Thursday of the fifth week of Easter
Lectionary: 288
Reading 1 ACTS 15:7-21
After much debate had taken place,
Peter got up and said to the Apostles and the
presbyters,
“My brothers, you are well aware that from
early days
God made his choice among you that through my
mouth
the Gentiles would hear the word of the Gospel
and believe.
And God, who knows the heart,
bore witness by granting them the Holy Spirit
just as he did us.
He made no distinction between us and them,
for by faith he purified their hearts.
Why, then, are you now putting God to the test
by placing on the shoulders of the disciples
a yoke that neither our ancestors nor we have
been able to bear?
On the contrary, we believe that we are saved
through the grace of the Lord Jesus, in the
same way as they.”
The whole assembly fell silent,
and they listened
while Paul and Barnabas described the signs
and wonders
God had worked among the Gentiles through
them.
After they had fallen silent, James responded,
“My brothers, listen to me.
Symeon has described how God first concerned
himself
with acquiring from among the Gentiles a
people for his name.
The words of the prophets agree with this, as
is written:
After this I shall return
and rebuild the fallen hut of David;
from its ruins I shall rebuild it
and raise it up again,
so that the rest of humanity may seek out the
Lord,
even all the Gentiles on whom my name is
invoked.
Thus says the Lord who accomplishes these
things,
known from of old.
It is my judgment, therefore,
that we ought to stop troubling the Gentiles
who turn to God,
but tell them by letter to avoid pollution
from idols,
unlawful marriage, the meat of strangled
animals, and blood.
For Moses, for generations now,
has had those who proclaim him in every town,
as he has been read in the synagogues every
sabbath.”
Responsorial Psalm PS 96:1-2A, 2B-3, 10
R. (3) Proclaim God’s marvelous deeds to all
the nations.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Sing to the LORD a new song;
sing to the LORD, all you lands.
Sing to the LORD; bless his name.
R. Proclaim God’s marvelous deeds to all the
nations.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Announce his salvation, day after day.
Tell his glory among the nations;
among all peoples, his wondrous deeds.
R. Proclaim God’s marvelous deeds to all the
nations.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Say among the nations: The LORD is king.
He has made the world firm, not to be moved;
he governs the peoples with equity.
R. Proclaim God’s marvelous deeds to all the
nations.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Gospel JN 15:9-11
Jesus said to his disciples:
“As the Father loves me, so I also love you.
Remain in my love.
If you keep my commandments, you will remain
in my love,
just as I have kept my Father’s commandments
and remain in his love.
“I have told you this so that
my joy might be in you and
your joy might be complete.”
Meditation: "Abide
in my love"
Do you know the love that no earthly power nor death itself can
destroy? The love of God the Father and his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ is a
creative, life-giving love that produces immeasurable joy and lasting
friendship for all who accept it. God loves the world so much because he
created it to reflect his glory. And he created each one of us in his own image
and likeness (Genesis 1:26-27). He wants us to be united with himself in an
inseparable bond of unity, peace, and joy that endures for all eternity. That
is why the Father sent his Son, the Lord Jesus, into the world, not to condemn
it, but to redeem it from the curse of sin and death (John 3:16-17). Paul the
Apostle tells us that we can abound in joy and hope because God's love has been
poured into our hearts through the gift of the Holy Spirit who has been given
to us (Romans 5:5).
Through Jesus' sacrifice on the cross, God offers pardon for all
of our sins and failings, and he calls us to lay aside everything that might
hold us back from loving him above all else. We owe him a debt of gratitude and
love in return. We can never outmatch God because he has loved us first and has
given himself to us without measure. Our love for him is a response to his
exceeding mercy and kindness towards us. In God's love alone can we find the
fulness of abundant life, peace, and joy.
A new commandment of love
The Lord Jesus gives his disciples a new commandment - a new way of love that goes beyond giving only what is required or what we think others might deserve. What is the essence of Jesus' new commandment of love? It is love to the death - a purifying love that overcomes selfishness, fear, and pride. It is a total giving of oneself for the sake of others - a selfless and self-giving love that is oriented towards putting the welfare of others ahead of myself.
The Lord Jesus gives his disciples a new commandment - a new way of love that goes beyond giving only what is required or what we think others might deserve. What is the essence of Jesus' new commandment of love? It is love to the death - a purifying love that overcomes selfishness, fear, and pride. It is a total giving of oneself for the sake of others - a selfless and self-giving love that is oriented towards putting the welfare of others ahead of myself.
There is no greater proof in love than the sacrifice of one's
life for the sake of another. Jesus proved his love by giving his life for us
on the cross of Calvary. Through the shedding of his blood for our sake, our
sins are not only washed clean, but new life is poured out for us through the
gift of the Holy Spirit. We prove our love for God and for one another when we
embrace the way of the cross. What is the cross in my life? When my will
crosses with God's will, then God's will must be done. Do you know the peace
and joy of a life fully surrendered to God and consumed with his love?
"Lord Jesus, may I always grow in the joy and hope which
your promises give me. Inflame my heart with love for you and your ways and
with charity and compassion for my neighbor. May there be nothing in my life
which keeps me from your love."
