Monday of the Fifth Week of Easter
Lectionary: 285
Lectionary: 285
There was an attempt in Iconium
by both the Gentiles and the Jews,
together with their leaders,
to attack and stone Paul and Barnabas.
They realized it,
and fled to the Lycaonian cities of Lystra and Derbe
and to the surrounding countryside,
where they continued to proclaim the Good News.
At Lystra there was a crippled man, lame from birth,
who had never walked.
He listened to Paul speaking, who looked intently at him,
saw that he had the faith to be healed,
and called out in a loud voice, "Stand up straight on your feet."
He jumped up and began to walk about.
When the crowds saw what Paul had done,
they cried out in Lycaonian,
"The gods have come down to us in human form."
They called Barnabas "Zeus" and Paul "Hermes,"
because he was the chief speaker.
And the priest of Zeus, whose temple was at the entrance to the city,
brought oxen and garlands to the gates,
for he together with the people intended to offer sacrifice.
The Apostles Barnabas and Paul tore their garments
when they heard this and rushed out into the crowd, shouting,
"Men, why are you doing this?
We are of the same nature as you, human beings.
We proclaim to you good news
that you should turn from these idols to the living God,
who made heaven and earth and sea and all that is in them.
In past generations he allowed all Gentiles to go their own ways;
yet, in bestowing his goodness,
he did not leave himself without witness,
for he gave you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons,
and filled you with nourishment and gladness for your hearts."
Even with these words, they scarcely restrained the crowds
from offering sacrifice to them.
by both the Gentiles and the Jews,
together with their leaders,
to attack and stone Paul and Barnabas.
They realized it,
and fled to the Lycaonian cities of Lystra and Derbe
and to the surrounding countryside,
where they continued to proclaim the Good News.
At Lystra there was a crippled man, lame from birth,
who had never walked.
He listened to Paul speaking, who looked intently at him,
saw that he had the faith to be healed,
and called out in a loud voice, "Stand up straight on your feet."
He jumped up and began to walk about.
When the crowds saw what Paul had done,
they cried out in Lycaonian,
"The gods have come down to us in human form."
They called Barnabas "Zeus" and Paul "Hermes,"
because he was the chief speaker.
And the priest of Zeus, whose temple was at the entrance to the city,
brought oxen and garlands to the gates,
for he together with the people intended to offer sacrifice.
The Apostles Barnabas and Paul tore their garments
when they heard this and rushed out into the crowd, shouting,
"Men, why are you doing this?
We are of the same nature as you, human beings.
We proclaim to you good news
that you should turn from these idols to the living God,
who made heaven and earth and sea and all that is in them.
In past generations he allowed all Gentiles to go their own ways;
yet, in bestowing his goodness,
he did not leave himself without witness,
for he gave you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons,
and filled you with nourishment and gladness for your hearts."
Even with these words, they scarcely restrained the crowds
from offering sacrifice to them.
Responsorial
PsalmPS 115:1-2, 3-4, 15-16
R. (1ab) Not
to us, O Lord, but to your name give the glory.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Not to us, O LORD, not to us
but to your name give glory
because of your mercy, because of your truth.
Why should the pagans say,
"Where is their God?"
R. Not to us, O Lord, but to your name give the glory.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Our God is in heaven;
whatever he wills, he does.
Their idols are silver and gold,
the handiwork of men.
R. Not to us, O Lord, but to your name give the glory.
or:
R. Alleluia.
May you be blessed by the LORD,
who made heaven and earth.
Heaven is the heaven of the LORD,
but the earth he has given to the children of men.
R. Not to us, O Lord, but to your name give the glory.
or:
R. Alleluia.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Not to us, O LORD, not to us
but to your name give glory
because of your mercy, because of your truth.
Why should the pagans say,
"Where is their God?"
R. Not to us, O Lord, but to your name give the glory.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Our God is in heaven;
whatever he wills, he does.
Their idols are silver and gold,
the handiwork of men.
R. Not to us, O Lord, but to your name give the glory.
or:
R. Alleluia.
May you be blessed by the LORD,
who made heaven and earth.
Heaven is the heaven of the LORD,
but the earth he has given to the children of men.
R. Not to us, O Lord, but to your name give the glory.
or:
R. Alleluia.
AlleluiaJN 14:26
R. Alleluia,
alleluia.
The Holy Spirit will teach you everything
and remind you of all I told you.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
The Holy Spirit will teach you everything
and remind you of all I told you.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
GospelJN 14:21-26
Jesus said to his disciples:
"Whoever has my commandments and observes them
is the one who loves me.
Whoever loves me will be loved by my Father,
and I will love him and reveal myself to him."
