Welcoming the Holy

Here we invite you to take time for yourself in personal prayer. The following spiritual reflection offers words and images which we hope will evoke for you an experience of God. 

Prayer

This day was made for the Lord, Let us rejoice, let us be glad! - Christopher Walker
 
 
Scripture: John 13: 31 – 35 When Judas had left them, Jesus said, "Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him.
If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself, and God will glorify him at once.
 
My children, I will be with you only a little while longer.
I give you a new commandment: love one another.
As I have loved you, so you also should love one another.
This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."
 

Reflection

The Easter Season is, in part, about discipleship and evangelization. Throughout the Hebrew Scriptures and the life and ministry of Jesus there is much about the work of forming disciples; getting them ready to be launched into the world to bring the Good News. Easter Sunday is the great launch and all followers of Jesus are sent to be bearers of the Gospel. Today’s readings support this call. And the mark that is celebrated in today’s Gospel is that of love of God and love of neighbor. Both the readings from the Acts of the Apostles and the Book of Revelation call us to an enthusiasm for the Gospel and to have courage for the proclamation. We can have no stronger commissioning than this.
 
Because we experience the Easter season year after year, I can become complacent to the ways I proclaim the Gospel. I can rest on the ways of the past, assuming that this is still the best way to be a “Christ-bearer” at this time. But is it really? Is God perhaps calling me to look at this call with new eyes? Is the world in which I live demanding a different approach? The writer of the Book of Revelation tell us: “Behold, I make all things new!” What is the newness to which I am called?
 
Perhaps I am being called to listen more deeply to the concerns and joys of others; to be more clear in my speaking out in matters of faith and morality; to be more compassionate to those who do not think or speak like me; to reach out more intentionally to the poor; to examine my own participation in racist structures and language; to be a stronger advocate for immigrant rights, the care for our environment, respect for all life. The commandment to love one another is one that challenges me more and more as I understand the interconnectedness of all creation and what true love requires. 
 

For your own reflection:
What does it mean to you to be called “disciple?” To what newness are you being called?

Closing Prayer

God is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and of great kindness. God is good to all and compassionate toward all his works. (Psalm 145)