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Father David's Reflection for Wednesday of the Seventh Week of Easter

Father David M. Knight

Jun 5, 2019

Father David's Reflection for Wednesday of the Seventh Week of Easter

The readings express the concern Jesus and Paul have for the protection of the flock after they are gone. In response, the Responsorial Psalm cites the last verses of yesterday's Psalm, emphasizing God's power, and inviting us again: "Sing to God, O kingdoms of the earth" (Psalm 68). In Acts 20: 28-38 Paul warns the elders of the Church in Ephesus that "Some even from your own group will come distorting the truth." To help them unmask these "savage wolves," he reminds them th

Father David's Reflection for Tuesday of the Seventh Week of Easter

Father David M. Knight

Jun 4, 2019

Father David's Reflection for Tuesday of the Seventh Week of Easter

The Responsorial Psalm continues yesterday's Psalm, emphasizing that God saves and provides for us. The response is the same: "Sing to God, O kingdoms of the earth" (Psalm 68). In Acts 18: 20: 17-27 Paul gives an account of his ministry, knowing that he is on the road to death. He recalls: "I lived among you. serving the Lord with all humility. enduring the trials that came to me." and "did not shrink from doing anything helpful, proclaiming the message. to both Jews and Gre

Father David's Reflection for Monday of the Seventh Week of Easter

Father David M. Knight

Jun 3, 2019

Father David's Reflection for Monday of the Seventh Week of Easter

The Responsorial Psalm celebrates Christ's victory over sin and death (and all the consequences of sin, the chief of which is death): "Sing to God, O kingdoms of the earth" (Psalm 68). Acts 19: 1-8 makes clear the difference between the human gesture of repentance that John's baptism was and the divine act of regeneration that sacramental Baptism is. The key to the difference is mystery. Both baptisms are human gestures, human expressions of "repentance," of a "change of mind

Father David's Reflection for the Seventh Sunday of Easter

Father David M. Knight

Jun 2, 2019

Father David's Reflection for the Seventh Sunday of Easter

Jesus is All Inventory How do I feel during the Gloria at Mass, when we are saying or singing the words, "You are seated at the right hand of the Father!"? Does this fill me with confidence? Does it make me feel connected with Jesus? Input The Entrance Antiphon is a prayer based on a fact. The prayer is, "Lord, hear my voice when I call on you." The fact is that Jesus is "seated at the right hand of the Father" to do just that. He has triumphed. He has entered into glory. And

Father David's Reflection for Saturday of the Sixth Week of Easter

Father David M. Knight

Jun 1, 2019

Father David's Reflection for Saturday of the Sixth Week of Easter

The Responsorial Psalm is the same as yesterday, with other verses: "God is king of all the earth" (Psalm 47). In Acts 18: 23-28 we see God's power working outside the ordinary structures of the Church. A Jew from Alexandria named Apollos arrived at Ephesus. "He was an eloquent man, well-versed in the scriptures. He had been instructed in the Way of the Lord; and he spoke with burning enthusiasm and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus." But he had been a disciple of

Father David's Reflection for Friday of the Sixth Week of Easter

Father David M. Knight

May 31, 2019

Father David's Reflection for Friday of the Sixth Week of Easter

The Responsorial Psalm reassures us that even when things seem to be going badly: "God is king of all the earth" (Psalm 47). Acts 18: 9-18 shows us the Christians being protected from persecution for a change! The Lord tells Paul not to be afraid; that in Corinth, "No one will at- tack you or harm you" And he adds, "There are many of my people in this city." Sometimes we are so conscious of those who oppose Christianity, or who are indifferent to religion, that we forget ther

Father David's Reflection for Thursday of the Sixth Week of Easter

Father David M. Knight

May 30, 2019

Father David's Reflection for Thursday of the Sixth Week of Easter

The Responsorial Psalm tells us: "The Lord has revealed to the nations his saving power" (Psalm 98). In the readings we see him doing it without dramatic "signs and wonders." Acts 18: 1-8 shows Paul living as an ordinary working man, a tentmaker, in Corinth. And "every Sabbath, in the synagogue, he led discussions," trying to convince both the Jews and the Greeks that Jesus was the Messiah. He persuaded some. But when the Jewish faction "opposed and reviled him, in protest he

