May 3, 2026
Fifth Sunday of Easter
Lectionary: 52
Reading
1
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,
whom we shall appoint to this task,
whereas we shall devote ourselves to prayer
and to the ministry of the word."
The proposal was acceptable to the whole community,
so they chose Stephen, a man filled with faith and the Holy Spirit,
also Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas,
and Nicholas of Antioch, a convert to Judaism.
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;
even a large group of priests were becoming obedient to the faith.
Responsorial
Psalm
R. (22) Lord,
let your mercy be on us, as we place our trust in you.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Exult, you just, in the LORD;
praise from the upright is fitting.
Give thanks to the LORD on the harp;
with the ten-stringed lyre chant his praises.
R. Lord, let your mercy be on us, as we place our trust in you.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Upright is the word of the LORD,
and all his works are trustworthy.
He loves justice and right;
of the kindness of the LORD the earth is full.
R. Lord, let your mercy be on us, as we place our trust in you.
or:
R. Alleluia.
See, the eyes of the LORD are upon those who fear him,
upon those who hope for his kindness,
To deliver them from death
and preserve them in spite of famine.
R. Lord, let your mercy be on us, as we place our trust in you.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Reading
2
Beloved:
Come to him, a living stone, rejected by human beings
but chosen and precious in the sight of God,
and, like living stones,
let yourselves be built into a spiritual house
to be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices
acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
For it says in Scripture:
Behold, I am laying a stone in Zion,
a cornerstone, chosen and precious,
and whoever believes in it shall not be put to shame.
Therefore, its value is for you who have faith, but for those without faith:
The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone, and
A stone that will make people stumble,
and a rock that will make them fall.
They stumble by disobeying the word, as is their destiny.
You are "a chosen race, a royal priesthood,
a holy nation, a people of his own,
so that you may announce the praises" of him
who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.
Alleluia
R. Alleluia,
alleluia.
I am the way, the truth and the life, says the Lord;
no one comes to the Father, except through me.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
Jesus said to his
disciples:
"Do not let your hearts be troubled.
You have faith in God; have faith also in me.
In my Father's house there are many dwelling places.
If there were not,
would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you?
And if I go and prepare a place for you,
I will come back again and take you to myself,
so that where I am you also may be.
Where I am going you know the way."
Thomas said to him,
"Master, we do not know where you are going;
how can we know the way?"
Jesus said to him, I am the way and the truth and the life.
No one comes to the Father except through me.
If you know me, then you will also know my Father.
From now on you do know him and have seen him."
Philip said to him,
"Master, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us."
Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you for so long a time
and you still do not know me, Philip?
Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.
How can you say, 'Show us the Father'?
Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me?
The words that I speak to you I do not speak on my own.
The Father who dwells in me is doing his works.
Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me,
or else, believe because of the works themselves.
Amen, amen, I say to you,
whoever believes in me will do the works that I do,
and will do greater ones than these,
because I am going to the Father."
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/050326.cfm
Commentary on Acts
6:1-7; 1 Peter 2:4-9; John 14:1-12
The close identification of Jesus with God the Father is the
over-riding theme of today’s Gospel passage. There is also a secondary and
related emphasis on our identification with Jesus and his mission.
The context of the Gospel is Jesus’ long discourse with his
disciples at the Last Supper. They are aware that Jesus is about to leave them.
There is a heavy air of gloom and anxiety as the enemies of Jesus close in
around him.
A call to trust
Encouraging words are spoken by Jesus to the Apostles:
Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God;
believe also in me.
This is a call to total faith in the Father and in Jesus. It
is a single act of trust, for to have faith in the one, is to have equal faith
in the other. And, towards the end of the passage, Jesus appeals to the
evidence of all they have seen him say and do.
Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in
me, but if you do not, then believe because of the works themselves.
The disciples cannot be too happy to hear that Jesus is
about to leave them. It is no wonder that their hearts are “troubled”. This, in
spite of the promise that Jesus is going away to “prepare a place” for them,
that he will return to take them with him, “so that where I am, there you may
be also.”
The Way
They should have no trouble understanding and accepting this. Jesus has now
been with them for three years and has taught them continuously all during this
time. They have seen him teaching and working among the people, and they are
told:
…you know the way to the place where I am going.
Thomas, the man who likes to confront and the one with the
very literal mind, protests:
Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know
the way?
He is clearly thinking in geographical terms. In fact, all
Jesus’ words about going and coming are spoken on quite a different level of
meaning altogether. However, we can be grateful to Thomas for drawing out of
Jesus one of the great sayings of John’s Gospel:
I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to
the Father except through me.
