Fifth Sunday of Easter, Cycle B
Prayer
Father, we long to follow You and You long to lead us. May Jesus, the Good Shepherd, guide us on Your path of love. We ask this through our Lord, Jesus Christ, Your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, God forever and ever. Amen.
Commentary
1st Reading: Acts 9:26-31
Barnabas led Paul to the Church in Jerusalem knowing that the disciples would fear Paul for previously persecuting them.
After some assurance, their fears were allayed and they turned their proper fear toward God.
What does it mean to fear God?
Christians are not to be scared of God. We have His promise that nothing can separate us from His love (Romans 8:38-39).
Rather, fearing God means having such a reverence and awe for Him (Hebrews 12:29) that it has a great impact on the way we live our lives. The Fear of God is respecting Him, obeying Him, submitting to His discipline, and worshiping Him in awe.
In fearing the Lord, the early Church was at peace. Even in the midst of persecution, the overwhelming awe of those who witnessed the Resurrection was enough to compel the Church to proclaim the praises of God.
The Church was “making steady progress in the fear of the Lord.”
Question:
How have you been in fear and awe of God lately?
2nd Reading: 1 John 3:18-24
Living in false fear paralyzes us. Even Jesus said, “Fear is useless.”
If there is any fear in us, it should come from a worry that we might abandon our relationship with the one who matters most in our lives.
But, we know that “nothing will ever separate us from the love of God.” (Rom 8:38)
The First Letter of John reminds us that God wants us to remain in Him as God remains in us. This beautiful bond of “remaining” is life-giving, not life-paralyzing.
Remaining in the love of God is made possible by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. John writes, “The way we know that he remains in us is from the Spirit he gave us.”
The Spirit of God (celebrated in a profound way on Pentecost at the end of our Easter Season) binds us together with the Lord.
Question:
In what way or ways do you remain in the Lord?
Gospel: John 15:1-8
There is an old adage: “You cannot give what you have first not received.”
It is for this reason Jesus tells His disciples to “remain” in Him as He “remains” in them.
Using the example of a branch united to the vine, Jesus tells His disciples that a cut-off branch is unable to bear fruit. He says, “Without me you can do nothing.” We cannot give what we have not first received.
A branch receives its nutrition from the vine so that it can give fruit. Christians who do not remain in Christ cannot bear fruit. They are Christian in name but not in practice.
Remaining in the Lord is the way in which God brings joy to the world. Joy is shared through Christ His Son (the vine) and through His disciples (His branches) grafted to the vine.
Remaining in the Lord is the way in which we fear and give awe to the Lord.
Jesus says, “By this is my Father glorified,
that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.”
Question:
In what way are you producing fruit and glorifying the Lord?
This Week’s Task
Examine what you have accomplished this past week.
Ask yourself, how much of what I have accomplished was a response to my relationship with Jesus?
Group Prayer
The leader holds a candle and says:
“I am in fear and awe of you Lord, because
. Lord, I glorify Your Name!”
Passing the candle, each member says the same.
After all have shared, the gathering says together:
“We proclaim your Death, O Lord, and profess Your Resurrection until You come again.”
The leader will then guide the group in praying Psalm 22
Continue with Psalm
Psalm
Response: Alleluia.
I will fulfill my vows before those who fear
the LORD.
The lowly shall eat their fill;
they who seek the LORD shall praise him: “May your hearts live forever!”
R. Alleluia.
All the ends of the earth
shall remember and turn to the LORD;
all the families of the nations shall bow down before him.
R. Alleluia.
To him alone shall bow down all who sleep in the earth; before him shall bend
all who go down into the dust.
R. Alleluia.
And to him my soul shall live;
my descendants shall serve him.
Let the coming generation be told of the LORD that they may proclaim to a people yet to be born the justice he has shown.
R. Alleluia.
Conclude with an Our Father
Used with permission. All rights reserved. Christ in Our Neighborhood is a Scripture program designed by Bishop John P. Dolan of the Diocese of Phoenix.