Suy Niệm Tin Mừng Thứ Bảy Tuần thứ 5 Phục Sinh

Suy Niệm Tin Mừng Thứ Bảy Tuần thứ 5 Phục Sinh
Trong bài đọc thứ nhất, chúng ta nghe hai lần, Chúa Thánh Thần đã ngăn cản thánh Phaolô làm theo kế hoạch của riêng của ông.  Trước hết Thánh Phaolô không được phép rao giảng ở châu Á, và sau đó, không được phép đi đến Bithynia (miền bắc vùng Tiểu Á). Sách Công-vụ Tông Đồ đã không nói là Chúa Thánh Thần đã  hành động như thế nào, nhưng có lẽ qua lời cầu nguyện hay lời tiên tri. Tuy nhiên, Sách CVTĐ có cho chúng ta biết là khi ở thành phố Troas Thánh Phaolô đã được thị kiến và được Thánh Thần sai đến Macedonia.
Thật vậy, trong Công Vụ Tông Đồ, chúng ta thấy Chúa Thánh Thần đã dùng nhiều phương tiện để hướng dẫn các Kitô hữu, Thánh Luca tác giả CVTĐ thường xuyên đề cập đến vấn đề cầu nguyện, sự thị kiến, hay sự xuất hiện của các Thiên Thần, những lời tiên tri và những giấc mơ. Mục đích của Thánh Luca là thể hiện mối quan hệ chặt chẽ giữa những hành động của Cha Kitô Phục Sinh và của Chúa Thánh Thần.
Mặc dù Chúa Thánh Thần hầu như không được đề cập đến trong các câu cuối cùng của chương 15 trong Tin Mừng Gioan, nhưng Chúa Thánh Thần là trọng tâm trong những lời cầu nguyện của Chúa Giêsu, ngay ở đầu chương 16. Chúa Giêsu nói với các tông đồ rằng Chúa Thánh Thần sẽ liên tục hướng dẫn họ. Là Thánh Thần của sự thật, Ngài sẽ nói với họ. Qua Chúa Thánh Thần mà những gì mà Chúa Giêsu nói khi Ngài đang ngự bên Hữu của Đức Chúa Cha bây giờ sẽ được truyền đến cho các môn đệ.
Khi Chúa Giêsu rời khỏi cuộc sống ở trần tục của Ngài, Ngài đã ban cho chúng ta Chúa Thánh Thần, Người mà đem Chúa Giêsu Kitô phục sinh đến và hiện diện trong chúng ta. Cũng như Chúa Jêsus đã từng nói trong bản tính xác thịt của Ngài, bây giờ Ngài nói với chúng ta qua Chúa Thánh Thần. Giống như Phao-lô, chúng ta hãy sẵn sàng lắng nghe tiếng của Chúa qua Chúa Thánh Thần!
Lạy Chúa Thánh Thần, Xin đến và hướng dẫn chúng con hôm nay.
 
Reflection Saturday 5^th week of Easter 2014        
In the first reading, we read how twice, the Holy Spirit prevents Paul from pursuing his plans. First, Paul was forbidden to preach the word in Asia, and later, not permitted to travel to Bithynia. The writer of Acts, Luke, does not say how the Spirit acted, that is, whether, through prayer or prophecy. He does tell us, however, that it was a vision or dream in the city of Troas that directed Paul to sail to Macedonia.
Truly, in the Acts of the Apostles, we see how the Holy Spirit uses many means to guide Christians. Luke most frequently mentions prayer, visions, appearances of angles, prophecies and dreams. Luke’s aim is to show the close relationship between the actions of the Risen Christ and that of the Holy Spirit.
Although the Holy Spirit is barely mentioned in the final verses of chapter 15 of John, he is at the centre of Jesus’ prayer at the beginning of chapter 16. Jesus tells the apostles that the Holy Spirit will be a constant guide to them. As the Spirit of Truth, he will speak to them. Through the Spirit, what Jesus says at the right hand of the Father will now be transmitted to the disciples.
When Jesus departed from his earthly life, he gave us the gift of the Holy Spirit, who enables the Risen Christ to be present to us and in us. Just as Jesus once spoke in the flesh, he now speaks to us through the Spirit. Like Paul, let us be ready to listen to his voice! Holy Spirit, guide me today.
 
Reflection Sat 5^th week of Easter
Jesus said to his disciples: “If the world hates you, realize that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, the world would love its own; but because you do not belong to the world, and I have chosen you out of the world, the world hates you.” John 15:18–19
This is a sobering thought: “the world hates you.” That is, if you are among those who have been taken by our Lord out of the world. In that case, Jesus says that the world will hate you.
No one wants to be hated. No one wants to experience the wrath, persecution, attacks, or ridicule of another. Hatred is ugly, painful and difficult to endure. But that is part of the nature of hate. It’s not only a form of persecution, it’s also a form of manipulation. Hate is an attack upon another by which the hater seeks to inflict injury and to manipulate them to change and conform to their will. The secular and unchristian “world” wants to win you over and away from God. Jesus offers this teaching, in part, to prepare us so that when we do experience hatred from the world, we will not be affected by it nor manipulated to turn from Him. Therefore, this teaching is a revelation of much mercy from our Lord.
Remember that Jesus spoke of three enemies of our soul. The flesh, the devil and the world. In this Gospel passage, to “belong to the world” means that a person allows themself to be negatively influenced by the countless lies embedded within the world. The secular media, pop-culture, biased opinions, social pressures, false images of happiness and the like seek to constantly misguide us and draw us in. We are regularly tempted to believe that fulfillment is found in money, our physical appearance, the recognition of our accomplishments and much more. The world tells us that our opinions must conform to the secular values of the age—and if they don’t, then we are judgmental, close-minded extremists and should be shunned and “canceled” or silenced.
These worldly temptations and pressures are real, and, for that reason, Jesus’ words are freeing. They free us from the manipulations and deceptions we will experience when we live our faith openly for all to see. When we do so, we will be hated by the world. But knowing that provides peace of heart when it happens.
Reflect, today, upon these powerful and consoling words of Jesus. If you do not experience any form of hatred from the world, then this should be a concern and the cause for reflection. And if you do experience some form of hatred, know that our Lord prepared you for this and offers you His strength and courage to endure it with joy. In the end, all that matters is what our Lord thinks—and nothing else. In the end, if you experience hatred by the world in any form, know that this makes you more like Christ Himself.
My persecuted Lord, You endured the hatred and ridicule of many who were engulfed by the false values of the world. I pray that I may share not only in Your life of love and mercy but also in Your strength during the times that I also endure the world’s hatred. I commit myself to You and pray that You continually take me out of the world and bring me close to Yourself. Jesus, I trust in You.
 