Judas, not the Iscariot, said to him,
"Master, then what happened that you will reveal yourself to us
and not to the world?"
Jesus answered and said to him,
"Whoever loves me will keep my word,
and my Father will love him,
and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him.
Whoever does not love me does not keep my words;
yet the word you hear is not mine
but that of the Father who sent me.
"I have told you this while I am with you.
The Advocate, the Holy Spirit
whom the Father will send in my name --
he will teach you everything
and remind you of all that I told you."
"Whoever has my commandments and observes them
is the one who loves me.
Whoever loves me will be loved by my Father,
and I will love him and reveal myself to him."
Judas, not the Iscariot, said to him,
"Master, then what happened that you will reveal yourself to us
and not to the world?"
Jesus answered and said to him,
"Whoever loves me will keep my word,
and my Father will love him,
and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him.
Whoever does not love me does not keep my words;
yet the word you hear is not mine
but that of the Father who sent me.
"I have told you this while I am with you.
The Advocate, the Holy Spirit
whom the Father will send in my name --
he will teach you everything
and remind you of all that I told you."
Meditation: "If you love me,
keep my word"
Do you know the love that surpasses all, that is
stronger than death itself (Song
of Songs 8:6)? In Jesus' last supper discourse he
speaks of the love he has for his disciples and of his Father's love. He
prepares his disciples for his imminent departure to return to his Father by
exhorting them to prove their love for him through their loyalty and obedience
to his word. He promises them the abiding instruction and consolation of the
Holy Spirit.
Saint Augustine says the Lord loves each of us
as if there were only one of us to love. God’s love for each of us is as
real and tangible as the love of a mother for her child and the love of a lover
who gives all for his beloved. God made us in love for love - to know him
personally and to grow in the knowledge of his great love for us and to love
him in return.
God's love has been poured into our hearts through the
Holy Spirit
How can we know and be assured of the love of God? The Holy Spirit helps us to grow in the knowledge of God and his great love. The Spirit enables us to experience the love of God and to be assured of the Lord’s abiding presence with us (see Romans 5:5 and 8:35-39). The Holy Spirit also opens our ears to hear and understand the word of God. Do you listen attentively to God's word and believe it? Ask the Holy Spirit to inflame your heart with the love of God and his word.
How can we know and be assured of the love of God? The Holy Spirit helps us to grow in the knowledge of God and his great love. The Spirit enables us to experience the love of God and to be assured of the Lord’s abiding presence with us (see Romans 5:5 and 8:35-39). The Holy Spirit also opens our ears to hear and understand the word of God. Do you listen attentively to God's word and believe it? Ask the Holy Spirit to inflame your heart with the love of God and his word.
"Lord Jesus, in love you created me and you drew
me to yourself. May I never lose sight of you nor forget your steadfast love
and faithfulness. And may I daily dwell upon your word and give you praise in
the sanctuary of my heart, You who are my All."
Daily Quote from the early church fathers: God is pleased to dwell in us, by
Augustine of Hippo, 354-430 A.D.
"God is not too grand to come, he is not too
fussy or shy, he is not too proud - on the contrary he is pleased to come if
you do not displease him. Listen to the promise he makes. Listen to him indeed
promising with pleasure, not threatening in displeasure, "We shall come to
him," he says, "I and the Father." To the one he had earlier
called his friend, the one who obeys his precepts, the keeper of his
commandment, the lover of God, the lover of his neighbor, he says, "We
shall come to him and make our abode with him." (excerpt from Sermon 23,6)
MONDAY, APRIL
30, JOHN 14:21-26
Easter Weekday
(Acts 14:5-18; Psalm 115)
Easter Weekday
(Acts 14:5-18; Psalm 115)
KEY VERSE: "Whoever has my commandments and observes them is the one who loves me" (v.21).
TO KNOW: As Jesus prepared to return to the Father, he comforted his fearful and bewildered disciples about his impending departure. The disciples were afraid that Jesus was abandoning them, but he assured them that he would not leave them orphans. He and the Father would send another "Advocate" (Greek, parakletos, an intercessor, one who defends someone as in a court of law) who would give them help in time of need. Jesus gave a "new commandment" to his followers, to "love one another" as he loved them (Jn 13:34). Judas (not the Iscariot) asked, “Master, why is it that you will reveal yourself to us and not to the world?” Jesus said that the unbelieving world could not accept this truth because they did not love him, nor did they keep his commands. Jesus' disciples would prove their love by obedience to his word and by loving one another. Jesus promised that he and the Father would make their dwelling within the hearts of believers. The Holy Spirit, or the "Advocate," would be sent by the Father in Jesus' name to remind his followers of everything that he taught them.