Here we see another “I AM” statement. It is obvious from all
that has already been said that the Way of Jesus, all the coming and going, and
the “places” which are being prepared are not to be understood in any literal
or spatial sense. They are to be understood totally in terms of mutual
relationships, i.e. the mutual relationships between Jesus, the Father and his
followers. The ‘Way’ of Jesus, through his coming suffering and death, will end
in the new and abundant life he wants for all his followers.
Where does the Way go?
To follow the Way of Jesus is not to ‘go’ anywhere. It is to become a special
kind of person, a person whose whole being reflects the Truth and Life that
Jesus reveals to us. It is to be a person who is totally identified with the
vision and the values of Jesus. To be such a person is to be a person of Truth
and Life.
Truth is here understood not in a purely intellectual sense.
Truth here is that complete integrity and harmony which Jesus himself, revealed
not only in what he said, but in the total manifestation of his life and
person. Truth for Jesus was not just something he knew or accepted or believed
in; truth for Jesus was what he was in his whole person: thoughts, feelings,
actions, relationships. It was that total conformity between his inward self
and his outward behaviour. For us to live Truth in that way is also to be fully
alive, fully engaged and responding totally to that abundance of life which
Jesus came to give us.
Truth and Life
And God the Father is, of course, also Truth and Life. But we go to God the
Father through Jesus and we call Jesus the “Way” because he is the visible
manifestation in human form of all that his Father is. It is this incarnation
of the Father’s being in the human person of Jesus, a man “like us in all things
except sin”, which makes him the accessible model for us to grow ever more in
the likeness of our God and to experience to the full his love and life in us.
And so Jesus says quite logically,
If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on
you do know him and have seen him.
Now it is the naïve Philip’s turn to interject:
Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.
It was the hope of every good Jew some day to see God face
to face. Says Jesus (with a tinge of disappointment?),
Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still
do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show
us the Father’?
Seeing God in Jesus
For, as Jesus continues, he is:
…in the Father and the Father is in me [him].
However, this statement must be understood with some
qualifications. Jesus is the Son of God and is one with the Father in all
things. But to say that when we see Jesus we see God is both
true and not altogether true. In his humanness, we see God in Jesus as:
…only a reflection, as in a mirror… (1 Cor
13:12)
And it is a dim reflection because of the veil of his
humanness. But when he speaks, certainly it is God who speaks. When he heals,
certainly God heals. But when Jesus died on the Cross, God also died? Surely
not; God cannot die. The death of Jesus in his humanity was a sublime witness
of the love and compassion of the Ever Living God.
Pale reflection
Jesus, in his humanity, is but the palest reflection of the infinite Truth,
Goodness and Beauty of God. When we see Jesus, we see God, but there is much
that we do not see. And so we speak of Jesus as the Way. We go through him to
find the total reality of God. Only a few mystics have been given glimpses of
the reality of God. It is a reality for which most of us will have to wait
until after we have left this earth to understand. And it is important that we
recognise this, because many people tend to speak rather loosely of the
relationship between God the Father and Jesus. If we make Jesus, not the Way,
but the End, we tremendously limit our understanding of God. Philip
thought he knew Jesus very well, spending every day with him. Yet he had not
come to recognise God in the words and works of Jesus, and so he did not really
know Jesus.
God’s many dwelling places
Today, perhaps, our problem is not so much recognising God in Jesus. In fact,
as mentioned, we can go too far in doing so. Our problem is that we fail to
recognise God in our world and in the people around us.
At the beginning of today’s Gospel, Jesus says that there
are many “dwelling places” in his Father’s house. We can understand this, of
course, as ‘heaven’, but God’s dwelling is also the Church—every Christian
community is a dwelling place of God. And indeed, each and every disciple who
believes in Christ is a part of God’s Temple. There is now no longer for us a
material Temple. Furthermore, as Paul told the Romans:
Ever since the creation of the world God’s eternal power
and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been seen and understood
through the things God has made. (Rom 1:20)
This is to say, that not only in Christian communities, but
indeed in people everywhere and in the whole of our created environment, God’s
presence is shouting out to us. The poet Gerard Manley Hopkins wrote: “The
world is charged with the grandeur of God”. Every little flower, every singing
bird can say to us, “Who sees me sees the Father”.
