Tag: Holy Spirit

Friday of the Second Week of Easter

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John

When Jesus raised his eyes and saw that a large crowd was coming to him, he said to Philip, “Where can we buy enough food for them to eat?” He said this to test him, because he himself knew what he was going to do. Philip answered him, “Two hundred days’ wages worth of food would not be enough for each of them to have a little.” One of his disciples, Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, said to him, “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish; but what good are these for so many?”

In today’s Gospel, there is so much to ponder in the miracle of the loaves and the fishes. On encountering the large crowd coming to him, Jesus isn’t startled or alarmed. He knows with unshaken confidence that his Father will provide for him. The question he asks Philip, John tells us, is a test; it’s an opportunity for Philip to answer for himself that God will provide for their needs. By a simple leap of logic, I recognize that Jesus himself is asking me the same question: “Where is enough?” Philip answers this question in human terms with a human solution: they would need two hundred days worth of wages to feed the crowd only a little. And in response, the miracle Jesus provides is not in a little way but is generous to the nth degree: after the crowd had eaten, twelve baskets of leftovers were gathered. Human solutions fail; God’s divine intervention exceeds all human expectation.

God, for the times when my mind goes into overdrive searching for a solution, give me the grace to turn to you for assistance. Give me the eyes of Jesus when overwhelming needs approach that call for a solution. I am often caught up in using the gifts you have given me, trying to do all I can, but am slow to recognize that the best solution is not mine but yours to carry through. Lord, give me the peace to know that it’s okay to step off of the mental treadmill to give you space to work miracles. Relieve me from the sole burden of making things happen and draw me into your will so that I see and accomplish it.

Thank you, Lord, for the gifts of reasoning that you have given me and for your extravagant generosity. Give me the peace of Christ in confronting the problems that seem to be too big for me to handle.

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 Second Week of Easter

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John

The Father loves the Son and has given everything over to him. Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever disobeys the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God remains upon him.

In giving everything over to the Son, the Father shows complete love for him and at the same time provides a means for all of us to have complete trust in the Son. Eternal life is the promise, and it is through the work of the Son that the Father accomplishes this for all who believe in the Son. The wrath of God—is that a kind of burning within each of us, a kind of suffering that finds no peace until obedience to the Son restores us to life?

God, another day of my life begins, and I am given the choice to believe without seeing or to fail to trust and face isolation from you. Give me the grace today of quiet confidence in you. Help me remain obedient to your Son today and every day of this earthly life so that one day I will see you in your glory. Strengthen my faith!

Hear me today, Lord. Make clear to me in moments of the day when I am unsettled and perturbed, that it is you I am missing and need to return to. Lord, lead me to the fullness of life 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 Second Week of Easter

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John

And this is the verdict, that the light came into the world, but people preferred darkness to light, because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come toward the light, so that his works might not be exposed. But whoever lives the truth comes to the light, so that his works may be clearly seen as done in God.

Today’s Gospel picks up from yesterday’s passage, where Jesus teaches Nicodemus. So that everyone might have eternal life, God gave his only-begotten Son. In the words of John: “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.” The saving light of Christ did not stop people from preferring darkness to light, just as the Sanhedrin in the first reading from Acts had the Apostles put into prison. But God would not have it that darkness would overcome light. During the night, an angel of the Lord opened the doors of the prison, and by morning the court officers found the prison locked but empty. There are times, Lord, when I prefer darkness so that my sins might not be exposed. What can I do but turn to you for help?

God, I want to live in the light of your truth so that I know your will and do your works. Today there will be moments when darkness seems desirable, where choosing to do wrong and the captivity of sin seems preferable to believing in your Son. I ask you to come into those moments today and bring them into your light. Save me from the darkness of sin that has power over me only in so far as I keep it hidden from you. With the psalmist, I pray: “Look to him that you may be radiant with joy, and your faces may not blush with shame. When the poor one called out, the LORD heard, and from all his distress he saved him.”