Reflection Sat 5^th week of Easter 2025
Opening Prayer: Lord God, I am in the world you have created, but this is not my true home. I am a pilgrim and sojourner on a lifelong journey to your house, where your Son has prepared a dwelling for me. Lift up my eyes toward my heavenly home. Do not let me be discouraged on the journey, but fill me with hope in your promise.
Encountering the Word of God
1. Hated by the World: Throughout the Last Supper Discourse, Jesus has been speaking about the blessings and curses of the New Covenant. By keeping the commandments, we are blessed to abide in the divine community of love. However, if we do not keep the commandments, abide in Jesus’ love, and bear fruit, then we will be cast into the fire (John 15:6-10). The New Covenant transforms the curses of the Old Covenant into blessings. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus promised: “Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:10). This same principle is at work in today’s Gospel. As friends of Jesus and adopted children of the Father, we will be hated by the world since we are in it but do not belong to it.
2. Persecuted by the World: At the Last Supper, Jesus was not asking his disciples to suffer more than himself or to do something that he himself did not. He was holy and innocent, and yet was crucified. When he healed and cast out demons, he was accused of working with the devil. When he declared his identity as the Son of God, he was condemned to death for blasphemy. When he restored his friend Lazarus to life, the religious authorities plotted to kill him. He went about doing good, and yet was rejected by many. We can expect the same treatment. In this way, we will suffer with Jesus, our friend and brother.
3. Loved by God: The New Covenant not only promises blessing, but also empowers us to attain the promised blessing. Even though we are hated and persecuted by the world for not living according to its sinful ways, we are loved and cared for by God for living according to his standards and our status as his children and friends of his Son. The Love of God, the Spirit of Truth, has been poured into our hearts through the waters of Baptism. This divine love surpasses all human love. Human love is often marked by likes and dislikes. We say things like, “I love ice cream,” and can easily equate love with what pleases us. Divine love is different. It is not a reaction to pleasure but an act of self-giving. The divine love, poured into our hearts, enables us to sacrifice ourselves for the good of others in supernatural ways. Human love is often motivated by what I get out of the relationship. Divine love is motivated, so to speak, by what the lover can give so that their beloved flourishes.
Conversing with Christ: Lord Jesus, as a child of God, I will endure persecution and suffer for the Gospel. You know the limits of my strength. I fully trust in you to accompany me, in your Father to care for me, and in your Spirit to guide me.
 
Reflection Sat 5^th week of Easter 2014       
Opening Prayer: Lord God, I am in the world you have created, but this is not my true home. I am a pilgrim and sojourner on a lifelong journey to your house, where your Son has prepared a dwelling for me. Lift up my eyes toward my heavenly home. Do not let me be discouraged on the journey but fill me with hope in your promise.
Encountering the Word of God
1. Persecuted Children of the Father: The Gospel teaches us that Jesus’ disciples do not belong to the world because they have been freed from the sin of the world by Jesus himself. They are no longer slaves to sin and can now enjoy the freedom of the children of God. This freedom does not take away persecution and suffering. Just as the Son of God was persecuted and suffered, we too, as children of God, will be persecuted and suffer. One of the causes of the persecution of the bearers of the Gospel is ignorance: those who persecute the Apostles do not know the Father, who sent his only begotten Son to the world to redeem it. The proclamation of the Gospel by the Apostles, accompanied by signs and wonders accomplished in Jesus’ name, seeks to bring the people out of the darkness of ignorance and into the light of Christ. This light is a liberating and merciful light. It uncovers the lies of the world and its false promise of happiness. It reveals to us that we have sinned against God, but that we can be purified in the blood of the Lamb. Today’s Psalm reflects the joy we experience when we walk in the light of Christ. We sing today: “The Lord is good: his kindness endures forever, and his faithfulness, to all generations.”
2. The Beginning of Paul’s Second Missionary Journey: In the First Reading, the Acts of the Apostles narrates the beginning of Paul’s Second Missionary Journey (A.D. 50-52). Paul set out and invited Barnabas to come with him, saying: “Come, let us return and visit the brethren in every city where we proclaimed the word of the Lord, and see how they are” (Acts 15:37). Barnabas wanted to take Mark with them but Paul disagreed with Barnabas because Mark had abandoned them during the first missionary journey. Paul and Barnabas decided to separate: Barnabas took Mark with him and sailed to the cities of his homeland in Cyprus. Paul, on the other hand, took Silas with him and went through Syria and Cilicia and returned to the cities of Derbe, Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch in Pisidia. During their journeys, both Barnabas and Paul were able to communicate the recent decision of the Council of Jerusalem to the newly founded churches. The Council had decided that Gentiles who came to believe in Jesus did not have to be circumcised according to the Law of Moses. There were still some difficulties in accepting this teaching. We see this in Paul’s decision to circumcise Timothy. Paul did this “on account of the Jews” of the region and because Timothy was considered a Jew, and not a Gentile, on his mother’s side. As Paul hands on the teaching of the Council to the recently founded churches, the churches grew stronger in faith and increased in number.
3. Persecution in Macedonia: After ministering to the churches in Galatia, Paul and Silas wanted to go north toward Bithynia, but were prevented by the Spirit of Jesus and led instead to the port city of Troas. During the night, Paul had a vision of a Macedonian imploring him to cross over to Macedonia and help them. In the morning, Paul and Silas discerned that this was God’s will for them: they would preach the Good News in Europe. At Troas, they probably met up with Luke, who accompanied them for a time and set sail with them to Macedonia. During their evangelizing mission, Paul and Silas suffered persecution in Macedonia, especially in the city of Philippi: they were stripped, beaten with rods, and imprisoned. Jesus’ Last Supper discourse in the Gospel of John refers to the persecutions that the Apostles would endure as they spread the Gospel to all nations. Jesus’ disciples must know that the world will hate them because it first hated him. Jesus tells us (in John 7:7) that the world, considered here as something negative, hates him because he shows the world that its sinful ways are evil. As the Lamb of God, however, Jesus has come to take away the sin of the world and purify and renew it.
Conversing with Christ: Lord Jesus, as a child of God, I will endure persecution and suffer for the Gospel. You know the limits of my strength. I fully trust in you to accompany me, in your Father to care for me, and in your Spirit to guide me.
Living the Word of God: How have I been listening to the Spirit lately? What is the Spirit asking me to do? Where am I called to be a witness to the Good News of our salvation? How am I promoting and proclaiming the teachings of Jesus and the Church? How can I do better?
 