The same works as Jesus—and even more
Lastly, Jesus has a word for us:
I tell you, the one who believes in me [and in
my identity with the Father] will also do the works that I do and, in
fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father.
The Church and every member of every Christian community is
called on to continue the mission of Jesus.
But how can we do greater works than Jesus? And how can we
do them because Jesus is going to his Father? The Church and every Christian
community is called on to continue the mission of Jesus. That is evident from
the Acts of the Apostles onward. But doing more than he did? Yes! Because by
leaving us for the Father, he passed his mandate on to us.
Continuing Jesus’ work
We can do more than Jesus not in terms of more spectacular signs, but rather
because Jesus in his humanity here on earth was limited to a very small section
of space and time. In his lifetime, he reached only a relatively small number
of people. In fact, when he died, all he could show for all his preaching and
miracles was a handful of women at the foot of the cross. Peter and the rest
were nowhere to be seen. Strangely, it was only by his leaving us that the
energy and life he brought was released. By his going, he set in motion a
process by which his message—his Way of Truth and Life—could reach every corner
of the world.
There are now very few places where Jesus’ message has not
been heard. Moreover, the pope or some other religious leader, hooked up to
satellites and the internet, can simultaneously reach literally billions of
people. Jesus on earth could not do that.
Show the Way
But whether we are pope, bishop, priest, office worker, truck driver or
stay-at-home parent, our duty is the same: to lead the people with whom we come
in contact along the Way of Jesus—the Way of Truth and Life. By working
together, we can do more than Jesus did; or rather, he does it through us. The
gospel still needs to be preached with greater enthusiasm, with greater
relevance, with greater integrity. As in Jesus’ day, the masses are calling out
to be fed and we, the friends and companions of Jesus, have been called to
continue to bring the Bread of Life to the world.
Jesus said:
…apart from me you can do nothing.
It is important for us to realise that the opposite is also
largely true: without us, Jesus can do little in our world and in our time.
This concept is beautifully illustrated through these words attributed to St
Teresa of Ávila:
Christ has no body but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours.
Yours are the eyes with which he looks
compassion on this world,
yours are the feet with which he walks to do good,
yours are the hands, with which he blesses all the world.
Yours are the hands, yours are the feet,
yours are the eyes, you are his body.
Christ has no body now but yours,
no hands, no feet on earth but yours.
Yours are the eyes with which he looks
compassion on this world.
Christ has no body now on earth but yours.
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https://livingspace.sacredspace.ie/ea051/
Fifth Sunday of
Easter
Opening Prayer
Lord Jesus, send
your Spirit to help us to read the Scriptures with the same mind that you read
them to the disciples on the way to Emmaus. In the light of the Word, written
in the Bible, you helped them to discover the presence of God in the disturbing
events of your sentence and death. Thus, the cross that seemed to be the end of
all hope became for them the source of life and of resurrection.
Create in us
silence so that we may listen to your voice in Creation and in the Scriptures,
in events and in people, above all in the poor and suffering. May your word
guide us so that we too, like the two disciples from Emmaus, may experience the
force of your resurrection and witness to others that you are alive in our
midst as source of fraternity, justice and peace. We ask this of you, Jesus,
son of Mary, who revealed to us the Father and sent us your Spirit. Amen.
Gospel Reading
A Key the Reading:
As you read, try
to listen as though you were present at the last meeting of Jesus with his
disciples. Listen to his words as though they were addressed to you, today, at
this moment.
•
A
Division of Chapter 14:
•
John
14: 1-4: Let nothing disturb you!
•
John
14: 5-7: Thomas’ question and Jesus’ reply
•
John
14: 8-21: Philip’s question and Jesus’ reply
•
John
14: 22-31: Judas Thaddaeus’ question and Jesus’ reply.
•
The
Gospel Text - John 14: 1-12
•
1-4:
Do not let your hearts be troubled. You trust in God, trust also in me. In my
Father's house there are many places to live in; otherwise, I would have told
you. I am going now to prepare a place for you, and after I have gone and
prepared you a place, I shall return to take you to myself, so that you may be
with me where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.
•
5-7:
Thomas said, 'Lord, we do not know where you are going, so how can we know the
way?' Jesus said: I am the Way; I am Truth and Life. No one can come to the
Father except through me. If you know me, you will know my Father too. From
this moment you know him and have seen him.
