Tag: evangelio del dia

“You will grieve, but your grief will become joy.” | Thursday of the Sixth Week of Easter

From the Gospel acclamation: “I will not leave you orphans, says the Lord; I will come back to you, and your hearts will rejoice.”

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John (Jn 16:16-20)

Jesus knew that they wanted to ask him, so he said to them, “Are you discussing with one another what I said, ‘A little while and you will not see me, and again a little while and you will see me’? Amen, amen, I say to you, you will weep and mourn, while the world rejoices; you will grieve, but your grief will become joy.”

Jesus seems to present a riddle to the disciples when he says to them, “A little while and you will no longer see me, and again a little while later and you will see me.” Yet, he conveys to them the departure of the incarnate word and the coming of the Spirit of truth, the Advocate. The grief the disciples experience at his passion and death will be replaced by joy at his resurrection and ascension into heaven. Although no longer present before the disciples, he will be present in body and blood, soul and divinity, in the institution of the Eucharist at the Last Supper and present also in the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. Rather than going away, Jesus firmly establishes his presence in a new way as he sends the Advocate.

Father in heaven, help me understand the particular place from which the joy Jesus speaks of originates. The departure of Jesus is not final; his physical disappearance makes way for a stronger—though invisible—reappearance. In the Eucharist, Jesus your Son is the source and summit of our faith and with us always. Paradoxically, the departure of Jesus brings to us the fullness of his presence; no longer seeing him means seeing him more definitively in the Eucharist and in the descent of the Holy Spirit. Jesus did go away but not to leave us orphans; he went away to glorify you, Lord, making himself completely present for all who believe in him—his joyful invitation to join you eternally in the life of 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.

“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.

Saturday of the Fifth Week of Easter

From the Gospel acclamation: “If then you were raised with Christ, seek what is above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.”

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John (Jn 15:18-21)

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.”

Today’s Gospel conveys Jesus’ warning to his disciples about the coming persecution they will face because of his name. Because the world rejects Jesus, it will reject the disciples. Because the disciples do not belong to the world since Jesus has chosen them out of the world for his kingdom, the world that would otherwise love them because they belong to it hates them. “And they will do all these things to you on account of my name,” Jesus tells them, “because they do not know the one who sent me.” Unaware or unbelieving of God the Father, the world rejects Jesus and his message and a true understanding of God. Have I—or, rather, how often do I—go with the world and choose it over the Kingdom of God?

God, free me from the lure of deceptions the world offers and help me trust in your kindness and faithfulness. Jesus says that the world will hate me and persecute me on account of his name. In your mercy, Lord, grant me the courage needed to face the hatred of the world when I speak your name or do anything in your name. Free from the world and its ignorance, help me know you, Father, as the one who sent your only-begotten Son “so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.” Choose me out of the world, Lord, to remain in your word for the sake of your glory.

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 Saints Philip and James, Apostles

From the responsorial psalm: “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament proclaims his handiwork. Day pours out the word to day; and night to night imparts knowledge.”

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

Jesus said to the disciples: “How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 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.”

As he speaks to Thomas and Philip, Jesus teaches the disciples and anyone who hears him that a relationship with the Father begins with belief in him or belief in the works themselves. Firmly established, that belief allows us to do works greater than the works of Jesus. What does Jesus mean by that? How is that even possible? Jesus tells the disciples, “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.” Just as Jesus moves and lives and has his being in the Father—is consubstantial with him—so Jesus dwells in us through Baptism, through his word, and in the sacraments of the Church. We don’t do anything on our own but through the gifts that spring from the unity of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Believe in Jesus, asking anything in his name; he will make it possible so that the Father may be glorified.

God, even as I consider your unlimited power to work all things for the good, I put to work your gift of reason to understand how it is I could do the works of your Son, and as he says, “greater ones than these.” I don’t question whether that is possible, but I question my own limitations. I believe; help my unbelief. Meet me where I am today, Lord, and give me the opportunity to strengthen my faith by asking for what is needed in the name of Jesus. Saints Philip and James, 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.

