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SEVENTH WEEK OF EASTER
Saturday
Mass in the Morning
Readings
First Reading
Acts 28:16–20, 30–31
Responsorial Psalm
Ps 11:4, 5 and 7
Gospel
Jn 21:20–25
Meditation on Today’s Readings
Today’s reading from Acts finds Paul
in Rome, under house arrest. But though he is chained like a common
criminal, the word of God is not chained (cf. 2 Tm 2:9). He spends
his days preaching “the Kingdom of God” and teaching
“about the Lord Jesus Christ.”
As the end of today’s Gospel attests,
behind the Fourth Gospel stands the unnamed disciple “whom
Jesus loved,” the hero of the Johannine community. He appears
in the second half of the Gospel, always in juxtaposition with Peter.
So it is not surprising to find him here. When Peter asks, “What
about him?” Jesus answers enigmatically, “What if I
want him to remain until I come?” What does this mean, if
not that the beloved disciple is not going to die? Raymond Brown
suggests that the answer lies in the disciple’s “dual
nature.” As an actual person, the beloved disciple must have
died in due course. But as the perfect disciple, embodying all who
are loved by Jesus because they love him and keep his commandments,
he must remain until Jesus returns.* The Church must never be without
him.
The copyright for the Sunday
Missal Introductions is:
Copyright (c) 2001, Daughters of St. Paul
The copyright for the Weekday
Missal Introduction is:
Copyright (c) 2002, Daughters of St. Paul |
