Jesus, the True Vine – May we be his branches that bear fruit

Jesus, the True Vine – May we be his branches that bear fruit

We thank you, gracious God, for Jesus Christ the true vine, with his roots eternally grounded in you. We rejoice that by grace we have been grafted into him, to be branches on a vine which bears the loveliest of all the fruits of earth. Yet we confess that all is not well with the way we live.

Easter 5th Week , Friday, May 15th

Acts 15:22-31 / John 15:12-17 

Jesus talks more about love: “No one has greater love than this.”

A municipal park in Chicago is called Milton Olive Park. The story behind the park’s name deserves to be told over and over. Milton Olive was a 19-year-old soldier who fought in Vietnam. In October 1965, he threw himself on a live hand grenade and saved the lives of four comrades. “In that incredible, brief moment...in which he decided to die, he put others first and himself last. I have always believed that to be the hardest but the highest decision that any man is called upon to make.”

Easter 6th Sunday A - Liturgical Prayers

Greeting (See the Gospel)

“I will not leave you orphans,” says Jesus,
“but my Father will give you
the Spirit of truth.”
May the Spirit of our Lord be always with you.
Introduction by the Celebrant (Two Options)

St. Matthias, Apostle, Thursday, May 14th

Acts 1:15-17, 20-26 / John 15:9-17 

Jesus speaks about life: “Live in my love; keep my commandments.”

Three people were discussing some recent translations of the Bible.

How faithful are we in translating the Bible into action? Our greatest need is not to gain more knowledge, but to put into practice what we already know.

Early Christian Church Structure - From the ACTS of Ap.

Easter 5th Week, Wednesday, May 13th

Acts 15:1-6 / John 15:1-6 

Jesus talks about being one with him: “Remain in me, as I remain in you.”

Paul Claudel’s play The Satin Slipper opens with a dramatic scene: a shipwreck at sea. The sole survivor is a missionary who has tied himself to the mainmast. As it pitches and tosses on the great waves, the missionary senses that death is near. So he prays in words like these: “0 Lord, I thank you for letting me die like this. Sometimes I found your teaching hard, and sometimes I fought your will. But now I could not be bound more closely to you. Most of us are honest people cannot free itself from this cross on which I die. Nor would I want it to be free, for it makes me feel a special closeness to you.”

We are the Church of God - Prayer

As we read these days from the Acts of the Apostles about the Struggle and Growth of the Church

We are the Church of God 

Lord Jesus, as we read these days from the Acts of the Apostles, we are enlightened by the fact that you are alive, and that you are building your Church through each of us. Your Church is built upon your life, death, burial, and resurrection. It is through the proclamation of this message—the gospel—that the Church will either visibly rise or fall.

How a dog saves a Cat from a Pit

Easter 5th Week - May 11-16

May 11 Monday:

Jn 14:21-26: 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.” 22 Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?” 23 Jesus answered him, “If a man loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. 24 He who does not love me does not keep my words; and the word which you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me. 25 “These things I have spoken to you, while I am still with you. 26 But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all  that I have said to you.(http://www.usccb.org/bible/reflections/)

Easter 5th Week, Tuesday, May 12th

Acts 14:19-28 / John 14:27-31 

Jesus calms his disciples: “Do not be troubled or afraid.”

London was bombed mercilessly during World War II. One night a man in his 80s was standing outside St. Andrew’s Church. The church was located on the edge of London and overlooked the city. As the old man look down on the fire and smoke rising from the city, he began to cry. “Is there no hope at all?” he sobbed. Just then a gust of wind cleared the smoke long enough for the old man to see the cross atop the dome of St. Paul’s. The instant he saw it, he felt a surge of hope soar through his body. He stopped being “troubled and afraid.”