Catholic Patriots

Friday of the Sixth Week of Easter Lectionary: 295 Reading I Acts 18:9-18 One night while Paul was in Corinth, the Lord said to him in a vision, “Do not be afraid. Go on speaking, and do not be silent, for I am with you. No one will attack and harm you, for I have many people in this city.” He settled there for a year and a half and taught the word of God among them. But when Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews rose up together against Paul and brought him to the tribunal, saying, “This man is inducing people to worship God contrary to the law.” When Paul was about to reply, Gallio spoke to the Jews, “If it were a matter of some crime or malicious fraud, I should with reason hear the complaint of you Jews; but since it is a question of arguments over doctrine and titles and your own law, see to it yourselves. I do not wish to be a judge of such matters.” And he drove them away from the tribunal. They all seized Sosthenes, the synagogue official, and beat him in full view of the tribunal. But none of this was of concern to Gallio. Paul remained for quite some time, and after saying farewell to the brothers he sailed for Syria, together with Priscilla and Aquila. At Cenchreae he had shaved his head because he had taken a vow. Responsorial Psalm 47:2-3, 4-5, 6-7 R.        (8a)  God is king of all the earth. or: R.        Alleluia. All you peoples, clap your hands,             shout to God with cries of gladness, For the LORD, the Most High, the awesome,             is the great king over all the earth. R.        God is king of all the earth. or: R.        Alleluia. He brings people under us;             nations under our feet. He chooses for us our inheritance,             the glory of Jacob, whom he loves. R.        God is king of all the earth. or: R.        Alleluia. God mounts his throne amid shouts of joy;             the LORD, amid trumpet blasts. Sing praise to God, sing praise;             sing praise to our king, sing praise. R.        God is king of all the earth. or: R.        Alleluia. Alleluia See Lk 24:46, 26 R. Alleluia, alleluia. Christ had to suffer and to rise from the dead, and so enter into his glory. R. Alleluia, alleluia. Gospel Jn 16:20-23 Jesus said to his disciples: “Amen, amen, I say to you, you will weep and mourn, while the world rejoices; you will grieve, but your grief will become joy. When a woman is in labor, she is in anguish because her hour has arrived; but when she has given birth to a child, she no longer remembers the pain because of her joy that a child has been born into the world. So you also are now in anguish. But I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you. On that day you will not question me about anything. Amen, amen, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in my name he will give you.”   /// Commentary by Bishop Robert Barron:  Friends, in today’s Gospel, Jesus exhorts us to pray with expectant faith: "Amen, amen, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in my name he will give you." Invoking the name of Jesus is an effective way to monitor the quality and shape the content of our prayer. When we pray "through Christ our Lord," we are assuming the stance and attitude of Jesus, aligning ourselves to him, compelling ourselves to desire what he desires. Accordingly, it is altogether consistent to pray in the name of Jesus for peace, for justice, for the forgiveness of our enemies, for greater faith, or for the health of those we love. Those are all goods that Jesus would want. But how anomalous it would be to pray for vengeance against our enemies in Jesus’ name, or for a Maserati through Christ our Lord!

