Apr 30: Called Forth to Grow and to Serve

Modern Mosaic: Vision Telling Paul to Come Over to Macedonia
Veroia (ancient Berea), Greece

Saturday of the Fifth Week of Easter

Reading I: Acts 16:1-10

During the night Paul had a vision: there stood a man of Macedonia pleading with him and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us (NRSV, Act 14:9).”

Father, in every situation in which we as human beings find ourselves, if we are sensitive to your one Word spoken to us, we realize that you are calling us forth, out of the limitations of the present moment, to grow in your life.

Abraham sensed himself called to leave his home in Mesopotamia in search of you. The Israelites were called out of slavery in Egypt. Paul was called forth continually to preach your gospel to all peoples.

Father, make us sensitive to the inevitable inadequacy of our present situation that we may be always ready to respond to your call to move forward from where we are, to let go of our past, indeed our sins and our selfishness, to grow in your life and to give ourselves ever more fully to the service of our sisters and brothers.

Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Apr 29: One Word Spoken to All

Giovanni di Paolo (1403-83): St. Catherine of Siena
Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, Massachusetts

Memorial of Saint Catherine of Siena, virgin and doctor of the Church

Gospel: Jn 15:12-17

“I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father (NRSV, Jn 15:15b).”

Father, today we remember St. Catherine of Siena, a simple, uneducated woman, a lay Dominican, who dazzled the Catholic world with her understanding of divine truth and her writings.

Father, the answer is simple.

Through the Word living within each human being, the very Word now made flesh in our Lord Jesus Christ, your truth is spoken to us once and for all in every moment. We are hindered from a full understanding of that truth by the temporal and spatial situation in which we find ourselves, by the amassed sin of the world which oppresses and distracts us, and by our own personal sinfulness.

St. Catherine is one of the great and holy people, like the prophets, who broke through the limitations which hold us down and came to a fuller grasp of the one Word spoken to us all in every time and place.

You speak your one Word to every one of us. May we be open to that word as was St. Catherine, and grow in it always as we also grow in the life that you share with us.

Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Apr 28: Everyone Must Be Heard

Michael Wohlgemuth and Wilhelm Pleydenwurff: Jerusalem
The Nuremberg Chronicles, 1493

Thursday of the Fifth Week of Easter

Reading I: Acts 15:7-21

The whole assembly [gathered in Jerusalem] kept silence, and listened to Barnabas and Paul as they told of all the signs and wonders that God had done through them among the Gentiles (NRSV, Acts 15:12).

Father, in every situation there is the possibility of growth in understanding of the same one Word spoken to us all at every moment and every place. It is to the Word living within us to whom we must listen most carefully. Because of our very nature as created beings, located in space and time, however, it is impossible for us to grasp all at once the truth, final and absolute, that is revealed to us. We are also hindered in this task by the sin of the world which presses down heavily upon us and of course by our own personal sinfulness.

Father you offer your life to all humanity and everyone hears your word. Help us to be open to the understanding of others, those within your church, especially those in positions of leadership, but also others who have found you in different ways and even those of good will who seem to deny your very existence. All have their contribution to make and all must be heard.

Guide us, Father, through the Word in the Holy Spirit to continue to grow in our understanding of who you are and the life that you challenge us to lead. Yes, Father, may we seek understanding rather than final answers which are never really possible within history. May our conclusions always be tentative and subject to revision as we grow in you who are our final goal and who alone are absolute truth.

Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Apr 27: The Vine and the Branches

The Vine and Branches
Beit Jala Latin Seminary, Jerusalem

Memorial of Saint Asicus, bishop

Gospel: Jn 15:1-8

“I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit (NRSV, Jn 15:5a).”

Father, there is only one life that you offer to share with all humanity. When we say “yes” in faith to the challenge of the Word, a “yes” always uttered in the power of the Holy Spirit, we become partakers of that one divine life. All become one with you, Father, through the Word, now made flesh in our Lord Jesus Christ.

Without a share in your life, Father, there is not one good thing that we can do. Love has its foundation in grace. With you, Father, all things are possible to us.

Christ is the vine and we are the branches. Through him may your life, Father, flow through us, and in and out among us, who are all one in you.

