Responsorial
Psalm – Psalm 26(27):1,4, 7-8 ©
Second
Reading – 1 Peter 4:13-16 ©
Gospel
Acclamation – John 14:18
The Gospel According to John 17:1-11 ©
(NJB)
The Seventh Sunday of Easter
(Year A) The Ascension
Be mindful!
Prayer is good, though it is nothing without
charity.
Go out and do good, love one another as Jesus did.
That is what we are meant to take away from the
reading from the Book of Acts.
God is good.
Open your eyes and you will see God’s goodness, you
will see the goodness of God even in the faces of your adversaries.
See them.
God is good.
Open your ears and you will hear God’s goodness,
even in the voices of your opponents.
Listen to them.
God is good.
God loves you, and God loves all people.
Open your heart to the people, even your enemies, invite
them to your table
Share with them.
Be mindful!
If you share in the sufferings of Christ, know that
you are on the side of justice and mercy.
And know this, if you are suffering and it is not
because of the love you bear to all people, then your suffering is not the
suffering of Christ
One way or another, do not boast of your suffering,
it is unseemly and arrogant.
Be humble!
You will get nothing extra for your service to God,
your share in God’s blessing will be the same as that of anyone and everyone
else.
Remember the laborers in the vineyard.
We may have faith in this, because God loves all
people equally, and the spirit of God, of God who created the universe; that
spirit rests on all people without distinction, we share in it the same.
Good and bad, we are the same.
God, the creator of the universe, God abandon’s
no-one.
God will leave no orphans, no-one shall be left
apart, stranded in the throws of sin.
Not one of us will be lost.
Consider the Gospel for today.
Consider how the apostles get it wrong…again
Be
mindful of how the writers of John’s Gospel reveal their fundamental
misunderstanding of Jesus and mission.
Strive
to be more patient than they were.
Listen!
The
ministry of Jesus was centered on real people, actual people living real lives,
facing real hardship in the real world.
His
gaze was focused toward us on Earth with him, not on the heavens, or some
imagined and ephemeral glory.
Jesus
was not here to seek glory, or power, or dominion over mankind.
Jesus
was selfless and meek; he gave everything away, including his life.
There
is a kind of power in this, but it is not power in the sense of force or
energy, or miltant might. Our word power, comes from the Latin potens, potare, meaning ability.
Jesus
possessed power insofar as he possessed the ability to love.
Jesus
was not a Gnostic, but the writers of John would make him out to be one.
He
did not teach a secret doctrine.
He
himself wrote nothing down.
Jesus
taught by the word of his mouth, and more significantly through his actions.
He
proclaimed justice and promoted love; through healing and sharing, and
community work.
Jesus
prayed, but he only gave us one prayer, in that prayer he prayed for bread to
feed the people, he asked for mercy, and the strength to be merciful.
Know
this
If
or when the Church is finally able to emulate the life and teaching of Jesus,
then and only then will Christ have risen within it.
First Reading – Acts 1:12-14
©
The Apostles All Joined
in Continuous Prayer
After Jesus was taken up into heaven the apostles
went back from the Mount of Olives, as it is called, to Jerusalem, a short
distance away, no more than a sabbath walk; and when they reached the city they
went to the upper room where they were staying; there were Peter and John,
James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James son of
Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot, and Jude son of James. All these joined in
continuous prayer, together with several women, including Mary the mother of
Jesus, and with his brothers.
Responsorial Psalm – Psalm
26(27):1,4, 7-8 ©
I am sure I shall see the Lord’s goodness in the
land of the living.
Alleluia!
The Lord is my light and my help;
whom shall I
fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life;
before whom
shall I shrink?
I am sure I shall see the Lord’s goodness in the
land of the living.
There is one thing I ask of the Lord,
for this I
long,
to live in the house of the Lord,
all the days
of my life,
to savour the sweetness of the Lord,
to behold
his temple.
I am sure I shall see the Lord’s goodness in the
land of the living.
O Lord, hear my voice when I call;
have mercy
and answer.
Of you my heart has spoken:
‘Seek his face.’
I am sure I shall see the Lord’s goodness in the
land of the living.
Alleluia!
Second Reading – 1 Peter
4:13-16 ©
It is a Blessing for You When
They Insult You for Bearing the Name of Christ
If you can have some share in the sufferings of
Christ, be glad, because you will enjoy a much greater gladness when his glory
is revealed. It is a blessing for you when they insult you for bearing the name
of Christ, because it means that you have the Spirit of glory, the Spirit of
God resting on you. None of you should ever deserve to suffer for being a
murderer, a thief, a criminal or an informer; but if anyone of you should
suffer for being a Christian, then he is not to be ashamed of it; he should
thank God that he has been called one.
Gospel Acclamation – John
14:18
Alleluia, alleluia!
I will not leave you orphans, says the Lord;
I will come back to you,
and your hearts will be full of joy.
Alleluia!
The Gospel According to
John 17:1-11 ©
Father, It is Time for You
to Glorify Me
Jesus
raised his eyes to heaven and said:
‘Father,
the hour has come: glorify your Son so that your Son may glorify you; and,
through the power over all mankind that you have given him, let him give
eternal life to all those you have entrusted to him.
And
eternal life is this: to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you
have sent. I have glorified you on earth and finished the work that you gave me
to do. Now, Father, it is time for you to glorify me with that glory I had with
you before ever the world was. I have made your name known to the men you took
from the world to give me.
They
were yours and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now at last
they know that all you have given me comes indeed from you; for I have given
them the teaching you gave to me, and they have truly accepted this, that I
came from you, and have believed that it was you who sent me.
I
pray for them; I am not praying for the world but for those you have given me, because
they belong to you: all I have is yours and all you have is mine, and in them I
am glorified. I am not in the world any longer, but they are in the world, and
I am coming to you.’
The Seventh Sunday of Easter
(Year A) The Ascension
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