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Adoration & Bible Study Tonight

The Lord Be With You! Pentecost is almost here, I am so anxious, aren’t you? Here are the readings for the Seventh Sunday of Easter. (Note: These are not the readings we will hear at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton on Sunday because we will celebrate the Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord.)

First Reading: Acts 1:15-17, 20a, 20c-26

Peter stood up in the midst of the brothers
--there was a group of about one hundred and twenty persons
in the one place --.
He said, "My brothers,
the Scripture had to be fulfilled
which the Holy Spirit spoke beforehand
through the mouth of David, concerning Judas,
who was the guide for those who arrested Jesus.
He was numbered among us
and was allotted a share in this ministry.

"For it is written in the Book of Psalms:
May another take his office.

"Therefore, it is necessary that one of the men
who accompanied us the whole time
the Lord Jesus came and went among us,
beginning from the baptism of John
until the day on which he was taken up from us,
become with us a witness to his resurrection."
So they proposed two, Judas called Barsabbas,
who was also known as Justus, and Matthias.
Then they prayed,
"You, Lord, who know the hearts of all,
show which one of these two you have chosen
to take the place in this apostolic ministry
from which Judas turned away to go to his own place."
Then they gave lots to them, and the lot fell upon Matthias,
and he was counted with the eleven apostles.

Second Reading: 1 John 4:11-16

Beloved, if God so loved us,
we also must love one another.
No one has ever seen God.
Yet, if we love one another, God remains in us,
and his love is brought to perfection in us.

This is how we know that we remain in him and he in us,
that he has given us of his Spirit.
Moreover, we have seen and testify
that the Father sent his Son as savior of the world.
Whoever acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God,
God remains in him and he in God.
We have come to know and to believe in the love God has for us.

God is love, and whoever remains in love
remains in God and God in him.

Gospel: John 17:11b-19

Lifting up his eyes to heaven, Jesus prayed saying:
"Holy Father, keep them in your name that you have given me,
so that they may be one just as we are one.
When I was with them I protected them in your name that you gave me,
and I guarded them, and none of them was lost
except the son of destruction,
in order that the Scripture might be fulfilled.
But now I am coming to you.
I speak this in the world
so that they may share my joy completely.
I gave them your word, and the world hated them,
because they do not belong to the world
any more than I belong to the world.
I do not ask that you take them out of the world
but that you keep them from the evil one.
They do not belong to the world
any more than I belong to the world.
Consecrate them in the truth. Your word is truth.
As you sent me into the world,
so I sent them into the world.
And I consecrate myself for them,
so that they also may be consecrated in truth."

Reflection In the first reading Peter makes it clear that the replacement for Judas must be a “witness” not only from when Jesus started his ministry at his baptism through being taken from them, but, “to become with us a witness to his resurrection”. Remember, this is BEFORE Jesus’ ascension. Peter knew, as did all the apostles what was about to happen and he felt it was important to have the unified 12, fulfilling prophesy. As it turns out wasn’t really necessary.

Then Saint John (angels singing) says, “if we love one another, God remains in us, and his love is brought to perfection in us.” This is saying when we, “love one another”, God becomes so present among us that it is seeing, (witnessing) God. The “Spirit” guarantees we can abide (remain) ONE WITH GOD! Then he requests that we “acknowledge” (witness) “Jesus IS the SON of God, God Abides (remains) in him and he in God.” This is something that does not require shouting (you can if the Spirit moves you though), because it is TRUTH. Like waters that run deep, deep truth makes no noise, but has massive power! This is true witnessing.

In the Gospel Jesus is talking to the Father in the witness of the apostles. This is not a teaching lesson to the disciples, this is the Son of God having an intimate conversation with the Father God. The apostles were friends witnessing the Divine Trinity at work. This is one of the greatest witnesses of the history of man. If you need to learn how to pray speak this gospel as if it were you talking to God. Jesus is talking to God about you! He is asking the Father to “Consecrate” (to be holy) you, just as he did HIM. Through HIM, with HIM, in HIM, & FOR HIM, “And I consecrate myself for them, so that they also may be consecrated in truth.” This is the CHURCH, to be ONE. The voices of other Catholics are joining your own all over the world. From the St. Peter’s in Rome to the smallest mud hut in Africa. As a Church we are one, and through the Church, we are also one with God. Alleluia!