•
8-12:
Philip said, 'Lord, show us the Father and then we shall be satisfied.' Jesus
said to him, 'Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not
know me? 'Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father, so how can you say,
"Show us the Father"? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the
Father is in me? What I say to you I do not speak of my own accord: it is the
Father, living in me, who is doing his works. You must believe me when I say
that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe it on the
evidence of these works. In all truth I tell you, whoever believes in me will
perform the same works as I do myself, and will perform even greater works,
because I am going to the Father.
A
Moment of Prayerful Silence
so that the Word of God may enter into us
and enlighten our life.
Some Questions
to help us in our personal reflection.
• Which word of Jesus most touched my heart?
Why?
• What traces of the face of God the Father,
revealed by Jesus, appear in these twelve verses?
• What do these verses reveal about the
relationship of Jesus with the Father?
• What do these verses tell us about our
relationship with the Father?
• What are the "greater works",
which, according to Jesus, we shall be able to accomplish?
• Jesus said, "In my Father’s house
there are many places to live in". What do these words mean for us today?
• Which problems and desires are implied in
the questions of Thomas and Philip?
•
A Key to the Reading
for those who wish to go deeper into the
text.
John’s Gospel: A Cloth Woven from Three
Threads:
• The word text means cloth. Hence,
John’s Gospel is like a beautiful cloth woven from three very different and yet
very similar threads. These three threads harmonize so well that we sometimes
get confused and are not aware that we are passing from one thread to another.
• The
first thread: is the facts
of Jesus’ life that happened in the year 30 as remembered by eyewitnesses,
those who lived with Jesus and saw the things he did and heard the words he
taught. This is the historical Jesus, preserved in the witness of the Beloved
Disciple (1 Jn 1: 1).
• The
second thread: is the
facts and problems of the life of the community in the second half of the first
century. Beginning with faith in Jesus and convinced of the presence of the
Risen One among them, the communities enlightened these facts and problems by
means of the words and signs of Jesus. Thus, for instance, the conflicts they
had with the Pharisees, greatly influenced the story and the reporting of the
discussion between Jesus and the Pharisees.
• The
third thread: is the
Evangelist’s comments. In some passages, it is difficult for us to discern when
Jesus stops talking and when the Evangelist begins his comments (Jn 2: 22; 3:
16-21; 7: 39; 12: 37-43; 20: 30-31).
• In the five chapters, which describe Jesus’
farewell (Jn 13 to 17), we can see these three threads: Jesus speaking, the
communities speaking and the Evangelist speaking. In these chapters the three
threads are interwoven in such a way that they present a whole of great beauty
and inspiration, where it is difficult to distinguish which is which. Chapters 13 to 17 of John’s Gospel:
• The long conversation (Jn 13:1 to 17: 26) between Jesus and his disciples at the
last supper, on the eve of his apprehension and death, is the Testament he left
us. In it Jesus expresses his last desire concerning life in community for his
disciples. It was a friendly conversation, which the Disciple remembered well.
The Evangelist wishes to convey that Jesus desired to prolong to the utmost
that final meeting of friends, a moment of great intimacy. The same happens
today. There are various kinds of conversations. There is the superficial
conversation that leaves everything up in the air and reveals emptiness in the
persons involved. Then there is the deep conversation that touches the heart.
All of us, at some time, experience these moments of friendly sharing which
expand our hearts and strengthen us in times of difficulty. This kind of
conversation helps us to grow in trust and to overcome fear.
• These five chapters (Jn 13 to 17) are also
an example of the way the communities of the Beloved Disciple catechized. The
questions of the three disciples, Thomas (Jn 14: 5), Philip (Jn 14: 8) and
Judas Thaddaeus (Jn 14: 22), were also the questions of the communities of the
late first century. Jesus’ replies to the three were like a mirror where the
communities found an answer to their doubts and difficulties. Thus, chapter 14
was (and still is) a catechesis that teaches the communities how to live
without the physical presence of Jesus.
Chapter 14: 1-12: An Answer to the Constant
Questions of the Human Heart:
• John
14: 1-4: The communities asked: "How can we
live in community with so many different opinions?" Jesus replies with an
exhortation, "Do not let your hearts be troubled! There are many rooms in
my Father’s house!" The insistence on encouraging words that would help to
overcome the troubles and divergences, means that there must have been
different tendencies among the communities, each claiming to be truer than the
other. Jesus says, "There are many rooms in my Father’s house!" It is
not necessary for all to think alike. What matters is that all accept Jesus as
the revelation of the Father and that, for love of him, all take on an attitude
of service and love. Love and service are the concrete, which binds together
the many bricks of the wall and makes the diverse communities into one Church of
brothers and sisters.
