Category: easter

Memorial of Saint Catherine of Siena

From the responsorial psalm: “Our God is in heaven; whatever he wills, he does. Their idols are silver and gold, the handiwork of men. Not to us, O Lord, but to your name give the glory.”

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John (Jn 14:21-26)

Jesus said to his disciples: “Whoever has my commandments and observes them is the one who loves me. Whoever loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and reveal myself to him.” Judas, not the Iscariot, said to him, “Master, then what happened that you will reveal yourself to us and not to the world?” Jesus answered and said to him, “Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words; yet the word you hear is not mine but that of the Father who sent me.”

As Jesus speaks to the disciples, Judas questions in what particular way Jesus will reveal himself and the Father to the world. Obedience to Jesus’ commandments demonstrates love for him as it reveals love of the Father and the Son in action. The Holy Spirit would come as Jesus promised so that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit dwell within. Guiding their understanding of Jesus’ teachings and bringing them to recall all that he has taught them, the coming of the Holy Spirit is a promise fulfilled that ensures that the disciples—and all who believe—will have divine assistance in understanding the truths Jesus has shared with them and the grace to put them into action.

God, help me understand what Jesus was telling the disciples. What he said would happen did happen: the Holy Spirit came to give them greater understanding and strengthen their faith. Jesus spoke the words of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, expressing the will of the Trinity: As Jesus said, “The Advocate, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my name—he will teach you everything and remind you of all that I told you.” Lord, just as you sent the Holy Spirit to the disciples, help me also prepare a dwelling place for the Holy Spirit through obedience to the teachings of your Son, to the Church, and in union with the Eucharistic celebration throughout the world. Saint Catherine of Siena, pray for us!

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine grower.” | Fifth Sunday of Easter

From the responsorial psalm: “To him alone shall bow down all who sleep in the earth; before him shall bend all who go down into the dust. I will praise you, Lord, in the assembly of your people.”

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John (Jn 15:1-8)

Jesus said to his disciples: “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine grower. He takes away every branch in me that does not bear fruit, and every one that does he prunes so that it bears more fruit. You are already pruned because of the word that I spoke to you. Remain in me, as I remain in you. Just as a branch cannot bear fruit on its own unless it remains on the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in me. I am the vine, you are the branches.”

In today’s Gospel, Jesus asks his disciples and all who hear his word to remain in him. The word remain appears eight times in the passage and twice in the First Letter of John. It is vital—literally life-giving—to remain in Christ, the vine. Remaining in him bears spiritual fruit all along the branch—in this life now and as the means of obtaining eternal life. “Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit, because without me you can do nothing. Anyone who does not remain in me will be thrown out like a branch and wither.” Jesus repeats what he said in yesterday’s Gospel about the glorification of the Father: “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask for whatever you want and it will be done for you.” In remaining in Christ, we keep his commandments. And his commandment is this, John tells us: “we should believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another just as he commanded us.”

God, how is it that we have free will, yet Jesus commands us to love one another? John says, “Children, let us love not in word or speech but in deed and truth.” So how do I reconcile those two—free will and the command to love? When it is difficult to love another, help me recognize the futility of struggling outside of the truth so that I can quickly get back to knowing that I belong to the truth, that to you I belong. In vain, I would try any other way—judgment, avoidance, superiority—and I find out all of them are lies. In choosing to return to you, Lord, help me freely remain in your truth and ask you for whatever I need in bearing the fruit that glorifies your name.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Saturday of the Fourth Week of Easter

From the responsorial psalm: “Sing to the LORD a new song, for he has done wondrous deeds; His right hand has won victory for him, his holy arm. All the ends of the earth have seen the saving power of God.”

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John (Jn 14:7-14)

“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. And whatever you ask in my name, I will do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything of me in my name, I will do it.”

As Jesus speaks to the disciples about his oneness with the Father, Philip questions Jesus. “Master, show us the Father,” Philip says, “and that will be enough for us.” Jesus says in reply, “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.” Making this explicitly clear, Jesus goes on to describe his relationship with the Father and the works that the Father does through him and can do through us. In this passage, Jesus calls the Father by name ten times. Imitating Jesus, just as the Father works in him, we can do the same in asking of Jesus anything in his name. And he will do it.

God, help make unmistakably clear to me today what it is you invite me to ask for in your Son’s name. The stakes are high. In the first reading, Paul and Barnabas say that rejection of the word of God is rejection of eternal life. In Jesus, I have the word made flesh and blood, truly present in the Eucharist. Let me come confidently to your Son today, recognizing that in knowing him I also know you. Strengthen my faith to do the works your Son does, glorifying you through him in whatever I ask in his name.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Friday of the Fourth Week of Easter

From the responsorial psalm: “And now, O kings, give heed; take warning, you rulers of the earth. Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice before him; with trembling rejoice. You are my Son; this day I have begotten you.”