TO LOVE: Have I kept Jesus' command to love those who may be difficult to love?
TO SERVE: Holy Spirit, be my advocate when I face a difficult situation.
Optional Memorial of Saint Pius
V, pope
Upon his ascension to the papacy, Pius V faced the task of enacting the reforms of the Council of Trent. Foundations were established to spread the faith and preserve the doctrine of the Church. New seminaries were opened, a new breviary, a new missal, and a new catechism were published. Pius spent much time personally working with the needy. He built hospitals and used the papal treasury to care for the poor. At the time of his death he was working on a Christian, European alliance to break the power of the Islamic states.
Monday 30 April
2018
St Pius V.
Acts
14:5-18. Psalm 113B(115):1-4, 15-16. John 14:21-26.
Not to us,
O Lord, but to your name give the glory—Psalm 113B(115):1-4, 15-16.
The Holy
Spirit, who the Father will send, will teach you all things.
In my
prayerful reflection today I will endeavour to hear the words of Jesus recorded
in this Gospel extract from his supper discourse as if they were addressed to
me personally. Calling me by name, Jesus says to me: ‘If you love me, you will
keep my word and my Father will love you and we will come to you and make our
home with you.’
To me he
promises to send the Holy Spirit who will teach me everything and remind me of
all that he has said to me. O Lord, may I never forget your steadfast love and
faithfulness. Draw me ever more closely to yourself and open my ears to hear
your saving word, to understand it more fully and to live my life in accordance
with it.
Saint Pius V
Saint of the Day for April 30
(January 17, 1504 – May 1, 1572)
Saint Pius V’s Story
This is the pope whose job it was to implement the historic
Council of Trent. If we think popes had difficulties in implementing Vatican
Council II, Pius V had even greater problems after Trent four centuries
earlier.
During his papacy (1566-1572), Pius V was faced with the almost
overwhelming responsibility of getting a shattered and scattered Church back on
its feet. The family of God had been shaken by corruption, by the Reformation,
by the constant threat of Turkish invasion, and by the bloody bickering of the
young nation-states. In 1545, a previous pope convened the Council of Trent in
an attempt to deal with all these pressing problems. Off and on over 18 years,
the Fathers of the Church discussed, condemned, affirmed, and decided upon a
course of action. The Council closed in 1563.
Pius V was elected in 1566 and charged with the task of
implementing the sweeping reforms called for by the Council. He ordered the
founding of seminaries for the proper training of priests. He published a new
missal, a new breviary, a new catechism, and established the Confraternity of
Christian Doctrine classes for the young. Pius zealously enforced legislation
against abuses in the Church. He patiently served the sick and the poor by
building hospitals, providing food for the hungry, and giving money customarily
used for the papal banquets to poor Roman converts. His decision to keep
wearing his Dominican habit led to the custom–to this day–of the pope wearing a
white cassock.
In striving to reform both Church and state, Pius encountered
vehement opposition from England’s Queen Elizabeth and the Roman Emperor
Maximilian II. Problems in France and in the Netherlands also hindered Pius’s
hopes for a Europe united against the Turks. Only at the last minute was he
able to organize a fleet which won a decisive victory in the Gulf of Lepanto,
off Greece, on October 7, 1571.
Pius’s ceaseless papal quest for a renewal of the Church was
grounded in his personal life as a Dominican friar. He spent long hours with
his God in prayer, fasted rigorously, deprived himself of many customary papal
luxuries, and faithfully observed the spirit of the Dominican Rule that he had
professed.
Reflection
In their personal lives and in their actions as popes, Saint
Pius V and Blessed Paul VI both led the family of God in the process of
interiorizing and implementing the new birth called for by the Spirit in major
Councils. With zeal and patience, Pius and Paul pursued the changes urged by
the Council Fathers. Like Pius and Paul, we too are called to constant change
of heart and life.
LECTIO DIVINA: JOHN 14,21-26
Lectio Divina:
Monday, April 30, 2018
Easter
Time
1) OPENING PRAYER
Lord God, loving Father,
we look for your presence
in the temple of nature
and in churches built by our hands,
and you are there with your people.
But above all, you have made your temple
right in our hearts.
God, give us eyes of faith and love
to recognize that you live in us
with your Son and the Holy Spirit
if we keep the word of Jesus Christ,
your Son and our Lord for ever.
we look for your presence
in the temple of nature
and in churches built by our hands,
and you are there with your people.
But above all, you have made your temple
right in our hearts.
God, give us eyes of faith and love
to recognize that you live in us
with your Son and the Holy Spirit
if we keep the word of Jesus Christ,
your Son and our Lord for ever.
