Vol. 37 No. 30        MAY  02  2010           Cycle C 5th  SUNDAY  OF  EASTER    Love one another, as I have loved you     ENTRANCE ANTIPHON Sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvellous deeds; he has revealed to the nations his saving power, alleluia. PENITENTIAL RITE St Paul exhorted the Christian converts to continue in the faith, saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God. Nothing new comes without painstaking effort. It cost God the death of His Son to assemble the new people of God. Early Christians suffered on account of the faith they accepted. In our lives God will bring freshness provided we cooperate with His grace and keep the commandment of love. For our failure to love God and one another let us be sorry and ask God’s pardon. (Pause) I confess ... Glory to God... OPENING PRAYER God our Father, look upon us with love. You redeem us and make us your children in Christ. Give us true freedom and bring us to the inheritance you promised. We ask this... FIRST READING (This passage tells of the conclusion of Paul’s first missionary journey. He and Barnabas retrace their steps, encouraging the little communities they have founded, and preparing them for the persecutions which would inevitably come.) A reading from the Acts of the Apostles    (14:21-27) Paul and Barnabas returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God. And when they had appointed elders for them in every church, with prayer and fasting, they committed them to the Lord in whom they believed. Then they passed through Pisidia, and came to Pamphylia. And when they had spoken the word in Perga, they went down to Attalia; and from there they sailed to Antioch, where they had been commended to the grace of God for the work which they had fulfilled. And when they arrived, they gathered the church together and declared all that God had done with them, and how he had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles. This is the Word of the Lord PSALM    (144) Response: I will bless your name for ever, O God my King. The Lord is kind and full of compassion, slow to anger, abounding in love. How good is the Lord to all, compassionate to all his creatures. R./ All your creatures shall thank you, O Lord, and your friends shall repeat their blessing. They shall speak of the glory of your reign and declare your might, O God, to make known to men your mighty deeds and the glorious splendour of your reign. R./ Yours is an everlasting kingdom; your rule lasts from age to age. R./ SECOND READING (The final part of the Book of Revelation opens with a vision of a new heaven, a new earth, and a new Jerusalem. This glorious future to which God is leading us will be fully realized only in the life to come.) A reading from the Book of the Apocalypse     (21:1-5) I, John, saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband; and I heard a great voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling of God is with men. He will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself will be with them; he will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain any more, for the former things have passed away.” And he who sat upon the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.” This is the Word of the Lord ACCLAMATION     (Jn 13:34) Alleluia, alleluia! Jesus said: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you.” Alleluia! GOSPEL (During the Last Supper Jesus gives his Apostles a new commandment—‘to love one another as I have loved you’.) A reading from the Holy Gospel according to St John     (13:31-35) When Judas had gone out, Jesus said to his disciples, “Now is the Son of man glorified, and in him God is glorified; if God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself, and glorify him at once. Little children, yet a little while I am with you. You will seek me; and as I said to the Jews so now I say to you, ‘Where I am going you cannot come.’ A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” This is the Gospel of the Lord I believe in God,/the Father Almighty,/ Creator of heaven and earth./ I believe in Jesus Christ,/his only Son, our Lord./ He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit/ and born of the Virgin Mary./He suffered under Pontius Pilate,/was crucified, died, and was buried./He descended to the dead./On the third day he rose again./He ascended into Heaven,/and is seated at the right hand of the Father./He will come again to judge the living and the dead./I believe in the Holy Spirit,/the Holy Catholic Church,/the communion of saints,/the forgiveness of sins,/the resurrection of the body,/and the life everlasting./ Amen. PRAYER OF THE FAITHFUL Cel: Dear brothers and sisters, by the love we have for one another, everyone should know that we are followers of Christ. Let us pray for the gift of love. Response: Lord, teach us to love. 1. For the Pope, bishops, priests and religious: that they may be living witnesses of God’s love. R./ 2. For all the followers of Christ: that their love for one another may be sincere and generous. R./ 3. For those who are terminally ill and for all those who care for them: that they may be strengthened in their ministry. R./ 4. For grace of humility to strive to come before God exactly as we are, with our sins and virtues, our failures and successes. R./ 5. For all gathered here: that we may be able to rise above the grudges, jealousies and meanness of spirit which prevent us from loving one another. R./ (Pray for local and personal needs) Cel: Heavenly Father, your Son Jesus gave us a wonderful example of love. Grant that as we receive him in this Eucharist, we may follow his way of love in our daily lives. We ask this… PRAYER OVER THE GIFTS Lord God, by this holy exchange of gifts you share with us your divine life. Grant that everything we do may be directed by the knowledge of your truth. We ask this...   