Weekdays of 6th Week of Easter

Meeting Jesus through the Gospel

1. Sit quietly, recollect yourself. Concentrate on Jesus. Call on the Holy Spirit. Take your time. There is no rush and there is no fixed rule to follow. Be free in the Spirit.

2. Be aware that Jesus is with you. Use a mantra if you like, e.g. ‘Jesus, Jesus, Jesus ..’

3. Read the passage with Jesus who was there and in the Holy Spirit who inspired it.

4. Note the words and sentences that strike you.

5. Pray about these and ask the Lord to speak to you through his Spirit.

6. Keep a journal of the inspirations you are given for your life. Jesus is present to you and he is speaking to you.

7. If the passage is a ‘dramatic’ one try and live the passage in your imagination. Remember it is not just imagination because Jesus is present now with you. Put yourself in the scene.  It is the Holy Spirit who makes Jesus real.

Monday 10^th May 2010

6^th week of Easter

John 15:26-16:4

When the Paraclete comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who issues from the Father, he will be my witness. ²⁷ And you too will be witnesses, because you have been with me from the beginning. ¹ I have told you all this so that you may not fall away. ² They will expel you from the synagogues, and indeed the time is coming when anyone who kills you will think he is doing a holy service to God. ³ They will do these things because they have never known either the Father or me. ⁴ But I have told you all this, so that when the time for it comes you may remember that I told you. I did not tell you this from the beginning, because I was with you;

In countries with atheistic governments Christians are openly persecuted, with prison sentences, deprivation of property and in so many other ways. They have to go underground. In other countries they are misunderstood and marginalised. In others they are mocked and people openly work against what they hold so dear. Jesus tells us it is because they do not know either him or his Father. They may be sincere but they are unenlightened somewhat like Saul was before he met Jesus near Damascus. Persecution in one way or another will happen to us. Jesus has forewarned us. We are not to be afraid because we are not alone. Jesus  has given us his Spirit who stands beside us supporting us in every way. To receive him we need a living faith and union with Jesus. The presence of Jesus needs to be real to us through constant prayer. Jesus is victorious.

.Tuesday 11^th May

6^th Week of Easter,

John  16:5-11

  But now I am going to the one who sent me. Not one of you asks, 'Where are you going?' ⁶ Yet you are sad at heart because I have told you this. ⁷ Still, I am telling you the truth: it is for your own good that I am going, because unless I go, the Paraclete will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. ⁸ And when he comes, he will show the world how wrong it was, about sin, and about who was in the right, and about judgement: ⁹ about sin: in that they refuse to believe in me; ¹⁰ about who was in the right: in that I am going to the Father and you will see me no more; ¹¹ about judgement: in that the prince of this world is already condemned.

 While in the world Jesus was restricted. When raised to the glory of his Father, from that intimate union in love he sends the Spirit. Jesus is ever present to his disciples through his Spirit who lives in them. His presence will be a dynamic presence but will not be an external one as when in flesh and blood but an inner presence in each one. Through the believer the Spirit witnesses to those who want to see. Through believers proves that the world sinned by not believing in Jesus. Their lives will be a manifestation of an irrefutable holiness. Look at the likes of Mother Teresa. The righteousness of their actions proclaims the love God has for people. The world condemned Jesus as a criminal the innocence of their lives in him proves it wrong. Are you such a believer?

Wednesday 12^th May

6^th Week of Easter.

John 16:12-17

 ¹² I still have many things to say to you but they would be too much for you to bear now. ¹³ However, when the Spirit of truth comes he will lead you to the complete truth, since he will not be speaking of his own accord, but will say only what he has been told; and he will reveal to you the things to come. ¹⁴ He will glorify me, since all he reveals to you will be taken from what is mine. ¹⁵ Everything the Father has is mine; that is why I said: all he reveals to you will be taken from what is mine. ¹⁶ In a short time you will no longer see me, and then a short time later you will see me again. ¹⁷ Then some of his disciples said to one another, 'What does he mean, "In a short time you will no longer see me, and then a short time later you will see me again," and, "I am going to the Father"?

The Spirit of Truth will guide you into all truth.

