WEDNESDAY OF THE 2ND WEEK OF EASTER
DAILY GOSPEL AND COMMENTARY:
“GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD THAT HE GAVE HIS ONLY-BEGOTTEN SON (v. 16) Jn 3:16–21.”
WEDNESDAY, 2ND WEEK OF EASTER
MASS READINGS
READING I
Acts 5:17–26
The high priest rose up and all his companions, that is, the party of the Sadducees, and, filled with jealousy, laid hands upon the Apostles and put them in the public jail. But during the night, the angel of the Lord opened the doors of the prison, led them out, and said, “Go and take your place in the temple area, and tell the people everything about this life.” When they heard this, they went to the temple early in the morning and taught. When the high priest and his companions arrived, they convened the Sanhedrin, the full senate of the children of Israel, and sent to the jail to have them brought in. But the court officers who went did not find them in the prison, so they came back and reported, “We found the jail securely locked and the guards stationed outside the doors, but when we opened them, we found no one inside.” When the captain of the temple guard and the chief priests heard this report, they were at a loss about them, as to what this would come to. Then someone came in and reported to them, “The men whom you put in prison are in the temple area and are teaching the people.” Then the captain and the court officers went and brought them, but without force, because they were afraid of being stoned by the people.
RESPONSORIAL PSALM
R. The Lord hears the cry of the poor.
Or: Alleluia.
I will bless the Lord at all times;
his praise shall be ever in my mouth.
Let my soul glory in the Lord;
the lowly will hear me and be glad.
R. The Lord hears the cry of the poor.
Or: Alleluia.
Glorify the Lord with me,
let us together extol his name.
I sought the Lord, and he answered me
and delivered me from all my fears.
R. The Lord hears the cry of the poor.
Or: Alleluia.
Look to him that you may be radiant with joy,
and your faces may not blush with shame.
When the poor one called out, the Lord heard,
and from all his distress he saved him.
R. The Lord hears the cry of the poor.
Or: Alleluia.
The angel of the Lord encamps
around those who fear him, and delivers them.
Taste and see how good the Lord is;
blessed the man who takes refuge in him.
R. The Lord hears the cry of the poor.
Or: Alleluia.
ALLELUIA
God loved the world so much, he gave us his only Son, that all who believe in him might have eternal life.
GOSPEL
Jn 3:16–21
God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him will not be condemned, but whoever does not believe has already been condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the only-begotten Son of God. And this is the verdict, that the light came into the world, but people preferred darkness to light, because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come toward the light, so that his works might not be exposed. But whoever lives the truth comes to the light, so that his works may be clearly seen as done in God.
GOSPEL COMMENTARY
from the Navarre Bible, Commentary to the Gospel of St. John (with permission)
vv. 16-21: These words, so charged with meaning, summarize how Christ’s death is the supreme sign of God’s love for men […]
- “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son’ for its salvation. All our religion is a revelation of God’s kindness, mercy and love for us. ‘God is love’ (1Jn 4:16), that is, love poured forth unsparingly. All is summed up in this supreme truth, which explains and illuminates everything. The story of Jesus must be seen in this light. ‘(He) loved me’, St Paul writes. Each of us can and must repeat it for himself— ‘He loved me, and gave himself for me’ (Gal 2; 20)” (St. Paul VI, Homily on Corpus Christi, 13 June 1976).
- Christ’s self-surrender is a pressing call to respond to his great love for us:
- “If it is true that God has created us, that he has redeemed us, that he loves us so much that he has given up his only-begotten Son for us (Jn 3:16), that he waits for us — every day! — as eagerly as the father of the prodigal son did (cf. 1.k 15:11-32), how can we doubt that he wants us to respond to him with all our love? The strange thing would be not to talk to God, to draw away and forget him, and busy ourselves in activities which are closed to the constant promptings of his grace” (St. Josemaria, Friends of God, 251).
- “Man cannot live without love. He remains a being that is incomprehensible for himself, his life is senseless, if love is not revealed to him, if he does not encounter love, if he does not experience it and make it his own, if he does not participate intimately in it. This…. is why Christ the Redeemer ‘fully reveals man to himself’. If we may use the expression, this is the human dimension of the mystery of the Redemption. In this dimension man finds again the greatness, dignity and value that belong to his humanity…. The one who wishes to understand himself thoroughly… must, with his unrest and uncertainty and even his weakness and sinfulness, with his life and death, draw near to Christ. He must, so to speak, enter into him with all his own self, he must ‘appropriate’ and assimilate the whole of the reality of the Incarnation and Redemption in order to find himself. If this profound process takes place within him, he then bears fruit not only of adoration of God but also of deep wonder at himself. How precious must man be in the eyes of the Creator, if he ‘gained so great a Redeemer’, (Roman Missal, Exultet at Easter Vigil), and if God ‘gave his only Son’ in order that man ‘should not perish but have eternal life’…“Increasingly contemplating the whole of Christ’s mystery, the Church knows with all the certainty of faith that the Redemption that took place through the Cross has definitively restored his dignity to man and given back meaning to his life in the world, a meaning that was lost to a considerable extent because of sin. And for that reason, the Redemption was accomplished in the paschal mystery, leading through the Cross and death to Resurrection” (St. John Paul II, Redemptor hominis, 10).
- Jesus demands that we have faith in him as a first prerequisite to sharing in his love. Faith brings us out of darkness into the light, and sets us on the road to salvation. “He who does not believe is condemned already” (v. 18).
- “The words of Christ are at once words of judgment and grace, of life and death. For it is only by putting to death that which is old that we can come to newness of life. Now, although this refers primarily to people, it is also true of various worldly goods which bear the mark both of man’s sin and the blessing of God… No one is freed from sin by himself or by his own efforts, no one is raised above himself or completely delivered from his own weakness, solitude or slavery; all have need of Christ, who is the model, master, liberator, saviour, and giver of life. Even in the secular history of mankind the Gospel has acted as a leaven in the interests of liberty and progress, and it always offers itself as a leaven with regard to brotherhood, unity and peace” (Vatican II, Ad gentes, 8).
VIDEO REFLECTION
TOPIC: AFTER PRAYING, DO YOU ALWAYS SEE THE LIGHT?
In today’s gospel reading, Jesus makes reference to Him being the light of the world, that if only people would follow the light, they will know, understand, believe and love. He is the light that overcomes the darkness. But many people prefer darkness to light. There are many things we do not understand today – the evil that surrounds us, the people who hurt us, the darkness that covers our own life. Let me ask you, Brothers and Sisters, How is your prayer life? Do you often see the light after praying? But first things first – does a problem or a confusion lead you to ardent and deep prayer?
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