OMELIE / Omelie EN

14 apr 2024

14/04/2024 - 3rd Sunday of Easter - B

14/04/2024 - 3rd Sunday of Easter - B

1st reading Acts 3,13-15.17-19 from Psalm 4 2nd reading 1Jn 2,1-5 Gospel Lk 24,35-48

The purpose of Jesus' death and resurrection is our salvation, that is, our deliverance from everything that hinders our peace, our communion with our brothers and sisters and with God. The impediment is sin, that is, our disobedience, our pride.

Jesus made his effort and was exalted by the Father precisely for us, to solve our serious problem. The Apostle Saint John reiterates this to us today, saying: "We have a Paraclete with the Father: Jesus Christ, the righteous one. He is the victim of atonement for our sins. For his intercession on our behalf to be accepted by God, in addition to knowing that he has come, it is necessary that we unite ourselves to him by keeping his word. The Apostle thus gives us the teachings he heard from Jesus himself. When he appeared to the disciples on Easter Day, he said precisely that the fruit of his resurrection from the dead is the fact that "in his name shall conversion and the forgiveness of sins be preached to all nations". And so that the disciples could believe him, he made himself known by showing the wounds of the cross, let himself be touched, and even had something given to eat.

To understand and make our own these words of the Lord, it is necessary to distance ourselves from the world in which we live: in it, in fact, no one speaks of sins any more, even though we see them clearly and suffer the consequences. The widespread mentality today would like to justify all those actions that we call sins: however, we know very well that they are there, and that they are a source of unspeakable disorder and suffering.

Forgiveness of sins is indeed important! Without this forgiveness, man cannot hope to live eternal life, cannot find the love of God the Father, cannot rejoice now or ever. With forgiveness we begin to breathe, we are lifted up, we begin a journey of healing of soul and body, and above all we can look to the future, beyond death, with serenity, because we know that there the Father awaits us with the fullness of joy and peace.

The forgiveness of sins is preceded by the proclamation of conversion: this is the invitation repeated by Jesus himself and it is the one he charged the apostles with.

The first reading gives us a taste of this. Peter began by proposing it to all the people of Jerusalem: 'Repent and change your life, that your sins may be blotted out'. He said this with great courage to those who a few weeks earlier had hated Jesus and had had him put to death.

Today these words are addressed to us: let us change our thoughts and desires in order to change our lives. Conversion lies precisely in the change of thoughts: with them we will go beyond, beyond the ephemeral realities of this world to the lasting realities of eternity, beyond the desire for our pleasures to reach God's desires, beyond our selfishness to enjoy the joy of a love shared with all.

As our thoughts and desires change, so will the manifestations of our lives, our actions, our relationships with those who live beside us, even our plans for the future. And we will be able to welcome the risen Jesus as friend, as Saviour, as Lord of life, and we will look forward with him to the joys promised by God.

The sins, to which we had become accustomed, from the moment we have entered into the heart of the Father with the risen Jesus, will no longer weigh us down, they will be wiped away, they will disappear. And we will be able to discern temptations so as not to fall back into that situation from which Jesus raised us. We will have strength not to enter into temptation, because we will be vigilant in prayer, as he recommended to his own who were with him in the Garden and could not stay awake. "Entering into temptation" is what Adam did, when he chose the word of the serpent, the word that circulates in the world and becomes public opinion, instead of keeping and appreciating the Word he had received from the Father's love. Prayer will always be an opportunity for salvation and strength to welcome and cherish the wise and prescient Word of God the Father.

Jesus rose from the dead and appeared in the cenacle to the Twelve to tell them precisely the Father's will for them: they will spread the word of his death and resurrection, they will proclaim it powerfully throughout the world, for all peoples need to be saved.