May 25, Monday: Jn 15:9-17: As the Father has loved me,
so have I loved you; abide in my love. 10 If you keep my commandments, you will
abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his
love. 11 These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that
your joy may be full. 12 "This is my commandment, that you love one
another as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no man than this, that a man
lay down his life for his friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I
command you.
15 No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know
what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I
have heard from my Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose
me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and
that your fruit should abide; so that whatever you ask the Father in my name,
he may give it to you. 17 This I command you, to love one another.
The context: During the Last Supper discourse, Jesus
instructs his disciples about love as the hallmark of Christians and the
criterion of discipleship, and he teaches them how love should be practiced.
The criterion of Christian love: Jesus
explains to his Apostles that the basis and criterion of his love for them is
the love existing among the three Persons of the Holy Trinity, and that his
love for them is a reflection of that love. In other words, God’s love for us,
as shown by Jesus through his unconditional, self-giving, sacrificial love
expressed in his obedience to his Father, must be the criterion of Christian
love. We express our love for Christ by obeying his new commandment of love.
The new commandment: "This
is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.” The old
commandment was to “love your neighbor as
you love yourself.” But Jesus insisted that the criterion of Christian love
must be the same as the one for his love. So our love must also be sacrificial,
forgiving, unconditional, selfless and self-giving. The highest expression of
this love is our willingness to lay down our lives as Jesus did, for people who
don’t deserve it.
Life messages: 1) We need to be Jesus’ friends: Jesus invites each
Christian to live in the inner circle of his friends by obeying his
commandments, including the new commandment of love. Such friends abide in
Jesus, and Jesus abides in them, and their prayers in Jesus’ Name will be
answered promptly by God the Father. (Fr. Tony) L/18
May 26, Tuesday: Jn 17:1-11a
1 When Jesus had spoken these words,
he lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, "Father, the hour has come;
glorify thy Son that the Son may glorify thee, 2 since thou hast given him
power over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom thou hast given him. 3
And this is eternal life, that they know thee the only true God, and Jesus
Christ whom thou hast sent. 4 I glorified thee on earth, having accomplished
the work which thou gave me to do; 5 …… ….11
The context: Today’s Gospel passage is taken from
the “High Priestly Prayer” of Jesus for himself, his apostles and all
future believers. He offers this prayer at the end of his long Last Supper
discourse. It is called the High Priestly Prayer because it is as the
High Priest that Jesus offers to God, his Father, the imminent sacrifice of his
passion and death, his apostles and their mission and all future believers.
Glory in crucifixion:
In the first part of the prayer, Jesus asks for the glorification of his human
nature and the acceptance of his sacrifice on the cross by his Father.
Jesus considered his crucifixion as his glorification -- just
as the martyrs would later do. The cross was the glory of Jesus
because it was the completion of his work of saving mankind and demonstrating
to us how much God loves us. Further, it was his death on the cross that led to
his Resurrection in glory. Jesus glorified God 1) by accepting
death on the cross in perfect obedience to God, to complete His eternal plan of
salvation; 2) by revealing God to men as a loving, forgiving and saving Father;
and 3) by giving the believers Eternal Life in making them his disciples and
teaching them to obey his new commandment of love.
The essence of Eternal
Life: According to the New Testament, Eternal Life is: “to know You, the
only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent" (John 17:3).
To know God in the Gospel sense is to have a deep, personal experience of
God Who is working in one’s life. It involves a close, intimate
relationship which matures eventually into mutual love and trust. Christian
faith is essentially a “believing in”- a total surrender. It is the
way we come to “know” Christ closely, to experience him intimately
and love him personally.
Life message: 1) Let us center our Christian life
on prayer and glorification of God. Prayer means getting into
contact with God -- listening to Him and talking to Him. If we are
convinced of the presence of God within us, we can talk to Him even while we
are driving, waiting in a queue or doing routine work in the kitchen or
yard. Our talk with God can include praise and thanksgiving, pleas for
forgiveness and prayer for our needs and those of others. A few minutes
spent in reading the Bible is the best way of listening to God. (Fr. Tony) L/18
May 27, Wednesday: Jn 17:11b-19: 11 And now I am no more in the world, but they are in the world, and
I am coming to thee. Holy Father, keep them in thy name, which thou hast
given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. 12 While I was with them, I
kept them in thy name, which thou hast given me; I have guarded them, and none
of them is lost but the son of perdition, that the scripture might be
fulfilled. 13 But now I am coming to thee; and these things I speak in the world,
that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. 14 I have given them thy
word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, even as I
am not of the world. 15 I do not pray that thou should take them out of the
world, but that thou should keep them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the
world, even as I am not of the world.17 Sanctify them in the truth; thy word is
truth. 18 As thou didst send me into the world, so I have sent them into the
world. 19 And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be
consecrated in truth.