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John (Jn 14:1-6)

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 immediately expresses uncertainty about Jesus’ words. In this short dialogue between Thomas and Jesus, the way that Jesus refers to his Father’s house is difficult to envision as a physical place. Yet, Jesus reassures the disciples that it has many dwelling places. And he goes on to describe two more times how he will prepare a place for them. What kind of place heaven is seems beyond human comprehension, but Jesus leaves the disciples with no uncertainty as he responds with love to Thomas: “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” This is the same Thomas who doubted the Lord’s resurrection. What the risen Lord said to Thomas then, he says to us now: “Put your finger here and see my hands, and bring your hand and put it into my side, and do not be unbelieving, but believe.”

God, help me take to heart throughout the day the first words of Jesus from the Gospel: “Do not let your hearts be troubled.” I am easily distracted and detect even remote, merely potential causes that might derail how I think things should go. Lord, how do I keep within me in the course of the day your steady hand in its unfolding? Just as I rightly plan to do my best in using your gift of time, let me learn to relinquish what I think is best when you make clear to me another way. Jesus, the way and the truth and the life, lead me!

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Feast of Saint Mark, evangelist

From the first reading: “Be sober and vigilant. Your opponent the Devil is prowling around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, steadfast in faith, knowing that your brothers and sisters throughout the world undergo the same sufferings.”

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Mark (Mk 16:15-20)

Jesus appeared to the Eleven and said to them: “Go into the whole world and proclaim the Gospel to every creature. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved; whoever does not believe will be condemned. These signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will drive out demons, they will speak new languages. They will pick up serpents with their hands, and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not harm them. They will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”

The missionary dimension of the early Church is clear in Mark’s account of the appearance of Jesus to the apostles after the resurrection. Belief in Christ along with baptism are in the words of Jesus himself the means of salvation. Supernatural gifts of the Holy Spirit accompany not just the Eleven but all of those who believe in and spread the Gospel. After Jesus ascends to heaven, Mark tells us that the apostles “went forth and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the word through accompanying signs.” With what signs does the Lord accompany me today as I proclaim the Good News?

God, help me learn from Peter, Mark, and the apostles who went forth and preached everywhere. The accompanying signs of those who believe reflect your sovereignty over nature, evil, and sin and death. Going out into the world, facing persecution and the opposition of the Devil, they brought faith to others through preaching and performing miracles. Strengthen my faith, Lord, to see that when great evil arises in the world and seems to flourish, that you work all things for our good with your infinite love and mercy. Risen Christ, be my strength! Saint Mark, pray for us!

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Wednesday of the Fourth Week of Easter

From the responsorial psalm: “May God have pity on us and bless us; may he let his face shine upon us. So may your way be known upon earth; among all nations, your salvation. O God, let all the nations praise you!”

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John (Jn 12:44-50)

Jesus cried out and said, “Whoever believes in me believes not only in me but also in the one who sent me, and whoever sees me sees the one who sent me. I came into the world as light, so that everyone who believes in me might not remain in darkness. And if anyone hears my words and does not observe them, I do not condemn him, for I did not come to condemn the world but to save the world.”

In perfect obedience to the Father, Jesus speaks the Father’s words and does as he commanded. “I did not speak on my own,” Jesus says, “but the Father who sent me commanded me what to say and speak. And I know that his commandment is eternal life.” One with the Father, he is able to say: “Whoever rejects me and does not accept my words has something to judge him: the word that I spoke, it will condemn him on the last day. . . .” To hear and respond to Jesus is to hear and respond to the just judge, God the Father. Jesus makes clear that he was sent to save, not condemn, but also that he will judge those who reject him and his teachings. As Jesus taught us, obedience and faith are not only life-giving here and now but ultimately lead us to eternal life with the Father.

Father in heaven, in my attempt to imitate Jesus, give me the grace needed to make up for what I would ultimately be unable to achieve. Help me trust in your mercy, Lord, in the one who came into the world as light. I believe in you now and choose not to remain in darkness; when I tend toward unbelief, guide me back into the light of your Son. When the time comes to act, when I have a choice before me, give me the opportunity today to know with faith what you command me to say and speak in that moment. Stay with me, Lord!

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Tuesday of the Fourth Week of Easter

From the first reading “There were some Cypriots and Cyrenians among them, however, who came to Antioch and began to speak to the Greeks as well, proclaiming the Lord Jesus. The hand of the Lord was with them and a great number who believed turned to the Lord.”

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John (Jn 10:22-30)

So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, “How long are you going to keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.” Jesus answered them, “I told you and you do not believe. The works I do in my Father’s name testify to me. But you do not believe, because you are not among my sheep. My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish. No one can take them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one can take them out of the Father’s hand. The Father and I are one.”

During the feast of the Dedication, known as Hanukkah, Jesus is in Jerusalem near the temple area on the Portico of Solomon. In response to the questions some of the Jews ask him, Jesus reiterates what he has already told them about his identity. He is the Christ, the Son of God. The repetition of what he tells them serves to emphasize not only that he is obedient to the Father but is a distinct person of the Trinity. “The Father and I are one.” Belief in that is critical, and as the first reading demonstrates was responsible for the rapid growth of Christians among Jews and Gentiles alike.

