May 21, 2022 Saturday of the Fifth Week of Easter

 2022년 5월 21일 부활 제5주간 토요일

오늘의 복음 : http://info.catholic.or.kr/missa/default.asp 

제1독서

<마케도니아로 건너와 저희를 도와주십시오.>

사도행전. 16,1-10
그 무렵 1 바오로는 데르베를 거쳐 리스트라에 당도하였다.
그곳에 티모테오라는 제자가 있었는데,
그는 신자가 된 유다 여자와 그리스인 아버지 사이에 태어난 아들로서,
2 리스트라와 이코니온에 있는 형제들에게 좋은 평판을 받고 있었다.
3 바오로는 티모테오와 동행하기를 원하였다.
그래서 그 고장에 사는 유다인들을 생각하여
그를 데려다가 할례를 베풀었다.
그의 아버지가 그리스인이라는 것을 그들이 모두 알고 있었기 때문이다.

4 바오로 일행은 여러 고을을 두루 다니며,
예루살렘에 있는 사도들과 원로들이 정한 규정들을
신자들에게 전해 주며 지키게 하였다.
5 그리하여 그곳 교회들은 믿음이 굳건해지고 신자들의 수도 나날이 늘어 갔다.
6 성령께서 아시아에 말씀을 전하는 것을 막으셨으므로,
그들은 프리기아와 갈라티아 지방을 가로질러 갔다.
7 그리고 미시아에 이르러 비티니아로 가려고 하였지만,
예수님의 영께서 허락하지 않으셨다.
8 그리하여 미시아를 지나 트로아스로 내려갔다.
9 그런데 어느 날 밤 바오로가 환시를 보았다.
마케도니아 사람 하나가 바오로 앞에 서서,
“마케도니아로 건너와 저희를 도와주십시오.” 하고 청하는 것이었다.
10 바오로가 그 환시를 보고 난 뒤,
우리는 곧 마케도니아로 떠날 방도를 찾았다.
마케도니아 사람들에게 복음을 전하도록
하느님께서 우리를 부르신 것이라고 확신하였기 때문이다. 

복음

<너희는 세상에 속하지 않을 뿐만 아니라 내가 너희를 세상에서 뽑았다.>

요한. 15,18-21
그때에 예수님께서 제자들에게 말씀하셨다.
18 “세상이 너희를 미워하거든
너희보다 먼저 나를 미워하였다는 것을 알아라.
19 너희가 세상에 속한다면
세상은 너희를 자기 사람으로 사랑할 것이다.
그러나 너희가 세상에 속하지 않을 뿐만 아니라
내가 너희를 세상에서 뽑았기 때문에,
세상이 너희를 미워하는 것이다.
20 ‘종은 주인보다 높지 않다.’고 내가 너희에게 한 말을 기억하여라.
사람들이 나를 박해하였으면 너희도 박해할 것이고,
내 말을 지켰으면 너희 말도 지킬 것이다.
21 그러나 그들은 내 이름 때문에
너희에게 그 모든 일을 저지를 것이다.
그들이 나를 보내신 분을 알지 못하기 때문이다.” 

May 21, 2022

Saturday of the Fifth Week of Easter 

Daily Readings — Audio

Daily Reflections — Video

http://www.usccb.org/bible/ 

Daily Mass : http://www.catholictv.com/shows/daily-mass 

Reading 1

 Acts 16:1-10

Paul reached also Derbe and Lystra
where there was a disciple named Timothy,
the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer,
but his father was a Greek.
The brothers in Lystra and Iconium spoke highly of him,
and Paul wanted him to come along with him.
On account of the Jews of that region, Paul had him circumcised,
for they all knew that his father was a Greek.
As they traveled from city to city,
they handed on to the people for observance the decisions
reached by the Apostles and presbyters in Jerusalem.
Day after day the churches grew stronger in faith
and increased in number.

They traveled through the Phrygian and Galatian territory
because they had been prevented by the Holy Spirit
from preaching the message in the province of Asia.
When they came to Mysia, they tried to go on into Bithynia,
but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them,
so they crossed through Mysia and came down to Troas.
During the night Paul had a vision.
A Macedonian stood before him and implored him with these words,
“Come over to Macedonia and help us.”
When he had seen the vision,
we sought passage to Macedonia at once, 
concluding that God had called us to proclaim the Good News to them.

