May 18, 2013

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Saturday of the Seventh Week of Easter 
Lectionary: 302

Reading 1ACTS 28:16-20, 30-31

When he entered Rome, Paul was allowed to live by himself,
with the soldier who was guarding him.

Three days later he called together the leaders of the Jews.
When they had gathered he said to them, “My brothers,
although I had done nothing against our people
or our ancestral customs,
I was handed over to the Romans as a prisoner from Jerusalem.
After trying my case the Romans wanted to release me,
because they found nothing against me deserving the death penalty.
But when the Jews objected, I was obliged to appeal to Caesar,
even though I had no accusation to make against my own nation.
This is the reason, then, I have requested to see you
and to speak with you, for it is on account of the hope of Israel
that I wear these chains.”

He remained for two full years in his lodgings.
He received all who came to him, and with complete assurance
and without hindrance he proclaimed the Kingdom of God
and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ.

St. Paul, still in shackles, proclaimed the Gospel of Jesus Christ to all who would listen.  

Responsorial PsalmPS 11:4, 5 AND 7

R. (see 7b) The just will gaze on your face, O Lord.
or:
R. Alleluia.
The LORD is in his holy temple;
the LORD’s throne is in heaven.
His eyes behold,
his searching glance is on mankind.
R. The just will gaze on your face, O Lord.
or:
R. Alleluia.
The LORD searches the just and the wicked;
the lover of violence he hates.
For the LORD is just, he loves just deeds;
the upright shall see his face.
R. The just will gaze on your face, O Lord.
or:
R. Alleluia.

Let us seek the Lord with true repentance in our hearts.  A repentance with no deceit.  Knowing that God looks into a man's heart as easily as a man reads a book.  And let us continue in good deeds til the end.  And we will be saved.  That is the God's promise.

GospelJN 21:20-25

Peter turned and saw the disciple following whom Jesus loved,

the one who had also reclined upon his chest during the supper

and had said, “Master, who is the one who will betray you?”

When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, “Lord, what about him?”

Jesus said to him, “What if I want him to remain until I come?

What concern is it of yours?

You follow me.”

Jesus had just confirmed St. Peter's role as Shepherd of His Flock.  But St. Peter felt guilty because unlike himself, St. John had never abandoned our Lord, but was standing beside Our Lord's mother under the Cross.  But Jesus assured St. Peter that they were each playing the role which was appointed them to play.

St. Peter was given charge of the Church.  St. John was given charge of the Lord's mother.  Something to think about, the Virgin Mary is considered the image of the purified Church in the Catechism:

CCC#972 After speaking of the Church, her origin, mission, and destiny, we can find no better way to conclude than by looking to Mary. In her we contemplate what the Church already is in her mystery on her own "pilgrimage of faith," and what she will be in the homeland at the end of her journey. There, "in the glory of the Most Holy and Undivided Trinity," "in the communion of all the saints," the Church is awaited by the one she venerates as Mother of her Lord and as her own mother.

In the meantime the Mother of Jesus, in the glory which she possesses in body and soul in heaven, is the image and beginning of the Church as it is to be perfected in the world to come. Likewise she shines forth on earth until the day of the Lord shall come, a sign of certain hope and comfort to the pilgrim People of God. 

So the word spread among the brothers that that disciple would not die.

But Jesus had not told him that he would not die,

just “What if I want him to remain until I come?

What concern is it of yours?”

For some reason, some of the disciples started a rumor that St. John would never die.  Of course, this is true in a spiritual sense.  

It is this disciple who testifies to these things

and has written them, and we know that his testimony is true.

There are also many other things that Jesus did,

but if these were to be described individually,

I do not think the whole world would contain the books

that would be written.

St. John here testifies that it is he who wrote the Gospel of St. John. Although some have tried to cast doubt upon this, it is clear from the fact that it is St. John the Apostle who was knows as the Lord's Beloved.