Father David's Reflection for Wednesday of the Sixth Week of Easter

Father David M. Knight

May 29, 2019

Father David's Reflection for Wednesday of the Sixth Week of Easter

The Responsorial Psalm declares we should praise God both for what we experience by grace and see around us in the world: "Heaven and earth are filled with your glory" (Psalm 148). In Acts 17:15 to 18:1, Paul begins in Athens by arguing that "The God who made the world and everything in it. does not live in shrines made by human hands." He argues that if we are his "offspring," as Aratus, a poet from Cilicia (part of modern-day Turkey, where Tarsus, Paul's birthplace was) wro

Father David's Reflection for Tuesday of the Sixth Week of Easter

Father David M. Knight

May 28, 2019

Father David's Reflection for Tuesday of the Sixth Week of Easter

From a basis of experience the Responsorial Psalm declares a basis for hope: "Your right hand has saved me, O Lord" (Psalm 138). The earthquake in Acts 16: 22-34 that opened the prison doors was a minor revelation of God's power. The conversion of the jailer was a major revelation. God reveals his power when he uses it to accomplish his own purpose, which is the conversion of the human race. In every age, people's failure to believe in Christ or to continue as active members

Father David's Reflection for Monday of the Sixth Week of Easter

Father David M. Knight

May 27, 2019

Father David's Reflection for Monday of the Sixth Week of Easter

The Responsorial Psalm tells us how God feels about us: "The Lord takes delight in his people" (Psalm 149). We need to accept and rejoice in this. In Acts 16: 11-15 a woman whom the missionaries had just met, Lydia, invites them to stay at her home: "If you are convinced that I believe in the Lord, come and stay at my home." And the apostles did. This reminds us of Jesus' promise: "Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them an

Father David's Reflection for the Sixth Week of Easter

Father David M. Knight

May 26, 2019

Father David's Reflection for the Sixth Week of Easter

Joy and Peace in the Spirit of Christ Inventory What gives me my greatest joy and security in life right now? Are both of these rooted in my experience of Jesus Christ alive and dealing with me? Input The Entrance Antiphon calls us to "speak out with a voice of joy" because "the Lord has set his people free!" Basically, Jesus has set us free from: 1. the guilt of sin; 2. the consequences of sin: (death); 3. slavery to sin (through enslavement to our culture); 4. the slavery o

Father David's Reflection for Saturday of the Fifth Week of Easter

Father David M. Knight

May 25, 2019

Father David's Reflection for Saturday of the Fifth Week of Easter

Though both readings speak of opposition to the Gospel and persecution, the Responsorial verse tells us: "Let all the earth cry out to God with joy" (Psalm 100). The truth is that people's rejection of the Church can be a sign that we are truly united with Jesus, the "stone that the builders rejected," who "has become the cornerstone" (1Peter 2:7). Anything that indicates we have "died with Christ" to the attitudes and values of this world is an assurance that we have also "r

Father David's Reflection for Friday of the Fifth Week of Easter

Father David M. Knight

May 24, 2019

Father David's Reflection for Friday of the Fifth Week of Easter

The Responsorial Psalm is the exclamation of one who rejoices in God's saving love for all people: "I will give you thanks among the peoples, O Lord" (Psalm 57). In Acts 15: 22-31 we see this saving love embodied in the Church's response to the Gentile converts. The community disclaims those who "without any man- date from us have upset you with their teachings and disturbed your peace of mind." The Apostles and presbyters confidently affirm, "It is the decision of the Holy S

