5 May 2026 - prizing peace

 

Today's Readings
(Audio)

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.
Not as the world gives do I give it to you.

The world gives us a peace that is the result of a temporary lack of negative feelings and circumstances. It is merely a lull between crises. It comes about when we manage to momentarily elude our anxieties. We are occasionally able to distract ourselves from the things we fear. We don't always have to directly engage those things in life with which we struggle. But the trouble with peace of this sort is that it always comes up short. It circumstantial by definition. Even if we happen to have immense resources and spend them all, along with all of our effort, to protect it, we cannot achieve uninterrupted peace of this kind. And the harder we try the more it tends to hurt when something breaks through the barriers we have built and we are confronted by the intrusion of an apparently indifferent world.

'I am going away and I will come back to you.'
If you loved me,
you would rejoice that I am going to the Father;

The peace that Jesus gives is different from that of the world. It does not require that we only always experience positive feelings and circumstances. It is durable enough to provide us with stability even in the midst of suffering. Paul and Barnabas told the disciples that, "It is necessary for us to undergo many hardships to enter the Kingdom of God", and they did not sense this to be in contradiction to the good news they proclaimed. 

We probably wonder if this sort of peace, that is present in the midst of pain, is really anything other than pretense and propaganda. But it is vastly different to experience trials, hardships, and suffering, when we abide in the peace of Jesus, than to do so without it. We don't need to experience the desperation that is so common to the rest of the world in the face of suffering. We don't need to feel as though something went wrong, or is irreparably broken. We can move through the highs and the lows of life with a profound and unshakable trust that God is in control. Then, no matter what life throws at us, we won't overreact and make matters worse. We may not always see or understand what God is doing in the world. In fact, we do not often understand the ways in which God brings greater good from the many evils we see around us. But we know that even when he seems absent he is still working. He is always arranging everything for our good, not in an obvious way, like Santa Claus, but as rather as one whom we can trust because he knows us better than we know ourselves. 

I will no longer speak much with you,
for the ruler of the world is coming.
He has no power over me,
but the world must know that I love the Father
and that I do just as the Father has commanded me.

Even the ruler of this world, the devil, need not cause us to lose our peace since he has no power over Jesus in whose hands are all of our lives. It should, perhaps, give us pause that we ourselves are all to able to extricate ourselves from his protection. But even when we think about that possibility we should not overestimate ourselves and underestimate God's mercy and his desire to save us. In any event, we don't need to worry as though the devil has ultimate power over us since the one who is living within us is greater than the one living in the world (see First John 4:4). We never need to succumb to his wiles or let ourselves be deceived by him again. We have recourse if it happens. But better to remain seated in the power of the peace of Christ.

MercyMe - Greater

 

4 May 2026 - let him in

Today's Readings
(Audio)

Master, then what happened that you will reveal yourself to us
and not to the world?

Judas, not the Iscariot, was asking an apparently fair question. Why were the Father and the Son apparently holding back, and not simply revealing themselves to everyone? It seemed from what Jesus said almost as if people needed to first prove themselves by expressing their love for God by keeping the commandments, after which, if they succeeded sufficiently, God would reciprocate.

Whoever loves me will keep my word,
and my Father will love him,
and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him.

Yet, upon reflection, it was clear that it did not begin with the disciples or any other potential recipients of God's favor. Rather, it (at least this stage of it) began with the Word taking on flesh, living among us, and extending to humanity the invitation to faith. Those who really believed what Jesus said would embrace his commandments and build their lives on them like houses built on solid rock. God was not holding back the fullness of his self-revelation because he was stingy or indifferent. Rather, that revelation was something that could only be experienced in its fullness by those who cooperated with the grace of God to open their hearts to it. And this was done precisely through the obedience of faith. If God instead merely blasted humanity with the fullness of his glory all at once, if he revealed himself to all equally without preparing them first, they would simply not be able withstand it. In the Old Testament it was known that no one could see the face of God and live. Even Moses, the greatest of the prophets, was only permitted, by a special privilege, to see his back. Marvelously, we have a higher destiny than that. God does intend for us to see his face. But he must first prepare us to do so. He works with us by degrees, revealing a little more of himself each time. And the more we respond with eyes of faith the more we ourselves are transformed and become more able to see him.

