My Lord and My God

Second Sunday of Easter

(Or Sunday of Divine Mercy)

Lectionary: 45

It-Tieni Ħadd tal-Għid

(Jew il-Ħadd tal-Ħniena Divina)

Reading 1     Acts 5:12-16

Many signs and wonders were done among the people at the hands of the apostles. They were all together in Solomon's portico. None of the others dared to join them, but the people esteemed them. Yet more than ever, believers in the Lord, great numbers of men and women, were added to them. Thus they even carried the sick out into the streets and laid them on cots and mats so that when Peter came by, at least his shadow might fall on one or another of them. A large number of people from the towns in the vicinity of Jerusalem also gathered, bringing the sick and those disturbed by unclean spirits, and they were all cured.

QARI I         mill-Ktieb tal-Atti tal-Appostli  5, 12-16 

Bis-saħħa tal-appostli kienu jsiru ħafna sinjali u mirakli fost il-poplu. U huma lkoll qalb waħda kienu jinġabru flimkien fil-portiku ta’ Salamun, u ħadd mill-oħrajn ma kien jissogra jissieħeb magħhom; imma kulħadd kien ifaħħarhom ħafna. L-għadd ta’ dawk li kienu jemmnu fil-Mulej, kemm irġiel kemm nisa, kien dejjem jiżdied u joktor, hekk li kienu wkoll iġorru l-morda tagħhom fuq sodod u mtieraħ u jqegħduhom fil-pjazez biex, xħin jgħaddi Pietru, jaqa’ mqar id-dell tiegħu fuq xi ħadd minnhom. In-nies kienu jiġu mill-ibliet ta’ madwar Ġerusalemm, iġorru l-morda u lil dawk li kienu maħkuma mill-ispirti mniġġsa; u lkoll kienu jitfejqu.  Il-Kelma tal-Mulej

Responsorial Psalm        PSALM 118:2-4, 13-15, 22-2

Let the house of Israel say,

"His mercy endures forever."

Let the house of Aaron say,

"His mercy endures forever."

Let those who fear the LORD say,

"His mercy endures forever."

R. Alleluia.

I was hard pressed and was falling,

but the LORD helped me.

My strength and my courage is the LORD,

and he has been my savior.

The joyful shout of victory

in the tents of the just:

R. Alleluia.

The stone which the builders rejected

has become the cornerstone.

By the LORD has this been done;

it is wonderful in our eyes.

This is the day the LORD has made;

let us be glad and rejoice in it.

R. Alleluia.

Salm Responsorjali    Salm 117 (118), 2-4.22-24.25-27a

R/. Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Ħa jgħidu wlied Iżrael:

“Għal dejjem it-tjieba tiegħu”.

Ħa tgħid dar Aron:

“Għal dejjem it-tjieba tiegħu”.

Ħa jgħidu dawk li jibżgħu mill-Mulej:

“Għal dejjem it-tjieba tiegħu”. R/.

Il-ġebla li warrbu l-bennejja

saret il-ġebla tax-xewka.

Bis-saħħa tal-Mulej seħħ dan:

ħaġa tal-għaġeb f’għajnejna.

Dan hu l-jum li għamel il-Mulej;

ħa nifirħu u nithennew fih! R/.

Ejja, nitolbuk, Mulej, salvana!

Ejja, nitolbuk, Mulej, agħtina r-riżq!

Imbierek minn ġej f’isem il-Mulej!

Inberkukom minn dar il-Mulej.

Jaħweħ hu Alla; hu d-dawl tagħna. R/.

Reading 2   REVELATIONS 1:9-11a, 12-13, 17-19

I, John, your brother, who share with you the distress, the kingdom, and the endurance we have in Jesus, found myself on the island called Patmos because I proclaimed God's word and gave testimony to Jesus. I was caught up in spirit on the Lord's day and heard behind me a voice as loud as a trumpet, which said, "Write on a scroll what you see." Then I turned to see whose voice it was that spoke to me, and when I turned, I saw seven gold lampstands and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, wearing an ankle-length robe, with a gold sash around his chest. When I caught sight of him, I fell down at his feet as though dead. He touched me with his right hand and said, "Do not be afraid. I am the first and the last, the one who lives. Once I was dead, but now I am alive forever and ever. I hold the keys to death and the netherworld. Write down, therefore, what you have seen, and what is happening, and what will happen afterwards." Alleluia.

