MAY 10, 2018 : THURSDAY OF THE SIXTH WEEK OF EASTER

Thursday of the Sixth Week of Easter
Lectionary: 294

Reading 1ACTS 18:1-8

Paul left Athens and went to Corinth.
There he met a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus,
who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla
because Claudius had ordered all the Jews to leave Rome.
He went to visit them and, because he practiced the same trade,
stayed with them and worked, for they were tentmakers by trade.
Every sabbath, he entered into discussions in the synagogue,
attempting to convince both Jews and Greeks.

When Silas and Timothy came down from Macedonia,
Paul began to occupy himself totally with preaching the word,
testifying to the Jews that the Christ was Jesus.
When they opposed him and reviled him,
he shook out his garments and said to them,
"Your blood be on your heads!
I am clear of responsibility. 
From now on I will go to the Gentiles."
So he left there and went to a house
belonging to a man named Titus Justus, a worshiper of God;
his house was next to a synagogue.
Crispus, the synagogue official, came to believe in the Lord
along with his entire household, and many of the Corinthians
who heard believed and were baptized.

Responsorial PsalmPS 98:1, 2-3AB, 3CD-4

R. (see 2b) The Lord has revealed to the nations his saving power.
or: 
R. Alleluia.
Sing to the LORD a new song,
for he has done wondrous deeds;
His right hand has won victory for him,
his holy arm.
R. The Lord has revealed to the nations his saving power.
or:
R. Alleluia.
The LORD has made his salvation known:
in the sight of the nations he has revealed his justice.
He has remembered his kindness and his faithfulness
toward the house of Israel.
R. The Lord has revealed to the nations his saving power.
or:
R. Alleluia.
All the ends of the earth have seen
the salvation by our God.
Sing joyfully to the LORD, all you lands;
break into song; sing praise.
R. The Lord has revealed to the nations his saving power.
or:
R. Alleluia.

AlleluiaSEE JN 14:18

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
I will not leave you orphans, says the Lord;
I will come back to you, and your hearts will rejoice.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

GospelJN 16:16-20

Jesus said to his disciples: 
"A little while and you will no longer see me,
and again a little while later and you will see me."
So some of his disciples said to one another,
"What does this mean that he is saying to us,
'A little while and you will not see me,
and again a little while and you will see me,'
and 'Because I am going to the Father'?"
So they said, "What is this 'little while' of which he speaks?
We do not know what he means." 
Jesus knew that they wanted to ask him, so he said to them,
"Are you discussing with one another what I said,
'A little while and you will not see me,
and again a little while and you will see me'?
Amen, amen, I say to you,
you will weep and mourn, while the world rejoices;
you will grieve, but your grief will become joy."

www.usccb.org

Meditation: "Your sorrow will turn into joy"

How does "weeping" and "rejoicing" go together? Jesus contrasts present sorrows with the future glory to be revealed to those who put their hope in God. For the people of Israel time was divided into two ages - the present age and the age to come. The prophets foretold the coming of the Messiah as the dawn of a new age. Jesus tells his disciples two important truths. First, he must leave them to return to his Father and second, he will surely come again at the end of time to usher in the new age of God's kingdom. 

Jesus' victory over sin and death brings us supernatural joy without end
Jesus' orientation for the time between his first coming and his return in glory at the end of the world is a reversal of the world's fortunes. The world says take your joy now in whatever pleasures you can get from this present life. Jesus points to an "other-worldly" joy which transcends anything this world can offer. Jesus contrasts present sorrows with future joy. A woman in labor suffers the birth-pangs first, but then forgets her sorrow as soon as her new-born child comes to birth. We cannot avoid pain and sorrow if we wish to follow Jesus to the cross. But in the cross of Christ we find freedom, victory, and joy.  Thomas Aquinas said: "No one can live without joy. That is why a man or woman deprived of spiritual joy will turn to carnal pleasures". Do you know the joy of the Lord?

"To you, O Jesus, do I turn my true and last end. You are the river of life which alone can satisfy my thirst. Without you all else is barren and void. Without all else you alone are enough for me. You are the Redeemer of those who are lost; the sweet Consoler of the sorrowful; the crown of glory for the victors; the recompense of the blessed. One day I hope to receive of your fullness, and to sing the song of praise in my true home. Give me only on earth some few drops of consolation, and I will patiently wait your coming that I may enter into the joy of my Lord." (Bonaventure, 1221-74 AD)

Daily Quote from the early church fathers: Christ our physician, by Augustine of Hippo, 354-430 A.D.

