Friday - April 27, 2018
"Avoid idleness and idle people; carry out your duties. Whenever you are idle you are in serious danger of falling into sin, because idleness teaches us all kinds of vice."
- St. Don Bosco
April 27, 2018
Friday of the Fourth Week of Easter
Lectionary: 283
Reading 1ACTS 13:26-33
When Paul came to Antioch in Pisidia, he said in the synagogue:
“My brothers, children of the family of Abraham,
and those others among you who are God-fearing,
to us this word of salvation has been sent.
The inhabitants of Jerusalem and their leaders failed to recognize him,
and by condemning him they fulfilled the oracles of the prophets
that are read sabbath after sabbath.
For even though they found no grounds for a death sentence,
they asked Pilate to have him put to death,
and when they had accomplished all that was written about him,
they took him down from the tree and placed him in a tomb.
But God raised him from the dead,
and for many days he appeared to those
who had come up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem.
These are now his witnesses before the people.
We ourselves are proclaiming this good news to you
that what God promised our fathers
he has brought to fulfillment for us, their children, by raising up Jesus,
as it is written in the second psalm,
You are my Son; this day I have begotten you.”
“My brothers, children of the family of Abraham,
and those others among you who are God-fearing,
to us this word of salvation has been sent.
The inhabitants of Jerusalem and their leaders failed to recognize him,
and by condemning him they fulfilled the oracles of the prophets
that are read sabbath after sabbath.
For even though they found no grounds for a death sentence,
they asked Pilate to have him put to death,
and when they had accomplished all that was written about him,
they took him down from the tree and placed him in a tomb.
But God raised him from the dead,
and for many days he appeared to those
who had come up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem.
These are now his witnesses before the people.
We ourselves are proclaiming this good news to you
that what God promised our fathers
he has brought to fulfillment for us, their children, by raising up Jesus,
as it is written in the second psalm,
You are my Son; this day I have begotten you.”
Responsorial PsalmPS 2:6-7, 8-9, 10-11AB
R. (7bc) You are my Son; this day I have begotten you.
or:
R. Alleluia.
“I myself have set up my king
on Zion, my holy mountain.”
I will proclaim the decree of the LORD:
The LORD said to me, “You are my Son;
this day I have begotten you.”
R. You are my Son; this day I have begotten you.
or:
R. Alleluia.
“Ask of me and I will give you
the nations for an inheritance
and the ends of the earth for your possession.
You shall rule them with an iron rod;
you shall shatter them like an earthen dish.”
R. You are my Son; this day I have begotten you.
or:
R. Alleluia.
And now, O kings, give heed;
take warning, you rulers of the earth.
Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice before him;
with trembling rejoice.
R. You are my Son; this day I have begotten you.
or:
R. Alleluia.
I am the way and the truth and the life, says the Lord;
No one comes to the Father except through me.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
or:
R. Alleluia.
“I myself have set up my king
on Zion, my holy mountain.”
I will proclaim the decree of the LORD:
The LORD said to me, “You are my Son;
this day I have begotten you.”
R. You are my Son; this day I have begotten you.
or:
R. Alleluia.
“Ask of me and I will give you
the nations for an inheritance
and the ends of the earth for your possession.
You shall rule them with an iron rod;
you shall shatter them like an earthen dish.”
R. You are my Son; this day I have begotten you.
or:
R. Alleluia.
And now, O kings, give heed;
take warning, you rulers of the earth.
Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice before him;
with trembling rejoice.
R. You are my Son; this day I have begotten you.
or:
R. Alleluia.
AlleluiaJN 14:6
R. Alleluia, alleluia.I am the way and the truth and the life, says the Lord;
No one comes to the Father except through me.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
GospelJN 14:1-6
Jesus said to his disciples:
“Do not let your hearts be troubled.
You have faith in God; have faith also in me.
In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places.
If there were not,
would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you?
And if I go and prepare a place for you,
I will come back again and take you to myself,
so that where I am you also may be.
Where I am going you know the way.”
Thomas said to him,
“Master, we do not know where you are going;
how can we know the way?”
Jesus said to him, “I am the way and the truth and the life.
No one comes to the Father except through me.”
“Do not let your hearts be troubled.
You have faith in God; have faith also in me.
In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places.
If there were not,
would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you?
And if I go and prepare a place for you,
I will come back again and take you to myself,
so that where I am you also may be.
Where I am going you know the way.”
Thomas said to him,
“Master, we do not know where you are going;
how can we know the way?”
Jesus said to him, “I am the way and the truth and the life.
No one comes to the Father except through me.”
******************************
WHAT DOES YOUR HEAVENLY MANSION LOOK LIKE?
One day, when I felt weakened by some long-enduring difficulties, I said to God, "I'm tired of being betrayed and attacked and misinterpreted. I need to refocus on what you think of me and get my mind off of what others think of me. Show me something, puleeeease! Show me anything that will re-energize me to get me back into the battle without becoming a casualty of war."
God is constantly communicating with our inner spirits. When we listen, the soul communicates his message through our imaginations, using images, symbols, smells or sounds to interpret for our conscious minds what the inner spirit hears. In answer to my plea, God responded and in my imagination I "saw" a beautiful mansion. It was not beautiful by earthly standards. Indeed, it didn't make sense in earthly terms. It was bathed in a very bright white light, but not like any light we know here on earth. It was pure light. It was God's light, and the mansion represented what Jesus refers to in today's Gospel reading.
This was My Place. It had a very large main section with many add-on extensions of varying sizes and styles of architecture. The main section was me, my life, or rather the part of my life that I will be able to take with me to heaven after everything else has been purged from me during the dying-resurrection process known as purgatory.
Over the front door was a huge gem, like a diamond. It radiated the same light that permeated all of heaven. I asked what it represented. The answer: The Holy Spirit. The explanation: When the Holy Spirit radiates from me, people are attracted to me and want to be part of my life. And when I let them in, my mansion grows (the added-on extensions).
Some of these extensions were large rooms representing people who are filled with God's love. Others had rooms with crooked roofs or shoddy construction because they did a poor job of building their relationships with God. Some had half-finished rooms because they left my life before God wanted them to leave. And each addition had its own unique beauty, reflecting the made-in-God's-image personality of each individual.
You are building a similar heavenly mansion. The size of your mansion is determined by how many additions you allow others to build.
All difficulties in relationships are well worth enduring if we remember that we're building with bricks of Love and if we rely on the Holy Spirit to help us through the hard times. Even when others bang too loudly with their hammers or use warped lumber or buy the wrong materials, they are precious additions to our lives; each new room increases the value of our house.
Whenever we demolish one of these additions because we don't like it, or whenever someone picks up their lumber and leaves, the result is an ugly, gaping hole.
Jesus says, "I am the way, the truth, and the life." He has the ultimate mansion, and our heavenly houses are additions that connect our life to his. If your life radiates the Holy Spirit, you're attracting people to your mansion, and thus you're also attracting people to God's mansion.
Thank You, Lord Jesus, for being the door to eternal joy. I believe in You, I believe in the Father and I long to follow You always with the Holy Spirit's help. Amen.
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God Bless You.....
Rosary Family
The mother of Jesus promised St. Dominic that, “one day through the rosary & the scapular I shall save the world!”
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