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God Is Our Dwelling and We Are the Dwelling of God

Sixth Easter Sunday – Year A – May 21, 2017

May 19, 2017Archbishop Francesco FolloSpirituality and Prayer

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Roman Rite

Acts 8.5-8.14-17; Ps 66; 1Pt 3: 15-18; Jn 14: 15-21

Ambrosian Rite

Acts 4: 8-14; Ps 117; 1 Cor 2: 12-16; Jn 14: 25-29

1) We are not orphans.

This Sunday the liturgy continues the reading of Chapter 14 of the Gospel of John. The theme is love, as it appears from the beginning (“if you love me“) (Jn 14,15) and the conclusion (“whoever loves me will be loved by my Father and I will love him and manifest myself to Him “)(Jn 14:21) of today’s Gospel. The disciples, terrified by the real possibility that the Master dies, are comforted by Jesus who opens their hearts calling them” friends “and not” servants “, giving them the Eucharist and opening a new way: that of the love given to the world through the Cross. His Cross is the concrete revelation of God who loves to the full gift of self, and a sign of his unlimited presence in the world. On the Cross Christ does not fail but brings to the full the manifestation of His immense love: “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you” (Jn 15: 12-18).

Jesus teaches to his disciples that his donated Love is the strength that allows not to be locked into a limited past, but to be opened to a future perceived as the space of their loyalty to Him in a community and in the world. Only the disciple who accepts the reality of Jesus’ death can open up to a new relationship with the Crucified-Risen: the true “following” begins with Easter, an event that returns Jesus to the believer in a new way.

The Cross is not the end, but the beginning of a new path, and of a relationship with Jesus Christ that has become indestructible. With his death and resurrection He opens the “Way” leading to the “Truth” of the experience of God who the “Life” in full.

On the evening of the first Holy Thursday, the feared Apostles are consoled by Christ who, in addition to proclaiming His love, tells them “I will not leave you orphans.” That evening, Jesus seemed concerned not so much for himself as for his friends who would know the depth of their weakness, the great pain of abandonment, and would look for something to comfort them. Jesus himself would be consoled by the presence of an Angel during his agony in Gethsemane, at the time when the desire to escape the crucifixion will seem to have been born in him too. “Father, if possible, keep away from me this cup, but not mine, but thy will be done.” It is amazing how Jesus, who promised us the Consoler, wanted to be a ‘man of all time’: the man, every man, who knows the abyss of test and of solitude. But in the end the design of realizing the great design of Love for us triumphed.

Even today Jesus repeats to us: “I will not leave you orphans.” These words were, are and will always be a certainty for those who follow Him, yesterday, today and always. He said these words at the most difficult time of his earthly existence and, almost becoming a voice of our fear of being abandoned by everyone, to the point of crying from the cross: “My God, my God, why did you abandon me?” (Mt 26: 46). The Risen Christ tells us that the One who loves is the home of the beloved: he brings him into his heart as his life. We have always been in God, who loves us with eternal love. If we love him, he is in us as we are in him.

2) If you love me …

“If you love me you will keep my commands” (Jn 14:15). The words of this verse are repeated as a refrain in verses 21, 23 and 24. This is not an injunction (you must comply) but a revelation of goodness: “if “you love, you will enter a new world. Everything begins with the conjunction “if”, a word filled with delicacy and respect: if you love me. “If”: a starting point so humble, so free, so confident that it helps us to understand that to observe the commandments of Christ is not to obey to an external law, but to live like Him in love. Just as the first Apostles of Christ and of the Gospel were moved by the love lived as a law, we too, moved by the love of Christ, are moved to carry on the task of bringing to the world the love of God made flesh.

If we love Christ, He lives in our thoughts, actions and words and changes them. By doing so, we live his good, beautiful, and happy life. If we love Jesus and observe his commandment of love, we not only do not injure, betray, steal, escape and kill, but we help, receive and bless.

If it is true that today’s theme is love, as I said at the beginning of these reflections, it is equally true that the dominant ideas are two. The first is that the most appropriate criterion for verifying the reality of love for Christ is the obedience to his will, that is, the concrete observance of the commandments, which in Saint John are reduced to the commandment of fraternal love. The second one is that the practice of love is the place where Jesus reveals himself.

Love is so that, when we love someone, the person is in our heart and in our mind and becomes the rule of our life. We know what he or she thinks, what he or she does, and we do what he or she does because we too love what he or she does, In conclusion, love is not only a feeling, it concerns all our being:

It is about knowing: we know a person if we love her, and “love is the way to know God” (Pope Francis);
It touches the will: loving is wanting the good of the other person; really wanting her good;
It inspires the actions: if it touches the intelligence and the will, it inspires the actions; it is acting like the other person.

Love is a communion in the deeper being, it is a union of intelligence, will, and action that makes us like Christ, the Son of God, with the same intelligence, with the same will, with the same actions.

3) “My” Commandments.

In addition to the conjunction “if”, I would like to draw attention to the possessive pronoun “mine”. Saying, “If you keep the commandments” he says “my” commandments. It is as if to say: the Commandments are mine not because prescribed by me, but because they manifest what I am and your future. They summarize me and my whole life. If you love me, you will live like me and with me”

If we love Christ observing his commandments, He lives in us and changes our thoughts, our actions, our words into thoughts, actions and words of good. Then we participate to his freedom, his peace and to the joy of his living in love.

The testimony that what I am proposing is true, comes from the life of the consecrated Virgins. They show discretely but firmly that a life devoted to practicing his words makes the following of Christ as disciples, effective (see Mt 7:24) It is the observance of his commandments which makes concrete the love for Him and attracts the love of the Father (see Jn 14:21). Therefore, there is no love without obedience (“you are my friends, if you do what I command you”) but without love obedience is servile. We are reminded of that by Saint Ambrose who, speaking to the consecrated Virgins, wrote: “With what ties is Christ held? … Not with the knots of ropes, but with the constraints of love and the affection of the soul” (De virginitate, 13.77). Finally, by taking to the letter the lesson of St. Paul “More than that, I even consider everything as a loss because of the supreme good of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have accepted the loss of all things and I consider them so much rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him,” (Phil 3: 8-9), these consecrated women live love with” detachment “. The virginal love that they are called to witness to all the baptized, especially to the married couples, realizes the objective and actual good of self and of the others if it maintains an attitude of distance. Only in detachment there is true possession in God, because the hands, rather than clinging to each other, are united in prayer. These folded hands open the heart of God, who pours his merciful love over humanity.

