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Reflections
for Sunday, May 22, 2011
We can hear that the Gospel is already leading us to the Ascension and to
Pentecost! It is not easy to let the Easter Mystery of Resurrection rush
by so quickly, but these 50 days of Easter seem to go very, very quickly.
The today's first reading, from the Acts of the Apostles, we are already
hearing of the early structuring of the Church. Lots of people today don't
want to believe that Jesus actually established a Church here on earth. It
seems, however, that any honest reading of the Gospel and the New Testament
in general leaves an impression that Jesus did intend His movement to go on
after His death and that He he established some structures to help that:
baptism, marriage, commissioning of ministers, etc.
The Acts of the Apostles speaks of the establishment of deacons. These
deacons were to take care of the poor so that the Apostles could go on
preaching the Word of God. That is a structure, no matter how minimal.
Today's second reading, from the First Letter of Peter, speaks about
choosing the rejected stone as the corner stone. It speaks about our
stumbling by disobeying the word. Finally it speaks about the God who
calls us out of darkness into His wonderful light. This letter is for all
of us. All of us reject Christ from time to time. If we remain faithful,
it is because we repent of our unfaithfulness. God is calling us out of
darkness into His own wonderful light each and every day. We are invited
to respond to that call today because always today is the day of
salvation.
John's Gospel today speaks about following Jesus on the way. His first
followers protested that they did not know the way. Jesus is very clear:
He is the way. We must remain in communion with the Lord Jesus. How do we
do that? By striving to obey His word, by repenting when we don't and by
striving to respond to His love.
Following the Lord is not something all that difficult in the beginning.
It becomes difficult only as the Lord asks more and more of us. Jesus asks
us more as we come to know Him. If we stay at the fringe of His love, He
cannot ask much of us. The more we respond to His love and leave the
fringes, the more He will ask of us. May we give our entire lives out of
love for Him.
Readings of the day:
First Reading:
Second Reading:
Gospel:
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Reflections are available for the following Sundays:
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