PREFACE     (24)   Father, all-powerful and ever-living God, we do well always and everywhere to give you thanks through Jesus Christ our Lord. We praise you with greater joy than ever in this Easter season, when Christ became our paschal sacrifice. In him a new age has dawned, the long reign of sin is ended, a broken world has been renewed, and man is once again made whole. The joy of the resurrection renews the whole world, while the choirs of heaven sing for ever to your glory: All: Holy, holy, holy… COMMUNION ANTIPHON I am the vine and you are the branches, says the Lord; he who lives in me, and I in him, will bear much fruit, alleluia. PRAYER AFTER COMMUNION Merciful Father, may these mysteries give us new purpose and bring us to a new life in you. Grant this...     LITURGY  AND  LIFE     The Liturgy of the Word is centered on newness: Paul and Barnabas are on their way to proclaim the new faith, John sees a new heaven and a new earth in a vision, Jesus gives to his disciples a new commandment which is ‘to love one another’. Anything new if it is worth is always accepted and cherished. When God decides to give something new to humanity, it is because human beings really need them. We shall elaborate a little bit on the vision of John that is described in the Second Reading. He witnesses not only a new heaven and a new earth, but also a new Jerusalem, and the novelty reaches its climax in the words: “Behold, I make all things new”(21:5a). Newness is emphasized by the author’s stress on the first heaven and the first earth disappearing. The concept of a new heaven and a new earth is not unbiblical, for it is bound up with the exodus and creation motifs in the Book of Isaiah, “For look! I create a new heaven and a new earth. The past will not be remembered, it will not enter your mind” (Is 65:17). The new Jerusalem comes down from heaven from God arrayed like a bride for her husband. Two important points are made about the new Jerusalem. First, the city comes down from heaven and so there is a fusing of the celestial and the terrestrial; the new Jerusalem is probably to be the center of the new creation. Second, and more important, the city is not made of inanimate material but is personified as a bride, bringing a personal and active aspect to the picture. The concept is a biblical one, an elaboration of the theme of Israel as bride. It is founded in Is 61:10 which speaks of God clothing Israel with the garments of salvation as a bride adorns herself with her jewels, and in Is 62:4-5 which is even more pertinent: You will no longer be called Abandoned, nor will your land be called Desolate; You will be called “She is my delight,” and your land will be called Married; For Yahweh delights in you, and your land will be married. For as a young man marries a virgin, so your builder will marry you; Like the joy of the groom in his bride is the joy of your God in you. The ideal of human life such as God dwelling among his people and his people living in peace, purity and justice demanded of them had for centuries been symbolized by the city of Jerusalem. In Jerusalem there was a great precinct around the central sanctuary of the temple which only the chosen people and who had been cleansed from ritual impurity could enter. Round that there was still a larger precinct which people from any nation could enter, and from it they could catch at least a glimpse of the central building symbolizing the holiness of God. Around this precinct again stretched the city, the capital of a nation of people whose lives were oriented towards the God who was worshipped in their midst. In theory, this city was a microcosm of God having his dwelling among human beings. In practice it was nothing of the kind: the worship might be hypocritical, the institutions unjust, the people disobedient to the divine law. More than once both temple and city had been destroyed, and both stood in ruins when John was writing. But the old ideal remained: whether one was a Jew or Christian, one’s vision of human destiny was likely to be clothed in the form of the holy city, the new Jerusalem. Some even said that the historical city of Jerusalem was but an imperfect copy of the true Jerusalem existing in heaven. All that was necessary was for the archetype to come down out of heaven from God. Everything that is necessary for human salvation did really come out of heaven in the person of Jesus. Only through loving our brothers and sisters as Jesus loved can we really become his disciples. —Fr Augustine Kanachikuzhy, ssp       =================================================================   May   2010    READINGS  OF  THE  WEEK    Psalter  Week  1 03  Mon (R)      Sts  PHILIP & JAMES, Aps – Fst                                              1 Cor 15:1-8; Ps 18:2-3,4-5; Jn 14:6-14 04  Tue (W)       Act 14:19-28; Ps 144:10-12,13ab,21; Jn 14:27-31a 05  Wed (W)     Act 15:1-6; Ps 121:1-2,3-4a,4b-5; Jn 15:1-8 06  Thu (W)      Act 15:7-21; Ps 95:1-2a,2b-3,10; Jn 15:9-11 07  Fri (W)       Act 15:22-31; Ps 56:8-9,10-12; Jn 15:12-17 08  Sat (W)     Act 16:1-10; Ps 99:1-2,3,5; Jn 15:18-21