Reflexión para el cuarto domingo de tiempo de Pascua, año C
Lecturas: Hechos 13: 14, 43-52; Apocalipsis 7: 9, 14-17; Juan 10:27-30
Vamos de la semana pasada con un evangelio larguísimo acerca de pescadores, a un evangelio cortito acerca de pastores. Dos profesiones importantes para la gente en los tiempos de Jesús y dos imágenes importantes para nosotros ya que a los apóstoles se les conoce como “pescadores de hombres” y “pastores de almas.”
Hoy es el cuarto domingo de Pascua y tradicionalmente se conoce como el Domingo del Buen Pastor porque el evangelio de hoy, no importa que ciclo sea siempre es parte del discurso de Jesús acerca del Buen Pastor. Acuérdense que hay tres ciclos que duran un año– en el ciclo A leemos el evangelio de Mateo; en el ciclo B leemos el evangelio de Marcos y en el ciclo C, que es en el que estamos este año, leemos el evangelio de Lucas. Pero durante la Pascua siempre se lee el evangelio de Juan. Y el cuarto domingo de Pascua siempre se lee un pedazo del décimo capítulo de Juan, cuando Jesús dice que él es el Buen Pastor.
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We’re in the second week in Easter and this is the time of the year when we’re thinking about new life and about resurrection, but the reality is that for a lot of people, their day-to-day life has nothing to do with resurrection, as is the case of Halifax mother, Leah Parsons whose 16-year-old daughter Rehtaeh killed herself after being cyber-bullied and humiliated at school following her rape by four of her school-mates.
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A reflection for the second Sunday in Easter, year C:
Acts 5:12-16: Revelation 1:9-11, 12-13, 17-19; John 20:19-31
Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe… I don’t know about you, but when I imagine this scene, I don’t think Jesus is giving Thomas a hard time. I think he’s encouraging him; consoling him. Think about it: Your friend, the man you loved, your teacher, has just been arrested, tortured and killed. This just happened. Today is Sunday. He was arrested on Thursday, killed on Friday. It just happened. You’re devastated. On top of that, you’re terrified because the people who killed him will probably come and kill you next. The Gospel tells us that the disciples were hiding with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish authorities. They were terrified. So, you’re devastated, sad, and terrified, and on top of that, this guy who you thought was the Messiah, the Christ – you staked your life on that – turns out that he wasn’t. He’s dead. You left everything to follow him and now what? You just wasted the last three years of your life. How are you going to go back home now? What are you going to tell your wife and family? You feel like an idiot, like a loser, like you’ve been taken in. Imagine the shame. And now these women (women were not considered credible witnesses at the time) say that the tomb is open and the body is gone. They’ve stolen his body. That’s not un-belief or cynicism. That’s reality. All of us would come to the same conclusion. There’s nothing wrong with Thomas not believing. In fact, none of the disciples believed without seeing.
Palm Sunday, 11:15am -Decided that it would be busy this morning, so I left early. Turns out that I didn’t leave early enough, got to the Church only 15 minutes before Mass. Parking lot was completely full. Remembered what Fr. Bert Foliot at Our Lady of Lourdes in Toronto once told me: “If you arrive early, you should park further away so that the people who come late can have the spots that are closest to the Church.” Found a spot in the back parking lot.
11:17am – The 10am Mass is just ending. Just saw Fr. Boniface and he’s wearing his red stole. Red stole!?! I thought today was purple! Where’s my red stole? At home. I actually own three sets. All three of my red stoles are at home. Too late to go and get it. I hope Deacon Dave lets me borrow his.
11:30am – Mass starts on time. Deacon Dave was nice and let me borrow his dalmatic. Mass starts without a hitch. I proclaim the “Hosanna” Gospel from the back of the Church. Everything is very solemn.
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deacon pedro 