Reflection Saturday 5^th week of Easter
Opening Prayer: Jesus, you chose me to be your light in this world. The idea of being persecuted in your name can be a scary thought. Help me trust in you. Send me your Holy Spirit of charity and fortitude to be your light in the world. Open my heart to hear and understand your word, my Lord.
Encountering Christ:
Why Do They Hate Christ? Why does the world hate Jesus? For one, the presence of Jesus demands some type of response. Either one believes that he is God or one must profess unbelief in him. No one is truly “neutral” about Christ. In a similar way, when we see Christ, the truth (John 14:6), his presence is like a mirror held up to our behavior. If we are living in a sinful way, our sins are revealed to us by Christ. Jesus is the light, and those who live in godless ways seek to remain in darkness to hide their sins: “...the light came into the world, but people preferred darkness to light, because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come toward the light, so that his works might not be exposed” (John 3:19-20). The light of truth is painful for those who sit in darkness. 
Blessed Are the Persecuted: This is why the world hates Jesus’s followers, as well. As Christian disciples, we seek to imitate Christ. When we gaze upon him and try to follow him, we actually come to resemble him. St. Paul wrote, “All of us, gazing with unveiled face on the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, as from the Lord who is the Spirit” (2 Corinthians 3:18). When we receive Holy Communion, we are transformed into Christ: “The Body and Blood of Christ are given to us so that we ourselves will be transformed in our turn. We are to become the Body of Christ, his own Flesh and Blood” (Pope Benedict XVI). When we kneel before Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, we gaze upon God himself. He is there, unveiled, truly present for us. This transforms us into “the same image,” as St. Paul says. So when the world sees us, they see Christ, the truth. This is painful for those who have “exchanged the truth of God for a lie” (Romans 1:25). This is why we as Christians will experience persecution. When we imitate Christ, the world will treat us in the same way that it treated Christ. Remember that Jesus says being persecuted is a blessing: “Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and utter every kind of evil against you [falsely] because of me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven. Thus they persecuted the prophets who were before you” (Matthew 5:10-12). When we experience the hatred of the world, we can remember that we are in the good company of Christ, the prophets before him, and his saints after him. 
Chosen for Holiness: Israel was God’s firstborn son (Exodus 4:22). God set his people apart from the world for holiness. They were a cherished possession of the Lord’s (Deuteronomy 14:2). They were to be “a light to the nations, that [God’s] salvation may reach to the ends of the earth (Isaiah 49:6). The Church is the new Israel, the new light for the nations, called to live as an example of holiness: “But you are ‘a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of his own, so that you may announce the praises’ of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light” (1 Peter 2:9). We do not belong to the world, we belong to God. We are consecrated to him; we are set apart from the world for holiness: “...the Lord has set apart the godly for himself” (Psalms 4:3). God chose us to love, serve, and worship him. We are not to conform ourselves to the culture around us (Romans 12:2). In fact, not only are we not to conform to the ways of the world, we are called to change the culture of this world and bring about Christ’s kingdom here and now. 
Conversing with Christ: Jesus, when others see me, may they see you instead. May I be a light to the world around me, no matter what it may cost me. May I never be afraid of being persecuted for your sake. Strengthen my spirit to persevere in faith, for I know that it will be necessary for me to undergo many hardships to enter your kingdom (cf. Acts 14:22). Consecrate me in your holiness; set me apart from this world to be its light.
Resolution: Lord, today by your grace I will spend time in adoration of you in the Blessed Sacrament and ask for you to transform me into your image and likeness so I can be your face in the world.
 
Suy Niệm Tin Mừng Thứ Bảy Tuần thứ 5 Phục Sinh
Thiên Chúa luôn hướng dẫn Giáo Hội trong sự phát triển. Trong Bài Đọc I, chúng ta nghe thánh Phaolô đã tuyển chọn ông Timôthê người cai quản sau này trở thành giám mục của xứ Cypus (Síp). Sau đó, nghe lời hướng dẫn của Chúa Thánh Thần,  ông Phaolô đã quyết định đi rao giảng Tin Mừng ở miền Troas và Macedonia. Có Chúa ThánhThần hướng dẫn và thêm sức mạnh. ông Phaolô đã được Chúa Thánh Thần thêm sức mạnh và lòng can đảm trong tất cả các cuộc hành trình truyền giáo của ông ta. Tuy nhiên, ông cũng đã phải gặp nhiều sự chống đối của người Do Thái và những người dân ngoại không tin.
            Như vậy cuộc đời rao giảng Tin Mừng của Thánh Phaolô đã được ứng ngiệm như lời của Chúa Giêsu đã ứng nghiệm trước là những người theo Chúa sẽ phải bị áp bức và hãm hại. Vì những lý do khác nhau, nhiều người đã từ chối và không thể chấp nhận Tin Mừng. Vì những lý do khác nhau và cũng có nhiều lần có những người rao giảng Tin Mừng cũng bị nhục mạ, mắng rủa và bị bắt bớ.
Sự ác luôn muốn tiêu diệt những sự tốt lành.  khi sự tốt lành muốn chinh phục sự ác với tình yêu và lòng tốt. Cuộc chiến dường như không công bằng nhưng sự yếu đuối của Thiên Chúa chính là sức mạnh của con người. Qua cái chết và sự đau khổ, nhiều người đã được trở lại với đức tin. Qua sự đổ máu của các thánh vị Tử Đạo, nhiều người đã can đảm bước theo Chúa và tiếp tục đem Tin Mừng cho tất cả vì lợi ích của những người sẽ tin Vào Chúa.
 
Reflection
God is always guiding the Church in her growth.  In the first reading, St. Paul recruits Timothy who eventually became the bishop of Cyprus. Then, listening to the Holy Spirit, Paul decides to evangelize in Troas and Macedonia.   The Lord guides and strengthens Paul in all his missionary journeys. However, he encounters much opposition from Jews and non-believing Gentiles. 
 Thus is fulfilled in Paul's life and ministry Jesus' words about his followers being persecuted. For various reasons, many refuse to listen and accept the Goid News. For various reasons many times have those who preach the Good News also reviled and persecuted.
Evil wants to destroy good while good wants to conquer evil with love and kindness.  The fight seems so unequal but God's weakness is man's strength. Through death and persecution, many people have been converted to the faith. Through the shedding of the blood of many martyrs, many have entered the sheepfold.  We continue to bring the Good News to all for the sake of those who will believe.
 

Suy Niệm Tin Mừng Thứ 6 Tuần thứ 5 Phục Sinh

Suy Niệm Tin Mừng Thứ 6 Tuần thứ 5 Phục Sinh

Qua bài Tin Mừng hôm nay, chúng ta có thể tóm lại trong bốn sự quan sát có giá trị trong luật yêu thương Chúa Giêsu muốn dạy chúng ta;

- Thứ nhất, sự yêu thương mà chúng ta nói ở đây, không phải là sự yêu thương về cảm giác. Tình yêu đòi hỏi một mối quan hệ mà đi vượt ra ngoài lĩnh vực của cảm giác và xúc cảm. Một người thực sự yêu ai đó sẽ cố gắng mang lại những gì tốt đẹp nhất mà họ có thể dâng hiến và sẵn sàng hy sinh tất cả mọi thứ họ có cho người mà họ yêu. Chúa Giêsu đã hy sinh mạng sống của Ngài cho chúng ta để chúng ta có được sự sống đời đời với Chúa Cha.

