Tag: easter

Saturday of the Fifth Week of Easter

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John

Jesus said to his disciples: “If the world hates you, realize that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, the world would love its own; but because you do not belong to the world, and I have chosen you out of the world, the world hates you.”

In speaking to the disciples in this way, Jesus prepares them for persecution, as he was persecuted. “If they persecuted me,” he tells them, “they will also persecute you.” But he also recognizes that there will be those who will follow him and the teachings of the Church: “If they kept my word,” Jesus says, “they will also keep yours. And they will do all these things to you on account of my name, because they do not know the one who sent me.” Through the sacraments of the Church and my faith in its teachings, Jesus has chosen me out of the world. If the world hates me, it hates me on account of the name of Jesus. Is that a reality I am prepared to accept?

God, work with me so that I understand today’s Gospel reading. What does it mean to be hated by the world on account of the name of Jesus your Son? It means to be chosen out of this world, as the disciples were, to keep his word. In keeping his word and proclaiming my faith in the name of Christ, persecution may come. But if Jesus sends out those who keep his word, he also gives them the means to withstand hatred and accomplish your work. In yesterday’s reading, Jesus tells the disciples that they are his friends. if they do what he commands. “This I command you,” he says to them, “love one another.” Help me, God, be a witness to the love between you and your Son.

Lord, in the hours left of this day, give me the grace to remember that even as I face the passing tribulations of this world, you have chosen me out of it to one day enjoy your love forever in the world to come.

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 Fifth Week of Easter

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John

Jesus said to the disciples: “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.”

Jesus tells the disciples in today’s Gospel that he calls them friends. In doing that, at the same time he expresses his oneness with the Father in doing his will: “because I have told you everything I have heard from my Father.” As the Son of God, Jesus takes initiative of loving others to extremes, even to the point of laying down his life for them. As the beloved Son, Jesus tells the disciples, “It was not you who chose me, but I chose you.” To receive that love, Jesus appoints the disciples to go and bear fruit that remains. Rather than leave them wondering how they are to do this with their human limitations, Jesus commands them to love one another. In return, whatever they ask of the Father in Jesus’ name, he will give them.

God, help me understand the words Jesus spoke to his disciples: “You are my friends if you do what I command you.” Such a command might seem contradictory to free will, yet to live in the love of God and to do his will is to live in truth. And what is the command that Jesus gives? It is the same by which he lived, died, and rose from the dead: loving your own to reconcile them to you. Help me, God, know and do your will as your Son does, in perfect obedience to his friendship and to his command to love one another.

Lord, thank you for the gift of your friendship. Grant me the grace to remain in you today by doing your will and asking you for what I need.

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.

Thursday of the Fifth Week of Easter

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John

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 might be in you and your joy might be complete.”

The words of Jesus in today’s Gospel call to mind the Lord’s Prayer, which he prayed with his disciples: “Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Just as Jesus remains in his Father’s love by doing his will, Jesus invites the disciples to remain in his love, as he says, “so that my joy might be in you and your joy might be complete.” How will I have in today’s works, joys, and sufferings the opportunity to remain in the Lord’s love?

As he does in praying the Our Father with the disciples, Jesus invites me to be the Father’s adopted son. Father in heaven, your only-begotten Son loves me in the same way you love him—as one of your own. As the Gospel acclamation says, “My sheep hear my voice, says the Lord; I know them, and they follow me.” Lord, you take the initiative in your love for me, and you yourself are the source of the grace I need to remain in you and follow where you lead. As Saint Teresa of Calcutta said, “Anything may come: impatience, failures, joy, but say to yourself, ‘The Father loves me.’ God has created the whole world, but He is our Father.”

Jesus, you say to me: “As the Father loves me, so I also love you. Remain in my love.” Help me today with the initiative of your love so that I can remain in 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.

Wednesday of the Fifth Week of Easter

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John

Jesus said to his disciples: “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. Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit, because without me you can do nothing.”

In today’s Gospel, Jesus tells the disciples to remain in him. In this short passage, John uses the word remain eight times. In telling the disciples to remain in him and that they can do nothing without him, Jesus is boldly declaring his divinity. Who but God has the authority to say to a person “without me you can do nothing”? The result of remaining in him is this: “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask for whatever you want and it will be done for you.” What is it I can ask God with complete confidence to be done today?

God, show me what it means to remain in you as a branch remains on a vine. It makes me uncomfortable to hear that whatever does not bear fruit in me will be taken away, yet Jesus says that you prune that branch that does bear fruit only so that it bears more. To measure as the human mind conceives is to use numbers and percentages and units, which leads to incompleteness, but your measurements, God, are not my own faulty ones. Please, Lord, let me have less confidence in my way of measuring and more and more confidence in your superabundant grace and its effects in me.

Remain in me, Lord; take away whatever branch that does not remain on the vine. Let your words remain in 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.

Tuesday of the Fifth Week of Easter

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John

Jesus said to his disciples: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give it to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid.”

Jesus tells the disciples he is going away to the Father and that he will come back to them. For this, Jesus says, the disciples should rejoice if they love him. Preparing them for his ascension into heaven, Jesus tells the disciples that its time approaches. He says that he will no longer speak much with them because the ruler of the world, Satan, is coming. “He has no power over me,” Jesus says, “but the world must know that I love the Father and that I do just as the Father has commanded me.” In telling the disciples that he is going away but that he will come back to them, Jesus reassures them that he has conquered Satan and that out of love he does his Father’s will by returning to him. The peace he leaves his disciples with is not as the world gives but the peace of his Father in heaven, whose power extends to all who believe in Jesus.

