Sixth Sunday of Easter
Lectionary: 56
Reading 1
Acts 10:25-26, 34-35, 44-48
When Peter entered, Cornelius met him
and, falling at his feet, paid him homage.
Peter, however, raised him up, saying,
"Get up. I myself am also a human being."
Then Peter proceeded to speak and said,
"In truth, I see that God shows no partiality.
Rather, in every nation whoever fears him and acts uprightly
is acceptable to him."
While Peter was still speaking these things,
the Holy Spirit fell upon all who were listening to the word.
The circumcised believers who had accompanied Peter
were astounded that the gift of the Holy Spirit
should have been poured out on the Gentiles also,
for they could hear them speaking in tongues and glorifying God.
Then Peter responded,
"Can anyone withhold the water for baptizing these people,
who have received the Holy Spirit even as we have?"
He ordered them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ.
Responsorial Psalm
Psalm 98:1, 2-3, 3-4
R. (cf. 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.
Reading 2
1 John 4:7-10
Beloved, let us love one another,
because love is of God;
everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God.
Whoever is without love does not know God, for God is love.
In this way the love of God was revealed to us:
God sent his only Son into the world
so that we might have life through him.
In this is love:
not that we have loved God, but that he loved us
and sent his Son as expiation for our sins.
Alleluia
John 14:23
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Whoever loves me will keep my word, says the Lord,
and my Father will love him and we will come to him.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
John 15:9-17
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 may be in you
and your joy might be complete.
This is my commandment: love one another as I love you.
No one has greater love than this,
to lay down one's life for one's friends.
You are my friends if you do what I command you.
I no longer call you slaves,
because a slave does not know what his master is doing.
I have called you friends,
because I have told you everything I have heard from my Father.
It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you
and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain,
so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give you.
This I command you: love one another."
Reflection 1
Catholic Daily Reflections
Friendship with God
“I no longer call you slaves, because a slave does not know what his master is doing. I have called you friends, because I have told you everything I have heard from my Father. It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give you. This I command you: love one another.” John 15:15–17
Just prior to the passage quoted above, Jesus says, “You are my friends if you do what I command you.” Is that the measure of true friendship? That we do what our friend commands us to do? That depends upon which friend we are speaking about.
There are many images we use for God. We call Him Father, Savior, Master, Lord, King, Redeemer, Spirit and Friend. When it comes to God as our divine Friend, it is important to understand the nature of that friendship properly. Jesus’ friendship is not one that simply makes us “buddies.” Friendship with our Lord is not the same as a friendship between two equals. He is God. And because He is God, our friendship with Him takes on unique characteristics that are not present in other friendships. With that said, there could be no greater friend than the Lord Himself.
Among humans, our friendships have various foundations. It could be that two people have mutual interests and they enjoy engaging in those interests together. It could be that two people have spent much pleasant time together since childhood. Or it could be that two people have endured some difficulty together and that experience has bonded them together. But according to Saint Thomas Aquinas, friendship in its purest form is based on just one thing: mutual charity.
Charity is the form of love that is purely selfless. It’s a way of relating to another in which a person’s sole focus is the good of the other. It is not based on one’s own self interests. It’s not a matter of “what do I get out of it?” In 1 Corinthians 13:4–8, St. Paul defines the love of charity this way: “Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, it is not pompous, it is not inflated, it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury, it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.” This is not only the definition of charity, it is also the only foundation for true friendship.
When you consider all of these qualities of charity, you will find that God relates to us in each of these ways. For that reason, God offers us the purest friendship possible. Whether or not we reciprocate these qualities to God will determine the depth of the bond of friendship that we establish with Him. But there is more. When we love God, we must love Him in a way that is proper and proportionate to Who God is. For example, if we offer charity to God, we seek to fulfill only God’s interests and rejoice in the Truth of Who He is. Thus, the charity we offer to God comes in the form of worship. He is God and is worthy of worship, adoration, surrender, trust and perfect obedience. When it is God we are loving, the very essence of the Person we love requires these responses.
One beautiful and consoling thing to recognize with this form of charity given to God is that it also establishes a true friendship with God. When we offer our worship to God, we are in a position to receive the very life of God in return. And the giving of ourselves, coupled with the reception of the life of God, establishes a bond of holy friendship that will transform us, unite us with Him and fulfill us to perfection. Friendship with God makes us one with Him and opens us to receive everything that He shares with us—namely, His very Self.
Reflect, today, upon the invitation Jesus has offered you to enter into a true friendship with Him. This means that God becomes the center of your life. It means that you seek to give yourself, selflessly and without reserve, to Him Who is deserving of all your love. It means you choose worship and obedience to perfection. The reward of such love is that you are able to enter into a bond that is so holy, so pure and so fulfilling that it completes you, enabling you to become who you were meant to be.
Reflection 2
One Bread, One Body
WHO CAN’T TEACH YOU?