Arlington Catholic Herald

Jn 14:15-21

It may not be possible to overemphasize the significance of the Holy Spirit in the life of the church and the individual Christian. As we approach the end of the Easter season, the church turns her attention to the Holy Spirit in preparation for Pentecost when the Holy Spirit was poured out upon the church and her members.

First of all, the Holy Spirit makes faith possible. The Holy Spirit is the mysterious but very real point of contact between the believer and God. We can’t comprehend who Jesus really is, nor believe in Him as Lord and Savior without the direct assistance of the third Person of the Holy Trinity: “No one can say, ‘Jesus is Lord’ except by the Holy Spirit” (1 Cor 12:3).

Secondly, the Holy Spirit is a gift from the Father and the Son that immensely enhances the intimacy of the believer with God. In today’s Gospel passage, Jesus promises to ask the Father to send the Holy Spirit, the Advocate, to be with us always. As a result, the Holy Spirit is one of the most significant ways that Jesus fulfills His promise to remain with us until the end of time. “I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you” (Jn 14: 18). The Holy Spirit is God’s love being poured into our hearts. This is an amazing reality: God chooses to dwell in us, making us temples of the Holy Spirit.

Third, the Advocate is also the Spirit of Truth. “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you always, the Spirit of Truth, whom the world cannot accept, because it neither sees nor knows him.” The Holy Spirit enlightens the mind of the believer and helps him or her to accept and embrace the truths of our faith.

Many truths that Jesus revealed about God and His plan for us are rather challenging to embrace. During Jesus’ public ministry, many of His followers found His teaching on the Eucharist to be hard to accept and “returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied him” (Jn 6:65). Many people in the crowds that followed Jesus found it easy to follow Him while He was preaching against the hypocrisy of the Pharisees and multiplying the loaves and fishes; however, when Jesus quietly endured His false trial and humbly embraced the cross, they turned on Him or just disappeared. The Eucharist and the cross are truths of our faith that require the help of the Advocate to grasp and embrace.

Fourth, these beautiful and mysterious truths of our faith inform our way of life. We live differently because of our encounter with Christ and because of what we believe about Him. “Whoever has my commandments and observes them is the one who loves me.” Loving Jesus and believing in all that He revealed about God and man go hand in hand. Love and truth cannot be separated for the Christian. “Jesus said to his disciples: ‘If you love me, you will keep my commandments.’ ”

Finally, the Holy Spirit empowers us to bear witness to the Risen Jesus in our present day and to imitate Our Lord in His efforts to lead others to God. In our second reading for today, St. Philip demonstrates the power of the Holy Spirit working in the life of a believer: “Philip went down to the city of Samaria and proclaimed Christ to them.” By his example, his preaching and his remarkable deeds done in Jesus’ name, Philip converted many Samaritans to the Lord, and “there was great joy in that city.” This is the same city that was filled with those who believed very differently than the Jews and lived in constant tension with them because of historical, social and religious differences. In fact, Acts of the Apostles suggests that the whole city came to believe in Jesus: “Now when the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent them Peter and John … ” Philip’s success at converting the city of Samaria is a testimony to the efficacy of the Holy Spirit.

As we draw near to Pentecost, we pray for a greater awareness of the authority of the Holy Spirit, given to us through baptism and confirmation and renewed in so many ways, especially in the sacraments of penance and Eucharist. We ask God to stir up in our hearts the fire of the Holy Spirit that our faith may grow strong, our intimacy with God be renewed, our embrace of Christian Truth be firm, our lives truly imitate Christ and our example lead our neighbor to Jesus.

Fr. Peterson is assistant chaplain at Marymount University in Arlington.

http://www.theworkofgod.org/Devotns/Euchrist/HolyMass/gospels.asp?key=120

Year A - Sixth Sunday of Easter

If you love me, you will keep my commandments.
John 14:15-21
15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.
16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever.
17 This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you.
18 “I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you.
19 In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live.
20 On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.
21 They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me; and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them.” (NRSV)

Inspiration of the Holy Spirit - From the Sacred Heart of Jesus
My dear child, I am preparing a place for you in Heaven. Before you can be with me, you must follow my instructions:

Love me with all your heart, with all your mind, with all your soul and with all your strength.

Open your heart and let me fill you with my spirit of love, peace, joy and truth.
Allow me to be the king of your life.

Make humility the foundation of your temple; decorate your walls with virtues.
Praise me and thank me for all that I do for you.
Acknowledge me all the time.

See me in my creation, see me in everyone and rejoice. Accept me in others; remember my presence in them.

Come into my presence with reverence, bring an offering of thanksgiving, enter my courts with praise.

Remember your nothingness, acknowledge your sins and accept me as your Savior.
Delight in my presence, do my will joyfully.

Open your ears to my word; open your eyes to my greatness.
See through my spirit.

Open your mouth to praise me. Use your tongue to bless; bless me and bless your brothers.

Allow your hands to be my hands, your feet to be my feet, your mind to be my mind. Let your heart be my heart, my place of rest, my heaven.

Invite me often to be with you, welcome me without fear.

Open your physical and spiritual wounds to my healing.

Pray for the conversion of sinners. Pray for others.

Unite yourself to me and become an instrument of reparation for your sins and the sins of others.

Unite yourself strongly to my mystical body the church, to my heart: the holy Eucharist the blood and life of your soul, to my soul: the Holy Spirit.

Be generous as I am generous; imitate my holiness and my perfection.

Pray from the heart, pray to my mother and she will shine the light of our grace on you.
Make your life an act of praise and thanksgiving. Let me be your praise, your love and your adoration.