Peace be with you! The Novena to the Holy Spirit for Pentecost is actually the original novena, the very first novena.  After Jesus ascended into Heaven, the disciples prayed for nine days for the Holy Spirit, "the promise of my Father." (Luke 24:49).  And on the tenth day, they received the Holy Spirit, on Pentecost Sunday!  As we pray to the Holy Spirit, like the disciples did, we want you to be sure that you find some sort of concrete intention for this novena.  The Holy Spirit is a powerful advocate, and trust in God is key in the spiritual life. So, make an extra special effort to trust in God's will for you regarding your intention. :) We're confident the Holy Spirit will surprise you with blessings during this novena.  You can post your own prayer intentions here, and we invite you to pray for others that you see there too. Here are the prayers for today: Day 1 - Novena to the Holy Spirit (Audio/Video Version) Charity In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Let us bow down in humility at the power and grandeur of the Holy Spirit. Let us worship the Holy Trinity and give glory today to the Paraclete, our Advocate. O Holy Spirit, by Your power, Christ was raised from the dead to save us all. By Your grace, miracles are performed in Jesus’ name. By Your love, we are protected from evil. And so, we ask with humility and a beggar’s heart for Your gift of Charity within us. The great charity of all the the host of Saints is only made possible by your power, O Divine Spirit. Increase in me, the virtue of charity that I may love as God loves with the selflessness of the Saints. Holy Spirit we ask for the grace of [Mention your intention here]. Amen. Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and enkindle in them the fire of your love. Send forth your Spirit and they shall be created. And You shall renew the face of the earth. O, God, who by the light of the Holy Spirit, did instruct the hearts of the faithful, grant that by the same Holy Spirit we may be truly wise and ever enjoy His consolations, through Christ Our Lord, Amen. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The Ascension of the Lord Lectionary: 58 Reading I Acts 1:1-11 In the first book, Theophilus, I dealt with all that Jesus did and taught until the day he was taken up, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. He presented himself alive to them by many proofs after he had suffered, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God. While meeting with them, he enjoined them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for “the promise of the Father about which you have heard me speak; for John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” When they had gathered together they asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” He answered them, “It is not for you to know the times or seasons that the Father has established by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” When he had said this, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him from their sight. While they were looking intently at the sky as he was going, suddenly two men dressed in white garments stood beside them. They said, “Men of Galilee, why are you standing there looking at the sky? This Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven will return in the same way as you have seen him going into heaven.” Responsorial Psalm  Ps 47:2-3, 6-7, 8-9  R (6) God mounts his throne to shouts of joy: a blare of trumpets for the Lord. or: R Alleluia. All you peoples, clap your hands,             shout to God with cries of gladness, For the LORD, the Most High, the awesome,             is the great king over all the earth. R God mounts his throne to shouts of joy:  a blare of trumpets for the Lord. or: R Alleluia. God mounts his throne amid shouts of joy;             the LORD, amid trumpet blasts. Sing praise to God, sing praise;             sing praise to our king, sing praise. R God mounts his throne to shouts of joy:  a blare of trumpets for the Lord. or: R Alleluia. For king of all the earth is God;             sing hymns of praise. God reigns over the nations,             God sits upon his holy throne. R God mounts his throne to shouts of joy:  a blare of trumpets for the Lord. or: R Alleluia. Reading II  Eph 1:17-23 Brothers and sisters: May the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, give you a Spirit of wisdom and revelation resulting in knowledge of him. May the eyes of your hearts be enlightened, that you may know what is the hope that belongs to his call, what are the riches of glory in his inheritance among the holy ones, and what is the surpassing greatness of his power for us who believe, in accord with the exercise of his great might: which he worked in Christ, raising him from the dead and seating him at his right hand in the heavens, far above every principality, authority, power, and dominion, and every name that is named not only in this age but also in the one to come. And he put all things beneath his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of the one who fills all things in every way. OR: Heb 9:24-28; 10:19-23 Christ did not enter into a sanctuary made by hands, a copy of the true one, but heaven itself, that he might now appear before God on our behalf. Not that he might offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters each year into the sanctuary with blood that is not his own; if that were so, he would have had to suffer repeatedly from the foundation of the world. But now once for all he has appeared at the end of the ages to take away sin by his sacrifice. Just as it is appointed that men and women die once, and after this the judgment, so also Christ, offered once to take away the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to take away sin but to bring salvation to those who eagerly await him. Therefore, brothers and sisters, since through the blood of Jesus we have confidence of entrance into the sanctuary by the new and living way he opened for us through the veil, that is, his flesh, and since we have "a great priest over the house of God," let us approach with a sincere heart and in absolute trust, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed in pure water. Let us hold unwaveringly to our confession that gives us hope, for he who made the promise is trustworthy. Alleluia Mt 28:19a, 20b R. Alleluia, alleluia. Go and teach all nations, says the Lord; I am with you always, until the end of the world. R. Alleluia, alleluia. Gospel Lk 24:46-53 Jesus said to his disciples: “Thus it is written that the Christ would suffer and rise from the dead on the third day and that repentance, for the forgiveness of sins, would be preached in his name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And behold I am sending the promise of my Father upon you; but stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.” Then he led them out as far as Bethany, raised his hands, and blessed them. As he blessed them he parted from them and was taken up to heaven. They did him homage and then returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and they were continually in the temple praising God.   /// Commentary by Bishop Robert Barron:  Friends, in today’s Gospel, Jesus is taken up to his Father in heaven. We tend to read the Ascension along essentially Enlightenment lines rather than biblical lines—and that causes a good deal of mischief. Enlightenment thinkers introduced a two-tier understanding of heaven and earth. They held that God exists, but that he lives in a distant realm called heaven, where he looks at the human project moving along, pretty much on its own steam, on earth. On this Enlightenment reading, the Ascension means that Jesus goes up, up, and away, off to a distant and finally irrelevant place. But the biblical point is this: Jesus has gone to heaven so as to direct operations more fully here on earth. That’s why we pray, “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Jesus has not gone up, up, and away, but rather—if I can put it this way—more deeply into our world. He has gone to a dimension that transcends but impinges upon our universe.

Wednesday of the Sixth Week of Easter Lectionary: 293 Reading I Acts 17:15, 22—18:1 After Paul’s escorts had taken him to Athens, they came away with instructions for Silas and Timothy to join him as soon as possible. Then Paul stood up at the Areopagus and said: “You Athenians, I see that in every respect you are very religious. For as I walked around looking carefully at your shrines, I even discovered an altar inscribed, ‘To an Unknown God.’ What therefore you unknowingly worship, I proclaim to you. The God who made the world and all that is in it, the Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in sanctuaries made by human hands, nor is he served by human hands because he needs anything. Rather it is he who gives to everyone life and breath and everything. He made from one the whole human race to dwell on the entire surface of the earth, and he fixed the ordered seasons and the boundaries of their regions, so that people might seek God, even perhaps grope for him and find him, though indeed he is not far from any one of us. For ‘In him we live and move and have our being,’ as even some of your poets have said, ‘For we too are his offspring.’ Since therefore we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the divinity is like an image fashioned from gold, silver, or stone by human art and imagination. God has overlooked the times of ignorance, but now he demands that all people everywhere repent because he has established a day on which he will ‘judge the world with justice’ through a man he has appointed, and he has provided confirmation for all by raising him from the dead.” When they heard about resurrection of the dead, some began to scoff, but others said, “We should like to hear you on this some other time.” And so Paul left them. But some did join him, and became believers. Among them were Dionysius, a member of the Court of the Areopagus, a woman named Damaris, and others with them. After this he left Athens and went to Corinth.    Responsorial Psalm 148:1-2, 11-12, 13, 14 R.        Heaven and earth are full of your glory. or: R.        Alleluia. Praise the LORD from the heavens;             praise him in the heights. Praise him, all you his angels;             praise him, all you his hosts. R.        Heaven and earth are full of your glory. or: R.        Alleluia. Let the kings of the earth and all peoples,             the princes and all the judges of the earth, Young men too, and maidens,             old men and boys. R.        Heaven and earth are full of your glory. or: R.        Alleluia. Praise the name of the LORD,             for his name alone is exalted; His majesty is above earth and heaven. R.        Heaven and earth are full of your glory. or: R.        Alleluia. He has lifted up the horn of his people; Be this his praise from all his faithful ones,             from the children of Israel, the people close to him.             Alleluia. R.        Heaven and earth are full of your glory. or: R.        Alleluia. Alleluia Jn 14:16 R. Alleluia, alleluia. I will ask the Father and he will give you another Advocate to be with you always. R. Alleluia, alleluia. Gospel Jn 16:12-15 Jesus said to his disciples: “I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now. But when he comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you to all truth. He will not speak on his own, but he will speak what he hears, and will declare to you the things that are coming. He will glorify me, because he will take from what is mine and declare it to you. Everything that the Father has is mine; for this reason I told you that he will take from what is mine and declare it to you.”   /// Commentary by Bishop Robert Barron:  Friends, in today’s Gospel, Jesus promises to send the Holy Spirit to guide the Church through time. “I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now. But when he comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you to all truth.” Since Jesus is the Son is God, it is impossible for us adequately to interpret him through our own powers of perception. We require a divine pedagogue through which the speech of the Father is to be understood. This is the advocate we call the Holy Spirit. The words of today’s Gospel are almost unbearably profound, for they speak not only of the inner life of God but of the central dynamic of the Church’s life. The Father indeed spoke the fullness of his life, being, and truth in the Son, but the Church, in its earliest days, was incapable of taking that fullness in. What was (and still is) required is the ongoing influence of the Spirit, the divine interpreter of the Word, who does his work gradually and powerfully as the Church journeys across space and time.