Responsorial Psalm 

100:1b-2, 3, 5

R. (2a) Let all the earth cry out to God with joy.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Sing joyfully to the LORD, all you lands;
serve the LORD with gladness;
come before him with joyful song.
R. Let all the earth cry out to God with joy.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Know that the LORD is God;
he made us, his we are;
his people, the flock he tends.
R. Let all the earth cry out to God with joy.
or:
R. Alleluia.
The LORD is good:
his kindness endures forever,
and his faithfulness, to all generations.
R. Let all the earth cry out to God with joy.
or:
R. Alleluia.

Gospel 

Jn 15:18-21

Jesus said to his disciples: 
“If the world hates you, realize that it hated me first.
If you belonged to the world, the world would love its own;
but because you do not belong to the world,
and I have chosen you out of the world,
the world hates you.
Remember the word I spoke to you,
‘No slave is greater than his master.’
If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you.
If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.
And they will do all these things to you on account of my name,
because they do not know the one who sent me.”  

http://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/daily.html

 So Simple, yet so Profound

“No one likes me, everyone hates me, guess I’ll go eat worms.”  A children’s woeful ditty of unknown origin.  Judith Viorst’s beloved children’s book “Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day” - the title says it all. Eeyore the donkey in A.A. Milne’s “Winnie the Pooh” says, “ (Life)It could be worse, but I don’t know how.”  Eeyore perpetually feels sad, grumpy, irritable, left-out, disliked. Sentiments not just of children. Grown-ups experience these same feelings.  We have recently witnessed Jesus being scoffed at, betrayed, abandoned, grief-stricken, terrorized, and feeling alone among his disciples.  I have experienced some of these same feelings.  Jesus knows us, his chosen people, his beloved.  He knows us and loves us individually.  Jesus knows my pain, my trials and my tribulations.  Jesus knows my joy and my hope.

In today’s gospel, we hear Jesus say to his disciples, “If the world hates you, realize that it hated me first”. Jesus says to us: “I have loved you first”. In other words, we belong to Jesus. The world may hate me, but it doesn’t own me.  I belong to Jesus.

Through Lent, Holy Week and Jesus’s Resurrection we walked with Jesus. Jesus revealed himself to us in an intimate way as never before.  During those days, Jesus invited us to stay with him. To support, comfort and abide with him. And so we did, or tried to. Jesus was vulnerable.  As a community, we celebrated the Last Supper with Jesus and his apostles.  We washed each other’s feet.  We tried to stay awake with his other disciples as Jesus prayed and wept in the garden.  We hid in fear, maybe denied Jesus as did Peter.  Possibly we protected ourselves in crouching in the crowd as Jesus was condemned to death.  Maybe in a state of shock and disbelief we trudged along with the jeering crowd up the hill to Golgotha.  What was happening to Jesus was terrifying and believable. Possibly we cowered in fear for our own lives.  What had gone so wrong?  What were we left with?  What was I left with?  Without Jesus how were we to go on?  How was I to go on? 

 Throughout the New Testament, Jesus repeatedly says “I will never leave you.”
“ I will not forsake you…”I will not abandon you”…”I will be with you through it all”…you are mine.” Jesus left us with 33 years of lived example of how to live in relationship with God and with each other.  But still I trip, stub my toes, even fall.  I often ridicule and abandon another – stranger and friend.

Jesus left us two extraordinary gifts with his resurrection:  Hope and Joy.  Hope, such a little word without which all creation suffers and eventually dies. Hope is the living incentive to building the Kingdom.  Hope is rooted in unwavering belief and trust in God – God’s majesty, God’s mercy and God’s love – for me and for all creation.
Joy, an even smaller word, is what sustains us.  Joy far surpasses excitement, pleasure and happiness which are transient.  Joy is grounded, stable, reliable, unwavering.  Joy is a way of being.  Joy is God dwelling within me.  I am God’s joy and hope.  Joy binds me to God and God to me.  They bind me to others.  I can experience happiness or sadness and still live grounded in joy.  Joy is not transient.  