Through Christ our Lord. Amen

Apr 26: Aways Free in Every Situation

Gustave Doré: Lucifer in Hell
Illustration for The Divine Comedy, 1861-68

Tuesday of the Fifth Week of Easter

Gospel: Jn 14:27-31a

“The ruler of this world has no power over me (NRSV, Jn 14:30b).”

Father, even from the womb, created for physical life on this earth and already given a share in your divine life, we are oppressed by the evil forces that fill the world. The sum total of all of the evil ever committed is our inheritance along with the life and power that you always offer us in the Holy Spirit through your Word.

We are at once weakened by the influence of sin and strengthened by your grace.

But, created in your image, we are endowed with free will in every situation in which we may find ourselves. We are always free to say “no” to sin and “yes” to you, Father, thanks to the gift always available to us in the Holy Spirit.

With Jesus we too can rightly say, “The rule of this world has no power over me.”

Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Apr 25: Called to Work Signs and Wonders

Andrea Mantegna: St. Mark the Evangelist
Das Städel, Frankfort am Main, c.1450

Feast of St. Mark, evangelist

Gospel: Mk 16:15-20

And they went out and proclaimed the good news everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by the signs that accompanied it (NRSV, Mk 16:20).

Father, when Barnabas traveled to Antioch, we read that a large number came to believe because Barnabas was a good man filled with the Holy Spirit and faith. When we accept your gift of life, Father, always offered us through the Word dwelling within us, we are transformed. Your life fills us with great power that cannot help but radiate out from us to others.

Your Word is the only mediator, Father, between you and us but the life and power that we receive from you through him can influence others to say “yes” to you through the Word as we have done.

If there is only one mediator, Father, you enable us through him to share in that mediation.

As the Lord Jesus worked signs and wonder during his life on earth, so we too are called, and indeed empowered, to work signs and wonders among one another.

May we ever be responsive to our calling that like Jesus we too may effectively proclaim the coming of the kingdom to our sisters and brothers.

Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Apr 24: The Stone Rejected

Brother Nicholas: The Stone Rejected Has Been Made
into the Head of the Corner
Speculum Humanae Salvationis
Koninklijke Bibliotheek, The Hague, c.1450

Fifth Sunday of Easter

Reading II: 1 Pt 2:4-9

‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the very head of the corner (NRSV, 1 Pt 2:7b).’

Father, the author of 1 Peter writes of Jesus as a stone, first rejected, then used as the cornerstone, not just any kind of stone, but rather a living stone which communicates life to all of the others stones of the building so that the whole building becomes alive.

Father, the first Christians were not yet much familiar with the dome which the Romans had only just invented. A dome is built upon scaffolding which holds all of the stones in place. Then finally a keystone is dropped into the open space in the apex of the dome. The keystone exerts pressure on the stones around it and they in turn on those around them and so on until finally all is held in place by the living forces unleashed by the keystone and the scaffolding, no longer needed, can be removed. The dome becomes alive through the forces distributed from the keystone.

Father, the first of your churches built with a dome is the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople. There the forces exerted by the dome press down upon the apexes of four arches upon which it rests and the pendentives uniting the arches and upon which the dome also rests. The forces continue right to the ground. The whole building becomes alive by the forces coming from the keystone.

Father, Christ, the Word made flesh, is the living cornerstone, yes, even the keystone, of the Church and indeed of the whole human family. It is through him that your life comes to all who will accept it and grow in it. May every one of us be ever responsive to this life-giving force.

Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Apr 23: The Father Is Ever Present Through The Word

Albrecht Dürer Saint Philip the Apostle
Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence, 1516

Saturday of the Fourth Week of Easter

Gospel: Jn 14:7-14

Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father (NRSV, Jn 14:8-9a).”

Father, we find you in a number of ways.

We can walk in your footprints, examining what you do in creation, learning about the craftsman from the work he has done.

Mostly, we find you by looking inward, deep within ourselves where we always find your Word challenging us to grow in the Holy Spirit in whom we share your very life. Even when we reject you in sin, the Word remains present to us offering us your forgiveness and the renewed gift of your Holy Spirit.

And so we find you, Father, by looking outward at the world you have created or inwards to the Word through whom you create everything that is.

If the Word always dwells within all of us, Father, we also find your Word in a way that is tangible and visible, for the Word has been made flesh in our Lord Jesus. Through Jesus, Father, we meet you in a human body, here among us, sharing our joys and sorrows and even passing through death with us.