Memorial of Saint Athanasius, Bishop and Doctor of the Church

From the Gospel acclamation: “My sheep know my voice, says the Lord; I know them, and they follow me.”

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John (Jn 15:9-11)

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.”

Jesus continues to speak to the disciples in the imagery of the vine and the branches. Just as he is one with the vine grower, the Father, Jesus invites the disciples to keep his commandments and remain in his love. Keeping Jesus’ commandments is not only the means of remaining in union with him but is also the way to joy in this life and the completion of joy in eternal life in the unity of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. In speaking to each of the disciples, Jesus also speaks to everyone who would hear him.

God, help me hear your voice today as I strive to keep your Son’s commandments. If I imagine that the day I have planned is all that there is, how pitiful would that be? With the gift of understanding, let me see that the rise and fall of my many plans is not a cause for celebration or despair but the constant invitation to return to you and remain in your love so that my joy in you might be complete. Give me the grace to recognize your hand in the events of the day and in your work through me as I remain in you. Saint Athanasius, 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.

“Because without me you can do nothing.” | Wednesday of the Fifth Week of Easter

From the Gospel acclamation: “Remain in me, as I remain in you, says the Lord; whoever remains in me will bear much fruit.”

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John (Jn 15:4a, 5b)

Jesus said to his disciples: “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; people will gather them and throw them into a fire and they will be burned.”

In the middle of this passage, which we just heard in Sunday’s Gospel, Jesus says something astounding. Although we may have encountered these words countless times in prayer and verified through life experiences, the truth of it remains: without God we can do nothing, as withered as a dead branch only good to be thrown into a fire and burned. This is the result of not being connected to the source of life. Just as a branch that is disconnected from the vine withers and becomes worthless, failing to remain in Jesus means loss of spiritual vitality and his life-giving relationship.  Jesus invites all of us to remain connected to him, know his love, and produce the good spiritual fruit of faith, love, and a holy life.

God, help me wholeheartedly accept Jesus’ invitation to remain in him. It is my choice, and you respect my free will; yet, without you, I can do nothing. Let me choose to abide in Jesus’ love and experience the spiritual vitality that comes from being connected to him. Without a firm connection to you Lord, how can I hope to know through faith your gifts of love, joy, peace, patience, and other spiritual fruits? Remain in me, Lord, so I can remain in you and bring to others your love and mercy.

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

From the Gospel acclamation: “Christ had to suffer and to rise from the dead, and so enter into his glory.”

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John (Jn 14:27-31a)

Jesus said to his disciples: “You heard me tell you, ‘I am going away and I will come back to you.’ If you loved me, you would rejoice that I am going to the Father; for the Father is greater than I. And now I have told you this before it happens, so that when it happens you may believe. I will no longer speak much with you, for the ruler of the world is coming. He has no power over me, but the world must know that I love the Father and that I do just as the Father has commanded me.”

In doing as his Father commanded, Jesus relates the joy of obedience to him and by example prepares the disciples for his ascension, the coming of the Holy Spirit, and the second coming. “I am going away and I will come back to you.” Through obedience, Jesus makes clear that he loves the Father by doing what he commanded. So with joy and love, he begins by saying to the 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.” Before returning to the Father, Jesus destroys the power of sin and death through his passion, death, and resurrection. His obedience brings victory over the grave, revealing the fulness of God’s love and mercy.

Father in heaven, Jesus your Son is the face of your love and mercy. Grant me the grace today to remain in your love by loving even when it feels as if love is unmerited or undeserved. In the Our Father, I express what ought to come to mind when I am challenged to love: “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” In his own words, Jesus did “just as the Father has commanded me.” Help me prevail today in expressing love for you by doing what you command and serving others, understanding as the early disciples did that the demands can be great: As they said: “It is necessary for us to undergo many hardships to enter the Kingdom of God.”

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.