6TH WEEK OF EASTER
St. Damien Joseph de Veuster, priest
Psalter: Week 2 / (White)
Ps 98:1, 2-3ab, 3cd-4
The Lord has revealed to the
nations his saving power.
1st Reading: Acts 18:1-8
After this, Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. There, he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, following a decree of the Emperor Claudius, which ordered all Jews to leave Rome. Paul went to visit them, and then stayed and worked with them, because they shared the same trade of tent making. Every Sabbath, he held discussions in the synagogue, trying to convince both Jews and Greeks.
When Silas and Timothy came down from Macedonia, Paul was able to give himself wholly to preaching, and proving to the Jews that Jesus was the Messiah. One day, when they opposed him and insulted him, he shook the dust from his clothes in protest, saying, “Your blood be on your own heads! I am innocent. I am not to blame if, from now on, I go to the non-Jews.”
So Paul left there and went to the house of a God-fearing man named Titus Justus, who lived next door to the synagogue. A leading man of the synagogue, Crispus, along with his whole household, believed in the Lord. On hearing Paul, many more Corinthians believed and were baptized.
Gospel: Jn 16:16-20
A little while, and you will see me no more; and then a little while, and you will see me.”
Some of the disciples wondered, “What does he mean by, ‘A little while, and you will not see me; and then a little while, and you will see me’? And why did he say, ‘I go to the Father’?” And they said to one another, “What does he mean by ‘a little while’? We don’t understand.”
Jesus knew that they wanted to question him; so he said to them, “You are puzzled because I told you that in a little while you will see me no more, and then a little while later you will see me.
“Truly, I say to you, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn to joy.“
Reflections
I am not to blame if,
from now on,
I go to the non-Jews
Paul was more successful in converting many non-Jews outside Israel to the Christian faith, than in drawing his fellow Jews to Jesus.
Our labors for the Lord will not always bear fruit. A devout mother will not always be able to turn her son away from a life of crime; a teacher will not be able to motivate all students to become the best they can be; a Christian missionary may be rejected and persecuted. And yet in the end what matters most is not the fruit of our labor but our fidelity to our mission and vocation.
Daily Reflection 2018
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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
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