One another, Easter7C

June 01, 2025

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

O God, your Son remained with his disciples after his resurrection, teaching them to love all people as neighbors. As his disciples in this age, we offer our prayers on behalf of the universe in which we are privileged to live and our neighbors with whom we share it:

For the Church: that we may continue the mission of Jesus and bring forth the reign of God through our worship, our work, and our relationships each day: let us pray to the Lord.

For a renewed spirit of evangelization: that the Holy Spirit will guide us in witnessing to Jesus and all that God has done in showing compassion and forgiveness to all the world: let us pray to the Lord.

For the coming of Christ’s reign: that we may strive with great dedication to bring hatred, injustice, and all the evils of our society under the saving and redeeming love of Christ: let us pray to the Lord.

For all gathered here: that we may encounter Christ in our Eucharistic assembly, in our families and communities, and in those who request our assistance: let us pray to the lord.

For the Christian community: that through our celebration of the Paschal Mystery and the Easter season, we may be renewed in spirit to live for Christ each day and place our talents and energies in the service Christ’s reign: let us pray to the Lord.

For wisdom: that God will inspire us in recognizing and using our gifts to enrich the faith community and cooperate with God in bringing forth the reign of God in our time and place: let us pray to the Lord.

For all who spread the Good News, particularly missionaries, preachers, and writers: that God will inspire them to announce God’s saving love and healing presence boldly and dynamically: let us pray to the Lord.

For the healing of racism: that all nations and peoples may recognize the value and dignity that God has given each person and work together to bring forth the reign of God in the world: let us pray to the Lord.

For government leaders: that God will inspire them with courage and new understanding as they work to develop new immigration policies: let us pray to the Lord.

For all victims of violence: that God will heal their pain, ease their fear, and give them the courage to engage with life fully: let us pray to the Lord.

For an end to drug trafficking: that God will turn the hearts of those involved with illegal drugs and empower those with addictions to seek help: let us pray to the Lord.

For all youth: that God will guide their path, help them to recognize the blessings which they have received, and inspire them with new solutions for the challenges of society: let us pray to the Lod.

For all dioceses where parishes are being reorganized: that the Spirit will guide the process, open hearts to new connections, and bring forth dynamic parishes that give witness to the Gospel: let us pray to the Lord.

For peace in our cities and neighborhoods: that God will break the patterns of violence, open new ways to resolve disputes, and give courage to all working to be peacemakers: let us pray to the Lord.

For Peace: that God will bring an end to armed conflicts, protect the vulnerable for harm, and open new pathways to peace and understanding: let us pray to the Lord.

[USA] For all who have died in the service of our nation: that God’s glory will shine upon them and that they may share in the peace of the heavenly kingdom: let us pray to the Lord.

Open our hearts to your power movingaround us and between us and within us,until your glory is revealed in our love of both friend and enemy,in communities transformed by justice and compassion,and in the healing of all that is broken. Amen.

References

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

-Cormier, J. (1995). Lord, Hear Our Prayer: Prayer of the Faithful for Sundays, Holy Days, and Ritual Masses.

SOCL, Easter6C

Sunday May 25, 2025

See

We construct elaborate monuments to presence—constant connectivity, curated feeds, endless documentation—yet feel increasingly hollow. The more we amplify our visibility, the more we disappear from ourselves. This frantic accumulation of evidence masks a terrifying suspicion: perhaps we exist most fully in the spaces between our performances.

True intimacy operates through strategic withdrawal. The parent who steps back allows the child to discover independence; the teacher who remains silent creates space for genuine questions to emerge. Love that clings destroys what it claims to protect, while love that releases creates conditions for authentic encounter. We mistake possession for connection, surveillance for care.

The deepest dwelling happens not through accumulation but through evacuation—clearing space for what cannot be summoned or controlled. Peace arrives not as the absence of disruption but as the presence of something uncontainable by our systems of security. We are most at home when we stop trying to construct home everywhere else.