Tuesday of the Sixth Week of Easter Lectionary: 292 Reading I Acts 16:22-34 The crowd in Philippi joined in the attack on Paul and Silas, and the magistrates had them stripped and ordered them to be beaten with rods. After inflicting many blows on them, they threw them into prison and instructed the jailer to guard them securely. When he received these instructions, he put them in the innermost cell and secured their feet to a stake. About midnight, while Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God as the prisoners listened, there was suddenly such a severe earthquake that the foundations of the jail shook; all the doors flew open, and the chains of all were pulled loose. When the jailer woke up and saw the prison doors wide open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, thinking that the prisoners had escaped. But Paul shouted out in a loud voice, “Do no harm to yourself; we are all here.” He asked for a light and rushed in and, trembling with fear, he fell down before Paul and Silas. Then he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you and your household will be saved.” So they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to everyone in his house. He took them in at that hour of the night and bathed their wounds; then he and all his family were baptized at once. He brought them up into his house and provided a meal and with his household rejoiced at having come to faith in God. Responsorial Psalm 138:1-2ab, 2cde-3, 7c-8 R.        (7c)  Your right hand saves me, O Lord. or: R.        Alleluia. I will give thanks to you, O LORD, with all my heart,             for you have heard the words of my mouth;             in the presence of the angels I will sing your praise; I will worship at your holy temple,             and give thanks to your name. R.        Your right hand saves me, O Lord. or: R.        Alleluia. Because of your kindness and your truth,             you have made great above all things             your name and your promise. When I called, you answered me;             you built up strength within me. R.        Your right hand saves me, O Lord. or: R.        Alleluia. Your right hand saves me. The LORD will complete what he has done for me;             your kindness, O LORD, endures forever;             forsake not the work of your hands. R.        Your right hand saves me, O Lord. or: R.        Alleluia. Alleluia See Jn 16:7, 13 R. Alleluia, alleluia. I will send to you the Spirit of truth, says the Lord; he will guide you to all truth. R. Alleluia, alleluia. Gospel Jn 16:5-11 Jesus said to his disciples: “Now I am going to the one who sent me, and not one of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ But because I told you this, grief has filled your hearts. But I tell you the truth, it is better for you that I go. For if I do not go, the Advocate will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes he will convict the world in regard to sin and righteousness and condemnation: sin, because they do not believe in me; righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will no longer see me; condemnation, because the ruler of this world has been condemned.”   /// Commentary by Bishop Robert Barron:  Friends, in today’s Gospel, Jesus tells his disciples that when he returns to the Father he will send the Advocate to be with them.  This "Advocate" is presumed to be ontologically one with the Father and the Son. Jesus says, "He (the parakletos) will glorify me, because he will take from what is mine and declare it to you. Everything that the Father has is mine; for this reason I told you that he will take from what is mine and declare it to you." In receiving the Spirit, the Church, throughout the course of its history, will take on the identity of the Son, an identity rooted, in turn, in the Father. Every saint across the centuries represents a unique living out of this fundamental to-be of the Son, reflective of the Father and made possible by the indwelling of the parakletos. The work of the Spirit is the making present and visible, in an infinitely variegated way across space and time, of the coinherent manner of being that characterizes the Father and the Son.

