{"id":732,"date":"2019-05-10T11:49:56","date_gmt":"2019-05-10T11:49:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/?p=732"},"modified":"2019-05-10T11:53:16","modified_gmt":"2019-05-10T11:53:16","slug":"5-may-2019-c-third-sunday-of-easter-reflection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/?p=732","title":{"rendered":"5 May 2019 (C) THIRD SUNDAY of Easter Reflection"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

B. Reflection & Dialogue<\/em><\/strong>: <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The struggling Church on earth; the Lamb reigning in\nheaven; the Petrine ministry today<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. We are witnesses to all this and the Holy Spirit given\nto believers. <\/em>The first reading and its\nbiblical context are very much about bearing witness, witness of the early\nstruggling church on earth. The apostles were miraculously released from prison\nand commanded by an angel of the Lord to go and speak to the people in the Temple \u201call the words of\nthis Life\u201d. The gospel message is to be presented as the words of life, or of\nsalvation (by Paul; Acts 13:26). It is something to be proud of, to be enthused\nabout. It is in this way that an early, and recent, generation have viewed the\nCatholic religion. We should look on our religion like that again today.\nAnother point from the first reading meriting attention is the apostles\u2019 reply:\n\u201cWe are witnesses to all of this, we and the Holy Spirit whom God has given to\nthose who obey him\u201d, that is to those who believe. The apostles are witnesses\nthrough their preaching of the Gospel, an external action of no avail unless\nthe Holy Spirit gives internal witness as to its truth, leading to faith. In\nJohn\u2019s Gospel, too, Jesus speaks of the Holy Spirit (the Counsellor) bearing\nwitness to him, and the apostles also being witnesses (John 15:26-27). As a\nlesson for us today: prayer and devotion are essential for true faith, for\nbelief, for enthusiasm for \u201cthe word of Life\u201d, and for a life in keeping with\nthis belief.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Heaven open to all. The earth no tunnel. <\/em>Pope Benedict XVI on more than one occasion alerted\nEuropean leaders and others of the danger of living as it were in a mental\ntunnel, with the view that the mind has no access to the transcendent, to any\nreality not perceptible to the senses or within the range of the human reason.\nThis would exclude the supernatural and all revelation from beyond reason and\nthe senses. It is a view all too common in Europe\ntoday, to be perceived in various forms of atheism and agnosticism. The message\nof apocalyptic, and the Apocalypse of John in our second readings for Mass, is\nquite the opposite. In keeping with the central Jewish and Christian message\nGod and the other world are realities. Today\u2019s second reading speaks of the\nvision in heaven of the glory of God and of the Lamb. Jesus\u2019 triumph, through\nhis death, resurrection and ascension to the Father, are proclaimed.  All this is intended as a source of\nconfidence and hope for us on earth. In last Sundays\u2019 second reading Jesus\nreminded us not to fear, that he is always with us, as the one who has\ntriumphed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. The Petrine ministry today.<\/em> The gospel reading highlights to place of Peter, and his\nrole in continuing the work of the Good Shepherd, \u201cthat all may be one\u201d.  Despite the opposition of many churches East\nand West to Rome\nfor centuries, the Pope, successor of Peter, has the ministry to bring Christ\u2019s\nsaving message to all, and to seek to heal present and past divisions. Let us\npray that our present Pope will find ways to advance this, and receive a\npositive response.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

B. Reflection & Dialogue: The struggling Church on earth; the Lamb reigning in heaven; the Petrine ministry today 1. We are witnesses to all this and the Holy Spirit given … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-732","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reflections"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/732","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=732"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/732\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":733,"href":"https:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/732\/revisions\/733"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=732"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=732"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=732"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}