{"id":3776,"date":"2020-05-10T11:08:00","date_gmt":"2020-05-10T15:08:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/?p=3776"},"modified":"2020-05-10T11:08:00","modified_gmt":"2020-05-10T15:08:00","slug":"5th-sunday-of-easter-year-a","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/5th-sunday-of-easter-year-a\/","title":{"rendered":"5th Sunday of Easter, Year A"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

5th<\/sup> Sunday of Easter, Year A<\/a>
Acts 6:1-7
Psalm 33:1-2, 4-5, 18-19 (22)
1 Peter 2:4-9
John 14:1-12
May 10, 2020<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today\u2019s gospel is a familiar one to many, at least the first half.  The first six verses are often chosen as the gospel reading at funerals.  In that setting, our hearts are troubled because we have lost a loved one.  At a funeral, Jesus\u2019 words, \u201cthat I am going to prepare a place for you<\/em>,\u201d are words of great comfort, assuring us that Jesus has a place in Heaven for all who believe in him as \u201cthe way and the truth and the life<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, the death of a loved one is not the only thing that might cause our hearts to be troubled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our hearts might be troubled by a broken relationship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our hearts might be troubled because of a serious illness, the loss of a job, or uncertainty in the future.  We might face the suffering ourselves or it might be a loved one who is suffering.  Either way, we embrace Jesus\u2019 words, \u201cDo not let your hearts be troubled.  You have faith in God; have faith also in me.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sometimes we feel like we face our troubles alone yet we know God is always with us.  Sometimes we face our troubles together like with the Coronavirus.  We don\u2019t all face identical<\/em><\/strong> troubles because of the Coronavirus but we know that we are not alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After Pentecost the early church \u201ccontinued to grow<\/em>.\u201d  Unfortunately, the long-term trend right now is that we are a shrinking church.  Fewer and fewer people come to church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We might all be wondering what attendance will be like after we reopen.  It doesn\u2019t necessarily have to shrink.  There are those who faith is being made stronger (https:\/\/catholiccourier.com\/articles\/polls-show-faith-is-getting-americans-through-the-coronavirus-crisis?fbclid=<\/a>IwAR3GbA4jgxb8rP4GFrTZf7tcXvSp<\/a>_lj78InpvM8sk5uK0XQ28EqPmvSr2Tk<\/a>).  There are also those who hadn\u2019t been coming to church who are watching Mass now.  We welcome them back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Coronavirus is a struggle that causes us trouble.  We cannot gather as we would like.  We cannot serve one another as we would like.  Collections are affected (thank you to those who have continued to give and we pray for those who are out of work and can\u2019t give). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet the Coronavirus might lead to more ministry.  With your faith made stronger, you might look for a new way to help.  For example, you might think about how you feel trapped at home and use that as motivation going forward to care for those who are permanently homebound.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are various ways to minister.  We don\u2019t all need to do the exact same things.  The Twelve were devoted \u201cto the ministry of the word<\/em>.\u201d  When there were problems with the \u201cdaily distribution<\/em>\u201d, they didn\u2019t try to take care of it by themselves.  They appointed seven others to this task.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It isn\u2019t the job of priests to do everything.  It isn\u2019t for the parish staff to do everything.  We all need to work together to build up the Kingdom of God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We might feel down right now but think of the good things that the Lord has done for us, and \u201cgive thanks to the Lord<\/em>\u201d with an \u201cattitude of gratitude\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yes, things may be tough right now.  People are turning to Jesus who is \u201ca living stone, rejected by human beings but chosen and precious in the sight of God.<\/em>\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do we make Jesus our cornerstone?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do we, as Peter writes, \u201clet yourselves be built into a spiritual house\u201d<\/em>?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sometimes we think we need to fix all our problems ourselves.  In doing so, we try to build ourselves into what we want to be.  How does \u201cwhat we want to be\u201d correspond to the Lord\u2019s Prayer where we say \u201cthy will be done\u201d?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, instead of building ourselves into what we want to be, we need to allow God to build us into what He wants us to be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We need to put effort into this.  The effort begins with knowing God so that we come to know what He wants us to do.  Our effort needs to include prayer to allow us to discern what God calls us to do individually and as a church that spans the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jesus is \u201cthe way and truth and the life<\/em>.  He shows us the way.  He shows us the Father.  The Father and the Son send us the Holy Spirit to guide and strengthen us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

God has a plan. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I do not believe God caused the Coronavirus but He does have a plan to get us through it and what to do after the virus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I end with the words of Peter from the end of today\u2019s second reading, \u201cYou are \u201ca chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of his own, so that you may announce the praises\u201d of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

5th Sunday of Easter, Year AActs 6:1-7Psalm 33:1-2, 4-5, 18-19 (22)1 Peter 2:4-9John 14:1-12May 10, 2020 Today\u2019s gospel is a familiar one to many, at least the first half.  The first six verses are often chosen as the gospel reading at funerals.  In that setting, our hearts are troubled because we have lost a loved …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘5th Sunday of Easter, Year A’ »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[714,9,82],"tags":[757,758,759],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pMTPk-YU","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3776"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3776"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3776\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3801,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3776\/revisions\/3801"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3776"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3776"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3776"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}