Đôi khi, chúng ta có thể quên mình cho người khác như Chúa Giêsu, Chúa không cần đòi hỏi gì nhiều nơi chúng ta, mà chỉ cần chúng ta biết giúp đỡ người khác, chẳng hạn như người khuyết tật, biết dành thời giờ thăm các bệnh nhân, hay là giúp cho một người đang đau khổ tìm được sự an ủi và bình an.’

 - Thứ hai, Chúa Giêsu đang muốn làm bạn với chúng ta trong mối tình thân thiết, nhưng điều kiện cho tình bạn với Ngài không phải là một mối quan hệ bình thường. Nhưng nó đòi hỏi chúng ta phải biết trung thành và vâng lời. Chúng ta chắc chắn không có thể yêu được người khác, nếu chúng ta không biết đầu hàng cái ý chí của chúng ta, hay biết hy sinh từ bỏ những ham muốn, những cái tôi của mình để làm vừa lòng người mình yêu.

-  Thứ ba, Chúa Giêsu chấp nhận chúng ta như những người bạn của Ngài, mà không coi chúng ta như là tôi tớ, của Ngài. Người tôi tớ bắt buộc phải làm những gì khi ông chủ ra lệnh. Tuy nhiên, là bạn bè của Chúa Giêsu, chúng ta được tự do, được chia sẻ sự tin tưởng và tình cảm với Ngài. Khi chúng ta trở thành bạn của Chúa Giêsu, chúng ta sẽ trải nghiệm được cái nhìn sâu sắc vào Thánh Kinh. Chúng ta sẽ nghe Lời của Thiên Chúa một cách rõ ràng hơn. Những suy nghĩ của chúng ta sẽ trở nên giống như suy nghĩ của Chúa. Chúng ta sẽ thực thi mục đích của Chúa trên trái đất này cũng như ở trên trời.

-  Thứ tư, Chúa Giêsu muốn chúng ta yêu thương nhau như Ngài yêu thương chúng ta, hết lòng và không có sự do dự. Tình yêu của Ngài tràn ngập trong lòng chúng ta và sẽ biến đổi tâm trí và giải phóng chúng ta để chúng ta có thể phục vụ cho người khác. Nếu chúng ta biết  mở rộng tâm hồn của mình cho tình yêu của Thìên Chúa và biết tuân theo mệnh lệnh của Ngài, chúng ta dễ dàng yêu thương những người chung quanh của chúng ta. Và nhờ đó chúng ta sẽ sinh nhiều hoa trái trong cuộc sống của chúng ta, những hoa quả đó sẽ trường tồn mãi mãi.

            Trong mùa Phục Sinh này, chúng ta hãy phát triển tình bằng hữu của chúng ta với Chúa Giêsu, trong Chúa Kitô bắt đầu là sự sơ giao, giản dị và từ từ sẽ đưa đến sự thân mật để chúng ta có thể trở nên giống như Chúa Giêsu biết sẵn sàng đêm tình yêu ấy cho những người khác, và luôn mong muốn có một kết quả tốt đẹp đó là làm đẹp lòng Cha, Đấng hay yêu thương chúng ta.

 

Reflection:
     There are four observations worth noting in this commandment of love:

    First, love we are told here, isn't about feeling. Love entails a relationship which goes beyond the realm of feelings and emotions. Though emotions are involved, at its heart, love is a decision to seek the good of others. Loving as Jesus does means offering what is the most loving thing you can do for a particular person in a particular moment. A true lover gives the best he can offer and is willing to sacrifice everything he has for the beloved. Jesus gave his very life for us so that we have everlasting life with the Father. Sometimes, laying down our lives as Jesus does entails nothing more than to help someone who is handicapped, to take the time to visit the sick, or to offer comfort to someone who is in grief.

     Second, Jesus is seeking intimate friendship with us, but He gives condition for his friendship.  Friendship with Jesus is not a casual relationship. It demands "abiding," being loyal and obedient. We just can't love another without some surrender of our will.

     Third, Jesus is accepting us as his friends, not as his slaves. A slave is expected to do what his master instructs him to do, whether or not he likes it, and whether or not he understands why he is commanded to do it. But as Jesus' friends, we share a mutual trust and affection with him. As we become Jesus' friends, he will disclose his plans and purposes to us. He will share his thinking, his goals, and his motivations for doing things. We will come to know his heart and mind. We will experience a greater degree of insight into the Scriptures. We will hear the voice of God more clearly. Our thoughts will become more like his thoughts. We will carry out his purposes on earth as they are in heaven.

     Fourth, Jesus wants us to love one another just as he loves us, whole-heartedly and without reserve. His love fills our hearts and transforms our minds and frees us to give ourselves in loving service to others. If we open our hearts to his love and obey his command to love our neighbor, then we will bear much fruit in our lives, fruit that will last for eternity.    

             During this Easter season, let us develop our friendship with Jesus, from casual to intimate so that we may become like Jesus willing to be put out for others, desirous to bear fruit that is pleasing to our loving Father. 

 

Friday 5^th week of Easter 2024

Jesus said to his disciples: “If the world hates you, realize that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, the world would love its own; but because you do not belong to the world, and I have chosen you out of the world, the world hates you.” John 15:18–19

This is a sobering thought: “the world hates you.” That is, if you are among those who have been taken by our Lord out of the world. In that case, Jesus says that the world will hate you.

No one wants to be hated. No one wants to experience the wrath, persecution, attacks, or ridicule of another. Hatred is ugly, painful and difficult to endure. But that is part of the nature of hate. It’s not only a form of persecution, it’s also a form of manipulation. Hate is an attack upon another by which the hater seeks to inflict injury and to manipulate them to change and conform to their will. The secular and unchristian “world” wants to win you over and away from God. Jesus offers this teaching, in part, to prepare us so that when we do experience hatred from the world, we will not be affected by it nor manipulated to turn from Him. Therefore, this teaching is a revelation of much mercy from our Lord.

Remember that Jesus spoke of three enemies of our soul. The flesh, the devil and the world. In this Gospel passage, to “belong to the world” means that a person allows themself to be negatively influenced by the countless lies embedded within the world. The secular media, pop-culture, biased opinions, social pressures, false images of happiness and the like seek to constantly misguide us and draw us in. We are regularly tempted to believe that fulfillment is found in money, our physical appearance, the recognition of our accomplishments and much more. The world tells us that our opinions must conform to the secular values of the age—and if they don’t, then we are judgmental, close-minded extremists and should be shunned and “canceled” or silenced.

These worldly temptations and pressures are real, and, for that reason, Jesus’ words are freeing. They free us from the manipulations and deceptions we will experience when we live our faith openly for all to see. When we do so, we will be hated by the world. But knowing that provides peace of heart when it happens.

Reflect, today, upon these powerful and consoling words of Jesus. If you do not experience any form of hatred from the world, then this should be a concern and the cause for reflection. And if you do experience some form of hatred, know that our Lord prepared you for this and offers you His strength and courage to endure it with joy. In the end, all that matters is what our Lord thinks—and nothing else. In the end, if you experience hatred by the world in any form, know that this makes you more like Christ Himself.