Be my docile instrument of peace, love, joy, mercy, and healing.
I am all yours... Be all mine...

Author: Joseph of Jesus and Mary

Archdiocese of Washington

Living the Lessons of Love – A Homily for the 6th Sunday of Easter

Msgr. Charles Pope • May 20, 2017 •

In the Gospel for today’s Mass, Jesus gives us three lessons on love meant to prepare us for the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. They also go a long way in describing the normal Christian life.

Too many Christians see the Faith more as a set of rules to keep than as a love that transforms—if we accept it. Let’s take a look at the revolutionary life of love and grace that the Lord is offering us in three stages: the power of love, the person of love, and the proof of love.

1.The Power of Love – “If you love me, you will keep my commandments … Whoever has my commandments and observes them is the one who loves me.”

We must be very careful how we hear this, for it is possible to think that the Lord is saying, in effect, “If you love me, prove it by keeping my commandments.” This understanding reduces the Christian faith to a moral maxim: do good, avoid evil, and thus prove that you love God. Loving God, then, becomes a human achievement.

Understanding this text from the standpoint of grace, however, yields a different—and I would argue, more proper—understanding. Loving God is not a human work; it is the gift of God. The text should be read to say, in effect, “If you love me, then by this love I have given you, you will keep my commandments.” Thus, the keeping of the commandments is the fruit of the love, not the cause of it. Love comes first. When love is received and experienced, we begin, by the power of that love, to keep the commandments. Love is the power by which we keep the commandments.

It is possible to keep the commandments to some extent out of fear and by the power of the flesh, but obedience based on fear tends not to last and brings with it many resentments. Further, attempting to keep the commandments through our own power brings not only exhaustion and frustration, but also the prideful delusion that somehow we have placed God in our debt because we obey.

It is far better to keep the commandments by the grace of God’s love at work within us. Consider the following qualities of love:

A. Love is extravagant – The flesh is minimalist and asks, “Do I really have to do this?” Love, however, is extravagant and wants to do more than the minimum. Consider a young man who loves a young woman. It is unlikely that he would say, “Your birthday is coming soon and I must engage in the wearisome tradition of buying you a gift. So, what is the cheapest and quickest gift I can get you?” Of course he would not say this! Love does not ask questions like this. Love is extravagant; it goes beyond the minimal requirements and even lavishes gifts on the beloved, eagerly. Love has the power to overrule the selfishness of the flesh. No young man would say to his beloved, “What is the least amount of time I must spend with you?” Love doesn’t talk or think like this. Love wants to spend time with the beloved. Love has the power to transform our desires from our own selfish ends, toward the beloved.

While these examples might seem obvious, it is apparently not so obvious to many Christians, who say they love God but then ask such things as, “Do I have to go to church?” “Do I have to pray, and if so, how often and for how long? “Do I have to go to confession, and if so, how frequently? “What’s the least amount I can put in the collection plate or give to the poor in order to be in compliance?” Asking for guidelines may not be wrong, but too often the question amounts to a version of “What’s the least I can do?” or “What’s the bare minimum?”

Love is extravagant and excited to do and to give, to please the beloved. Love is its own answer, its own power.

B. Love Expands – When we really love someone we also learn to love whom and what he or she loves.

During high school, I dated a girl who liked square dancing. At first I thought it was hokey, but since she liked it, I started to like it. Over time, I even came to enjoy it a great deal. Love expanded my horizons.

I have lived, served, and loved in the Black community for most of my priesthood. In those years, I have come to love and respect gospel music and the spirituals. I have also come to respect and learn from the Black experience of spirituality, and have done extensive study on the history of the African-American experience. This is all because I love the people I serve. When you love people, you begin to love and appreciate what they do. Love expands our horizons.

What if we really begin to love God? The more His love takes root in us, the more we love the things and the people He loves. We begin to have God’s priorities. We start to love justice, mercy, chastity, and all the people He loves—even our enemies. Love expands our hearts.

The saints say, “If God wants it, I want it. If God doesn’t want it, I don’t want it.” Too many Christians say, “How come I can’t have it? It’s not so bad. Besides, everyone else is doing it.” Love does not speak this way.

As God’s love grows in us it has the power to change our hearts, minds, desires, and vision. The more we love God, the more we love His commands and share the vision He offers for our lives. Love expands our hearts and minds.

C. Love excites – Imagine again a young man who loves a young woman. Now suppose she asks him to drive her to work one day because her car is in the shop. He does this gladly and sees it as an opportunity to be with her and to help her. He is excited to do so and is glad that she asked. This is true even if he has to go miles out of his way. Love stirs us to fulfill the wishes and desires of the beloved.

In the first Letter of John we read, “For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome” (1 John 5:3). Yes, love lightens every load. As we grow in love for God, we are excited to please Him. We keep His commandments, not because we have to, but because we want to. Even if His commandments involve significant changes, we do it with the same kind of gladness that fills a young man who drives miles out of his way to take his beloved to work. Love excites in us a desire to keep God’s law, to fulfill His wishes for us.

2.The Person of Love – “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you always, the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot accept, because it neither sees nor knows him. But you know him, because he remains with you, and will be in you.”

In this text, Jesus tells us that the power to change us is not an impersonal power like “The Force” in Star Wars. Rather, what changes us is not a “what” at all but a “who.” The Third Person of the Blessed Trinity, living in us as in a temple, will change us and stir us to love. He who is Love will love God in us. Love is not our work; it is the work of God. “We love, because He first loved us” (1 John 4:10). God the Holy Spirit enables us to love God the Father and God the Son, and this love is the power in us that equips, empowers, and enables us to keep God’s law. He, the Holy Spirit, is the one who enables us to love extravagantly and in a way that expands and excites.

The Lord says that He, the Holy Spirit, remains in us. Are you aware of His presence? Too often our minds and hearts are dulled and distracted by the world and we are unaware of the power of love available to us. The Holy Spirit of Jesus and the Father is gentle and awaits the open doors we provide (cf Rev 3:20). As we open them, a power from His Person becomes more and more available to us and we see our lives being transformed. We keep the commandments; we become more loving, confident, joyful, chaste, forgiving, merciful, and holy. I am a witness! Are you?

