Monday of the Angel

Monday of the Angel
Memorial of Saint Anselm (+1109), a Benedictine monk and bishop of Canterbury, who suffered exile for his love for the Church.

Reading of the Word of God

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

Christ is risen from the dead
and will die no more.
He awaits us in Galilee!

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

Acts 2,14.22-33

Then Peter stood up with the Eleven and addressed them in a loud voice: 'Men of Judaea, and all you who live in Jerusalem, make no mistake about this, but listen carefully to what I say. 'Men of Israel, listen to what I am going to say: Jesus the Nazarene was a man commended to you by God by the miracles and portents and signs that God worked through him when he was among you, as you know. This man, who was put into your power by the deliberate intention and foreknowledge of God, you took and had crucified and killed by men outside the Law. But God raised him to life, freeing him from the pangs of Hades; for it was impossible for him to be held in its power since, as David says of him: I kept the Lord before my sight always, for with him at my right hand nothing can shake me. So my heart rejoiced my tongue delighted; my body, too, will rest secure, for you will not abandon me to Hades or allow your holy one to see corruption. You have taught me the way of life, you will fill me with joy in your presence. 'Brothers, no one can deny that the patriarch David himself is dead and buried: his tomb is still with us. But since he was a prophet, and knew that God had sworn him an oath to make one of his descendants succeed him on the throne, he spoke with foreknowledge about the resurrection of the Christ: he is the one who was not abandoned to Hades, and whose body did not see corruption. God raised this man Jesus to life, and of that we are all witnesses. Now raised to the heights by God's right hand, he has received from the Father the Holy Spirit, who was promised, and what you see and hear is the outpouring of that Spirit.

 

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

Christ is risen from the dead
and will die no more.
He awaits us in Galilee!

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

The first readings of eucharistic celebrations of the weeks after Easter are taken from the Acts of the Apostles, as to show the fruit that is born of the mystery of Easter. The apostle proclaims that Jesus defeated evil and death and has established a new and more just for everyone. Peter says that that young prophet from Nazareth, after performing miracles and healings, voluntarily gave himself up to the violence of evil. He was condemned to death and put on the cross. But the Father raised him up, freeing him from the anguish of death. His obedience to God, his surrender to the Father's will and his boundless love for mankind earned him the resurrection. "This Jesus God raised him up," Peter tells the crowd. It is the Gospel of Easter. It is the heart of the Christian preaching that has crossed the centuries since that day and come down to us. Indeed, it is delivered to us again in these days so that we in turn continue to communicate it everywhere in the world. Everyone, no matter if consciously or not, is waiting for it. The Jesus whom Peter proclaims is the Jesus of the Gospel, that is, the one who loved all to the point of taking upon himself the sin of all; and, by giving himself up to death out of love, he conquered it forever. If until then death put the word end to all life, from that day on the opposite happens: life conquers death, love conquers evil. The prophets had foretold this. With Jesus this prophecy finds its fulfilment. And Peter, through the testimony of the disciples of all times, continues to say: "This Jesus God raised him up and of that we are all witnesses."