And we do not forget, Father, that we also meet you in a tangible and visible way in your Church in the sacred actions you perform in our midst, the actions which we know as sacraments.

Father, there is no situation possible in which you are not present to us through your Word. May we ever be responsive to the gift of your life which you always offer to us.

Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Apr 22: Many Dwelling Places

Irving Amen (b. 1918): In My Father's House are Many Mansions
Georgetown University, Washington, D.C.

Friday of the Fourth Week of Easter

Gospel: Jn 14:1-6

“In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places (NRSV, Jn 14:2a).”

Father, the life that is yours is infinite. You share it with everyone who is ready to accept it. In truth, it is your life, always, in every situation, even from our mother’s womb, offered to us by your Word, now made flesh, that constitutes us as human beings. It is your life, Father, freely offered in the Holy Spirit to all of us that sets us aside from the rest of creation. There is no end, Father, to the number whom you embrace and with whom you share your very being.

Father, in offering us your life, you speak your one Word to everyone called to be a human being, once and for all, in ever time and place. Because of the sin of the world, our own personal sin, and the limitations of created time and space, the one Word is understood differently in different situations. Hopefully all of us, as a human family, and as individuals, grow in that understanding as we are challenged in every moment to grow, Father, in your life.

As each of us understands your truth from a different and inevitably limited perspective, Father, may we all share with one another and learn from one another as, hopefully, we all grow together in your life.

Keep us from being discouraged, Father, by the limitations that our humanity places upon us because it is that very humanity that launches us on the way towards you, our only true future, and enables us, through your gift, to share in that future even in this world.

Father, we believe that the fullness of your revelation is made manifest in the Word made flesh in Jesus Christ. As we move forward, emerging from darkness in light, may he always be for us the way, the truth and the life.

Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Apr 21: Called to Bring Divine Life to One Another

Duccio di Buoninsegna: The Washing of Feet
Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, Siena, 1308-11

Thursday of the Fourth Week of Easter

Gospel: Jn 13:16-20

Jesus said to his disciples: “Very truly, I tell you, whoever receives one whom I send receives me; and whoever receives me receives him who sent me (NRSV, Jn 13:20).”

Father, Jesus called each of his disciples but then he also sent them. He washed their feet the night before he died; then he challenged them to wash one another’s feet.

Father, you have sent your Son, the Word, now made flesh, into the lives of every one of us. He calls us into existence even in the womb and challenges us at every moment to grow in your divine life. But then, as he calls us, your Word also sends us to share the life that you give us with all of our sisters and brothers. It is one divine life that you share with us through the Word and which we are then challenged to share one with the other.

Father, you send your Word to all of us. Through him you also send us to minister to our sisters and brothers. May we ever been responsive to your gift of divine life by manifesting you to one another.

Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Apr 20: Ever Present Through the Word

Icon of Sofronov: Christ Pantocrator
Monastère de Chevetogne, Belgium

Wednesday of the Fourth Week of Easter

Gospel: Jn 12:44-50

Then Jesus cried aloud: “Whoever believes in me believes not in me but in him who sent me. And whoever sees me sees him who sent me (NRSV, Jn 12:44-45).”

Father, even though you are creator and Lord of all, you are not a God who is distant from your people. Through your Word, always living with us, you are intimately present to all of us, sharing your life with us, and even if we reject you by sin and turn away from you, you are still there ever offering us, through the Word, your forgiveness and the opportunity of once again partaking of your life.

Not only are you present at the depth of our being through your Word always spoken, once and for all, to us; not only do you offer us a share in your divine life in every situation; Father, in your Word, now the Lord Jesus Christ, you have become one of us, taking upon yourself a human body and human nature, to share with us everything that we are and do, our joys and our pains, even to pass through death with us.

Father, we are grateful for your great gift to us. May we always be responsive to the challenge of your Word, and, saying “yes” to you through him, always to grow in your divine life.

Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Apr 19: Bringing Faith to Others

Jean le Tavernier: St. Barnabas
Koninklijke Bibliotheek, The Hague, 1450-60

Tuesday of the Fourth week of Weater

Reading I: Acts 11:19-26

For Barnabas was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And a great many people were brought to the Lord (NRSV, Acts 11:24).