THURSDAY, MAY 7, JOHN 15:9-11
Easter Weekday
(Acts 15:7-21; Psalm 96)
KEY VERSE: "If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love" (v 10).
TO READ: In Jesus' time, a son was expected to become an apprentice to his Father in his trade. Jesus learned by watching Joseph at work. A father taught his son because he loved him. In the same way, Jesus' whole life was directed toward doing the Father's will; he only did what he saw the Father doing. Just as Jesus could do nothing apart from the Father, neither could his disciples do anything if they were separated from him (15:5). Those disciples who lived in accord with the Father and the Son would find that obedience to God's commands was not a joyless task, but an expression of love. They would discover that their joy was made complete by living as Jesus did, in a loving response to their Father's will.
TO REFLECT: Do I find joy in my work?
TO RESPOND: Risen Lord, teach me to joyfully obey our Father.
Easter Weekday
(Acts 15:7-21; Psalm 96)
KEY VERSE: "If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love" (v 10).
TO READ: In Jesus' time, a son was expected to become an apprentice to his Father in his trade. Jesus learned by watching Joseph at work. A father taught his son because he loved him. In the same way, Jesus' whole life was directed toward doing the Father's will; he only did what he saw the Father doing. Just as Jesus could do nothing apart from the Father, neither could his disciples do anything if they were separated from him (15:5). Those disciples who lived in accord with the Father and the Son would find that obedience to God's commands was not a joyless task, but an expression of love. They would discover that their joy was made complete by living as Jesus did, in a loving response to their Father's will.
TO REFLECT: Do I find joy in my work?
TO RESPOND: Risen Lord, teach me to joyfully obey our Father.
Thursday 7 May 2015
Acts 15:7-21. Proclaim
his marvellous deeds to all the nations—Ps 95(96):1-3, 10. John 15:9-11.
Readings
‘Remain in his love.’
It has been said that
the world would be converted overnight if Christians looked as if they believed
the Good News. But, Lord, it is not easy to be habitually joyful. There seem to
be so many things to worry us. We worry about the people we love, whether they
are well, whether they believe in you. We worry about the threats to world
peace. We worry about ourselves—am I a success, whether in the eyes of others
or in my own eyes? Lord, no wonder I’m not more joyful.
Yet I have the greatest
reason for happiness: ‘As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you’.
Be with those I love, Jesus, and be with me. Give me confidence in
your love, so that my joy will shine forth and encourage others to come closer
to you.
MINUTE MEDITATIONS
|
Jesus Is Our Torch
|
God is a protective and loving father, with us always. In fact, at
every moment and in every situation, He's reaching out to us to bring us home
to His heart. He has given us the greatest book ever, the Bible, to guide us
back to a relationship with Him, and He has given us a torch, the Light of the
World, His only begotten Son, to light the way.
May
7
St. Rose Venerini
(1656-1728)
St. Rose Venerini
(1656-1728)
Rose was born at Viterbo in Italy, the daughter of a doctor.
Following the death of her fiancé she entered a convent, but soon returned home
to care for her newly widowed mother. Meanwhile, Rose invited the women of the
neighborhood to recite the rosary in her home, forming a sort of sodality with
them.
As she
looked to her future, Rose, under the spiritual guidance of a Jesuit priest,
became convinced that she was called to become a teacher in the world rather
than a contemplative nun in a convent. Clearly, she made the right choice: She
was a born teacher, and the free school for girls she opened in 1685 was well
received.
Soon the
cardinal invited her to oversee the training of teachers and the administration
of schools in his Diocese of Montefiascone. As Rose's reputation grew, she was
called upon to organize schools in many parts of Italy, including Rome. Her
disposition was right for the task as well, for Rose often met considerable
opposition but was never deterred.
She died
in Rome in 1728, where a number of miracles were attributed to her. She was
beatified in 1952 and canonized in 2006. The sodality, or group of women she
had invited to prayer, was ultimately given the rank of a religious
congregation. Today, the so-called Venerini Sisters can be found in the United
States and elsewhere, working among Italian immigrants.
Comment:
Whatever state of life God calls us to, we bring with us an assortment of experiences, interests and gifts—however small they seem to us. Rose’s life stands as a reminder that all we are is meant to be put to service wherever we find ourselves.
Whatever state of life God calls us to, we bring with us an assortment of experiences, interests and gifts—however small they seem to us. Rose’s life stands as a reminder that all we are is meant to be put to service wherever we find ourselves.
LECTIO DIVINA:
JOHN 15,9-11
Lectio:
Thursday, May 7, 2015
Easter Time
1)
OPENING PRAYER
Lord our God,
you want your Church
to be open to all persons and all nations,
for your Son was available to all
and you love all people.
God, give us open minds
and open hearts.
Save us from our narrow prejudices
and stop us from trying to create people
in our own image and likeness.
We ask you this through Christ our Lord.
you want your Church
to be open to all persons and all nations,
for your Son was available to all
and you love all people.
God, give us open minds
and open hearts.
Save us from our narrow prejudices
and stop us from trying to create people
in our own image and likeness.