QARI II       mill-Ktieb tal-Apokalissi 1, 9-11a.12-13.17-19

Jiena, Ġwanni, ħukom u sieħeb tagħkom fit-taħbit u fis-saltna u fis-sabar ma’ Ġesù, jien sibt ruħi fil-gżira jisimha Patmos minħabba l-Kelma ta’ Alla u x-xhieda ta’ Ġesù. Darba, f’jum il-Mulej, ħassejtni merfugħ fl-Ispirtu, u minn warajja smajt leħen qawwi, bħal ta’ tromba, jgħidli: “Kulma tara niżżlu fi ktieb u ibagħtu lis-seba’ knejjes”. U jiena dort biex nara min kien qiegħed ikellimni; u, kif dort, rajt seba’ kandelabri tad-deheb, u f’nofs il-kandelabri kien hemm wieħed qisu Iben ta’ bniedem, liebes libsa twila sa wiċċ saqajh, b’sidru mħażżem bi ħżiem tad-deheb. Jien, kif rajtu, waqajt qisni mejjet f’riġlejh. Iżda hu ressaq idu l-leminija fuqi u qalli: “Tibżax! Jien hu l-Ewwel u l-Aħħar, jiena l-Ħaj; jien kont mejjet, u ara, jien issa ħaj għal dejjem ta’ dejjem, u għandi jinsabu l-imfietaħ tal-Mewt u ta’ Post il-Mejtin. Ikteb kulma ara, kemm il-ħwejjeġ li hawn issa u kemm dawk li se jiġru ’l quddiem”. Il-Kelma tal-Mulej

Gospel   JOHN  20:19-31

On the evening of that first day of the week, when the doors were locked, where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, "Peace be with you." When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you." And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained." Thomas, called Didymus, one of the Twelve,was not wi th them when Jesus came. So the other disciples said to him, "We have seen the Lord." But he said to them, "Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger into the nail marks and put my hand into his side, I will not believe." Now a week later his disciples were again inside and Thomas was with them. Jesus came, although the doors were locked, and stood in their midst and said, "Peace be with you." Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here and see my hands, and bring your hand and put it into my side, and do not be unbelieving, but believe." Thomas answered and said to him, "My Lord and my God!" Jesus said to him, "Have you come to believe because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed." Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples that are not written in this book. But these are written that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that through this belief you may have life in his name.

EVANĠELJU       mill-Evanġelju skont San Ġwann 20, 19-31

Dakinhar filgħaxija, fl-ewwel jum tal-ġimgħa, meta d-dixxipli kienu flimkien imbeżżgħa mil-Lhud, bil-bibien magħluqa, ġie Ġesù u qagħad f’nofshom; u qalilhom: “Is-sliem għalikom!” Kif qal hekk, uriehom idejh u ġenbu. Id-dixxipli ferħu meta raw lill-Mulej. Imbagħad Ġesù tenna jgħidilhom: “Is-sliem għalikom! Kif il-Missier bagħat lili, hekk jien nibgħat lilkom”. Kif qal hekk, nefaħ fuqhom u qalilhom: “Ħudu l-Ispirtu s-Santu. Dawk li taħfrulhom dnubiethom ikunu maħfura, u dawk li żżommuhomlhom ikunu miżmuma”. Tumas, wieħed mit-Tnax, jgħidulu t-Tewmi, ma kienx magħhom meta ġie Ġesù. Għalhekk id-dixxipli l-oħra qalulu: “Rajna lill-Mulej”. Iżda hu qalilhom: “Jekk ma narax f’idejh il-marka tal-imsiemer u ma nqigħedx sebgħi fuq il-marka tal-imsiemer u idi fuq ġenbu, jien ma nemminx”. Tmint ijiem wara, id-dixxipli reġgħu kienu ġewwa, u Tumas magħhom. Il-bibien kienu magħluqa, imma Ġesù daħal, qagħad f’nofshom, u qalilhom: “Is-sliem għalikom!” Imbagħad qal lil Tumas: “Ġib sebgħek hawn u ara idejja, u ressaq idek u qegħedha fuq ġenbi; tkunx bniedem bla fidi, iżda emmen”. Wieġeb Tumas u qallu: “Mulej tiegħi u Alla tiegħi!” Qallu Ġesù: “Emmint għax rajtni! Henjin dawk li ma rawx u emmnu”. Hemm ħafna sinjali oħra li Ġesù għamel quddiem id-dixxipli tiegħu u li mhumiex imniżżla f’dan il-ktieb. Iżda dawn inkitbu sabiex intom temmnu li Ġesù hu l-Messija l-Iben ta’ Alla, u biex bit-twemmin tagħkom ikollkom il-ħajja f’ismu.  Il-Kelma tal-Mulej

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Father Cantalamessa on Preaching to the World 

Here is a translation of a commentary by the Pontifical Household preacher, Capuchin Father Raniero Cantalamessa, on the readings from today’s liturgy. 