And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another (see Second Corinthians 3:18)

we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is (see First John 3:2).

We must embrace reality as God understands it, rather than as our darkened minds tend to interpret it. The words given to us by Jesus are not arbitrary, but represent the ultimate nature of things. He gives us his words in order that our lives might be conformed to reality, not illusion. Ever since Adam and Eve chose to believe the lie of the snake in the garden we have needed this healing transformation. And now, through the words of Jesus, it is possible.

The Advocate, the Holy Spirit
whom the Father will send in my name --
he will teach you everything
and remind you of all that I told you.

God did not want to merely reveal himself in an intellectual or abstract way. Rather, he wanted to come and dwell in our hearts. But he only wished to do this for those who would welcome him. He did not want to be an invasive species or an uninvited guest. He wished to make his dwelling in us. We can think of the commandments as the blueprints for the design of operations of the spiritual temples that our hearts are meant to become. True understanding is a gift of the Holy Spirit who reminds us of everything Jesus revealed. When the Spirit reminds us of the teachings of Jesus it does not end at intellectual comprehension. Rather we also remember the context of relationship with the Triune God into which those teachings fit. And because they exist in that context of mutual love we also remember that which flows from that fact, their power. 

yet, in bestowing his goodness,
he did not leave himself without witness,
for he gave you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons,
and filled you with nourishment and gladness for your hearts.

God has not in fact neglected anyone, even the world who has not yet responded to his revelation. He has everywhere scattered the seeds of witness to his reality, proving that he does desire the whole world to turn toward him from their idols. But he now wants to use us as he first used Jesus, and then his Apostles, to extend his invitation and to share his message. We should not be afraid to do so, since we are only being asked to nourish the seeds he himself, in mercy and compassion, has planted.

 

Brandon Lake - Son Of Heaven

 

3 May 2026 - dwelling place

 

Today's Readings
(Audio)

Jesus tells us, "Do not let your hearts be troubled". But how do we not? Is it even possible? He tells how: "have faith also in me". And yet many of us believe ourselves to have faith while often still experiencing troubled hearts. Is there something deficient in such faith? Perhaps deficient isn't the right way to look at it. But it may be true that our faith has not yet had its full effect in renewing our minds. It might extend to God in some abstract sense, but not Jesus in the concrete matters of daily life. And this is how many of us often are. We affirm belief in a creator but are less confident that anyone is still around to run things. We dare not apply our faith to circumstances for fear that they will not turn out well. And yet it has always been a fundamental teaching of the Church that circumstances, whether good or ill, only happen as directed or permitted by God's providential care. If we can learn to believe that God is not only real but that he is also really in control we can dampen the degree of anxiety we feel when things seem to be going poorly in our lives and in the world, as they often and with increasing frequency seem to do.

In my Father's house there are many dwelling places.
If there were not,
would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you?

Jesus did not abandon us, but went away specifically for our sakes. He left so that the Spirit could come and unite us to him even more perfectly. He is absent in body but his guidance is even more intimately available to us than ever. Through his enthronement in heaven and his uniting us to himself by his Spirit he is even now preparing our hearts to dwell with him forever. This is no less true when times are difficult. In fact at such times, it is, if anything, even more true, since it is then that our union with him can gain the most strength. When we have the opportunity to prefer nothing to him we also have the opportunity to change our relationship to those things which are merely temporary. Our idols won't save us in our daily struggles. But our relationship with Jesus is the one thing that can sustain us. He is our shelter in the storm, no matter how fierce.

Master, we do not know where you are going;
how can we know the way?

Jesus' plan seems elusive or even convoluted to us much of the time. We protest that we do not really know how to connect what we are supposed to do in our daily lives with this grand vision of union with God forever. But Jesus told Thomas that it was not, after all, so very complicated. Although he did not tell us the future in such a way that we could determine for ourselves the right path, he himself remained present to us, showing us the way. More than trying to solve reality like a riddle we are meant to focus on living in union with Jesus himself. The closer we are to him the more we can be sure that we are in fact going the right way, that we are grounded in the truth, and headed toward eternal life. There is no way to express this that is better than participation in the Sacraments of the Church, in which our unity with Jesus grows. From there, the love of Christ that we receive impels us on. We are sent out on mission to the world, to love the world as Jesus first loved us.

