05122009
V
Lord God, Abba Father, powerful are Your Words for us to heed and remember in times of joy and sorrow today. As Paul tells us, ‘It is necessary for us to undergo many hardships to enter the Kingdom of God.’ We do not nor cannot understand what awaits us in our walk under the sun. It is clear this applies to our battle within and against sin, and also the reaction and even persecution of our faith by others afraid to believe; but is the hardest is to deal with the hurt and inability to understand all the evil, sickness and death when it touches us directly. For then are we really challenged, our faith, all that we think we know is stretched to our limits and beyond. It is at that moment that we know our limit is reached, are we are being consumed in pain, grieve and sorrow that we must let Jesus take us beyond our selves. It is at that moment, this instant that we allow ourselves to experience Your Kingdom through Christ Jesus by resting in Him and placing our pain, grief and sorrow at the foot of the Cross, where we know He overcame even death for our sake. Help those Jesus at their limits, with nowhere to turn or lost in the suffering. Let us be vessels of Your love and compassion, let Your peace shine from within us to touch and light the way to Your feet. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.
V
Let us meditate today on the condition of our soul. Are we making a sincere effort to rectify our intentions, to sanctify our daily responsibilities? There are things we fail to remember, not because we have short memories but because we are short of love. The person in love does not forget!
— St Teresa of Avila
V
Reading 1
Acts 14:19-28
In those days, some Jews from Antioch and Iconium
arrived and won over the crowds.
They stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city,
supposing that he was dead.
But when the disciples gathered around him,
he got up and entered the city.
On the following day he left with Barnabas for Derbe.
After they had proclaimed the good news to that city
and made a considerable number of disciples,
they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch.
They strengthened the spirits of the disciples
and exhorted them to persevere in the faith, saying,
"It is necessary for us to undergo many hardships
to enter the Kingdom of God."
They appointed presbyters for them in each Church and,
with prayer and fasting, commended them to the Lord
in whom they had put their faith.
Then they traveled through Pisidia and reached Pamphylia.
After proclaiming the word at Perga they went down to Attalia.
From there they sailed to Antioch,
where they had been commended to the grace of God
for the work they had now accomplished.
And when they arrived, they called the Church together
and reported what God had done with them
and how he had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles.
Then they spent no little time with the disciples.
Responsorial Psalm
Ps 145:10-11, 12-13ab, 21
R. (see 12) Your friends make known, O Lord, the glorious splendor of your kingdom.
Let all your works give you thanks, O LORD,
and let your faithful ones bless you.
Let them discourse of the glory of your kingdom
and speak of your might.
R. Your friends make known, O Lord, the glorious splendor of your kingdom.
Making known to men your might
and the glorious splendor of your kingdom.
Your kingdom is a kingdom for all ages,
and your dominion endures through all generations.
R. Your friends make known, O Lord, the glorious splendor of your kingdom.
May my mouth speak the praise of the LORD,
and may all flesh bless his holy name forever and ever.
R. Your friends make known, O Lord, the glorious splendor of your kingdom.
Gospel
Jn 14:27-31a
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.
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.
And now I have told you this before it happens,
so that when it happens you may believe.
I will no longer speak much with you,
for the ruler of the world is coming.
He has no power over me,
but the world must know that I love the Father
and that I do just as the Father has commanded me."
V
MP3 audio link to today’s readings:
http://ccc.usccb.org/cccradio/NABPodcasts/09_05_12.mp3
Moody Radio Online http://www.moodyradio.org/
Today in the Word http://www.moodyradio.org/brd_ProgramToday.aspx?id=35654
Audio books I am listening to and other books or readings I am reading:
http://www.richardangulo.com/reading
Music I am listening:
www.richardangulo.com/listening/
V

Leave a comment