Join us Thursday @ 7:00PM in Adoration of our risen Lord, then Bible Study following!

THE DUDE ABIDES  Jn 15:4

For those who understand, no explanation is needed.
For those who do not want to understand, no explanation is possible.

Jim Krieger

Lay Mystic

In My Seat

September 10, 2001, First Officer Steve Scheibner packed his suitcase and waited for the phone call finalizing his assignment to fly American Airlines Flight 11, from Boston to Los Angeles. The call never came. In My Seat recounts the events leading up to Flight 11 and the subsequent death of Tom McGuinness in the seat that should have been filled by Steve Scheibner.

Adoration & Bible Study Tonight

The Lord Be With You! Here are the readings for the Sixth Sunday of Easter.

First Reading: Acts 10:25-26, 34-35, 44-48

When Peter entered, Cornelius met him
and, falling at his feet, paid him homage.
Peter, however, raised him up, saying,
"Get up. I myself am also a human being."

Then Peter proceeded to speak and said,
"In truth, I see that God shows no partiality.
Rather, in every nation whoever fears him and acts uprightly
is acceptable to him."

While Peter was still speaking these things,
the Holy Spirit fell upon all who were listening to the word.
The circumcised believers who had accompanied Peter
were astounded that the gift of the Holy Spirit
should have been poured out on the Gentiles also,
for they could hear them speaking in tongues and glorifying God.
Then Peter responded,
"Can anyone withhold the water for baptizing these people,
who have received the Holy Spirit even as we have?"
He ordered them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ.

Second Reading: 1 John 4:7-10

Beloved, let us love one another,
because love is of God;
everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God.
Whoever is without love does not know God, for God is love.
In this way the love of God was revealed to us:
God sent his only Son into the world
so that we might have life through him.
In this is love:
not that we have loved God, but that he loved us
and sent his Son as expiation for our sins.

Gospel: John 15:9-17

Jesus said to his disciples:
"As the Father loves me, so I also love you.
Remain in my love.
If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love,
just as I have kept my Father’s commandments
and remain in his love."

"I have told you this so that my joy may be in you
and your joy might be complete.
This is my commandment: love one another as I love you.
No one has greater love than this,
to lay down one's life for one's friends.
You are my friends if you do what I command you.
I no longer call you slaves,
because a slave does not know what his master is doing.
I have called you friends,
because I have told you everything I have heard from my Father.
It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you
and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain,
so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give you.
This I command you: love one another."

Reflection

What does it mean to remain (abide) in Jesus’ love? Jesus spells it out for us in this Sunday’s Gospel. Keeping his commandments is a start. By practicing them, we have an idea of what God wants. Jesus expands on them with his two-part Great Commandment. We are to love God with all of our hearts, minds, and souls, and love our neighbors as ourselves. By practicing this, we have an idea of who God is. By living out love, we abide in God’s love. We begin to experience that God is love on a deeper level.

This is what Peter and John (angels singing) are telling us also -- through the Holy Spirit we can be one with Jesus right here, right now. Copy this Sunday’s Gospel onto a piece of paper, or bookmark it on your browser or in your phone and carry it with you this week. Take it out or open it from time to time to remind yourself of this simple, essential law of love.

Don’t forget mother’s day is coming up. I know Jesus won't.

Join us Thursday @ 7:00PM in Adoration of our risen Lord, then Bible Study following!

THE DUDE ABIDES  Jn 15:4

For those who understand, no explanation is needed.
For those who do not want to understand, no explanation is possible.

Jim Krieger

Lay Mystic

Stronger

Some friends told me about this video, and once I saw it, I loved it. Who isn't inspired by the resilience of youngsters at Children's Hospital? We are never promised by the Lord to be free of suffering. Thanks to brave patients at Children's Hospital, we can be reminded that suffering need not be in vain. May these patients, all the health care providers, and the families at Children's be in the palm of God's loving hand!



