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6th Sunday of Easter, Year C Note: Homilies & Angelus / Regina Caeli of Pope Saint John Paul II, Pope Benedict XVI & Pope Francis I had been compiled for you after the Mass Readings below. Happy Reading! Liturgical Colour: White.
Mass Readings from ETWN, USCCB. See our compilation with pictures in Encouragements-236 to 237. 8-) 1st Reading: Acts 15:1-2, 22-29; Responsorial: Psalms 67:2-3, 5-6, 8; 2nd Reading: Revelation 21:10-14, 22-23 & Gospel: John 14:23-29, Gospel Video.
Others: John Chapter 14 video.
Acknowledgment: We thank the Publisher for allowing us to publish the Mass Readings to be used as reference for Homilies & Angelus / Regina Caeli of Pope Saint John Paul II, Pope Benedict XVI & Pope Francis I as a source of God’s encouragements to all of us around the World.
Important note: @Michael65413248 informed us on 26 May 2022 18:45 SGT that their Twitter account has been gravely disrupted, so our compilation of Homilies and Regina Caeli/Angelus of Pope Saint John Paul II, Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis I could not be published in Twitter, see here for details. We thank you for all your Retweets and Likes. May God Bless All!
COVID-19 Protection in Singapore. New!
1. Criminal Investigation Department, Singapore Police Force harassed Law-abiding Citizen. Latest! https://twitter.com/Michael65413248/status/1510086218851270658 (2 April 2022) #Singapore Police Force harassing the same law abiding business owner again from 92298844, 97397514, 83487591, 96645914, 63914706, 82825465, 97378102, 90360045, 92981234! They can’t perform to contain COVID, so they bully to appear busy? Shameless? You decide! 2. See another Police case to frame against the Innocent! Please spread the News to help them who commit no crime. Many Thanks. Till this day, the harassment continues and there is no apology from the Rulers and no compensation paid for damages inflicted. 3. See the Bloggers went MISSING before / after the Singapore General Election on 10 July 2020. Please pray for their safety as we search for them actively. Many Thanks. 4. Please pray for this elderly Catholic Lady who has been victimised & harassed by her sister (also a Catholic) & her sister’s husband. Many Thanks.
Homilies, Angelus / Regina Caeli
Pope Saint John Paul II’s body is found incorruptible! (video)
1. “The Counsellor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you” (John 14:26).
During the Last Supper, before undergoing the dramatic events of his passion and death on the Cross, Jesus promises the gift of the Spirit to the Apostles. The Holy Spirit will have the task of “teaching” and “bring to remembrance” his words to the community of the disciples. At the moment he is about to return to the Father, the incarnate Word foretells the coming of the Spirit, who will help the disciples to understand the Gospel thoroughly, to interiorize it in their lives and to make it living and active by their personal witness.
Since then, believers have continued to be guided by the Holy Spirit. Through his action, they understand the revealed truths with ever greater comprehension. This is what the Second Vatican Council stresses regarding the living tradition of the Church, which “with the help of the Holy Spirit ... is always advancing towards the plenitude of divine truth, until eventually the words of God are fulfilled in her” (Dogmatic Constitution Dei Verbum, n. 8).
2. “It has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us” (Acts 15:28).
From the very beginning, the apostolic community of Jerusalem feels responsible for faithfully preserving the patrimony of truth it has received from Jesus. It also realizes that it can rely on the help of the Holy Spirit, who guides its steps; for this reason it docilely calls on him in every circumstance. We also see him in today’s first reading from the Acts of the Apostles. After reflecting on the obligations to be laid on the pagans who were converted to Christianity, the Apostles wrote to the Greek communities: “It has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us” (Acts 15:28).
Peter, James, Paul and the other Apostles are very aware of the task that the Lord has entrusted to them. They must continue his saving mission with generous docility to the Holy Spirit, so that the Gospel, the seed of a new humanity, may be spread everywhere. This is an indispensable condition if God’s kingdom is to advance on the paths of history.