"God sent the human race a physician, a savior, One Who healed without charging a fee. Christ also came to reward those who would be healed by Him. Christ heals the sick, and He makes a gift to those whom He heals. And the gift that He makes is Himself!" (excerpt from Sermon 102,2)

www.dailyscripture.net

Thursday 10 May 2018

Acts 18:1-8. Psalm 97(98):1-4. John 16:16-20.

The Lord has revealed to the nations his saving power—Psalm 97(98):1-4.

The Lord has revealed to the nations his saving power …

Again and again under the Old Covenant God is shown to be a saving God. This word implies a relationship with a people who constantly move away from faith, are defeated by enemies, then saved by those whom God sends to shepherd his people Israel. Those experiences between God and Israel are the relentless rhythm of desertion, salvation, faithful love, then a new falling away …

When Jesus came to live and die with us, his identity with us could not have been more complete. Our faith journey in our present age can feel lonely. It is just what Jesus experienced. ‘In a little while, you will see me no more, and then, in a little while you will see me.’ Let us pray for and encourage one another in this present ‘little while’.

www.pray.com.au

Saint Damien de Veuster of Moloka’i

Saint of the Day for May 10

(January 3, 1840 – April 15, 1889)

 

Father Damien on his deathbed, resting on his side | photo presumably by Dr. Sydney B. Swift

Saint Damien de Veuster of Moloka’i’s Story

When Joseph de Veuster was born in Tremelo, Belgium, in 1840, few people in Europe had any firsthand knowledge of leprosy, Hansen’s disease. By the time he died at the age of 49, people all over the world knew about this disease because of him. They knew that human compassion could soften the ravages of this disease.

Forced to quit school at age 13 to work on the family farm, Joseph entered the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary six years later, taking the name of a fourth-century physician and martyr. When his brother Pamphile, a priest in the same congregation, fell ill and was unable to go to the Hawaiian Islands as assigned, Damien quickly volunteered in his place. In May 1864, two months after arriving in his new mission, Damien was ordained a priest in Honolulu and assigned to the island of Hawaii.

In 1873, he went to the Hawaiian government’s leper colony on the island of Moloka’i, set up seven years earlier. Part of a team of four chaplains taking that assignment for three months each year, Damien soon volunteered to remain permanently, caring for the people’s physical, medical, and spiritual needs. In time, he became their most effective advocate to obtain promised government support.

Soon the settlement had new houses and a new church, school and orphanage. Morale improved considerably. A few years later, he succeeded in getting the Franciscan Sisters of Syracuse, led by Mother Marianne Cope, to help staff this colony in Kalaupapa.

Damien contracted Hansen’s disease and died of its complications. As requested, he was buried in Kalaupapa, but in 1936 the Belgian government succeeded in having his body moved to Belgium. Part of Damien’s body was returned to his beloved Hawaiian brothers and sisters after his beatification in 1995.

When Hawaii became a state in 1959, it selected Damien as one of its two representatives in the Statuary Hall at the US Capitol. Damien was canonized by Pope Benedict XVI on October 11, 2009.

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Reflection

Some people thought Damien was a hero for going to Moloka’i and others thought he was crazy. When a Protestant clergyman wrote that Damien was guilty of immoral behavior, Robert Louis Stevenson vigorously defended him in an “Open Letter to Dr. Hyde.”

www.franciscanmedia.org

LECTIO DIVINA: JOHN 16:16-20

Lectio Divina: 

 Thursday, May 10, 2018

1) OPENING PRAYER

Lord God, our Father,
You are not far away from any of us,
for in You we live and move and exist
and You live in us
through Your Holy Spirit.
Be with us indeed, Lord,
send us Your Holy Spirit of truth
and through Him deepen our understanding
of the life and message of Your Son,
that we may accept the full truth
and live by it consistently.
We ask You this through Christ our Lord.

