Good St. Dymphna, you placed all your hope in Christ’s promises, and sacrificed even your life in that hope. The Lord, God, rewarded your constancy by making your name known and loved over many centuries by the thousands whom you have aided in time of difficulty. Please assist us now in our present necessity, and intercede before God for our intentions. Obtain for us a firm hope like your own in God’s unfailing protection. Amen.
Month: May 2021
Remain in My Love
The word ‘love’ appears nine times in today’s Gospel alone. Why? Because love is what this Gospel is all about.
Remain in my love. Jesus particularly stresses this as he speaks to His disciples. Who would not want to spend time with their friends? It is the same with Jesus here:
“As the Father loves me, so I also love you. Remain in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and remain in His love.”
And later, “I have called you friends, because I have told you everything I have heard from my Father. It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you.”
Jesus loved His disciples, each and every one. He loves us. He loves YOU; enough to die for you, to pay the greatest price one can pay, for YOU. And he wants you to remain in that love.
Now, what does it mean, to remain in His love?
Firstly, though he does say “keep my commandments and you will remain in my love”, it does not mean that if you follow His commandments he will love you, no! God will always love you, whether you follow His commandments or not. Even if you go to hell, God will not cease to love you. He will always love you.
So then, what does it mean? Remaining in God’s love means remaining in Him. God is love, and remaining in His love means remaining in Him. Being one with Him. My mind goes to John 17:11, where Jesus prays “Holy Father, keep them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one just as we are.”
Remaining in Jesus means living with Him. Becoming one with Him. Not shoving Him outside of the box. Inviting Him into your life. Because life without Christ is no life at all. Remaining in Jesus, remaining in His love, is a choice. A choice to live with Him at the center of your life. Remaining in Jesus’s love is to hold His hand, to choose to be there, to put yourself there, right next to Him, for keeps.
“If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love…” We don’t always follow His commandments, and so we fall away. But every time he, the Good Shepherd, comes looking for us. He wants us to be with Him and he continually seeks us out.
Remaining in His love is not a coincidence, it’s a choice. Will you?
Perpetua Phelps is a high school student residing in West Michigan and is the second of four children. Apart from homeschooling, Perpetua enjoys volunteering at her church, attending retreats, studying Latin and French, and reading classics such as Beowulf, The Lord of the Rings, C.S. Lewis’ Space Trilogy, and Mark Twain’s Joan of Arc. She also spends much time writing novels, essays, and poetry for fun and competition. A passionate Tolkien fan, Perpetua is a founding member of a Tolkien podcast.
Feature Image Credit: J_Photo, https://www.cathopic.com/photo/19970-sacred-heart-of-jesus
St. Matthias: Saint of the Day for Friday, May 14, 2021
How does one qualify to be an apostle? The first act of the apostles after the Ascension of Jesus was to find a replacement for Judas. With all the questions, doubts, and dangers facing them, they chose to focus their attention on finding a twelfth apostle. Why was this important? Twelve was a very important number to the Chosen People: twelve was the number of the twelve tribes of Israel. If the new Israel was to come from the disciples of Jesus, a twelfth apostle was needed. But Jesus …
Prayer for Strength to Forgive: Prayer of the Day for Friday, May 14, 2021
Faultless Lord, enduring death for me,
You have consummated the debt of my sins:
Your sacrifice of forgiveness was absolute!
Grant me the strength to also forgive others,
To excuse their transgressions against me.
So I may truly reflect this spiritual fruit,
Obliterate any persistent feelings of malice.
Let each trespass end as a closing chapter,
My continuing on the road of righteousness.
Forgive my sins as I aspire to forgive others.
You are truly archetypical of …
Thursday of the Sixth Week of Easter
- Readings for the Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord
- Readings for the Thursday of the Sixth Week of Easter – Ascension
In Provinces where the celebration of Ascension is transferred to the Seventh Sunday of Easter, the following readings are used on this Thursday.
Reading I Acts 18:1-8
Paul left Athens and went to Corinth.
There he met a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus,
who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla
because Claudius had ordered all the Jews to leave Rome.
He went to visit them and, because he practiced the same trade,
stayed with them and worked, for they were tentmakers by trade.
Every sabbath, he entered into discussions in the synagogue,
attempting to convince both Jews and Greeks.
When Silas and Timothy came down from Macedonia,
Paul began to occupy himself totally with preaching the word,
testifying to the Jews that the Christ was Jesus.
When they opposed him and reviled him,
he shook out his garments and said to them,
“Your blood be on your heads!
I am clear of responsibility.
From now on I will go to the Gentiles.”
So he left there and went to a house
belonging to a man named Titus Justus, a worshiper of God;
his house was next to a synagogue.
Crispus, the synagogue official, came to believe in the Lord
along with his entire household, and many of the Corinthians
who heard believed and were baptized.
Responsorial Psalm 98:1, 2-3ab, 3cd-4
R. (see 2b) The Lord has revealed to the nations his saving power.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Sing to the LORD a new song,
for he has done wondrous deeds;
His right hand has won victory for him,
his holy arm.
R. The Lord has revealed to the nations his saving power.
or:
R. Alleluia.
The LORD has made his salvation known:
in the sight of the nations he has revealed his justice.
He has remembered his kindness and his faithfulness
toward the house of Israel.
R. The Lord has revealed to the nations his saving power.
or:
R. Alleluia.
All the ends of the earth have seen
the salvation by our God.
Sing joyfully to the LORD, all you lands;
break into song; sing praise.
R. The Lord has revealed to the nations his saving power.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Alleluia See Jn 14:18
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
I will not leave you orphans, says the Lord;
I will come back to you, and your hearts will rejoice.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel Jn 16:16-20
Jesus said to his disciples:
“A little while and you will no longer see me,
and again a little while later and you will see me.”
