Lectio Divina for Sunday of Pentecost Cycle A

TO ADVANDCE THE GREAT CONTINENTAL MISSION OF THE NEW EVANGELIZATION
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LECTIO DIVINA
SUNDAY OF PENTECOST Cycle A
Br. Ricardo Grzona, frp
Translate by Adele Eva Austin
FIRST READING: Acts 2, 1-11
RESPONSORIAL PSALM: Psalm 103
SECOND READING: 1 Corinthians 12,3b-7.12-13
Invocation to the Holy Spirit
Come Holy Spirit,
Come to our lives, to our hearts, to our consciences.
Move our intelligence and our will to understand what the Father wants to tell us through his Son,
our Lord Jesus, the Christ.
May your Word reach us all our life and create new life within us.
Amen
BIBLICAL TEXT: JOHN 20:19-23
"Peace be with you."
20,19: The evening of that day, the first of the week, the discipleswere behind locked doors for fear of
the Jews. Jesus came and stood among them and said: 'Peace be with you.’

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20.20: After saying this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples rejoiced when they saw the
Lord.
20:21: Jesus repeated:
'Peace be with you. As the Father sent me, so I send you.’
20.22: While telling them this, he breathed on them and said:
'Receive the Holy Spirit.'
20.23: ‘If you forgive the sins of anyone they are forgiven; and anyone whose sins you retain, they are
retained upon them.’
THE BIBLE OF OUR PEOPLE
READING What does the text say?
Bile Study
St. John presents to us this important passage about that night of Easter Sunday. Jesus appears in
the Upper Room with the disciples. He, who had been raised by the Father from the dead, is alive.
Not just alive, but possessing eternal life. He lives forever.
It is worth remembering that the word Resurrection, which is what Jesus experienced, is very
different from what may be erroneously used to describe Jesus’ actions upon to the daughter of
Jairus, the son of the widow of Nain, and Lazarus. In talking we call it resurrection, but really these
acts should be called Resuscitation, as all of them after being alive for some time, died. Resurrection
is what the Father gives through Jesus. He gives eternal life forever with an immortal body. Jesus,
by his obedience to the Father, is the first human who represents this change. Fallen mankind bears
the consequence of sin, bodily death. But God came to renew this work of his love by sending His
only Son, Jesus the Christ, to be the first to open the doors of heaven. From the time of Jesus’
Resurrection, the terrible evil that afflicted us was defeated. Death, the result of sin has been
defeated, so that when Jesus appears to the assembled disciples, he is complete and truly risen.
What Jesus said before has come to pass: "My time", "the time," that is to say the time of Easter, a
difficult mystery for the human mind to understand, is that time, the time appointed by God, is the
time he invites us to spend eternity with Him.
Fear, followed by the coming of peace, and the joy produced by this encounter, the insistence on
peace that only comes from God, and a peace Jesus Christ delivers to his disciples, now becomes a
missionary sending. He gives peace, but asks them to go on your behalf. As the Father sent Jesus, so
now He sends his disciples, and entrusts his Church to perpetuate His presence and to be his active

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memorial. He gives life through his saving Word, he gives them the breath of life, of the Spirit. As in
Genesis, the Father God breathed upon mankind the spirit of life, now Jesus, the true God for
whom we live, repeats the gesture, for the hour of salvation has come, "Receive the Holy Spirit."
Now again, as the disciples are gathered together, Jesus breaths forth the Spirit, he extends his
salvation. For through the disciples, the Church becomes, the Church is, the successor and heir to
the mission Jesus gives to the disciples. Through them, Jesus gives the Church power to forgive or
retain sins.
Fear, Peace, Joy, the sending of the Spirit, the sending of the Missionary, Forgiveness of Sins, are
the key words to understand in the context of the text.
Let us reconstruct the text
1. How does the text begin? Where were the disciples and why?
2. What attitude caused the disciples to hide there?
3. Who appears among them?
4. What is the first act of Jesus that causes the disciples to believe? What are his first
words?
5. What was the reaction of the disciples?
6. Jesus says something else after insisting on Peace: What does he ask them?
7. What is the mission that Jesus gives?
8. What does Jesus do when he says: "Receive the Holy Spirit"?
9. What authority does Jesus give to disciples?
MEDITATION What does the text tell me?
Let us reflect on the following questions and delve deeper into the Word of Salvation:
1. Many times we are enclosed by fears. What are those fears?
2. Jesus comes to us again and again although we are hidden. Do we look forward to seeing
him?
3. The presence of Jesus brings us peace. Do we live in peace? What things disturb our peace?
Could you identify those things that take your peace? Is Jesus an absence in my life?
4. Jesus gives us signs of his risen presence among us. Do I recognize the signs of Jesus? Do I
sometimes think, do I feel, as if Jesus is leaving me? When?
5. The risen Lord has become Lord of the Universe, beyond the laws of space and time. Do I
reach for the love and peace of Jesus?
6. Jesus gave his peace and with it the Holy Spirit. But we cannot live in the Spirit if we do not
have peace in our hearts. Have you noticed this great truth? What is the relationship of
peace with your interior self and with being a Christian? Lamentably, we often confuse

