Ordinary Time

1) Opening prayer

Father,

You call Your children to

walk in the light of Christ.

Free us from darkness

and keep us in the radiance of Your truth.

We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son,

who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit,

one God, for ever and ever. Amen. 

2) Gospel Reading - Matthew 8:23-27

As Jesus got into a boat, his disciples followed him. Suddenly a violent storm came up on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by waves; but he was asleep. They came and woke him, saying, "Lord, save us! We are perishing!" He said to them, "Why are you terrified, O you of little faith?" Then he got up, rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was great calm. The men were amazed and said, "What sort of man is this, whom even the winds and the sea obey?"

3) Reflection

• Matthew writes for the converted Jews of the years 70’s who felt lost like a boat in the middle of a stormy sea, without the hope of being able to get to the desired port.  Jesus seems to be asleep in the boat and it seems to them that no divine power will come to save them from the persecution.  In the face of this desperate and anguished situation, Matthew puts together several episodes of the life of Jesus to help the community discover, in the midst of an apparent absence, the welcoming and powerful presence of Jesus the conqueror who dominates the sea (Mt 8:23-27), who conquers and casts away the power of evil (Mt 9:28-34) and who has the power to forgive sins (Mt 9:1-8).  In other words, Matthew wants to communicate hope and to suggest that the communities have no reason to fear.  This is the reason for the narration of the storm calmed by Jesus in today’s Gospel.  

• Matthew 8:23: The starting point: to enter into the boat.  Matthew follows the Gospel of Mark, but makes it shorter and inserts it in the new outline which he has adopted.  In Mark, the day had been very tiring because of the work that they had done.  Having finished the discourse of the parables (Mk 4:3-34), the disciples take Jesus into the boat and He was so tired that He fell asleep on a cushion (Mk 4:38). Matthew’s text is very brief.  It only says that Jesus went into the boat and that the disciples accompanied Him.  Jesus is the Master. The disciples follow the Master.

• Matthew 8:24-25: The desperate situation: “We are lost!” The Lake of Galilee is close to high mountains.  Sometimes, as the wind is forced upward by the mountains, moisture condenses over the lake causing a sudden storm.  Strong wind, agitated sea, and a boat full of water are the result!  The disciples were experienced fishermen.  If they thought that they were about to sink, it meant that the situation was truly dangerous!   Jesus, however, is not aware and continues to sleep.  They cried out, “Save us, Lord, we are lost!”  In Matthew the profound sleep of Jesus is not only a sign of tiredness.  It is also the expression of the calm trust of Jesus in God.  The contrast between the attitude of Jesus and that of the disciples is enormous!

• Matthew 8:26: The reaction of Jesus: “Why are you so frightened, you who have so little faith!”  Jesus wakes up, not because of the waves, but because of the desperate cry of the disciples.  He turns to them saying, “Why are you so frightened, you who have so little faith!” He then stood up and rebuked the winds and the sea, because there was no danger.  It is like when one arrives at a friend’s house, and the dog, at the side of his master, barks very much. One should not be afraid, because the master is present and controls the situation.  The episode of the storm calmed by Jesus evokes the episode, when people, without fear, passed across the water of the sea (Ex 14:22).  Jesus recreates this episode.  He recalls the prophet Isaiah who said to the people: “If you have to go across the water, I will be with you!” (Isa 43:2).  The episode of the calmed storm recalls and fulfills the prophecy announced in  Psalm 107:  

Those who ploughed the waves in the sea on the ships, plying their trade on the great ocean, they have seen the works of the Lord, His wonders in the deep.  

By His word He raised a storm-wind lashing up towering waves.  

Up to the sky then down to the depths; their stomachs were turned to water.

They staggered and reeled like drunkards, and all their skill went under.

They cried out to Yahweh in their distress. He rescued them from their plight.  

He reduced the storm to calm, and all the waters subsided.  

He brought them overjoyed at the stillness, to the port where they were bound (Ps 107: 23-30)

• Matthew 8:27: The fear of the disciples: “Who is this man?” Jesus asks, “Why are you so frightened?”  The disciples do not know what to answer.  Astounded, they ask themselves, “What kind of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?” In spite of the long time that they had lived with Jesus, they still do not know who He is. Jesus seems to be a foreigner to them! Who is this man?  