Master, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us.

Perhaps we are too eager to look elsewhere to find what we need. We have been given an embarrassment of riches as our Christian inheritance. We no longer need to search for meaning as though our lives depend on it. We don't need to desperately seek the next experience that might finally fulfill us. We don't need to look to the left or the right. What we need has already been given. He himself already lives within us.

And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left (see Isaiah 30:21).

We are empowered for service, though in a different way from the deacons described in Acts. A significant part of our mission is to ensure that no one is missed or neglected, especially by our prejudices. Each of us has different gifts and will therefore live the mission in different ways. We are to become living stones, each one of us fitting uniquely and irreplaceable into the spiritual house of God. We are all priests, prophets, and kings. But we live these realities differently. For the fullness of God's plans for the world, the full dawning of his "wonderful light", we are all essential.

 

BNC Digital Music - Proclaim His Marvelous Deeds

 

2 May 2026 - greater works than these

Today's Readings
(Audio)

If you know me, then you will also know my Father.
From now on you do know him and have seen him.

Philip seemed to think Jesus was implying something less direct and immediate than was in fact the case. He thought, perhaps, that Jesus was using hyperbole to imply that he would be able to recognize the Father because of his likeness to Jesus. So he pressed Jesus that the actual event could take place. As Moses asked God, "Please show me your glory" (see Exodus 33:18), so now Philip asked, "show us the Father". He thought Jesus was training him so could eventually behold the Father directly without any need of Jesus as an intermediary. But Jesus was not merely a bridge that could be crossed and then forgotten. The theophany of God the Father did not await on some far side without him. Rather he himself was the revelation of the Father, and without him the Father could not be seen or known.

Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.
How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?
Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me?

Many people had apparently seen Jesus. But most had not seen him with the eyes of faith. Faith revealed the presence of the Father in Jesus, but in a specific way. It was not as though Jesus was a mask the Father wore to present himself among men on earth. The Father and Jesus were not different modes of operation for one person. They were one. But they were also, somehow, in relationship with one another. Thus Jesus used the language of relationship. He explained that even the works he performed were not only his, but also those of the Father, saying, "The Father who dwells in me is doing his works". This wouldn't make sense unless they were somehow outside of the context of relationship. But it did not negate the profound oneness that they shared. The Father chose Jesus exclusively to reveal his face and his heart to the world. Jesus chose to say only the words his Father wished him to say, to do nothing but what he asked, to prefer nothing to his will. They gave themselves to and for each other completely, steadily, and without hesitation.

Amen, amen, I say to you,
whoever believes in me will do the works that I do,
and will do greater ones than these,
because I am going to the Father.

Believing in Jesus was the gateway to sharing in his communion of love with the Father and the Spirit. The Father had until then been doing marvelous deeds through the human nature of Jesus. But Jesus promised that, together, he and his Father would use the faith of believers to do even greater things. The works that the disciples had witnessed appeared to be largely external, and to have consequences that were merely temporary. Even so great a work as the raising of Lazarus was impermanent. But the work that God would do in us by virtue of our faith would accomplish forgiveness and salvation, eternal goods. We can thus speak of "obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls" (see First Peter 1:9) in the sense that it is both God's work and our own. This is why Jesus responded to the question of what must be done to accomplish the works of God by saying, "This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent" (see John 6:29). 

In the Acts of the Apostles we witness the disciples performing many great and miraculous deeds. But the greatest accomplishments, and those which were the most celebrated, were always people coming to believe.

All who were destined for eternal life came to believe,
and the word of the Lord continued to spread
through the whole region.

We sometimes get fixated on miracles because of how pressing are the temporary trials that afflict us as mortals. But if we focus on the fact that our faith is something still greater we can have the same joy that characterized the disciples, since the Holy Spirit has filled us just as it first filled them.

