Introduction to the Liturgy of the Day

Introduction to the Liturgy of the Word

Reflections

• Just over a month ago, we heard the account of two disciples returning to their town of Emmaus, not knowing what to make of the reports they’d heard that Jesus’ body was no longer in the tomb. They did not recognize the stranger whom they welcomed on the road. It was only after he was revealed in the breaking of the bread that they admitted, “Were not our hearts burning within us?” (Luke 24:32). It is no coincidence that not long after this event, the Holy Spirit appeared to the disciples in the upper room as tongues of fire. The mission we are called to accomplish—to witness to the love and mercy of God—is meant to burn within us, to light a fire under us, driving us to put that message into action each and every day.


• The way in which we each witness to the workings of the Spirit within us differs, for, as Paul writes, “there are different workings but the same God who produces all of them in everyone” (1 Corinthians 12:6). Though we are blessed with different gifts and led to different forms of service, all are in the service of the same God. Like the Christian community of Paul’s time, our communities may see divisiveness and disagreement. Let us realize that what we have in common exceeds our differences, for we each have within us the Holy Spirit, who blesses us with the gifts that we each express in our own way.

• According to this passage from John’s Gospel, Jesus gave two gifts to his disciples when he first appeared to them after he was raised from the dead. He gave them the Holy Spirit and he gave them peace. They must have been very unsettled as they locked themselves in the upper room: frightened that they themselves might be persecuted as Jesus was, devastated about his death on the cross, unsure about the testimony they had heard from Mary Magdalene, feeling guilty that they mostly had abandoned Jesus at the end, and anxious about the future. So the first gift Jesus gave them was peace. Peace of mind. Peace in their hearts. Then he gave them one more thing: a mission. He gave them a mission to bring peace and mercy to the world. Yes, the peace and forgiveness he bestowed upon them, as well as the Holy Spirit, were not meant to stay shut up with them in a locked room. And so we, as modern-day disciples of the Lord, are called as well to bring peace and mercy and the Holy Spirit to the world.
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Question of the Week

What gifts of the Holy Spirit do I recognize in myself? How can I use these gifts to bring Christ’s peace and mercy to others?

-from Pastoral Patterns

LISTEN HERE to the Audio Recordings of the Readings of Sunday, May 28, 2023

SELECT HERE for the Readings of Sunday, May 28, 2023

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