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The Gospel of this Sunday “in Albis” tells of the two appearances of the risen Jesus to the apostles in the cenacle. In this first appearance Jesus says to the apostles: “‘Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, so I send you.’ After having said this he breathed on them and said: ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.'” It is the solemn moment of sending. In Mark’s Gospel the same sending is expressed with the words: “Go and preach the Gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15).

Luke’s Gospel, which has accompanied us this year, expresses this movement from Jerusalem to the world with the episode of the two disciples who travel from Jerusalem to Emmaus with the risen Christ, who explains the Scriptures to them and breaks bread for them. There are three or four villages that claim to be the ancient Emmaus of the Gospel. Perhaps even this particular town, like the whole episode, has a symbolic value. Now Emmaus is every town; the risen Jesus accompanies his disciples along all the roads of the world and in all directions.

The historical problem that we will deal with in this last conversation of the series has precisely to do with Christ’s commission of the apostles. The questions that we ask ourselves are: Did Jesus really order his disciples to go into the whole world? Did he think that a community would be born from his message, that this message would have a following? Did he think that there should be a Church? We ask ourselves these questions because, as we have done in these commentaries, there are those who give a negative answer to these questions, an answer that is contrary to the historical data.

The undeniable fact of the election of the Twelve Apostles indicates that Jesus had the intention of giving life to a community and foresaw his life and teaching having a following. All the parables whose original nucleus contains the idea of an expansion to the Gentiles cannot be explained in another way. One thinks of the parable of the murderous tenants of the vineyard, of the workers in the vineyard, of the saying about the last who will be first, of the “many who will come from the east and west to the banquet of Abraham,” while others will be excluded — and countless other sayings.

During his life Jesus never left the land of Israel, except for some brief excursion into the pagan territories in the north, but this is explained by his conviction that he was above all sent for the people of Israel, to then urge them, once converted, to welcome the Gentiles into the fold, according to the universalistic proclamations of the prophets. 

It is often claimed that in the passage from Jerusalem to Rome, the Gospel message was profoundly modified. In other words, it is said that between the Christ of the Gospels and the Christ preached by the different Christian churches, there is not continuity but rupture.

Certainly there is a difference between the two. But there is an explanation for this. If we compare a photograph of an embryo in the maternal womb with the same child at the age of 10 or 30, it could be said that we are dealing with two different realities; but we know that everything that the man has become was already contained and programmed into the embryo. Jesus himself compared the kingdom of heaven to a small seed, but he said it was destined to grow and become a great tree on whose branches the birds of the sky would come to perch (Matthew 13:32).

Even if they are not the exact words that he used, what Jesus says in John’s Gospel is important: “I have many other things to tell you, but you are not ready for them now (that is, you are not able to understand them); but the Holy Spirit will teach you all things and will lead you to the whole truth.” Thus, Jesus foresaw a development of his doctrine, guided by the Holy Spirit. It is plain why in today’s Gospel reading the sending on mission is accompanied by the gift of the Holy Spirit.

But is it true that the Christianity that we know was born in the third century, with Constantine, as is sometimes insinuated? A few years after Jesus’ death, we already find the fundamental elements of the Church attested to: the celebration of the Eucharist, a Passover celebration with a different content from that of Exodus (“our Passover,” as Paul calls it); Christian baptism that will soon take the place of circumcision; the canon of Scripture, which in its core stems from the first decades of the second century; Sunday as a new day of celebration that quite early on will take the place of the Jewish Sabbath. Even the hierarchical structure of the Church (bishops, priests and deacons) is attested to by Ignatius of Antioch at the beginning of the second century.

Of course, not everything in the Church can be traced back to Jesus. There are many things in the Church that are historical, human products, as well as the products of human sin, and the Church must periodically free itself from this, and it does not cease to do so. But in essential things the Church’s faith has every right to claim a historical origin in Christ.

We began the series of commentaries on the Lenten Gospels moved by the same intention that Luke announces at the beginning of his Gospel: “So that you may know the truth of the things about which you have been instructed.” Having arrived at the end of the cycle, I can only hope to have achieved, in some measure, the same purpose, even if it is important to recall that the living and true Jesus is properly reached not by history but through the leap of faith. History, however, can show that it is not crazy to make that leap.

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