My persecuted Lord, You endured the hatred and ridicule of many who were engulfed by the false values of the world. I pray that I may share not only in Your life of love and mercy but also in Your strength during the times that I also endure the world’s hatred. I commit myself to You and pray that You continually take me out of the world and bring me close to Yourself. Jesus, I trust in You.

 

Friday 5^th week of Easter 2025

Opening Prayer: Lord God, I thank you for the awesome gift of being your child. I did nothing to deserve your divine friendship. You are so good and are so generous with your gifts!

Encountering the Word of God

1. Loving like Jesus: At first glance, the new commandment to love as Jesus did could seem like an impossible task. Who among us is ready to give their lives on behalf of their friends? Who among us is ready to undergo suffering or persecution even though we are innocent? Who among us is ready to suffer for the sake of someone else? On our own, these things seem impossible. But united to Christ and filled with the grace of the Spirit, all things are possible. Grace heals us and elevates us. The infused virtues enable us to act in supernatural and divine ways. When someone once saw Mother Teresa cleansing the wounds of a leper, they remarked that they wouldn’t do that for a million dollars. And Mother Teresa turned and said, “I wouldn’t do it for a million dollars, but I would do it for Christ.” In her simple words: “I see Jesus in every human being. I say to myself, this is hungry Jesus, I must feed him. This is sick Jesus. This one has leprosy or gangrene; I must wash him and tend to him. I serve because I love Jesus.”

2. From Slaves to Friends: The reference to slaves in the Gospel can be seen as a reference to the Deuteronomic Covenant. At the foot of Mt. Sinai, God offered a kinship covenant and invited Israel to become his firstborn sons (Exodus 4:22). Israel quickly broke the kinship covenant, and it needed to be renewed and reworked. After 40 years of rebellion in the desert, Moses mediated the Deuteronomic (Second-Law) covenant. This was modelled on a vassal-type covenant, “in which a mighty king asserts his sovereignty over a subject people, imposes an oath of loyalty upon them, and sets forth the blessings and curses that will follow when a vassal proves loyal or disloyal. … Deuteronomy places Israel, after years of rebellion in the wilderness (Deut 9:7), in a state of covenant vassalage. For the duration of its national life, Israel will be governed by the strict discipline of the Deuteronomic covenant under the watchful eye of the Lord” (Ignatius Catholic Study Bible: Old and New Testament, 280-281). What Jesus announces and establishes at the Last Supper is the New Covenant. This New Covenant makes us brothers and friends of Jesus and adopted children of God: “I no longer call you slaves, … I have called you friends.”

3. From Slaves to Sons: As friends of Jesus, we share a quasi-familial life together, a communion comparable to kinship. In fact, in the ancient world, friendship was analogous to kinship. In the New Covenant, we are friends of Jesus (see John 15:13-15) and brothers of Jesus (see John 20:17). Since a friend was another “self,” it follows that a friend of Jesus the Son will be another “son” who shares in his filial life with the Father. This grant of friendship is a grant of a covenantal relation. By choosing his disciples and welcoming them as his friends, Jesus enlarges the house of the Father to welcome all peoples into the covenant of love (see DeMeo, “Covenant Fulfillment in the Gospel of John,” 134-135).

Conversing with Christ: Lord Jesus, help my faith flourish in works of love today. Show me your face so that I may see the Face of the Father. Move my heart to spend time with you and dwell with you so that I may bring others to encounter you.

 

Friday 5^th week of Easter 2024

Opening Prayer: Lord God, I am in the world you have created, but this is not my true home. I am a pilgrim and sojourner on a lifelong journey to your house, where your Son has prepared a dwelling for me. Lift up my eyes toward my heavenly home. Do not let me be discouraged on the journey but fill me with hope in your promise.

Encountering the Word of God

1. Persecuted Children of the Father: The Gospel teaches us that Jesus’ disciples do not belong to the world because they have been freed from the sin of the world by Jesus himself. They are no longer slaves to sin and can now enjoy the freedom of the children of God. This freedom does not take away persecution and suffering. Just as the Son of God was persecuted and suffered, we too, as children of God, will be persecuted and suffer. One of the causes of the persecution of the bearers of the Gospel is ignorance: those who persecute the Apostles do not know the Father, who sent his only begotten Son to the world to redeem it. The proclamation of the Gospel by the Apostles, accompanied by signs and wonders accomplished in Jesus’ name, seeks to bring the people out of the darkness of ignorance and into the light of Christ. This light is a liberating and merciful light. It uncovers the lies of the world and its false promise of happiness. It reveals to us that we have sinned against God, but that we can be purified in the blood of the Lamb. Today’s Psalm reflects the joy we experience when we walk in the light of Christ. We sing today: “The Lord is good: his kindness endures forever, and his faithfulness, to all generations.”

2. The Beginning of Paul’s Second Missionary Journey: In the First Reading, the Acts of the Apostles narrates the beginning of Paul’s Second Missionary Journey (A.D. 50-52). Paul set out and invited Barnabas to come with him, saying: “Come, let us return and visit the brethren in every city where we proclaimed the word of the Lord, and see how they are” (Acts 15:37). Barnabas wanted to take Mark with them but Paul disagreed with Barnabas because Mark had abandoned them during the first missionary journey. Paul and Barnabas decided to separate: Barnabas took Mark with him and sailed to the cities of his homeland in Cyprus. Paul, on the other hand, took Silas with him and went through Syria and Cilicia and returned to the cities of Derbe, Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch in Pisidia. During their journeys, both Barnabas and Paul were able to communicate the recent decision of the Council of Jerusalem to the newly founded churches. The Council had decided that Gentiles who came to believe in Jesus did not have to be circumcised according to the Law of Moses. There were still some difficulties in accepting this teaching. We see this in Paul’s decision to circumcise Timothy. Paul did this “on account of the Jews” of the region and because Timothy was considered a Jew, and not a Gentile, on his mother’s side. As Paul hands on the teaching of the Council to the recently founded churches, the churches grew stronger in faith and increased in number.

3. Persecution in Macedonia: After ministering to the churches in Galatia, Paul and Silas wanted to go north toward Bithynia, but were prevented by the Spirit of Jesus and led instead to the port city of Troas. During the night, Paul had a vision of a Macedonian imploring him to cross over to Macedonia and help them. In the morning, Paul and Silas discerned that this was God’s will for them: they would preach the Good News in Europe. At Troas, they probably met up with Luke, who accompanied them for a time and set sail with them to Macedonia. During their evangelizing mission, Paul and Silas suffered persecution in Macedonia, especially in the city of Philippi: they were stripped, beaten with rods, and imprisoned. Jesus’ Last Supper discourse in the Gospel of John refers to the persecutions that the Apostles would endure as they spread the Gospel to all nations. Jesus’ disciples must know that the world will hate them because it first hated him. Jesus tells us (in John 7:7) that the world, considered here as something negative, hates him because he shows the world that its sinful ways are evil. As the Lamb of God, however, Jesus has come to take away the sin of the world and purify and renew it.