Father, your life is mediated to us through the Word who dwells within every human being. All of us are called to participate in that mediation by sharing our lives with our sisters and brothers.

Barnabas went to Antioch proclaiming the good news of Jesus’ resurrection and many were moved openly to accept the Lord because they saw in Barnabas a man who was himself full of the Holy Spirit and of faith.

May we lead lives responsive to the gift of the Holy Spirit offered through the Word to all of us so that others will see your good works, Father, before their very eyes and thus come openly to proclaim their faith in you.

Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Apr 18: Salvation Open to All

Christoph Weigel: Peter's Vision
Biblia ectypa: Bildnussen auss Heiliger Schrifft Alt und Neuen Testaments, 1695

Saint Laserian, bishop

Reading I: Acts 11:1-18

“If then God gave them the same gift that he gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could hinder God (NRSV, Acts 11:17)?”

Father, you speak your one Word to everyone in every time and place but, because of the confusion that comes from the sin of the world and our own personal sinfulness, we come consciously to understand and to express that one Word only gradually.

In the resurrection of our Lord Jesus, the Word now made flesh, we understood clearly for the first time, what had been given to us from the beginning, that our destiny as your people is not the land, as had been supposed from Mt. Sinai, but eternal life with you, a life that you share with us even now in this world, and have shared with us from the beginning, through your Word who dwells within us.

Peter was the first in the Church to grasp how much of our religious practice comes from ourselves, Father, rather than from you. Peter was the first to understand as well, what Jesus had taught, that your people are a people of faith and not of blood descent. All who believe are daughters and sons of Abraham.

Father, may we always keep our minds open to understand more and more the one Word that you have always spoken to us and continue to speak at every moment.

Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Apr 17: The Word Now Made Flesh Is The Good Shepherd

Anonymous Master: Christ as the Good Shepherd
Musei Vaticani, Rome, c. 225 BCE

Fourth Sunday of Easter

Gospel: Jn 10:1-10

“I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture (NRSV, Jn 10:9).”

Father, to be a human being is to be related to one another, that is, to share life with one another. One is never truly a human being alone. We are necessarily dependent upon one another but often we fail each other. Even a mother has been known to abandon her children.

There is one, however, who never fails us. It is the Word now made flesh in our Lord Jesus Christ. The Word is with us from the beginning. It is through the Word that every thing that is has been made. It is through the Word that each one of us who is human has been called into existence, Father, and indeed called to share your divine life.

The Word is there from the first moment of our life as human beings. At a certain moment in our mother’s womb he offers us that life which is also a share in your divine life. Without benefit of language or logic, in the Holy Spirit, we are empowered to say “yes,” and to begin our journey to you, Father, as a human being.

From that moment on, the Word never leaves us. He is always there challenging us to grow in life. Even if we turn away in sin and say “no,” he remains ever present to us, calling us to accept forgiveness and new life, Father, from you. The presence of the Word to us at every moment is a defining element of our humanity.

The mother may abandon her children but the Word remains ever with us so that through him, Father, we may always pass to a new and greater share in your divine life.

The Word now made flesh in the Lord Jesus is truly the good shepherd. May we ourselves extend his care to all of our sisters and brothers.

Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Apr 16: The Summons to Live Resurrected Lives

Masolino da Panicale: The Raising of Tabitha (detail)
Cappella Brancacci, Santa Maria del Carmine, Florence, 1424-25

Saturday of the Third Week of easter

Reading I: Acts 9:31-42

Peter put all of them outside, and then he knelt down and prayed. He turned to the body and said, “Tabitha, get up.” Then she opened her eyes, and seeing Peter, she sat up. He gave her his hand and helped her up (NRSV, Acts 9:40-41a).

Father, because of the sin of the world and our own personal selfishness and sin, death often seems like the undoing of human life. Father, beginning in the womb, when, through the Word, you offered us life, even a share in your own divine life in the Spirit, you called us to constant growth without end. Human life is an everlasting journey which does not end in death but only passes through death to further, perpetual growth in you.

The power that filled Jesus enabling him to pass through death in glory has also been offered to every one of us. Father, the raising of Lazarus by Jesus, the raising of Tabitha by Peter, are merely signs of the power and glory also available to us to share in the resurrection. In saying “yes” to your ever-offered gift of divine life may we even begin, now, in this world, to live resurrected lives.

Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Apr 15: Apostle to the Gentiles

Caravaggio: The Conversion of St. Paul
Santa Maria del Popolo, Rome, 1600-01

Friday of the Third Week of Easter

Reading I: Acts 9:1-20

But the Lord said to Ananias, “Go, for he is an instrument whom I have chosen to bring my name before Gentiles and kings and before the people of Israel (NRSV, Acts 9:15).”

Father, an apostle is one who has immediately experienced the risen Lord Jesus and has been sent to announce the good news to the others. Mary Magdalene may have been the first apostle; Paul claims that he is the last.

Paul is important for us, Father, because he is the only apostle who has himself written about resurrection. Indeed, he is the first to write of all of those who have contributed to Christian scripture.

For Paul, and this is so important for us, Father, the resurrection is not resurrection merely of the spiritual principal, or soul. Jesus rose in his entirety, that is, also in the body. But, as Paul experienced it, the body was transformed into something beyond the physical, no longer subject to earthly forces. Jesus did not resurrect back into this earthly life but resurrected into the world to come, a destiny to which we are all called.

Father, Paul encountered Jesus on the road to Damascus in a way that changed his whole life. All of us, Father, in every time and place, experience the Word now made flesh at the depth of our being, closer than we are to ourselves, at every moment of our lives. Make us every responsive to this one Word spoken to all of humanity that we too may experience conversion in our lives, not merely on one particular occasion, but in every moment that we live, here in this world and into the next.

Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Apr 14: The Challenge to Guide One Another

Rembrandt van Rijn: Baptism of the Eunuch
Museum Catherijneconvent, Utrecht, 1626

Thursday of the Third Week of Easter

Reading I: Acts 8:26-40

“How can I, unless someone guides me (NRSV, Acts 8:31a)?”

Father, how gracious you are to all of us in every situation. At each moment, you reveal yourself to us through your one spoken Word, uttered to all in every place and time. You have as well given us your written Word passed down to us through the centuries. Your truth is contained in the wisdom of the ages shared by the whole human family. If this were not enough, in the fullness of time, the Word has become flesh in our Lord Jesus Christ, indeed truly the way, the truth and the life, sent to teach, to comfort, to heal and even to die with us.

Father, our situation in life and history, the heavy burden of the sin of the world, and our own personal selfishness and sin, make it difficult fully to grasp your Word in every situation even though every moment, without fail, is always saving.

Your truth, Father, spoken to us all in the depth of our being through the Word, abounds throughout creation in ways we often least expect. Help every one of us, Lord, to a deeper understanding of who you are and what you challenge us to become. Help us also to encourage one another so that we may each one benefit from the truth revealed to all but only understood in part by any one of us. May each of us, in ways not always yet determined, share in mediating your Word to one another.

Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Apr 13: I Am the Bread of Life

Matthias Grünewald:
The Resurrection of Christ from The Isenheimer Altarpiece (detail)
Musée d'Unterlinden, Colmar, 1510-15

Wednesday of the Third Week of Easter

Gospel: Jn 6:35-40

Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty (NRSV, Jn 6:35).”

Father, we are grateful for the gift of the Eucharist in which we celebrate the continuing presence in our lives of the Word made flesh under the tangible and visible signs of bread and wine.

Your act that is the Eucharist is the same act in which the Word challenges every human being in every place, and of every time, to accept and grow in your life, acceptance which is faith in you through the Word, faith that is often anonymous and implicit.

Father, in every moment, not only when we celebrate the Eucharist, may we recognize your presence in our lives through the Word made flesh, and say “yes” to the challenge with which he confronts us, for he is truly the bread of life.

Alleluia. Amen.

Apr 12: Forgiveness Offered to All

Bernardo Daddi: The Martyrdom of St. Stephen (detail)
Santa Croce, Florence, 1324

Tuesday of the Third Week of Easter

Reading I: Acts 7:51–8:1a

“Lord, do not hold this sin against them (NRSV, Acts 7:60a).”

In the moment of his approaching death, Stephen called out to you, Father, begging forgiveness for those who were killing him. In Luke’s gospel, Jesus himself, begged for forgiveness for those putting him to death.

Father, I truly believe that you offer forgiveness to all of us for our sins, through the Word, even before we ask for it. All that is needed is that we turn away from the evil that we have done and once again freely accept your life into our own, even as we did in the power of the Spirit that first moment of our existence in our mother’s womb.

