Jn 15:1-8

In the real spiritual life of an ongoing faith/relationship with the living “de vine” God, we will experience trimming.  The blossoms and fruit that this Vinegrower knows are hidden only in potential (even and especially when we do not) are gifts of this greening Spirit.  What is coming into being is our, shall we say, “divinization”—our sharing in the very life and “who-ness” of Christ that produces holiness and compassion.  These fruits that God sees in us (even when we do not) include virtues our world very much needs in these days:  charity, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, awe in God’s presence…..especially peace….

"My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give it to you"

Prayer for peace is not an afterthought to the work of peace. It is of the very essence of building the peace of order, justice, and freedom. To pray for peace is to open the human heart to the inroads of God's power to renew all things. With the life-giving force of his grace, God can create openings for peace where only obstacles and closures are apparent… To pray for peace is to pray for justice…

Acts 14:5-18; John 14:21-26

The gospel reading today gives us chance to reflect on one of the fundamental mysteries of our Christian faith: the Trinity.  All three of the divine persons are part of the reading from John’s gospel.  The passage is an excerpt from the long and beautifully nuanced discourse Jesus gives to his disciples before his death.  The passage in its entirety is a kind of “last will and testament” of Jesus to his closest friends and companions.  It is Jesus’ way of continuing to let himself be known to the disciples and of helping them to look forward to the day when he would not be with them any longer in the flesh.

Acts 14:21-27; Revelation 21:1-5; John 13:31-33, 34-35

"People are often unreasonable, irrational, and self-centered; forgive them anyway.  If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives; be kind anyway.
If you are successful, you will win some unfaithful friends and some genuine enemies; succeed anyway.
If you are honest and sincere, people may deceive you; be honest and sincere anyway.
What you spend years creating others could destroy overnight; create anyway.
The good you do today will often be forgotten; do the good anyway.
Give the best you have and it may never be enough; give your best anyway.
In the final analysis, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway." Mother Teresa

Acts 13:44-52; John 14:7-14

In today’s Gospel, the apostle Philip has a problem that most of us might honestly admit we wrestle with too. “Master, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.” Jesus’ response makes lots of sense theologically. “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.” After all, Jesus is in the Father and the Father is in him. But the challenge comes when we know the Son in the flesh. Our sensible nature has a difficult time peeling away the flesh and blood of his human nature and recognizing what remains, the pure spirit that is God. Of course the divine attributes are there; infinity, omnipotence, immutability, omniscience, and so on. But we are so immersed in the senses; sight, sound, touch, taste and smell, that once these are eliminated we can’t imagine what is left.

Acts 13:26-33; John 14:1-6

It must have been tough to be one of the 12 apostles. This gospel brings home to me both the leap of faith these men made over and over again and how Jesus is nearly always patient with them.  (I say nearly always because at times I read a little exasperation, like the exasperation of a father when his son or daughter doesn’t heed a warning. Be careful walking backward, the dad might say. And then, when backwards walking doesn’t work out so well, a shake of the head as the dad picks up the child, brushes him off and gives him a hug before the next adventure.)

Sr. Władysława Sitarz SAC, Poland

* 18.03.1931  † 27.04.2019

R.I.P.

Sr. M. Władysława Sitarz, daughter of Władysław and Helena Rusin, was born on 18 March 1931 in Żarnówek near Maków Podhalański. On 22 March she was baptized in the parish church in Maków Podhalański (Diocese of Cracow), and in 1942 she received the sacrament of confirmation in Żarnówek. She joined the Congregation of the Missionary Sisters of the Catholic Apostolate (Pallottines) on 15 September 1950 in Lidzbark Warmiński, and there, on August 15, 1951, she received the religious habit. She made her first profession of religious vows on August 5, 1953 in Suchary, and perpetual vows on August 5, 1959, also in Suchary.

 April 2019

Rome

▪ His Holiness Pope Francis during Urbi et orbi  addressed to the faithful gathered at St. Peter’s Square and to every person in the world His Easter message as he began; “Christ is alive! He is our hope, and in a wonderful way he brings youth to our world. Everything he touches becomes young, new, full of life. The very first words, then, that I would like to say to every young Christian are these: Christ is alive and he wants you to be alive! He is in you, he is with you and he never abandons you. However far you may wander, he is always there, the Risen One. He calls you and he waits for you to return to him and start over again. When you feel you are growing old out of sorrow, resentment or fear, doubt or failure, he will always be there to restore your strength and your hope” (Christus Vivit 1-2).