Easter 6th Week, Saturday, May 23rd
Acts 18:23-28 / John 16:23-28
Jesus gives final instructions: “Ask and you will receive.”
An amusing cartoon showed a tiny
insect peering up at a huge insect. After staring at the huge insect for a
while, the tiny insect said, “What kind of a bug are you?”
“I’m a praying mantis,” came the
reply. “That’s absurd!” said the tiny insect. “Bugs don’t pray!” With that, the
praying mantis grabbed the little bug around the throat and began to squeeze. The
bug’s eyes began to bulge.
Easter 6th Week, Thursday, May 21st
Acts
18:1-8 / John 16:16-20
Jesus speaks about
his leaving: “In a little while and you will no longer see me” (Jn 16/16)
Someone said hindsight is always 20/20. But hindsight is what you don’t
have at the time. In simple matters of fact hindsight is a simple thing: you
can see within the hour that you backed the wrong horse – or within seconds
that you said the wrong thing. But in deeper matters, hindsight is a slow
process of realization. The Holy Spirit gives hindsight on Jesus. This is the
Spirit working in us, the patient inner teacher, opening our minds slowly to
the light that has long since come into the world. The Spirit guides us (hodegeo) along
the way; it is Jesus who is the way (hodos) itself – indeed
the truth itself (Jn 14:6).
Easter 6th Week, Wednesday, May 20th
Acts
17:15, 22 - 18:1 / John 16:12-15
Jesus speaks more about the Spirit: “The Spirit will
guide you.”
A young Hindu and a Christian
seminarian were attending the same week-long seminar on the Sermon on the
Mount. In the course of the week, the two young people became good friends. At
one point the young Hindu confided to the seminarian that he had problems with
Jesus’ sermon. He knew how much it had influenced Gandhi, and he wanted to live
his life by it. But he feared it was too lofty an ethic for ordinary people to
live by. Toward the end of the seminar, however, the Hindu gained new insight
into his problem. The ethic was indeed lofty, but he had forgotten about Jesus’
promise. The Holy Spirit will not only teach the people the value of the ethic
but also empower them to follow it.
Easter 6th Week- May 18-23
May 18 Monday (St.
John I, Pope, Martyr):
https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-john-i/ : John 15: 26–16:4 : 26 But
when the Counselor comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, even the
Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness to me; 27
and you also are witnesses, because you have been with me from the beginning.
(John 16) 1 “I have said all this to you to keep you from falling away. 2 They
will put you out of the synagogues; indeed, the hour is coming when whoever
kills you will think he is offering service to God. 3 And they will do this
because they have not known the Father, nor me. 4 But I have said these things
to you, that when their hour comes you may remember that I told you of
them. “I did not say these things to you from the beginning, because I
was with you. http://www.usccb.org/bible/reflections/
Easter 6th Week, Monday, May 18th
Acts 16:11-15 / John 15:26 -
16:4
Jesus instructs his disciples: “You must bear witness on my behalf.”
A witness is someone who can say, “I
know what I am talking about from personal experience.” Thus, Christian witness
involves two things:
(1) a burning internal conviction about Jesus and
(2) a convincing external expression of this conviction.
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