Saturday | May 11, 2024
Acts 18:25
[Apollos] had been instructed in the Way of the Lord and, with ardent spirit, spoke and taught accurately about Jesus…
The 6th Week of Easter
The Way
What is the Way of the Lord? A way is a path, a traveled road. A way can also be the journey itself. Acts notes that Apollos, “had been instructed in the Way of the Lord,” where “the Way” refers to Jesus himself and to his teachings. Ultimately, “the Way of the Lord” implies all the above. It is a spiritual journey with Jesus the Christ, “the way and the truth and the life” (John 14:6).
The earliest followers of Jesus were known as “people of the Way” (Acts 9:2), a name rooted in the disciples’ belief that Jesus was—and is—“the Way” to God the Father. And Jesus’ great command: “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind…. You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:37, 39).
What would my life look like if I lived intentionally enough to be labeled as one of the “people of the Way”?
- María Ruiz Scaperlanda
Acts 18:23-28 • Psalm 47:2-3, 8-10 • John 16:23b-28
Friday | May 10, 2024
John 16:22
But I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you.
St. John of Avila, St. Damien de Veuster
Hearts Will Rejoice
Today, the Church celebrates and honors St. John of Avila and St. Damien de Veuster. Although these men lived three centuries apart and halfway around the world from each other, they both lived lives after God’s own heart. They oriented themselves toward the Gospel amid the severe challenges of this earthly existence. It is through their respective examples that we can see holiness and piety as tenable goals.
God may not be calling us to intense theological study like he did for John of Avila or to serve those suffering in leper colonies as he did for Damien de Veuster. But what God is calling us to is an openness to his holy will. After all, it is in living our true vocation, according to God’s call, that our hearts will be enlivened and joyful.
Lord Jesus, prepare our minds and hearts not only for your return but also to appreciate all that you give us meanwhile.
- Mr. Justin McClain, O.P.
Acts 18:9-18 • Psalm 47:2-7 • John 16:20-23
Thursday | May 9, 2024
Acts 1:8
…you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses…to the ends of the earth.
The Ascension of the Lord
‘You Will Be My Witnesses’
We might think of the feast of the Ascension as the time when Jesus said goodbye to his disciples. But today’s readings make it quite clear: This is not a “Bye, bye, Jesus” feast. It is a “Get ready to welcome the Spirit” feast and a “Go out to all the world” feast.
The readings tell us that Jesus is still present with his followers—though in a new way. Immediately after Jesus “left” them, the disciples “went forth and preached everywhere while the Lord worked with them…” (Mark 16:20). Jesus is not gone! Not then. Not now. The Alleluia antiphon echoes Jesus’ presence in our midst. Jesus promises all his followers—including us: “I am with you always, until the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20).
Jesus, help me to continue your work of spreading the Gospel in my particular circumstances. I trust in your presence and the power of the Holy Spirit.
- Sr. Melannie Svoboda, S.N.D.
Acts 1:1-11 • Psalm 47:2-3, 6-9 • Ephesians 1:17-23 or Ephesians 4:1-13 or 4:1-7, 11-13 • Mark 16:15-20
Wednesday | May 8, 2024
Acts 17:23
What therefore you unknowingly worship, I proclaim to you.
The 6th Week of Easter
What We Worship
Fate, The Universe, Karma, Kismet and the like often get more attention than God—except when he’s being profaned. Aside from Church, what positives do we hear about God? He’s often shut out of lives, reduced to some magic genie who’s only relevant when he grants wishes.
Yet, consciously or unconsciously, we search for meaning in life: why we’re here, where we’re going, what we do with suffering? Whether we think ourselves the captains of our own ships or acknowledge the one who gave us life, we all focus attention somewhere.
Today, we hear Saint Paul daring to tell the Athenians of a God bigger than it all. Let’s not be silenced by our seemingly-filled-but-empty culture. This world still needs the One who made us all.
Please, Lord, help us to see and to share that you, who give us life and breath and everything, are not far from any of us.
- Kathleen Swartz McQuaig
Acts 17:15, 22—18:1 • Psalm 148:1-2, 11-14 • John 16:12-15
Tuesday | May 7, 2024
John 16:7
…if I do not go, the Advocate will not come to you.
The 6th Week of Easter
The Trinity in Action
Jesus’ inaugural address, the Sermon on the Mount, is three chapters long in Matthew’s Gospel. His farewell address, given at the Last Supper, is five chapters in John’s Gospel. But how blessed that we have the full liturgical year to give us time to appreciate every blessed twist and turn in between. Today, Jesus alarms the Apostles with the news that he’s leaving them! But as he goes to the Father, he will send the “Advocate,” also called the Paraclete, the Consoler, above all, the Holy Spirit. This dynamic, Jesus-to-his-Father, Spirit-to-his-followers gives us the Trinity in action: a “triple play,” you might say.
