Texts taken from the Missal “On Your Word” March-April 2024

5th Sunday of Easter (B)
1st week of the Psalter

FIRST READING

From the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 9:26-31)
In those days, when Saul had come to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he was a disciple. Then Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles and told them how, on the journey, he had seen the Lord, who had spoken to him, and how in Damascus he had preached boldly in the name of Jesus. So he was able to stay with them, moving about freely in Jerusalem and preaching boldly in the name of the Lord. He spoke and debated with the Hellenists, but they tried to kill him. When the brothers learned of this, they took him down to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus. Then the Church throughout all Judea, Galilee, and Samaria was at peace. It was being built up and walked in the fear of the Lord and, with the consolation of the Holy Spirit, it grew in numbers. - The Word of God.

Commentary on the first reading

Paul, having just been converted, began to refute the Jews, trying to convince them that Jesus was God. He was the right person for this, because he was extremely well prepared, what we would call a university graduate today. But when he presented himself to the disciples in Jerusalem, they were strangely afraid of him. Why? Perhaps they were not convinced of his complete conversion? Perhaps he used methods they did not approve of? That holy man Barnabas convinced everyone that Paul was truly converted and that God’s grace was with him. Everything therefore seemed to be fine, but some “Hellenists” could not stand him, to such an extent that they even tried to kill him. So the leaders decided to keep him out of harm’s way for a while and asked him to return to his hometown, Tarsus, for a certain period. He remained hidden there for several years, seemingly forgotten by everyone. This therefore appears to be an image of failure, but in reality, in that silence Paul prepared himself better for his future missions, which were spectacular, because on his own he brought the Gospel throughout the Greco-Roman world. Failure is transformed into grace: we need only let God act.

SECOND READING

From the first letter of Saint John the apostle (1 Jn 3:18-24)
Little children, let us not love in word or speech, but in deed and in truth. By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our hearts before him whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts and knows everything. Beloved, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence in God, and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him. And this is his commandment: that we should believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us. Whoever keeps his commandments remains in God and God in him. And by this we know that he remains in us: by the Spirit that he has given us. - The Word of God.

Commentary on the second reading

“God is greater than our hearts.” This is important, because in general we make our heart - our thoughts and feelings - an absolute, and we believe that what we experience, feel, and think is the certain and unquestionable guideline by which to live every act of our day. But we are failing to take God into account. If we asked ourselves more often what God thinks, what the truth is to which we should conform, we would realize that sometimes our heart exaggerates and at other times minimizes, because we are carried away by our passions. We are like children in first grade who still have many things to learn, and our teacher is the Holy Spirit. The criterion for knowing whether we are in the truth - and therefore the first thing we should ask ourselves - is whether we follow God’s commandments. Saint John always links observance of the commandments with love of God. These precepts are faith - believing that we are loved by God - and love, especially love for our brothers and sisters. Let us therefore never become discouraged: God has given us his Spirit, and his guidance is good and sure!

GOSPEL OF THE DAY

From the Gospel according to John (Jn 15:1-8)
At that time, Jesus said to his disciples: “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine grower. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Remain in me, as I remain in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it remains on the vine, neither can you unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever remains in me and I in him bears much fruit, because without me you can do nothing. Whoever does not remain in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; then they gather them, throw them into the fire, and they are burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask for whatever you want and it will be done for you. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.” - The Word of the Lord.

Commentary on the Gospel of the day

Our works, our actions, and our activity are more God’s than our own. The Christian’s activity is primarily passivity. The example of the branches and the vine is perfect. The clusters of grapes (fruits) appear on the branches, but the trunk of the vine (the risen Jesus) is what carries the sap to the branches. We simply let God act in us. This is the greatness of surrender to God and to his will! The Virgin Mary teaches us this with that wonderful verb of hers in the passive form: fiat, “let it be done to me according to your word” (Lk 1:38). Did Our Lady do nothing more from that moment on? On the contrary, she acted continuously, but according to the promptings of the Spirit of Christ, docilely carrying out what came to her through the inner movements of grace. Whoever wants to act on their own, however, considers their own will superior and better than God’s. This is Satan’s sin: pride. In the end, the one who directs the Church and works in Christian, apostolic, and charitable activities is the Holy Spirit, who uses our hands and hearts. And is it not beautiful to be in the vine? Docility is not giving up on acting actively; on the contrary, it means acting in conformity with the one will, which is God’s.