3RD SUNDAY OF EASTER B REFLECTION HOMILY:
MAKE JESUS KNOWN TO OTHERS.
3rd Sunday of Easter (B) Reflection Homily
JESUS COUNTS ON US TO MAKE HIM KNOWN TO OTHERS AND BRING HIM SOULS.
OUTLINE
- In Jesus’ name shall the conversion and forgiveness of sins will be preached.
- As Christians, we have a mission to evangelize, to make Jesus known to others and bring them to Him.
- The fact that one day we shall resurrect with Jesus is a source of great joy and hope.
Cry out with joy to God, all the earth; o sing to the glory of his name. o render him glorious praise, alleluia. (Entrance Antiphon).
1. In Jesus’ name shall the conversion and forgiveness of sins will be preached.
The readings of the 3rd Sunday of Easter B remind us that the Messiah had to suffer, thus being a victim of propitiation for our sins and those of the whole world. But God raised him from the dead and in his name the conversion and forgiveness of sins will be preached to all people.
- In today’s Gospel (Lk 24:35–48), Jesus said to them: “Thus it is written that the Christ would suffer and rise from the dead on the third day and that repentance, for the forgiveness of sins, would be preached in his name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.
- And in today’s 1st reading (Acts 3:13–15, 17–19): The author of life you put to death, but God raised him from the dead; of this we are witnesses. Now I know, brothers, that you acted out of ignorance, just as your leaders did; but God has thus brought to fulfillment what he had announced beforehand through the mouth of all the prophets, that his Christ would suffer. Repent, therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be wiped away.”
Our union with the Risen Christ is manifested by the new life of constant spiritual renewal through conversion.
- The grace of conversion we received in Baptism and during countless moments in our life carries with it the responsibility to preserve God’s presence in our soul by striving daily to choose and carry out what is good and what conforms us to Christ’s life, with the help of God’s grace obtained in prayer, sacraments and sacrifices.
- However, we also know that we shall also have our own share of defects and failures. The road to holiness is paved with victories and defeats, light and darkness, ups and downs. Holiness is not an overnight achievement but a task of a lifetime founded on the primacy of God’s grace.
- For this reason, we must not give into despair if we have erred, even gravely. God is merciful and is willing to begin with us as long as we approach him repentant and with a contrite heart in Confession.
- Out of love for God, we must learn to begin again and again. This is our destiny: to fight for love of God till the end of our life, as St. Josemaria wrote.
2. As Christians, we have a mission to evangelize, to make Jesus known to others and bring them to Him.
Our uphill battle to imitate Our Lord and live his life includes loving what Christ loves: souls. As Christians, we have a mission to make Jesus known to others and bring souls to him. This is the reason for our being Christians, members of the Church: we exist to evangelize, once converted from our sins.
By virtue of our Baptism, we are called to holiness and apostolate: to be with Jesus, to make Jesus known to others, and to bring others to Jesus.
- Our apostolic mission is carried out with naturalness, with good example, and through friendship in the environment where Our Lord placed us.
- All apostolate is founded above all in prayer, mortification, and in our effort to sanctify our daily ordinary activities such as family life, study, work and social dealings., sanctify ourselves in them, and sanctify others through them.
3. The fact that one day we shall resurrect with Jesus is a source of great joy and hope.
It is also the source of our joy and hope to participate one day in the joy of the resurrection.
- Receive, O Lord, we pray, these offerings of your exultant Church, and, as you have given her cause for such great gladness, so grant that the gifts we bring may bear fruit in perpetual happiness. Through Christ our Lord. (Prayer over the offerings)
- Look with kindness upon your people, O Lord, and grant, we pray, that those you were pleased to renew by eternal mysteries may attain in their flesh the incorruptible glory of the resurrection. Through Christ our Lord. (Prayer after Communion)
And since he rose again, Christ reveals himself to us through signs: the breaking of bread, the Eucharist; the wounds in his hands and feet, and through our poorest and most needy brothers.
- Hence, when the going gets tough in our life, moments which we feel anguished and overburdened, let us direct our gaze to Christ, truly present in the Holy Eucharist, and on the Cross. Let us profess our faith in Him who has triumphed over sin, death and evil, convinced that God will have the last word and will fulfill his promise to those who have remained faithful to him in their life.
- With authentic prayer and frequent reception of the Holy Eucharist, our mindset and our soul will be transformed and rejuvenated by God’s grace, which will give us the strength to pursue unceasingly the road of conversion and holiness which leads to the glory of the Resurrection.
May your people exult for ever, O God, in renewed youthfulness of spirit, so that rejoicing now in the restored glory of our adoption we may look forward in confident hope to the rejoicing of the day of resurrection. Through our Lord (Collect prayer).
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SEE AS WELL:
3RD SUNDAY OF EASTER YEAR B MASS PRAYERS AND READINGS HERE.
3RD SUNDAY OF EASTER YEAR B HOMILY REFLECTION HERE , HERE AND HERE.
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