• Who is this man? Who is Jesus for us, for me? This should be the question which urges us to continue to read the Gospel, every day, with the desire always to better know the significance and the importance of the person of Jesus for our life.  From this question comes Christology. It does not come from elevated theological considerations, but from the desire of the first Christians to always find new names and titles to express what Jesus meant for them.  There are tens of names, titles, and attributes, from that of carpenter to Son of God, which Jesus expresses: Messiah, Christ, Lord, Beloved Son, Holy One of God, Nazarene, Son of Man, Spouse, Son of God, Son of the Most High God, Carpenter, Son of Mary, Prophet, Master, Son of David, Rabboni, Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord; Son, Shepherd, Bread of Life, Resurrection, Light of the world, Way, Truth, Life, King of the Jews, King of Israel, etc.  Every name, every image, is an effort to express what Jesus means for them.  A name, no matter how beautiful it is, never succeeds in revealing the mystery of a person, and much less of the person of Jesus.  Jesus does not enter into any of these names, outlines, or titles.  He exceeds everything; He is the greatest! He cannot be put into a frame.  Love takes up all this, not the mind! Starting from this experience of a love which is alive, the names, the titles and the images receive their full significance. Definitively, who is Jesus for me, for us? 

4) Personal questions

• What was the agitated sea at the time of Jesus?  What was the agitated sea at the time when Matthew wrote his Gospel?  Today, what is the agitated sea for us?  Have you ever been on the point of drowning in the agitated waters of the sea of your life?  What saved you?  

• Who is Jesus for me?  Which is the name of Jesus which expresses my faith and my love better?

• Do I take time to ask and pray for “the peace of Christ”, to have calm in my personal storms?

5) Concluding Prayer

Each age will praise Your deeds to the next,

proclaiming Your mighty works.

Your renown is the splendor of Your glory,

I will ponder the story of Your wonders. (Ps 145:4-5)

Ordinary Time

1) Opening prayer

Father,

guide and protector of your people,

grant us an unfailing respect for your name,

and keep us always in your love.

We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

2) Gospel Reading - Matthew 7:21-29

Jesus said to his disciples: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the Kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name? Did we not drive out demons in your name? Did we not do mighty deeds in your name?’ Then I will declare to them solemnly, ‘I never knew you. Depart from me, you evildoers.’ “Everyone who listens to these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and buffeted the house. But it did not collapse; it had been set solidly on rock. And everyone who listens to these words of mine but does not act on them will be like a fool who built his house on sand. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and buffeted the house. And it collapsed and was completely ruined.” When Jesus finished these words, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as their scribes.

3) Reflection

• Today’s Gospel presents the last part of the Sermon on the Mount: (a) it is not sufficient to talk and sing, it is necessary to live and to practice (Mt 7:21-23). (b) the community constructed on the foundation of the new law of the discourse on the mount will remain standing at the moment of the storm (Mt 7:24-27). (c) the words of Jesus are a severe judgment on the contemporary religious leaders, the scribes (Mt 7:28-29).

• The end of the Sermon on the Mount presents some opposition and a few contradictions which exist even in our time: (a) people who continually speak of God, but who do not do God’s will. They use the name of Jesus, but do not practice a relationship with the Lord in their life (Mt 7:21). (b) There are people who live in the illusion of working for the Lord, but on the day of encounter with Him, they will discover, tragically, that they have never known Him (Mt 7:22-23). The two last scenarios of the Sermon on the Mount, the house built on the rock (Mt 7:24-25) and the house built on sand (Mt 7:26-27), illustrate these contradictions. By means of these, Matthew denounces, and at the same time tries to correct, the separation between faith and life, between speaking and doing, between teaching and practicing.

• Matthew 7:21: It is not sufficient to speak, it is necessary to practice. What is important is not to speak of God in a beautiful way or to know how to explain the bible well to others, but rather to do the will of the Father, and in this way, be a revelation of His face and of His presence in the world. Jesus made the same recommendation to the woman who praised Mary, His Mother. Jesus answered: “Blessed rather are those who listen to the Word of God and put it into practice” (Lk 11:28).

