Wednesday | May 1, 2024
John 15:5
I am the vine, you are the branches.
St. Joseph the Worker
Connected to the Source
Recently, a good friend of mine—Diane, a former student and regular email correspondent—died in an automobile accident that also claimed the life of a young motorcyclist. Both deaths were sudden and untimely, but it was Dianne's that left her husband and three daughters bereft.
The Gospel for the funeral Mass, taken from Luke 12, was an exhortation on being prepared, “for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come” (v. 40). But still, how could anyone be prepared for such a moment?
To this, I offered that, quite remarkably, Diane was prepared. That’s a judgment left to God, of course, but Diane was vigilant in staying connected, day after day, with the source of her life. I know she understood herself to be a branch on the vine of Christ—and the care she took to live from that truth bore fruit in her vocation as wife, mother and friend of those in need. “She was so incredibly loved,” the family wrote in her obituary. Love begets love, and drawing from the one who is Love, she herself loved much.
- Fr. Dennis Gallagher, A.A.
Acts 15:1-6 • Psalm 122:1-5 • John 15:1-8
Tuesday | April 30, 2024
Acts 14:22
It is necessary for us to undergo many hardships to enter the Kingdom of God.
St. Pius V
Move On
If you want an idea of how the early Church survived and grew, look no further than today’s reading from Acts. Put bluntly, here we discover a church on the move. The disciples’ method was simple: proclaim, pray, sail, repeat. Even Paul, after being stoned and thought to be dead, “got up and entered the city” (v. 20) and the very next day moved on to this next stop.
No matter what, the first Christians kept going.
There’s simple wisdom for us here and now. How often do we feel discouraged? Defeated? Do we feel our faith drying up? Do we think the world is against us? When we feel beaten down or broken, often the best thing to do is to take a page from Paul.
Defy expectations. Get back up. Keep going. Don’t stop.
But how? “Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid,” Jesus says in today’s Gospel (John 14:27).
That was what helped fuel the first Christians.
It can still keep us moving today.
- Deacon Greg Kandra
Acts 14:19-28 • Psalm 145:10-13, 21 • John 14:27-31a
Monday | April 29, 2024
Acts 14:11
When the crowds saw what Paul had done, they cried out in Lycaonian, “The gods have come down to us in human form.”
St. Catherine of Siena
The Center of My Life
When my husband died suddenly in 2009, leaving two sons ages 4 and 7 behind, I had a choice to make.
How were we going to go on in a healthy way? Did I want the loss to be the focus of my sons' lives for the rest of their lives? Of course not. And their father certainly wouldn’t have wanted it either. To center our lives around this, admittedly, sad event, this loss, would not only be unhealthy and limiting—it would be making an idol of it, maybe even of him.
Those who saw Paul heal a crippled man wanted to call him a god. Idols, though, come in many forms. The temptation is often great to put a person, an event, an interest, a goal at the center of my life—where God should be instead.
Lord, you alone can give lasting peace and joy.
- Amy Welborn
Acts 14:5-18 • Psalm 115:1-4, 15-16 • John 14:21-26
Sunday | April 28, 2024
John 15:5
Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit, because without me you can do nothing.
5th Sunday of Easter
The Power of Dependence
I remember moments of my adolescence when I began to feel my independence from my parents. Starting high school, first job, driver’s license—all were small steps that led eventually to the necessary separation between child and parent.
As we mature in faith, God asks the opposite of us—not independence from God we no longer need but, rather, the growing realization of how much we need God. Jesus asks not for the boldness of “I can do it alone” but for a radical dependence and recollection that we are children of God, never made to go it alone.
Today, offer your adult responsibilities and independence back to God. Let go of something that burdens you and let God take control.
- Steve Givens
Acts 9:26-31 • Psalm 22:26-28, 30-32 • 1 John 3:18-24 • John 15:1-8
Saturday | April 27, 2024
Acts 13:44
…almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord.
