It is the Lord!
Third Sunday of Easter
“It is the Lord!” John 21:7
The Miraculous Draught of Fishes, by Raphael, 1515
A fraternal greeting in the Risen Christ – Allelujah! Christ has risen! and we live in Easter time for fifty days until the Feast of Pentecost. The Lord offer us great gifts that his apostles received and today he offers it to us. The gift of Peace, Spirit, Forgiveness and Mission …
In the encounter with the disciples, Jesus gave them his Spirit and granted them the power to forgive sins, peace, the Spirit and the ministry of forgiveness are the greatest gifts of the risen Lord. None of them can be understood without the other.
“And the disciple that Jesus loved so much tells Peter,” It’s the Lord. ” (JN 21,4-7) It is not easy to recognize it in moments of pain and fear, deturbation and fatigue, only faith lead us to discover it when the eyes only perceive darkness.
“It’s the Lord” we do not count on him when things are going well, when we fan out to get the juice out of the present. Hope invites us to live awaiting “who is, who was and who is coming.”
Resuscitate is the task and goal of each day, the works of mercy that we practice, especially with the weakest and wretched ones are ways to resuscitate. When we ask for forgiveness or grant it to those who have offended us, it is a way to resurrect. Being in solidarity and restoring the desire to live to those who are sunk in misery, is the greatest sign of Resurrection.
Lord Jesus Risen, we know that you are alive, you accompany us every day, accompany Monsignor Joseph Brennan in his episcopal ministry as Pastor in the Diocese of Fresno and our pastor Abel in his sabbatical time. God bless you!
Readings of the Week
Monday: Acts 6:8-15; Ps 119:23-24, 26-27, 29-30; Jn 6:22-29
Tuesday: Acts 7:51 — 8:1a; Ps 31:3cd-4, 6, 7b, 8a, 17, 21ab; Jn 6:30-35
Wednesday: Acts 8:1b-8; Ps 66:1-3a, 4-7a; Jn 6:35-40
Thursday: Acts 8:26-40; Ps 66:8-9, 16-17, 20; Jn 6:44-51
Friday: Acts 9:1-20; Ps 117:1bc, 2; Jn 6:52-59
Saturday: Acts 9:31-42; Ps 116:12-17; Jn 6:60-69
Sunday: Acts 13:14, 43-52; Ps 100:1-2, 3, 5; Rv 7:9, 14b-17; Jn 10:27-30
Our Lady of Fatima
A hundred years ago, on the 13th day of every month from May through October of 1917, the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to three children near Fatima in Portugal, bringing them an urgent message, calling for repentance and prayer, a message that has no less urgency today. Pope Benedict XVI described Our Lady of Fatima as “the Teacher who introduced the little seers to a deep knowledge of the Love of the Blessed Trinity and led them to savor God Himself as the most beautiful reality of human existence” (May 13, 2010). In a century when atheistic totalitarian regimes would bring the horrors of genocide to hundreds of millions of people, and when equal numbers of innocent children in the womb would die through legalized abortion, this “deep knowledge of the Blessed Trinity” was and continues to be badly needed in our world.Among all the Church approved Marian apparitions, Our Lady of Fatima is one of the most popular, especially among the Successors of St. Peter. On May 13, 1946, Pope Pius XII crowned the original statue of Our Lady of Fatima as “Queen of the world.” Blessed Pope Paul VI visited the Fatima Shrine on the 50th Anniversary, May 13, 1967. Both St. John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI made pilgrimages there; and Pope Francis will do the same, next month, to celebrate the centenary of the first apparition. The Holy Father also will be canonizing the two youngest visionaries, Francisco and his sister Jacinta.
The devotion of St. John Paul II to Our Lady of Fatima was particularly profound. When a would-be assassin tried to take his life on May 13, 1981, the pope attributed his survival to her miraculous intervention. Therefore, as an expression of his filial gratitude, he went to Fatima a year after the assassination attempt and presented to Mary the bullet intended to kill him but which proved unsuccessful because of Divine Providence. That bullet today is part of the crown of Our Lady’s statue in Fatima.