DAILY GOSPEL READING FOR TODAY - John 14:27-31 (LAST DISCOURSE)

John 14:27-31

27 Jesus said to his disciples: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give it to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid. 28 You heard me tell you, ‘I am going away and I will come back to you.’ If you loved me, you would rejoice that I am going to the Father; for the Father is greater than I. 29 And now I have told you this before it happens, so that when it happens you may believe. 30 I will no longer speak much with you, for the ruler of the world is coming. He has no power over me, 31 but the world must know that I love the Father and that I do just as the Father has commanded me.”

 

Think:  The obedience that Jesus asks of us is for our own good.

SHALOM - It conveys feeling, intent and emotion — a feeling of contentment, well-being, harmony, tranquility, fullness, rest.

SHALOM!

 

One of the many beautiful experiences in the Holy Land is the way people greet each other. At the airport, the immigration officer greets us with “Shalom,” which means “Peace!”

What is peace? Is it absence of war, absence of trouble? Surely, we call peace the absence of war, but the Hebrew word “Shalom” means more than peace. It conveys feeling, intent and emotion — a feeling of contentment, well-being, harmony, tranquility, fullness, rest. And where can we find all these? Not in this world but only in God. We begin to understand what Jesus meant in today’s Gospel passage, “My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give it to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid.”

Many search for fulfilment, happiness and contentment in material possessions, in money, sex and entertainment. But those things do not give the inner peace Jesus promises. These things often only distract and prevent us from finding true peace.

The peace Jesus wants to give does not take us out of the problems of this world. But in spite of these problems and, sometimes, raging storms in our lives, the peace of Christ keeps us calm deep down in our being. Nothing in life can ever take it from us, and no sorrow, no danger, no suffering can ever make it less. It is independent of external circumstances. Or as William Barclay puts it, “The peace which the world offers us is the peace of escape, the peace which comes from the avoidance of trouble and from refusing to face things. The peace which Jesus offers us is the peace of conquest.”

A Rabbi once said, “The word Shalom is a mighty blessing on several levels! Proverbs 18:21 tells us there is life or death in the power of the tongue. Therefore, whenever you employ the word Shalom, you are speaking into someone’s life all the wonderful things that Shalom means!”

With these thoughts we leave April, looking forward to the month of May. Fr. Rudy Horst, SVD

 

REFLECTION QUESTION: Where do you look for happiness and contentment?

 

Lord, thank You for Your promise of peace. It is such a consoling message. Help me look for peace not in the wrong places but seek and find it in You.

ST. CATHERINE, Virgin and doctor of the Church - By: Fr. Rudy Horst, SVD

ST. CATHERINE’S EXAMPLE

 

What would the 14th century be, or the Church of the 14th century be, without St. Catherine of Siena, who died at the young age of 33? A young girl and woman, without formal training and study, was able to influence popes and the history of the Church. She convinced the popes, who resided for 70 years in Avignon, France, to return the papacy to Rome, to the tomb of St. Peter. She admonished Pope Urban VI to control his temper because it had already caused the cardinals to elect an anti-pope, which resulted in division and turmoil in the Church. About 400 of her letters have been preserved, not to forget her profound mystical work, Dialogue of Divine Providence, in which she dwelt on God’s incredible love for humankind.

Who is this extraordinary woman? She was the youngest of 25 children. At the age of six, she had her first vision of Christ. She resisted her mother’s insistence for her to marry and, at age 15, joined the Dominican Tertiaries, dedicating her days, months and years to intense prayer until the age of 19. These were years in close union with Christ, whom she saw in visions, but she also experienced many temptations and spiritual dryness. No saint is exempted from these obstacles — how much more us!

What makes a saint a saint is that, in spite of temptations and periods of spiritual dryness, the person does not give in to discouragement but goes on searching for God and trying to still remain in close contact with God.This grounded Catherine firmly in God and prepared her for a life of action, making her a contemplative in action.

We live in the world full of action. We don’t write letters to admonish popes and cardinals. What has St. Catherine to tell us? There is, first, her love for Christ and her intense prayer life in spite of many demands. And secondly, she loved the Church which was far from being ideal. She did not turn her back on this Church but served Her with her efforts, which we can do, too, with our prayers for our Church today. Fr. Rudy Horst, SVD

 

REFLECTION QUESTION: Do you postpone or cut short your prayers because of the many activities demanding your attention?