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being Christian with intolerance of others, especially when we do not live as we should. Are
you being a Christian?
7. Jesus’ sending of the disciples invites all of us who follow in their footsteps. Are we also able
to discern that we, the disciples of today, are sent by Jesus, with the authority of the
Father? I do not take this mission lightly because the Lord asks me to be his witness before
the world, and someday, at the end of time, He will ask what I did to make known his saving
Word.
8. Jesus offers the Father’s forgiveness for all. Are you an agent of forgiveness, a
representative there to forgive?
PRAYER. What do I/we say to the Lord?
Prayer is to answer to the Lord who speaks to us first. We want to hear his Word of Salvation. This
word is very different from what the world offers us. Now it is time to speak to the Lord:
Thank you Lord for your Word of Salvation.
Thanks for coming to our lives, when we are afraid and are hiding.
Lord grant us your peace, we need your peace.
We want to live as you ask us, to live according to the Spirit.
Lord, we have said that we are your disciples, your followers.
But this is more than an intellectual act. It is to follow no matter what, no matter where...
Lord we want to be bearers of your peace. Thank you for sending us.
We ask You to forgive us for all our disagreements and divisions,
Primarily within our Church, within our communities.
We want to be the disciples that you want us to be Lord.
We are the ones who continue your Salvation History.
Amen.
And now, with fervor, we recite the prayer of St. Francis of Assisi:
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace:
Where there is hatred, let me sow love,
Where there is offense, let me sow pardon,
Where there is discord, let me bring unity,
Where there is error, let me bring truth,
Where there is doubt, let me bring faith,
Where there is despair, let me bring hope,
Where there is darkness, let me bring light
Where there is sadness, joy.

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O Lord, do not let me so much seek
To be consoled as to console,
To be understood, as to understand,
To be loved, as to love.
Because it is in giving that we receive,
In forgiving, we are forgiven,
In dying that we are born to eternal life.
Amen
CONTEMPLATION: How do I/we Internalize the text?
Take some time for contemplation. Repeat the Gospel verse "As the Father sent me, so I send you."
Repeat it several times. Turn your mind, your heart, your whole being to the verse. Let it become a
part of our life; let it become alive in our hearts.
"As the Father sent me, so I send you."
(verse 21)
This is how we enter contemplation, repeating and thanking Jesus to come.
ACTION: What's the commitment?
Regularly practicing Lectio Divina exercises should cause a noticeable change in my life. If there is
no change, it is because I am not a true Christian.
IF I AM ALONE: I re-read the text, I look inside the words that are given to me. I think about
everything that involves receiving the peace of Jesus despite my fears, and now I understand that
He sent me as the Father sent Him. For this, he gives me the Holy Spirit. Where can I go? I will find a
situation in which I know clearly that there are divisions, anger or stress. Let me be an instrument of
peace. And so I will fulfil my mission. Write your missionary commitment.
IN A GROUP: It is important to find out with the group all the moments that we are afraid, and
when we are ashamed of being Christians. As a group make a public activity, which help us to be
disciples and missionaries of the Lord. Any outside activity, encouraging visits to the most
marginalized people in society to bring the presence of the Risen Christ as good disciples and
missionaries.

Lectio Divina for Sunday of Pentecost Cycle A

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Lectio Divina for Sunday of Pentecost Cycle A