The disciples were filled with joy and the Holy Spirit.

Peter Furler - Greater Is He

 

1 May 2026 - yes way

Today's Readings
(Audio)

Do not let your hearts be troubled.
You have faith in God; have faith also in me.

He had just recently given them what seemed to be very good reasons to let their hearts be troubled. He had revealed the fact that he would be betrayed both by Judas and by Peter. The circumstances that were coming were indeed troubling. We know from the other Gospels that he had by now made several explicit predictions of his passion. In John's Gospel we see references that are somewhat more oblique. He spoke of the hour when he would be lifted up, the fact that he would lay down his life for his sheep, like a grain of wheat that first died in order to give life. As that ominous hour drew near it is no wonder that it was the disciples natural disposition and tendency to experience anxiety. 

Jesus told them in advance about what was going to happen, but not in order that they could somehow circumvent it. He told them so that they could believe it was a part of the plan. If they could trust him, and believe what he told them about reality rather than how it appeared, they could maintain peace of heart. They needed to believe what he said to them even about how they themselves would fail. He knew it. He was not surprised by it. This too was a part of his plan, something in which when sin abounded grace would abound still more (see Romans 5:20). But this would only work if they had faith in Jesus such that he, and not they themselves, was the center of their lives. If they remained egocentric prisoners within themselves they would necessarily view every failure as catastrophic. But if they trusted the words of Jesus they could have a higher, heavenly vantage point. 

In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places.
If there were not,
would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you?

Jesus was helping to prepare them to see things as they really were, from a heavenly, eternal perspective. He was already preparing them for their heavenly homes by this transformation of their minds to function in a more transcendent way. He was thus the way, transfiguring the intellect and will of his disciples to shine with the radiance of his own light, as he would indeed one day do also for their physical bodies. He was also the truth, the Word through whom all things were made. When this truth was fully known and internalized one already dwelt in heaven with the Father and the Son. It was not merely intellectual knowledge, nor like the the supposed mystical knowledge of the Gnostics. Rather, it was a relational, we should say spousal, type of knowing that was being described. Because this was so it could be something that ordinary knowledge could not: the source of life. Faith centered on Jesus was the way to unite oneself to him, by believing what he said about himself, God, and the world, and thus experiencing eternal life in communion with God himself.

Jesus said to him, “I am the way and the truth and the life.
No one comes to the Father except through me.”

We should return briefly to the beginning of our Gospel passage in which Jesus said, "Do not let your hearts be troubled". The point was not merely that there was a better future state that awaited them, and that is why they could have peace. It was rather that, in virtue of being on the way to that future they already in some sense possessed it. Faith made the future to be mysteriously somehow already present. Thus the predictive words of Jesus were powerful because they not only saw beyond the darkness but were in fact a bridge to the other side.

 

Pat Barrett - The Way (New Horizon)

 

30 April 2026 - Christos in charge

Today's Readings
(Audio)

But so that the Scripture might be fulfilled,
The one who ate my food has raised his heel against me.
From now on I am telling you before it happens,
so that when it happens you may believe that I AM.

The reason his disciples were going to be able to believe in him was not because he prevented the betrayal of Judas, but rather because he told them about it before it happened. Such is to say that since he knew these precise details he could have avoided it if he so chose. But rather he calmly and deliberately accepted it as a necessary part of his Father's plan. So too, often, in our own lives. We are explicitly promised that we will not be spared difficulties in this world. Jesus said, "In the world you will have tribulation", but also that, "I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace" (see John 16:33). He did not choose an easy escape for himself, nor did he ask for one on his disciples' behalf: "I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one". The real reason they would be at risk from the evil one was not because of their circumstances. Rather, the danger would be that they would let the circumstances overwhelm their trust in Jesus. Things might often seem dire. Would they believe their own impressions and emotions about things or would they instead cling to what Jesus revealed in advance? It was precisely the fact that the crucifixion unfolded exactly as Jesus predicted that was meant to be a concrete demonstration of his divinity. He is also more than able to reveal himself in our own difficult circumstances if we continue to trust what he tells us about how they fit into his larger plan. Basically, as long as we refuse to believe that Jesus himself was taken by surprise, or that he somehow lost control, we can have peace no matter what we face.