Conversing with Christ: Lord Jesus, as a child of God, I will endure persecution and suffer for the Gospel. You know the limits of my strength. I fully trust in you to accompany me, in your Father to care for me, and in your Spirit to guide me.

Living the Word of God: How have I been listening to the Spirit lately? What is the Spirit asking me to do? Where am I called to be a witness to the Good News of our salvation? How am I promoting and proclaiming the teachings of Jesus and the Church? How can I do better?

 

Friday 5^th week of Easter

Opening Prayer: Jesus, thank you for calling me your friend and sharing all that the Father has told you. Bless me as I hear your word and help it strengthen me in my mission as your disciple and friend. 

Encountering Christ:

Gift of Love: What greater love could there be than to give the gift of yourself, your very life, for someone you love? No words, no romantic gestures, no gifts of gold could compare. Life is precious, and giving your life for another is equally as precious. St. Thomas Aquinas said that “To love is to will the good of the other.” Christ gave his life for us in the ultimate act of self-giving love. We are called to imitate Christ in his gift of salvific love. God created our hearts to be oriented to loving in this way, for we are most fulfilled when we lovingly give ourselves to others. St. Paul VI wrote: “man...cannot fully find himself except through a sincere gift of himself” (Gaudium et Spes 24). We imitate Christ when we offer ourselves as a living sacrifice, living by what St. John Paul the Great called the “law of the gift.” He said, “We become most truly human in the measure in which we go out of ourselves and give ourselves for the sake of others…” What a paradox: to find life, one must give it up as a sacrifice. We find the true meaning and joy in our lives precisely to the degree that we give our lives away to God and others. This is Jesus’s command to us as his disciples: to love one another.

Chosen: Christ has chosen you to be his cherished possession, his beloved. He chose each one of us, not the other way around. Of course, we have free will and choose for ourselves how to respond to God’s love. But he called and loved us first. God the Father chose us through Christ his Son as part of his plan for salvation: “...he chose us in him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and without blemish before him. In love he destined us for adoption to himself through Jesus Christ, in accord with the favor of his will, for the praise of the glory of his grace that he granted us in the beloved” (Ephesians 1:4-6). We were each chosen for a specific vocation and mission. We can trust that because God called us to our missions that he will provide the spiritual and material gifts that we need to fulfill our missions. God will not leave us orphans (cf. John 14:18)—he is our Father! He will give us every good thing we need along the way if we only pray and ask him (cf. Matthew 7:11). We can trust that he will save and glorify us when he calls us home: “And those he predestined he also called; and those he called he also justified; and those he justified he also glorified” (Romans 8:30). 

Fruitfulness: God chose us to bear fruit that will remain. St. Paul defines the fruits of the Holy Spirit: “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (Galatians 5:22). These are all fruits that will remain. The Catechism teaches that these virtues are “perfections that the Holy Spirit forms in us as the first fruits of eternal glory” (CCC 1832). We can bear the fruit of God’s love into the world through acts of love, mercy, and virtuousness. Many people would say that fruitfulness is about productivity, or how much you get done in a day. The world’s idea of a fruitful day might look like a task list that is fully checked off, all emails answered, and future projects planned for maximum efficiency. These are not bad things, but these acts will not remain. They are all temporal—the task list never ends; the email fills up the minute you answer your last one; projects come and go. God’s idea of a fruitful day full of loving acts and virtuousness might actually look unproductive. Think of the parent of a young child who needs to have his or her needs met all day long. Is the loving parent who cares for the child all day very productive, getting lots of things marked off the to-do list? Probably not. But is that parent being fruitful in God’s eyes: lovingly feeding, bathing, dressing, playing, rocking, singing, teaching, and soothing his or her child? Absolutely. All works can be fruitful if done with the intention of making them acts of self-giving love. Jesus tells us that a person can be known by the fruits that they bear: “By their fruits you will know them” (Matthew 7:20). We can ask ourselves if we are truly bearing good fruit for Christ’s name.

Conversing with Christ: Jesus, thank you for calling me to yourself. Thank you for equipping me with everything I need to serve and love you and others. Thank you for saving me and purchasing me with your own precious Body and Blood. Help me to be fruitful in all that I do by offering all my prayers, works, joys, and suffering in union with your own sacrifice of love. Help me to bear fruit that will remain for your glory alone. 

Resolution: Lord, today by your grace I will examine my day and consider how I will bear fruit that will remain.

Suy Niệm Tin Mừng Thứ Năm tuần thứ 5 Phục Sinh

Suy Niệm Tin Mừng Thứ Năm tuần thứ 5 Phục Sinh
“Không phải anh em đã chọn thầy, Nhưng chính thầy đã chọn anh em.”
Sự lựa chọn của chúng ta để đi theo Chúa Kitô rất quan trọng, nhưng điều quan trọng hơn hết là sự lựa chọn mà Chúa hứa và cam kết với chúng ta. Chúa Giêsu yêu thương chúng ta bằng một tình yêu mà chính Ngài đã cam kết, vì vậy mà Ngài đã chấp nhận con đường Thập Giá vì chúng ta. Mặc dầu chúng ta vẫn còn thiếu kém lòng tin, và thiếu sự trung thành với Ngài, nhưng Ngài đã không bao giờ thay đổi tình yêu và sự trung tín của Ngài đối với chúng ta.
            Chúng ta được Chúa kêu gọi và chọn để theo Ngài, Ngài đã “xin” chúng ta thực hiện một sự cam kết với Ngài, đó là đáp lại lời mời gọi của Chúa. Ngài đã chọn chúng ta, và chúng ta phải đáp trả lại bằng tất cả tình yêu và cuộc sống của chúng ta. Chúa Giêsu nói với chúng ta là Ngài yêu thương chúng ta, và Ngài cũng “nài xin” chúng ta hãy yêu thương Ngài cũng như yêu thương những người chung quanh.
            Chúng ta hãy tạ ơn Chúa hôm nay vì Ngài đã ngỏ lời mời chúng ta đến với Ngài trong tình yêu và trong sự trung tín của Ngài. Chúng ta cũng hãy xin Chúa cho chúng ta những ân sủng để chúng ta có thể thực sự cam kết với Ngài.  Xin cho tất cả những gì chúng ta làm, là làm trong hành động của tình yêu, trong lòng biết ơn đối với tình yêu mà Ngài đã luôn tỏ ra cho chúng ta thấy được..
 
