6TH WEEK OF EASTER
Psalter: Week 2 / (White)
Ps 138:1-2ab, 2cde-3, 7c-8
Your right hand saves me, O Lord.
1st Reading: Acts 16:22-34
So they set the crowd against them; and the officials tore the clothes off Paul and Silas and ordered them to be flogged. And after inflicting many blows on them, they threw them into prison, charging the jailer to guard them safely. Upon receiving these instructions, he threw them into the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.
About midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening. Suddenly, a severe earthquake shook the place, rocking the prison to its foundations. Immediately, all the doors flew open and the chains of all the prisoners fell off. The jailer woke up to see the prison gates wide open. Thinking that the prisoners had escaped, he drew his sword to kill himself, but Paul shouted to him, ”Do not harm yourself! We are all still here.”
The jailer asked for a light, then rushed in, and fell at the feet of Paul and Silas. After he had secured the other prisoners, he led them out and asked, ”Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” They answered, ”Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you, and your household, will be saved.” Then they spoke the word of God to him and to all his household.
Even at that hour of the night, the jailer took care of them and washed their wounds; and he, and his whole household, were baptized at once. He led them to his house, spread a meal before them and joyfully celebrated with his whole household his new found faith in God.
Gospel: Jn 16:5-11
Jesus said to his disciples: ”But now I am going to the One who sent me, and none of you asks me where I am going; instead you are overcome with grief, because of what I have said.
”Believe me, it is better for you that I go away, because as long as I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go away, I will send him to you, and when he comes, he will vindicate the truth before a sinful world; and he will vindicate the paths of righteousness and justice.
”What is the world‘s sin, in regard to me? Disbelief. What is the path of righteousness? It is the path I walk, by which I go to the Father; and you shall see me no more. What is the path of justice? It is the path on which the prince of this world will always stand condemned.”
REFLECTION:
The earth is not the end of our destination but the starting point of our journey. That is why Jesus could not stay on earth forever. He has to move on in order to complete His itinerary. He has to go back to His Father in heaven, back where it all begun. It is back to the Father who sent His only Son to the world to redeem it. But His disciples could not even ask Him where He is going. They were locked up in their grief. They focused on their loss and not on what they could gain when Jesus continues on in His journey.
It‘s funny that sometimes we focus on the drama rather than on the bigger picture. We so like to wallow in tears and self-pity. But Jesus will have none of it. The role of the Spirit will not unfold in human history if He stays. And so, there are things that need to be done no matter what the cost because it will usher something that will be for the greater good. Drama is good, but we need a certain dose of reality sometimes.
Daily Reflection
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Biblical Texts are taken from Christian Community Bible, Catholic Pastoral Edition (57th Edition) The New English Translation for the ROMAN MISSAL
With permission from the EPISCOPAL COMMISION ON LITURGY of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines
Readings and Reflections
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