Tag: love

“I have much more to tell you.” | Wednesday of the Sixth Week of Easter

From the Gospel acclamation: “I will ask the Father and he will give you another Advocate to be with you always.”

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John (Jn 16:12-15)

Jesus said to his disciples: “I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now. But when he comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you to all truth. He will not speak on his own, but he will speak what he hears, and will declare to you the things that are coming.”

Jesus speaks to the disciples about the coming of the Spirit of truth, the Advocate. As he guides them to all truth, the Holy Spirit glorifies the Father and the Son. “He will glorify me,” Jesus says, “because he will take from what is mine and declare it to you.” One with the Father, Jesus is able to say that the Holy Spirit will take what is his and declare it to the disciples and to the entire Church. “Everything that the Father has is mine; for this reason I told you that he will take from what is mine and declare it to you.” The fullness of revelation through the Holy Spirit takes place as Jesus sends the Advocate. What the disciples could not bear before Pentecost, they came to understand through the revelation of the Holy Spirit in the unity of the Father and the Son.

God, help me understand the unity of purpose within the Trinity. Everything that the Holy Spirit does glorifies your Son in his guiding to all truth. In sending the Advocate, Jesus says that he will not speak on his own but will speak what he hears, glorifying the Father and the Son in declaring it. How am I to understand the fullness of what Jesus describes in the coming of the Holy Spirit? Give me the courage, Lord, to remove barriers between me and the Spirit of truth so that he can complete in me what Jesus made possible by way of the cross and the coming of the Advocate at Pentecost. Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love.

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.

“But if I go, I will send him to you.”| Tuesday of the Sixth Week of Easter

From the responsorial psalm: “Because of your kindness and your truth, you have made great above all things your name and your promise. When I called, you answered me; you built up strength within me. Your right hand saves me, O Lord.”

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John (Jn 16:5-11)

Jesus said to his disciples: “Now I am going to the one who sent me, and not one of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ But because I told you this, grief has filled your hearts. But I tell you the truth, it is better for you that I go. For if I do not go, the Advocate will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.”

In prayer to the Lord, the psalmist says, “You have made great above all things your name and your promise.” In the Gospel, Jesus expresses the fulfillment of those words in sending the Advocate, the Holy Spirit. In obedience to the Father through his passion and death, Jesus is able to say of the Advocate: “And when he comes he will convict the world in regard to sin and righteousness and condemnation.” Only in perfect obedience to the point of death on a cross, Jesus can say that the Holy Spirit convicts in regard to righteousness because he ascends to the Father, having fulfilled his redemptive mission. In that mission, he is also able to speak of conviction in regard to the sin of unbelief and the condemnation of Satan. “Because of your kindness and your truth, you have made great above all things your name and your promise.”

Father in heaven, increase my faith because of the words of your Son. “I am going to the Father,” he says, “and you will no longer see me.” Jesus saw the grief and sadness in the eyes of the disciples when he told them he was going away. No one asked where he was going, but if they had, they would have known the joy of Jesus in his imminent return to you—the same joy he wished to share with them. I am unable to see Jesus as the disciples saw him, yet he is present to me in Scripture, through the Eucharist and the sacraments of the Church, and in the people you place before me. Help me, Lord, in receiving the Spirit of truth today so that he guides me one day to come to all truth, face to face with you in unending joy.

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.

“And you also testify.” | Monday of the Sixth Week of Easter

From the Gospel acclamation: “The Spirit of truth will testify to me, says the Lord, and you also will testify.”

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John (Jn 15:26—16:4a)

Jesus said to his disciples: “When the Advocate comes whom I will send you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, he will testify to me. And you also testify, because you have been with me from the beginning.”

Jesus is preparing the disciples for his ascension and the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. When he refers to this coming, he speaks of the Trinity, the Spirit of truth that Jesus sends them from the Father. When Jesus ascends to heaven, he doesn’t go away. There is no diminishment of his presence but an amplification of it. In his ascension, he sends more of himself through the Father in the Spirit of truth, from the power of the Holy Spirit who proceeds from him. Strengthening them with these words, Jesus goes on to prepare the disciples for their coming persecution and rejection from the Jewish leaders. “I have told you this so that you may not fall away,” he says to them. Rather than alienating them, the suffering they will face will take place not apart from Jesus but in the fulfillment of his mission and in the consummated embrace of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

God, help me understand today’s Gospel. Jesus says to the disciples, “I have told you this so that you may not fall away.” Help me remain in your Son as he remains in you. Give me the grace to know that you are present even when I face rejection for the glory of your name. Guide me and show me what Jesus showed the disciples in their mission to spread the Gospel.