The context: Today’s Gospel passage is taken from
the second part of the “High Priestly Prayer” of Jesus at the Last
Supper in which he prays for his Apostles.
Prayer for the Apostles: Jesus asks the Father to give his disciples five
things—perseverance, unity, protection, joy and holiness. First, Jesus prays
for their perseverance in the teaching he has given them (v.6), and
their communion with him. Then he prays for unity among his apostles as
a reflection of the unity of God in His three Divine Persons. Next Jesus prays
that the Father may guard and protect them, just as he himself is
protecting them now while he is still with them. Fourth, Jesus prays that they
may share his joy in this life and in eternity, the result of their
union with God and perseverance. Finally, Jesus prays for those who, though
living in the world, are not of the world, that they may be truly holy and
carry out the mission he has entrusted to them, just as he has been doing the
work his Father has given him to do. Jesus concludes his prayer by asking for
holiness for his disciples. As persons consecrated to God and made holy, they
need to have moral sanctity, and the constant practice of the moral virtues.
Life message: Bishops, as the successors of the
apostles, and priests, as the helpers of the bishops, need the supporting
prayer of the faithful entrusted to their care, so that they may lead holy
lives bearing witness to the love, mercy, compassion and forgiveness of Christ
in their ministry. (Fr. Tony) L/18
May 28, Thursday: Jn
17:20-26 20 "I do not pray for
these only, but also for those who believe in me through their word, 21 that
they may all be one; even as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they
also may be in us, so that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.
22 The glory which thou hast given me I have given to them, that they may be
one even as we are one, 23 I in them and thou in me, that they may become
perfectly one, so that the world may know that thou hast sent me and hast loved
them even as thou hast loved me. 24 …26
The context: Today’s Gospel passage is the
concluding part of Jesus’ “High Priestly Prayer” in his Last Supper
discourse. Here, Jesus prays for true unity among his followers who accept him
as their Lord and Savior.
Divisions in Christianity: The first major division in Christianity, which took place in the fifth
century, was caused when the Eastern Orthodox Churches under the
patriarchs separated themselves from the Western Church under the Pope.
Next, the Protestant Reformation in the sixteenth century separated its
followers from unity with the Church centered in Rome and freed them from
her Authority. This separation resulted
in the formation of more than 30,000 Protestant denominations during the
following five centuries. According to Blessed Pope Paul VI, “the Church
founded by Jesus Christ and for which he prayed is indefectibly one in Faith,
in worship and in the bond of hierarchical communion" (Creed of the
People of God, 21).
Jesus’ prayer for unity: In his prayer for unity among his disciples, Jesus mentions
that the basis and criterion of unity must be the Unity of God in His
Three Divine Persons among Whom there is eternal, mutual love and
Self-giving. The unity of Jesus and his Father is a unity of love and
obedience and a unity of personal relationship. Another reason for Christian
unity is the union of the faithful with Jesus Christ and through him
with the Father (verse 23). This means that the fullness of Unity is attained
through the supernatural grace, which comes to us from the Father through
Christ (cf. John 15:5). Jesus mentions that unity among the believers is essential
for the world to acknowledge him as Lord and Savior, because the disunity
among Christians acts as the biggest block for evangelization, giving living
counter-witness to the Good News of Redemption.
Life messages: 1) Since Jesus
Christ himself left us his final wish for unity through his prayer to the
Father: “that they all may be one as You, Father, are in Me and I in You,
that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that Thou hast sent
Me” (John 17:21), it our duty to pray for and work for meaningful
unity among Christians.
