Fifth Sunday of Easter

05-19-2019Weekly Reflection©2018 Liturgical Publications, Inc.

"I give you a new commandment: love one another." With these words, Jesus sums up the law and the prophets in one concise phrase. Love one another. After 2,000 years, you'd think we'd have it figured out by now! But all too often we fail in this commandment. Perhaps we mistake "love" for mere "common decency." Perhaps we've been betrayed, or our own visions of love have been tarnished or misrepresented in our lives. Blessedly, Jesus doesn't leave us without a guide.

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4th Sunday of Easter

05-12-2019Weekly Reflection©2018 Liturgical Publications, Inc.

We all face obstacles in life. Perhaps it's a lost job, the death of a loved one, a sudden accident that places an unexpected dent in our finances. Sometimes the challenges are of our own making. Perhaps we've developed patterns of sin in our personal lives or our family relationships. We've all felt the jolting shock of, "This is all my fault." How do these things affect our relationship with God? Or, perhaps more poignantly, how do we now view God's relationship to us?

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Third Sunday of Easter

05-05-2019Weekly ReflectionTracy Earl Welliver, MTS

I am struck by how Jesus addresses the disciples in the 21st chapter of John. They have been fishing all night, and when the dawn comes, Jesus asks, "Children, have you caught anything to eat?" They hadn't caught a thing, so he tells them what to do to finally fill their nets. These children thought they knew best, but they couldn't get the job done until they listened to Jesus. Like a child who needs a parent, these early followers of Jesus were learning that real maturity of faith requires trusting in and listening to the Teacher.

The stewardship way of life demands of us a certain maturity of discipleship. Just as a child is not yet ready to be a parent, an immature disciple may not yet be ready to sacrifice regardless of the cost or understand the true value of his generosity. So every day, we are challenged and called to respond, sometimes even with little cost to ourselves. But each step, no matter how small, brings with it growth. We are growing not only in maturity, but in the ability to trust in God and how to listen for the call as well.

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