5TH SUNDAY OF EASTER - 2024

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

Make your home in me, as I make mine in you.
Whoever remains in me bears fruit in plenty. JN 15: 4, 5

ACTS 9:26-31 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

Often times we misjudge people holding them prisoner to our past knowledge of them even though they are no longer who they once were. So it is with Saul who has encountered You and become a new creation in You. To be fair, in the not-so-distant past, Saul had tormented and persecuted the Christians with fanatical fervor so naturally they were still afraid of him. But Barnabas vouched for Saul passionately. Once Baranabs revealed how You made Yourself known to Saul and that since then he had been preaching the Gospel boldly in Damascus, they welcomed him.  

Saul now began to preach fearlessly in Jerusalem as well. The same person who had requested a letter of authority from the chief priest to go to Damascus to seek and take prisoner men and women who were Christians had now become one. It is no wonder that the Jewish authorities now sought to put him to death.

Saul was an all-or-nothing person, he did nothing by halves, the Church would look so different if we were like him, and Barnabas and the early Christians. Sadly we profess a wishy-washy faith, the happy clappy let's all get along, namby pamby kind of Christianity that does not produce martyrs nor does it attract new disciples to the faith. 

But there is a new breed of Christian disciples being born now. They may be few but they are making a difference. There are a handful of bishops, priests, as well as lay men and women who, like Paul, the Apostles, and early Christians are passionate about their faith and their love for You who are Truth, Beauty, and Goodness. They are out there casting their nets into the deep. Thank You, Lord, for Your assurance that You will remain with Your Bride, the Church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against her.

PSALM 21(22):26-28,30-32 ©

My vows I will pay before those who fear him.
The poor shall eat and shall have their fill.
They shall praise the Lord, those who seek him.
May their hearts live for ever and ever!

All the earth shall remember and return to the Lord,
all families of the nations worship before him;
They shall worship him, all the mighty of the earth;
before him shall bow all who go down to the dust.

And my soul shall live for him, my children serve him.
They shall tell of the Lord to generations yet to come,
declare his faithfulness to peoples yet unborn:
‘These things the Lord has done.’

You, Lord, are my praise in the great assembly.

1 JOHN 3:18-24 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

Love is not love if it is not revealed in action. Anyone can talk the talk but not many walk the walk. Our conscience can be unreliable, especially if it is an ill-formed one this is why St. John says that our conscience can accuse us wrongly and disturb our peace. However, if we let Truth be our guide then the Holy Spirit will lead us to all Truth.

You have not left Your children orphans but You have given us the Church and she safe-guards all the doctrines entrusted to her and passes them on faithfully to all her children in every generation. The most important of all God's promises is this, if we keep His commandments we are truly His children.

His commandments are these:

that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ
and that we love one another
as he told us to.
Whoever keeps his commandments
lives in God and God lives in him.
We know that he lives in us
by the Spirit that he has given us.