 

GOSPEL READING TODAY - John 14:21-26 (Feast of St. Catherine of Siena, virgin and doctor of the Church)

John 14:21-26

21 Jesus said to his disciples: “Whoever has my commandments and observes them is the one who loves me. Whoever loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and reveal myself to him.” 22 Judas, not the Iscariot, said to him, “Master, then what happened that you will reveal yourself to us and not to the world?” 23Jesus answered, “Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him. 24 Whoever does not love me does not keep my words; yet the word you hear is not mine but that of the Father who sent me. 25 I have told you this while I am with you. 26 The Advocate, the Holy Spirit that the Father will send in my name — he will teach you everything and remind you of all that I told you.”

 

Think:  It is important to have a vision of where we are going, or else we will be easily deflected from the true path of faith

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE APOSTLES AND WHERE THEIR REMAINS ARE TODAY

"Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." (Matthew 28:19)

I'M way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the father, but by me - JESUS

“I’m basically a good person, so I’ll go to heaven.” “OK, so I do some bad things, but I do more good things, so I’ll go to heaven.” “God won’t send me to hell just because I don’t live by the Bible. Times have changed!” “Only really bad people like child molesters and murderers go to hell.”

These are all common rationalizations, but the truth is that they are all lies. Satan, the ruler of the world, plants these thoughts in our heads. He, and anyone who follows his ways, is an enemy of God (1Peter 5:8). Satan is a deceiver and often disguises himself as someone good (2 Corinthians 11:14), but he has control over all the minds that do not belong to God. “The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God” (2 Corinthians 4:4).

It is a lie to believe that God doesn’t care about small sins or that hell is reserved for “bad people.” All sin separates us from God, even a “little white lie.” Everyone has sinned, and no one is good enough to get to heaven on their own (Romans 3:23). Getting into heaven is not based on whether our good outweighs our bad; we will all lose out if that is the case. “And if by grace, then it is no longer by works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace” (Romans 11:6). We can do nothing good to earn our way to heaven (Titus 3:5).

“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it” (Matthew 7:13). Even if everyone else is living a life of sin in a culture where trusting in God is not popular, God will not excuse it. “As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient” (Ephesians 2:1-2).

When God created the world, it was perfect and good. Then he made Adam and Eve and gave them their own free will, so they would have a choice whether to follow and obey God. But they were tempted by Satan to disobey God, and they sinned. This separated them (and everyone that came after them, including us) from being able to have a close relationship with God. He is perfect and holy and must judge sin. As sinners, we couldn’t reconcile ourselves to God on our own. So God made a way that we could be united with Him in heaven. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23). Jesus was born to die for our sins so that we would not have to. Three days after His death, He rose from the grave (Romans 4:25), proving Himself victorious over death. He bridged the gap between God and man so that we may have a personal relationship with Him if we only believe.

“Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent” (John 17:3). Most people believe in God, even Satan does. But to receive salvation, we must turn to God, form a personal relationship, turn away from our sins, and follow Him. We must trust in Jesus with everything we have and everything we do. “This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference” (Romans 3:22). The Bible teaches that there is no other way to salvation than through Christ. Jesus says in John 14:6; “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

Jesus is the only way of salvation because He is the only One who can pay our sin penalty (Romans 6:23). No other religion teaches the depth or seriousness of sin and its consequences. No other religion offers the infinite payment of sin that only Jesus Christ could provide. No other “religious founder” was God become man (John 1:1; 14) – the only way an infinite debt could be paid. Jesus had to be God so that He could pay our debt. Jesus had to be man so He could die. Salvation is available only through faith in Jesus Christ! “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).

SUNDAY GOSPEL READING - John 13: 31 - 33, 34 - 35 (Christ's Glorious Suffering)

John 13: 31 - 33, 34 - 35
31	When he had gone out, Jesus said, "Now is the Son of man glorified, and in him God is glorified;
32	if God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself, and glorify him at once.
33	Little children, yet a little while I am with you. You will seek me; and as I said to the Jews so now I say to you, `Where I am going you cannot come.'
34	A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.
35	By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."

