3rd Sunday of Easter Livestream Eucharistic Celebration

8THWORKER@PHJESUITS.ORG / JM SJ

3rd Sunday of Easter Livestream Eucharistic Celebration

Homily (Three Points)

First Point, to whom was the ransom of Christ’s blood paid: was it to God or to the devil?

Obviously we cannot say God was the one who got paid by the ransom as if He is a blood-thirsty God. It cannot be. I read in the news about the reason for the declining number of deaths caused by Covid-19 in our country. Indeed that is very good news. In PGH they have administered to the Covid-19 patients plasma therapy. This is primarily blood plasma collected from those who have recovered and injected to those who need anti-bodies. Their blood is valuable in this case because after going through great pain they now can give life to others through their own blood. Christ’s blood was shed to bring new life to humanity in the same way. Blood stands not for the pain. Rather it represents life. In Hebrew thought the blood is a cleansing and enlivening, renewing agent that functions like anti-body to fight the deadly virus of sin.

The color of Easter is white (the colour of victory) precisely because the blood of Christ cleanses us. In the Book of Revelation the bloodied garments of the martyrs are washed white in the blood of the Lamb, the blood of Jesus which gives us His life, His divine life through His Resurrection from the dead. He did this so that nothing could come between us anymore not even death.

Second Point, what room do our prayers have in the all-knowing mind of our God?

During the lockdown, some of us may have grown impatient with this virus, with ourselves and with other family members and even with God. It is understandable. I have counselled some people online who expressed that their prayers were just wasted. What is the use of prayer?If nothing seems to be happening. In the Urbi et Orbi message (To the City and the world homily) last March 27, 2020, the Holy Father chose the Gospel reading of Mark when Jesus and the disciples were at the middle of a stormy sea. Before the storm subsided upon the command of Jesus, the disciples were so terrified for their lives. They said to Jesus, “Do you not care that we are perishing?” They said that because Jesus had even the time to sleep. What room do our prayers have in the all-knowing mind of our God?

Pope Francis in Evangelii Gaudium (Joy of the Gospel) talked about the missionary power of intercessory prayer (e.g. The prayers of the faithful). Every mass especially throughout the lockdown millions of people flood heaven with their prayers, beginning from our Holy Father himself. In a recent interview Pope Francis said that his prayers these days are always about the people. He said that one model of intercessory prayer is St. Paul who always thought about the people whenever he prayed, “I constantly pray with you in every one of my prayers for all of you… because I hold you in my heart” (Phil 1:4,7).

What was it about people that St. Paul prayed to God? Prayers of deep gratitude to God for them. In Romans 1:8, he said “First, I thank God through Jesus Christ for all of you. At another time he said, “I give thanks to God for you because of the grace of God which was given you in Christ Jesus” “I thank my God in all my remembrance of you.” The great men and women of God were great intercessors. Mary is foremost among them. Pope Francis said, “Intercession is like a leaven in the heart of the Trinity.” It is a way of penetrating the Father’s heart and discovering new dimensions which can shed light on concrete situations and change them… Although it is equally true that God gets to know already beforehand, for He is always there first. However, the power of intercessory prayer is to show and to reveal ever more clearly God’s love and faithfulness in the midst of His people. I encourage you to pray with us later during the prayers of the faithful, whisper the names of people and family members who need our prayers. Cardinal Carlo Martini, SJ once asked, “What does God want from us?” He wants us to desire and keep longing for him and trusting in Him. Here I am reminded of the Catechism of the Catholic Church that says “Pray as if everything depended on God and work as if everything depended on you.” The CCC attributes this quotation to St. Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Jesuits. I interpret this saying this way like God’s invitation to you: that you need to put all your trust in God, which is what God is asking of you but you also need to trust yourself together with your gifts and talents that God entrusted to you. I will observe silence later during the consecration, I invite you to whisper the names of those of have died. Let us help them.

Third point, what do you do when you hit rock bottom like the disciples after Jesus died on the cross?

There are times though when we hit rock bottom and we cannot afford even to look up to God, much less to pray. This is what happened to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus. They were so devastated, distraught after they placed all their hopes and dreams in Jesus whom, in the end, they considered a failure. They trusted in Jesus but they felt it was all a mistake. All the disciples hit rock bottom. What do you do when you hit rock bottom like that? Many of our brothers and sisters faced with this pandemic, especially the ones whose friends and family have been affected are now, most probably, in the lowest and darkest possible place to see oneself in. (I learned of a young man in his twenties who goes back to their home, but this time no longer with his loved-ones. Because both of his parents have perished The orphaned son embarks on a journey by himself in their home forever silenced by grief. Jesus feels for all the others who have lost their loved-ones and Jesus is silent too. No words can take away the pain. But there was something that the two disciples did that turn them from the rock bottom up. They sought consolation from this stranger. Telling him “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening and the day is almost over.” We can be like this stranger to someone in need of consolation these days. God hides Himself in strangers that one day we are surprised that stranger who showed tenderness is the risen Jesus. Amen

Fr. JM Manzano, SJ

Spiritual Communion

Those who are unable to make sacramental Communion with Christ by participating in the Eucharist, can express the desire to receive him in their spirit with these words that help to make spiritual communion with him: To our online brothers and sisters please follow after me.

My Jesus, I believe / that you are truly present / in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar. / I love you above all things / and desire to receive You / into my soul. /

Since I cannot at this moment / receive you sacramentally,/ come at least spiritually / into my heart. /

I embrace You / as if You were already there / and unite myself wholly to You. / Never permit me / to be separated from You. / Amen (Saint Alphonsus Liguori)

First reading
Acts 2:14, 22–33

It was impossible for Jesus to be held by death.

Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice, and proclaimed: “You who are Jews, indeed all of you staying in Jerusalem. Let this be known to you, and listen to my words. You who are Israelites, hear these words. Jesus the Nazorean was a man commended to you by God with mighty deeds, wonders, and signs, which God worked through him in your midst, as you yourselves know. This man, delivered up by the set plan and foreknowledge of God, you killed, using lawless men to crucify him. But God raised him up, releasing him from the throes of death, because it was impossible for him to be held by it. For David says of him:

I saw the Lord ever before me,

with him at my right hand I shall not be disturbed.

Therefore my heart has been glad and my tongue has exulted;

my flesh, too, will dwell in hope,

because you will not abandon my soul to the netherworld,

nor will you suffer your holy one to see corruption.

You have made known to me the paths of life;

you will fill me with joy in your presence.

“My brothers, one can confidently say to you about the patriarch David that he died and was buried, and his tomb is in our midst to this day. But since he was a prophet and knew that God had sworn an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants upon his throne, he foresaw and spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that neither was he abandoned to the netherworld nor did his flesh see corruption. God raised this Jesus; of this we are all witnesses. Exalted at the right hand of God, he received the promise of the Holy Spirit from the Father and poured him forth, as you see and hear.”

Responsorial Psalm
Psalm 16:1–2, 5, 7–8, 9–10, 11