Greeting (see First Reading)
God has glorified his servant
Jesus,the Holy One, the Just One, the prince of life. God raised him from the dead and to that fact we are the witnesses. In his name we are gathered here. May the Risen Lord be always with you.
R/ And also with you.
1. Marked with Wounds
Our faith in the Risen Lord is a concrete faith, a faith in someone who is risen, yes, but not a “ghost,” not a figment of the imagination, but real and so much like us, in everything except sin, including wounds and scars and struggles. Is this the Jesus in whom we believe, who walks by our side on the road of life, who sustains us with his love and strength when we struggle and are wounded? For he is really risen, and he goes with us to help us start rising already now in this life above our troubles and fears and cowardice, until we are taken up in his unending joy and happiness. Let it be this Jesus with us with whom we can identify and to whom we bear witness in everyday life.
2. Dying and Rising with Christ
To make the mistakes of sin and to make up for them, to stumble and to get back on our feet, to fall and to rise again, is that not for all a repeated experience in life? This is not just an image but basically the same reality as resurrection; for a Christian this life is already a repeated dying and rising with Christ. Resurrection is not merely something that will come for us at the judgment or when we enter God’s home after death. It is here with us, beautifully and repeatedly. By the grace of our Lord’s resurrection we keep dying and rising even now. Let us share the meal of resurrection with the risen Lord.
Penitential Act
If we had more faith in the nearness of the Risen Lord we would have fallen less into sin. Let us seek the Lord’s forgiveness. (pause)
Risen Lord Jesus, you show us your hands and feet, for you are near us: Lord, have mercy. R/ Lord, have mercy.
Jesus Christ, risen Lord, before you rose you suffered and died to bring us forgiveness and life: Christ, have mercy. R/ Christ, have mercy.
Risen Lord Jesus, you eat with us to share with us your strength and life: Lord, have mercy. R/ Lord, have mercy.
By the power of your love change us, Lord, forgive us all our sins, and accompany us on the journey to everlasting life. R/ Amen.
Opening Prayer
Let us pray that we may live the risen life of Jesus. (pause)
God of the living, who will believe that your Son is risen if he is not alive among us today? Do not let the death of sin hold us, for he has set us free by his blood. Make us brim with his life, that it may overflow on those around us in deeds of compassionate forgiveness, of generosity without measure. Nourish this life in us in the Eucharist of Jesus Christ our Lord. R/ Amen.
First Reading: Peter, Witness to the Risen Lord
In his preaching, Peter bears strong witness that Christ is risen from the dead. He asks his hearers to turn to Christ and to let him make them new.
Second Reading: True to the Risen Lord
When we follow the commandments of love of Christ, we are true to the risen Christ and we grow in God’s love.
Gospel: Witnesses to The Risen Lord
Jesus appeared to his doubting disciples to strengthen their faith that he was risen. Then he sent them out as he sends us – to bear witness to his forgiveness and new life.
Intercessions
God our Father, you help all those who come to you because our risen Lord Jesus Christ stays with us and speaks on our behalf. We pray you: R/ Lord our God, hear your people.
– We ask that there be more faith among us, more confidence in the future, because we are certain that Christ is alive and present among us. And so we pray: R/ Lord our God, hear your people.
– We ask for a more positive attitude toward all life on earth, more understanding and solidarity among peoples and cultures, whatever language we speak, because we are certain that you call everyone to peace and friendship. And so we pray: R/ Lord our God, hear your people.
– We ask you to give us the willingness to make personal sacrifices, for we are certain that in this way we can promote the happiness of the community. And so we pray: R/ Lord our God, hear your people.
– We ask you for the spirit of Christian love and of forgiveness toward each and all, for we are certain that all are invited in Christ to share in your unending happiness. And so we pray: R/ Lord our God, hear your people.
– We ask you for those baptized in Christ’s name that they may follow in Christ’s footsteps, and for all married couples, that they may be faithful to you and to one another, for we are certain that you are faithful to them. And so we pray: R/ Lord our God, hear your people.