REFLECTION
Jesus makes this very clear in today's Gospel reading when he says: "You did not choose me, it was I who chose you." Our choice to follow Jesus is important, but far more significant is his choice to be committed to us. Jesus loves us with a love that is so committed, so dedicated that it takes him to Calvary for us. Our lack of faithfulness to him never changes his faithful love for us.
            The life of St. Mathias, the saint whose feast we celebrate today, also shows us that what matters most is the Lord's commitment to us. In the first reading, Mathias was chosen to be one of the twelve apostles after Jesus' death and resurrection. He was the replacement for Judas who after betraying Jesus committed suicide. The Apostles drew lots and he won. It was not exactly his decision. Mathias knew that he had not decided to be one of the twelve. He had been chosen by Jesus Christ.
            We are all called and chosen by the Lord. He asks us to make a commitment to him, but the commitment can only be a response to Jesus' call. He has chosen us, and our whole life is to be a response of love to that call. It is a bit like a wedding proposal. Jesus asks us, invites us and proposes to us. He tells us that he loves us, and he asks that we will love him in return.  Let us thank the Lord today for his invitation of love and for being faithful. Let us also ask him for the grace to be really committed to him. May all that we do be an act of love in gratitude for the love that he keeps showering upon us.
 
Thursday 5^th week of Eatser
“If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and remain in his love.” John 15:10
When Jesus spoke the line above, He followed it by saying, “I have told you this so that my joy might be in you and your joy might be complete.” These two lines, taken side by side, provide a helpful unity of Jesus’ teaching regarding holy obedience to Him.
First, Jesus speaks of the necessity of keeping His commandments. To some, such a statement, when taken by itself, can seem burdensome, dictatorial, oppressive and confining. But is it? The answer is found clearly as we read on.
The next thing Jesus teaches is that the effect of keeping His commandments is that we “remain in His love.” He further explains that He is not asking us to do anything that He Himself was not willing to do. He was obedient to the will of the Father, keeping the commandments of the Father to perfection. Therefore, we should hear His command as a dictate flowing from His own freely lived choice to be obedient. As the Incarnate Son of God, He perfectly obeyed the Father in His human nature. The result was that He remained perfectly filled with the love of the Father. But that’s not all. Joy is also experienced in a “complete” way when we imitate Jesus’ perfect obedience.
In light of the teaching from our Lord, how do you view holy obedience to the will of God? Take, for example, each of the Ten Commandments. Do you struggle with unwavering obedience to them? Do you experience them as oppressive and imposed limitations rather than what they truly are? When understood correctly, the Ten Commandments, and every other dictate of the will of God, are exactly what we need and, even more so, exactly what we deeply desire in life. We want interior order rather than chaos. We want integrity rather than fragility. We want joy rather than sadness. And we want unity with the love of God rather than the loss of God. The path to the life we so deeply desire is obedience to the commands of the will of God in all things.
Reflect, today, upon your immediate interior reaction to holy obedience. If you do find yourself resistant in any way to this teaching of Jesus, then that is a good sign that you need this teaching more than you may know. Try to look at obedience in the light of truth. Try to see that, deep down, your soul yearns for obedience and the interior order it brings. Examine, especially, any areas of obedience you struggle with and firmly recommit yourself to unwavering obedience to each and every command of our Lord.
My obedient Lord, You obeyed the will of Your Father in Heaven to perfection. Through this obedience, You not only experienced the full love and joy of the Father in Your human nature, You also set for us a perfect example and model for holiness. Help me to see the areas of my life in which I need to be more obedient, so that I, too, will share in Your holy life and that of the Father’s. Jesus, I trust in You.
 
Thursday 5^th week of Eatser 2025
Opening Prayer: Lord God, I thank you for the gift of the New Covenant. You send the Holy Spirit into my heart so that I may remain in the covenant and abide in your love. Dwell in me and fill my soul with your grace, enlighten my intellect with your wisdom, and strengthen my will with your charity.
Encountering the Word of God
1. Love, Joy, Peace: As we read the Last Supper Discourse in the Gospel of John, we can discern many of the fruits of the Holy Spirit. Paul, in Galatians 5:22-23, lists nine of them: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Jesus has already spoken about peace, and we meditated on peace as a fruit of the New Covenant on Monday (see John 14:27). Today, Jesus begins to focus on love (agape) and how we remain and abide in divine love by keeping the commandments. As well, Jesus speaks about a third fruit – the fruit of joy. Joy, unlike fleeting pleasure, is lasting. Joy, unlike pleasure, can be present along with suffering. Joy is a deep satisfaction and contentment: “Love brings with it joy because love satisfies the heart’s deepest desire and most ardent aspiration, since human beings were created to love and be loved. Alongside joy, there is peace. The Spirit establishes peace in people’s hearts as he leads them to be in harmony with God’s fatherly will and gives them victory over all their disordered tendencies, which would otherwise entangle them in endless interior conflict. In addition, the Spirit brings peace among people because he directs them to benevolence and harmony” (Vanhoye and Williamson, Galatians, 198).
2. Patience, Kindness, Goodness: Love, joy, and peace are the fundamental fruits of the Spirit. The next three fruits deal with how we relate to others. The fourth fruit of the Spirit is patience (makrothumia). The word in Greek for patience means “slow to anger.” God often revealed himself as “slow to anger” in the Old Testament: “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in mercy and faithfulness, keeping merciful love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin” (see Exodus 34:6-7). We can discern the importance of patience in the Last Supper Discourse, when Jesus teaches that his disciples’ sorrow will eventually, not immediately, turn to joy (see John 16:20). Patience, then, is a willingness to wait and suffer. Kindness, the fifth fruit of the Spirit, is readiness to serve our brothers and sisters. Generosity or goodness, the sixth fruit of the Spirit, is a readiness to give. What Jesus commands is that we love as he did and be ready to give not just our time or treasure to others, but to offer our lives for others.
3. Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self-Control: The last three fruits of the Spirit are faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Jesus’ disciples are continually exhorted to faith or faithfulness in the Gospel of John and even in the Last Supper Discourse: “You have faith in God; have faith also in me” (John 14:1). And even though we do not hear an exhortation to gentleness or meekness in the Last Supper Discourse, we know that it is an important quality of a saint. Instead of giving in to the deadly sin of anger, the disciple of Jesus is gentle. They refuse to be overcome by anger because they trust in God (see Pitre, Introduction to the Spiritual Life, 140). Likewise, temperance and self-control are virtues of the Christian disciple who is seeking holiness and perfection.
Conversing with Christ: Lord Jesus, you are my savior. You have rescued me from the slavery of sin and the scourge of death. Strengthen me today to abide in you and keep your commandment to love. Pour out your Spirit so that I may enjoy true and lasting joy as I journey toward the eternal joy of heaven.
 
