Thursday 4 May
Thursday of the 4th week of Eastertide First reading - Acts 13:13-25 “To keep his promise, God has raised up for Israel one of David’s descendants, Jesus, as Saviour, whose coming was heralded by John when he proclaimed a baptism of repentance for the whole people of Israel”. Jesus is the fulfillment of the promise of God. Jesus is the descendent of King David. Jesus is Savior. The coming of Jesus was heralded by John the Baptist. The same John the Baptist proclaimed a baptism of repentance. In these dynamics we can see that God is promising but it involves a role from God and a responsibility from the people of God. God promised the redemption and Jesus became the Savior. John became the preacher of repentance so that we repent and accept Jesus as our Savior. When we don’t recognize the need of salvation, we don’t accept Jesus as Savior. When we forget the need of repentance, we forget to accept the Jesus as Savior. Let’s reflect: Do I recognize my need of repentance to accept Jesus as my Savior?
Wednesday 3 May
Saints Philip and James, Apostles - Feast First reading - 1 Corinthians 15:1-8 “because the gospel will save you only if you keep believing exactly what I preached to you – believing anything else will not lead to anything”. This Word of God is very important because St. Paul is very precise. You must believe EXACTLY what he preached. Believing anything else will not lead to anything. This is important because we would like to add to the gospel what is convenient to us and what is comfortable to us. This is unacceptable. We must believe exactly what is in the gospel. So, we must be faithful to the essence of the preaching of the Apostles. That is why we also celebrate their feast and maintain a special devotion to them. We want to believe exactly what they preached. The devotion to the Apostles is very vital to remain faithful to their teachings. To follow exactly what they preached and nothing else. Let’s reflect: How much authentic is my faith to the teachings of the Apostles?
Tuesday 2 May
Saint Athanasius, Bishop, Doctor Tuesday of the 4th week of Eastertide First reading - Acts 11:19-26 “for he was a good man, filled with the Holy Spirit and with faith”. This is the description about Barnabas in the Book of the Acts of the Apostles. He was a good man. He was a good man who is filled with the Holy Spirit and with faith. These three components are very important in the life of testimony. Because we read after this description about Barnabas that, “And a large number of people were won over to the Lord”. This is in the sense that because of what Barnabas is, a large number of people were won over to the Lord. So, these qualities, being a good person, being filled with the Holy Spirit and being filled with faith, caused this effective mission. It could be that these qualities can exist alone. One can be a good person but without faith. One can have faith but not open to Holy Spirit. One can have the Holy Spirit but not faith. So, it’s important to have these three qualities together to give a true witness which could win people over to the Lord. Let’s reflect: Do my witness include being good, being filled with the Holy Spirit and with faith?
Monday 1 May
Monday of the 4th week of Eastertide Saint Joseph the Worker First reading - Acts 11:1-18 “What God has made clean, you have no right to call profane.” This is the effect of incarnation. Word became flesh. The incarnation elevated the creation along the humanity and saved it. This is very important in our relationship to every single entity around us. The nature, the creation, and everything around us, God has made clean. There is no place for despise in our heart. We must create a good relationship with everything around us. Actually, Lord showed this vision to Peter to indicate that Gospel cannot be denied to anyone. God welcomes all nations and races. God welcomes all languages and tribes. So, we cannot despise any person for any reason. Incarnation of Word made everything part of the Word. This profound truth becomes a reality in our life when we can embrace the entire reality without despising anything. Jesus saved the humanity and the entire creation. Let’s reflect: am I despising anyone whom the Jesus saved?