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EASTER ENCOUNTERS 2008

The Sunday Gospel with daily meditations on the Gospel theme

-- encounters that define and illuminate our journey of faith

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The Sixth Week of Easter - April 27 - May 3, 2008

I KNOW . . . I ABIDE IN GOD

THE SUNDAY GOSPEL: Saint John 14:15-21

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you. I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you. In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live. On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me; and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them.”

DAILY ENCOUNTERS: I KNOW I ABIDE IN GOD

MONDAY OF THE WEEK OF EASTER 6 – APRIL 28

Christ keeps us true to God even when we ourselves are beyond either love, prayer, or faith…there is a deep movement within us in the direction of God, a deep-rooted conviction which is unshakable because it is given by God himself. The words, “a little while,” then describe our triumph over all suffering. Eternity has begun today.      Eivind Josef Berggrav

TUESDAY OF THE WEEK OF EASTER 6 – APRIL 29

So then you are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the holy ones and members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the capstone. Through him the whole structure is held together and grows into a temple sacred in the Lord; in him you also are being built together into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

Ephesians 2:19-22

WEDNESDAY OF THE WEEK OF EASTER 6 – APRIL 30

Christ with all saints, by his love, takes upon himself our form, fights with us against sin, death and all evil. This enkindles in us such love that we take on his form, rely upon his righteousness, life and blessedness. And through the interchange of his blessings and our misfortunes, we become one loaf, one bread, one body, one drink, and have all things in common.    Martin Luther

THE DAY OF THE ASCENSION

Thursday, May 1

THE ASCENSION GOSPEL: Saint Luke 24:44-53 Then he said to them, ‘These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you—that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.’ Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, and he said to them, ‘Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And see, I am sending upon you what my Father promised; so stay here in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.’ Then he led them out as far as Bethany, and, lifting up his hands, he blessed them. While he was blessing them, he withdrew from them and

was carried up into heaven. And they worshipped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy; and they were continually in the temple blessing God.

DAILY ENCOUNTERS: I KNOW GOD ABIDES IN ME

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FRIDAY OF THE WEEK OF EASTER 6 – MAY 2

Why then do we not exert ourselves on earth so as to be happy with him already in heaven through the faith, hope and charity which unite us with him? Christ, while in heaven, is also with us; and we, while on earth, are also with him. He is with us in his godhead and his power and his love; and we, though we cannot be with him in godhead as he is with us, can be with him in our love, our love for him.

Saint Augustine

SATURDAY OF THE WEEK OF EASTER 6 – MAY 3

..there is something extraordinary about [Christian] lives. They live in their own countries as though they were only passing through. They play their full role as citizens, but labor under all the disabilities of aliens. Any country can be their homeland, but for them, their homeland, wherever it may be, is a foreign country….they pass their days upon earth, but they are citizens of heaven. They are obedient to the laws, yet they live on a level that transcends the law.         Letter to Diognetus, 2nd century