We ask you this through Christ our Lord.
2)
GOSPEL READING - JOHN 15,9-11
Jesus said to his disciples: "I have loved you just as the
Father has loved me. Remain in my love.
If you keep my commandments you will remain in my love, just as
I have kept my Father's commandments and remain in his love.
I have told you this so that my own joy may be in you and your
joy be complete.
3)
REFLECTION
• The reflection around the parable of the vine includes from
verses 1 to 17. Today we will mediate on verses 9 to 11; Day after tomorrow,
the Gospel skips verses 12 to 17 and begins with verse 18, which speaks about
another theme. This is why, today, we include in a brief comment verses 12 to
17, because in them blossoms the flower and the parable of the vine shows all
its beauty.
• Today’s Gospel is formed only of three verses which continue
on yesterday’s Gospel and give more light to be able to apply the comparison of
the vine to the life of the community. The community is like a vine. It goes
through difficult moments. It is the time of the pruning, a necessary moment in
order to be able to bear more fruit.
• John 15, 9-11: Remain in my love, source of perfect joy. Jesus
remains in the love of the Father, by observing the commandments which he
receives from him. We remain in the love of Jesus by observing the commandments
which he has left for us. And we should observe them in the same way in which
he observed the commandments of the Father: “If you keep my commandments you
will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and remain
in his love”. It is in this union of the love of the Father and of Jesus that
the source of true joy is found: “I have told you this so that my joy may be in
you and your joy be complete”.
• John 15, 12-13: Love one another as I have loved you. The
commandment of Jesus is only one: “To love one another, as he has loved us!”
(Jn 15, 12). Jesus goes beyond the Old Testament. The ancient criterion was:
“You will love your neighbour as yourself” (Lev 18, 19). The new criterion is:
“That you love one another, as I have loved you.” Here he says the phrase which
we sing even until now: “Nobody has greater love than this: to give one’s life
for one’s friends!”
• John 15, 14-15: Friends and not servants. “You are my friends
if you do what I command you”, that is, the practice of love up to the total
gift of self! Immediately after, Jesus adds a very high ideal for the life of
the disciples. He says: “I shall no longer call you servants, because a servant
does not know his master’s business. I call you friends, because I have made
known to you everything I have learnt from my Father!” Jesus had no more
secrets for his disciples. He has told us everything he heard from the Father!
This is the splendid ideal of life in community: to attain a total
transparency, to the point of not having any secrets among ourselves and of
being able to have total trust in one another, to be able to share the
experience of God and of life that we have, and in this way enrich one another
reciprocally. The first Christians succeeded in attaining this ideal during
several years. They were “one only heart and one soul” (Acts 4, 32; 1, 14: 2,
42. 46).
• John 15, 16-17: Jesus has chosen us. We have not chosen Jesus.
He has chosen us, he has called us and has entrusted us the mission to go and
bear fruit, fruit which will last. We need him, but he also needs us and our
work in order to be able to continue to do today what he did for the people of
Galilee. The last recommendation: “My command to you is to love one another!”
• The symbol of the vine in the Bible. The people of the Bible
cultivated the vine and produced good wine. The harvest of the grapes was a
feast with songs and dances. And this gave origin to the song of the vine, used
by the prophet Isaiah. He compares the people of Israel to the vine (Is 5, 1-7;
27, 2-5; Ps 80, 9, 19). Before him, the prophet Hosea had already compared
Israel to an exuberant vine, the more fruit that it produced, the more it
multiplied its idolatries (Ho 10, 1). This theme was used by Jeremiah, who
compares Israel to a bastard vine (Jer 2, 21), from which the branches were
uprooted (Jer 5, 10; 6, 9). Jeremiah uses these symbols because he himself had
a vine which had been trampled on and devastated by the invaders (Jer 12, 10).
During the slavery of Babylonia, Ezekiel used the symbol of the vine to
denounce the infidelity of the people of Israel. He told three parables on the
vine: 1) the vine which is burnt and is good for nothing (Ez 15, 1-8); 2) the
false vine planted and protected by two waters, symbols of the kings of
Babylonia and of Egypt, enemies of Israel. (Ez 17, 1-10). 3) The vine destroyed
by the oriental wind, image of the slavery of Babylonia (Ez 19, 10-14). The
comparison of the vine was used by Jesus in several parables: the labourers of
the vineyard (Mt 21, 1-16); the two sons who have to work in the vineyard (Mt
21, 32-33); the parable of the wicked tenants, who did not pay the landowner,
beat the servants and killed the son of the landowner (Mt 21, 33-45); the
barren fig tree planted in the vineyard (Lk 13, 6-9); the vine and its branches
(Jn 15, 1-17).
4)
PERSONAL QUESTIONS
• We are friends and not servants. How do I consider this in my
relationship with persons?
• To love as Jesus has loved us. How does this ideal of love
grow in me?
5)
CONCLUDING PRAYER
Proclaim his salvation day after day,
declare his glory among the nations,
his marvels to every people! (Ps 96,2-3)
declare his glory among the nations,
his marvels to every people! (Ps 96,2-3)
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