No wonder the Apostles are confused! How can we even conceive of a God, omnipotent and interactive, bringing all of history and eternity into focus? But it’s true!
- Miguel Dulick
Acts 16:22-34 • Psalm 138:1-3, 7-8 • John 16:5-11
Monday | May 6, 2024
John 15:26
...the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, he will testify to me.
The 6th Week of Easter
Invite the Holy Spirit
We have a natural human response to want to explain ourselves, to rationalize, to defend our choices or our motives. This happens especially in situations where we feel we have been wronged or wrongly accused, mischaracterized or disrespected. We can waste so much valuable energy trying to maintain control over situations, things and people. If we divert this fearful, defensive energy and return our focus back to God, our trust will become the catalyst for our freedom and our peace.
The Spirit of truth will testify just as it validated the truth of Jesus. The Holy Spirit works in us and through us and in all situations to restore clarity, harmony and divine right order.
Invite the Holy Spirit into your heart, into your thoughts, into your life, into your relationships, into your workplace, into your communication, into all your circumstances, and watch the transformation.
- Kristin Armstrong
Acts 16:11-15 • Psalm 149:1-6, 9 • John 15:26—16:4a
Sunday | May 5, 2024
John 15:13
No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.
6th Sunday of Easter
Jesus’ Love for Us
We can always discover a deeper meaning of a Scripture text when we read it within its context. These words of Jesus about loving one’s friends were spoken at the Last Supper. That was the momentous night before he would lay down his life for his friends to be nailed to the cross. These words about laying down one’s life were extremely personal to Jesus at that precise time. The statement gives a clear insight into his mind the day before his crucifixion. Jesus explains that there is no one who has more love for one’s friends than one offering one’s supreme self-sacrifice.
In this same chapter of John, Jesus explicitly says that we—all of us—are the friends he has chosen and loves beyond description. We need to bow our heads with profound humility, realizing Jesus’ intense love for us exceeds even his intense pain on the Cross.
- Fr. James McKarns
Acts 10:25-26, 34-35, 44-48 • Psalm 98:1-4 • 1 John 4:7-10 • John 15:9-17
Saturday | May 4, 2024
Acts 16:9
During the night Paul had a vision.
The 5th Week of Easter
Trusting in Dreams
In her book Left to Tell, Immaculee Ilibagiza recounts the gruesome details of the genocide in Rwanda and how she discovered God through her survival. Faith in him had her envisioning the future she thought he wanted for her. Trusting in his plan led to each dream coming true: achieving freedom after hiding for ninety-one days in a three by four-foot bathroom during the violence, earning a job at the United Nations after the war, getting her memoir published through a miraculous turn of events and making The New York Times Best Seller list.
In Acts 16:1-10, we see examples of how Paul and Timothy relied on visions to determine where they should and shouldn’t go. Their dream was to spread the Good News to people who would receive it. It was their trust in God to map out their destinations that led to that dream coming true.
Creator of Dreams, reveal to me what you envision for my life. Increase my trust in you to follow your lead.
- Claire McGarry
Acts 16:1-10 • Psalm 100:1-3, 5 • John 15:18-21
Friday | May 3, 2024
John 14:7
If you know me, then you will also know my Father.
Sts. Philip and James
Seeing and Knowing God
People who have met my parents say I look just like my mother and that I have my father’s temperament. When people see me, they can see part of my parents. In some way, by seeing and knowing me, they begin to know my parents as well. As we take the time to know Jesus and let Scripture penetrate our hearts, we begin to know what God sounds like and how God responds. Through knowing Jesus, we know that God puts love first. This is why Jesus gave up everything so that we may live, love and feel compassion. Through Jesus, we know that God walks with everyone, including those excluded or ignored for any reason. Through Jesus, we know that God is about reconciliation and washing the feet of all, including those who might eventually disappoint us. We know God because we know Jesus. We know God because the face of God is apparent in every face we encounter.
- Vivian Amu
1 Corinthians 15:1-8 • Psalm 19:2-5 • John 14:6-14
Thursday | May 2, 2024
John 15:9
Jesus said to his disciples: “As the Father loves me, so I also love you. Remain in my love.”
St. Athanasius
Abide
Over the years, I have deeply appreciated watching the transformation of my nephews from single young men into tender fathers. At our family holiday gatherings, when all the little ones playing together escalates in loudness, we know that sooner or later there will be tears. Then I am so touched as one of the fathers scoops up the wailing child and cradles her in his arms. There’s something about being embraced in love and gazed at with such love that feels holy.
“Remain,” Jesus says. Abide. Rest in the place of knowing yourself beloved. Imagine his voice saying: Stay on the path I have set out for you. Remain in your deep listening to my words and your attentiveness to my Spirit.
- Sr. Chris Koellhoffer, I.H.M.
Acts 15:7-21 • Psalm 96:1-3, 10 • John 15:9-11