Monday of the Sixth Week of Easter Lectionary: 291 Reading I Acts 16:11-15 We set sail from Troas, making a straight run for Samothrace, and on the next day to Neapolis, and from there to Philippi, a leading city in that district of Macedonia and a Roman colony. We spent some time in that city. On the sabbath we went outside the city gate along the river where we thought there would be a place of prayer. We sat and spoke with the women who had gathered there. One of them, a woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth, from the city of Thyatira, a worshiper of God, listened, and the Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what Paul was saying. After she and her household had been baptized, she offered us an invitation, “If you consider me a believer in the Lord, come and stay at my home,” and she prevailed on us. Responsorial Psalm 149:1b-2, 3-4, 5-6a and 9b R.        (see 4a)  The Lord takes delight in his people. or: R.        Alleluia. Sing to the LORD a new song             of praise in the assembly of the faithful. Let Israel be glad in their maker,             let the children of Zion rejoice in their king. R.        The Lord takes delight in his people. or: R.        Alleluia. Let them praise his name in the festive dance,             let them sing praise to him with timbrel and harp. For the LORD loves his people,             and he adorns the lowly with victory. R.        The Lord takes delight in his people. or: R.        Alleluia. Let the faithful exult in glory;             let them sing for joy upon their couches. Let the high praises of God be in their throats.             This is the glory of all his faithful. Alleluia. R.        The Lord takes delight in his people. or: R.        Alleluia. Alleluia Jn 15:26b, 27a R. Alleluia, alleluia. The Spirit of truth will testify to me, says the Lord, and you also will testify. R. Alleluia, alleluia. Gospel Jn 15:26—16:4a Jesus said to his disciples: “When the Advocate comes whom I will send you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, he will testify to me. And you also testify, because you have been with me from the beginning. “I have told you this so that you may not fall away. They will expel you from the synagogues; in fact, the hour is coming when everyone who kills you will think he is offering worship to God. They will do this because they have not known either the Father or me. I have told you this so that when their hour comes you may remember that I told you.”   /// Commentary by Bishop Robert Barron:  Friends, in today’s Gospel, Jesus predicts that his disciples can expect violence from their world. “They will expel you from the synagogues; in fact, the hour is coming when everyone who kills you will think he is offering worship to God. They will do this because they have not known either the Father or me.” The “world” is that collectivity of persons, institutions, armies, and nations predicated upon the loss of friendship with God. That network will hate the followers of Jesus because it cannot frighten them, and its success depends upon fear.  Jesus is about to be swallowed up by the forces of the world, but he is not held captive or entranced by them, because he does not live in himself—and hence in fear—but rather in the Father, the power that conquers the world. What Jesus wants his followers to experience is that same freedom and insouciance, but it is participation in the coinherent dynamics of God’s being—the insertion into the loop of grace that God is—that makes such liberating detachment possible.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2022/05/exclusive-yielding-sovereignty-considered-crime-high-treason-archbishop-vigano-nation-states-handing-sovereignty/  

Sixth Sunday of Easter Lectionary: 57 Reading I  Acts 15:1-2, 22-29 Some who had come down from Judea were instructing the brothers, “Unless you are circumcised according to the Mosaic practice, you cannot be saved.” Because there arose no little dissension and debate by Paul and Barnabas with them, it was decided that Paul, Barnabas, and some of the others should go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and elders about this question. The apostles and elders, in agreement with the whole church, decided to choose representatives and to send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. The ones chosen were Judas, who was called Barsabbas, and Silas, leaders among the brothers. This is the letter delivered by them: “The apostles and the elders, your