5. “Its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb” (Revelation 21:22).
The vision of the heavenly city described in the Book of Revelation directs our gaze to the goal to which all humanity is striving: perfect communion with God.
Dear brothers and sisters, sustained by this hope and drawn by the radiance of the divine light, let us hasten our steps on our spiritual journey to the Lord. As the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000 approaches, in this year dedicated in a particular way to the Holy Spirit, let us faithfully invoke his living presence and support.
May the Holy Spirit illumine us all, especially your parish community; may he prepare it to receive his seven holy gifts, courageous and fearless in joyfully proclaiming to everyone Jesus, who died and rose, the salvation of all who turn to him with trust.
May Mary, who in this month of May became a pilgrim in your parish homes through the visit of her revered image, protect you with her motherly help. May she make you disciples who are more and more conformed to her divine Son, and may she transform your parish into a community of brothers and sisters who are ready to witness to the Gospel with their lives.
Pope Saint John Paul II (Homily, 17 May 1998)
1. In this Easter season, the biblical texts presented in the liturgy highlight the presence and action of the Holy Spirit in the first Christian community. The Church, founded on the Apostles’ testimony, is guided on her way through the centuries by the Holy Spirit, who spurs her onward in her mission to all the nations and cultures of the world. She does not impose human laws or traditions on them, but proclaims the Good News of Christ the Saviour and his commandment: “Love one another as I have loved you” (cf. John 15:12), with great respect for their cultural heritage and their religious commitment.
3. To this end we invoke the intercession of Mary, an image of the Church, who was always guided by the Spirit. Mary’s presence in the Church is a pledge and guarantee of the gift of the Spirit, who conceived the Saviour in her at Nazareth and gave life to the Church newly born on Pentecost, so that the work of Redemption might be spread to the very ends of the earth. To her we entrust the mission of believers in Asia, together with the expectations and hopes of all humanity. Pope Saint John Paul II (Regina Caeli, 17 May 1998)
1. "The Counsellor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and call to mind all that I have said" (John 14: 26). It is the great promise made by Jesus during the Last Supper. While the hour of the Cross draws near, He assures the Apostles that they will not remain alone: the Holy Spirit will be with them, the Paraclete, who will sustain them in their great mission of bearing the announcement of the Gospel into the whole world. In the original Greek language, the word Paraclete means someone who stands alongside, to protect and sustain the one assisted. Jesus returns to his Father, but continues his work of teaching and of directing his disciples by means of the gift of the Holy Spirit.
In what does the mission of the promised Holy Spirit consist? As we heard a short while ago in the Gospel of St John, Jesus himself states: "He will teach you all things and call to mind all that I have said" (John 14: 26). Jesus already communicated all he intended to entrust to the Apostles: with him, the Word Incarnate, revelation is complete. The Spirit will make them "call to mind", meaning to understand fully and to put Jesus' teachings into practice. It is what is still happening today in the Church. As the Second Vatican Council affirmed, guided and supported by the light and power of the Holy Spirit, "the Church in the course of the centuries tends unceasingly to the fullness of the divine truth, so the words of God reach their fulfilment in her" (Dei verbum, n. 8).
2. … My greeting full of kindness and affection goes to the children who will receive their first Holy Communion. To them I recommend to remain united with Jesus who today, in the Eucharistic Bread, enters into profound communion with their young lives. Children, trust Jesus! Love him and always keep his word so that, thanks to the gift of the Holy Spirit who transforms the bread and wine into his Body and Blood, He can always dwell in you and you can always remain in Him. To you who listen and to all the children of Rome who receive their first communion this year in the parishes of Rome and throughout the world, I recommend that you often approach the sacrament of Confession, so that your meeting with Jesus in the Eucharist may take place with a heart that is pure and open to the action of divine grace. For your families and for the families of the parish, I ask to encourage a stable and deep relationship with Jesus by means of regular participation in catechism and Sunday Mass.
