Saturday 6 May
Saturday of the 4th week of Eastertide First reading - Acts 13:44-52 In the trouble inside the first community of Christians, Paul saw the opportunity to preach the gospel to all. There is a profound message in this trouble in the first community of Christians. They are making the trouble out of jealousy. There is no real reason for the trouble. In making this trouble, they lost the flow of grace through the preaching of Gospel. The truth of the gospel is more important than our petty interests. Sometimes we forget that. To safeguard our petty interests, we sacrifice the truth of gospel. This will result is losing the grace of Gospel. Our selfish interests should not be a hindrance in accepting the truth of the Gospel. We should allow the truth of Gospel to purify our intentions and our interests. Let’s reflect: am I neglecting the truth of the Gospel because of my selfish interests?
Friday 5 May
Friday of the 4th week of Eastertide First reading - Acts 13:26-33 “‘We have come here to tell you the Good News. It was to our ancestors that God made the promise but it is to us, their children, that he has fulfilled it, by raising Jesus from the dead. As scripture says in the second psalm: You are my son: today I have become your father’”. God promises and saves. Promise is made to our forefathers in faith. But the promise is fulfilled in Jesus. Promise is fulfilled by raising Jesus from the dead. How is the promise fulfilled by the resurrection? The promise is fulfilled in the resurrection of Jesus because in Jesus Risen, we become sons and daughters of God the father. Jesus the only Son of God died for our sins. But He gained victory over death because He was raised by God the Father. So, in Jesus Risen we are liberated to become sons and daughters of God. Our faith in Jesus Risen is the faith that liberates us to be sons and daughters of God the Father. Our sins are forgiven in Jesus Christ and in Him we are liberated. Let’s reflect: How much am I grateful to God for fulfilling His promise to our forefathers?
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?