brothers, to the brothers in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia of Gentile origin: greetings. Since we have heard that some of our number who went out without any mandate from us have upset you with their teachings and disturbed your peace of mind, we have with one accord decided to choose representatives and to send them to you along with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, who have dedicated their lives to the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. So we are sending Judas and Silas who will also convey this same message by word of mouth: ‘It is the decision of the Holy Spirit and of us not to place on you any burden beyond these necessities, namely, to abstain from meat sacrificed to idols, from blood, from meats of strangled animals, and from unlawful marriage. If you keep free of these, you will be doing what is right.  Farewell.’” Responsorial Psalm Ps 67:2-3, 5, 6, 8  R (4) O God, let all the nations praise you! or: R Alleluia. May God have pity on us and bless us;             may he let his face shine upon us. So may your way be known upon earth;             among all nations, your salvation. R O God, let all the nations praise you! or: R Alleluia. May the nations be glad and exult             because you rule the peoples in equity;             the nations on the earth you guide. R O God, let all the nations praise you! or: R Alleluia. May the peoples praise you, O God;             may all the peoples praise you! May God bless us,             and may all the ends of the earth fear him! R O God, let all the nations praise you! or: R Alleluia. Reading II Rev 21:10-14, 22-23 The angel took me in spirit to a great, high mountain and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God. It gleamed with the splendor of God. Its radiance was like that of a precious stone, like jasper, clear as crystal. It had a massive, high wall, with twelve gates where twelve angels were stationed and on which names were inscribed, the names of the twelve tribes of the Israelites. There were three gates facing east, three north, three south, and three west. The wall of the city had twelve courses of stones as its foundation, on which were inscribed the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. I saw no temple in the city for its temple is the Lord God almighty and the Lamb. The city had no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gave it light, and its lamp was the Lamb. Alleluia Jn 14:23 R. Alleluia, alleluia. Whoever loves me will keep my word, says the Lord, and my Father will love him and we will come to him. R. Alleluia, alleluia. Gospel Jn 14:23-29 Jesus said to his disciples: “Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words; yet the word you hear is not mine but that of the Father who sent me. “I have told you this while I am with you. The Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and remind you of all that I told you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give it to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid. You heard me tell you, ‘I am going away and I will come back to you.’ If you loved me, you would rejoice that I am going to the Father; for the Father is greater than I. And now I have told you this before it happens, so that when it happens you may believe.”   /// Commentary by Bishop Robert Barron:  Friends, in today’s Gospel, Jesus says that the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in Christ’s name, will teach his disciples everything. The Holy Spirit is the love shared by the Father and the Son. We have access to this holy heart of God only because the Father sent the Son into the world, into our dysfunction, even to the limits of godforsakenness—and thereby gathered all of the world into the dynamism of the divine life. Those who live in Christ are not outside of God as petitioners or supplicants; rather, they are in God as friends, sharers in the Spirit. And this spiritual life is what gives us knowledge of God—a knowledge, if you will, from within. When the great masters of the Christian way speak of knowing God, they do not use the term in its distanced, analytical sense; they use it in the biblical sense, implying knowledge by way of personal intimacy. This is why St. Bernard of Clairvaux, for one, insists that initiates in the spiritual life know God not simply through books and lectures but through experience, the way one friend knows another. That knowledge is what the Holy Spirit facilitates.

