Sixth Sunday of
Easter
Is-Sitt Ħadd tal-Għid
Messalin'B' pp 299
When Peter entered, Cornelius
met him and, falling at his feet, paid him homage. Peter, however, raised him
up, saying, "Get up. I myself am also a human being." Then Peter
proceeded to speak and said, "In truth, I see that God shows no partiality. Rather, in every nation whoever
fears him and acts uprightly is acceptable to him." While Peter was still
speaking these things, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who were listening to the
word. The circumcised believers who had accompanied Peter were astounded that
the gift of the Holy Spirit should have been poured out on the Gentiles also,
for they could hear them speaking in tongues and glorifying God. Then Peter
responded, "Can anyone withhold the water for baptizing these people, who
have received the Holy Spirit even as we have?" He ordered them to be
baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. This
is the Word of the Lord.
L-Ewwel Lezzjoni Qari mill-Ktieb tal-Atti tal-Appostli
10, 25-26, 34-35, 44-48)
Xħin daħal Pietru fid-dar ta'
Kornelju, dan mar jilqgħu u ntefa' f'riġlejh jagħtih qima. Imma
Pietru qajmu u qallu: "Qum . Jien bniedem
ukoll." Pietru qabad jitkellem u qal:
"Issa tassew qiegħed nifhem li Alla ma jħares lejn wiċċ ħadd,
imma jilqa' lil kull min għandu l-biża'
tiegħu u jagħmel is-sewwa, ikun minn
Responsorial
Psalm PSALM 98:1, 2-3, 3-4
R. Alleluia.
Sing to the LORD a new song,
for he has done wondrous
deeds;
His right hand has won
victory for him,
his holy arm. R.
The LORD has made his
salvation known:
in the sight of the nations
he has revealed his justice.
He has remembered his
kindness and his faithfulness
toward the house of Israel
All the ends of the earth have seen
the salvation by our God.
Sing joyfully to the LORD,
all you lands;
break into song; sing praise. R.
Salm Responsorjali Salm 97 (98)
R/
Hallelujah.
Għannu lill-Mulej għanja
ġdida,,
għax għamel ħwejjeġ tal-għaġeb.
Ġibitlu r-rebħa l-leminija
tieghu,
u d-driegħ imqaddes tiegħu. R/
Għarraf il-Mulej
is-salvazzjoni tiegħu,
f'għajnejn il-ġnus wera
l-ġustizzja tieghu.
Ftakar fit-tjieba u
l-fedelta' tiegħu
mal-popolu ta' Iżrael. R/
L-art kollha, minn
rat is-salvazzjoni ta' Alla
tagħna.
Għajtu bil-ferħ lill-Mulej
fl-art kollha,
infexxu fil-hena, ifirħu u
għannu! R/.
Reading 2 1 JOHN 4:7-10
Beloved, let us love one
another, because love is of God;
everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God. Whoever is without love
does not know God, for God is love. In this way the love of God was revealed to
us: God sent his only Son into the world
so that we might have life through him. In this is love: not that we
have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as expiation for our
sins. This is the Word of the Lord.
It-Tieni Lezzjoni Qari lill-Ewwel Ittra ta' San Ġwann
,7-10
Għeżież, ejjew inħobbu 'l
xuxlin għax l-imħabba ġejja minn Alla, u kull
min iħobb hu mwieled minn
Gospel JOHN 15:9-17
Jesus said to his disciples:
"As the Father loves me, so I also love you. Remain in my love. If you
keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my
Father's commandments and remain in his love. "I have told you this so
that my joy may be in you and your joy might be complete. This is my
commandment: love one another as I love you. No one has greater love than this,
to lay down one's life for one's friends. You are my friends if you do what I
command you. I no longer call you slaves, because a slave does not know what
his master is doing. I have called you friends, because I have told you
everything I have heard from my Father. It was not you who chose me, but I who
chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain, so that
whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give you. This I command you: love one another." This is the Word of the Lord.
Evanġelju Qari skont San Ġwann 15, 9-17
F'dak iż-żmien, Ġesu' qal
lid-dixxipli tiegħu: "Kif ħabbni Missieri, hekk ħabbejtkom jiena. Ibqgħu
fl-imħabba tiegħi. Jekk tħarsu l-kmandamenti tiegħi, intom tibqgħu fi mħabbti,
kif jiena ħarist il-kmandamenti ta' Missieri u qiegħed f'imħabbtu. Għidtilkom dan biex il-ferħ
tiegħi jkun fikom, u biex il-ferħ tagħkom ikun sħiħ. Dan hu l-kmandament
tiegħi: li tħobbu lil xulxin kif
ħabbejtkom jien. Ħadd ma għandu mħabba
akbar minn
jagħtihulkom. Dan hu li qiegħed nikkmandakom: li tħobbu lil
xulxin." Il-Kelma tal-Mulej
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Commentary by Fr
Thomas Rosica csb
Goodness and Friendship Through the Ages
On this Sixth Sunday of Easter, I wish to offer some
reflections on the first reading from the Acts of the Apostles [10:25-26,
34-35, 44-48], and then some thoughts on friendship flowing from John's Gospel
[15:9-17] and Cardinal Newman's teaching.