2) GOSPEL READING - JOHN 16:16-20

Jesus said to his disciples:"A little while and you will no longer see me, and again a little while later and you will see me."So some of his disciples said to one another,"What does this mean that he is saying to us,'A little while and you will not see me, and again a little while and you will see me,'and 'Because I am going to the Father'?"So they said, "What is this 'little while' of which he speaks?We do not know what he means."Jesus knew that they wanted to ask him, so he said to them,"Are you discussing with one another what I said,'A little while and you will not see me,and again a little while and you will see me'?Amen, amen, I say to you,you will weep and mourn, while the world rejoices;you will grieve, but your grief will become joy."

3) REFLECTION

• John 16:16: Absence and presence. Jesus says a “little while” (un mikròn), that is to say, a very brief period of time, perhaps one “instant.” Over and beyond the multiplicity of nuances, what we want to stress here is the exiguity of time. Just as the time that Jesus remained as Incarnate Word with His own, in the same way, the time between His departure and His return, will also be brief. There will be no change in the interior situation of His disciples because the relationship with Jesus does not change: He is permanently close to them. Therefore, the vision of Jesus will not suffer any interruption, but will be characterized by the communion of life with Him (Jn 14:19).

The repeated use of the verb “to see” in v. 16 is interesting: “In a short time you will no longer see Me, and then a short time later you will see Me again”. The expression “a short time you will no longer see Me” recalls the way in which the disciples see in the historical Jesus the Son of God. The other expression, “a short time later you will see Me again”, recalls the experience of the Risen Christ. Jesus seems to want to say to the disciples that for a very short time the conditions to see Him still exist, to recognize Him in His visible flesh, but later, they will see Him in a different vision and He will show Himself transformed, transfigured.

• John 16:17-19: The lack of understanding of the disciples. In the meantime, some disciples do not succeed in understanding what this absence signifies, means, that is to say, His going to the Father. They experience a certain disturbance regarding the words of Jesus and they express this, asking four questions joined together in one expression: “What is He saying; what does it mean?” Other times the reader has listened to the questions of Peter, of Philip, of Thomas, and now of those disciples who ask for an explanation. The disciples do not  understand what He is speaking about. The disciples have not understood how Jesus can be seen again by them if He goes to the Father (vv.16-19). But the question seems to be concentrated on the expression “a short time”, that for the reader,  seems to be a very long time that never ends, especially when one has anguish and sadness. In fact, the time of sadness does not pass away. An answer is expected of Jesus, but the Evangelist places a repetition of the same question as before: “You are asking one another what I meant by saying, ‘In a short time you will no longer see Me; and then a short time later you will see Me again?’” (v. 19).

• John 16:20:  Jesus’ response. In fact Jesus does not respond to the question asked: “What does ‘in a short time mean’?”  He invites them to trust. It is true that the disciples will be tried and tested. They will suffer very much, being alone in a hostile situation, abandoned in a world which rejoices because of the death of Jesus. However, He assures them that their sadness will be changed into joy. The time of sadness is opposed by time in which everything will be overturned. That opposing clause, “but your sadness will be transformed into joy,” underlines such a change of perspective. For the reader it is evident that the expressions “a short time” and “in a short time” correspond to that instant or moment in which the situation is overturned, but until that moment everything will be of sadness and trial.

In the end, the disciples receive from Jesus a promise of happiness and joy.  In the instant in which the difficult situation is overturned, to which “His own”, the ecclesial community, are subjected, they will enter into a reality of the world enlightened by the resurrection. In our own lives, through contemplation and the acceptance of Jesus, we can also go from weeping and mourning while the world rejoices, to experiencing joy.  

4) PERSONAL QUESTIONS

• Am I convinced that the moment of trial or suffering will pass away and He will come back to be with me?”

• “You will be weeping and wailing, but your sorrow will turn into joy.” What effect do these words of Jesus have in your lives? How do you live your moments of sadness and anguish?

• What are various ways we may “not see Him” and “a little while later, we see Him”?

• Teresa of Avila, Francis de Sales, John of the Cross, and Bernard are all saints who spoke of  the “dark night”. There is a saying: “absence make the heart grow fonder.” What is your attitude when there is a reunion, when “a little while later, we see Him”? Do we use it as a time to renew and strengthen our relationship with Him, to move beyond being “lukewarm”, or do we get upset and demand “where have you been?”

5) CONCLUDING PRAYER

The whole wide world has seen
the saving power of our God.
Acclaim the Lord, all the earth,
burst into shouts of joy! (Ps 98:3-4)

www.ocarm.org