The 4th Week of Easter
Hearing the Word
The first reading today specifically states: “Almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord.” Almost everybody was there, but some were missing. We might wonder why they didn’t go. Maybe illness or something that couldn’t be rescheduled. Or maybe fear of what the Word of the Lord would do for them or demand of them. As believers, we gather with family and friends daily or weekly to hear the Word of the Lord at Mass. But even that is not enough. Reading the Word of God, meditating and living it are daily tasks. What is our frequency in opening the Bible and hearing God’s voice? If it isn’t daily or often, what might change to better prioritize it? When would be a good time to read Scripture? Can I read and reflect on it with my household, co-workers or friends?
Hearing the Word and responding to it will do the same thing it did for those early disciples—our souls will be filled with joy.
- Fr. Edward Looney
Acts 13:44-52 • Psalm 98:1-4 • John 14:7-14
Friday | April 26, 2024
John 14:1:
Do not let your hearts be troubled. You have faith in God; have faith also in me.
The 4th Week of Easter
No Problem Bickering
Jesus encourages us to allow our hearts to be free of anxiety. I appreciate the sentiment, but if I am honest, I can admit that I want to talk back. I want to object and assume that Jesus’ words don’t apply to my context; fear and suffering are intense, and the Good News seems scarce some days. And then I realize: The reason I feel safe enough to object to Jesus’ message is because I love him like my brother. For some reason, I have no problem bickering with my family, with those I love most. It turns out that Christ does know this era in history. Christ knows me and my troubles. He is urging me to trust him because he is close, helping me, holding me, tending to me like family.
Jesus, you help us belong to the family of God. Help us to trust in you.
- Sr. Julia Walsh, F.S.P.A.
Acts 13:26-33 • Psalm 2:6-11 • John 14:1-6
Thursday | April 25, 2024
1 Peter 5:6-7:
So humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God…. Cast all your worries upon him because he cares for you
St. Mark
God Cares for Us
I was reading this Scripture just as we were warned that a hurricane was coming our way. Humbling ourselves means facing the truth of our own limitations, that we are not in control. This invitation is to cast all our worries on God not just because God is all powerful but because “he cares for you.” That God cares for us, is with us with great personal love in all our anxieties, has throughout my life, again and again, helped to calm the great storms of escalating fears inside me.
We had no great damage from that hurricane. Yet even if we had, (for in the past, sometimes what I feared did happen), being assured that God’s care was with me was a blessing beyond words.
Let us pray today for people who are experiencing great anxieties, that they may have some indication of God’s caring presence with them.
- Patricia Livingston
1 Peter 5:5b-14 • Psalm 89:2-3, 6-7, 16-17 • Mark 16:15-20
Wednesday | April 24, 2024
Acts 13:3:
Then, completing their fasting and prayer, they laid hands on them and sent them off.
St. Fidelis of Sigmaringen
Covered in Prayer
In commissioning Barnabas and Saul, the fledgling Church is on the verge of some of her most dynamic growth. These two missionaries are prepared not just by their fellow disciples but “sent forth by the Holy Spirit” (v. 4). They laid the groundwork with fasting and prayer.
Fifteen centuries later in Switzerland, Fidelis of Sigmaringen offers a similar example. He left a career in law to become a Capuchin Franciscan priest, displaying a heart for the poor and vulnerable. He bravely stepped forward at a contentious time in the Church, appealing to those who had left the Church. His reputation for deep prayer and unflagging zeal inspired others. He urged himself on, frequently saying, “Woe to me if I should prove myself but a halfhearted soldier in the service of my thorn-crowned Captain.”
What could the Holy Spirit accomplish if we imitate these evangelists’ prayers, enthusiasm and joy in our workplaces, neighborhoods and faith communities?
- Steve Pable
Tuesday | April 18, 2023
Matthew 28: 18-20 (RSV-CE):
Luke 2:33-35:
And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age."SOURCE: Living Water Catholic
Friday | October 28 2022
Luke 6:12-16:
Jesus’ all-night vigil is significant in that it is a time of prayer and discernment prior to choosing the Twelve. Jesus comes down from the mountain, gathers all the disciples and chooses his core group of missionaries. They are to go out to and preach God’s holy word.
I know that your call to me was not a one-time event at the beginning of my journey with you. You call me every day through your word and sacrament and in the ordinary moments of my life.