• Matthew 7:22-23: The gifts should be at the service of the Kingdom and the community. There were people with extraordinary gifts, for example the gift of prophecy, of exorcism, of healing, but they used these gifts for themselves, outside the context of the community. In the Day of Judgment, they will hear a hard sentence from Jesus: “Away from Me all evil doers”. Evil is the opposite of justice. It is to do with Jesus what the doctors did with the law: to teach and not to practice (Mt 23:3). Paul will say the same thing with other words and arguments: “Though I have the power of prophecy, to penetrate all mysteries and knowledge, and though I have all the faith necessary to move mountains, if I am without love, I am nothing. Though I should give away to the poor all that I possess, and even give up my body to be burned, if I am without love, it will do me no good whatever”. (1Cor 13:2-3).

• Matthew 7:24-27: The parable of the house built on the rock. The final conclusion of the Sermon on the Mount is to open oneself and to practice. Many people entrust their security to extraordinary gifts or to observance. But their true security does not come from prestige or from observance. It comes from God! It comes from the love of God who has loved us first (1 Jn 4:19). His love for us, manifested in Jesus, exceeds everything (Rm 8:38-39). God becomes our source of security when we seek to do His will. There He will be the rock which supports us in the moments of difficulty and storm.

• Matthew 7:28-29: To teach with authority. The Evangelist closes the Sermon on the Mount saying that the crowds admired the teaching of Jesus, “because He taught with authority, and not like the scribes”. The result from the teaching of Jesus is a critical understanding of the people in regard to the religious authority of the time. His simple and clear words resulted from His experience of God, from His life dedicated to the Father’s plan. People admired and approved the teaching of Jesus.

• Community: the house built on the rock. In the Book of Psalms, we frequently find the expression: “God is my rock and my fortress… My God, my rock, my refuge, my stronghold, my saving strength…” (Ps 18:3). He is the defense and the strength of the one who seeks justice (Ps 18:21,24). The people who trust in this God, become in turn, a rock for others. Thus, the Prophet Isaiah invites people in the exile saying: “Listen to me you who pursue saving justice, you who seek Yahweh! Consider the rock from which you were hewn, the quarry from which you were dug. Consider Abraham your father and Sarah who gave you birth” (Is 51:1-2). The prophet asks people not to forget the past. The people should remember that Abraham and Sarah, because of their faith in God, became rock, the beginning of the People of God. Looking toward this rock, the people should acquire courage to struggle and to escape from slavery. Matthew also exhorts the community similarly to have rock as foundation (Mt 7:24-25) and thus, they themselves can be rock to strengthen their brothers and sisters in their faith. This is the sense of the name which Jesus gave to Peter: “You are Peter and on this rock I will build my Church” (Mt 16:  18). This was the vocation of the first community, called to unite itself with God, the living rock, so as to become also a living rock, because they listen and put into practice the Word. (Ps 2:4-10; 2:5; Ep 2:19-22).

4) Personal questions

• How does our community seek to balance prayer and action, prayer and practice, to speak and to do, to teach and to practice? What could improve in our community, so that it will be a rock, a secure and welcoming house for all?

• To be rock for another is also to be in truth. Do I, and my community, know and understand Church teaching and the bible well enough and in truth such that I and we can be rock for others who need help in their Faith?

• There is another kind of rock. The rock in the parable of the sower. The seed (the Word) could not grow on rock. Do I read, learn and grow from the Word and from the saints that have given example before us, and from Church teaching? Am I like the rocky ground in the parable where the seed dries up or am I like a strong rock who gives stability to my brothers and sisters?

5) Concluding Prayer

Help us, God our Savior,

for the glory of Your name;

Yahweh, wipe away our sins,

rescue us for the sake of Your name. (Ps 79:9)

Easter Time

1) Opening prayer

Lord God,

also in our day we need men and women

filled with the Spirit of love and service

who are attentive to the needs of people.

Let them listen even to the unspoken cries

of people too timid to voice

their poverty and distress

and help without condescension

their brothers and sisters of Christ,

for He is our Lord for ever.  Amen.

2) Gospel Reading - John 6:16-21

When it was evening, the disciples of Jesus went down to the sea, embarked in a boat, and went across the sea to Capernaum. It had already grown dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. The sea was stirred up because a strong wind was blowing. When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat, and they began to be afraid. But he said to them, "It is I. Do not be afraid." They wanted to take him into the boat, but the boat immediately arrived at the shore to which they were heading. 

3) Reflection

• Today’s Gospel narrates the episode of the boat on the agitated sea. Jesus is on the mountain, the disciples in the sea, and the people on the land. By his way of describing the facts, John tries to help the communities discover the mystery which envelops the person of Jesus. He does it by recalling texts from the Old Testament which refer to the Exodus.