Amen, amen, I say to you, no slave is greater than his master
nor any messenger greater than the one who sent him.
If you understand this, blessed are you if you do it.

One symptom of believing that Jesus is not in control is that we will begin to slack on our duty to be servants. The inherent corruption of people and institutions, the virtue signaling of the disingenuous, and many other things will make us wonder what after all is the point of continuing to pursue excellence. If circumstances are bad and are going to remain bad, why try? Why, unless it really is a part of the plan, a part of the dying that is required before the resurrection? Even the Church itself will often contend with corruption just as it did with Judas at the beginning. But even this is not outside of the scope of providence. Even from this God is able to bring great good.

We can see from the evangelization efforts made by the disciples in Acts that the main question, the thing that matters most, is what we believe about the identity of Jesus himself. Do we believe the superficial appearance of the circumstances? Or do we believe that narrative of hope that ran through David and the prophets and found fulfillment in when he came to live among us?

From this man’s descendants God, according to his promise,
has brought to Israel a savior, Jesus.

Phillips, Craig, and Dean - The Great I Am

 

29 April 2026 - not to condemn

 

Today's Readings
(Audio)

Whoever believes in me believes not only in me
but also in the one who sent me,
and whoever sees me sees the one who sent me.

Responding to Jesus was different from responding to another teacher, leader, or spiritual guru. A response to him reflected more than a mere personal preference about learning styles. Jesus was not speaking merely human words with which could legitimately disagree or which might be wrong. He spoke exactly the words the Father desired him to speak. Even in the way he interacted with others he perfectly revealed the nature of the Father's heart. Apart from this revelation there were not other sources of light, only different degrees of darkness. 

I came into the world as light,
so that everyone who believes in me might not remain in darkness.

People were entrusted with freedom to decide whether to remain in the darkness or come into the light. But judgment was fundamentally about where one finally stood. So if one had embraced the light, that choice would be ratified. If the darkness, likewise. 

And if anyone hears my words and does not observe them,
I do not condemn him,
for I did not come to condemn the world but to save the world.

It wasn't as though Jesus had something personal against those who would be condemned. Rather, he simply told the truth about the way things were. He explained that salvation was only possible through him, since he was uniquely united to the Father, and therefore able to bridge the otherwise infinite gap between heaven and earth. He gave his audience a map or guide explaining what was necessary to experience salvation. They were free to ignore it, free even to walk straight off the cliffs it clearly demarcated. 

the word that I spoke,
it will condemn him on the last day,
because I did not speak on my own,
but the Father who sent me commanded me what to say and speak.

He was not interested in watching people choose the darkness and then saying I told you so after the fact. He was not making the Father's word known only in order to make people more accountable, more liable to judgment. Rather, the purpose of his Father's plan was also his own. His Father's heart was that people would listen, respond, believe, and so be saved. And so this was the heart of Jesus as well. The Triune God did not delight in the death of the wicked (see Ezekiel 33:11) but rather desired all to be saved and come to knowledge of the truth (see First Timothy 2:4). What they desired for humanity, the reason for the commandments, for the mission of Jesus, for his words, was that humanity might regain what was lost in the Garden of Eden: eternal life, together with God forever.

We are meant to desire for ourselves and others that which God wants for us. We can see that the early Church shared the priority of Jesus regarding spreading the message of salvation far and wide. But the reason they were so successful is that they allowed themselves to be docile to the Holy Spirit, just as Jesus himself was docile to the Father.

While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said,
“Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul
for the work to which I have called them.”

If we were this open to having our lives directed and orchestrated from above we could be sure that the Church would not look so lifeless and impotent as it in fact often does in our day. As Pentecost approaches let us try to open our hearts more to the Spirit, to listening to him, and then allowing ourselves to be used by him, together with a community of like minded Spirit-filled individuals to pray us on our way on this God-given path.

Paul Wilbur - Let Your Fire Fall