TERCER DOMINGO DE PASCUA 2024

Mis queridos hermanos este tercer domingo de pascua es una invitación a seguir reconociendo la presencia de Jesús resucitado en nuestras vidas, a ser sus discípulos y misioneros y a escogerlo a él por encima de otras cosas que puedan parecer más atractivas a nuestros ojos pero que son efímeras y no nos dan la vida eterna. Déjenme compartir estas preguntas con ustedes: ¿Algún día has cambiado una misa porque tu equipo favorito juega a la misma hora? ¿en algún momento has preferido mantener el rencor que perdonar? ¿Algún día has preferido ir a una fiesta que rezar un rosario o ir a misa?

En estas y muchas acciones más nosotros cambiamos a Dios por cosas que nos resultan más interesantes que lo religioso. En ocasiones llegamos hasta a justificar la muerte de los inocentes, como en el caso de los abortos o la violencia cuando se trata de defensa propia sin tener en cuenta que el quinto mandamiento es muy claro: No matarás.

El apóstol Pedro en su discurso a los judíos y sus autoridades les recuerda que ellos cambiaron a Jesús por un asesino, que cambiaron la vida por la muerte y lo hicieron por ignorancia pero que ahora son llamados a aceptar a Dios en su vida y dejarse transformar por él. Ojalá que nosotros también pudiéramos cambiar la ignorancia por la aceptación del Espíritu Santo en nuestras vidas, para que nos pase lo mismo que le sucedió a los discípulos cuando Jesús les abrió el entendimiento para que entendieran las Escrituras.

Nosotros al igual que ellos, necesitamos de la guía del Espíritu Santo para que nos abra el entendimiento y podamos comprender que Él está vivo y nos llama a una nueva vida con él, es decir, a vivir conforme a su designio divino, siendo mensajeros de paz, perdonando los pecados, amándonos los unos a los otros y siendo sus verdaderos discípulos que con su testimonio de vida hacen presente a Dios en sus familias y en esta sociedad que tanto lo necesita. Amén.

-P. Luis

THIRD SUNDAY OF EASTER 2024

My dear brothers, this third Sunday of Easter is an invitation to continue recognizing the presence of the risen Jesus in our lives, to be his disciples and missionaries and to choose him above other things that may seem more attractive to our eyes but they are ephemeral and do not give us eternal life. Let me share these questions with you: Have you ever missed a Mass because your favorite team plays at the same time? Have you ever preferred to hold a grudge than forgive? Have you ever preferred going to a party than praying a rosary or going to Mass?

In these and many more actions we change God for things that are more interesting to us than religion. Sometimes we even go so far as to justify the death of the innocent, as in the case of abortions or violence when it comes to self-defense without taking into account that the fifth commandment is very clear: You shall not kill.

The apostle Peter in his speech to the Jews and their authorities reminds them that they exchanged Jesus for a murderer, that they exchanged life for death and did it out of ignorance but that now they are called to accept God in their lives and allow themselves to be transformed. for him. I wish that we too could change ignorance for the acceptance of the Holy Spirit in our lives, so that the same thing happens to us that happened to the disciples when Jesus opened their understanding so that they could understand the Scriptures.

We, like them, need the guidance of the Holy Spirit so that he can open our understanding and we can understand that He is alive and calls us to a new life with him, that is, to live according to his divine plan, being messengers of peace, forgiving sins, loving one another and being his true disciples who with their testimony of life make God present in their families and in this society that needs him so much. Amen.

-Fr. Luis

Encounter with the Risen Lord…

At the center of this Third Sunday of Easter there is the encounter with the Risen One experienced by his disciples, all together. This is evidenced especially by the Gospel which introduces us once again to the Upper Room, where Jesus manifests himself to the Apostles, addressing this greeting to them: “Peace to you” (Lk 24:36). It is the greeting of the Risen Christ, who gives us peace: “Peace to you!”. It is a matter of both inner peace and the peace that is established in interpersonal relationships. The episode recounted by Luke the Evangelist rests heavily on the realism of the Resurrection.

Jesus realizes that the Apostles are unsettled in seeing him, that they are bewildered because the reality of the Resurrection is inconceivable to them. They believe they are seeing a spirit; but the Risen Jesus is not a spirit; he is a man with body and soul. This is why, in order to convince them, he says to them: “See my hands and my feet” — he shows them his wounds — “that it is I myself; handle me, and see; for a spirit has not flesh and bones as you see that I have”. And since this did not seem enough to overcome the disciples’ disbelief — the Gospel says something interesting: there was so much joy they had within that this joy pre-vented them from believing it: ‘No, it cannot be! It cannot be so! So much joy is not possible!’. And Jesus, in order to convince them, asks them: “Have you anything here to eat?”. They offer him some broiled fish; Jesus takes and eats it in front of them, in order to convince them.

Jesus’ insistence on the reality of his Resurrection illuminates the Christian perspective of the body: the body is not an obstacle nor a prison of the soul. The body is created by God, and mankind is not complete if there is no union of body and soul. Jesus, who has triumphed over death and risen in body and soul, helps us to understand that we must have a positive idea of our body. It can become an occasion or instrument of sin, but sin is not provoked by the body, but rather by our moral weakness. The body is a wondrous gift from God, intended, in union with the soul, to express in fullness the image and likeness of Him. Therefore, we are called to have great respect and care for our body and that of others.

Any offense or wound or violence to the body of our neighbor is an affront to God the Creator! In the flesh of the people, we find the Body of Christ. Christ wounded, mocked, slandered, humiliated, scourged, crucified.... Jesus taught us love. A love that, in his Resurrection, is demonstrated to be more powerful than sin and death, and seeks to redeem all those who experience in their own body the slavery of our time. In a world where too often self-importance prevails over the weakest and materialism stifles the spirit, today’s Gospel passage calls us to be people capable of looking deeply, full of wonder and great joy at having encountered the Risen Lord. It calls us to be people who know how to welcome and appreciate the novelty of life that He sows in history, in order to direct it toward new heavens and the new land. May we be sustained in this journey by the Virgin Mary, to whose maternal intercession we entrust ourselves with faith. [synthesized from Pope Francis, Regina Caeli 15 IV 2018]

-Fr. Raj