God, help me understand today’s Gospel. I place the words and events in time and space as I reflect on them, yet the peace that Jesus offers to the disciples, he offers to me. It is peace not as the world gives but comes from you, who are outside of time and space. Just as Satan has no power over your Son, who does your will, he has no power over me as long as I remain in your peace and do your will. The ruler of the world, Satan, comes every day on this earth, dividing individuals, families, and communities. Help me today, Lord, by remaining in me as I strive to remain in you, where Satan has no power.

Prince of Peace, give me the grace to know and do your will today and always.

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 Fifth Week of Easter

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John

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.”

In today’s Gospel, Jesus tells his disciples that those who love him will keep his commandments and that the Father will love them and they will make their home with them. He also says that the Holy Spirit will teach them all things and remind them of everything Jesus has said to them. That same Holy Spirit is active today in instructing all who observe Jesus’ commandments and in making oneself a temple that is fit for the Holy Spirit.

God, help me hear and understand Jesus’ words, his promise of love and protection to those who follow his commandments. Sustain me with the indwelling of the Holy Spirit—the love between you and your Son—to guide and instruct me. Lord, I know you love me unconditionally. Help me choose to do right, to live in your truth, and to love you in return for the sake of your glory.

From the responsorial psalm, we pray: “Not to us, O LORD, not to us but to your name give glory because of your mercy, because of your truth.”

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.

Fifth Sunday of Easter

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John

“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.”

In today’s Gospel Jesus powerfully makes clear his identity and mission. He is the Son of God, and he is one with the Father. As the Messiah, he has come to save the world. Those who believe in him will be able to do the same works that he does and even greater works. As Saint Paul says of Jesus, quoting Isaiah: “Behold, I am laying a stone in Zion, a cornerstone, chosen and precious, and whoever believes in it shall not be put to shame.” God invites me to follow him. With what degree of faith do I respond to that call? “Do not let your hearts be troubled,” Jesus says. “You have faith in God; have faith also in me.”

Father in heaven, Jesus your Son calls me into the peace of knowing that he is the way, the truth, and the life. “Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me,” Jesus tells the disciples, “or else, believe because of the works themselves.” He is, as Saint Paul says, the one who calls me out of darkness into his wonderful light. Help me strive to trust that in him there is no deception and that through your mercy, Jesus will prepare a place for me and take me to himself.

From the responsorial psalm, we pray: “Lord, let your mercy be on us, as we place our trust in you.” Stay with me today, 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.

Saturday of the Fourth Week of Easter

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John

Jesus said to the disciples: “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.”

Today’s Gospel continues the Last Supper discourses of Jesus. He shares with the disciples his oneness with the Father and his desire that they recognize that he does the will of his Father. “The words that I speak to you,” Jesus says, “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.” Teaching them this, Jesus also tells them that whatever they ask in his name, he will do “so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.”

God, as I hear these words of Jesus, skepticism and worldly wisdom challenge my belief that whatever I ask in your name you will do. How is this possible? I have to ground this in the truth to understand it. Just as Jesus does your will and models this to the disciples, so must I abandon my own will to yours and remain in you while recognizing my limitations. There is something of a mystery here. Do I abandon free will in doing this? No, instead I freely abandon my will to truth itself so that your will can be done.

Lord, help me remain in this truth today as I consider your love for me. From the responsorial Psalm: “If you remain in my word, you will truly be my disciples, and you will know the truth, says the 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.

Friday of the Fourth Week of Easter

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John

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.”

In today’s Gospel, Jesus speaks to his disciples during the Last Supper on the night before his crucifixion. He tells them not to let their hearts be troubled and that he will prepare a place for them in his Father’s house and come back again to take them to himself so that, as Jesus says, “where I am you also may be.” Thomas, uncertain of the way to follow him, asks how they can know the way. Jesus tells him, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” This is the same Jesus, the I AM, who is God made man. In saying, “I am the way and the truth and the life,” Jesus is not proposing principles by which to live in truth; instead, the Son of God is the way and the truth and the life.

God, help me understand the love Jesus had for his disciples and his desire to be with them always. By that same love, Jesus prepares a place for me and will come to take me to himself so that I may also be where he is. Your Son is the way to your house and its many dwelling places.

From the Gospel acclamation, let me remember this prayer throughout the day: “I am the way and the truth and the life, says the Lord; no one comes to the Father except through me.” Stay with me, Lord! Teach me the desire to come to you always.

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.

Thursday of the Fourth Week of Easter

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John

When Jesus had washed the disciples’ feet, he said to them: “I am not speaking of all of you. I know those whom I have chosen. But so that the Scripture might be fulfilled, The one who ate my food has raised his heel against me. From now on I am telling you before it happens, so that when it happens you may believe that I AM. Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever receives the one I send receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.”

In the first reading from the Acts of the Apostles, the synagogue officials ask Paul to speak a word of exhortation for the people. He tells them the history of Israel and the revelation of Jesus as the Messiah. In a similar manner, Jesus speaks to the disciples at the Last Supper, clearly stating that he is I AM, the God of Israel present in the flesh. “If you understand this,” Jesus tells them, “blessed are you if you do it.” By washing the disciples’ feet, the humility of God made man demonstrates sacrificial love and service to them and to all of humanity. To become like you, Lord, is impossible without your grace.

God, help me understand the significance of Jesus washing the feet of his disciples. You sent your Son, who is one with you; in receiving the one sent, I receive you as my Father in heaven. Peter objected to Jesus washing his feet, but Jesus said to him: “Unless I wash you, you will have no inheritance with me.” Grant me the grace, God, to receive your loving kindness fully in this life so that I can in turn bring your love to others and one day as your adopted son come into your glory.

From the Gospel acclamation: “Jesus Christ, you are the faithful witness,
the firstborn of the dead, you have loved us and freed us from our sins by your Blood.” Be with me today, 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.