Life is Beautiful

Sixth Sunday of Easter
9 May 2010


The Lord has truly risen, alleluia.


First reading Acts 15:1-2,22-29 3
Some men came down from Judaea and taught the brothers, ‘Unless you have yourselves circumcised in the tradition of Moses you cannot be saved.’ This led to disagreement, and after Paul and Barnabas had had a long argument with these men it was arranged that Paul and Barnabas and others of the church should go up to Jerusalem and discuss the problem with the apostles and elders.
Then the apostles and elders decided to choose delegates to send to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas; the whole church concurred with this. They chose Judas known as Barsabbas and Silas, both leading men in the brotherhood, and gave them this letter to take with them:
‘The apostles and elders, your brothers, send greetings to the brothers of pagan birth in Antioch, Syria and Cilicia. We hear that some of our members have disturbed you with their demands and have unsettled your minds. They acted without any authority from us; and so we have decided unanimously to elect delegates and to send them to you with Barnabas and Paul, men we highly respect who have dedicated their lives to the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Accordingly we are sending you Judas and Silas, who will confirm by word of mouth what we have written in this letter. It has been decided by the Holy Spirit and by ourselves not to saddle you with any burden beyond these essentials: you are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols; from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from fornication. Avoid these, and you will do what is right. Farewell.’

Psalm or canticle: Psalm 66:2-3,5-6,8

Second reading Apocalypse 21:10-14,22-23
In the spirit, the angel took me to the top of an enormous high mountain and showed me Jerusalem, the holy city, coming down from God out of heaven. It had all the radiant glory of God and glittered like some precious jewel of crystal-clear diamond. The walls of it were of a great height, and had twelve gates; at each of the twelve gates there was an angel, and over the gates were written the names of the twelve tribes of Israel; on the east there were three gates, on the north three gates, on the south three gates, and on the west three gates. The city walls stood on twelve foundation stones, each one of which bore the name of one of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
I saw that there was no temple in the city since the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb were themselves the temple, and the city did not need the sun or the moon for light, since it was lit by the radiant glory of God and the Lamb was a lighted torch for it.

Gospel John 14:23-29
Jesus said to his disciples:
‘If anyone loves me he will keep my word,
and my Father will love him,
and we shall come to him and make our home with him.
Those who do not love me do not keep my words.
And my word is not my own:
it is the word of the one who sent me.
I have said these things to you while still with you;
but the Advocate, the Holy Spirit,
whom the Father will send in my name,
will teach you everything
and remind you of all I have said to you.
Peace I bequeath to you, my own peace I give you,
a peace the world cannot give,
this is my gift to you.
Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid.
You heard me say: I am going away, and shall return.
If you loved me you would have been glad to know that I am going to the Father,
for the Father is greater than I.
I have told you this now before it happens,
so that when it does happen you may believe.’

Reflection
By Elizabeth R. Eguia

Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.

Life is beautiful. The moment we open our eyes in the morning is already a gift. The first grasp of air is already a blessing. We are lucky to have experience this every day. Some people didn’t have the opportunity to wake up alive for the day. There are numerous opportunities that God has enfolded to us but many of us cannot see it as we are blinded by our own worries and troubles.

Great things await us. We just need to change our perception and attitude towards life. I know it is not easy. We have our weaknesses. Today’s gospel give us this assurance that God is there to guide us, to support us, to walk with us along the way no matter how good or bad our situation is. He has continually expressed His love to us through His son Jesus who brings the message of hope, and also with the Holy Spirit as our counselor. We have our spiritual weapons. We just need to call for help and guidance. Believe that everything is possible. Believe that everything can be accomplished with God.

Dear Lord, teach us to be humble. Teach us to ask for help and guidance especially during the times of troubles for we cannot do anything without You. We raise up our problems to You. We know that with You we can surpass anything. Amen.

Next on God-speak
Wait and Be Patient!