If you're interested, here's a video on the making of the one above.

Venn Diagram: Life Direction

Laboure Society

Recently I found out a peer of mine from high school is entering a cloistered community of the Poor Sisters of St. Claire. Her beautiful vocation story is in the video below.

Alberta also is an aspirant of the Laboure Society, a Catholic organization that sponsors men and women entering the religious life to help them repay student loans. What a beautiful way we can support young people seeking a life of service to the Church. Learn more about the Laboure Society here, and perhaps sponsor Alberta or another aspirant if you are financially able. Praise be to God for the witness of Alberta and others seeking the religious life!

Nick Vujicic - Get up again

Here is some inspiration from an incredible man I've mentioned before on this blog. The subtitles are in German, but he speaks in English.

Adoration & Bible Study Tonight

The Lord Be with You! This Sunday is the fifth Sunday of Easter, and our readings are:

First Reading: Acts 9:26-31

When Saul arrived in Jerusalem he tried to join the disciples,
but they were all afraid of him,
not believing that he was a disciple.
Then Barnabas took charge of him and brought him to the apostles,
and he reported to them how he had seen the Lord,
and that he had spoken to him,
and how in Damascus he had spoken out boldly in the name of Jesus.
He moved about freely with them in Jerusalem,
and spoke out boldly in the name of the Lord.
He also spoke and debated with the Hellenists,
but they tried to kill him.
And when the brothers learned of this,
they took him down to Caesarea
and sent him on his way to Tarsus.

The church throughout all Judea, Galilee, and Samaria was at peace.
It was being built up and walked in the fear of the Lord,
and with the consolation of the Holy Spirit it grew in numbers.

Second Reading: 1 John 3:18-24

Children, let us love not in word or speech
but in deed and truth.

Now this is how we shall know that we belong to the truth
and reassure our hearts before him
in whatever our hearts condemn,
for God is greater than our hearts and knows everything.
Beloved, if our hearts do not condemn us,
we have confidence in God
and receive from him whatever we ask,
because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him.
And his commandment is this:
we should believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ,
and love one another just as he commanded us.
Those who keep his commandments remain in him, and he in them,
and the way we know that he remains in us
is from the Spirit he gave us.

Gospel: John 15:1-8

Jesus said to his disciples:
"I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine grower.
He takes away every branch in me that does not bear fruit,
and every one that does he prunes so that it bears more fruit.
You are already pruned because of the word that I spoke to you.
Remain in me, as I remain in you.
Just as a branch cannot bear fruit on its own
unless it remains on the vine,
so neither can you unless you remain in me.
I am the vine, you are the branches.
Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit,
because without me you can do nothing.
Anyone who does not remain in me
will be thrown out like a branch and wither;
people will gather them and throw them into a fire
and they will be burned.
If you remain in me and my words remain in you,
ask for whatever you want and it will be done for you.
By this is my Father glorified,
that you bear much fruit and become my disciples."

Reflection

I moved to Pennsylvania a month ago and it has really disrupted my routine. I must admit there was a concern about leaving all the “structure” or “routine” in my life back at home, dare I say maybe even a little fear. Starting with a new church, being a stranger to everyone, not participating with the youth on Sunday, Monday and Thursday night. I realized I really had a comfortable routine. It didn’t take long for the Lord to reveal to me how he was going to “prune” me here. Now I look back and have to chuckle, what was I afraid of? I am reminded that I need to be willing to break out of my routine in order to open fully to God.

That’s what happened to Saul wasn’t it? That’s what John (angels singing) tried to explain to the early Christian church in the second reading. I feel the closest to Jesus when I attempt to anticipate change of the unknown or get irritated when things don’t go my way or I have let myself down. I think this is when I open myself up the most for his spiritual pruning.

What about you? How is Christ pruning you today?

Join us Thursdays @ 7:00PM in Adoration of our risen Lord, then Bible Study following!

