Tuesday 18 April
Tuesday of the 2nd week of Eastertide First reading - Acts 4:32-37 Today’s reading also deepens the commitment to the call of being a community around Jesus Risen. The whole group of believers was united heart and soul. No one claimed for his own use anything that had, as everything they owned was held in common. This unity of heart and soul because they were following Jesus Christ who was Crucified and Risen. The concrete example of this unity is having things in common and not claiming something for one’s own us. What I have become what we have. “I” disappears and “We” appears. Because in Jesus Christ there is no space of “I” and there is only space for “We”. That is why Barnabas, the Levite of Cypriot origin, who had a piece of land, sold it and brough the money and presented it to the apostles. What he had, disappeared and it became something the community has. This giving up and assuming the identity of the body of Christ is the transformation which the faith in Jesus demands. Let’s reflect: Are we ready to transform our “I” into the “We” that belongs to the body of Risen Christ?
Monday 17 April
Monday of the 2nd week of Eastertide First reading - Acts 4:23-31 What we read here is the beginning of the difficult times of the early Church. What we must understand here what the apostles did when they faced the difficulties. We read this: “As they prayed, the house where they were assembled rocked; they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to proclaim the word of God boldly”. They prayed. They were persecuted and they prayed. No place for revenge, no place for depression, no place for fear, and no place for blaming one another. They prayed. And they prayed all of them together. As they prayed together, they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. When we resort to other means, we will be filled with another kinds of spirit. But in prayer we will be filled with the Holy Spirit, and we will proclaim the word of God boldly. Let’s reflect: When we have challenges in life, are we resorting to praying together for the Holy Spirit?
Sunday 16 April
Divine Mercy Sunday First reading - Acts 2:42-47 In the first sentence we can see the essentials of being the Church: “The whole community remained faithful to the teaching of the apostles, to the brotherhood, to the breaking of bread and to the prayers”. Being faithful as a community to the teaching of the Apostles, then to the unity, then to the Eucharist and to the prayers. When the whole community is faithful to these, miracles will happen in the community. And the biggest miracle is the unity of the Church. “The faithful all lived together and owned everything in common; they sold their goods and possessions and shared out the proceeds among themselves according to what each one needed”. This is the miracle. “They went as a body to the Temple”. Going as a body. Church is the body of Christ. Resurrection makes it possible that we can belong to the Body of Christ when we are united in Him. Being united with Him can be achieved when we can get detached from everything we have and get attached to the needs of the other. The concrete gestures are to have everything in common, sharing gladly and generously, and praising God always. This is way we can build the Church in Christ Risen. Let’s reflect: How much I can be liberated from my own things to become the Body of Resurrected Christ?
Saturday 15 April
Easter Saturday First reading - Acts 4:13-21 “The rulers, elders and scribes were astonished at the assurance shown by Peter and John, considering they were uneducated laymen”. This is the real testimony of resurrection. The transformation that happened in the apostles. The rulers, elders and scribes were astonished at the assurance shown by Peter and John. The assurance which comes from the personal experience of the Resurrected Jesus. The assurance which comes from the personal relationship with the Risen Christ. The assurance which comes from the faith in the mandate given by the Risen Lord. This assurance is the profound testimony of Resurrection. The assurance which overcomes any fears. The assurance which overlooks any threats. The assurance which gives the courage to say, “You must judge whether in God’s eyes it is right to listen to you and not to God. We cannot promise to stop proclaiming what we have seen and heard”. Let’s reflect: how much assurance we have in being witness to the Risen Lord in our life?