Monday - April 19, 2021
“Pray, hope, and don't worry.”
~Padre Pio
TODAY'S READINGS
April 19, 2021
Monday of the Third Week of Easter
Lectionary: 273
Reading I
Stephen, filled with grace and power,
was working great wonders and signs among the people.
Certain members of the so-called Synagogue of Freedmen,
Cyreneans, and Alexandrians,
and people from Cilicia and Asia,
came forward and debated with Stephen,
but they could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he spoke.
Then they instigated some men to say,
“We have heard him speaking blasphemous words
against Moses and God.”
They stirred up the people, the elders, and the scribes,
accosted him, seized him,
and brought him before the Sanhedrin.
They presented false witnesses who testified,
“This man never stops saying things against this holy place and the law.
For we have heard him claim
that this Jesus the Nazorean will destroy this place
and change the customs that Moses handed down to us.”
All those who sat in the Sanhedrin looked intently at him
and saw that his face was like the face of an angel.
Responsorial Psalm
R. (1ab) Blessed are they who follow the law of the Lord!
or:
R. Alleluia.
Though princes meet and talk against me,
your servant meditates on your statutes.
Yes, your decrees are my delight;
they are my counselors.
R. Blessed are they who follow the law of the Lord!
or:
R. Alleluia.
I declared my ways, and you answered me;
teach me your statutes.
Make me understand the way of your precepts,
and I will meditate on your wondrous deeds.
R. Blessed are they who follow the law of the Lord!
or:
R. Alleluia.
Remove from me the way of falsehood,
and favor me with your law.
The way of truth I have chosen;
I have set your ordinances before me.
R. Blessed are they who follow the law of the Lord!
or:
R. Alleluia.
Alleluia
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
One does not live on bread alone
but on every word that comes forth from the mouth of God.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
[After Jesus had fed the five thousand men, his disciples saw him walking on the sea.]
The next day, the crowd that remained across the sea
saw that there had been only one boat there,
and that Jesus had not gone along with his disciples in the boat,
but only his disciples had left.
Other boats came from Tiberias
near the place where they had eaten the bread
when the Lord gave thanks.
When the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there,
they themselves got into boats
and came to Capernaum looking for Jesus.
And when they found him across the sea they said to him,
“Rabbi, when did you get here?”
Jesus answered them and said,
“Amen, amen, I say to you, you are looking for me
not because you saw signs
but because you ate the loaves and were filled.
Do not work for food that perishes
but for the food that endures for eternal life,
which the Son of Man will give you.
For on him the Father, God, has set his seal.”
So they said to him,
“What can we do to accomplish the works of God?”
Jesus answered and said to them,
“This is the work of God, that you believe in the one he sent.”
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Becoming Full of Grace
Was the Virgin Mary the only human who was "full of grace"? In our first reading today, we see that Stephen, too, was full of grace! Think of "grace" as the activity of God made present in a human person -- including you -- by God's choice. This activity or presence supplies us with whatever supernatural gifts are needed at the moment.
To be full of grace means being totally and completely open to these gifts and united to God's presence within us. When we're in a "state of grace", we are free of sin and detached from everything that is not of God.
We become "full of grace" in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. During our Confession, the True Presence of Jesus comes to us in the form of the priest, who sits in for the whole community that was wounded by our sins. Jesus takes our sins, nails them to his cross, absolves us of the punishment we deserve, and begins to heal the divisions that our sins have caused.
The completion of the healing still requires action from us, but in this Sacrament, the action of God is a grace-filled and grace-filling experience: It empowers us to change and to make amends and to avoid repeating the same sins. It's a more powerful experience than seeking God's forgiveness outside of the Sacrament.
Another opportunity to become full of grace is during Mass. It starts when we accept the invitation of the presiding priest to recall our sins and seek Christ's mercy. It continues through the insights that the Holy Spirit gives us from the Word of God and from the homily that explains it. The "Our Father", prayed in unison with the community, furthers the healing. Giving each other the "Peace be with you" handshake or hug helps to heal us from the brokenness of community life that our sins have caused.
Or at least this is what is supposed to happen -- we have to cooperate with grace by participating in the Mass consciously.
Then, by the time we see the miraculous True Presence of Jesus on the altar, we open ourselves to the fullness of this grace by sincerely praying, "Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed." Our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, and so we humbly ask Jesus to enter into us and heal whatever is not yet full of grace.
Thanks to everything that happens during Mass, receiving the Eucharist is receiving our full unity with God and his gift of grace.
If you cannot receive the Eucharist due to special circumstances, and if you're not divided from God through an on-going, unrepented sin, your prayer of "Lord ... say the word and my soul shall be healed" is your moment of being filled with grace. You receive Spiritual Communion. But do everything possible to receive the fullness of Christ in the Eucharist. Talk to a priest about remedies for your circumstances. The Church has ways to help you open yourself to all that God offers.
Whenever we consciously remain stuck in sin, we're choosing division over communion. Please don't continue pretending that you're not really sinning. Purifying our lives is hard, but God gives us supernatural help through the awesomeness of his grace.
Today's Prayer
Our Father, gather Your Church in a community of Love where Your Holy Spirit unites us in Jesus and thus, seeing our works, the world may believe in You. Amen.
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The mother of Jesus promised St. Dominic that, “one day through the rosary & the scapular I shall save the world!”
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