2) GOSPEL READING - JOHN
14,21-26
Jesus said to his disciples:
"Whoever holds to my commandments and keeps them is the one who loves me;
and whoever loves me will be loved by my Father, and I shall love him and
reveal myself to him.' Judas -- not Judas Iscariot -- said to him, 'Lord, what
has happened, that you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?'
Jesus replied: Anyone who loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love
him, and we shall come to him and make a home in him. Anyone who does not love
me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not my own: it is the
word of the Father who sent me. I have said these things to you while still
with you; but the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my
name, will teach you everything and remind you of all I have said to you.
3) REFLECTION
• As we said at the beginning, chapter
14 of the Gospel of John is a beautiful example of how the catechesis was done
in the communities of Asia Minor, at the end of the first century. Through the
questions of the disciples and the responses of Jesus, the Christians formed
their conscience and found an orientation for their problems. In chapter 14, we
find the question of Thomas and the answer of Jesus (Jn 14, 5-7), the question
of Philip and the response of Jesus (Jn 14, 8-21), and the question of Judas
and the answer of Jesus (Jn 12, 22-26). The last phrase of the answer of Jesus
to Philip (Jn 14, 21) forms the first verse of today’s Gospel.
• John 14, 21: I shall love him and
reveal myself to him. This verse presents the summary of the response of Jesus
to Philip. Philip had said: “Show us the Father and then we shall be
satisfied!” (Jn 14, 8). Moses had asked God: “Show me your glory!” (Ex 33, 18).
God answered: “My face you cannot see, for no human being can see me and
survive” (Ex 33, 20). The Father cannot be shown. God lives in inaccessible
light (1 Tim 6, 16). “Nobody has ever seen God” (I Jn 4, 12). But the presence
of the Father can be experienced through the experience of love. The First
Letter of Saint John says: “He who does not love does not know God because God
is Love”. Jesus tells Philip: “Whoever loves me will be loved by my Father, and
I shall love him and reveal myself to him”. By observing the commandment of
Jesus, which is the commandment to love our neighbour (Jn 15, 17), the person
shows his love for Jesus. And whoever loves Jesus, will be loved by the Father
and can be certain that the Father will manifest himself to him. In the
response to Judas, Jesus will say how this manifestation of the Father will
take place in our life.
• John 14, 22: The question of Judas is
the question of all. The question of Judas: “Lord, what has happened that you
intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?” This question of Judas
mirrors a problem which is real even today. Sometimes, among us, Christians,
there arises the idea of being better than the others and of being loved by God
more than others. Do we attribute to God the distinction among persons?
• John 14, 23-24: The answer of Jesus.
The answer of Jesus is simple and profound. He repeats what he had just said to
Philip. The problem is not if we, Christians, are loved more by God than
others, or that the others are despised by God. This is not the criterion for
the preference of the Father. The criterion for the preference of the Father is
always the same: love. “If anyone loves me, he will observe my word, and my
Father will love him and we shall come to him and make a home in him. Anyone
who does not love me does not keep my words”. Independently of whether the
person is Christian or not, the Father manifests himself to all those who
observe the commandment of Jesus which is love for neighbour (Jn 15, 17). In
what does the manifestation of the Father consist? The response to this
question is engraved in the heart of humanity, in the universal human
experience. Observe the life of the persons who practice love and make of their
life a gift for others. Examine their experience, independently of religion, of
social class, of race or colour, the practice of love gives us a profound peace
and it is a great joy that they succeed to live and bear together pain and
suffering. This experience is the reflection of the manifestation of the Father
in the life of the person. It is the realization of the promise: “I and the
Father will come to him and make our home in him.
• John 14, 25-26: The promise of the
Holy Spirit. Jesus ends his response to Judas saying: I have said these things
to you while still with you. Jesus communicates everything which he has heard
from the Father (Jn 15, 15). His words are a source of life and they should be
meditated, deepened and updated constantly in the light of the always new
reality which surrounds us. For this constant meditation of his words, Jesus
promises us the help of the Holy Spirit: “The Consoler, the Holy Spirit that
the Father will send in my name will teach you everything and remind you of all
I have said to you.
4) PERSONAL QUESTIONS
• Jesus says: We will come to him and
make our home in him. How do I experience this promise?
• We have the promise of the gift of the
Spirit to help us understand the word of Jesus. Do I invoke the light of the
Spirit when I prepare myself to read and meditate the Scripture?
5) CONCLUDING PRAYER
Day after day I shall bless you,
I shall praise your name for ever and ever.
Great is Yahweh and worthy of all praise,
his greatness beyond all reckoning. (Ps 145,2-3)
I shall praise your name for ever and ever.
Great is Yahweh and worthy of all praise,
his greatness beyond all reckoning. (Ps 145,2-3)
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