Christianity demands that the believer not only grasp
intellectually the main tenets of the faith, but also act on them in daily
life. The extraordinary story of Cornelius' conversion in Sunday's first
reading certainly illustrates this message. It is the longest individual
narrative in the Acts of the Apostles. The theme of this narrative is divine
compulsion: Peter is the least prepared to accept Cornelius into the Christian
community, and he even refuses to admit him two times.
Peter had to be converted before he could convert Cornelius.
Peter came to the realization that God's gifts were given to all those who
listened to the Word of God. His question "Can anyone forbid water for baptizing
these people who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?" [10:47]
echoes the Ethiopian's question and Philip's response in the earlier story:
"What is to prevent me from being baptized?" [8:36].
Peter's actions with Cornelius had far-reaching
implications. Struck at once with the exceptional sincerity, hospitality and
deep goodness of Cornelius and his household, Peter spontaneously exclaimed:
"God has made it clear to me that no one should call anyone unclean or
impure. God shows no partiality."
That statement broke centuries of customs, and even of
theology, that Israel alone was God' s chosen people, separated from all other
nations as God' s very own [cf. Deuteronomy 7:6-8; Exodus 19:5-6]. Peter had no
choice but to baptize the household of Cornelius and he was criticized for his
'ecumenical' approach, but responded to his critics: "Who am I that I
could withstand God?" [11:17]. When his critics heard these words, they
were silenced and began to glorify God [11:18].
Paul, too, found the same spontaneous manifestation of the
faith among the gentiles, and so made the exciting declaration: "We now
turn to the Gentiles!" The controversy over the law was to linger for a
long time, so that Paul dedicated to this topic his most comprehensive theological
work: the Letter to the Romans.
Matter of the heart
For many years, I have looked to the life and writings of
Cardinal John Henry Newman [1801-1890] as a brilliant model of friendship.
Newman truly speaks heart-to-heart -- "cor
ad cor loquitur" -- a phrase that he chose as his personal motto.
There was nothing superficial about Newman's way of relating to so many
different people. He looked at them and loved them for who they were.
Since the beloved English Cardinal's beatification is said
to be imminent, let us consider for a moment some of Newman's understanding of
friendship. Cardinal Newman had a great appreciation for the nobility of human
virtues as evidenced in the literature and history of ancient Rome
and Greece .
At the same time the saints that he most admired -- St. Paul , the ancient Church Fathers, his
spiritual father St. Philip Neri, and St. Francis De Sales -- could all be
described as humanly attractive.
Newman had an extraordinary capacity and gift for
friendship, which often translated into leadership. No one could describe
Cardinal Newman as extroverted or light-hearted. We need only to glance at the
many volumes of his letters and diaries, or look at the index of names in his
autobiographical works, to see that he shared deep friendships with hundreds of
people throughout his life. This personal influence has been exerted very
powerfully upon millions of people who have read his works and discovered what
friendship really means.
Authenticity
I could not write about friendship without passing along a
warning to countless women and men who search for it every day. The great
popularity of online social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook
merits careful attention, reflection and scrutiny. It has been said that if
Facebook were a country, it would be the eighth most populated nation
worldwide!
We must carefully ask several questions: What is it doing
for us?
These tools help to bring people together and improve social
networks. For example, homebound, infirm, chronically ill and elderly people
can connect with a community of others in the same situation and new bonds of
solidarity are born.
But there are also related questions: What is it doing to
us? What is it doing to our sense of social boundaries? To our sense of individuality?
To our friendships?
Friendship in these virtual spaces is quite different from
real time friendship. Friendship is a relationship that involves the sharing of
mutual interests, reciprocity, trust, and the revelation of intimate details
over time and within specific contexts. True friendship depends on mutual
revelations, and can only flourish within the boundaries of privacy and
modesty.
On social networking sites, however, there is a concept of
public friendship which is not the friendship spoken of by Jesus in the Gospel,
nor Benedict XVI in his wonderful writings, nor Cardinal Newman in his letters.
The distance and abstraction of our online friendships and online relationships
can lead to a kind of systemic desensitization as a culture if we are not wise,
prudent and attentive to these new realities.
We expose everything, but are we feeling anything? Such friendships, or rather acquaintances, are quite
different from the "cor ad cor loquitur" so ardently desired and
experienced by Jesus with his disciples, or by an impetuous Peter, a Roman
official named Cornelius, and a British Cardinal named John Henry who have modeled their lives on the Good Shepherd and
faithful friend to every human being.
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