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.

“No one has greater love than this . . .” | Sixth Sunday of Easter

From the responsorial psalm: “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. The Lord has revealed to the nations his saving power.”

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John (Jn 15:9-17)

“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.”

As he speaks to the disciples, Jesus uses the word love nine times. In the second reading from the First Letter of John, we hear love spoken about in almost every line—nine times altogether. “Whoever is without love does not know God,” John says, “for God is love.” In the Gospel, Jesus invites us twice, in his words, “remain in my love” just as he has kept his Father’s commandments and remains in his love. And twice he commands the disciples and all who hear him to love one another as he has loved us. How is it possible to remain always in God’s love? On our own, it’s impossible; failure is certain. John reassures us that despite this, love has triumphed: “In this is love,” he says, “not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as expiation for our sins.” Similarly, Jesus says to the disciples: “It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you.” Our love—human love—doesn’t always win, but God’s does because God is love. To this—to the loving relationship of the persons of the Trinity—Jesus asks us to be obedient.

Father in heaven, in your love free me from the domination of false gods and contrived notions of who you are; bring me into the saving friendship of your Son. I am inclined to hear the words “love one another” and then hear my cynical, jaded self respond, “Yeah, right.” Love can be a feeling, but feelings fade. Should I be looking more at a decision, a line drawn in the sand that limits what is passing? The very being of love, you loved me first (“not that we have loved God, but that he loved us”). Let me choose to love, Lord, and reject what is not of you. “Go and bear fruit that will remain,” Jesus says, “so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give you.” In the name of your Son, Father, help me know the limitlessness of your love and make it known to others.

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.

Friday of the Third Week of Easter

From the Gospel acclamation: “Whoever eats my Flesh and drinks my Blood, remains in me and I in him, says the Lord.”

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John (Jn 6:52-59)

“Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the Flesh of the Son of Man and drink his Blood, you do not have life within you. Whoever eats my Flesh and drinks my Blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. For my Flesh is true food, and my Blood is true drink. Whoever eats my Flesh and drinks my Blood remains in me and I in him.”

In speaking to the Jews who question how Jesus can give them his Flesh for eternal life, he repeats in four successive statements that his Flesh and Blood is the way he remains in us and is life itself within us. Jesus emphasizes further that “Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me.” The words of Jesus leave no room for doubt. In instituting the Eucharist at the Last Supper, Jesus is present body and blood, soul and divinity, whenever the priest raises the bread and wine and says in the person of Christ, “This is my body. . . . This is the chalice of my blood.”

God, strengthen my faith and trust in you. The words of Jesus that I hear during each Mass call out for me to behold what I am about to consume. Help me be more attentive at Mass, fully realizing that what I receive is the Flesh and Blood of the Son of Man—that it is true life-giving food and drink. It is what Jesus says it is; since it is just that, now and forever, stir in me the desire, Lord, to say what the crowd who followed Jesus said to him: “Sir, give us this bread 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 Third Week of Easter

From the responsorial psalm: “Blessed be God who refused me not my prayer or his kindness! Let all the earth cry out to God with joy.”

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John (Jn 6:44-51)

“I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, but they died; this is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my Flesh for the life of the world.”

Jesus further explains how we are drawn to him and the necessity of receiving his body and blood for eternal life. Jesus says to the crowds, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draw him, and I will raise him on the last day.” He explains how the Father draws us to Jesus. Everyone who listens to his Father—our Father—comes to Jesus. When we come to Jesus in the Eucharist, we receive the body and blood of Christ—the bread that came down from heaven that will give us eternal life.

Father in heaven, you sent Jesus your Son to draw us to you. In his teachings and in the sacraments of the Church, born out of your love, Jesus remains ever present so that I can come to him at all times. “Whoever believes has eternal life,” Jesus says. Give me the grace today to believe in the hope and reality of eternal life through the death and resurrection of Jesus. The Gospel acclamation is an aid to help me remember this throughout the day: “I am the living bread that came down from heaven, says the Lord; whoever eats this bread will live forever.”

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.