Saturday of the Fifth Week of Easter Lectionary: 290 Reading I  Acts 16:1-10 Paul reached also Derbe and Lystra where there was a disciple named Timothy, the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer, but his father was a Greek. The brothers in Lystra and Iconium spoke highly of him, and Paul wanted him to come along with him. On account of the Jews of that region, Paul had him circumcised, for they all knew that his father was a Greek. As they traveled from city to city, they handed on to the people for observance the decisions reached by the Apostles and presbyters in Jerusalem. Day after day the churches grew stronger in faith and increased in number. They traveled through the Phrygian and Galatian territory because 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 the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them, so they crossed through Mysia and came down to Troas. During the night Paul had a vision. A Macedonian stood before him and implored him with these words, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” When he had seen the vision, we sought passage to Macedonia at once, concluding that God had called us to proclaim the Good News to them.   Responsorial Psalm 100:1b-2, 3, 5 R.        (2a)  Let all the earth cry out to God with joy. or: R.        Alleluia. Sing joyfully to the LORD, all you lands;             serve the LORD with gladness;             come before him with joyful song. R.        Let all the earth cry out to God with joy. or: R.        Alleluia. Know that the LORD is God;             he made us, his we are;             his people, the flock he tends. R.        Let all the earth cry out to God with joy. or: R.        Alleluia. The LORD is good:             his kindness endures forever,             and his faithfulness, to all generations. R.        Let all the earth cry out to God with joy. or: R.        Alleluia. Alleluia Col 3:1 R. Alleluia, alleluia. If then you were raised with Christ, seek what is above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. R. Alleluia, alleluia. Gospel Jn 15:18-21 Jesus said to his disciples: “If the world hates you, realize that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, the world would love its own; but because you do not belong to the world, and I have chosen you out of the world, the world hates you. Remember the word I spoke to you, ‘No slave is greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. And they will do all these things to you on account of my name, because they do not know the one who sent me.”   /// Commentary by Bishop Robert Barron:  Friends, in today’s Gospel, Jesus warns us to expect persecution. But do not be afraid, because in Jesus Christ, we are connected to the very power of God, to that which is here and now creating the universe. No matter how much violence and mayhem is going on, we have a place of safety. How wonderfully Jesus expresses this: "Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul." The body passes, but the soul, that place where you are in contact with the living God, lasts forever. So get your fears in right order: "Rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna." Now think of the saints, especially the martyrs. They might be defined as those rare human beings who had rightly prioritized their fears. Of whom were they afraid? Not the wickedest human beings around them. Rather, they feared God. They worried not about what people wanted them to do but about what God wanted them to do. None of these great figures lived a serene life, a life free of worry, threat, persecution. Instead, they found courage in the struggle. Their courage got them through the negativity.

Pelosi barred from Holy Communion over abortion advocacy News: Rep. Nancy Pelosi The Pillar May 20 Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi is barred from receiving the Eucharist in the Archdiocese of San Francisco because of her efforts to codify federal protection for abortions, according to a May 20 statement from Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone.     Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, with her husband Paul, prays at a Mass before Joe Biden’s Jan. 20, 2021 presidential inauguration at St. Matthew’s Cathedral in Washington, D.C. Credit: Tom Brenner/Reuters/Alamy “I must make a public declaration that [Pelosi] is not to be admitted to Holy Communion unless and until she publicly repudiate her support for abortion ‘rights’ and confess and receive absolution for her cooperation in this evil in the sacrament of Penance. I have accordingly sent her a Notification to this effect, which I have now made public,” Cordileone wrote in a letter released Friday. The archbishop’s move came as Pelosi and other Democratic politicians have amplified calls to federally protect or fund access to abortion, amid widespread expectation that the Supreme Court will soon overturn Roe v. Wade.  Pelosi, Speaker of the House since 2019, represents California’s 12th Congressional District, which sits entirely within the city of San Francisco. The Congresswoman is a Catholic, and has often cited her Catholic faith as a formative element of her political worldview.  In the May 19 notification published online, the archbishop recounted efforts to meet with Pelosi in recent months, noting that “I have not received…an accommodation to my many requests to speak with you again since you vowed to codify the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision in federal law, following upon passage of Texas Senate Bill 8 last September.”  “That is why I communicated my concerns to you via letter on April 7, 2022, and informed you there that, should you not publicly repudiate your advocacy for abortion ‘rights’ or else refrain from referring to your Catholic faith in public and receiving Holy Communion, I would have no choice but to make a declaration, in keeping with canon 915, that you are not to be admitted to Holy Communion.” “The time has now come,” Cordileone wrote. “You are not to be admitted to Holy Communion until such time as you publicly repudiate your advocacy for the legitimacy of abortion and confess and receive absolution of this grave sin in the sacrament of penance.”

