Claretian Communications Foundation, Inc.
2ND WEEK OF EASTER
Psalter: Week 2 / (White)
Responsorial Psalm: Ps 27: 1, 4, 13-14
One thing I seek: to dwell in the house of the Lord.
1st Reading: Acts 5: 34-42
But one of them, a Pharisee named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law highly respected by the people, stood up in the Sanhedrin. He ordered the men to be taken outside for a few minutes and then he spoke to the assembly.
“Fellow Israelites, consider, well, what you intend to do to these men. For some time ago, Theudas came forward, claiming to be somebody, and about four hundred men joined him. But he was killed and all his followers were dispersed or disappeared. After him, Judas, the Galilean, appeared, at the time of the census and persuaded many people to follow him. But he, too, perished; and his whole following was scattered. So, in this present case, I advise you to have nothing to do with these men. Leave them alone. If their project or activity is of human origin, it will destroy itself. If, on the other hand, it is from God, you will not be able to destroy it; and you might indeed, find yourselves fighting against God.”
The Council let themselves be persuaded. They called in the apostles and had them whipped; and ordered them not to speak again of Jesus, the Savior. Then they set them free.
The apostles went out from the Council, rejoicing that they were considered worthy to suffer disgrace for the sake of the Name. Day after day, both in the temple and in people’s homes, they continued to teach, and to proclaim, that Jesus was the Messiah.
Gospel: John 6: 1-15
After this, Jesus went to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, near Tiberias, and large crowds followed him, because of the miraculous signs they saw, when he healed the sick. So he went up into the hills and sat down there with his disciples. Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand.
Then lifting up his eyes, Jesus saw the crowds that were coming to him, and said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread so that these people may eat?” He said this to test Philip, for he himself knew what he was going to do. Philip answered him, “Two hundred silver coins would not buy enough bread for each of them to have a piece.”
Then one of Jesus’ disciples Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said, “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish; but what good are these for so many?”
Jesus said, “Make the people sit down.” There was plenty of grass there, so the people, about five thousand men, sat down. Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed them to those who were seated. He did the same with the fish, and gave them as much as they wanted. And when they had eaten enough, he told his disciples, “Gather up the pieces left over, that nothing may be lost.”
So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with bread, that is, with pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten.
When the people saw the miracle which Jesus had performed, they said, “This is really the Prophet, the one who is to come into the world.”
Jesus realized that they would come and take him by force to make him king; so he fled to the hills by himself.
REFLECTION:
“God's overflowing goodness.”
God wills that we experience his goodness in the concrete. He makes use of other people for us to experience his goodness. He also makes use of other created reality to nourish us and hence for us to experience his boundless and overflowing goodness. God’s goodness, indeed, abounds in all that surrounds us. Likewise, he makes us as his instruments by which his goodness could be experienced by others. In other words, he calls us to become his extensions in order that his goodness will be experienced by others.
Today’s Gospel is the Johannine version of the feeding of the multitude. This particular miracle of Jesus is recounted by all four Gospel versions (cf. Mk. 6:30-44; 8:1- 10; Mt. 14:13-21; Lk. 9:10-17).
John’s Gospel highlights the role of Philip and Andrew which is characterized by their way of reaching out. Skeptical as they appeared, Jesus still used them as his extensions in order to feed the people. Moreover, the nameless boy, with his barley loaves and fish, was instrumental for Jesus to perform the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and fish. Thus, God always pours out his goodness. His miracles happen when we allow ourselves to be his extensions.
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