3. Dear brothers and sisters, your parish began its life within the Diocese on 11 October 1998, the day on which I had the joy of canonizing the daughter of Israel and Carmelite martyr, Edith Stein, Sr Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, whom you venerate as your special Patron. From the great contemporary saint, your parish can learn much for the benefit of its faithfulness to its missionary vocation. I invite you to know and to appreciate, both individually and as a community, her life, her writings and her teaching. On this occasion I am pleased to recall the saying that Edith Stein wrote in 1933 when she met the Prioress of the Carmelite Monastery of Cologne in Germany, as she applied for entry, "Human activity can not help us, but only the Passion of Christ. It is my desire to share in it". To share in the Passion of Christ is the secret for building a truly effective missionary parish. I congratulate you on the wonderful initiatives of prayer and formation that you have set in motion or that you plan, despite the shortage of space and meeting rooms that we hope will soon be remedied.
5. "The angel showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down from heaven, from God, resplendent with the glory of God" (Apocalypse 21: 10). The vision of the heavenly Jerusalem, described so vividly by the Apocalypse, holds before us the goal towards which the Church and the whole of humanity is tending. It is the goal of full and definitive communion with God. Catching sight of it believers bind themselves to live the Gospel and at the same time help to build up the earthly city according to the mind of God. May the Virgin Mary, whom in the month of May we venerate and pray to with special devotion as our heavenly Mother, ever protect your parish and the whole diocese of Rome. May she, who was the first to receive into her virginal womb the divine Word, help us to be more conformed to her divine Son and ready to announce faithfully the word of the Gospel and to witness it with a coherent lifestyle. Amen. After Mass was over, the Holy Father made these comments: During the Eucharistic celebration the wind was certainly strong. The wind is a symbol of the Holy Spirit who breathes forth life. So there was a great wind when the Holy Spirit came down on the Apostles. I hope that today's wind may also be a symbol of the descent of the Holy Spirit on your young parish. Pope Saint John Paul II (Homily, 20 May 2001)
1. Today, on the Sixth Sunday of the Easter Season, the Liturgy puts before us the passage from the Acts of the Apostles in which the event of the so-called "Council of Jerusalem" is narrated (Acts 15: 11-29). The Apostles and the presbyters convoked the first assembly in order to resolve what was then a crucial problem. In the face of some believers of the group of the Pharisees, convinced that the pagan converts to Christianity should be circumcised and observe the Mosaic law, Paul and Barnabas maintained very forcefully that salvation does not come from the works of the law but from faith in Christ.
Thanks to the inspired interventions of Peter and James, the direction of Paul and Barnabas prevailed and from that day the Church "put out into the deep", ready to bring the Gospel to all peoples and to all cultures. The apostolic impulse impressed by the Spirit at the beginning has not weakened and even now continues while we begin to live in the third millennium. The one desire and duty of believers remains that of announcing to all humanity Jesus our Redeemer.
3. At every moment, but especially at the most decisive moments, the Church has to listen to the Spirit. It was so in the Cenacle of Jerusalem, it so happened during the first "council" which opened the doors to the pagans, and it will be so during our Consistory. Along with the Successor of Peter and his closest collaborators in the governance of the universal Church, the Cardinals, there cannot be lacking the prayerful support of the People of God. For this reason I invite you, brothers and sisters, to accompany us with your prayer, first of all, by invoking the maternal assistance of the Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church. To her we direct our prayer with great confidence as we sing together the Regina Caeli. Pope Saint John Paul II (Regina Caeli, 20 May 2001)
See our compilation with Pictures in Encouragements-237. 8-)
See our compilation with pictures in Encouragements- 238. 8-)
May is a month beloved and welcomed for many reasons. In our hemisphere, spring comes with a wealth of colourful flowers and normally, the climate is conducive to walks and excursions. For the Liturgy, May is always part of the Easter Season, the time of the "Alleluia", of the revelation of Christ's mystery in the light of the Resurrection and of our Paschal faith; and it is the time of awaiting the Holy Spirit who came down on the nascent Church powerfully at Pentecost. The Church's tradition of dedicating the month of May to the Virgin Mary harmonizes very well with both these contexts, the natural and the liturgical. Indeed, she is the most beautiful flower to have unfolded since the Creation, the "rose" that appeared in the fullness of time when God, by sending his Son, gave the world a new springtime. At the same time she is the humble and discreet protagonist of the first steps taken by the Christian community: Mary is its spiritual heart since her very presence among the disciples is a living memory of the Lord Jesus and a pledge of the gift of his Spirit.