God, I come to you in prayer for a short time now, uncertain of the day’s outcome yet recognizing that you are one with Jesus Christ your Son. Again, I hear Jesus say, “My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me.” For the times I hear your voice, let me follow without hesitation; for the times I am unaware of you, occupied with the concerns of the day, be patient with me until I turn to you and realize you are near. Father in heaven, you are present, guiding me to you. As the psalmist says, “Glorious things are said of you, O city of God. . . ! My home is within you.”

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Monday of the Fourth Week of Easter

From the responsorial psalm: “As the hind longs for the running waters, so my soul longs for you, O God. Athirst is my soul for God, the living God. When shall I go and behold the face of God? Athirst is my soul for the living God.”

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John (Jn 10:1-10)

Jesus said: “Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever does not enter a sheepfold through the gate but climbs over elsewhere is a thief and a robber. But whoever enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens it for him, and the sheep hear his voice, as he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has driven out all his own, he walks ahead of them, and the sheep follow him, because they recognize his voice. But they will not follow a stranger; they will run away from him, because they do not recognize the voice of strangers.”

Jesus goes on to say that he is the gate, not that he is like the gate, but that “whoever enters through me will be saved.” He is the gate. Jesus, who calls us by name, is the way and the truth and the life. The voice of Christ is familiar because it is the voice of the one we hear about in the psalms: “You formed my inmost being; you knit me in my mother’s womb.” Responding to the voice of the Lord and entering through him is the way to eternal life. “A thief comes only to steal and slaughter and destroy;” Jesus says, “I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly.”

God, help me recognize that Christ is the way to you and the means of eternal life. He is the gate through which I find you in this life and salvation in the life of the world to come. Abundant life is what Christ came to bring to all and to me. God, strengthen my desire to be attentive to the voice of Christ, following and imitating him in my words and actions and ignoring the voices of strangers who call me away from him. Lord, give me the grace today to hear and respond to your voice as you draw me to yourself.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

“Good Shepherd” flickr photo by Lawrence OP https://flickr.com/photos/paullew/13972657988 shared under a Creative Commons (BY-NC-ND) license

Fourth Sunday of Easter

From the responsorial psalm: “Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, for his mercy endures forever. It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in man. It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in princes. The stone rejected by the builders has become the cornerstone.”

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John (Jn 10:11-18)

Jesus said: “I am the good shepherd. A good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. A hired man, who is not a shepherd and whose sheep are not his own, sees a wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away, and the wolf catches and scatters them. This is because he works for pay and has no concern for the sheep. I am the good shepherd, and I know mine and mine know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I will lay down my life for the sheep.”

The comforting image of Jesus as the good shepherd is well known and loved. In saying “I know mine and mine know me,” Jesus makes clear that he knows us by name and defends each of us. The relationship Jesus has with his Father, obedient even to death, is the same relationship he invites us into. Many times in this short passage Jesus says that the good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep. In the example of obedience and trust in the Father, Jesus leads us to a place of unconditional love and eternal life. In laying down our lives for others, Jesus brings us into the source of courage and hope: “I have power to lay it down,” he says, “and power to take it up again. This command I have received from my Father.”

God, I hear Jesus say many times that he will lay down his life for his sheep. I want to think about that for a minute because Jesus also says, “whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” If Jesus lays down his life and has that command from you, help me see in that the good that follows—”there will be one flock, one shepherd.” Lord, give me the grace today to follow where you lead. Help me recognize that in dying to small things that keep me from you—impatience, unforgiveness, selfishness—I learn to lay down my life for you in greater things and become more like Christ. As St. Paul says, “Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we shall be has not yet been revealed. We do know that when it is revealed we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.”

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Saturday of the Third Week of Easter

From the responsorial psalm: “My vows to the LORD I will pay in the presence of all his people. Precious in the eyes of the LORD is the death of his faithful ones. How shall I make a return to the Lord for all the good he has done for me?”

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John (Jn 6:60-69)

As a result of this, many of his disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer walked with him. Jesus then said to the Twelve, “Do you also want to leave?” Simon Peter answered him, “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God.”

Many of the disciples who had been following Jesus leave him when he teaches them about the reality of his body and blood as true food and drink sent from heaven. “This saying is hard,” many of the disciples say to him, “who can accept it?” Yet, John tells us “Jesus knew from the beginning the ones who would not believe and the one who would betray him.” The disciples return to a former way of life. Even today, returning to a former way or living in doubt is not an uncommon response to the reality of Christ’s true presence in the Blessed Sacrament. But faith in the risen Christ readies us for eternal life and restores life here and now—literally. After Pentecost, Peter is a new man in Christ, so much so that through the Holy Spirit he raises the disciple Tabitha from the dead. Because many witnessed this, we hear in Acts, “many came to believe in the Lord.”

God, strengthen my faith in the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. As much as your grace allows, help me recognize the risen Christ in the Blessed Sacrament. Keep me attentive, Lord, to the bread and wine as it becomes the body and blood of Jesus. And give me the wisdom to choose you throughout the day, as Peter did when he said: “To whom shall we go, Lord? You have the words of eternal life.”

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.