Celebración de la palabra

Thursday May 9, 2019

Third Week of Easter

ENCOUNTERING CHRIST IN WORD AND SACRAMENT

Introduction

Luke presents the conversion of the treasurer of the queen of Ethiopia very much in parallel with that of the disciples of Emmaus. The latter had listened to Christ’s explanation of the Scriptures about himself, and then recognized and really encountered the living, Risen Lord in the breaking of bread, in the Eucharist. The Ethiopian had the Scriptures explained to him about the lamb that was slain and the good news of the resurrection. Then, he asked to be baptized so that he could encounter the Risen Lord.
In the Gospel, Christ speaks again of himself as the bread of life to be accepted in faith and promises to give the bread of his own flesh in the Eucharist for the life of the world, for eternal life.

Opening Prayer

Father,
you draw all people to you
who believe in your Son, Jesus Christ.
Faith Lord, faith it is that we need.
Give it to us, we pray you,
a living faith that we can encounter today
Jesus Christ, your Son,
in your Word that you speak to us,
in the bread that you offer us,
and in the food that we can give
and can be to one another,
in Jesus Christ, your Son and our Lord,
who lives with you and the Holy Spirit,
now and for ever.

Reading 1: ACTS 8:26-40

The angel of the Lord spoke to Philip,
“Get up and head south on the road
that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza, the desert route.”
So he got up and set out.
Now there was an Ethiopian eunuch,
a court official of the Candace,
that is, the queen of the Ethiopians,
in charge of her entire treasury,
who had come to Jerusalem to worship, and was returning home.
Seated in his chariot, he was reading the prophet Isaiah.
The Spirit said to Philip,
“Go and join up with that chariot.”
Philip ran up and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and said,
“Do you understand what you are reading?”
He replied,
“How can I, unless someone instructs me?”
So he invited Philip to get in and sit with him.
This was the Scripture passage he was reading:

Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter,
and as a lamb before its shearer is silent,
so he opened not his mouth.
In his humiliation justice was denied him.
Who will tell of his posterity?
For his life is taken from the earth.

Then the eunuch said to Philip in reply,
“I beg you, about whom is the prophet saying this?
About himself, or about someone else?”
Then Philip opened his mouth and, beginning with this Scripture passage,
he proclaimed Jesus to him.
As they traveled along the road
they came to some water,
and the eunuch said, “Look, there is water.
What is to prevent my being baptized?”
Then he ordered the chariot to stop,
and Philip and the eunuch both went down into the water,
and he baptized him.
When they came out of the water,
the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away,
and the eunuch saw him no more,
but continued on his way rejoicing.
Philip came to Azotus, and went about proclaiming the good news
to all the towns until he reached Caesarea.

Responsorial Psalm 66:8-9, 16-17, 20

R. (1) Let all the earth cry out to God with joy.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Bless our God, you peoples,
loudly sound his praise;
He has given life to our souls,
and has not let our feet slip.
R. Let all the earth cry out to God with joy.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Hear now, all you who fear God, while I declare
what he has done for me.
When I appealed to him in words,
praise was on the tip of my tongue.
R. Let all the earth cry out to God with joy.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Blessed be God who refused me not
my prayer or his kindness!
R. Let all the earth cry out to God with joy.
or:
R. Alleluia.

Alleluia: JN 6:51

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
I am the living bread that came down from heaven,
says the Lord;
whoever eats this bread will live forever.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel: JN 6:44-51

Jesus said to the crowds:
"No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draw him,
and I will raise him on the last day.
It is written in the prophets:

They shall all be taught by God.

Everyone who listens to my Father and learns from him comes to me.
Not that anyone has seen the Father
except the one who is from God;
he has seen the Father.
Amen, amen, I say to you,
whoever believes has eternal life.
I am the bread of life.
Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, but they died;
this is the bread that comes down from heaven
so that one may eat it and not die.
I am the living bread that came down from heaven;
whoever eats this bread will live forever;
and the bread that I will give
is my Flesh for the life of the world."

Intercessions

– Lord, let your Word and your person be so much alive in us that we want to let all those around us share in them, we pray:
– Lord, let the Eucharist make our communities alive in the spirit of service and justice, we pray:
– Lord, let us become enthusiastic in love and sharing, like the early Christians, we pray:

Prayer over the Gifts

Lord God, we want to live,
live to the full
and without limits or boundaries.
Give us the bread of life, we pray you,
that we may know and love and live,
that we may give ourselves
with him who gave himself
as flesh for the life of the world,
and be raised up with him on the last day
to live with you, forever and ever.

Prayer after Communion

God of the living,
you have given us the bread of life,
that we may eat it and not die.
All thanks be given to you, Father,
but make our faith strong and deep
that your Son is with us,
that in him, the world can live,
a life worth living, a life of hope,
of justice and dignity and love,
a life that lasts, forever and ever.

Blessing

To live, to be alive, to be vibrant with life, that is how we and our communities should be if the Lord is really alive among us. Some early Christian communities called themselves “Hoi zõntes,” “those who are alive.” Shouldn’t we all be? May Almighty God bless you, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Commentary

The Ethiopian, a royal official, wrestles with the celebrated text from Isaiah, much as have scripture scholars of the past and present. The passage is from the last of the four servant songs, in which the servant is clearly individualized but not identified. What is clear is that he suffers in the cause of good. Regardless of who it was the original author intended, there is no doubting the fact, as is evident from today’s reading that early Christians saw the text realized in a remarkable way in Jesus of Nazareth.
The Ethiopian evidently found Philip’s explanation of the text convincing. Upon reaching a location where water was present, the servant asks for baptism, following which Philip’s duties are ended and he is seen no more. In the church in our time, cat- echesis precedes baptism. In the earliest days of the church, the opposite was the case. After professing faith in Christ’s salvific death and resurrection, the candidate was baptized, with the fuller teaching on Christ coming only later.
This narrative is illustrative of the message of today’s Gospel. It is the Father who draws the believer as the first instructor in the faith. And it is this faith, centered in the person of God’s Son Jesus, that brings eternal life. Christ is the true bread from heaven, which, unlike the manna in the desert, is imperishable.
Why is it that we have such confidence in our belief?
It is because we have it on the word of God himself, a fact that is hard to explain to an unbeliever. Belief is not of our own doing; it is God who draws us to himself. A celebrated author once said that she abandoned her faith because she could not accept the teaching on the Eucharist. To see it as a sign was fine but not as the reality of Christ’s body and blood. We admit the mystery, but with the apostles we have nowhere to go, for Christ has the words of eternal life.
Faith is not easily upheld; sometimes it is very costly. Martyrs have gone to their deaths in its defense. But most of all it bears us up as we travel the bumpy road of life.

Points to Ponder

The central truths of our faith
Identifying Jesus as the
Servant of the Lord
Faith and eternal life
The true bread from heaven.