• At the time when John wrote, the small boat of the communities had to face a contrary wind both on the part of the converted Jews who wanted to reduce the mystery of Jesus to prophecies and figures of the Old Testament, and on the part of some converted Gentiles who thought that it was possible to have an alliance between Jesus and the Empire.

• John 6:15: Jesus on the mountain. Having seen the multiplication of the loaves, the people conclude that Jesus is the awaited Messiah, because according to the hope of the people of the time, the Messiah would have repeated the gesture of Moses: feeding the people in the desert. For this reason, according to the official ideology, the crowds thought that Jesus was the Messiah, and, because of this, they wanted to make Him king (cf. Jn 6:14-15). This request of the people was a temptation for Jesus as well as for the disciples. In Mark’s Gospel, Jesus obliges the disciples to get into the boat and go on ahead to the other side of the lake (Mk 6:45). He wanted to prevent them from getting contaminated with this ideology. This is a sign that the “yeast of Herod and of the Pharisees” was very strong (Mk 8:15). Jesus faces the temptation with prayer on the mountain.

• John 6:16-18: The situation of the disciples. It was already night. The disciples went down near the sea; they got into the boat and headed toward Capernaum, on the other side of the sea. John says that it was already dark and that Jesus had not arrived as yet. On the one hand he recalls the Exodus: to cross the sea in the midst of difficulties. On the other, he recalls the situation of the communities in the Roman Empire: with the disciples, they were living in the dark, with a contrary wind,  and the sea was agitated, and Jesus seemed to be absent!

• John 6:19-20. Change of the situation. Jesus approaches them walking on the water of the sea of life. The disciples are afraid. As happens in the story of Emmaus, they did not recognize Him (Lk 24:28). Jesus gets close to them and says, “It is I! Do not be afraid!” For those who know the story of the Old Testament, here again John recalls some very important facts: (a) He recalls the crowd, protected by God, crossing the Red Sea without fear. (b) He recalls that God, when calling Moses, declares His name, saying, “I am!” (Ex 3:15). (c) He recalls also the Book of Isaiah which presents the return from exile as a new Exodus, in which God repeats many times, “I am!” (cf. Is 42:8; 43:5, 11-13; 44:6, 25; 45:5-7).

• For the People of the Bible, the sea was the symbol of the abyss, of chaos, of evil (Rev 13:1). In Exodus the people go across toward liberty, facing and conquering the sea. God divides the sea with His breath and the crowds cross the sea, which is dry land. (Ex 14:22). In other passages the Bible shows God who conquers the sea (Gen 1:6-10; Ps 104:6-9; Prov 8:27). The sea was an immense part of nature, more powerful than man, and at any time or turbulence could swallow up those on it. To conquer the sea means to have control over even the most powerful nature on earth. In this passage Jesus reveals His divinity by dominating and conquering the sea, preventing the boat and His disciples from being carried away by the waves. This way of evoking or recalling the Old Testament, of using the Bible, helped the communities to recognize  the presence of God in Jesus and in the facts of life.  “Do not be afraid”!

• John 6:22. They reached the desired port. They want to take Jesus into the boat, but it was not necessary, because the boat touched the shore where they were headed. They reached the desired port. The psalm says, “He reduced the storm to calm, and all the waters subsided.  He brought them overjoyed at the stillness, to the port where they were bound.” (Ps 107:29-30).

4) Personal questions

• On the mountain: Why does Jesus seek to be alone to pray after the multiplication of the loaves? What is the result of His prayer?

• How is life like the sea? Does it scare us?

• Is it possible today to walk on the water of the sea of life? How? 

5) Concluding Prayer

Shout for joy, you upright;

praise befits the honest.

Give thanks to Yahweh on the lyre,

play for Him on the ten-stringed lyre. (Ps 33:1-2)

1) Opening prayer

Lord our God,

we praise and thank You on the feast

of Your apostles Philip and James.

Through them many have come to know

that Jesus is alive and risen.

May we too be good witnesses

to the risen Jesus

by the way we live His risen life.

Even though we are flawed and weak,

may people find through us

the way to the Father of Jesus our Lord.

2) Gospel Reading - John 14:6-14

Jesus said to Thomas, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, then you will also know my Father. From now on you do know him and have seen him." Philip said to him, "Master, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us." Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you for so long a time and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father'? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on my own. The Father who dwells in me is doing his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else, believe because of the works themselves. Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes in me will do the works that I do, and will do greater ones than these, because I am going to the Father. And whatever you ask in my name, I will do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything of me in my name, I will do it."