2) Let us learn to appreciate
each other’s common beliefs and enter into genuine dialogue and cooperation
with members of other Christian denominations instead of accusing each other of
heresy. We need to remember that the present non-Catholic Christians are not
responsible for the historical events and actions from which the various
denominations originated in the past. (Fr. Tony) L/18
May
29, Friday: John 21:15-19: 15 When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter,
"Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?" He said to him,
"Yes, Lord; you know that I love you." He said to him, "Feed my
lambs." 16 A second time he said to him, "Simon, son of John, do you
love me?" He said to him, "Yes, Lord; you know that I love you."
He said to him, "Tend my sheep." 17 He said to him the third time,
"Simon, son of John, do you love me?" Peter was grieved because he
said to him the third time, "Do you love me?" And he said to him,
"Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you." Jesus said to
him, "Feed my sheep. 18 Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young,
you girded yourself and walked where you would;..19…
The context: This is a post-Resurrection apparition
scene. After miraculously providing breakfast for his apostles who had been
fishing all night, Jesus conferred on Peter the primacy in the Church, which he
had promised as a reward for Peters’ profession of Faith (Mt 16:16-19).
The triple question: As if to give him a triple chance to atone for his triple denial, Jesus asks Peter, three times, "Simon, son of John, do you love me (agápe love) more than these?" Jesus asks Peter if he loves Jesus more than his boat and fishing equipment, occupation, family and friends. He is also asking whether Peter loves his master more than the other Apostles do. Peter humbly puts everything in Christ's hands. “Lord, You know well that I love (philia love=love of a friend) You."
The dual reward: 1) Primacy of jurisdiction over the Church, Vatican I defined: "We therefore teach and declare that, according to the testimony of the Gospel, the primacy of jurisdiction over the universal Church of God was immediately and directly promised and given to Blessed Peter the Apostle by Christ our Lord. [...] And it was upon Simon Peter alone, that Jesus, after his Resurrection, bestowed the jurisdiction of chief pastor and ruler over all his fold in the words: "Feed My lambs; feed My sheep" (Pastor Aeternus, Chapter 1).
2) Peter was also given the promise of a martyr’s death because real love involves responsibility as well as sacrifice. According to Tradition, St. Peter followed his Master to the point of dying by crucifixion, head downwards because he felt unworthy to die as Jesus had done. This happened during Nero's persecution of the Christians, which took place between the years 64 and 68 in Rome.
Life messages: 1) We need to pray for the Pope, the successor of Peter, and for the
bishops, the successors of the Apostles, and to support them in their ministry.
2) Jesus is a God of second chances who gives chances after chances to sinners
to return to his love, as is made clear by Jesus’ conferring primacy in his
Church on Peter. (Fr. Tony) L/18
May 30, Saturday: Jn 21:20-25: 20 Peter turned and saw following them the disciple whom Jesus
loved, who had lain close to his breast at the supper and had said, "Lord,
who is it that is going to betray you?" 21 When Peter saw him, he said
to Jesus, "Lord, what about this man?" 22 Jesus said to him, "If
it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? Follow
me!" 23 The saying spread abroad among the brethren that this disciple was
not to die; yet Jesus did not say to him that he was not to die, but,
"If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to
you?" 24 This is the disciple who is bearing witness to these things, and
who has written these things; and we know that his testimony is true. 25 But
there are also many other things which Jesus did; were every one of them to be
written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would
be written.
Context: Today’s Gospel passage describes the role of Peter as the chief
shepherd of Christ’s folk and John as a long-lived witness to Christ in the
early Church. The last part of the passage was intended to correct the false
notion in the early Church that John would not die until the much-expected,
imminent “second coming” of Jesus.
Jesus’ reply: Jesus’ response implies that what is important is not to be curious
about what the future will bring but to serve the Lord faithfully each day,
keeping to the way He has marked out for one.
John’s testimony about his
Gospel: The passage concludes with John’s testimony
about the truth of the content of his Gospel. It also explains the purpose of
John’s Gospel: to strengthen our Faith in what Jesus did and taught. In
addition, it tells us that the written Gospels contain only a fraction of what
Jesus taught and did, implying that we have to depend upon the Sacred Tradition
of the early Church handed down to us by the early Fathers of the Church to
complete the truth of the written testimony.
Life messages: 1) Just like Peter and John, each believer
has his or her unique role in the Church. 2) It is our duty to bear witness to
Christ by surrendering our lives to Christ on the altar of service for the
people of God and by offering ourselves as humble instruments in the hands of
Christ. (Fr. Tony)