Archive for May 16, 2020

Sixth Sunday of Easter

Posted: May 16, 2020 by CatholicJules in Sunday Reflections
Tags: ,
0

Alive in the Spirit: Scott Hahn Reflects on the Sixth Sunday of Easter

Readings:

Acts 8:5–8, 14–17
Psalm 66:1–7, 16, 20
1 Peter 3:15–18
John 14:15–21

Jesus will not leave us alone. He won’t make us children of God in Baptism only to leave us “orphans,” He assures us in today’s Gospel (see Romans 8:14–17).
He asks the Father to give us His Spirit, to dwell with us and keep us united in the life He shares with the Father.
We see the promised gift of His Spirit being conferred in today’s First Reading.
The scene from Acts apparently depicts a primitive Confirmation rite. Philip, one of the first deacons (see Acts 6:5), proclaims the Gospel in the non-Jewish city of Samaria. The Samaritans accept the Word of God (see Acts 17:11; 1 Thessalonians 2:13) and are baptized.

It remains for the Apostles to send their representatives, Peter and John, to pray and lay hands on the newly baptized—that they might receive the Holy Spirit. This is the origin of our sacrament of Confirmation (see Acts 19:5–6), by which the grace of Baptism is completed and believers are sealed with the Spirit promised by the Lord.

We remain in this grace so long as we love Christ and keep His commandments. And strengthened in the Spirit whom Jesus said would be our Advocate, we are called to bear witness to our salvation—to the tremendous deeds that God has done for us in the name of His Son.

In today’s Psalm, we celebrate our liberation. As He changed the sea into dry land to free the captive Israelites, Christ suffered that He might lead us to God, as we hear in today’s Epistle.

This is the reason for our hope—the hope that sustains us in the face of a world that cannot accept His truth, the hope that sustains us when we are maligned and defamed for His name’s sake.

Put to death in the flesh, He was brought to life in the Spirit, Paul tells us today. And as He himself promises: “Because I live, you will live.”

On Today’s Gospel

Posted: May 16, 2020 by CatholicJules in Personal Thoughts & Reflections
Tags: , , , ,
0

It is one thing to be disliked, quite another to be hated. What does it mean to be hated? Total rejection! Such that anything spoken or thoughts of what might be spoken causes irritation and disgust. Out of sight! Otherwise out of mind retaliation sets in? But why Lord? Why is there hate in the world and especially for us Christians?The truth as spoken is that we are created in the image and likeness of God our Heavenly Father. And so we are not products or rather children of the world, we belong to God our Father. Therefore there is no room for sin or evil in our hearts, of which such thrives in the world. And so long as we are living in the world, striving to avoid all sin and to be loving after the heart of God, we will be hated. I’m sure some of you might have had this experience, where there was a group of friends you hung out with partying without consequences or care. Then one day when you decided to follow Jesus the same group of ‘friends’ treated you like an outcast and avoided you like the plague! Well this is to be expected says our Lord in today’s Gospel. We can only pray that one day our friends too will experience the joy of the Risen Lord in their lives.For now let us live in the spirit, sharing the joy of the Gospel with all whom will listen and living out the Gospel truths in our very own lives. Amen

First reading

Acts 16:1-10 ·
‘Come across to Macedonia and help us’From Cilicia Paul went to Derbe, and then on to Lystra. Here there was a disciple called Timothy, whose mother was a Jewess who had become a believer; but his father was a Greek. The brothers at Lystra and Iconium spoke well of Timothy, and Paul, who wanted to have him as a travelling companion, had him circumcised. This was on account of the Jews in the locality where everyone knew his father was a Greek.
As they visited one town after another, they passed on the decisions reached by the apostles and elders in Jerusalem, with instructions to respect them.
So the churches grew strong in the faith, as well as growing daily in numbers.
They travelled through Phrygia and the Galatian country, having been told by the Holy Spirit not to preach the word in Asia. When they reached the frontier of Mysia they thought to cross it into Bithynia, but as the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them, they went through Mysia and came down to Troas.
One night Paul had a vision: a Macedonian appeared and appealed to him in these words, ‘Come across to Macedonia and help us.’ Once he had seen this vision we lost no time in arranging a passage to Macedonia, convinced that God had called us to bring them the Good News.

Gospel

John 15:18-21
The world hated me before it hated youJesus said to his disciples:‘If the world hates you, remember that it hated me before you.
If you belonged to the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you do not belong to the world, because my choice withdrew you from the world, therefore the world hates you.
Remember the words I said to you: A servant is not greater than his master.
If they persecuted me, they will persecute you too; if they kept my word, they will keep yours as well.
But it will be on my account that they will do all this, because they do not know the one who sent me.’