3.The Proof of God’s Love – “I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you. In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me, because I live and you will live. On that day you will realize that I am in my Father and you are in me and I in you.”

The key phrases here are “You will live” and “You will realize,” for the Lord says that He will not leave us as orphans, that He will come to us and remain with us.

How do you know that these are more than just slogans? Simply put, you and I know this because of the new life we are receiving, which causes us to realize that Jesus lives, is in the Father, and is in us.

To “know” in the Bible is more than intellectual knowing. To “know” in the Bible is to “have intimate and personal experience of the thing or person known.” I know Jesus is alive and in me through His Holy Spirit because I am experiencing my life changing. I am seeing sins put to death and graces coming alive! I am a new creation in Christ (2 Cor 5:17). This is what Jesus means when He says, “You will realize that I am in the Father and in you.” To “realize” means to experience something as real.

I am proof of God’s love and its power to transform, my life is proof! In the laboratory of my own life I have tested God’s word and His promises, and I can report to you that they are true. I have come to experience as real (i.e., “realized”) that Jesus lives, that through His Holy Spirit I have a power available to me to keep the commandments and to embrace the new life, the new creation they both describe and offer to me.

I am a witness; are you?

This song says, “He changed my life and now I’m free …”

Video

Sunday Gospel Reflections

6th Sunday of Easter
Reading I: Acts 8:5-8,14-17 II: 1Peter 3:15-18

Gospel
John 14:15-21

¹⁵ "If you love me, you will keep my commandments.
¹⁶ And I will pray the Father, and he will give you another Counselor, to be with you for ever,
¹⁷ even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him; you know him, for he dwells with you, and will be in you.
¹⁸ "I will not leave you desolate; I will come to you.
¹⁹ Yet a little while, and the world will see me no more, but you will see me; because I live, you will live also.
²⁰ In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.
²¹ He who has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me; and he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him."

Interesting Details

This passage is the conclusion of Jesus' response to Philip's request: "Show us the Father." The beginning (v.15) "love me, keep my commandments" and the end (v.21) "keep my commandments, love me" repeat the same idea but in reverse.
A Counselor/Advocate/Paraclete (v.16) can mean a spokesman, a mediator, an intercessor, a comforter, a consoler or a helper. Another permanent Counselor is in contrast with Jesus' departure. The Counselor may be seen as continuing the functions of Jesus' earthly ministry for the disciples.
The Spirit of Truth (v.17) is a moral force put into a person by God, as opposed to the spirit of perversity (Jn 8:44).
"I live, you will live also" (v.19) refers to living through Jesus, it appears in connection with the eucharistic formula as described in Jn 6:56.
"In that day" (v.20) refers to the whole period after Jesus' resurrection.

One Main Point

Jesus promises to the believers of his continuing presence through a Counselor, the Spirit of Truth and the Holy Spirit (v.26 later). The world will not know this gift and will oppose to its existence. The reward is for those who love Jesus and keep his commandments of loving one another.

Reflections

Have I ever felt the presence of Jesus living in me? How do I recognize and react to his presence?
What are the forces that still keep me lying instead of always telling the truth?
If I am an orphan, how do I feel? What do I need the most? What should I do?

'Speak, thou that art elder: for it becometh thee, to speak the first word with careful knowledge, and hinder not music.'

Ecclesiasticus 32:4

Regina Coeli

Queen of Heaven, rejoice, alleluia. / For He whom you did merit to bear, alleluia.

Has risen, as he said, alleluia. / Pray for us to God, alleluia.

Rejoice and be glad, O Virgin Mary, alleluia. / For the Lord has truly risen, alleluia.

Let us pray. O God, who gave joy to the world through the resurrection of Thy Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, grant we beseech Thee, that through the intercession of the Virgin Mary, His Mother, we may obtain the joys of everlasting life. Through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.

Saint Cristóbal Magallanes and Companions

Fr. Don Miller, OFM

Saint Cristóbal Magallanes and Companions

Saint of the Day for May 21

(d. between 1915 and 1937)

Saint Cristóbal Magallanes and Companions’ Story

Like Blessed Miguel Agustín Pro, S.J., Cristóbal and his 24 companion martyrs lived under a very anti-Catholic government in Mexico, one determined to weaken the Catholic faith of its people. Churches, schools, and seminaries were closed; foreign clergy were expelled. Cristóbal established a clandestine seminary at Totatiche, Jalisco. He and the other priests were forced to minister secretly to Catholics during the presidency of Plutarco Calles (1924-28).

All of these martyrs, except three, were diocesan priests. David, Manuel and Salvador were laymen who died with their parish priest, Luis Batis. They all belonged to the Cristero movement, pledging their allegiance to Christ and to the Church that he established, to spread the Good News in society—even if Mexico’s leaders had made it a crime to receive baptism or celebrate the Mass.

These martyrs did not die as a single group but over 22 years time in eight Mexican states, with Jalisco and Zacatecas having the largest number. They were beatified in 1992 and canonized eight years later.

Reflection

Every martyr realizes how to avoid execution, but refuses to pay the high price of doing so. A clear conscience was more valuable than a long life. We may be tempted to compromise our faith while telling ourselves that we are simply being realistic, dealing with situations as we find them. Is survival really the ultimate value? Do our concrete, daily choices reflect our deepest values, the ones that allow us to “tick” the way we do? Anyone can imagine situations in which being a follower of Jesus is easier than the present situation. Saints remind us that our daily choices, especially in adverse circumstances, form the pattern of our lives.

For All the Saints: Christopher Magallanes and Companions, Martyrs (Mexican martyrs)
Saint Christopher [Cristobal] Magallanes, Priest & Companions, Martyrs

Information: St. Godric of Finchale

Feast Day: May 21

Born: 1069 at Walpole, Norfolk, England

Died: 1170 at Finchale, County Durham, England

Holy Spirit Interactive Kids: A Saint a Day

Blessed Eugene De Mazenod

Feast Day: May 21
Born: 1782 :: Died: 1861

Eugene was born in France in 1782. He became a priest in 1811. Father Eugene was sensitive to the needs of the poor and he ministered to them. He was always eager to find new ways to reach out to the young. He wanted to bring them to the love and practice of their faith. He believed in the value of parish missions. He realized that missionary priests in a parish could do so much good to reawaken in people dedication to their faith.