Simply Profound yet Profoundly Simple

 http://www.presentationministries.com/obob/obob.asp

THE SCENE OF THE CRIME

Paul “came to Lystra.” —Acts 16:1

In the city of Lystra, St. Paul had stones smashed against his skull until he was knocked unconscious (Acts 14:19). His enemies dragged him through and out of town, and threw him to the ground, possibly into the dump. Paul’s disciples formed a circle around him, and he either regained consciousness or was raised from the dead. Then Paul amazingly, courageously, went back into Lystra (Acts 14:20).

He even returned on two other occasions to Lystra, the scene of the crimes against him (Acts 14:21; 16:1). The last time we hear of Paul in Lystra was when he called St. Timothy into the ministry (Acts 16:1-3). If Paul hadn’t returned to the scene of the crime, if he hadn’t been healed enough and courageous enough to go back, possibly Timothy would never have been raised up as one of the great disciples and leaders of the early Church.

Where is your Lystra? Where is the scene of the crimes against you? Where and by whom have you been hurt deeply? Be healed. Go back. Let faith overcome fear. There’s a blessing, a miracle in your Lystra, if you have the healing and courage to return.

Prayer:  Risen Jesus, take my hand. Lead me through the desert to the promised land.

Promise:  “The reason [the world] hates you is that you do not belong to the world. But I chose you out of the world.” —Jn 15:19

Praise:  St. Christopher served as a priest in Mexico. At the time, the secular government severely persecuted Catholics. He secretly founded a seminary, not allowing intimidation to stop priestly education.

 http://dailyscripture.servantsoftheword.org/readings/

 

 What does Jesus mean when he says "you are not of this world"? The world in Scripture refers to that society of people who are hostile towards God and opposed to his will. The world rejected the Lord Jesus and treated him with contempt, and his disciples can expect the same treatment. The Lord Jesus leaves no middle ground for his followers. We are either for him or against him, for his kingdom of light and truth or for the kingdom of darkness and deception. The prophet Isaiah warned that people who separate themselves from God because of their rebellious pride and spiritual blindness would end up calling evil good and good evil (Isaiah 5:20).

"Those who kept my word" (John 15:20)
If we want to live in the light of God's truth, how can we rightly distinguish good from evil and truth from deception? True love of God and his ways draw us to all that is lovely, truthful and good. If we truly love God then we will submit to his truth and obey his word. A friend of God cannot expect to be a friend of the world because the world is opposed to God's truth and way of righteousness.

"I chose you out of the world" (John 15:18)
Jesus' demand is unequivocal and without compromise. Do not love the world or the things in the world. If any one loves the world, love for the Father is not in him (1 John 2:15). We must make a choice either for or against God. Do you seek to please God in all your intentions, actions, and relationships? Let the Holy Spirit fill your heart and mind with the love and truth of God (Romans 5:5).

Lord Jesus, may the fire of your love fill my heart with an eagerness to please you in all things. May there be no rivals to my love and devotion to you who are my all.

Psalm 100:1-5

1 Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the lands!
2 Serve the LORD with gladness! Come into his presence with singing!
3 Know that the LORD is God! It is he that made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him, bless his name!
5 For the LORD is good; his steadfast love endures for ever, and his faithfulness to all generations.

Daily Quote from the Early Church Fathers: Those who suffer with Christ reign with Christ, by Cyril of Alexandria, 375-444 A.D.

"It is just as if Jesus said, 'I, the creator of the universe, who have everything under my hand, both in heaven and on earth, did not bridle their rage or restrain ... their inclinations. Rather, I let each one choose their own course and permitted all to do what they wanted. Therefore, when I was persecuted, I endured it even though I had the power of preventing it. When you too follow in my wake and pursue the same course I did, you also will be persecuted. You're going to have to momentarily endure the aversion of those who hate you without being overly troubled by the ingratitude of those whom you benefit. This is how you attain my glory, for those who suffer with me shall also reign with me.'" (excerpt from COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 10.2)

  

More Homilies

May 8, 2021 Saturday of the Fifth Week of Easter