Fr. Roger J. Landry
Basilica of Santa Lucia al Sepolcro, Syracuse, Sicily
Friday of the Third Week of Easter
May 6, 2022
Acts 9:1-20, Ps 117, Jn 6:52-59
To listen to an audio recording of today’s homily, please click below:
The following points were attempted in the homily:
- “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” Those words from the conversion of St. Paul in today’s first reading show the communion that Jesus has with the members of his Mystical Body.
- In the Gospel, Jesus, speaking about the Eucharist, says that those who eat his flesh and drink his blood will “have life because of me,” just as he draws his life from the Father. He reminds us that unless we eat his flesh and drink his blood we do not have life — zoe, supernatural life, in contrast to bios or biological life — within us. Holy Communion is meant to be that consequential. It’s the means by which we receive our life. This is why the Church says that the Church draws her life from the Eucharist. Receiving Jesus in Holy Communion is meant to be the source and summit, the root and center, of our existence.
- It was for Saint Lucy, who drew her life from Jesus in Baptism and in the Holy Eucharist such that she wanted to give her whole life back to him. She grasped that as she was being subjected to trial during the ferocious persecution of Diocletian in 304, that she was united to Jesus, and Diocletian and his thugs were persecuting Jesus in persecuting her. But just as St. Paul was chosen by the Lord to be Christ’s instrument to bring his saving name to the nations, so St. Lucy was chosen to show the consequence of a truly Eucharistic life across the centuries down to our own age. As we receive Jesus in Holy Communion, we are strengthened to give our body and blood, our life, out of love for him and others. And for those who live in holy communion with God, death is merely a change of physical address and temporary state. The life we draw from God is eternal. It cannot be extinguished. And that’s what gave St. Lucy her courage to act on her love, because she knew she would continue to draw her life from her Eucharistic spouse even after her death.
- The US Bishops are about to embark on a three-year Eucharistic revitalization effort. We’re all called to be part of it. It’s an opportunity to show our fellow Catholics who have fallen away from the practice of Eucharistic life, who, for example, have cut themselves off from communion through sin, who may not have come back to Church after the pandemic, about the singular gift we have in Holy Communion. This gift is what allowed Ananias, who was frightened by what he heard about Saul the persecutor, to embrace Paul as “brother.” This is what made St. Lucy stronger than Roman soldiers. This is part of the message we’re called to bring as Good News to all the world.
The readings for today’s Mass were:
Reading I
Saul, still breathing murderous threats against the disciples of the Lord,
went to the high priest and asked him
for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, that,
if he should find any men or women who belonged to the Way,
he might bring them back to Jerusalem in chains.
On his journey, as he was nearing Damascus,
a light from the sky suddenly flashed around him.
He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him,
“Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?”
He said, “Who are you, sir?”
The reply came, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.
Now get up and go into the city and you will be told what you must do.”
The men who were traveling with him stood speechless,
for they heard the voice but could see no one.
Saul got up from the ground,
but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing;
so they led him by the hand and brought him to Damascus.
For three days he was unable to see, and he neither ate nor drank.
There was a disciple in Damascus named Ananias,
and the Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias.”
He answered, “Here I am, Lord.”
The Lord said to him, “Get up and go to the street called Straight
and ask at the house of Judas for a man from Tarsus named Saul.
He is there praying,
and in a vision he has seen a man named Ananias
come in and lay his hands on him,
that he may regain his sight.”
But Ananias replied,
“Lord, I have heard from many sources about this man,
what evil things he has done to your holy ones in Jerusalem.
And here he has authority from the chief priests
to imprison all who call upon your name.”
But the Lord said to him,
“Go, for this man is a chosen instrument of mine
to carry my name before Gentiles, kings, and children of Israel,
and I will show him what he will have to suffer for my name.”
So Ananias went and entered the house;
laying his hands on him, he said,
“Saul, my brother, the Lord has sent me,
Jesus who appeared to you on the way by which you came,
that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.”
Immediately things like scales fell from his eyes
and he regained his sight.
He got up and was baptized,
and when he had eaten, he recovered his strength.
He stayed some days with the disciples in Damascus,
and he began at once to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues,
that he is the Son of God.
Responsorial Psalm
R. (Mark 16:15) Go out to all the world and tell the Good News.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Praise the LORD, all you nations;
glorify him, all you peoples!
R. Go out to all the world and tell the Good News.
or:
R. Alleluia.
For steadfast is his kindness toward us,
and the fidelity of the LORD endures forever.
R. Go out to all the world and tell the Good News.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Alleluia
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Whoever eats my Flesh and drinks my Blood,
remains in me and I in him, says the Lord.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying,
“How can this man give us his Flesh to eat?”
Jesus said to them,
“Amen, amen, I say to you,
unless you eat the Flesh of the Son of Man and drink his Blood,
you do not have life within you.
Whoever eats my Flesh and drinks my Blood
has eternal life,
and I will raise him on the last day.
For my Flesh is true food,
and my Blood is true drink.
Whoever eats my Flesh and drinks my Blood
remains in me and I in him.
Just as the living Father sent me
and I have life because of the Father,
so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me.
This is the bread that came down from heaven.
Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died,
whoever eats this bread will live forever.”
These things he said while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.
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