May 21, 2017 – Sixth Sunday of Easter

May 21, 2017
Sixth Sunday of Easter
 
The crowds paid attention to what was said by Philip.
 
“The medium is the message.” Today’s readings remind me of these well-known words of Marshall McLuhan. Jesus’ life was both his medium and his message. Moreover, through the Advocate that Jesus gave to us, our lives, too, can become medium and message.
We hear in Acts, that the crowds paid attention to what Philip was saying. They believed because of what they heard and saw – unclean spirits left and the paralyzed and crippled people were cured. Philip was both medium and message, and the Samarians were filled with joy! Yet, the apostles realized that there was more. Peter and John went to lay hands upon them so that they would receive the Holy Spirit. Imbued with the Spirit, they now were not only recipients but also bearers of the message.
We, too, are both recipients and bearers of the message. Today’s second reading from Peter tells us how we are to deliver that message, namely with gentleness and reverence. It is not only what we say but also how we say it that is important. How we live, how we present ourselves, how we allow the Spirit to be visible through us is an integral part of our response to the call to be Jesus’ continuing, reconciling presence in this world. Our lives are both medium and message.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus promises that he will not leave us orphans – “you are in me and I in you.” Jesus is with us, within us, around us. It is the journey of a lifetime to realize the truth and the import of this amazing gift and trust!
In these times, when there is so much pain and division in our country and around our world, it can be particularly challenging to maintain the conviction that we are not orphans. Yet, in our brightest days and our darkest nights, we must “be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks [us] for a reason for [our] hope.”   We must proclaim with gentleness and reverence our belief and trust in the unseen presence of the Spirit. Through the Spirit, the lives we live and the words we speak do have the power to bring peace and healing to our world even though we may never see the results. This Spirit who can use our lives as both medium and message is our source of hope.
 
Sr. Janice Bader, C.PP.S.
O’Fallon

May 20, 2017 – Saturday of the Fifth Week of Easter

…You do not belong to the world,
and I have chosen you out of the world.

 
There are times in my life when I wonder why I have been chosen. Being rejected, hated and persecuted are not on my “bucket list”.
But then I realize the honor of having been chosen and my heart rejoices in that fact. Being chosen means Jesus wants to share His life with me. That life will no doubt include occasions of suffering. After all, I am choosing to follow Him who shed His precious blood completely.
Being chosen also means being in mission like Timothy who followed Paul on his missionary travels. Persecution and rejection were present, but never deterred them in their resolve to proclaim Jesus and His saving work.
So as we all journey in this Easter season, I chose again to accept this invitation to follow Jesus with a rejoicing heart. What a privilege to share in this mission of Jesus. Why He chooses me will always remain a mystery. But I humble accept and today and each day, I will seek to proclaim God’s love—that love which gave ALL.
 
GLORY TO THE BLOOD OF JESUS!
 
Sr. Arlene Hirsch C.PP.S.
Dayton

May 19, 2017 – Friday of the Fifth Week of Easter

No one has greater love than this,
to lay down one’s life for one’s friend
 
When I think of this scripture verse, the idea of laying down one’s life for a friend, I think about veterans the men and women who fought in the building and preserving the freedom that we enjoy today as people living in the United States.
Paul F. Keller, my grandfather served in the Army during the Korean War and took pride in his military service to the country. At the same time his heart was torn every time our country would fight another war. He knew about the destruction that war brought to families. Grandpa spent just a few short years of his life in the military but in all reality he spent his whole life in risking his life for a friend. In the years that followed the war he spent his life providing for his family working in a local factory and farming. A trait that I will remember Grandpa for the most would be for his gift to garden. Each year as he got older, the garden was supposed to get smaller but still he had more than enough produce from his garden to give a way to neighbors, family, and many others.
Paul F. Keller, a man who was willing to give his life in the service our country so that others could live. A man who was willing risk his life throughout his whole life so that other people could live. Grandpa is one example of many people that risk their lives each day so others can live. I would imagine many of you can think of examples of such people. Today let’s remember those people who are willing to risk their lives so that other people can live.
 
Mr. Matthew Keller, C.PP.S.
Cincinnati Province

May 18, 2017 – Thursday of the Fifth Week of Easter

As the Father loves me, so I also love you.
Remain in my love,
 
Like Peter, we ask where we would go. Your love for us is so great. You became Man to redeem us from sin. You suffered, died, and rose on the third day. What greater love does a person have than to freely lay down their life for another? When I dwell on this, the thought of Your love and saving power for us mere mortals is too great to comprehend. Love is a word freely used and thrown around in our society but You have taught us what it means to truly love.
Sometimes Your love overwhelms us. It overshadows us and fills us momentarily with such peace and joy that like Peter, James, and John on the mountain, we do not ever want to leave that place. We are content to stay there forever and wait for the next encounter. “As the Father loves me, so I also love you. Remain in my love.” Your love is enough for us.
Help us to live daily in that love; to always be aware of Your great love for us; and by our lives to spread Your love to all those we meet in our life’s journey by loving them as You would.
 
Sr. Juliana Monti, SSMO
Sisters of St. Mary of Oregon

May 17. 2017 – Wednesday of the Fifth Week of Easter

I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine grower. He takes away every branch in me that does not bear fruit, and every one that does he prunes so that it bears more fruit.
 
A Eucharistic image is deeply imbedded in John’s passage that begins the presentation of Jesus’ discourse on the union of Jesus with his disciples. Jesus is the vine, the life-giving fruit of the vine, the source of union. I am a branch intimately connected to the vine whose purpose is to produce fruit. What must I do to be fruitful? Jesus states this fruitfulness is remaining in Him and He in me.
I am given a choice to remain in Jesus, allowing Him to remain in me, or to reject this union. And what are the consequences? If I am not fruitful, if I refuse to maintain my intimate relationship with Jesus I, like the fruitless branch, am to be taken away, cut off, but if I choose to sustain this union that Jesus has established in his Blood, what awaits this choice? I am to be pruned in order to bring forth more fruit!
Am I willing to do what is necessary to allow Jesus to retain this intimate relationship with me, even though its implication is that I must be pruned, that I need to be willing to let go of something I cling to? Jesus, open my eyes to see what it is that I am clinging to that inhibits my being more fruitful.
 
Sr. Betty Adams, ASC

May 16, 2017 – Tuesday of the Fifth Week of Easter

They stoned Paul and dragged him out of the town, leaving him there for dead. His disciples quickly formed a circle about him, and before long he got up and went back into the town. The next day he left with Barnabas for Derbe.
 
Blind prejudice is a terrible thing to behold. In the reading from Acts we see people who considered themselves good Jews, defending their faith by attacking and injuring Paul. While it is true that Paul was delivering the kind of message that flew in the face of the beliefs of the time the unwillingness of those who came against Paul to even listen to the wonderful new message that he bore. It is even more difficult to believe when we recall that he and Barnabas had just arrived from Lystra where they had cured a crippled man. Even faced with that wonder these men refused to believe.
It begs the question then, what does it take to convince a person that a new wonder is before us? What does it take to make us realize that there is a new way of perceiving that which is factually before us? Perhaps it takes a leap of faith, after all, not all of us are thrown to the ground and blinded to get the point across to us as happened to Paul! Are we then able to place our trust in those who have encountered the divine, who have received the true word? If we have, can we then put that new knowledge into practice by the way we live in our world? Perhaps we do not have to “reinvent the wheel” of our faith. Maybe all we need to do is take a chance, believe…..and then act.
 
Rev. Gary Luiz C.PP.S.
Atlantic Province