Father de Mazenod began a new religious order of priests and lay brothers in 1826. They were missionaries called the Oblates of Mary Immaculate. Their particular ministry was to go to people who had never heard of Jesus and his Church. Father de Mazenod and his order were courageous in answering the requests of bishops who needed their help. Bishops of North America eagerly awaited the Oblates. Bishop Ignace Bourget of Montreal was especially eager. He must have been very convincing because the founder sent several of his members. Within ten years, the Oblates had grown rapidly. They reached all of Canada and had begun to minister in the United States, too.

In 1837, Father de Mazenod was consecrated bishop of Marseilles, France. He became known for his loyalty and love for the pope. He was also a gifted organizer and educator. Bishop de Mazen-od remained superior of his order until he died in 1861.

The great work Bishop de Mazenod started continues today through the Oblate missionaries around the world. They staff mission posts, parishes and universities.

John
	English: Douay-Rheims	Latin: Vulgata Clementina	Greek NT: Byzantine/Majority Text (2000)
	John 14
15.	If you love me, keep my commandments.	Si diligitis me, mandata mea servate :	εαν αγαπατε με τας εντολας τας εμας τηρησατε
16.	And I will ask the Father, and he shall give you another Paraclete, that he may abide with you for ever.	et ego rogabo Patrem, et alium Paraclitum dabit vobis, ut maneat vobiscum in æternum,	και εγω ερωτησω τον πατερα και αλλον παρακλητον δωσει υμιν ινα μενη μεθ υμων εις τον αιωνα
17.	The spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, nor knoweth him: but you shall know him; because he shall abide with you, and shall be in you.	Spiritum veritatis, quem mundus non potest accipere, quia non videt eum, nec scit eum : vos autem cognoscetis eum, quia apud vos manebit, et in vobis erit.	το πνευμα της αληθειας ο ο κοσμος ου δυναται λαβειν οτι ου θεωρει αυτο ουδε γινωσκει αυτο υμεις δε γινωσκετε αυτο οτι παρ υμιν μενει και εν υμιν εσται
18.	I will not leave you orphans, I will come to you.	Non relinquam vos orphanos : veniam ad vos.	ουκ αφησω υμας ορφανους ερχομαι προς υμας
19.	Yet a little while: and the world seeth me no more. But you see me: because I live, and you shall live.	Adhuc modicum, et mundus me jam non videt. Vos autem videtis me : quia ego vivo, et vos vivetis.	ετι μικρον και ο κοσμος με ουκετι θεωρει υμεις δε θεωρειτε με οτι εγω ζω και υμεις ζησεσθε
20.	In that day you shall know, that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.	In illo die vos cognoscetis quia ego sum in Patre meo, et vos in me, et ego in vobis.	εν εκεινη τη ημερα γνωσεσθε υμεις οτι εγω εν τω πατρι μου και υμεις εν εμοι και εγω εν υμιν
21.	He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them; he it is that loveth me. And he that loveth me, shall be loved of my Father: and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.	Qui habet mandata mea, et servat ea : ille est qui diligit me. Qui autem diligit me, diligetur a Patre meo : et ego diligam eum, et manifestabo ei meipsum.	ο εχων τας εντολας μου και τηρων αυτας εκεινος εστιν ο αγαπων με ο δε αγαπων με αγαπηθησεται υπο του πατρος μου και εγω αγαπησω αυτον και εμφανισω αυτω εμαυτον

15. If you love me, keep my commandments.
16. And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;
17. Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it sees him not, neither knows him: but you know him; for he dwells with you, and shall be in you.

CHRYS. Our Lord having said, Whatsoever you shall ask in My name, that I will do; that they might not think simply asking would be enough, He adds, If you love Me, keep My commandments. And then I will do what you ask, seems to be His meaning. Or the disciples having heard Him say, I go to the Father, and being troubled at the thought of it, He says, To love Me, is not to be troubled, but to keep My commandments: this is love, to obey and believe in Him who is loved.

And as they had been expressing a strong desire for His bodily presence, He assures them that His absence w ill be supplied to them in another way: And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Comforter

AUG. Wherein He shows too that He Himself is the Comforter. Paraclete means advocate, and is applied to Christ: We have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous (1 Jn 2:1).

ALCUIN. Paraclete, i.e. Comforter. They had then one Comforter, who comforted and elevated them by the sweetness of His miracles, and His preaching.

DIDYMUS. But the Holy Ghost was another Comforter: differing not in nature, but in operation. For whereas our Savior in His office of Mediator, and of Messenger, and as High Priest, made supplication for our sins; the Holy Ghost is a Comforter in another sense, i.e. as consoling our griefs. But do not infer from the different operations of the Son and the Spirit, a difference of nature. For in other places we find the Holy Spirit performing the office of intercessor with the Father, as, The Spirit Himself intercedes for us. And the Savior, on the other hand, pours consolation into those hearts that need it: as in Maccabees, He strengthened those of the people that were brought low (1 Macc 14:15).

CHRYS. He says, I will ask the Father, to make them believe Him: which they could not have done, had He simply said, I will send

AUG Yet to show that His works are inseparable from His Father's, He says below, When I shall go, I will send Him to you.

CHRYS. But what had He more than the Apostles, if He could only ask the Father to give others the Spirit? The Apostles did this often even without praying.

ALCUIN. I will ask - He says, as being the inferior in respect of His humanity - My Father, with Whom I am equal and consubstantial in respect of My Divine nature.

CHRYS. That He may abide with you for ever. The Spirit does not depart even at death. He intimates too that the Holy Ghost will not suffer death, or go away, as He has done. But that the mention of the Comforter might not lead them to expect another incarnation, a Comforter to be seen with the eye, He adds, Even the Spirit of truth Whom the world cannot receive, because it sees Him not, neither knows Him.