GOSPEL READING TODAY - John 14:7-14 (Oneness with the Father)

 

GOSPEL

Many things cause us to worry in life. How many of them should have this power? None of them! What is there to worry about when our faith is in Jesus? What is there to worry about when we know that He has died for our sins and risen in order to offer us the gift of eternal life? At the very worst, we die today, and if we have faith even that is the path to eternal life.

John 14:7-14

7 Jesus said to his disciples: “If you know me, then you will also know my Father. From now on you do know him and have seen him.” 8 Philip said to Jesus, “Master, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us.” 9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you for so long a time and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on my own. The Father who dwells in me is doing his works. 11 Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else, believe because of the works themselves. 12 Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes in me will do the works that I do, and will do greater ones than these, because I am going to the Father. 13 And whatever you ask in my name, I will do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you ask anything of me in my name, I will do it.”

 

Think:  What is there to worry about when our faith is in Jesus?

GOD IS VISIBLE IN CHRIST - By: Fr. Rudy Horst, SVD

 

I understand Philip’s words very well, “Show us the Father!” 

 

Who among us would not love to have a glimpse of God whom we have not seen but encounter only in faith? Even Moses, the great man of God, was allowed to see only the “back of God,” not His face. And so Jesus points to Himself, saying that, in Him, God the Father has become visible. Of course, we also have not seen Jesus face to face, but by reading attentively and prayerfully the Gospels, we get the impression that we know Jesus quite well.

 

God can be seen in Jesus. In Him, God has become one of us. That means that God knows very well what we are going through here on earth. God knows what it is to be tempted, for Jesus had been tempted. And we can grasp who God is if we focus on His Son Jesus Christ. In Jesus, we see a loving God. In Jesus, we see an intensely caring God, loving us until He bore the wounds of love upon His body.

So shocking and incredible it is for many, but in Jesus we see God suffering and dying on a Cross. It is easy to imagine a God who condemns men, or a God who, if men oppose Him, wipes them out. No one would ever have dreamed of a God who chose the Cross to obtain our salvation. “He who has seen me has seen the Father.”

Towards the end of the Gospel (John 14:7-14), Jesus says that any prayer offered in His name will be granted. Jesus did not say that all our prayers would be granted, but that our prayers made in His name would be granted. The test of any prayer therefore is: Can I make this prayer in the name of Jesus? It would be impossible to pray for personal revenge or for personal ambition in Jesus’ name and expect this prayer to be answered. When we pray, we must ask ourselves: Can I honestly make this prayer in the name of Jesus? And if we are able to pray also with Jesus, “Thy will be done,” we can be sure that this prayer will always be answered. 

 

REFLECTION QUESTIONS: Are you disappointed when your prayers are not answered? Could it be that you are asking for something you should not pray in Jesus’ name?

 

GOSPEL READING TODAY - JOHN 14:1-6 (LAST DISCOURSE)

 

 

John 14:1-6

1 Jesus said to his disciples: “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You have faith in God; have faith also in me. 2 In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If there were not, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back again and take you to myself, so that where I am you also may be. 4 Where I am going you know the way.” 5 Thomas said to him, “Master, we do not know where you are going; how can we know the way?”6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

Think:  Truth has its own power to convict those who hear it to respond to it.

GOSPEL READING TODAY - MARK 16:15-20 (The Feast of St. Mark, Evangelist)

 

GOSPEL

 

Jesus commands us to be faithful in proclaiming the Gospel. How faithful are you in following this command? When was the last time you shared the Gospel with someone? Are you confident enough with your own formation to be able to explain the basics of the Gospel to someone else? If not, what are you doing about changing this?

 

Mark 16:15-20

15 Jesus appeared to the Eleven and said to them, “Go into the whole world and proclaim the Gospel to every creature. 16 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved; whoever does not believe will be condemned. 17 These signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will drive out demons, they will speak new languages. 18 They will pick up serpents with their hands, and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not harm them. They will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.” 19 Then the Lord Jesus, after he spoke to them, was taken up into heaven and took his seat at the right hand of God. 20 But they went forth and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the word through accompanying signs.

