a piece
of land to be cultivated, the tillage of God. On that land the ancient olive
tree grows whose holy roots were the Prophets and in which the reconciliation
of Jews and Gentiles has been brought about and will be brought about. That land,
like a choice vineyard, has been planted by the heavenly Husbandman. The true
vine is Christ who gives life and the power to bear abundant fruit to the
branches, that is, to us, who through the Church remain in Christ without whom
we can do nothing."
To
illustrate this dependency, this grafting on the Lord, let me share with you
some profound words of a great woman of the Church, St. Teresa Benedicta of the
Cross [Edith Stein] (1891-1942), Carmelite, martyr, co-patroness of Europe, and
one who knew what it meant to be intimately connected to the Lord. They are
taken from Chapter 6 of her "Essays on Woman" (ICS Publications).
"The notion of the
Church as community of the faithful is the most accessible to human reason.
Whoever believes in Christ and his gospel, hopes for the fulfillment of his
promises, clings to him in love, and keeps his commandments must unite with all
who are like-minded in the deepest communion of mind and heart. Those who
adhered to the Lord during his stay on earth were the early seeds of the great
Christian community; they spread that community and that faith which held them
together, until they have been inherited by us today through the process of
time.
"But, if even a
natural human community is more than a loose union of single individuals, if
even here we can verify a movement developing into a kind of organic unit, it
must be still more true of the supernatural community of the Church. The union
of the soul with Christ differs from the union among people in the world: It is
a rooting and growing in him (so we are told by the parable of the vine and the
branches) which begins in baptism, and which is constantly strengthened and
formed through the sacraments in diverse ways. However this real union with
Christ implies the growth of a genuine community among all Christians. Thus the
Church forms the Mystical Body of Christ. The Body is a living Body, and the
spirit which gives the Body life is Christ's spirit, streaming from the head to
all parts (Ephesians 5:23,30). The spirit which Christ radiates is the Holy
Spirit; the Church is thus the temple of the Holy Spirit (Ephesians
2:21-22)."
This
week, let us pray that our belonging to Christ be profound and real, going
beyond all of the turbulence that exists on life's surface. May Christ's very
life flow through us, building up the Body of Christ that is the Church.
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