6th Week of Easter, Friday, May 10
Acts 18:9-18 / John 16:20-23
Jesus speaks about the future: “Your grief will become joy.”
A 13-year-old girl had just died of leukemia; While going through her belongings, her parents found a poem that she had written several months before her death. It confirms in a beautiful way what Jesus says in today’s gospel: She wrote: “0 God, I’m Free! Valleys are green, And the sun shines Through the storm and tempest.
Your hand came through the dark, A faint spark; but it lit my soul. My fire is burning, Lord. No one can put it out. My God, I am Free!” Mission Magazine
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Do we really believe that God will someday turn our grief into joy? “0 Lord, may the end of my life be the best of it. May my closing acts be my best acts.” Prayer of a Kurdish mystic
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No one can ever say that they don't have any difficulties and struggles in life. Nor can anyone ever say that they never had any experiences of difficulties and struggles in life. Of course, our natural inclination is to try to avoid difficulties and struggles and we will even pray that God spare us of the hardships of life. Because what we desire is comfort and pleasure, and that there will be no weeping or sorrow.
But if life is really going to as such, then we will not need the help of God because what would we need His help for? St. Paul knew what hardship is about. The Lord had said this of him: I myself will show him how much he himself must suffer for my name (Acts 9:16)
In the 1st reading, we heard that the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision: Do not be afraid to speak out, nor allow yourself to be silenced. I am with you. I have so many people on my side in this city that no one will even attempt to hurt you. It could be that Paul was worn out by the challenges and persecutions against him and he was feeling wearied and run down.
But he was rewarded with this vision from the Lord and from it he got the strength and encouragement to carry on the mission of the Lord. His sorrow had turned to joy. He suffered but now he was strengthened. He only needed to feel that the Lord was with him, and nothing else matters. So where sufferings abound, let us believe that blessings abound all the more. It is in suffering that the Lord will let us have an experience of His presence. And with that we won't be afraid of difficulties and struggles.
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Friday, Easter 6 - Liturgy
Jesus was going to pass through his passion and death on the way to the joy of his resurrection. In him, a new risen and glorious life would be born from his sufferings. The disciples would have to pass through the pains of separation from Jesus, and so there came the uncertainty of their faith as it would be violently tested, to give birth to a renewed faith and a new presence of the Lord. Similarly, the Church has to constantly pass through the childbirth of renewal, to return again and again to Christ and to the heart of his Gospel, so as to be more authentically Christ to the world today. Pain is a childbirth, delivery—literally, a liberation—opening the way to new life and joy.
Penitential Rite:
-"Do not be afraid, Says the Lord, for I am with you.
-you will be sad, but your sadness will turn into gladness, says the Lord.
-whatever you ask the Father in my name he will give you, says the Lord
Opening Prayer
Lord God, merciful Father, it is hard for us to accept pain, for we know that you have made us for happiness and joy.
When suffering challenges us with a provocative “why me?” help us to discover the depth of our inner freedom and love and of all the faith and loyalty of which we are capable, together with, and by the power of Jesus Christ, our Lord.
General Intercessions
– May the Holy Spirit give us peace and serenity in times of pain and trial, for God has made us for joy and happiness, we pray:
– May the Spirit give us the wisdom and strength to let suffering and contradiction help us grow in the likeness of Christ, we pray:
– May the Spirit keep us anchored in faith and joy when we are groping in the dark of misunderstanding and loneliness, we pray:
Prayer over the Gifts: Lord our God, loving Father, we share in this Eucharist in the saving death and resurrection of our Lord, Jesus Christ. Give us your Son as the bread of life, that by the strength of his Spirit, we may face pain and suffering without revolt or refusal. Let it be for us too, the liberating pain of birth for new life and fresh joy that will last forever.
Prayer after Communion
Lord God, loyal Father, you do not ask from us the impossible and we know that you love us. Help us to accept the realities of life and the demands of loyalty and love with the strength of your Son. Give us the courage not to refuse the pains of renewal in Christ and in his Gospel, that our hearts may be full of joy that can never be taken away, for your Son is our Lord forever.
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Saint Damien de Veuster (Martyr of Molokai)
Feast day May 10
Joseph de Veuster was born in Belgium on January 3, 1840.
While at college, he decided God was calling him to be a priest. He joined the
same community his brother had joined and took the name Damien. Damien’s
brother had dreamed of being a missionary overseas. But he became ill and was
unable to go. Damien offered to go in his place. He traveled to Hawaii and was
ordained in Honolulu.
For nine years, Damien served the people in different
villages around Hawaii. While working, he heard about a settlement of lepers on
the island of Molokai. He was told that life on the island was terrible for the
lepers. They were very poor, and there was not one doctor or priest on the
island. Father Damien thought he was needed there. He went to Molokai to work
with the lepers.
Those who could walk came to meet Father Damien’s boat. They
wanted to see this priest who had come to work with them. They were sure he
wouldn’t stay long when he saw what life there was like. Lepers often have
unpleasant sores, and some even lose fingers and toes. Because there were no
laws or police on the island, many who were not very ill lived wild lives.
Father Damien got busy right away. He cleaned up huts,
nursed those who were very sick, and tried new medicines. Those able to help
were put to work building better houses. Father Damien preached and offered
Mass, but he also built roads, water systems, orphanages, and churches. He even
started a choir and a band. He made the lepers feel that they were people with
dignity. They learned to better respect themselves and one another.
Father Damien always began his homily with “My dear lepers.”
One Sunday he stood before his congregation and began his homily by saying “My
fellow lepers.” At first, it was very quiet. Then people began to sob. Their
beloved Father Damien had gotten the disease. Even though he was ill, Father
Damien carried on his work. Eventually, a group of Franciscan sisters from New
York, under the leadership of Mother Marianne, came to help. Father Damien died
when he was 49 years old.