LIST

Think:  When was the last time you shared the Gospel with someone?

CHRIST DOES NOT CONDEMN THE SINNER - By: Fr. Rudy Horst, SVD

 

As a kid, I was afraid of God. Priests often preached about Jesus as the stern Judge who would condemn all sinners to the fires of hell. In some medieval churches in my hometown Cologne, I saw huge paintings of this stern Judge Jesus, and I became even more afraid. But one day, a day I cannot forget, my mother pointed to the verses in John’s Gospel (John 12:44-50) we read today, especially verse 47, which says, “If anyone hears my words and does not observe them, I do not condemn him, for I did not come to condemn the world but to save the world.”

With deep relief, I began to lose my fear of Jesus. For it is not He who condemns us; we condemn ourselves when we ignore God’s words, and worse, when we do the opposite of what Christ and the Church teach.

Every year, I teach a course in Church Doctrine and so come also to the frightening realities, for many people, of death, judgment, purgatory, hell and heaven. I always quote to my students a passage written by the Spanish Jesuit Luis Bermejo in his book, Light Beyond Death. He affirms, first of all, the existence of hell and then writes quite poetically, “Man’s freedom is a sacred shrine where not even God dares to enter, and it is there, in the solitude of that shrine, that man makes his final rebellion against God: man has created hell, with God as a loving onlooker but reluctant to interfere in any way in the final act of man’s abusive self-determination. God looks on and weeps because He loves, but it is man, not God, who has created hell. At the end God is reluctantly forced to say, ‘Your will be done in hell as it was on earth.’”

So, it is unrepented sin that separates us from God and not the judgment of an angry God. C.S. Lewis, whom many know from his Narnia Chronicles, expressed it this way, “Sin is saying to God, ‘Leave me alone’ and hell is God finally saying to man, ‘You may have your wish.’” 

 

REFLECTION QUESTION: Do you try to avoid sin out of fear or out of love of God?

 

GOSPEL READING TODAY - JOHN 12:44-50 (SUMMARY PROCLAMATION)

 

John 12:44-50

44 Jesus cried out and said, “Whoever believes in me believes not only in me but also in the one who sent me, 45 and whoever sees me sees the one who sent me. 46 I came into the world as Light, so that everyone who believes in me might not remain in darkness. 47 And if anyone hears my words and does not observe them, I do not condemn him, for I did not come to condemn the world but to save the world. 48 Whoever rejects me and does not accept my words has something to judge him: the word that I spoke, it will condemn him on the last day, 49 because I did not speak on my own, but the Father who sent me commanded me what to say and speak. 50 And I know that his commandment is eternal life. So what I say, I say as the Father told me.”

 

Think:  It is important that we know and are convinced of God’s will for our lives as it is only with conviction that we will remain faithful to His calling when difficulties arise.

AN EXCITING MOMENT IN CHURCH HISTORY - By : Fr. Rudy Horst, SVD

 

Today’s First Reading (Acts 11:19-26) is, for me, one of the most exciting passages in the Acts of the Apostles. Why? These verses are exciting because they tell us that the persecution of the Church in Jerusalem was actually a blessing. Many Christians fled, and so, the Good News spread beyond the borders of Palestine. Then we read about Barnabas, “a good man,” who strengthened the young community in Antioch with his goodness and kindness. More than that, he went to Tarsus and got Paul out of his loneliness and brought him right into the center of missionary activity. Without Barnabas searching for him, we might not know anything about a certain Paul. And finally, we come to know that it was in Antioch that the followers of Christ were first called “Christians,” a name you and I still carry with pride. Do you realize why these verses are, for me, so exciting?

We feel in this passage the excitement of growth, the excitement of a dynamic, Spirit-filled community that could not be contained in the city of Antioch, but would soon drive Barnabas and Paul into the Hellenistic world to make Christ known to countless people throughout many countries.

