Category: Prayers

THE BIG PICTURE

“When He comes, He will prove the world wrong.” –John 16:8 Mass Readings: May 23 First: Acts 16:22-34; Resp: Psalm 138:1-3,7-8; Gospel: John 16:5-11 Listen to the Mass Readings God has created the universe. “He holds the whole wide world in His hands.” God is big. He has big plans. He wants all to be saved (1 Tm 2:4). He commands us to make disciples of all nations (Mt 28:19). He calls us to live with Him in heaven forever. Each human being is very small. Each of us is like a microscopic dot on a microscopic planet. Our lives...

LYDIA

“The Lord opened [Lydia’s] heart to accept what Paul was saying.” –Acts 16:14 Mass Readings: May 22 First: Acts 16:11-15; Resp: Psalm 149:1-6,9; Gospel: John 15:26–16:4 Listen to the Mass Readings Lydia was a dealer in purple goods (Acts 16:14). In that day, purple cloth was an expensive item sought by the wealthy. Thus, Lydia was a woman of some means, as she owned a house, dealt with the wealthy, and knew how to operate in the circles of the elite. Lydia was also extraordinarily persuasive. She must have been a great saleswoman, and she “managed to prevail upon” St....

THE CONTRARY SPIRIT

“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 again the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them.” –Acts 16:6-7 Mass Readings: May 20 First: Acts 16:1-10; Resp: Psalm 100:1-3,5; Gospel: John 15:18-21 Listen to the Mass Readings Six days from today, the Church begins the Pentecost novena. In this way, we prepare our hearts and open them to the Holy Spirit. Although the Holy Spirit is our Joy, our Hope, and the Desire of our hearts, the Spirit,...

HOW TO BE DELIGHT-FUL

“When it was read there was great delight at the encouragement it gave.” –Acts 15:31 Mass Readings: May 19 First: Acts 15:22-31; Resp: Psalm 57:8-10,12; Gospel: John 15:12-17 Listen to the Mass Readings The leaders of the early Church sent a letter to the Gentile Christians of Antioch. The leaders told them that the Holy Spirit and the Church’s leaders had decided that the Gentile Christians were “to abstain from meat sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals, and from illicit sexual union” (Acts 15:29). When the letter “was read there was great delight at the...

BEAR THE MOST ABUNDANT FRUIT

“He who lives in Me and I in him, will produce abundantly.” –John 15:5 Mass Readings: May 17 First: Acts 15:1-6; Resp: Psalm 122:1-5; Gospel: John 15:1-8 Listen to the Mass Readings We must bear fruit: the fruit of holiness and evangelization, or be “like a withered, rejected branch, picked up to be thrown in the fire and burnt” (Jn 15:6; also 15:2), and be trimmed to increase our yield (Jn 15:2), by being attached to Jesus, the Vine (Jn 15:4-5), abundantly (Jn 15:5), and thereby glorify God the Father (Jn 15:8), and become Jesus’ disciples (Jn 15:8), for Jesus...