The Holy Spirit is the life of the Church and he is to be the life of each member. We are to have fellowship with the Spirit. He has taken the place of Christ Jesus in teaching and guiding us. He inspired the Gospels of the first century. He applies them to the situations of the twenty first. He does this through inspiration as he did then. The inspired Word is a living Word. The Spirit applies it now to our lives. The teaching of the Church and the Gospels are in harmony because they both come from the same Spirit. Likewise we must daily welcome the Spirit into our lives and beg him teach and guide us through the Word to understand our life situation and make the decisions which will lead us to happiness now and for ever. Do you?

Thursday 13^th May

6^th Week of Easter.

John 16:16-20

¹⁶ In a short time you will no longer see me, and then a short time later you will see me again. ¹⁷ Then some of his disciples said to one another, 'What does he mean, "In a short time you will no longer see me, and then a short time later you will see me again," and, "I am going to the Father"? ¹⁸ What is this "short time"? We don't know what he means.' ¹⁹ Jesus knew that they wanted to question him, so he said, 'You are asking one another what I meant by saying, "In a short time you will no longer see me, and then a short time later you will see me again." ²⁰ 'In all truth I tell you, you will be weeping and wailing while the world will rejoice; you will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn to joy.

We too may ask what this little while means. At his crucifixion the disciples were plunged into grief. It was the Lord’s battle with Satan. Though apparently defeated he won through his obedience and was raised to life triumphant. He is now with us both to the community and to each individually. It is through our faith and in the Spirit that we ‘see’ him now. Life is to be life with him. We are to meet him in prayer, receive him as food, experience him within ourselves, meet him in others and serve him at all times. The Christian life is life in Jesus through the Spirit. Do you make Jesus the conscious centre of your life so that you live for him and one day will die for him and so seeing him face to face become like him in his divine glory for ever?

Friday 14^th May 2010 Feast of Saint Matthias, Apostle

6^th week of Easter

John 15:9-17

⁹ I have loved you just as the Father has loved me. Remain in my love. ¹⁰ 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. ¹¹ I have told you this so that my own joy may be in you and your joy be complete. ¹² This is my commandment: love one another, as I have loved you. ¹³ No one can have greater love than to lay down his life for his friends. ¹⁴ You are my friends, if you do what I command you. ¹⁵ I shall no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know the master's business; I call you friends, because I have made known to you everything I have learnt from my Father. ¹⁶ You did not choose me, no, I chose you; and I commissioned you to go out and to bear fruit, fruit that will last; so that the Father will give you anything you ask him in my name. ¹⁷ My command to you is to love one another.

Jesus is speaking to us also. Those who love and believe in Jesus will never feel at home in this world. We will adjust ourselves to life here and work for the welfare of our fellows but feel ourselves exiles. We have an inner longing for the life with Jesus to which we are called. Now is the time when our love for Jesus is to grow and like a child in the womb is formed for life in the world so we are formed for life in the family of God. It is the Spirit of God who will fashion us. Like the woman in childbirth suffers so do we believers in this world but like hers it is not an aimless suffering. One day we will live face to face with Jesus in God’s family. Do you experience life like this? Are you preparing for life?

Saturday 15 ^th May 2010

6^th Week of Easter

John 16:23-28

23 In that day you will ask nothing of me. Truly, truly, I say to you, if you ask anything of the Father, he will give it to you in my name. 24 Hitherto you have asked nothing in my name; ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full. 25 "I have said this to you in figures; the hour is coming when I shall no longer speak to you in figures but tell you plainly of the Father. 26 In that day you will ask in my name; and I do not say to you that I shall pray the Father for you;  27 for the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came from the Father. 28 I came from the Father and have come into the world; again, I am leaving the world and going to the Father."

By rebirth in the Holy Spirit we are brothers and sisters of Jesus, the only begotten of the Father. Jesus called his Father Abba, Dad, the term of affection used in Aramaic by children to their fathers. The Spirit teaches us to use the same term in addressing God. Such is our relationship with God – one of intimacy and the confidence of a small child with a loving and tender father. Our elder Brother, Jesus, won this for us by his Death on the Cross It is his gift to us. So in Jesus’ name we must approach God with total trust because we are his children whom he loves dearly and for whom he will refuse nothing that is for our good. Do you relax in the arms of Abba, like a child in its mother’s arms (Psalm 131:2). Relax, all is well and all will be well.