Category: Memory Verse

“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,...

“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...

“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...

” ‘Peace’ is My farewell to you, My peace is My gift to you.” –John 14:27 Mass Readings: May 16 First: Acts 14:19-28;Resp: Psalm 145:10-13,21; Gospel: John 14:27-31 Listen to the Mass Readings In Jesus’ last will and testament, He left His disciples the gift of shalom-peace. This means He left us a godly order and harmony in our lives. Jesus’ Church is the executor of His will in that He has given it the responsibility of spelling out the details of shalom-peace. If we accept our inheritance from the Lord and listen to His Church, we will have a...

“The Holy Spirit Whom the Father will send in My name will instruct you in everything.” –John 14:26 Mass Readings: May 15 First: Acts 14:5-18; Resp: Psalm 115:1-4,15-16;Gospel: John 14:21-26 Listen to the Mass Readings As Jesus is a Paraclete and Teacher (see Jn 20:16), so the Holy Spirit is “another Paraclete” (Jn 14:16) and another Teacher (Jn 14:26). The right attitude to have towards a teacher is to be teachable, that is, docile. Pope St. John Paul II has taught that the Holy Spirit is “received by the humble and docile heart of the believer” (Splendor of the Truth,...