• John
14: 5-7: Thomas asks, "Lord, we do not know
where you are going, so how can we know the way?" Jesus replies, "I
am the way, the life and the truth!" Three important words. Without the
way we cannot walk. Without the truth we cannot be certain. Without life, there
is only death! Jesus explains that he is the way because "No one
can come to the Father except through me!" He is the door through which
the sheep enter and leave (Jn 10: 9). Jesus is the truth because seeing him
we see the image of the Father. "If you know me, you know my Father
too!" Jesus is the life because if we walk in his
footsteps we shall be united to the Father and shall have life in us.
• John
14: 8-11: Philip asks, "Philip said, ‘Lord,
show us the Father and then we shall be satisfied.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Anyone
who has seen me has seen the Father.’" Philip expressed the desire of many
in John’s communities and continues to be the desire of all of us: what must I
do to see the Father of whom Jesus speaks so much? Jesus’ answer is very
beautiful, "Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do
not know me? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father." We must not
think that God is far away, distant and unknown. Anyone who desires to know how
and who God the Father is, has only to look at Jesus. He has revealed the
Father in the words and signs of his life! "I am in the Father and the
Father is in me." Through his manner of being, Jesus revealed a new face
of God that drew people to him. Through his obedience, he was completely
identified with the Father. At all times he did that which the Father told him
to do (Jn 5: 30; 8: 28-29, 38). That is why everything in Jesus is the
revelation of the Father! The signs and works he did are the work of the Father!
In the same way, we, by our manner of living and living together, must be a
revelation of Jesus. To have seen us should be to have seen and recognized in
us a part of Jesus.
What we need to
meditate here is "How do I reflect Jesus?" Am I like Peter who would
not accept a servant and suffering Jesus and wanted a Jesus according to his
wishes? (Mk 8: 32-33). Am I like those who can only say "Lord! Lord!"
(Mt 7: 21). Am I like those who only wish for a celestial and glorious Christ
and forget that Jesus of Nazareth walked with the poor, welcomed the
marginalized, healed the sick, reinstated those excluded and who, because of
his commitment to the people and the Father, was persecuted and crucified.
• John
14: 12: Jesus’ promise. Jesus says that an
intimate relationship with the Father is not his privilege alone but is
possible for all of us who believe in him. Through him, we can do the same
things he did for the people of his time. He will intercede for us. Whatsoever
we ask of him, he will ask of the Father and will obtain for us, provided it is
to serve (Jn 14: 13)
Psalm 43 (42)
"Your light and your truth will guide
me on my way"
As a hart longs
for flowing streams, so longs my soul for thee, O God.(Picture) My soul thirsts
for God, for the living God.
When shall I come
and behold the face of God? My tears have been my food day and night, while men
say to me continually, "Where is your God?" These things I remember,
as I pour out my soul: how I went with the throng and led them in procession to
the house of God, with glad shouts and songs of thanksgiving, a multitude
keeping festival.
Why are you cast
down, O my soul, and why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God; for I
shall again praise him, my help and my God.
My soul is cast
down within me, therefore I remember thee from the land of Jordan and of
Hermon, from Mount Mizar.
Deep calls to deep
at the thunder of thy cataracts; all thy waves and thy billows have gone over me.
By day the LORD commands his steadfast love; and at night his song is with me,
a prayer to the God of my life. I say to God, my rock:
"Why hast
thou forgotten me?
Why go I mourning
because of the oppression of the enemy?" As with a deadly wound in my
body, my adversaries taunt me, while they say to me continually, "Where is
your God?"
Why are you cast
down, O my soul, and why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God; for I
shall again praise him, my help and my God. Vindicate me, O God, and defend my
cause against an ungodly people; from deceitful and unjust men deliver me!
For thou art the
God in whom I take refuge; why hast thou cast me off? Why go I mourning because
of the oppression of the enemy? Oh send out thy light and thy truth; let them
lead me, let them bring me to thy holy hill and to thy dwelling! Then I will go
to the altar of God, to God my exceeding joy; and I will praise thee with the
lyre, O God, my God. Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you
disquieted within me?
Hope in God; for I
shall again praise him, my help and my God.
Final Prayer
Lord Jesus, we
thank for the word that has enabled us to understand better the will of the
Father. May your Spirit enlighten our actions and grant us the strength to
practice that which your Word has revealed to us. May we, like Mary, your
mother, not only listen to but also practice the Word. You who live and reign
with the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit forever and ever. Amen.
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