Friday of the Fifth Week of Easter Lectionary: 289 Reading I Acts 15:22-31 The Apostles and presbyters, in agreement with the whole Church, decided to choose representatives and to send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. The ones chosen were Judas, who was called Barsabbas, and Silas, leaders among the brothers. This is the letter delivered by them: “The Apostles and the presbyters, your brothers, to the brothers in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia of Gentile origin: greetings. Since we have heard that some of our number who went out without any mandate from us have upset you with their teachings and disturbed your peace of mind, we have with one accord decided to choose representatives and to send them to you along with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, who have dedicated their lives to the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. So we are sending Judas and Silas who will also convey this same message by word of mouth: ‘It is the decision of the Holy Spirit and of us not to place on you any burden beyond these necessities, namely, to abstain from meat sacrificed to idols, from blood, from meats of strangled animals, and from unlawful marriage. If you keep free of these, you will be doing what is right. Farewell.’“ And so they were sent on their journey. Upon their arrival in Antioch they called the assembly together and delivered the letter. When the people read it, they were delighted with the exhortation.   Responsorial Psalm 57:8-9, 10 and 12 R.        (10a)  I will give you thanks among the peoples, O Lord. or: R.        Alleluia. My heart is steadfast, O God; my heart is steadfast;             I will sing and chant praise. Awake, O my soul; awake, lyre and harp!             I will wake the dawn. R.        I will give you thanks among the peoples, O Lord. or: R.        Alleluia. I will give thanks to you among the peoples, O LORD,             I will chant your praise among the nations. For your mercy towers to the heavens,             and your faithfulness to the skies. Be exalted above the heavens, O God;             above all the earth be your glory! R.        I will give you thanks among the peoples, O Lord. or: R.        Alleluia. Alleluia Jn 15:15b R. Alleluia, alleluia. I call you my friends, says the Lord, for I have made known to you all that the Father has told me. R. Alleluia, alleluia. Gospel Jn 15:12-17 Jesus said to his disciples: “This is my commandment: love one another as I love you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I no longer call you slaves, because a slave does not know what his master is doing. I have called you friends, because I have told you everything I have heard from my Father. It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give you. This I command you: love one another.”   /// Commentary by Bishop Robert Barron:  Friends, in today’s Gospel, Jesus calls us his friends. Psychologists tell us that a true friend is someone who has seen us at our worst and still loves us. If you have encountered me only on my best days, I have no guarantee that you are my friend. But when you have dealt with me when I am most obnoxious and you still love me, then I am sure that you are my friend. The old Gospel song says, “What a friend we have in Jesus!” This is not pious sentimentalism; it is the heart of the matter. What the first Christians saw in the dying and rising of Jesus is that we killed God and God returned in forgiving love. He saw us at our very worst and loved us anyway. Thus they saw confirmed in flesh and blood what Jesus had said the night before he died: “I no longer call you slaves. . . . I have called you friends.” They realized, in the drama of the Paschal Mystery, that we have not only been shown a new way; we have been drawn into a new life, a life of friendship with God.

Peace be with you! We're excited to announce that the next novena we're praying is the original novena! It's the Holy Spirit Novena for Pentecost! Novenas are an ancient tradition that goes back to the days of the Apostles. Jesus told His disciples to pray together after His ascension into heaven, so they went to an upper room along with the Blessed Virgin Mary, (Acts 1:14) and joined constantly in prayer for nine days. These nine days of constant prayer by the Apostles at the direction of Jesus led up to Pentecost. This is when the Holy Spirit descended upon the disciples as "tongues of fire" (Acts 2:1-4). This pattern of 9 days of prayer, leading up to a feast day or final day, is the basis of the novenas we pray today!  Thus, the novena is an imitation of the Lord’s command to the Apostles when they prayed for 9 days in anticipation of the coming of the Holy Spirit. And that's why we pray all of our novenas for nine days, followed by one final prayer on the 10th day (which is usually the feast day).     The Holy Spirit plays a BIG part in our lives. So, as we pray, ask the Holy Spirit for something concrete and measurable.  We will start praying on Friday, May 27th. Your friends & family can sign up HERE. You are already signed up to receive this novena :)  We're looking forward to praying with you and for you!  God bless you! John-Paul & Annie - PrayMoreNovenas.com