How I wish our faithful here would be as dynamic as those in Antioch, as Barnabas and Paul were! Fortunately, there are many Charismatic groups and other lay communities where I feel the exciting spirit of the community in Antioch. But unfortunately, too, many faithful do not live out their faith in daily life. They don’t give the example Barnabas and Paul gave, through whom the Church grew dramatically. And so the Church here does not have the influence on the society She should and could have. The result? Graft and corruption, immorality and criminality flourish here more than in some neighboring Buddhist countries. How sad! 

 

REFLECTION QUESTION: How many people have you brought to Christ through your example and living faith?

 

GOSPEL READING TODAY - JOHN 10:22-30 (THE FEAST OF THE DEDICATION)

 

John 10:22-30

22 The feast of the Dedication was then taking place in Jerusalem. It was winter. 23 And Jesus walked about in the temple area on the Portico of Solomon. 24 So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, “How long are you going to keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.” 25 Jesus answered them, “I told you and you do not believe. The works I do in my Father’s name testify to me. 26 But you do not believe, because you are not among my sheep. 27 My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish. No one can take them out of my hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one can take them out of the Father’s hand. 30 The Father and I are one.”

GOSPEL READING TODAY - JOHN 10:1-10

John 10:1-10

1 Jesus said: “Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever does not enter a sheepfold through the gate but climbs over elsewhere is a thief and a robber. 2 But whoever enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. 3 The gatekeeper opens it for him, and the sheep hear his voice, as he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 When he has driven out all his own, he walks ahead of them, and the sheep follow him, because they recognize his voice. 5 But they will not follow a stranger; they will run away from him, because they do not recognize the voice of strangers.” 6 Although Jesus used this figure of speech, they did not realize what he was trying to tell them. 7 So Jesus said again, “Amen, amen, I say to you, I am the gate for the sheep. 8 All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. 9 I am the Gate. Whoever enters through me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. 10 A thief comes only to steal and slaughter and destroy; I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly.”

Think:  It is in Christ alone that we will discover fullness of life.

A MEMO FROM GOD

A MEMO FROM GOD

I am God. Today I will be handling all of your problems. Please remember that I do not need your help.

If life happens to deliver a situation to you that you cannot handle, do not attempt to resolve it. Kindly put it in the SFGTD (something for God to do) box. All situations will be resolved, but in My time, not yours.

Once the matter is placed into the box, do not hold onto it by worrying about it. Instead, focus on all the wonderful things that are present in your life now.

If you find yourself stuck in traffic; don't despair. There are people in this world for whom driving is an unheard of privilege.

Should you have a bad day at work; think of the man who has been out of work for years.

Should you despair over a relationship gone bad; think of the person who has never known what it's like to love and be loved in return.

Should you grieve the passing of another weekend; think of the woman in dire straits, working twelve hours a day, seven days a week to feed her children.

Should your car break down, leaving you miles away from assistance; think of the paraplegic who would love the opportunity to take that walk.

Should you notice a new gray hair in the mirror; think of the cancer patient in chemo who wishes she had hair to examine.

Should you find yourself at a loss and pondering what is life all about, asking what is my purpose? Be thankful. There are those who didn't live long enough to get the opportunity.

Should you find yourself the victim of other people's bitterness, ignorance, smallness or insecurities; remember, things could be worse. You could be one of them!

Should you decide to share this to a friend; thank you, you may have touched their life in ways you will never know!

TRUST IN GOD - JOHN 14:1

 “Blessed is that man who makes the LORD his trust…”(Psalm 40:4)

Did you know that trusting in the Lord is a decision we make just like we choose anything else in life? You chose what you are wearing today, you probably chose what you would have for breakfast, and you can choose to trust God every day, too! When you choose to trust God, there is peace that settles in your heart. There is joy because you know the outcome, and there is blessing in store for you because your hope is sure.

No matter what you are facing in life today, trust that Almighty God will come through for you. Trust that His Word is always true. In Psalm 32, David calls God his “hiding place.” In other words, when you place your trust in God, you can find refuge in Him. You are actually hidden from the enemy when you choose to trust.

Always remember, when circumstances seem overwhelming, don’t look at what’s happening around you; look to God. He is the author and finisher of your faith. Choose to trust that He is the one who is ordering your steps. Find security in knowing that He is making your crooked places straight and your rough places smooth. Trust in Him and live in the blessing and everlasting life He has prepared for you!