First Reading: Acts 3:11-26
While he clung to Peter and John, all the people, struck with astonishment, came running to them in Solomon's Porch, as it was called. When Peter saw the people, he said to them,
"Fellow Israelites, why are you amazed at this? Why do you stare at us as if it was by some power or holiness of our own that we made this man walk? The God of Abraham, of Isaac and of Jacob, the God of our ancestors has glorified his servant Jesus whom you handed over to death and denied before Pilate, when even Pilate had decided to release him. You rejected the Holy and Just One, and you insisted that a murderer be released to you. You killed the Master of life, but God raised him from the dead and we are witnesses to this. It is his Name, and faith in his Name, that has healed this man whom you see and recognize. The faith that comes through Jesus has given him wholeness in the presence of all of you.
Yet I know that you acted out of ignorance, as did your leaders. 18 God has fulfilled in this way what he had foretold through all the prophets, that his Messiah would suffer.
Repent, then, and turn to God so that your sins may be wiped out and the time of refreshment may come by the mercy of God, when he sends the Messiah appointed for you, Jesus. For he must remain in heaven until the time of the universal restoration which God spoke of long ago through his holy prophets.
Moses foretold this when he said: The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people; you shall listen to him in all that he says to you. Whoever does not listen to that prophet is to be cut off from among his people.
In fact, all the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel onward, have announced the events of these days. You are the children of the prophets and heirs of the covenant that God gave to your ancestors when he said to Abraham: All the families of the earth will be blessed through your descendant. It is to you first that God sends his Servant; he raised him to life to bless you by turning each of you from your wicked ways."
Responsorial Psalm: Ps 8:2ab and 5, 6-7, 8-9
R./ O Lord, our God, how wonderful your name in all the earth! or Alleluia.
O Lord, our Lord,
how glorious is your name over all the earth!
What is man that you should be mindful of him,
or the son of man that you should care for him?
R./ O Lord, our God, how wonderful your name in all the earth! or Alleluia.
You have made him little less than the angels,
and crowned him with glory and honor.
You have given him rule over the works of your hands,
putting all things under his feet.
R./ O Lord, our God, how wonderful your name in all the earth! or Alleluia.
All sheep and oxen,
yes, and the beasts of the field,
The birds of the air, the fishes of the sea,
and whatever swims the paths of the seas.
R./ O Lord, our God, how wonderful your name in all the earth! or Alleluia.
Gospel Reading: Lk 24:35-48
The two disciples told what had happened on the road and how Jesus made himself known when he broke bread with them.
As they went on talking about this, Jesus himself stood in their midst. (And he said to them, "Peace to you.") In their panic and fright they thought they were seeing a ghost, but he said to them, "Why are you upset and why do such ideas cross your mind? Look at my hands and feet and see that it is I myself. Touch me and see for yourselves that a ghost has no flesh and bones as I have." (As he said this, he showed his hands and feet.)
In their joy they didn't dare believe and were still astonished. So he said to them, "Have you anything to eat?" and they gave him a piece of broiled fish. He took it and ate it before them.
Then Jesus said to them, "Remember the words I spoke to you when I was still with you: Everything written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms had to be fulfilled." Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures.
And he went on, "You see what was written: the Messiah had to suffer and on the third day rise from the dead. Then repentance and forgiveness in his name would be proclaimed to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. Now you shall be witnesses to this."
Hands and Feet
“He stood among them.” That’s how John described the first apparition of Jesus to his disciples after the resurrection. The disciples were huddled together, with the doors locked because they feared the Jews. But Jesus breaks through the confinements, and “he stood among them.” He just stood inside the circle of their fears.
Left to ourselves, we would remain forever inside our locked doors of anxieties and fears, and efforts to bring us out would be an arduous task. The Risen Lord comes to meet us where we are, comes without force, arguments or explanations, and liberates us into peace and joy that God alone can give.
Easter Sunday had been intense. First, some women had the experience of two characters clothed in bright robes announcing the resurrection of Jesus. In the afternoon, two other disciples, on their way to Emmaus, were accompanied by a pilgrim who warmed their hearts with his words and revealed himself as the risen Christ. Gradually, the community of disciples began to realise that Jesus had really risen.
But now, with the body of Jesus missing from the tomb, the threat of the Jews launching an attack on the disciples was very real. So they shut themselves up. And Jesus stood amid their fears and greeted them: “Peace be with you!” The first reaction is one of wonder, doubt and fear. Then he says: “Look at my hands and my feet: it is me alive!”
There is something curious to note here: Our identification documents will carry a photo of our face, but the identification marks of Christ are his hands and feet! Jesus did not ask the disciples to look at his face but at his feet and hands. Those were the hands that healed the sick, raised the dead, blessed children, broke the bread … and those blessed feet that walked so many places, the feet that accompanied the needy and walked into the houses of sinners …
What Jesus showed the disciples were not his wounds but the scars of love. Those signs would be carried into eternity: the Risen One is also the Crucified. Those feet and hands show that when you live for love, your sufferings become a sign of tenderness, no matter how bad.
These hands and feet of Jesus can also be seen in all those who work for the good of humanity. True disciples of Jesus must also be identified by their hands and feet. Blessed are the feet and hands that are marked by acts of love because they reveal the presence of God! When the night of our lives comes, God will ask us to show him our hands and our feet… Do they have the scars of love for God and his people?
Bible Claret
Introduction
We gather for our eucharist because we firmly believe that Christ died for us and is risen from the dead. We gather around the risen Lord to open our hearts and minds to his word and to let him fill us with his living presence. He tells us, as he told his apostles: "Look, it is really I; listen to me; touch me in the food and drink of the eucharist." Thus, in our assemblies we proclaim the risen Christ and bear witness to him. But this faith must find expression in our everyday Christian living: since Christ is risen, he must rise in us; we must become new people in whom Christ is alive. We must bear witness to him with the whole of our lives.
Opening Prayer
Almighty God and Father,
Jesus died for us on the cross
and you raised him from the dead.
We have not seen the marks of the nails in his hands
nor touched the wound in his side,
but we believe that he is alive
and present here among us.
Open our hearts to his word
and let us touch him in the bread of the eucharist,
that he may raise us above our sins
and change us into new people.
May we thus bear witness to your risen Son,
Jesus Christ our Lord.
General Intercessions
- That in the name of the risen Lord the Church may raise up its members and even outsiders to a new and better life, we pray:
- That the risen Lord may give us peace and serenity of heart, that in him we have someone to live for and to make our lives meaningful, we pray:
- That the risen Lord may give peace to our Christian communities through the certainty that he stays with us and breaks for us the bread of the eucharist, we pray:
Prayer over the Gifts
Living Father,
with bread and wine we celebrate
the presence of your Son in our midst
here around this table and in the life of every day.
Let us experience him here as your great gift to us
and let him stay with us
in our never-ending quest
to be your people trying to live the risen life
of Jesus Christ our Lord.
Prayer after Communion
God of life and saving love,
we have enjoyed the presence of your Son among us
for we have been together in his name,
he has spoken to us his words of life
and we have shared his table.
May he live on in our community
by our attentive presence to one another,
our common faith expressed in deeds
of love and service, of gratitude and compassion,
by our efforts to create a better world
where there is justice and hope for all.
May we thus journey together to you
and bear witness that Christ is our Lord
now and for ever.
Blessing
"Peace be with you," says Jesus to us. It is really he who lives among us. Let us touch him in our prayer, in our closeness to him, and may almighty God bless you, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