Thursday 5^th week of Eatser 2024
Opening Prayer: Lord God, I thank you for the gift of the New Covenant. You send the Holy Spirit into my heart so that I may remain in the covenant and abide in your love. Dwell in me and fill my soul with your grace, enlighten my intellect with your wisdom, and strengthen my will with your charity.
Encountering the Word of God
 1. Abiding in the Father’s Love: During the Last Supper, Jesus introduces his disciples into the deep mystery of Trinitarian love and the New Covenant. The first line in today’s Gospel speaks about the eternal love between the Father and the Son. The Holy Spirit, Jesus will reveal, is the bond of love between the Father and the Son. The Spirit is the one who draws us into this Trinitarian communion of love, which is the ultimate purpose of the Church’s mission. Jesus teaches his disciples that, as the Son of God, he keeps the Father's commandments and abides in the Father’s love. Jesus was empowered by the Spirit in his Passion to conform perfectly to the will of the Father and to maintain his solidarity with us even to the point of death (Hebrews 9:12-14). Through his death, Jesus becomes the mediator of the New Covenant, having intervened for the redemption of the transgressions and violations of the law of the first covenant (Hebrews 9:15). In like manner, we abide in Jesus’ love by keeping his commandments. We too are empowered by the Spirit to love God and our neighbor.
2. Covenant Responsibility and Joy: Jesus’ exhortation to keep the Father’s commandments is a part of the ratification of the New Covenant. Just as God gave the old Law to the people of Israel as their covenant responsibility and they accepted it (Exodus 24:3-4), so Jesus now gives the New Law to his disciples and they welcome it. Jesus tells them that if they keep and are faithful to the commandments of the New Covenant, they will remain in God’s love. One of the difficulties of the Old Covenant was the inability of the people of Israel to keep it. By contrast, in the New Covenant, we are enabled by the grace of the Holy Spirit to keep the New Law, the new commandment of love. This New Covenant can never be broken, since it has been forged by the blood of the Son, who was faithful to the end. One of the fruits of the New Covenant and of abiding in Jesus is joy. This joy is the joy of Jesus himself: “a joy sought and found in obedience to the Father and in the gift of self to others” (John Paul II, July 25, 2002). Paul teaches that joy, love, and peace are all fruits of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22). The Holy Spirit infuses into our hearts the same joy that Jesus had, “the joy of faithfulness to the love which comes from the Father” (John Paul II, June 19, 1991).
3. Joy During the Debates at the Council of Jerusalem: According to the First Reading, from the Acts of the Apostles, the joy of Christ lasted even when the disciples endured trials. The early followers of Jesus were known to rejoice even under persecution. We can suppose that true Christian joy lasted throughout the Council of Jerusalem (in A.D. 49). The Council’s debates, discussions, and discernment all took place in the context of prayer and Christian charity. The Apostles and elders (presbyters) of the Church earnestly sought the will of God and sought to understand the signs and wonders God worked through them among the Gentiles. At the Council of Jerusalem, Peter affirmed that both Jews and Gentiles receive the gift of salvation through faith and the grace of Christ, and not through circumcision and the burdensome yoke of the Old Law. To demand that the Gentile believers submit to the sign of circumcision and the Old Law would mean putting God to the test (like the Israelites in the desert) and would only place a yoke of burden on the Gentiles. James the Lesser (the son of Alpheus and brother of the Lord) agrees with Peter: “We should not trouble those of the Gentiles who turn to God.” But James also teaches that, in accord with the Law (Leviticus 17:8-18:30), the Gentile believers should refrain from three things: eating meat sacrificed to pagan gods; sexual immorality; and meat with blood in it or meat from animals not properly drained of blood. James is concerned that if the Gentile believers did such things this would destroy the communion and table fellowship between Jewish and Gentile Christians. James quotes the prophet Amos who foretells of the day when God would rebuild the fallen hut of David. As a descendant of David, Jesus accomplished this restoration and rebuilt the hut of David. What is more, this restoration signals the day when all the Gentile nations will seek the Lord and be welcomed into his people. The Gentile believers are welcomed not with the burden of the Old Law, which was powerless to save, but with the grace and love of Jesus Christ, which does save.
Conversing with Christ: Lord Jesus, you are my savior. You have rescued me from the slavery of sin and the scourge of death. Strengthen me today to abide in you and keep your commandment to love. Pour out your Spirit so that I may enjoy true and lasting joy as I journey toward the eternal joy of heaven.
Thursday 5^th week of Eatser
Opening Prayer: 
Lord Jesus, may I remain in your love and keep your commandments always. Open my heart and pour your love into me. Help me find my true joy in the loving gaze of my Father and my obedient response to his love. 
Encountering Christ:
Trinitarian Love: God’s love is Trinitarian. We receive and experience the Father’s love through Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus told his disciples: “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” (John 14:23). The indwelling that comes to live within us is the Holy Spirit. By receiving the love of God, we experience the life of the Holy Trinity within us. How amazing and empowering! Through the sacraments and our obedience to God’s commandments, we have the love of God within us, motivating us, allowing us to shower his love on everyone we encounter. Our relationship with the Holy Trinity is what enables us to keep his commandments and uphold the new and everlasting covenant that God the Father established through Christ his Son.
Obedience to Love: Jesus tells us clearly that we remain in this Trinitarian love when we keep his commandments. Christ gave his answer to the greatest commandments by unifying the Ten Commandments and perfecting them with love: “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments” (Matthew 22:37-40). When we strive to love God above all things and love our neighbor as ourselves, we keep the whole of the teachings of the Old Testament: the law and the prophets. The new law is the law of love, and we are called to be obedient to love. When our love is active, it bears the fruits of love. When we offer works of charity and mercy, we love “not in word or speech but in deed and truth” (1 John 3:18). When we go to the sacrament of reconciliation, we show our love for God because we repent from the things that separate us from Christ and affirm our desire to be obedient to God’s commandments and remain in his love.
Christ’s Joy: Earlier in the Last Supper Discourses, Jesus gave the disciples his peace (John 14:27). In this reading, Jesus gifted them with his joy, so that their joy “might be complete.” The true gift of obedience is Christ’s joy. When we receive the love of God and remain in it by keeping God’s commandments to love him and others, we experience joy. Jesus completes our joy because he “is the goal of human history, the focal point of the longings of history and of civilization, the center of the human race, the joy of every heart, and the answer to all its yearnings'' (Gaudium et Spes 45). St. Paul VI wrote about joyful exchange of the Father and the Son: “Here there is an uncommunicable relationship of love which is identified with his existence as the Son and which is the secret of the life of the Trinity: the Father is seen here as the one, who gives himself to the Son, without reserve and without ceasing, in a burst of joyful generosity, and the Son is seen as he who gives himself in the same way to the Father, in a burst of joyful gratitude, in the Holy Spirit'' (Gaudete in Domino, part III). This joyful burst of generosity and gratitude overflows to us through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Mysteriously, we share and experience God’s joy in this way.
Conversing with Christ: My Jesus, the world sees joy so differently than you set out for us here in your word. Your joy wells up from a loving relationship with you and as a consequence of childlike obedience to your will. Help me always seek my joy in you and not look for it in the temporal things of this world. May I always rejoice in your word and submit to your holy will. May I rejoice in you always (Philippians 4:4).