Lord, be my companion today. Disperse the darkness with the breath of your Spirit, and save me from the darkness that I tend toward if left alone. Give me the grace today to take refuge 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.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2W-KSOPWWBY

Tuesday of the Second Week of Easter

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John

In today’s Gospel, Jesus continues to teach Nicodemus about the kingdom of God. He says to him, “Amen, amen, I say to you, we speak of what we know and we testify to what we have seen, but you people do not accept our testimony. If I tell you about earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you about heavenly things?” Nicodemus struggles with faith in the work of the Holy Spirit, action that comes from beyond what is earthly. “No one has gone up to heaven,” Jesus tells him, “except the one who has come down from heaven, the Son of Man.” By saying this, Jesus reveals his divinity as the Son who, by being lifted on the cross, brings salvation to the whole world. Jesus says to Nicodemus: “And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.” With these words, Jesus speaks not only to Nicodemus but to everyone who would hear and believe him.

God, help me understand the heavenly things Jesus teaches Nicodemus. It is clear that your Son goes ahead of anyone who believes in him, dying and rising, and now at your right hand in majesty. In imperative form, Jesus says, “You must be born from above.” There is no questions about the necessity of being born of the Spirit. Yet, human shortcomings often tend to derail me from that goal, and it is only with your grace that I allow my will to be your will. “The wind blows where it wills,” Jesus says, “and you can hear the sound it makes, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes.” Lord, grant me the grace to listen for your will and to abandon myself to it in this life so that I may one day be born to eternal life in your kingdom.

The Son of Man must be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. Alleluia, alleluia.

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 Sixth Week of Easter: Reflection

“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.”

Jesus brought to the disciples the fullness of the truth. The Spirit of truth, the Advocate, will take that fullness from Jesus and declare it to the disciples and to the rest of the world. This brings to mind the Trinity, that the Advocate will glorify Jesus just as Jesus glorifies the Father.

God, help me understand that the Spirit of truth will guide me to all truth. That Jesus spoke of truth should enough to counter any doubts I have in daily life about what is uncertain. “I am the way and the truth and the life,” Jesus says. Truth is not a philosophy or a myth or an unknown god but a person, the second person of the Holy Trinity.

When the Spirit of truth comes, he will not speak on his own but will speak what he hears. Let me be open today to speak not on my own but through what the Spirit of truth teaches me to bring that truth to others.

In today’s Gospel reading of twelve short lines, Jesus says three times that the Spirit of truth will take from what is his and declare it to the disciples. Jesus has much more to tell them, but he sends the Advocate to reveal all truth to them. When I am in the midst of the day weighing the relative truth of an idea or situation, I want to remember to leave room to allow the Advocate to guide me to all truth.

USCCB Readings

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Monday of the Fifth Week of Easter

“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.”

Jesus says these words as he teaches his disciples about the coming of the Advocate, the Holy Spirit. If I recognize the Holy Spirit as the love between the Father and the Son, it is easier to see that that same love can come to dwell in me. This is true, as Jesus says, for “whoever has my commandments and observes them.” In this short Gospel reading of 155 words, Jesus uses the word love seven times in the sense of both loving the Father and the Son and being loved by the Father and the Son.

God, help me understand that you call me to love you and love the Father by doing your will; in turn, you send the Advocate to teach and remind me of all that your Son said and did. Realizing this in myself is a way, as the Psalm says, to give glory not to myself but to your name.

The workday has a way of occupying a huge amount of mental space. God, I know you want me to give my anxieties and cares to you as a little child does who comes to his mother and father when hurt or troubled. Thank you for the gift of family and the many opportunities I will have today to do your will and share the joy of having the Advocate teaching me.

Today I will remember the particular love that Jesus reveals for each of those who observe his commandments. Jesus invites me into that same love through his life, death, and resurrection, and also in his Father sending the Advocate in his Son’s name. Let me recall that in keeping the word of Jesus, I make a place for him to dwell within me so that I can then go out and give glory to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

USCCB Readings