3) Reflection

• Today’s Gospel, the Feast of the Apostles Philip and James, is the same one we meditated on during the 4^th week of Easter. It  narrates Philip’s request to Jesus: “Show us the Father, and that is enough for us.”

• John 14:6: I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life: Thomas had addressed a question to Jesus: “Lord, we do not know where You are going. How can we know the way?” (Jn 14:5). Jesus answers, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one can come to the Father except through Me.” Three important words. Without the way, we cannot walk. A “way” is not only a path, but a method of performing or doing. In this case, His way is to be our way. Without the truth one cannot make a good choice. In life, things are not always what they seem to be. We can be easily deceived, especially with fake news, flawed beliefs, and the evil that still inhabits the world. It is important to focus on the Truth and not be deceived. He is the Truth. Without life, there is only death! Jesus explains the meaning. He is the way, because no one “comes to the Father except through Me”. And He is the gate through which the sheep go in and out (Jn 10:9). Jesus is the Truth because looking at Him, we are seeing the image of the Father. “If you know Me, you will know My Father also!” Jesus is Life, because walking like Jesus we will be united to the Father and will have life in us!

• John 14:7: To know Jesus is to know the Father. Thomas had asked, “Lord, we do not know where You are going. How can we know the way?” Jesus answers, “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life! No one comes to the Father except through Me.” And He adds, “If you know Me, you will know My Father also. From this moment you have known Him and have seen Him.” This is the first phrase of today’s Gospel. Jesus always speaks about the Father, because it was the life of the Father that appeared in everything that Jesus said and did. This continuous reference to the Father causes Philip to ask the question.

• John 14:8-11: Philip asks, “Show us the Father and then we will be satisfied!” It was the  disciples’ desire, the desire of many people within the communities of the Beloved Disciple, and it is the desire of many people today. What do people do to see the Father whom Jesus speaks of so much? Jesus’ answer is very beautiful, and it is valid even today: “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know Me? Anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father!” People should not think that God is far away from us, at a distance and unknown. Anyone who wants to know who God the Father is, it suffices for him to look at Jesus. He has revealed Him in the words and gestures of His life! “The Father is in Me and I am in the Father!” Through His obedience, Jesus has fully identified Himself with the Father. At every moment, He did what the Father told Him to do (Jn 5:30; 8:28-29,38). This is why, in Jesus everything is the revelation of the Father! The signs or works are the works of the Father! As people say,  “The son is the face of the father!” This is why in Jesus, and for Jesus, God is in our midst.

• John 14:12-14: The Promise of Jesus. Jesus says that His intimacy with the Father is not a privilege only for Him, but it is possible for all those who believe in Him. We also, through Jesus, are able to do beautiful things for others as Jesus did for the people of His time. He intercedes for us. Everything that people ask from Him, He asks the Father and obtains it always, if it is to serve. Jesus is our defender. He leaves but He does not leave us without defense. He promises that He will ask the Father and the Father will send another defender and consoler, the Holy Spirit. Jesus even said that it is necessary that He leave, because otherwise the Holy Spirit will not come (Jn 16:7). The Holy Spirit will fulfill the things of Jesus in us, if we act in the name of Jesus and observe the great commandment of the practice of love. In his recent encyclical Gaudete et exsultate, Pope Francis quotes Lumen Gentium: The Holy Spirit bestows holiness in abundance among God’s holy and faithful people, for “it has pleased God to make men and women holy and to save them, not as individuals without any bond between them, but rather as a people who might acknowledge him in truth and serve him in holiness”

4) For Personal confrontation

• Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life. How do I define Jesus as the Way in my life? As a model of action, or a map, or something else?

• How can Jesus, as the Truth, be used in my daily life to guide me through the deceptions in the world?

• As Life, how do I use Jesus as a model for my life and decision making?

• As we read today’s Gospel, we are almost moved to say “Philip! Haven’t you been listening?”. Are there times when I don’t hear what Jesus is really telling me in my own life as well? What are some of them?

5) Concluding Prayer

The heavens declare the glory of God,

the vault of Heaven proclaims His handiwork,

day to day pours forth speech,

night to night hands on the knowledge. (Ps 19:1-2)