Father, as you offer us forgiveness and we accept it forgiving ourselves for what we have done, may we also, as Stephen did, turn to those who sin against us and pass on to them the forgiveness that we ourselves have received. To be forgiven is also to forgive in turn.

Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Apr 11: Stephen had the Face of an Angel

Paolo Uccello: The disputation of St. Stephen
Duomo, Prato, 1435

Memorial of Saint Stanislaus, bishop and martyr

Reading I: Acts 6:8-15

And all who sat in the council looked intently at Stephen, and they saw that his face was like the face of an angel (NRSV, Acts 6:15).

Father, divine power transfigured Jesus even in apparent ignominy and defeat. In Mark’s gospel, seeing the manner in which Jesus was dying, the pagan centurion at the foot of the cross came to believe: “Truly this man was God’s Son!” In John’s gospel, the last to be written, the power that came from Jesus is such that he is seen as resurrected already throughout his entire public ministry.

Stephen, one of the seven, ordained to “serve,” the first martyr for faith in Christ, was so full of grace and power that at his trial before the Sanhedrin his face shone like an angel.

Father, help me to respond in such a way to the life which you always offer to me through the Word that I too may be changed, that others may come to believe your Word encouraged by everything that I say and indeed everything that I am.

Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Apr 10: Food for the Journey Through Life

Pontormo: The Meal in Emmaus
Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence, 1530

Third Sunday of Easter

Gospel: Lk 24:13-35

When Jesus was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him; and he vanished from their sight. They said to each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us (NRSV, Lk 24:30-32)?”

Father, every Sunday, as we celebrate the Eucharist with you, we are like the disciples on the way to Emmaus. As we listen to the Word proclaimed, it is Jesus himself, the Word made flesh, who unlocks for us a fuller meaning of the Scripture. As we break Bread together, we are those same disciples, gather around the table in the inn, with our eyes on the Lord. In the Bread and the Cup, Jesus gives us his very life to share, the same life that is offered to everyone at every moment at the depth of our being, but now shared with us in a way that is tangible and visible.

Father, encountering Jesus as he taught them concerning Holy Writ and shared himself with them in the blessing of Bread, the disciples on the way to Emmaus came to a deeper understanding of who Jesus is and a fuller meaning of the journey that is human life. Help us, Father, in the celebration of the Eucharist and indeed at every moment to grow in that same understanding that guides us on our continuing journey to you.

Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Apr 9: The Call to Service of Others

Giovanni Battista Piazzetta:
St. Stephen, One of the Seven, Proto-martyr
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., late 1730s

Saturday of the Second Week of Easter

Reading I: Acts 6:1-7

And the twelve called together the whole community of the disciples and said, “It is not right that we should neglect the word of God in order to wait on tables. Therefore, friends, select from among yourselves seven men of good standing, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may appoint to this task, while we, for our part, will devote ourselves to prayer and to serving the word (NRSV, Acts 6:2-4).”

Father, in the course of the journey towards you who are our only true future, it is often the case that we unfortunately ignore the interests and well-being of some of our sisters and brothers journeying along with us. In the apostolic Church that was the case in Jerusalem with Christians of Hellenic origin. To address their needs Seven were appointed and ordained to serve them, those we often recognize today as the first deacons.

Father, we stand ready to accept further growth in your life through the Word always present to us, may we be ever conscious of those close to us and faraway that we may be always ready to share with them your life and whatever else they may need and encourage them on our common journey. Keep us conscious, Father, that every human being is loved by you and called to share in your life.

Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Apr 8: Openness to Growth in the Truth

Castillan-Moresque Haggadah: Rabbi Gamaliel and His Students
British Library, London, c.1300

Friday of the Second Week of Easter

Reading I: Acts 5:34-42

Then Gamaliel said to the members of the Sanhedrin, “Fellow Israelites, consider carefully what you propose to do to these men. . . because if this plan or this undertaking is of human origin, it will fail; but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them—in that case you may even be found fighting against God (NRSV, Acts 5:34,38b-39a)!”

Father, may we be attentive to the words of Gamaliel who sensed deep within him, although not clearly, the Word spoken to him. Often we, like the members of the Sanhedrin, are so certain that we understand what has been revealed, only to be enlightened later by one more sensitive than ourselves. Even in high places within the Church there has been found need to apologize for conclusions hastily reached and imposed upon others.

