Sixth Sunday of Easter

“I will not leave you orphans.” – John 14:18

       “So we’re now orphans,” I thought to myself, as we prepared for the wake of my father in January 2016.

       I’m writing this reflection three months after his death. And yes, I could feel the void that his and my mother’s passing away had created in my life.

      It’s different when you go home and they’re no longer there to welcome you. There’s no one to give you a blessing before you leave the house and no one to check on you if you’ve reached your destination safely.

         It’s been pretty sad the first few months (and years, in the case of my mother), and my six sisters and I can only comfort one another — through photos with our parents, through remembrances of happy times, through get-togethers.

       But there comes a time when one really has to face the fact that these things cannot fill the void. There comes a time when one has to accept that the loss cannot be replaced. There comes a time when the best thing to do is surrender to the only One who is our eternal parent: God. Tess V. Atienza (theresa.a@shepherdsvoice.com.ph)

Reflection: What is God’s role in your life?

Dearest God, may my life be filled with Your presence each and every day.

St. Cristobal Magallanes and Companions, pray for us.

The gift of the Holy Spirit was an important component of conversion in the early Church. Today, we must pray that the Holy Spirit manifests its grace, power and gifts in us. We need the Holy Spirit as individuals and as a Church.

5 Philip went down to the city of Samaria and proclaimed the Christ to them. 6 With one accord, the crowds paid attention to what was said by Philip when they heard it and saw the signs he was doing. 7 For unclean spirits, crying out in a loud voice, came out of many possessed people, and many paralyzed and crippled people were cured. 8 There was great joy in that city. 14 Now when the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent them Peter and John, 15 who went down and prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Spirit, 16 for it had not yet fallen upon any of them; they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 17 Then they laid hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit.

R: Let all the earth cry out to God with joy.

1 Shout joyfully to God, all the earth, 2 sing praise to the glory of his name; proclaim his glorious praise. 3 Say to God, “How tremendous are your deeds! (R) 4 Let all on earth worship and sing praise to you, sing praise to your name!” 5 Come and see the works of God, his tremendous deeds among the children of Adam. (R) 6 He has changed the sea into dry land; through the river they passed on foot; therefore let us rejoice in him. 7 He rules by his might forever. (R) 16 Hear now, all you who fear God, while I declare what he has done for me. 20 Blessed be God who refused me not my prayer or his kindness! (R)

St. Peter reminds us that we should be ready to tell the people why we have so much hope and joy in our life. We must explain the Gospel to them at a moment’s notice. We should prepare a short Gospel explanation and brief testimony on how the Gospel has changed our lives. Be prepared, Peter admonishes us.

15 Beloved: Sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts. Always be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope, 16 but do it with gentleness and reverence, keeping your conscience clear, so that, when you are maligned, those who defame your good conduct in Christ may themselves be put to shame. 17 For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that be the will of God, than for doing evil. 18 For Christ also suffered for sins once, the righteous for the sake of the unrighteous, that he might lead you to God. Put to death in the flesh, he was brought to life in the Spirit.

Jesus will send an advocate to plead for us before our Father in heaven. This is a great blessing, but we seem to have forgotten about the Holy Spirit in our own spirituality. We are not encouraged enough to open our life to the power of the Spirit. The Church needs to fulfill its catechetical responsibility and educate the faithful about the powerful work of the Holy Spirit.

Whoever loves me will keep my word, says the Lord, and my Father will love him and we will come to him.

15 Jesus said to his disciples: “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you always, 17 the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot accept, because it neither sees nor knows him. But you know him, because he remains with you, and will be in you. 18 I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you. 19 In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me, because I live and you will live. 20 On that day you will realize that I am in my Father and you are in me and I in you. 21 Whoever has my commandments and observes them is the one who loves me. And whoever loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and reveal myself to him.”

think: As disciples, how do we show our love for Jesus and for each other?

Read the Bible in one year Judges 13-16

T O D A Y’S BLESSING LIST

thank You, Lord, for: ______________________________________________________

REASON FOR HOPE

Last year, four nuns of the Missionaries of Charity were killed in cold blood by terrorists in Yemen. Together with them was a Salesian missionary priest, who, upon learning that the terrorists were coming, rushed to the chapel to consume the Sacred Hosts, taking extreme care to prevent desecration.

       The superior of the sisters’ community lived to tell the tale. The priest was abducted and taken elsewhere. His fate, as of writing time, was not known.

       The handwritten account of the Superior was gripping as it was saddening. All this was clearly a case of persecution on the part of those who actively hated Christianity and its followers.

       The testimony of the Sister Superior was, unbeknown to her, a fulfillment of what St. Peter counseled: “Always be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope.”

       This is what martyrdom, etymologically and essentially, is all about. It is all about witnessing. It is all about proclaiming to the world that one has hope despite the terror and the pain; that one keeps the faith in the midst of so much faithlessness; that one can show “gentleness and reverence” despite being “defamed” and “maligned.”

       I make no secrets about the fact that certain missionary areas, where many religious and priests are based, are veritable danger zones. There is so much hatred around them, and life thereabouts is always fraught with lurking danger. But I am well aware, too, that in precisely those areas, life is teeming with love. Scores, if not hundreds, of selfless missionaries continue to minister to everyone of whatever religion and persuasion, feeding them, teaching them, and working to assure their survival in the midst of so much want.

       Those four sisters, in death, explained the reason for their hope. Those who continue to minister and plod on proclaim, in their uncertain and insecure lives, that the reason for their hope is the One who promised: “I will not leave you orphans.” Fr. Chito Dimaranan, SDB

----------- REFLECTION QUESTION -----------

Where does your hope lie?

Let me be a witness to my faith, Lord, in word and in deed. Amen.