Saints + Scripture: III Sunday of Easter

Better Late than Never

'Tis the Third Sunday of Easter (A.K.A. Jubilate Sunday): Wikipedia-link Eastertide & Wikipedia-link Jubilate.

Scripture of the Week
Mass Readings—Third Sunday of Easter
The Acts of the Apostles, chapter three, verses thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, seventeen, eighteen, & nineteen;
Psalm Four, verses two, four, seven & eight, & nine;
The First Letter of John, chapter two, verses one thru five(a);
The Gospel according to Luke, chapter twenty-four, verses thirty-five thru forty-eight.

Commentary: Reflection by Bishop Robert Barron (Word on Fire):

Friends, in today’s Gospel, the risen Jesus appears to his eleven disciples. He does not appear as a Platonic soul, a ghost, or a hallucination. Instead, he can be touched and seen, has flesh and bones, and can consume baked fish. Against all their expectations, a dead man had returned, through the power of God, bodily and objectively from death.

Even while insisting on this bodiliness and objectivity, we must not go to the opposite extreme. It really was Jesus, the crucified, who had returned from the dead. But he did not come back simply resuscitated to the confines of ordinary space and time. He was not, in a word, like Lazarus, the daughter of Jairus, or the son of the widow of Naim, all people who had been raised only to die again.

Instead, Jesus’ body is transformed and transfigured, independent of the strictures of space and time; it is, in Paul’s language, a “spiritual” body. And the point is this: he has triumphed over death and all that pertains to death. His resurrected body is a foretaste and promise of what God intends for all of us.

Video reflection by Father Greg Friedman, O.F.M.: United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Video reflection by Jeff Cavins: Encountering the Word.

Audio reflection by Scott Hahn, Ph.D.: Breaking the Bread.

Mass Journal: Week Sixteen
Reflection by Matthew Kelly, founder of the Dynamic Catholic Institute:

For the first Christians, Christianity was a lifestyle. They shared a common life. Living in a community, they often worked together, prayed together, & studied the Scriptures together. Their faith was the center of their lives; it affected everything they did. They shared meals together, played together, & cared for each other in sickness. They allowed the principles of the Gospel to guide them in the activities of their daily lives. They comforted each other in their afflictions & challenged each other to live the Gospel more fully. There was unity & continuity between their professional lives & their family lives, between their social lives & their family lives, between their social lives & their lives as members of the Church. They allowed the Holy Spirit to guide them in all they did. Then, at the pinnacle of their common life, they celebrated Eucharist together.

†

Otherwise, 15 April would be the festival of Saint Padarn, Bishop & Abbot (circa 482-565, of Wales, of Avranches; also spelt Paternus), founder of the Abbey of Llanbadarn Fawr: Saint-link Wales, Saint-link Avranches, & Wikipedia-link; Wikipedia-link Abbey.

Commentary: Wayback Machine.

'Twould also be the festival of Saint Hunna of Alsace, Confessor (died 679, also spelt Una; "the Holy Washerwoman"): Saint-link & Wikipedia-link.

'Twould also be the festival of Saint Abbo II of Metz, Bishop (died 707): Saint-link & Wikipedia-link.

'Twould also be the festival of Blessed César de Bus,Priest (1544-1607, also spelt Caesar), founder of the Fathers of Christian Doctrine & the Daughters of Christian Doctrine: Blessed-link ūnus, Blessed-link duo, & Wikipedia-link.

Papal Quote o' the Day

"Where does Jesus send us? There are no borders; no limits. He sends us to everyone."
—Pope Francis (born 1936, incumbent since 2013)

Little Flower Quote o' the Day

"Let us lift ourselves above all things that pass, & hold ourselves far from the earth!"
—St. Thérèse of Lisieux, Doctor of the Church (1873-1897, feast day: 1 October)

Saint Quote o' the Day

"Just as the Savior, after His baptism & the coming of the Holy Spirit, went forth to vanquish the Enemy (in the wilderness), so you too, after Holy Baptism & Mystical Chrismation, having put on the whole armor of the Holy Spirit, are to resist the power of the Adversary & to vanquish him, saying, 'I can do all things in Christ Who strengthens me' (Philippians, 4:13)."
—St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Doctor of the Church (313-386, feast day: 18 March)