Father, keep us open to the movement of your Holy Spirit in our midst that we may be ever more and more responsive to the one Word that is spoken to all in the depth of our being. May me always be ready to admit error in judgment and then to grow in understanding of your truth.

Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Apr 7: Whoever Believes in the Son has Eternal Life

Metropolitan John the Icon-Painter: Christ the Savior and Lifegiver
Museum of Macedonia, Skopje, 1384

Memorial of Saint John Baptist de la Salle

Gospel: Jn 3:31-36

Jesus said to Nicodemus, “The Father loves the Son and has placed all things in his hands. Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life (NRSV, Jn 3:35-36b).”

Father, your love for the Son and your Son’s love for you is the Holy Spirit. Everything that you do in the one act that is your being is done through the Son, your Word. You give us a share in your divine life through the Word who is with us, and remains with us always, from the womb. It is the Word who challenges us to believe, to accept your life. This challenge, made at every moment, in every place, to everyone, at the depth of one’s being, is made manifest and visible, in the same one act that is your being, in the Word made flesh, your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. It is through acceptance of the Word that we receive eternal life.

Father, may all of us, everywhere, called also with the Christ to be your daughters and sons, say “yes” to the Word present to us that we may all share in your life through him, the Savior and Lifegiver, and grow in that life at every moment.

Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Apr 6: Not Freedom “From” But Freedom “For”

Christoph Weigel: The Apostles Freed from Prison
Biblia ectypa: Bildnussen auss Heiliger Schrifft Alt und Neuen Testaments,1695

Wednesday of the Second Week of Easter

Reading I: Acts 5:17-26

But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors, brought the apostles out, and said, “Go, stand in the temple and tell the people the whole message about this life (NRSV, Acts 5: 19-20).”

Father, as you call us forth in every moment to accept and to grow in your life, what it is that we long for is freedom. However, that freedom, Father, is often misunderstood as merely freedom from the present condition in which we find ourselves. When freedom is understood in the limited manner of freedom “from,” the best that can happen for us is that we exchange one form of slavery for another. The Israelites longed for freedom from slavery in Egypt but no sooner across the sea in the desert they lamented that situation as well.

True freedom, we learn from your Word speaking with us and made manifest in our Lord Jesus, Father, is always freedom for someone. The apostles were freed from prison, not merely to be delivered from confinement, but to preach the good news to their sisters and brothers.

At every moment, Father, you call us forth from the situation in which we find ourselves, not merely to overcome its limitations, but that we might grow in your divine life and share it with our sisters and brothers through serving one another.

May the freedom that we long for, Father, always be freedom for you and for one another.

Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Apr 5: Born from Above

Anonymous English Master: Christ and Nicodemus
British Library, London, c.1430

Tuesday of the Second Week of Easter

Gospel: Jn 3:7b-15

Jesus said to Nicodemus: “You must be born from above (NRSV, Jn 3:7b).”

Father, in your one act that is your being, you speak the uncreated Word. In the same one act you, Father, and the Word love one another in the procession of the Holy Spirit. In the same one act you create the universe and everyone who will ever live. In the same one act you offer everyone a share in your divine life through the Word in the Holy Spirit, even from the womb. It is this same one act, always saving, that we experience under visible signs in baptism, the Eucharist and in the other sacraments.

When Jesus tells Nicodemus that he must be born from above, Father, it is that our life as human beings is not only physical life passed on to us through our earthly parents but divine life that comes directly from you. It is the offering of divine life, accepted by us in the womb through the Word in the Holy Spirit, which truly defines us as human beings. It is the very life that you give to us at every moment by your same one eternal act if we will accept it. It is the very life, always given by the same one divine act that is your being, that we receive under visible sign in baptism and that we share in the Eucharist when we partake of the Body and Blood of your Son, the Word made flesh.

Father, to be a human being is to be offered divine life from you. As that life comes from above, may the focus of everything that we are always be, not on the things of earth, but always on you, Father, our only true future.

Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Apr 4: Let It Be With Me According To Your Word

Fra Angelico: The Annunciation
Convento di San Marco, Florence, 1430s

Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord

Gospel: Lk 1:26-38

Then Mary said, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word (NSRV, Lk 1:38a).”

