You are invited, come!

A reading from the Holy Gospel according to Luke (Lk 14: 15-24).

One of those at table with Jesus said to him: ‘Blessed is anyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!’ Then Jesus said to him, ‘Someone gave a great dinner and invited many. At the time for the dinner he sent his slave to say to those who had been invited, “Come; for everything is ready now.” But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said to him, “I have bought a piece of land, and I must go out and see it; please accept my apologies.” Another said, “I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to try them out; please accept my apologies.” Another said, “I have just been married, and therefore I cannot come.” So the slave returned and reported this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and said to his slave, “Go out at once into the streets and lanes of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame.” And the slave said, “Sir, what you ordered has been done, and there is still room.” Then the master said to the slave, “Go out into the roads and lanes, and compel people to come in, so that my house may be filled. For I tell you, none of those who were invited will taste my dinner.”’ This is the word of the Lord.

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Freedom for excellence

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POWER AND WISDOM BELONG TO HIM

Then Jesus called the twelve and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits. He ordered them to take nothing for their journey except a staff; no bread, no bag, no money in their belts; but to wear sandals and not to put on two tunics. He said to them, ‘Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave the place. If any place will not welcome you and they refuse to hear you, as you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them.’ So they went out and proclaimed that all should repent. They cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them. (Mk 6, 7-13)

In today’s liturgy the Gospel selection starts: “Jesus called the twelve …” In the Bible there is a small word that connects today’s selection with the verses preceding it. The word is: “Then”. This little word can help us understand better today’s gospel.

What does it refer to?

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Be careful

Whose wife will she be?

A reading from the Holy Gospel according to Mark (12, 18-27)

And Sadducees came to him, who say that there is no resurrection; and they asked him a question, saying, "Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man's brother dies and leaves a wife, but leaves no child, the man must take the wife, and raise up children for his brother.  There were seven brothers; the first took a wife, and when he died left no children; and the second took her, and died, leaving no children; and the third likewise; and the seven left no children. Last of all the woman also died. In the resurrection whose wife will she be? For the seven had her as wife." Jesus said to them, "Is not this why you are wrong, that you know neither the scriptures nor the power of God? For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. And as for the dead being raised, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the passage about the bush, how God said to him, `I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'? He is not God of the dead, but of the living; you are quite wrong."

This is the word of the Lord.

There are at least two reasons why one asks a question. First, a person wants to learn and asks questions in his search for wisdom and truth. Second, a person might want to trick another into a trap and asks malicious questions.

What Jesus says, IS!

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John (Jn 6, 52-59)

The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” So Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day; for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them. Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which your ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live forever.” He said these things while he was teaching in the synagogue at Capernaum.

This is the Gospel of the Lord.

Jesus was teaching in the Synagogue at Capernaum. He was saying wonderful things that were difficult to understand fully. The crowd in the synagogue was looking for him because he had fed them for free with five barley loaves and two fish. Jesus challenged them to look for food that endures to eternal life. They wanted this food and they remembered the manna God gave their forefathers to eat in the desert, abundant and free. They were still thinking of material food: bread, fish and meat.

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I AM ABOUT TO CREATE NEW HEAVENS AND A NEW EARTH (Is 65, 1-3)

Mother Church today continues in its call for joy. In our pilgrimage to Easter Sunday, we are having a foretaste of resurrection, not only that of Jesus, but also that of those who desire life eternal and who ask God to help them walk along the Bridge He has built in his only begotten Son. God told Catherine of Siena: “The Bridge is walled and roofed with Mercy. His also is the Hostelry in the Garden of the Holy Church, which keeps and ministers the Bread of Life, and gives to drink of the Blood, so that My creatures, journeying on their pilgrimage, may not, through weariness, faint by the way.” Indeed, we believe that “if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his”. (Rm 6:5)

We believe that God is “about to create new heavens and a new earth”. We firmly do! However, we are sometimes inclined to ask: When, O Lord? It seems that you take so long to create a new earth in which peace and justice reign, and the love of You and of our neighbours is practiced! You said through Isaiah: “There shall always be rejoicing and happiness in what I create.” (Is 65, 17-18) But when?