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Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of the faithful!
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   20050428

The Catholic Calendar for Thursday, April 28, 2005

Thursday of the Fifth Week of Easter
St. Peter Chanel, priest and martyr
St. Louis Marie de Montfort, priest


Scripture from today's Liturgy of the Word:
Acts 15:7-21
Psalm 96:1-3,10
John 15:9-11

A reflection on today's Sacred Scripture:

"All this I tell you that my joy may be yours
and your joy may be complete."
(John 15:11)

One of the most difficult things we are called to do is to accept change.This is seen in our First Reading when Peter is faced with former Pharisees who converted to Christ but who wanted to incorporate into Christianity certain practices imposed by Judaism. In particular, they saw circumcision as a necessity because it was once a sign that the Jews had been consecrated to God, set apart from the world to be His own special and holy people. Peter tells them they must not put unnecessary burdens on converts because God goes beyond external signs by reading and acting directly upon men's hearts. Salvation results from genuine faith in Jesus for both Jews and Gentiles; and "believers" will be imbued with God's Holy Spirit to strengthen and guide them in God's ways.

In John's Gospel Jesus defines what true faith requires. A disciple is to learn to love with the same self-sacrificing love that originates in God made visible to us in Christ. Jesus foretells His own destiny when He says there is no greater love than to lay down one's life for one's friends. He implies that our love has a genuinely divine source when we are consumed by a desire to keep God's commandments. There is one question, however, that we should ask ourselves: are we obeying God's Word for the sake of our appearing to the world as holy people or to inflate our own self-esteem by presenting ourselves to God as shining little examples? It is pride like that of the Pharisees who condemned Jesus, that slavishly follows rules which do not prompt human hearts to increasingly be filled by God's love and the same self-giving humility of Christ.

O Precious Lord, bring us to the realization that the fullness of human joy can only be complete through obedience to the grace that unites us to You in heart, mind and will. Amen.

- Marie Bocko, ocds
(mlbocko at earthlink dot net)

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