AUG. This is the Holy Ghost in the Trinity, Whom the Catholic faith professes to be consubstantial and coeternal with the Father and the Son.

CHRYS. The Spirit of truth He calls Him, because He unfolds the figures of the Old Testament. The world are the wicked, seeing is certain knowledge; sight being the most certain of the senses.

BEDE. Note too, that when He calls the Holy Spirit the Spirit of truth, He shows that the Holy Spirit is His Spirit: then when He says He is given by the Father, He declares Him to be the Spirit of the Father also. Thus the Holy Ghost proceeds both from the Father, and from the Son.

GREG. The Holy Spirit kindles in every one, in whom He dwells, the desire of things invisible. And since worldly minds love only things visible, this world receives Him not, because it rises not to the love of things invisible. In proportion as secular minds enlarge themselves by the spread of their desires, in that proportion they narrow themselves, with respect to admitting Christ.

AUG. Thus the world, i.e. the lovers of the world, cannot, He says, receive the Holy Spirit: that is to say, unrighteousness cannot be righteous. The world, i.e. the lovers of the world, cannot receive Him, because it sees Him not. The love of the world has not invisible eyes wherewith to see that which can only be seen invisibly. It follows: But you know Him, for He dwells with you. And that they might not think this I meant a visible dwelling, in the sense in which we use the phrase with respect to a guest, He adds, And shall be in you.

CHRYS. As if He said, He will not dwell with you as I have done, but will dwell in your souls.

AUG. To be in a place is prior to dwelling. Be in you, is the explanation of dwell with you: i.e. shows that the latter means not that He is seen, but that He is known. He must be in us, that the knowledge of Him may be in us. We see the Holy Ghost then in us, in our consciences.

GREG. But if the Holy Spirit abides in the disciples, how is it a special mark of the Mediator that He abides in Him. We shall better understand if we distinguish between the different gifts of the Spirit. In respect of those gifts without which we cannot attain to salvation, the Holy Spirit ever abides in all the Elect: but in respect of those which do not relate to our own salvation, but to the procuring that of others, He does not always abide in them. For He sometimes withdraws His miraculous gifts, that His grace may be possessed with humility. Christ has Him without measure and always.

CHRYS. This speech levels at a stroke, as it were, the opposite heresies. The word another, shows the distinct personality of the Spirit: the word Paraclete, His consubstantiality.

AUG. Comforter, the title of the Holy Spirit, the third Person in the Trinity, the Apostle applies to God: God that comforts those that are cast down, comforted us. The Holy Spirit therefore Who comforts those that are cast down, is God. Or if they still have this said by the Apostle of the Father or the Son, let them not any longer separate the Holy Spirit from the Father and the Son, in His peculiar office of comforting.

AUG. But when the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us (Rom 5:5), how shall we love and keep the commandments of Christ, so as to receive the Spirit, when we are not able to love or to keep them, unless we have received the Spirit? Does love in us go first, i.e. do we so love Christ and keep His commandments as to deserve to receive the Holy Spirit, and to have the love of God the Father shod abroad in our hearts? This is a perverse opinion. For he who does not love the Father, does not love the Son, however he may think he does. It remains for us to understand, that he who loves has the Holy Spirit, and by having Him, attains to having more of Him, and by having more of Him, to loving more. The disciples had already the Spirit which our Lord promised; but they were to be given more of Him: they had Him secretly, they were to receive Him openly. The promise is made both to him who has the Spirit, and to him who has Him not; to the former, that he shall have Him; to the latter, that He shall have more of Him.

CHRYS. When He had cleansed His disciples by the sacrifice of His passion, and their sins were remitted, and they were sent forth to dangers and trials, it was necessary that they should receive the Holy Spirit abundantly. But they were made to wait some time for this gift, in order that they might feel the want of it, and so be the more grateful for it when it came.

18. I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.
19. Yet a little while, and the world sees me no more: but you see me; because I live, you shall live also.
20. At that day you shall know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.
21. He that has my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loves me: and he that loves me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.

AUG. That no one might think, because our Lord was about to give the Holy Spirit, that He would therefore not be present Himself in Him, He adds, I will not leave you comfortless. The Greek word signifies "wards." Although then the Son of God has made us the adopted sons of the Father, yet here He Himself shows the affection of a Father towards us.

CHRYS. At the first He said, Where I go you shall come; but as this was a long time off, He promises them the Spirit in the interval. And as they knew not what that was, He promises them that they most desired, His own presence, I will come to you, but intimates at the same time that they are not to look for the same kind of presence over again:

Yet a little while, and the world sees Me no more: as if He said, I will come to you, but not to live with you every day as I did before. And, I will come to you alone, He says, thus preventing any inconsistency with what He had said to the Jews: Henceforth you shall not see Me.

AUG. For the world saw Him then with the carnal eye, manifest in the flesh, though it did not see the Word hidden under the flesh. But after the resurrection He was unwilling to show even His flesh, except to His own followers, whom He allowed to see and to handle it: Yet a little while, and the world sees Me no more; but you shall see Me.

But, inasmuch as the world, by which are meant all who are aliens from His kingdom, will see Him at the last judgment, it is better perhaps to understand Him here as pointing to that time, when He will be taken for ever from the eyes of the wicked, to be seen thenceforth by those who love Him. A little while, He says, for that which seems a long lime to men, is but a moment in the eyes of God.

Because 1 live, you shall live also.

THEOPHYL. As if He said, Though I shall die, I shall rise again. And you shall live also, i.e. when you see Me risen again, you will rejoice, and be as dead men brought to life again.

CHRYS. To me however he seems to refer not only to the present life, but to the future; as if He said, The death of the cross shall not separate you from Me for ever, but only hide Me from you for a moment.

AUG. But why does He speak of life as present to Him, future to them? Because His resurrection preceded, theirs was to follow. His resurrection was about so soon to take place, that He speaks of it as present; theirs being deferred till the end of the world, He does not say you live, but you shall live. Because He lives, therefore we shall live: As by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead (1 Cor 15:21).

