SATURDAY OF THE SEVENTH WEEK OF EASTER - 2022

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

I will send you the Spirit of truth, says the Lord;
he will lead you to the complete truth. JN 16:7, 13

ACTS 28:16-20,30-31 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

When we are faithful to Your call You arrange everything to help us to carry out Your mission. You make a way despite any difficult situations we may find ourselves in. You grant wisdom, You provide the words, and You open the hearts and minds of those who hear the Word of God to believe in it.

This is certainly true of Paul. He was brought in chains to Rome as a prisoner and You ensured that he was permitted to stay in his own lodgings under guard. He was relatively free to carry out the mission to be Your witness in Rome.  

Aware that his reputation would have preceded him, and in order to correct any false reports the leading Jews in Rome may have heard about him, he invites them and gives them an account as to why he was sent from Jerusalem to Rome as a prisoner. He declares his innocence and of the evil intent of his enemies to put him to death because of His belief in You and in the Resurrection. He wanted to remove any suspicion they may have of him due to the aspersions cast against his character by his own people. 

He has no hatred for his enemies, rather he loves his fellow Jews and all he desires is for them to know You, believe in You and be saved. All he desires is to fulfill the ministry You entrusted to him according to Your will.

For two years he preaches, teaches, and writes letters to the Christians in the various churches he has established, encouraging the members of the nascent Church to be faithful, to pray always, and to grow in holiness and perfection. 

As Christians, we ought to emulate Paul who was docile to the promptings of the Holy Spirit. When we do, we will love and welcome everyone as he did and we too will receive the gifts of the Holy Spirit to preach the Good News of the Resurrection boldly and fearlessly. 

JOHN 21:20-25 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

Today's Gospel reading in the Liturgy of the Holy Mass
concludes with the final verses of John's Gospel. The disciple who leaned on Your breast always identifies himself as the disciple whom Jesus loved. He does not name himself because each of us who is called by Your Name is the disciple whom You love. How good it is Lord, to relate to You in this intimate manner.

We ought not to be scandalized when members of Your Body fail spectacularly. All the members of the Church beginning with those who govern her are flawed. The Church is not perfect You are and You give her a share in Your holiness, in Your goodness, and in Your perfection. She is holy and perfect because You, her Head, are holy and perfect. But as individual members of Your Body, we are scarred, we are flawed, we are broken, we are sinners, and if we cut ourselves from You, we will wither and die. 

Peter demonstrates this often. Even though he is the prince of the apostles he too bears the marks of fallen humanity. Seeing the disciple You loved, he wanted to know about Your plans for John, it was none of his business. He was given a task to do and that is all that he ought to have cared about. You put him gently but firmly in place saying, ‘If I want him to stay behind till I come, what does it matter to you? You are to follow me.’ Often we too spend an inordinate amount of time on vain speculation instead of busying ourselves with the task at hand. All that matters, Beloved, in this life, is that we follow You closely.

Rumors about the Church abound like weeds and her demise has been predicted often and with great relish by the ignorant or by those who oppose her. Each of the baptized is the disciple whom You love and will live until You return. And to each of us, You say, 'Follow Me!' 

And finally, to all who hold fast to the notion of Sola Scriptura, the evangelist has a succinct response: There were many other things that Jesus did; if all were written down, the world itself, I suppose, would not hold all the books that would have to be written.

The wealth of the Church's sacred written and oral Tradition is an infinite, inexhaustible treasure, handed down to her from You to the apostles and from the apostles to all their successors. These she guards faithfully and hands it down without error to all her children. She will do this with the help of the Holy Spirit until You return. 

All that You have entrusted to her is eternal and necessary for our salvation. Your Word O Lord, both written and oral is Truth, and through the Church You founded we are consecrated in the Truth.