Listen

Acts 15:1-2, 22-29; Psalm 67 (66); Apoc 21:10-14, 22-23; John 14:23-29

Reflect

(John 14:23-29)

Think about a relationship where you've tried to control outcomes through constant attention, checking, or managing—perhaps monitoring someone's social media, over-texting, or micro-managing a project. Notice how this hypervigilance creates anxiety rather than connection, pushing away what you're desperately trying to hold close.

Jesus promises that divine presence emerges through love expressed as faithful action, not emotional intensity or constant contact. Consider how stepping back from controlling behaviors might create space for genuine encounter—allowing others to choose freely, trusting without evidence, loving without possession or surveillance.

Where in your life could you practice "strategic absence"—reducing your need to monitor, control, or constantly connect? How might withdrawing your anxious attention actually create space for deeper intimacy, allowing both yourself and others to breathe, choose, and show up authentically?

Pray

Lord, you inhabit the spaces we cannot construct or control. Grant us courage to release our grip on relationships, trusting that love grows through freedom rather than surveillance. Help our communities discover intimacy through respect rather than intrusion. Transform our fear of abandonment into faith that true connection survives distance, silence, and the terrifying gift of choice.

The Word today, Easter6C

May 26 - May 31, 2025

Monday 26 May

St Philip Neri, priest and religious

Acts 16:11-15 Today we hear of the founding of Paul’s first community in Europe. Philippians shows just how warm relationship became after these simple beginnings.

John 15:26-16:4 The word “paraclete,” strange to us, means literally the one who pleads alongside (someone). This is very like the Pauline vision of the Spirit helping us in our weakness. John’s Gospel, however, adds two extra dimensions, noticed in today’s Gospel: witnessing and remembering.

Tuesday 27 May

St Augustine of Canterbury

Acts 16:22-34 In biblical language, an earthquake symbolises the presence and action of God. In this extraordinary story, a truly astonishing reversal takes place.

John 16:5-11 Our Gospel reflects on the meaning of Jesus’ departure (death): it signals and enables the gift of the Spirit in a completely new way.

Wednesday 28 May

Acts 17:15, 22-18:1 One expression from this reading is often quoted: it is in him that we live, and move, and have our being. The context for this marvellous affirmation is set-piece confrontation between Paul and the philosophers of Athens.

John 16:12-15 We are more aware, perhaps, than other generations of the importance of memory for our well-being and stability as individuals. It is important for us as believers as well and, fortunately, we are not alone. The Holy Spirit guides us not simply to retain the past but to live the future of our faith.

Thursday 29 May

St Paul VI, bishop of Rome

Acts 18:1-8 We may be tempted to think of Paul as operating on his own, but today we meet some of his wider team. Priscilla and Aquila were great supporters in friendship, hospitality and finance.

John 16:16-20 Our reading today touches a central part of the Farewell Discourse. This kind of writing acknowledges the transition of Jesus, so that he will no longer be with his disciples has he had been. At the same time, it opens to up different relationship after the resurrection. The words of the risen Jesus to Mary Magdalen come to mind: Jesus said to her, “Do not keep holding on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” (John 20:17; NRSV adjusted).

Friday 30 May

Acts 18:9-18 Enemies try to get the governor of Corinth to act against Paul, but Gallio sees through the ploy and dismisses the case. Gallio was governor from winter AD 51 to spring 52, so this scene helps us to put a date on Paul’s first visit to Corinth. Gallio’s brother was the better known philosopher Seneca.

John 16:20-23 In the Gospel of John there is very little “tension” towards the future, unlike other New Testament documents. Today’s reading, however, is an exception. We even find a standing metaphor from apocalyptic: labour pains. The insistent use of “joy” tells us what the Gospel writing has in mind.

Saturday 31 May

Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Zephaniah 3:14-18 The note of joy at the coming of the Lord anticipates today’s Gospel, with its own note of joy at the coming of Jesus.

Luke 1:39-56 This gospel passage — like others in Luke — has inspired Christian prayer. In this case, the Hail Mary and the Magnificat.

References

-United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. (2025aq, May 25). Sixth Sunday of Easter. USCCB. https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/052525.cfm

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