2nd Week of Easter – Saturday A

First of all, the first reading—it’s not too long, so let’s read it and then I’ll comment on it:

“As the number of disciples continued to grow, the Hellenists complained against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution. So the Twelve called together the community of the disciples and said, ‘It is not right for us to neglect the word of God to serve at table… Brothers, select from among you seven reputable men, filled with the Spirit and wisdom… whereas we shall devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.’ They presented these men to the apostles who prayed and laid hands on them. The word of God continued to spread, and the number of the disciples in Jerusalem increased greatly” (Acts 6:2-7).

My brothers and sisters, this reading is a true testament to the power of the Risen Christ, who sends the Holy Spirit, organizing the Church, nourishing it, adorning it with the ability to stop and address anything that comes up in charity and in love. And because they do so, the number of believers continues to grow. This is not just administration at work here, but the organizing power of the Holy Spirit that our Lord, now in His Risen form, gives to the Church that He instituted.

And what we see here are the Apostles, who are the first priests, the first bishops, that Church that Jesus had ordained, addressing the situation between the Hellenists and the Jews. These are all converts, and the beautiful thing to see here, my brothers and sisters, is that now it is beyond the confines of the territory of Israel. Already, even at the beginnings of the Church right after Pentecost, we see that the floodgates of salvation have been opened through Christ—through His suffering, His Passion, what He endured for us. Now everyone is invited to believe, to embrace Him, to listen, to live by His words, and to receive the fruits of His love in the Sacraments.

And one of the Sacraments we see on full display here is the Sacrament of Holy Orders. Today, when a candidate is ordained, either a deacon or a priest, the bishop lays his hands on the head of the candidate and invokes the Holy Spirit silently. And we see this in today’s first reading: “They presented these men to the apostles who prayed and laid hands on them” (Acts 6:6). They ordained them, and the Holy Spirit came down upon them and filled them with the grace for the ministry. Praise the Lord! We believe and we trust in the gift of ordination, that the Lord has come down upon us priests to be able to serve the people of God as best as we can, but only through the power and through the grace and through the mercy of the Holy Spirit. Pray for your priests and your deacons, so that they may use the gift that has been planted within them, give it life, and give it passion for the greater glory of Jesus Christ.

Now, my brothers and sisters, here we see cultures coming together—the Greeks and the Jews. As Saint Paul says, “There is no longer Jew or Greek, slave or free, male and female” (Galatians 3:28). All these distinctions, all these class divisions which once separated us now melt into a unity in Christ. Whoever loves Jesus, whoever follows Him and tries to do the will of God through Christ—God who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—whoever embraces that is now the true Israelite, a member of the new People of God.

“When it was evening, the disciples of Jesus went down to the sea… They saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat, and they began to be afraid. But He said to them, ‘It is I. Do not be afraid’” (John 6:16–20).

My brothers and sisters, our Lord, walking toward them on the sea, is already displaying His power over nature, over all created things. Because inhabiting that human body, that true human nature which they saw walking on the sea, was the God of the universe—the God who created all things from nothing. And so, for Him to raise up His own mortal body—we see throughout the New Testament how the Father raised Jesus—but also He had the power to lay down His life and to take it up again (cf. John 10:18). Why? Because He is God.

So the best way to understand this is that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit together raised up the mortal body of Jesus, as His Spirit entered into it once again. This is a prototype of what will happen to everyone at the end of the world: “Those who have done good will rise to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of condemnation” (John 5:29).

My brothers and sisters, the soul that goes on before that day is judged. It already begins to taste either the sweetness of Paradise—even if still being purified—or the bitterness of eternal separation. But on that day, every body will rise from the grave: the elect to everlasting life, the damned to eternal separation. The damned will have a spiritualized body, capable beyond our imagining, yet without the joy of God. The elect, however, will receive not only a spiritualized body but a glorified one, like that of Christ.

My brothers and sisters, these realities are beyond what we can fully grasp now. But as Jesus says, walking toward the Apostles on the sea when they are afraid, “It is I. Do not be afraid” (John 6:20). Trust in Him. Take His hand, for He desires to bring you to eternal Paradise, to be with Him forever.

Through the intercession of our Blessed Mother Mary and our holy father Saint Francis of Assisi, who embraced Jesus totally and without reserve, may Almighty God bless you this day.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.