Today, May 19
Feast of the Day
No feast of the day
Saint of the Day
Readings of the Day
Acts of the Apostles 14:21b-27.
After Paul and Barnabas had proclaimed the good news to that city and made a considerable number of disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch. They strengthened the spirits of the disciples and exhorted them to persevere in the faith, saying, "It is necessary for us to undergo many hardships to enter the kingdom of God." They appointed presbyters for them in each church and, with prayer and fasting, commended them to the Lord in whom they had put their faith. Then they traveled through Pisidia and reached Pamphylia. After proclaiming the word at Perga they went down to Attalia. From there they sailed to Antioch, where they had been commended to the grace of God for the work they had now accomplished. And when they arrived, they called the church together and reported what God had done with them and how he had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles.
Psalms 145(144):8-9.10-11.12-13ab.
The LORD is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and of great kindness. The LORD is gracious and merciful, Slow to anger and of great kindness. The LORD is good to all and compassionate toward all his works. Let all your works give you thanks, O LORD, and let your faithful ones bless you. And let your faithful ones bless you. Let them discourse of the glory of your Kingdom and speak of your might. Making known to men your might and the glorious splendor of your Kingdom. The LORD is faithful in all his words and holy in all his works.
Book of Revelation 21:1-5a.
Then I, John, saw a new heaven and a new earth. The former heaven and the former earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. I also saw the holy city, a new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Behold, God's dwelling is with the human race. He will dwell with them and they will be his people and God himself will always be with them (as their God). He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there shall be no more death or mourning, wailing or pain, (for) the old order has passed away." The one who sat on the throne said, "Behold, I make all things new." Then he said, "Write these words down, for they are trustworthy and true."
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John 13:31-33a.34-35.
When Judas had left them, Jesus said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him. (If God is glorified in him,) God will also glorify him in himself, and he will glorify him at once. My children, I will be with you only a little while longer. You will look for me, and as I told the Jews, 'Where I go you cannot come,' so now I say it to you. I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another. This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."
Daily Reflection
“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another”... Love renews those who hear, or rather those who obey; but not any love, only that love which the Lord distinguished from natural love by adding the words: “As I have loved you”... “All the members of the body are concerned for one another. If one member suffers, all the members suffer with him; if one member is glorified, all the members rejoice with him” (1 Cor 12:25-26). For they hear the Lord's words and keep them: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another”; not as people love only to spoil one another, nor as human beings love one another simply because they are human, but as people love one another because they are all “gods” (Jn 10:34) and “children of the Most High” (Lk 6:35), and so brothers of his only Son. These love one another with the love with which he loved them so much that he will lead them to the end which will bring them fulfillment and the true satisfaction of their desires. For when God is “all in all” (1 Cor 15:28), no desire will be left unfulfilled... For what do they love, those who love their neighbor with a pure, spiritual love, if not God? This is the love the Lord wants to distinguish from a purely natural affection when he adds: “As I have loved you”. What has he loved in us if not God? Not God as we possess him now but as he wants us to possess him where “God will be all in all”. Doctors love their patients because of the health they want to give them, not because of their sickness. “Love one another as I have loved you”. This is why he has loved us: so that we, in our turn, might love one another.