So some of his disciples said to one another,
“What does this mean that he is saying to us,
‘A little while and you will not see me,
and again a little while and you will see me,’
and ‘Because I am going to the Father’?”
So they said, “What is this ‘little while’ of which he speaks?
We do not know what he means.”
Jesus knew that they wanted to ask him, so he said to them,
“Are you discussing with one another what I said,
‘A little while and you will not see me,
and again a little while and you will see me’?
Amen, amen, I say to you,
you will weep and mourn, while the world rejoices;
you will grieve, but your grief will become joy.”
- Readings for the Optional Memorial of Our Lady of Fatima
– – –
Lectionary for Mass for Use in the Dioceses of the United States, second typical edition, Copyright © 2001, 1998, 1997, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine; Psalm refrain © 1968, 1981, 1997, International Committee on English in the Liturgy, Inc. All rights reserved. Neither this work nor any part of it may be reproduced, distributed, performed or displayed in any medium, including electronic or digital, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.
Our Mission Statement
In today’s Gospel, we are given a mission to go into the world and proclaim the Gospel to every living creature (Mark 16:15-16). This is not a mission of preservation. This is not a mission of selection. It is a mission that extends to every living thing.
Do your actions speak God’s love and truth?
This is the question we should ask ourselves on this feast of the Ascension because Jesus did not leave us with a shrug and a happy wave, but with a burning passion to share everything we have learned.
Not only did he leave us with a mission, but he left us with a guide! In the First Reading, we hear mention of the Holy Spirit and in the Second Reading, we hear of the Holy Spirit once more. The last of the Trinity, to stay with you and me forever, come Pentecost Sunday.
Savior Jesus Christ,
You shared so much with us while on Earth,
And in ways that we could share with others for generations.
We thank you for laying down your life for our sins.
You forgave a debt we have yet to understand, in total mercy.
Today we celebrate your most glorious Ascension,
Showing us, again, God’s power and infinite love for us.
We also thank you, Jesus, and our Heavenly Father,
for sending us your Spirit to dwell with us in your physical absence.
Come, Holy Spirit, ignite the passion of our hearts,
May the embers of our heart burn for our mission.
Amen.
Veronica Alvarado is a born and raised Texan currently living in Pennsylvania. Since graduating from Texas A&M University, Veronica has published various Catholic articles in bulletins, newspapers, e-newsletters, and blogs. She continued sharing her faith after graduation as a web content strategist and digital project manager. Today, she continues this mission in her current role as communications director and project manager for Pentecost Today USA, a Catholic Charismatic Renewal organization in Pittsburgh.
Feature Image Credit: eberhard grossgasteiger, https://unsplash.com/photos/_uAVHAMjGYA
St. John the Silent: Saint of the Day for Thursday, May 13, 2021
Bishop of Colonia in Palestine and a hermit. Born in Nicopolis, Armenia, he established a monastery at the age of eighteen. Appointed a bishop at the age of twenty-eight, he spent nine years in his office before retiring to Jerusalem to embrace the eremitical life. Through a vision, he found his way to the monastery, or laura, of St. Sabas, asking to be walled up and living for seventy-five years as a silent recluse.
Fatima Prayer: Prayer of the Day for Thursday, May 13, 2021
O My Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of Hell and lead all souls to Heaven, especially those who are in most need of Thy mercy.
Life in Him
The readings today remind us that our focus needs to be on God. The First Reading from the Acts of the Apostles, St. Paul tells us “…in him we live and move and have our being”. The Gospel has Jesus telling the disciples, “I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now. But when he comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you to all truth.”
We’ve been given the Spirit of truth to guide us on our way in life. We’ve been asked to do what is ours to do by trusting in His ways and to follow the Spirit. This is metanoia; changing our heart to a deeper communion and connection with Christ. We are called to be prophets of a future not of our choosing but that of the Lord.
Bishop Ken Untener expressed that wonderfully in the following prayer:
It helps, now and then, to step back and take a long view.
The kingdom is not only beyond our efforts, it is even beyond our vision.
We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction of the magnificent
enterprise that is God’s work. Nothing we do is complete, which is a way of
saying that the Kingdom always lies beyond us.
No statement says all that could be said.
No prayer fully expresses our faith.
No confession brings perfection.
No pastoral visit brings wholeness.
No program accomplishes the Church’s mission.
No set of goals and objectives includes everything.
This is what we are about.
We plant the seeds that one day will grow.
We water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise.
We lay foundations that will need further development.
We provide yeast that produces far beyond our capabilities.
We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that.
This enables us to do something, and to do it very well.
It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way, an
opportunity for the Lord’s grace to enter and do the rest.
We may never see the end results, but that is the difference between the master
builder and the worker.
We are workers, not master builders; ministers, not messiahs.
We are prophets of a future not our own.
Contact the author
Beth Price is part of the customer care team at Diocesan. She is a Secular Franciscan (OFS) and a practicing spiritual director. Beth shares smiles, prayers, laughter, a listening ear and her heart with all of creation. Reach her here bprice@diocesan.com.
Feature Image Credit: Mohamed Nohassi, https://unsplash.com/photos/odxB5oIG_iA
Sts. Nereus & Achilleus: Saint of the Day for Wednesday, May 12, 2021
So often we hear people or even ourselves excuse an action by saying “I was only following orders.” But for Nereus and Achilleus this excuse could not stand in the face of the cross. Everything we know from authority about the two first- century martyrs comes from a testimony written by Pope St. Damasus in the fourth century and inscribed on a memorial tablet that commemorates their lives. But even this commentary comes 300 years after they died. Damasus tells us that Nereus …