Father, we believe that every moment is the saving moment, that you challenge us through the Word constantly to say “yes” in your Holy Spirit and accept that your life may grow within us.

Reflecting on the mystery of the Word having been made flesh and having left the Church as the continuing sacrament of his presence in the world, Father, the early Church singled out one moment, out of all saving moments, to speak to us with great significance.

Mary, at a particular moment, said “yes,” in such a way that she consented to be the mother of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh.

Father, we recognize that your Word is the only mediator between you and your children on earth. It is only through him that we can accept the gift of your Holy Spirit and grown in your divine life.

Mary agreed to share in that unique mediation by becoming the mother of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh. Mary is Theotokos, God-bearer to the world.

Father, as we celebrate the solemnity of Mary’s acceptance of her role in salvation history, may we too with her say “yes”, that each in his or her own way may also be Theotokos, God-bearer to the world, by announcing the gospel in everything we say and do and by serving one another.

Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Apr 3: My Lord and My God

Luca Signorelli (1441-1523): Doubting Thomas
La Basilica di Santa Maria, Loreto

Second Sunday of Easter

Gospel: Jn 20:19-31

Thomas answered Jesus, “My Lord and my God (NRSV, Jn 20:28)!”

Father, how often when we seek to find you we look outside of ourselves to the world around us. We seek evidence of your presence in your “footsteps,” your effects, in the world. We even prove your existence from your physical creation. Like Thomas we must be shown.

Father, you love us so much that your Word has become flesh to dwell among us in our Lord Jesus Christ. But that same Word who walked the earth also dwells within each one of us, even the most abject of sinners. Your Word calls us all into existence and remains always present to us challenging us to grow in your life that you share with us or, if we have rejected that life, to accept forgiveness and to start afresh.

Father, when we doubt, remind us to turn inward to find your Word closer than we are to ourselves. We may abandon you, Father, in sin but, in your Word always present to us, you never abandon us. You are there at every moment revealing yourself to us in him before whom we can only prostrate ourselves and declare: My Lord and my God.

Alleluia. Amen.

Apr 2: Peter and John Speak before the Sanhedrin

Parmigianino: St. Peter and St. John Healing the Cripple
Boston Museum of Fine Arts, c.1530

Saturday in the Octave of Easter

Reading I: Acts 4:13-21

“We cannot keep from speaking about what we have seen and heard (NRSV, Acts 4:20).”

Father, as we reflect on today’s scripture we are ever mindful of our Holy Father John Paul who at this moment has begun his passage through death and we pray that in these last earthly moments he will continue to accept the life and the strength that you offer to all of us in every situation.

The ministry of the bishop of Rome, successor of Peter, is especially a teaching ministry. That ministry, Father, is shared with all of the faithful. Every one of us is charged to join with Peter and John as they declared before the Sanhedrin: “We cannot keep from speaking about what we have seen and heard.”

Father, you speak your one Word to all of us at every moment. No one is excluded from that revelation. But our rehearsing aloud of what we have experienced at the depth of our being enables us all to clarify our understanding and for many of us it prompts us to turn within and discover what we have perhaps hitherto ignored or even misunderstood.

Father, we give thanks for the ministry of Pope John Pope for awakening us to a fuller discussion of gospel truth and its meaning for all of our lives.

Through Christ our Lord.

Apr 1: The Miraculous Draught of Fish

Konrad Witz: The Miraculous Draught of Fish
Musée d'art et d'histoire, Geneva, 1443-44

Friday in the Octave of Easter

Gospel: Jn 21:1-14

Jesus said to them, “Cast the net to the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in because there were so many fish (NRSV, Jn 21:6).

Father, the one mediator between you and us is the Word, made flesh in our Lord Jesus Christ. It is the Word, constantly present to us, even in the midst of sin, always offering forgiveness and newness of life, who defines our existence as human beings. Every moment then is a saving moment for us.

As we share in the one life that is yours, Father, we also share in the mediating role of the Word. The life that we share with you, Father, we also share with one another. We are therefore challenged in every situation to encourage one another and to bear witness to one another.

As Jesus was sent to proclaim the good news of salvation, so we also are sent, all of us, to proclaim the gospel to our fellow human beings. We are all called to be fishers of our sisters and brothers.

Through Christ our Lord. Amen.