Tuesday - May 22, 2017
God has created me to do Him some definite service; He has committed some work to me which He has not committed to another.
I have my mission.
~~St. John Henry Cardinal Newman
TODAY'S READINGS
May 23, 2017
Tuesday of the Sixth Week of Easter
Lectionary: 292
Reading 1ACTS 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 PsalmPS 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.
AlleluiaSEE 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.
GospelJN 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."
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The saving hand of God
Psalm 138:7 declares that "Your right hand saves me, O Lord." In biblical symbolism, the "right hand" of God means the power of God reaching out to help us. In today's first reading, we see how this helping hand of God works in unexpected ways.
God does not do everything that we want him to, when we want him to do it, the way we want him to do it. For Paul and Silas, God's powerful hand did not pop open the prison doors just because they asked for help. More was at stake than the lives of these two men. Notice the others who were touched by God's intervention.
God is always mindful of the bigger picture and the bigger purposes that can be accomplished in all situations. He cares about the needs and the souls of all those who are causing our trials as much he cares about us. The question is, are we willing to wait for his help when others are slowing down the process?
Paul and Silas cooperated with God's plan by remaining focused on Jesus through prayer and joyful hymns. They could have allowed themselves to be distracted by the terrible conditions of their imprisonment and the disaster that had stopped their ministry and, as far as they knew, would end their lives. They could have been resentful and angry toward those who had arrested them. They could have been lamenting that it was all so unfair.
Like we so often do.
However, they chose to trust God no matter what had happened or might happen. They believed that, since he was more powerful than the forces that had put them into prison, their current troubles had become part of a plan that would somehow benefit his kingdom. And because they wanted nothing more than to be a benefit to his kingdom, they closed their eyes to the evidence of evil and opened their eyes to the presence of God.
We can do this, too!
Only when we're open to and focused on the presence of God are we able to know what to do next when the saving power of God finally manifests itself. If we had been in Paul's and Silas' sandals, would we have run out of the prison as soon as the doors popped open? In Acts 12, Peter was in a similar situation, and God (through an angel) had him do just that. But not this time. Through the predicament of Paul and Silas, God stretched his hand out to the jailer and his family. Because Paul and Silas were sensitive to God's will, they cooperated with his saving hand and became the partners he selected to bring others to salvation.
How awesome to allow God to turn our problems into a plan that helps others!
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God Bless You.....
The mother of Jesus promised St. Dominic that, “one day through the rosary & the scapular I shall save the world!”
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