SOCL, AscensionC

Sunday June 01, 2025

See

We treat presence as possession: accumulating time with loved ones, hoarding perfect moments, building relationships on constant availability. This economy of attachment transforms love into surveillance—monitoring WhatsApp statuses, demanding immediate responses, confusing physical proximity with emotional intimacy. Our connections suffocate under the weight of permanent expectation.

Yet the most painful departures often release the deepest presence. Children who become independent reveal the love that overprotection had buried; jobs we lose open paths that control never would have discovered. Absence creates space for memory to distill what's essential, for distance to purify affection of its possessive components.

Perhaps true intimacy requires strategic absences: the space that allows growth, the distance that makes reunion precious, the departure that transforms presence from entitlement into unexpected gift. The most transformative encounters are not those we control but those that survive our inability to possess them.

Listen

Acts 1:1-11; Psalm 47 [46]; Ephesians 1:17-23; Luke 24:46-53

Reflect

(Luke 24:46-53)

Reflect on relationships where your need for control or constant presence might be suffocating authentic connection. What fears drive your desire to keep close what you love, and how might these fears be limiting mutual growth?

Jesus departs physically but promises deeper presence through the Spirit, suggesting that true intimacy transcends physical proximity. How might this perspective change the way you navigate separations, losses, or transitions in your life?

Consider where you might need to create healthy space in your relationships—allowing autonomy instead of dependence, trust instead of control. What would change if you saw certain absences as opportunities for deeper connection rather than threats to the bond?

Pray

Lord, free us from the fear that turns love into possession. Heal our communities addicted to superficial connection, transform our relationships controlled by anxiety into spaces of mutual freedom. Make us wise to embrace the absences that deepen intimacy.

The Word today, Easter7C

June 02 - June 07, 2025

Monday 02 June

Sts Marcellinus and Peters, martyrs

Acts 19:1-8 Followers of John the Baptist who did not believe in Jesus as Messiah continued to exist for a long time.

John 16:29-33 Although Jesus speaks plainly throughout this Gospel (unlike in Mark), nevertheless the slow journey of the disciples is registered. The overall tone is one of encouragement.

Tuesday 03 June

St Kevin, abbot

Acts 20:17-27 Today’s reading is a very touching scene: the final farewell of Paul to the faithful of Ephesus. It offers a kind of apologia for the Pauline mission.

John 17:1-11 Today we hear the start of the final prayer from the Farewell Discourse. It is, of course, a prayer; but it is also a kind of summing of the teaching so far and a looking forward to the time after the resurrection. You may notice the typical “defnition” of eternal life: And eternal life is this: to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.

Wednesday 04 June

Sts Charles Lwanga and his Companions, Martyrs

Acts 20:28-38 Paul’s last speech to the elders in Ephesus is full of still valid and good advice and the very last moment is very moving.

John 17:11-19 “Glorify” may sound strange to us, as if Jesus were looking for some kind of vain recognition. In this Gospel, however, to glorify point to the cross; specifically, it means that the heart of God, God’s inner identity, is disclosed in Jesus’ death and resurrection.

Thursday 05 June

St Boniface, bishop and martyr

Acts 22:30, 23:6-11 “Divide and conquer” is an old rule and Paul uses it cannily in today’s vignette. Paradoxically, Paul is “rescued” by the very officials who hold him prisoner.

John 17:20-26 This heartfelt prayer will touch us all. Although conflict is normal, at every level, it cannot be normative. Therefore, we strive for forgiveness, reconciliation and true fellowing or oneness. May this great prayer be ours today!

Friday 06 June

St Norbert, bishop St Jarlath, bishop

Acts 25:13-21 A key event in the life of Paul is recounted. He was under arrest in Caesarea. As a Roman citizen, he makes the fateful appeal to the emperor.

John 21:15-19 Because our reading of John is coming to a close as the Easter Season ends, the lectionary takes us forward to chapter 21. Here we read of the restoration of Peter. In the background, there is an oblique reminder of his betrayal (charcoal1). But in the foreground stands the high call to love and the fundamental call to follow.

Saturday 07 June

St Colman of Dromore, bishop

Acts 28:16-20, 30-31 Today we hear the very last scene in Acts of the Apostles, drawing Luke’s magnificent two volume work to a close. How does he choose to end? He shows Paul, under house arrest, still proclaiming Jesus. Very last word (in Greek) is “unhindered” — an invitation to the readers to continue the work today.

John 21:20-25 Our Gospel today is the second ending of John’s Gospel. It is clear that by now, the great spiritual leader of the community (represented in the text as the Beloved Disciple) has died, causing distress and consternation. Finally, the writer frankly admits that he has selected stories in the Gospel.

References

-United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. (2025at, June 1). Seventh Sunday of Easter. USCCB. https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/060125-Sunday.cfm

-Sunday readings. (n.d.-s). Hearers of the Word. https://www.tarsus.ie/SundayReadings

SOCL, Easter7C

Sunday June 01, 2025

See

We champion independence, yet crave belonging. Modern life promises freedom through separation—curated social feeds, gated communities, personalized everything. But isolation masquerates as choice. We mistake proximity for connection, confusing networks with relationships.

True unity demands vulnerability. It requires dismantling the walls we've built to protect our carefully constructed identities. Like fingers learning they belong to the same hand, genuine connection happens when we stop competing for individual recognition and start moving together toward shared purpose.

The deepest human longing isn't to be understood—it's to understand that we're already part of something larger. Unity isn't uniformity; it's the recognition that our differences serve a common wholeness, like instruments in an orchestra discovering they've been playing the same song all along.

Listen

Acts 7:55-60; Psalm 97 (96); Apocalypse 22:12-14, 16-17, 20; John 17:20-26

Reflect

(John 17:20-26)

Consider the relationships where you feel most isolated or misunderstood. What walls have you built to protect yourself, and how might these barriers also prevent genuine connection with others around you?

Jesus prayed for unity that reflects divine love—not agreement, but deep communion. How might viewing disagreements as opportunities for deeper understanding transform your approach to conflict and difference in relationships?

Where in your daily interactions can you choose vulnerability over self-protection? How might opening yourself to others' experiences create the kind of transformative connection that changes communities?

Pray

Loving God, whose unity encompasses all diversity, break down the walls we build between ourselves and others. Help us see beyond our differences to recognize our shared humanity. Transform our communities from collections of individuals into living expressions of your love, where justice flows and mercy prevails for all.