Father David's Reflection for Thursday of the Fifth Week of Easter

Father David M. Knight

May 23, 2019

Father David's Reflection for Thursday of the Fifth Week of Easter

The Responsorial Psalm directs us to focus our attention on what God is doing, and to let that guide our judgments about human behavior: "Proclaim God's marvelous deeds to all the nations" (Psalm 96). In particular, our interpretation of laws should be based on what we experience the Spirit doing in the Church. This is what the readings teach us. In Acts 15: 7-21 the "Apostles and presbyters" resolved the dissension between the missionaries and the Pharisee party in the Churc

Father David's Reflection for Wednesday of the Fifth Week of Easter

Father David M. Knight

May 22, 2019

Father David's Reflection for Wednesday of the Fifth Week of Easter

The Responsorial Psalm tells us: "Let us go rejoicing to the house of the Lord" (Psalm 122). The readings give us a choice of what we will rejoice in. The basic choice appears in Acts 15: 1-6. We can rejoice in "all that God has done" or just in the fact that the rules are being kept. This was the concern of those who "had come down from Judea" to Antioch and were instructing the new Gentile converts whom Paul and Barnabas had brought into the Church, "Unless you are circumci

Father David's Reflection for Tuesday of the Fifth Week of Easter

Father David M. Knight

May 21, 2019

Father David's Reflection for Tuesday of the Fifth Week of Easter

The Responsorial Psalm alerts us to the importance of celebrating the action of the risen Christ in the Church: "Your friends make known, O Lord, the glorious splendor of your kingdom" (Psalm 145). In Acts 14: 19-28 we see a pattern that both reveals the presence and assures the permanence of the risen Jesus in the Church. Paul recovers from his stoning after being left for dead, and "the next day went on with Barnabas to Derbe," where they "proclaimed the good news.." This i

Father David's Reflection for Monday of the Fifth Week of Easter

Father David M. Knight

May 20, 2019

Father David's Reflection for Monday of the Fifth Week of Easter

The Responsorial Psalm teaches us to experience God by depending on God: "Not to us, O LORD, but to your name give glory" (Psalm 115). In Acts 14: 5-18 we see again the pattern of the "kerygmatic" or "heraldic" preaching of the Good News: First, pre-evangelization: a miracle raises a question to which the only true explanation is Christ's action in his risen body (14: 8-14): "Not to us, O LORD, but to your name give glory." Then comes evangelization, the preaching of the Gosp

Father David's Reflection for Sunday of the Fifth Week of Easter

Father David M. Knight

May 19, 2019

Father David's Reflection for Sunday of the Fifth Week of Easter

We are Called to Bear Fruit Through Living Union with Jesus Inventory The Entrance Antiphon invites us to: "Sing to the Lord" because he has "revealed to the nations his saving power" (Psalm 97). What "marvelous deeds" of God do we celebrate together? Do we make them a communal experience? Input In the (alternative) Opening Prayer we ask God to "give us voice to sing your praise." But we cannot celebrate together what we have not experienced together. If God has "filled all a

Father David's Reflection for Saturday of the Fourth Week of Easter

Father David M. Knight

May 18, 2019

Father David's Reflection for Saturday of the Fourth Week of Easter

The Responsorial Psalm promises: "All the ends of the earth have seen the saving power of God" (Psalm 98). The readings take on special meaning if we understand "ends of the earth" to mean, not just countries, but in every country all areas of life and activity: family and social life, business and politics. When and how will the "saving power of God" be seen in all of these areas? And when it is, will not the prophetic words of the Church's prayer be realized: "Send forth yo

Father David's Reflection for Friday of the Fourth Week of Easter

Father David M. Knight

May 17, 2019

Father David's Reflection for Friday of the Fourth Week of Easter

The Responsorial Psalm proclaims that Jesus is a Shepherd who will always be with us, because he is divine: "You are my Son; this day I have begotten you" (Psalm 2). The proof is that he rose alive from death. Acts 13: 26-33 tells us "the inhabitants of Jerusalem and their leaders failed to recognize" Jesus. They were not his sheep; if they had been, they would have known his voice. Foolishly, they thought they could get rid of him by having him put to death. But by this they

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