Fr. Roger J. Landry
Chiesa di San Francesco all’Immacolata, Noto, Sicily
Saturday of the Third Week in Ordinary Time
May 7, 2022
Acts 9:31-42, Ps 116, Jn 6:60-69
To listen to an audio recording of today’s homily, please click below:
The following points were attempted in the homily:
- Today we come to the culmination of the “second octave” of Easter, eight days of daily Mass readings from John 6 focused on the Holy Eucharist. We see that there are three responses to Jesus’ words about how we are to receive him as the new manna from heaven each day, to work for this food that leads to eternal life, to gnaw on his flesh and drink his blood.
- The first response is rejection, as we see in the “disciples” who found his teaching “hard” and unable to endure. So many of Jesus’ teachings are indeed hard, but they’re possible for those with faith.
- The second response was hypocrisy, that of Judas, who even though he remained in Jesus’ company, didn’t believe, and when Jesus fulfilled these words the next Passover, he completed his betrayal.
- The third response was faith, shown in St. Peter. He didn’t know how Jesus would give his flesh and blood to consume, but he knew he trusted in Jesus enough to trust in what he said and did. St. Thomas Aquinas focused on this faith when he wrote, in his famous Adoro Te Devote, “I believe whatever the Son of God has said, because nothing is truer than the word of truth.”
- We see the consequences of a Eucharistic life in St. Peter in today’s first reading. The two miracles he worked, the healing of Aeneas of his paralysis in Lydda, and the raising of Tabitha from the dead in Joppa, were both based on Jesus’ healings in Capernaum of the paralyzed man lowered through the roof and the raising from the dead of the daughter of Jairus. Peter stressed that “Jesus Christ heals you,” because it was the Eucharistic Jesus working through Peter’s faith that he has the words of eternal life.
- On this Saturday we have a chance to ponder Mary’s faith in allowing her whole life to develop according to God’s word, to believer that what the Lord has spoken to her would be fulfilled. We place the same faith in Jesus’ words about the Eucharist as she did in the Angel Gabriel’s words that she would become the Mother of the Son of God.
The readings for today’s Mass were:
Reading I
The Church throughout all Judea, Galilee, and Samaria
was at peace.
She was being built up and walked in the fear of the Lord,
and with the consolation of the Holy Spirit she grew in numbers.
As Peter was passing through every region,
he went down to the holy ones living in Lydda.
There he found a man named Aeneas,
who had been confined to bed for eight years, for he was paralyzed.
Peter said to him,
“Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you. Get up and make your bed.”
He got up at once.
And all the inhabitants of Lydda and Sharon saw him,
and they turned to the Lord.
Now in Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha
(which translated is Dorcas).
She was completely occupied with good deeds and almsgiving.
Now during those days she fell sick and died,
so after washing her, they laid her out in a room upstairs.
Since Lydda was near Joppa,
the disciples, hearing that Peter was there,
sent two men to him with the request,
“Please come to us without delay.”
So Peter got up and went with them.
When he arrived, they took him to the room upstairs
where all the widows came to him weeping
and showing him the tunics and cloaks
that Dorcas had made while she was with them.
Peter sent them all out and knelt down and prayed.
Then he turned to her body and said, “Tabitha, rise up.”
She opened her eyes, saw Peter, and sat up.
He gave her his hand and raised her up,
and when he had called the holy ones and the widows,
he presented her alive.
This became known all over Joppa,
and many came to believe in the Lord.
Responsorial Psalm
R. (12) How shall I make a return to the Lord for all the good he has done for me?
or:
R. Alleluia.
How shall I make a return to the LORD
for all the good he has done for me?
The cup of salvation I will take up,
and I will call upon the name of the LORD
R. How shall I make a return to the Lord for all the good he has done for me?
or:
R. Alleluia.
My vows to the LORD I will pay
in the presence of all his people.
Precious in the eyes of the LORD
is the death of his faithful ones.
R. How shall I make a return to the Lord for all the good he has done for me?
or:
R. Alleluia.
O LORD, I am your servant;
I am your servant, the son of your handmaid;
you have loosed my bonds.
To you will I offer sacrifice of thanksgiving,
and I will call upon the name of the LORD.
R. How shall I make a return to the Lord for all the good he has done for me?
or:
R. Alleluia.
Alleluia
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Your words, Lord, are Spirit and life;
you have the words of everlasting life.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
Many of the disciples of Jesus who were listening said,
“This saying is hard; who can accept it?”
Since Jesus knew that his disciples were murmuring about this,
he said to them, “Does this shock you?
What if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before?
It is the Spirit that gives life, while the flesh is of no avail.
The words I have spoken to you are Spirit and life.
But there are some of you who do not believe.”
Jesus knew from the beginning the ones who would not believe
and the one who would betray him.
And he said, “For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me
unless it is granted him by my Father.”
As a result of this,
many of his disciples returned to their former way of life
and no longer walked with him.
Jesus then said to the Twelve, “Do you also want to leave?”
Simon Peter answered him, “Master, to whom shall we go?
You have the words of eternal life.
We have come to believe
and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God.”
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