From: Mark ......
To: Donald ......
Sent: Fri, 29 April, 2011 10:43:44
Subject: Easter Fri Intro to Mass
Introduction to Mass Friday of Easter Week After Jesus’ death on the cross and the rumours of his resurrection, Peter and the other disciples didn’t seem to know what to do with their lives. In today’s gospel, Peter and the others went back to their fishing. Jesus appeared to them and showed that he could still do the unusual by giving them a huge catch of fish after their night’s work proved to be fruitless. In our lives the risen Christ can still do the unusual. He is present to us and calling us to be with him. 1. Lord, you show us that you are not far from our lives. ─ Lord, have mercy. 2 Lord Jesus, you reveal yourself in the ordinary happenings of our daily life. ─ Christ, have mercy. 3. Lord, you continue to fill our hearts and minds with the joy of the resurrection. ─ Lord, have mercy. Conclusion to Pr of Faithful God our Father, may we walk in your presence each day, conscious of your ever-present help in all our needs. We ask this through Christ our risen Lord. |
Commentary of the day :
Saint Peter Chrysologus (c.406-450), Bishop of Ravenna, Doctor of the Church
Sermon 78 ; PL 52, 420
Sermon 78 ; PL 52, 420
"Jesus was standing on the shore"
Following his Passion, whose turmoil had amazed the earth, frightened heaven, astonished the world and dismayed the underworld, our Lord walked beside the sea and saw his disciples toiling on the dark waves in the middle of the night. The sun had fled and neither moon nor starlight could calm the anguish of that night... «When it was already dawn, says the Gospel, Jesus was standing on the shore; but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus.» All creation had fled from the insults inflicted on its Creator...: earth saw its foundations disappearing beneath it and trembled, the sun vanished lest it be witness, day withdrew that it might not be present and, in spite of their solidity, the stones melted away. Hell saw the Judge in person penetrate its bowels and, conquered, released its prisoners with a cry of dismay (Mt 27,45-52)...
The whole world was thrown into confusion and was convinced that its Creator's death had cast it back into its original darkness and ancient chaos (Gn 1,2). But all at once, in the light of his resurrection, our Lord brought back day again and restored its familiar face to the world. He had come to raise up with him and into his glory all those creatures he had seen to be so sadly destroyed... «Jesus was standing on the shore.» In the first place this was to regroup his Church... into the firmness of faith. He had found his disciples deprived of faith, stripped of their manly strength... There was Peter who had denied him, Thomas who had doubted, John who had fled, which was why he didn't speak to them like valiant soldiers but like frightened children...: «Children, have you anything to eat?» In this way his humanity will bring them back to grace, bread to trust, food to faith. For in fact they would not believe he had been raised in the body without seeing him stoop to bodily requirements and eating. That is why he who is abundance of all good things asks to be fed. He eats the bread himself because he is hungry, not for food but for the love of his own: «Children, have you anything to eat?' They answered: No.» What did they have who had not Christ – even though he stood in their midst – and could not yet see the Lord – although he had appeared before them? «He said to them: Cast the net over the right side of the boat and you will find something.»
The whole world was thrown into confusion and was convinced that its Creator's death had cast it back into its original darkness and ancient chaos (Gn 1,2). But all at once, in the light of his resurrection, our Lord brought back day again and restored its familiar face to the world. He had come to raise up with him and into his glory all those creatures he had seen to be so sadly destroyed... «Jesus was standing on the shore.» In the first place this was to regroup his Church... into the firmness of faith. He had found his disciples deprived of faith, stripped of their manly strength... There was Peter who had denied him, Thomas who had doubted, John who had fled, which was why he didn't speak to them like valiant soldiers but like frightened children...: «Children, have you anything to eat?» In this way his humanity will bring them back to grace, bread to trust, food to faith. For in fact they would not believe he had been raised in the body without seeing him stoop to bodily requirements and eating. That is why he who is abundance of all good things asks to be fed. He eats the bread himself because he is hungry, not for food but for the love of his own: «Children, have you anything to eat?' They answered: No.» What did they have who had not Christ – even though he stood in their midst – and could not yet see the Lord – although he had appeared before them? «He said to them: Cast the net over the right side of the boat and you will find something.»
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Jesus Walks on Water, Philipp Otto Runge (1777-1810) |
The Forces of Evil Shall Not Prevail
Artwork: Jesus Walks on Water (detail, 1806), Philipp Otto Runge (1777-1810), Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg, Germany. © Bridgeman Giraudon.
Philipp Otto Runge is considered one of the leading lights of German Romanticism. In freeing himself from
Neo-Classicism, the reigning style at the time of his training, he found inspiration in his friendship with Ludwig Tieck, a poet at the forefront of the celebrated circle of "Jena Romantics". By striving to approach the Absolute through a sensitive interpretation of nature, he hoped to attain perfection at the very boundaries of the earthly and the spiritual. Before his early death at the same age as Christ, he consoled himself for a life cut short before he could achieve his goal, saying, "It is the journey toward that perfection that matters most."
In this detail of Peter Walks on Water, under a stormy ink-black sky, Saint Peter grabs hold of Jesus to save himself from the jaws of the raging sea. The drama played out in the foreground is in stark contrast to the background where all is light, peace, and clarity, illumined by the presence of the Lord himself. According to German Romantic thought, Christ is the creative light, the light of true knowledge, the Logos come into the world to dissipate the shadows of evil. In our lives today, the darkness of the world, the tidal waves of our passions, and the gaping abyss of our weaknesses, can easily threaten to engulf us. The risen Lord is there, ever present, ready to grasp our hand if only we reach out to him, to open up for us the shining vista of an ocean of divine blessings.
This painting inspires our prayer for Saint Peter's successor: May the Lord guide his hand as he steers the ship of the Church through the storms of this world .
Pierre-Marie Dumont MAGNIFICAT Missalette April 2011
