Lord reveal yourself to us through your Holy Spirit

CATHOLIC DAILY SCRIPTURE READING

Welcome to my blog. The Catholic Church under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit gives us each day at least two readings from the Bible, plus several verses from a psalm which is an inspired response to one of the readings, normally the first.

There is a cycle (a two year cycle for weekdays and a three year cycle for Sundays) which covers the major parts of the Old Testament, the Gospels and the New Testament writings.

Through these readings we get our spiritual nourishment. In my blog I give the readings and the inspirations I have received in my prayer. I want to share them with others. If they help some to get in touch with God and his image in this world, Jesus the Christ, then my purpose will be fulfilled. May God bless you through his Spirit.

Since today is Sunday, the day of the Lord’s Resurrection, there are three readings.

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Sunday 17 May 2020

Lord reveal yourself to us through your Holy Spirit

Cf. Is 48: 20

Proclaim a joyful sound and let it be heard;

proclaim to the ends of the earth:

The Lord has freed his people, alleluia.

Prayer

Father, Easter time is one of joy in the victory of Jesus over death. Help us to always experience the joy of the Risen Lord among us and may this joy be manifested in all we say and do. We make our prayer through your Son, Christ Jesus our Lord.

First reading

Acts 8:5-8,14-17 ·

They laid hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit

Philip went to a Samaritan town and proclaimed the Christ to them. The people united in welcoming the message Philip preached, either because they had heard of the miracles he worked or because they saw them for themselves. There were, for example, unclean spirits that came shrieking out of many who were possessed, and several paralytics and cripples were cured. As a result there was great rejoicing in that town.

When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them, and they went down there, and prayed for the Samaritans to receive the Holy Spirit, for as yet he had not come down on any of them: they had only been baptised in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then they laid hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit. THE WORD OF THE LORD

Prayerful reflection

The Holy Spirit is the greatest gift of Father and Son, because he is their Love. The Love of God is not something but Someone, their Holy Spirit.

In Baptism Jesus sends his Spirit to create us anew as God’s beloved children, liberated from Satan’s grasp and free from sin and given the very life of God. As a result, we call God, Abba – the name a small child uses for his/her father.

The child of God must live in the world among unbelievers and must be a light to them and salt. So, in Confirmation Jesus sends the Spirit to make us his witnesses, to be able to live and work in the world as God’s mature children. If you have been confirmed, call on the Spirit and you will get the ability to do all that God wants you to do for others.

Psalm (Make the psalm your prayer of gratitude for God’s Word)

Psalm 66:1-7,16,20

Cry out with joy to God, all the earth.

Cry out with joy to God all the earth,

O sing to the glory of his name.

O render him glorious praise.

Say to God: ‘How tremendous your deeds!

Cry out with joy to God, all the earth.

‘Before you all the earth shall bow;

shall sing to you, sing to your name!’

Come and see the works of God,

tremendous his deeds among men.

Cry out with joy to God, all the earth.

He turned the sea into dry land,

they passed through the river dry-shod.

Let our joy then be in him;

he rules for ever by his might.

Cry out with joy to God, all the earth.

Come and hear, all who fear God.

I will tell what he did for my soul:

Blessed be God who did not reject my prayer

nor withhold his love from me.

Cry out with joy to God, all the earth.

Second reading

1 Peter 3:15-18

In the body he was put to death, in the spirit he was raised to life

Reverence the Lord Christ in your hearts, and always have your answer ready for people who ask you the reason for the hope that you all have. But give it with courtesy and respect and with a clear conscience, so that those who slander you when you are living a good life in Christ may be proved wrong in the accusations that they bring. And if it is the will of God that you should suffer, it is better to suffer for doing right than for doing wrong.

Why, Christ himself, innocent though he was, had died once for sins, died for the guilty, to lead us to God. In the body he was put to death, in the spirit he was raised to life.

THE WORD OF THE LORD

Prayerful reflection

Most of us are not so well educated that we can give answers to all the questions people can ask about our faith. But our faith is not a system of theology. It is not something we learn like a subject in school. Our faith is primarily an experience. We have come to know Jesus who died for us on the Cross, was buried and rose again for us. He is alive and with us. To know him and to love him. This is our religion. We know him and love him all together and so we have liturgical worship. We know him and love individually so we have our own personal prayer and a life we live for him. With hm and for him, we are willing to suffer everything with patience, knowing that one day he will be our Salvation.

Gospel

John 14:15-21

I shall ask the Father and he will give you another Advocate

Jesus said to his disciples:

‘If you love me you will keep my commandments.

I shall ask the Father,

and he will give you another Advocate

to be with you for ever,

that Spirit of truth

whom the world can never receive

since it neither sees nor knows him;

but you know him,

because he is with you, he is in you.

I will not leave you orphans;

I will come back to you.

In a short time, the world will no longer see me;

but you will see me,

because I live and you will live.

On that day you will understand that I am in my Father

and you in me and I in you.

Anybody who receives my commandments and keeps them

will be one who loves me;

and anybody who loves me will be loved by my Father,

and I shall love him and show myself to him.’

THE GOSPEL OF THE LORD

Prayerful reflection

‘If you love me you will keep my commandments

In these chapters Jesus is speaking very intimately with his disciples. He is speaking intimately to us too. Though the God of the universe, in loving humility, he has become a human being. He wants to sit with you too and speak to your heart.  God who is now a flesh and blood human being, wants to call you his friend. He wants you to feel at home with him. The Word of HOSEA is being fulfilled: “I will now allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her” (2:14)­

If we become his friend then we will always want to please him, do what he wants us to do. That is friendship. His commandment is to love under all circumstances. To love is to live.

I shall ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you

for ever, that Spirit of truth whom the world can never receive.

Our friendship with Jesus opens the door to his greatest gift. That is the Spirit of truth, the Advocate (Latin: Ad: to, vocare: to call). The advocate: when we call him, he comes and stands next to us to support us in all the circumstances of life and death too. He is the personification of the mutual binding love of Father and Son in the Trinity. He now unites us to our Friend, Jesus and to the Father.

I will not leave you orphans; I will come back to you.

Jesus comes to us through the Holy Spirit because the Holy Spirit is his love. His love is a Person.

If we receive the Holy Spirit, then we receive Jesus and the Father, because he is their Love. We will lack nothing and enjoy the peace that only he can give. Open your heart and everyday call on the Advocate to stand beside you as a universal support.

Anybody who receives my commandments and keeps them

will be one who loves me;

and anybody who loves me will be loved by my Father,

and I shall love him and show myself to him.

The key to experiencing Jesus in this life is to keep his commandment: love one another as I have loved you. In this are contained all the commandments. Jesus will, then, become a real person for us. What more do we need?

Jn 14: 15-16

If you love me, keep my commandments, says the Lord,

and I will ask the Father and he will send you another Paraclete,

to abide with you for ever, alleluia.

Prayer

Loving Father, Almighty God, through the Resurrection of Jesus you give us eternal life. Through the bread of your Word nourish us so that we may live as your Son lived in this world. We make our prayer through your Son, Christ Jesus, our Lord.

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