May 16
Seventh Sunday of Easter
Give a Mass Offering
Mass Intentions
4:00 PM – John Stach / James & Carmella Conte
7:30 AM – Kristen Gerthoffer Woodmansee / Family
10:30 AM – Anne DeSantis / The Dutter Family
5:00 PM – Dan & Agnes Broader & Rev. Patrick Keating / Mary Ellen Brown
Prayer for Spiritual Communion
My Jesus, I believe that you are present in the most Blessed Sacrament. I love You above all things and I desire to receive You into my soul. Since I cannot now receive You sacramentally, come at least spiritually into my heart. I embrace You as if You were already there, and unite myself wholly to You. Never permit me to be separated from You. Amen.
Readings
First Reading
Acts 1:15-17, 20a, 20c-26
Peter stood up in the midst of the brothers —there was a group of about one hundred and twenty persons in the one place —. He said, “My brothers, the Scripture had to be fulfilled which the Holy Spirit spoke beforehand through the mouth of David, concerning Judas, who was the guide for those who arrested Jesus. He was numbered among us and was allotted a share in this ministry.
“For it is written in the Book of Psalms: May another take his office.
“Therefore, it is necessary that one of the men who accompanied us the whole time the Lord Jesus came and went among us, beginning from the baptism of John until the day on which he was taken up from us, become with us a witness to his resurrection.” So they proposed two, Judas called Barsabbas, who was also known as Justus, and Matthias. Then they prayed, “You, Lord, who know the hearts of all, show which one of these two you have chosen to take the place in this apostolic ministry from which Judas turned away to go to his own place.” Then they gave lots to them, and the lot fell upon Matthias, and he was counted with the eleven apostles.
Responsorial Psalm
Psalms 103:1-2, 11-12, 19-20
R. (19a) The Lord has set his throne in heaven.
Bless the LORD, O my soul;
and all my being, bless his holy name.
Bless the LORD, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits.
R. The Lord has set his throne in heaven.
For as the heavens are high above the earth,
so surpassing is his kindness toward those who fear him.
As far as the east is from the west,
so far has he put our transgressions from us.
R. The Lord has set his throne in heaven.
The LORD has established his throne in heaven,
and his kingdom rules over all.
Bless the LORD, all you his angels,
you mighty in strength, who do his bidding.
R. The Lord has set his throne in heaven.
Second Reading
1 John 4:11-16
Beloved, if God so loved us, we also must love one another. No one has ever seen God. Yet, if we love one another, God remains in us, and his love is brought to perfection in us.
This is how we know that we remain in him and he in us, that he has given us of his Spirit. Moreover, we have seen and testify that the Father sent his Son as savior of the world. Whoever acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God remains in him and he in God. We have come to know and to believe in the love God has for us.
God is love, and whoever remains in love remains in God and God in him.
Gospel Acclamation
Cf. Jn 14:18
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
I will not leave you orphans, says the Lord.
I will come back to you, and your hearts will rejoice.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
John 17:11b-19
Lifting up his eyes to heaven, Jesus prayed saying: “Holy Father, keep them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one just as we are one. When I was with them I protected them in your name that you gave me, and I guarded them, and none of them was lost except the son of destruction, in order that the Scripture might be fulfilled. But now I am coming to you. I speak this in the world so that they may share my joy completely. I gave them your word, and the world hated them, because they do not belong to the world any more than I belong to the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world but that you keep them from the evil one. They do not belong to the world any more than I belong to the world. Consecrate them in the truth. Your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I sent them into the world. And I consecrate myself for them, so that they also may be consecrated in truth.”
“The Lord has set his throne in heaven.”
Reflection
First John reminds us today that whoever remains in love remains in God and God in him. This is a wonderful reflection on what true love is. John in not referring to a romantic love, or even a peaceful love, but a love based on faith, truth, and knowledge of God. How do we come to that type of love, a love that the world does not always understand, love that is loyal and true?
I believe it is the personal relationship with Jesus Christ, expressed through our baptism when Christ claims us for his own which allows us to develop a love that is expressed through devotion and living in the ways taught by Christ. We should take comfort that as we live in the love of Christ, we also are tied inexplicably to God the Father. We are reminded in the Gospel of John that we are in the world, as Christ was in the world, and that Christ and the Father are one.
Peace,
Fr. John
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