“As Peter entered, Cornelius went to meet him, dropped to his knees before him and bowed low.” —Acts 10:25
The Holy Spirit wants to teach us all things (Jn 14:26). For example, He wants to teach us how to be parents, wives, husbands, lay single people, and members of religious communities. The Spirit wants to teach us how to spend our money, eat, talk, think, work, love, live, and die. Because the Holy Spirit wants to teach us so much, the proper relationship with Him is to be teachable, that is, docile.
Most of the time the Spirit does not teach us directly but indirectly. He teaches us through people, such as parents, pastors, spouses, brothers, sisters, children, strangers, and even enemies. To be docile means to be able to learn from anyone through whom the Holy Spirit chooses to teach. For example, Cornelius, a powerful Roman centurion, was humbly submissive to the teaching of St. Peter, an uneducated Jewish fisherman (see Acts 10:25ff). The secretary of the treasury of the Ethiopian government asked the simple St. Philip to teach him from the Bible (Acts 8:27ff).
Who do you consider to be the last person in the world to teach you anything? If the Spirit so chooses, are you willing to be taught by him or her? If so, you are docile and ready to receive the Holy Spirit. If not, you are in danger of rejecting the Holy Spirit.
Prayer: Father, teach me about being teachable.
Promise: “Love, then, consists in this: not that we have loved God but that He has loved us and has sent His Son as an Offering for our sins.” —1 Jn 4:10
Praise: King of all the ages, Your ways are perfect and true. Alleluia!
Reflection 3
By Fr. Francesc CATARINEU i Vilageliu
(Sabadell, Barcelona, Spain)
“I have called you friends”
Today we celebrate the last Sunday before the solemnities of the Ascension and Pentecost, which close the Easter season. Throughout these Sundays, the risen Jesus has revealed himself as the Good Shepherd and the vine to which we must be connected as branches, and today he opens his Heart to us completely.
Certainly, in His Heart we can only find love. What constitutes the deepest mystery of God is that He is Love. Everything He has done from creation to redemption has been out of love. All that He expects from us in response to His actions is just love. Therefore, His words resonate today: "Remain in my love" (Jn 15:9). Love asks for reciprocity; it is like a dialogue that makes us respond with increasing love to His initial love.
A fruit of love is joy: "I have told you this so that my joy may be in you" (Jn 15:11). If our life does not reflect the joy of believing, if we let ourselves be overwhelmed by adversities without seeing that the Lord is also there present and comforting us, it is because we do not know Jesus sufficiently well.
God always takes the initiative. He explicitly tells us by saying, "I chose you" (Jn 15:16). We might be tempted to think that we have chosen Him, but we have done nothing more than respond to a call. He has chosen us freely to be his friends: "I no longer call you slaves…; I have called you friends" (Jn 15:15).
In the beginning, God spoke to Adam as a friend speaks to his friend. Christ, the new Adam, has not only restored that friendship but also intimacy with God, since God is Love.
Everything boils down to this word: “Love.” Saint Augustine reminds us: "The good Master recommends us quite often that charity is the only possible commandment. Without charity all the other good qualities mean nothing. Charity, in fact, leads man necessarily to all the other virtues that make him good."
Prayers
My God and true Friend, You offer me everything in life. You offer me Your perfect love, given fully and without reserve. I pray that I will reciprocate that depth of love and offer to You all that You deserve. I offer You my love, worship and obedience, dear Lord. May this mutual love form a bond that will never end. Jesus, I trust in You.
Teach us, good Lord, to serve you as you deserve, to give and not to count the cost, to fight and not to heed the wounds, to toil and not to seek for rest, to labour and not to ask for any reward, save that of knowing that we do your will; through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Prayer of Ignatius Loyola)
Daily Reflections on Divine Mercy
Reflection 125: The Victim Soul
Do you know that our Lord chooses certain people for a specific mission of suffering? He picks certain people, who are few in number, to more fully resemble His innocent suffering here on Earth. These holy souls suffer in many and varied ways. They are the continuation of the innocent suffering of Jesus Himself. They have a very specific mission on Earth and it is a mission requiring the greatest sacrifice imaginable. The good news, for these chosen few, is that the crown of glory that awaits them in Heaven makes every act of suffering here on Earth worth it. Through their suffering, completely embraced in joy, and offered to the Father through the Son, they make up that which is “lacking in the sufferings of Christ” as St. Paul explains to us (Colossians 1:24). Though this unique vocation is only given to a few in a profound way, we are all called to share in Christ’s sufferings so as to also share in His glorification (See Diary #604).
What do you do with your daily sufferings? Do you “offer it up?” This invitation from Jesus, to unite our sufferings with His, is a true calling that has more potential for grace than anything else. It’s what makes us most like Him. It is the greatest sacrifice we can offer and the most powerful prayer we can pray. Think about the sufferings you encounter in your life. No matter what they are, do not run from them. Try to embrace them and offer them up, joyfully, to our Lord.
Heavenly Father, I give to You, this day, all my joys, works and sufferings. I especially offer You the sufferings I endure. I offer You all the small and great ways in which I experience suffering, hardship and pain in my life. May these become a sacrifice of love, offered in union with the one and perfect sacrifice of Jesus, Your Son. Transform this offering and make it a source of grace in this world. Jesus, I trust in You.
No comments:
Post a Comment