It follows: In that day (the day of which He said, you shall live also) you shall know, i.e. whereas now you believe, then you shall see, that I am in the Father, and you in Me, and I in you. For when we shall have attained to that life in which death is swallowed up, then shall be finished that which is now begun by Him, that He should be in us, and we in Him.

CHRYS. Or, in that day, on which I shall rise again, you shall know. For His resurrection it was that established their faith. Then the powerful teaching of the Holy Spirit began. His saying, I am in the Father, expresses His humility; the next, And you in Me, and I in you, His humanity and God's assistance to Him. Scripture often uses the same words in different senses, as applied to God and to men.

HILARY. Or He means by this, that whereas He was in the Father by the nature of His divinity, and we in Him by means of His birth in the flesh; He on the other hand should be believed to be in us by the mystery of the Sacrament: as He Himself testified above: Whosoever eats My flesh, and drinks My blood, dwells in Me, and I in Him.

ALCUIN. By love, and the observance of His commandments, that will be perfected in us which He has begun, viz. that we should be in Him, and He in us. And that this blessedness may be understood to be promised to all, not to the Apostles only, He adds, He that has My commandments and keeps them, he it is that loves Me.

AUG. He that has them in , and keeps them in life; he that has them in words, and keeps them in works; he that has them by hearing, and keeps them by doing; he that has them by doing, and keeps them by persevering, he it is that loves Me. Love must be strewn by works, or it is a mere barren name.

THEOPHYL. As if He said, You think that by sorrowing, as you do, for my death you prove your affection; but I esteem the keeping of My commandments the evidence of love. And then He shows the privileged state of one who loves: And he that loves Me shall be loved of My Father, and I will love him.

AUG. I will love him, as if now He did not love him. What means this? He explains it in what follows: And will manifest Myself to him, i.e. I love him so far as to manifest Myself to him; so that, as the reward of his faith, he will have sight. Now He only loves us so that we believe; then He will love us so that we see. And whereas we love now by believing that which we shall see, then we shall love by seeing that which we have believed.

AUG. He promises to show Himself to them that love Him as God with the Father, not in that body which He bore upon earth, and which the wicked saw.

THEOPHYL. For, as after the resurrection He was to appear to them in a body more assimilated to His divinity, that they might not take Him then for a spirit, or a phantom, He tells them now beforehand not to have misgivings upon seeing Him, but to remember that He shows Himself to them as a reward for their keeping His commandments; and that therefore they are bound ever to keep them, that they may ever enjoy the sight of Him.

Catena Aurea John 14

The Pentecost

1150-60
Champlevé enamel on copper gilt, 11,4 x 11,4 cm
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

CATHOLIC ALMANAC

Sunday, May 21

Liturgical Color: Green

Today is the optional memorial
of St. Christopher Magallanes,
priest, and his companions,
martyrs. In the 1920’s, St.
Christopher ran a seminary in
Mexico. He and 21 priests were
arrested and killed by the anti-
Catholic government.

Catholic Culture

Easter: May 21st

Sixth Sunday of Easter

MASS READINGS

May 21, 2017 (Readings on USCCB website)

COLLECT PRAYER

Grant, almighty God, that we may celebrate with heartfelt devotion these days of joy, which we keep in honor of the risen Lord, and that what we relieve in remembrance we may always hold to in what we do. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

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Recipes (2)

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Activities (1)

Marian Hymn: Ave Maria Dear

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Prayers (3)

Book of Blessings: Blessing Before and After Meals: Easter Season (2nd Plan)
Prayers for the Easter Season
Book of Blessings: Blessing Before and After Meals: Easter (1st Plan)
Old Calendar: Fifth Sunday after Easter
Jesus said to his disciples: "If you love me you will keep my commandments. I shall ask the Father, and He will give you another Advocate to be with you forever, that Spirit of truth whom the world can never receive since it neither sees nor knows Him, but you know Him, because He is with you, He is in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come back to you."
The Optional Memorial of St. Christopher Magallanes, priest and martyr, and his companions, martyrs; Optional Memorial of St. Eugene de Mazenod, bishop (Canada), which are ordinarily celebrated today, are superseded by the Sunday liturgy.
Click here for commentary on the readings in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite.

Sunday Readings
The first reading is taken from the Acts of the Apostles 8:5-8, 14-17. In this reading Peter and John are sent from Jerusalem to Samaria to be ministers of the coming of the Spirit to the new converts in that town. These men had already been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus, and the imposition of hands completes the initiation of these converts. — A Celebrants Guide to the New Sacramentary - A Cycle by Kevin W. Irwin
The second reading is from the first letter of Peter 3:15-18 and indicates that baptism initiates a person to imitation of the death and resurrection of Jesus and that the destiny of all believers is to live according to the realm of the Spirit. — A Celebrants Guide to the New Sacramentary - A Cycle by Kevin W. Irwin
The Gospel is from St. John 14:15-21. In this discourse at the Last Supper, which was His last will and testament, our divine Lord promised His Church, through the Apostles, that the Holy Spirit would be with it until the end of time. The Spirit of truth will be directing it and effectively aiding it to preserve the faith, the doctrine, and the morals which Christ taught His Apostles.
Looking back now over almost 2,000 years of the Church's history we can see how this promise has been fulfilled. There were heretics and schismatics who threatened the very continuance of the Church as God's faithful people on earth. There were crises and near catastrophes caused by the human weaknesses of its heads and its members, yet the Church survived and spread and continued to send saints to heaven because of the direct and active aid of the Holy Spirit.
During those two thousand years great empires have risen and fallen. They had large armies and vast wealth and earthly resources at their disposal, yet they disintegrated like all things human. The names of one-time mighty men who ruled over millions are now nothing more than a nuisance for children in their history classes. The large tracts of our globe which they ruled are now divided and known by other names. This was, is, and will be the lot of all merely human enterprises. Today's despots, where they rule with iron hand, will share the same fate.
In the midst of all these upheavals the Church of Christ has continued to flourish because it was directed and sustained by the Holy Spirit, who abides within it. How can we ever show enough gratitude to the three Divine Persons of the Blessed Trinity who planned so lovingly and so efficaciously for our safe journey to heaven? The Father sent His Son as man among us so that we men could become His brothers, and adopted sons of the Father. The Son suffered hardships, insults and misunderstandings during His temporary stay on earth, and ended like a crucified malefactor because of the sins of mankind. But He rose triumphantly from the dead and set up the Church as a society which would bring to men of all races, ages and colors the salvation and exaltation of mankind, which His life and death had won for us.
Knowing only too well the weaknesses and waywardness of human nature, He and the Father sent the Holy Spirit to remain with His Church as its infallible guide until the last man has entered heaven.
This is a very brief summary of what the Blessed Trinity has done, and is continuing to do for us, through the Church. We, the people of God, the chosen race of the New Testament are God's Church on earth. It is for you and me that the Holy Spirit is at work this very day. When He guides the steps of Peter's successor, the Pope, or the deliberations of the bishops, the heirs of the apostolic college, it is for us and for our salvation that He is acting. While we are faithful members of the Church, and of Christ's mystical body, while we remain live branches safely attached to the vine who is Christ, we have nothing to fear; we are on the sure road to heaven, to enjoy eternal happiness with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit whom we shall thank and glorify forever.
Excerpted from The Sunday Readings by Fr. Kevin O'Sullivan, O.F.M.