THE DUDE ABIDES Jn 15:4

For those who understand, no explanation is needed.

For those who do not want to understand, no explanation is possible.

Jim Krieger

Lay Mystic

The Bible, bigotry, and same-sex attraction

This is from a blog post by Bob Rice, a professor at Franciscan University of Steubenville, Ohio. Read it in its original form here. Please be aware that the video to which the blog post responds contains some profanity and a very negative view of the Church. I am posting it because the keynote speech in the video by Dan Savage was spoken at a high school journalism convention. The video has since gone viral. Teens are watching it and likely searching for a proper response to the scathing claims Savage makes. The post by Bob Rice responds firmly but lovingly to this video and the complex, human issue of same-sex attraction. Read on.

At a conference for High School journalists, Dan Savage gave a talk that was supposed to be about anti-bullying. Instead it was anti-Christian. As he began to talk about the “bull****” of what can be found in the Bible, many Christian students stood up and walked out on him—a move he later called “pansy-assed.” Here’s the video. It’s about three minutes, but be forewarned there is some swearing going on in it (not suitable if kids are nearby.)



The video has gone viral since being posted three days ago, the vast majority of people giving it a “like.” The comments below the video are horrifically anti-gay and only go to further the disgusting stereotype that Savage is bashing in his speech.

My first reaction to this video was shock. I couldn’t believe that someone could speak like that in such a public forum. If a speaker in a similar forum talked about how Jesus died for all of our sins he or she would have been rushed off the stage. But I quickly got over that. St. Peter wrote, “Don’t be surprised that a trial is occurring among you, as if something strange were happening to you.” (1 Peter 4:12) Christians should expect to be persecuted.
My next reaction was sympathy. There was a part of me that felt bad for him. Here is a man who has been abused by people claiming to be Christian. He references being insulted and being physically beat up while others have died over this. And for him the source of blame is the Bible.

He suggests that we should overlook the prohibitions in the Bible regarding same sex activity just as we overlook things like stoning women who are adulterers. I teach a course on Scripture at Franciscan and I’ll be honest: it’s hard to read things like that in Scripture. Interestingly enough, the reason we find it hard to read is because we’ve been transformed by Christ who we also learn about in the Bible. For there are many cultures (who don’t read the Bible) who would still agree with those kind of behaviors.

If the law of God seems barbaric in the Old Testament, we have to remember that it was because 3,500 years ago humanity was barbaric, at least by our Western civilization standards of the 21st century. When you hear of the genocides that still occur today you can argue that not much has changed in some places in the world.

God slowly revealed Himself to the Israelites so that through them the world might learn what it truly means to live and love through the example and teaching of Jesus Christ. We don’t stone women anymore for adultery—”Let he who is without sin cast the first stone” is one of the most famous lines of Jesus (John 8). In fact, we don’t believe in capital punishment at all (unless keeping the prisoner alive is a danger to society—an argument that makes more sense when prisoners were kept in tents and clay houses than billion dollar penitentiaries.)

Savage mentions that, “the Bible is a radically pro-slavery document.” I believe this accusation to be purposefully ignorant. Yes, St. Paul wrote of the respect and duty that slaves should have for their masters and masters for their slaves. But while the term “slave” is used in broad terms in both the Old and New Testament, it is NEVER used in the way it was experienced in America (capturing people from their native land, selling them off for profit, denying rights, justifying abuse, etc.) The Jewish people experienced that kind of slavery at the hand of the Egyptians and a strong part of their Law was to not do that to anyone else.

In the Jewish custom, a slave was more like an indentured servant who could only sell themselves, not be sold by someone else. And after six years they’d have to be released unless they begged their master to be a servant for life (Exodus 21:5) and even then only the judges could decide if that could happen.

But I understand Savage’s deeper point. In the time of slavery in America, some slave owners used the Bible to justify their actions. They were wrong to do so. In our current time, there are many America who bully and discriminate against people with same sex attractions and use the Bible to justify their actions. Guess what? They are wrong to do so, too.

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