Tagged: Daily Promises

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...

FIGHTING OVER THE WILL

” ‘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 DOCILE WILL INHERIT THE EARTH (see Mt 5:5)

“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,...

THE TEMPTATION TO DO GOOD

“This will permit us to concentrate on prayer and the ministry of the word.” –Acts 6:4 There is no chaining the Word of God (2 Tm 2:9), but the messengers of God’s Word can be chained. We are often chained through sin, selfishness, or fear. However, we can be chained in more subtle ways. For example, the devil tried to chain the apostles by making them think they needed to cut back temporarily on prayer and the ministry of the Word to deal with a disagreement in the early Church (Acts 6:2ff). He tempted them by encouraging them to do...