PRI Reflections on Scripture | Friday of the 6th Week of Easter

PRI Reflections on Scripture | Friday of the 6th Week of Easter

Original Post Date: May 10, 2024 === Gospel John 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.” Reflection When you think of the expectations that the disciples had, and how the story of Jesus working with them on this earth, they had to go through a sense of great confusion and loss. And somehow, when the truth that you believed most of your life is challenged, it's like a kind of death. It's kind of like an experience of pain. What do I believe? Where do I go? What do I know? That's the most important thing for all of us as we evolve and grow and change into the person God has created us to be. It's a dying and a rising, dying to error and lies, rising to truth in love. Closing Prayer Jesus, you surrendered to the father's will and let go of any human desire to be successful in the ways of the world. And we see Jesus accepting something that had to be so difficult. Every time we're presented with a new way of seeing that radically changes where we were, we are desperately in need of your support. Bless us with a conviction that we do not grow on our own, but only do it through your grace. Through the work of your Holy Spirit. And we ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]

PRI Reflections on Scripture | Feast of Saint Matthias, Apostle

Original Post Date: May 14, 2024 === Gospel  John 15:9-17 Jesus said to his disciples: “As the Father loves me, so I also love you. Remain in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. “I have told you this so that my joy might be in you and your joy might be complete. 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.” Reflection When Jesus tells his disciples that he loves them, he uses as an example. He says, My love for you is the same love that God has for me. And what I want you to understand is that unless we believe that we are loved unconditionally, not based on anything that we say or do, if we think anything we can do diminishes the love that God has for us, we've missed the mystery and the power of this teaching. You can't love if you're not loved, and you can't feel love if it's based on performance. So the challenge is to let go of our ego and our personality and surrender to simply a God who is nothing but love. Closing Prayer Father, open our minds and most especially our hearts to the fullness of what it means that you are so deeply in love with us, just as we are. Not because we improve. Not because we're doing better. Simply because of who we are. We ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]

PRI Reflections on Scripture | Wednesday of the 6th Week of Easter

Original Post Date: May 8, 2024 === Gospel John 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.” Reflection This passage, in a way, underscores the need for something like the Holy Spirit, because we cannot understand and accept the fullness of reality when we simply aren't ready. And the readiness is something that comes about slowly. It is a growth in understanding in consciousness of how the world works, who God is and who we are in him. And the more that evolves, the more open we become to the depth of the mysteries that have to become a part of us. The Holy Spirit's work is to guide us on that journey. Closing Prayer Father, we continue to evolve. To change. To be open to more things than we ever thought we could ever understand. So bless us with patience and understanding of how this all works. So that we can be truly receptive to each new insight that the Holy Spirit sends to us. And we ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]

PRI Reflections on Scripture | Tuesday of the 6th Week of Easter

Original Post Date: May 7, 2024 === Gospel  John 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.” Reflection We see in this passage something that’s very human. The disciples have been told that Jesus is leaving, they didn't expect that to happen, and they were completely filled with grief. And I'm sure they were thinking primarily about what's going to happen to us? What's going to happen to this message? And what he's again reminding them is that there is a truth that the world will not see and has not seen yet, and they are the ones to bring that into the world. And he's not telling them, They have to figure it all out. They have to know it now. No, he's saying, That this will be something you will grow into. And as you understand, you will bring those into greater understanding. Closing Prayer Father, there will always be voices that will contradict everything that you're teaching us. We pray always for the wisdom to see clearly what you are to us, and how you have done so much for us. Help us never to waver in our appreciation, our thankfulness for your message. And we ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]

PRI Reflections on Scripture | Monday of the 6th Week of Easter

Original Post Date: May 6, 2024 === Gospel John 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.” Reflection We're coming to the end of Jesus ministry with his disciples. And what he's promising them is something really important. He's saying, I'm not really leaving you. My father and I are one, and we are there for you. And the form that we take is this mysterious thing called the advocate. The Holy Spirit. And it's the power of God continually to work with each individual, and open their eyes to the mystery that we are faced with. Understand fully the redemption that Jesus won for us. We need that teacher. Closing Prayer Father, as we ponder the mystery of who you are in our life, we know that we long to understand this mystery more and more. So help us to be open to the ways in which you will guide us. Let us surrender to the insights that you share with us as we continue to live the word of God. And we ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]