May 20, 2019

May 20

May 20, 2019:  Monday, 5th week, Easter

See 14 connections with today?Legend below
Listen

Pope Francis to PIME missionaries
When PIME was founded, religious orders carried out most missionary work; it was a new idea for others to devote their lives to foreign missions.  Your history is marked by the holiness of your members, 19 of whom gave their lives as martyrs.  Yours is a family of apostles, an international community of priests and lay people who live in communion of life and activity.
The work of evangelization is the grace and vocation of your Institute.  The mission ad gentes is not yours to possess; the driving impulse comes from God alone.  Only by inserting ourselves into God's initiative may we become evangelizers (Evangelii Gaudium 112).
You put the mission at the center of life, with passion and urgency.  Don't fear to undertake a missionary option capable of transforming everything, so the Church’s customs, ways of doing things, schedules, language, and structures may be channeled for the evangelization of the world.
Read
  • Acts 14:5-18  Gentiles and Jews, with their leaders, tried to stone Paul and Barnabas, who realized it, fled, and continued to proclaim the Good News.  A cripple listened to Paul, who, seeing he had faith to be healed, called out, “Stand on your feet.”  Seeing him walking, the crowds cried out, “Gods have come down to us.”  The priest of Zeus brought oxen to offer sacrifice, but the Apostles shouted, “We're human like you and proclaim the good news to you so you may turn from idols to the living God....”
  • Ps 115:1-4, 15-16  "Not to us, O Lord, but to your name give the glory."  Our God is in heaven; their idols, peoples' handiwork.
  • Jn 14:21-26  “Whoever observes my commandments loves me and will be loved by my Father, and I'll love him and reveal myself to him.  Whoever loves me will keep my word, and we will make our dwelling with him....  The Advocate, the Holy Spirit the Father will send, will teach you everything and remind you of all I told you.”
Reflect
  • Creighton:  Today's gospel promises the Spirit.  Acts goes against how we might expect the Spirit to work; Paul and Barnabas fled from a hostile crowd, then faced an awkward situation after a cure where they were identified as Greek gods.
'Paraclete' (παράκλητος, 'advocate'),
not 'parakeet' :-)
Two of the Spirit's gifts are fortitude and wisdom. Fortitude is courage in adversity, not strength of will.  Paul and Barnabas fled but didn't give up; they worked where they had greater impact.  How we understood past things affects how we understand things now:  the crowd interpreted Paul's actions in the religious context they knew....
  • Creighton:  If we love Jesus, we'll be loved in return and he'll reveal himself to us.  The ways that I am finding myself being called to love Jesus is developing, as are Jesus’ love for me and how he's being revealed.  It challenges me to attune my awareness.  How can I bring new eyes and an open heart to my daily life to notice God's new self-revelation?  The daily examen invites us to look with gratitude on our day, noticing when we experienced God’s love and/or felt distant from it.  Praying it cultivates awareness of God's self-revelation.
  • One Bread, One Body:  We may think we love Jesus but behave otherwise.  If we want to love someone, it's best to learn from the beloved how they want to be loved.  Jesus tells us:  obey his commands; be true to his word.  If we don't spend time to know his word, we may think we're loving him while actually giving him what he doesn't want.  May we show Jesus we love him through lives of service.

  • Passionist:  "Loving Jesus":  Jesus invites us to love him in word and deed and reminds us that the Spirit will inflame us so God's love at work in us will accomplish great things.  Paul and Barnabas let that Spirit work in and through them.  Earlier, they'd experienced rejection and persecution, and now, a cripple was healed and the crowd began to treat them like gods!  They were horrified at the adulation, flowers, and sacrifices, knowing that their power and goodness were from God alone.  May we realize that God lives and acts in us as we love Jesus with our whole self.  The good we do or evil we overcome is because of God's presence and action in us.  May God bless us with grateful, generous hearts, afire with the Spirit of Love...
    St. Bernardine, pray for us.
  • DailyScripture.net:  "If you love me, keep my word":  Jesus is preparing his disciples for his return to his Father, exhorting them to prove their love for him through their obedience to his word and promising them the instruction and consolation of the Spirit.  The Lord loves each of us as if there were only one of us to love (Augustine).  The Spirit helps us grow in knowledge of God and his love, enables us to experience God's love and be sure of his presence, and opens us to hear and understand God's word.  Holy Spirit, inflame me with love of God and his word.
    Special greetings to and prayers for the communities of
    St. Bernardine of Siena Parish and School in Woodland Hills
    and our neighbor Diocese of San Bernardino

     Dress legend
    • 'Stone' tie pin:  They tried to stone Paul and Barnabas (1st reading)
    • 'Eyeball' tie pin:  Paul looked intently at the cripple,... (1st reading)
    • 'Feet' pin:  ...and shouted, “Stand on your feet” (1st reading)
    • 'Walker' tie pin:  Lystra cripple, healed, began to walk about (1st reading)
    • 'Fire' pin:  They intended to offer sacrifice (1st reading)
    • 'Helm' tie pin:  'Turn' from these idols to the living God (1st reading)
    • 'Heart' pin:  "God filled you with nourishment and gladness for your hearts" (1st reading)
    • 'People' tie:  Barnabas and Paul:  "We're people, not gods" (1st reading)
    • 'Boundless mercy' pin:  Glory to you, Lord, because of your mercy and truth (psalm)
    • '?' tie pin:  Why should the pagans say, “Where is their God?”? (psalm)
    • Silver- and gold-colored accessories:  Their idols are silver and gold (psalm)
    • 'Dove' pin:  The Father will send the Advocate, the Spirit,... (gospel)
    • 'Celebrate teaching' pin:  ...to teach and remind you (gospel)
    • White shirt and socks:  Easter season
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