Daily Gospel for April 16. Readings of the day. Luke 24:35-48

Reading of the day April 16. Easter Thursday. 

Reading of the Acts of the Apostles 3:11-26 As the crippled man who had been cured clung to Peter and John, all the people hurried in amazement toward them in the portico called "Solomon´s Portico." When Peter saw this, he addressed the people, "You Israelites, why are you amazed at this, and why do you look so intently at us as if we had made him walk by our own power or piety? The God of Abraham, (the God) of Isaac, and (the God) of Jacob, the God of our ancestors, has glorified his servant Jesus whom you handed over and denied in Pilate´s presence, when he had decided to release him. You denied the Holy and Righteous One and asked that a murderer be released to you. The author of life you put to death, but God raised him from the dead; of this we are witnesses. And by faith in his name, this man, whom you see and know, his name has made strong, and the faith that comes through it has given him this perfect health, in the presence of all of you. Now I know, brothers, that you acted out of ignorance, just as your leaders did; but God has thus brought to fulfillment what he had announced beforehand through the mouth of all the prophets, that his Messiah would suffer. Repent, therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be wiped away." and that the Lord may grant you times of refreshment and send you the Messiah already appointed for you, Jesus, whom heaven must receive until the times of universal restoration of which God spoke through the mouth of his holy prophets from of old. For Moses said: "A prophet like me will the Lord, your God, raise up for you from among your own kinsmen; to him you shall listen in all that he may say to you. Everyone who does not listen to that prophet will be cut off from the people." Moreover, all the prophets who spoke, from Samuel and those afterwards, also announced these days. You are the children of the prophets and of the covenant that God made with your ancestors when he said to Abraham, "In your offspring all the families of the earth shall be blessed." For you first, God raised up his servant and sent him to bless you by turning each of you from your evil ways."

Daily Psalm. Psalm 8:2,5-9.

(R). "How great is your name, O Lord our God, through all the earth!".

How great is your name, O Lord our God, through all the earth! What is man that you should keep him in mind, mortal man that you care for him? (R).

Yet you have made him little less than a god; with glory and honour you crowned him, gave him power over the works of your hand, put all things under his feet. (R).

All of them, sheep and cattle, yes, even the savage beasts, birds of the air, and fish that make their way through the waters. (R).

Daily Gospel Acclamation. Gospel of the day April 16. Easter thursday.

"Alleluia, alleluia! This day was made by the Lord: we rejoice and are glad. Alleluia!" (Cfr. Psalm 117,24)

Daily Gospel. Gospel of the day April 16. Luke 24:35-48.

Reading for the Gospel of the day - (Easter Thursday - Jesus shows the wounds of his wounds) The disciples of Jesus recounted what had taken place along the way, and how Jesus was made known to them in the breaking of bread. While they were still speaking about this, he stood in their midst and said to them, "Peace be with you." But they were startled and terrified and thought that they were seeing a ghost. Then he said to them, "Why are you troubled? And why do questions arise in your hearts? Look at my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me and see, because a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you can see I have." And as he said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. While they were still incredulous for joy and were amazed, he asked them, "Have you anything here to eat?" They gave him a piece of baked fish; he took it and ate it in front of them. He said to them, "These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the law of Moses and in the prophets and psalms must be fulfilled." Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures. And he said to them, "Thus it is written that the Messiah would suffer and rise from the dead on the third day and that repentance, for the forgiveness of sins, would be preached in his name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things."

Daily Gospel Commentaries by Pope Francis.

In the Gospel of the day, on the evening of the resurrection the disciples were telling what they had seen: the two disciples of Emmaus were talking about their meeting with Jesus on the road, and so was Peter. In short, they were all happy because the Lord had risen: they were sure that the Lord had risen.

But they were talking about these very things, the Gospel tells us, when Jesus appeared in their midst and told them:

"Peace be with you."

At that moment, something different from peace happened. In fact, the Gospel describes the apostles as terrified and full of fear. They did not know what to do and thought they saw a ghost. So the whole problem of Jesus was to tell them:

"But look, I´m not a ghost; touch me, look at my wounds."

[...] The disciples could not believe because they were afraid of joy. In fact, Jesus was leading them to joy: the joy of the resurrection, the joy of his presence in their midst.

But it was precisely this joy that became a problem for them in believing: because of the joy they did not believe and were astonished. In short, the disciples preferred to think that Jesus was an idea, a ghost, but not reality.

Fear of joy is a Christian´s sickness. We too are afraid of joy, and we tell ourselves that it is better to think: yes, God exists, but he is there, Jesus has risen, he is there. It is as if we were saying: let us keep our distance. And so we are afraid of the closeness of Jesus, because this gives us joy.

This attitude also explains why there are so many funeral Christians, whose life seems to be a permanent funeral. Christians who prefer sadness to joy; they move better in the shadow than in the light of joy.

Precisely like those animals that manage to come out only at night, but do not see anything in the light of day. Like bats... And with a sense of humor we would say that they are Christian bats, who prefer the shadow to the light of the Lord´s presence.

On the other hand, many times we are shocked when this joy comes to us or we are full of fear; or we think we see a ghost or we think that Jesus is a way of working. To such an extent that we say to ourselves

But we are Christians, and we must act this way. And it matters very little that Jesus is not there. Rather, we should ask: "But do you talk to Jesus? Do you say to him: Jesus, I believe that you are alive, that you have risen, that you are close to me, that you do not abandon me?".

This is the dialogue with Jesus, proper to the Christian life, animated by the certainty that Jesus is always with us, he is always with our problems, with our difficulties and with our good works. (Homily of Gospel of the day. Saint Martha, April 24, 2014)

Pope´s quotes.

"They are called children of God who have learned the art of peace and exercise it, knowing that there is no reconciliation without the gift of one´s own life, and that peace must be sought always and in every situation" (04.15.2020 - @pontifex)

Daily Gospel. Meditation in video for Gospel of the day April 16. Easter Thursday.