Readings Acts 14:19-28 Jn 14:27-31a. In this morning’s first reading we are told that as Paul and Barnabas made their way back through the churches they had founded, ‘they put fresh heart into the disciples, encouraging them to persevere in the faith’. We all need encouragement, especially with regard to our faith and our relationship with the Lord. We need to keep putting fresh heart into each other, encouraging each other to persevere in the faith. That is what we find Jesus doing in the gospel reading. It is the night of the last supper; the disciples are feeling discouraged.…
Homily for Monday, Fifth Week of Easter
Readings Acts 14:5-18 Jn 14:21-26 When Paul is speaking to a pagan audience in today’s first reading, he tells them that the living God did not leave them without evidence of himself in the good things he did for them, such as abundant rain, the growth of crops, sufficient food. It can be helpful for us to recognize the presence of the living God in the good things in our own lives. Even amidst struggle and loss, good things can be found, and all such good things are little reminders of the presence of the living God. The most precious…
Homily for Saturday, Fourth Week of Easter
R Acts 13:44-52 Jn 14:7-14 Perhaps we can easily identify with Philip’s request to Jesus at the beginning of this morning’s gospel reading, ‘Let us see the Father and then we shall be satisfied’. Philip speaks out of the awareness that ultimate satisfaction is to be found in seeing God, in being in communion with God. We often live with a sense of dissatisfaction. We are aware of desires and longings in us that are not fully satisfied. There are moments when we can feel wonderfully happy, happier than we could ever have imagined, when, like Peter on the mount…
Homily for Friday, Fourth Week of Easter
R Acts 13:26-33 Jn 14:1-6. When someone you love deeply is seriously ill and is not going to get better, it is a real way of the cross. You feel helpless before the physical decline of the person who has meant so much to you for so long. You sense that all you can do is to travel this difficult journey with your loved one, doing all you can to make that journey a little easier. At the last supper, the disciples were aware that Jesus who had come to mean so much to them was soon to die, and…
