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Message of the Day
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He has loved us without being loved… We are bound to Him, and not He to us, because before He was loved, He loved us… There it is, then: we cannot… love Him with this first love. Yet I say that God demands of us, that as He has loved us without any second thoughts, so He should be loved by us. In what way can we do this, then? … I tell you, through a means which he has established, by which we can
love Him freely; … that is, we can be useful, not to Him — which is impossible — but to our neighbor… To show the love that we have for Him, we ought to serve and love every rational creature and extend our charity to good and bad — as much to one who does us ill service and criticizes us as to one who serves us. For, His charity extends over the just and sinners.
- Catherine of
Siena
(What are some ways you will "serve and love" others today? Visualize this, and pray for the grace to do so sincerely.)
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Readings of the Day
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Acts 20:28-38; PS 68:29-30, 33-35a,
35bc-36ab
Jn 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.”
USCCB lectionary
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Reflection on the Scripture
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“I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to guard them from the evil one.” —John 17:15
We follow the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth (Jn 16:13). “Since we live by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s lead” (Gal 5:25). As we receive the Spirit ever more deeply during the Pentecost Novena and on Pentecost Sunday, the Spirit will guide us to all truth, if we allow Him (Jn 16:13). We will be prompted to speak the truth in love (see Eph 4:15). Throughout
history, some have perverted the truth, and so we are compelled to proclaim the truth and defend it, whether in words, actions, or lifestyles. The enemies of the truth will oppose us. Jesus is not going to take us out of the world to shield us from such attacks (Jn 17:15). He places us in the world, like wheat among the weeds (Mt 13:29), to love and convert the weeds, that is, the enemies of the truth. It is vital to defend the truth and, probably even more important in God’s eyes (see Lk 15:7, 10), to lead people to repentance and salvation in Christ. Speak and live the truth in love (Eph 4:15). “Receive the Holy Spirit” (Jn 20:22), the Spirit of Truth. Prayer: Father, may I never “do anything against the truth, but only for the sake of the truth” (2 Cor
13:8). Promise: “I commend you now to the Lord, and to that gracious word of His which can enlarge you, and give you a share among all who are consecrated to Him.” —Acts 20:32 Presentation Ministries
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Spiritual Reading
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Readings from Jesus Alive in Our Lives, by Philip St. Romain. Ave Maria Press, 1985. Contemplative Ministries, Inc. 2011. Part Three, Gift of the Spirit Chapter 5: Charismatic (Ministry)
Gifts - Selected quotes
You might say that the main difference between the transformative gifts and charismatic gifts is that the former are given to benefit the individual, while the latter are for the good of the community. Another way of putting it is that the transformative gifts
are for us to keep, while the charismatic gifts are for us to give away. Granted that this distinction is not “hard-and-fast”—transformative gifts do benefit the community and individuals are blessed through the exercise of charismatic gifts—still, it’s one that has endured through the centuries, and I think there are some good reasons for it. What we will be covering in this section as charismatic gifts (also called charisms, spiritual gifts, ministry gifts) do seem to be
fundamentally ordered to address certain needs in a community, especially a Christian one. They are ways in which the Spirit energizes and grows the Mystical Body of Christ.
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