– We ask you for humility for ourselves, for we are certain that Christ has not yet completed his work in us and that we still have to grow in his life. And so we pray: R/ Lord our God, hear your people.
Loving God, let your risen Son be alive among us in our words and actions. Hear the prayers of your people, on account of him who stays with you and with us, Jesus Christ, our lord for ever. R/ Amen.
Prayer over the Gifts
Living Father, with bread and wine we celebrate the presence of your Son in our midst here around this table and in every day life. Let us experience him here as your great gift to us and let him stay with us in our never-ending quest to be your people free from sin and living the risen life of Jesus Christ our Lord. R/ Amen.
Introduction to the Eucharist Prayer
Where can Jesus be closer to us than here in this Eucharist? He speaks to us, we eat and drink him. Here he assures us that he goes with us our sometimes-weary way. Let us thank the Father for giving Jesus to us.
Introduction to the Lord’s Prayer
Jesus stays with us and lives in the presence of the Father to intercede for us. With him we pray to our Father: R/ Our Father...
Deliver Us
Deliver us, Lord, from every evil and grant us faith and peace in our day through the presence of your risen Son. Let him stay with us in our pains and fears that we may overcome them with him. Let him stay with us too in days of joy and laughter, that he may deepen our happiness. Let hope grow in us as we wait for the day of his coming in glory as our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. R/ For the kingdom...
Invitation to Communion
This is Jesus, the Lamb of God. He died for us but he is alive. Happy are we to receive him and to touch him as our bread of life. R/ Lord, I am not worthy...
Prayer after Communion
God of life and saving love, we have enjoyed the presence of your Son among us, for we have been together in his name, he has spoken to us his words of life and we have shared his table. May he live on in our community by our attentive presence to one another, our common faith expressed in deeds of love and service, of gratitude and forgiveness, by our efforts to create a better world where there is justice and hope for all. May we thus journey together to you and bear witness that Jesus Christ is our Lord for ever. R/ Amen.
Blessing
Christ calls us to bear witness to his presence among us as our risen Lord. Let us live, then, as God’s new people, full of faith and hope and love and mutual forgiveness. That we may bring this blessing to the world, may almighty God bless you all, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. R/ Amen.
Go in peace to love and serve the Lord in one another. R/ Thanks be to God.
Commentary
Jesus begins to teach the disciples a lesson about Scripture. He had already done it with the two who had gone to Emmaus. He had explained the Scripture to them and later at the breaking of the bread, their hearts are opened and they understood the meaning of the Word of God. Why does he insist on the Word of God as the light that would illuminate the minds of the disciples? The reason is, the disciples are confused. They find themselves in front of a Messiah with his hands and feet pierced ...
What kind of Messiah were they waiting for? They expected a mighty king who would use his mighty hands to rescue them from the powers of the Romans and establish the Jewish kingdom to impose the power of the chosen people over the rest of the world. But instead, they were now facing a pair of hands and feet that are the identity of the Messiah of God who contradicted all their expectations and hopes.
What does the Risen One tell them? Read the Scripture and you will understand the true design of God. A messiah is not someone who would change the world with force, with power, with dominion, but with LOVE. This was the project of God; and Jesus has gone through the events that would appear as a defeat, a failure. But this project of God was realized through the greatest crime committed by people.
It is only by careful study of the Scripture – the Old Testament – that they would understand the meaning of the pierced hands and feet of the Messiah. The sufferings and death that Jesus underwent were all in the plan of God and the Scripture was realized in the life of Jesus. To understand the person of Jesus the Messiah and to know the plan of God for mankind and His plan for you and me, go back to the scripture… this is the message of today. This is the message for the new world.
And the Risen One concludes, saying to his community, "You are the witnesses of this". They are called to be the Witnesses of the new World which Jesus of Nazareth with his pierced hands and feet began. It is not the world of the dominators but to the world of those who donate their lives for love. To this, we are witnesses.