The Word Among Us

Meditation: Acts 8:5-8, 14-17

6th Sunday of Easter

There was great joy in that city. (Acts 8:8)

Today’s first reading tells us three things: evil exists (Acts 8:7); we have the Holy Spirit in us (8:14-15); and we can experience “great joy” as God manifests his power (8:8).

Ever since the time of the Enlightenment, there has been a tendency to dismiss belief in the devil. An overemphasis on reason and science led people to believe that there was no reality beyond the material universe.

Yet Scripture gives us plenty of evidence to the contrary. Jesus confronted demonic forces when he met a man with an unclean spirit (Mark 1:21-28), a blind demoniac (Matthew 12:22-29), and the daughter of a Canaanite woman (15:21-28).

Evil spirits are real, and they are most effective when we are indifferent to them.

There are real-life situations of people who are possessed by evil spirits through witchcraft, curses, and the like. These people need the help of an exorcist. But those are rare cases. For the rest of us, Satan tends to harass us, not possess us. He whispers thoughts that tempt us to be negative, resentful, or self-condemning. We may think these thoughts come from ourselves, and partly they do. But at the same time, they are fostered by Satan’s negative accusations.

So what can you do? First, have faith that the Holy Spirit is in you, helping you fight Satan’s temptations. Second, pray. Hold on to the words of the Lord’s Prayer, “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” Then, pay attention to what is going on in your heart. Look for signs of how the temptation is diminishing. Rejoice in even the smallest sign of freedom!

Jesus has already conquered Satan. Now he wants us to step into the freedom he has won for us. By following these three simple steps, we can begin to know the “great joy” that comes when we resist Satan’s temptations.

“Lord, lead me not into temptation. Deliver me from every evil harassment.”

Psalm 66:1-7, 16, 20
1 Peter 3:15-18
John 14:15-21

A Christian Pilgrim

HOLY SPIRIT AS THE PARACLETE

(A biblical reflection on THE SIXTH SUNDAY OF EASTER [Year A] – May 21, 2017)

Gospel Reading: John 14:15-21

First Reading: Acts 8:5-8,14-17; Psalms: Psalm 66:1-7,16,20; Second Reading: 1 Peter 3:15-18

The Scripture Text

“If you love Me, you will keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Counselor, to be with you for ever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; you know Him, for He dwells with you, and will be in you.”

“I will not leave you desolate; I will come to you. Yet a little while, and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me; because I live, you will live also. In that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. He who has My commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.” (John 14:15-21 RSV)

In today’s Gospel, Jesus calls the Holy Spirit the Paraclete, from a Greek word Paracletos, meaning “an advocate or helper”. Judges and lawyers often use this word when describing someone who helps or advises the defense in court. Jesus calls the Holy Spirit a Paraclete because the Spirit comes to our defense in our time of need.

Because being a Christian was illegal when the Gospel according to John was written, Roman authorities put on trial many followers of Jesus and condemned them to die a very painful death. While some were fed to the lions and others were crucified or skinned alive, these early Christians needed assurances that God was not abandoning them. Therefore, John says that even though they will be on trial, they will not be alone because the Holy Spirit will be at their side strengthening and inspiring them, helping them understand what is going on, and advising them about what to say. The Holy Spirit will be with them no matter what they have to go through.

Although we are not persecuted for our faith in Jesus, the Holy Spirit also plays an important role in our lives. We seek the advice of a lawyer not only when someone accuses us of a crime but also when we need to know the correct way to proceed on a given matter. The lawyer points us the right direction and gives us support and encouragement. Since it’s sometimes difficult for a Christian to live in a world that does not acknowledge Jesus as God, we need the Holy Spirit to point us in the right direction and to give us advice and support so we can always choose to love God even when that’s not popular.

The reading ends with Jesus telling us those who love Him will obey His commands. This isn’t always easy because elsewhere in the Gospels Jesus says we should love our enemies, do good to those who persecute us, turn the other cheek when someone strikes us, and give without counting the cost. Living by these standards today can be a very difficult task that we can accomplish only with the help of the Holy Spirit.

(Adapted from Jerome J. Sabatowich, Cycling Through the Gospels)

PRAYER: Heavenly Father, it is indeed a terrifying experience to be left all alone in life. Because of the presence of the Holy Spirit within us, however, we need not have that experience, only if we learn to turn to You with simple earnest prayer in all the aspects of our lives. We also pray for those who have difficulty living out their faith in the risen Jesus Christ, especially those who do not enjoy freedom of religion and those experiencing pressures from friends and/or family. We pray this in the most precious name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. Amen.

The Gospel in Pictures