This Sunday's Gospel, taken from Chapter 14 of the Gospel according to St John, gives us an implicit spiritual portrait of the Virgin Mary when Jesus says: "Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him" (cf. John 14: 23). These words are addressed to the disciples but can be applied to a maximum degree precisely to the One who was the first and perfect disciple of Jesus. Mary, in fact, observed first and fully the words of her Son, showing that she loved him not only as a mother, but first of all as a humble and obedient handmaid. For this reason God the Father loved her and the Most Holy Trinity made its dwelling place in her. Furthermore, when Jesus promises his friends that the Holy Spirit will come to their aid to help them remember and deeply understand his every word (cf. John 14: 26), how can we not think of Mary who, in her heart, the temple of the Holy Spirit, pondered and interpreted faithfully all that her Son said and did? Thus already before Easter but especially after it the Mother of Jesus also became the Mother and model of the Church. Pope Benedict XVI (Regina Caeli, 9 May 2010)
See our compilation with pictures in Encouragements- 239. 8-)
Today’s Gospel takes us back to the Upper Room. During the Last Supper, before confronting his passion and death on the cross, Jesus promises the Apostles the gift of the Holy Spirit, who will have the task of teaching and recalling [Jesus’] words to the community of disciples. Jesus says: “the Counsellor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you” (John 14:26). Teach and recall. This is what the Holy Spirit does in our hearts.
At the moment in which he is about to return to the Father, Jesus foretells of the coming of the Spirit who will first teach the disciples to understand the Gospel ever more fully, in order to welcome it in their existence and to render it living and operative by their witness. While he is about to entrust to the Apostles — which in fact means “envoys” — the mission of taking the Gospel to all the world, Jesus promises that they will not be alone. The Holy Spirit, the Counsellor, will be with them, and will be beside them, moreover, will be within them, to protect and support them. Jesus returns to the Father but continues to accompany and teach his disciples through the gift of the Holy Spirit.
The second aspect of the Holy Spirit’s mission consists in helping the Apostles to remember Jesus’ words. The Spirit has the task of reawakening the memory, recalling Jesus’ words. The divine Teacher has already communicated all that he intended to entrust to the Apostles: with Him, the Word made flesh, the revelation is complete. The Spirit will recall Jesus’ teachings in the various concrete circumstances of life, so that they may be put into practice. That is precisely what still happens today in the Church, guided by the light and the power of the Holy Spirit, so that he may bring to everyone the gift of salvation, which is the love and mercy of God. For example, each day when you read — as I have advised you — a passage, a passage of the Gospel, ask the Holy Spirit: “Let me understand and remember these words of Jesus”. Then read the passage, every day.... But first the prayer to the Spirit, who is in our heart: “Let me remember and understand”.
We are not alone: Jesus is close to us, among us, within us! His new presence in history happens through the gift of the Holy Spirit, through whom it is possible to instill a living relationship with Him, the Crucified and Risen One. The Spirit, flowing within us through the Sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation, acts in our life. He guides us in the way to think, to act, to distinguish between what is good and what is bad; he helps us to practice the charity of Jesus, his giving of himself to others, especially to the most needy. We are not alone! The sign of the presence of the Holy Spirit is also the peace that Jesus gives to his disciples: “My peace I give to you” (v. 27). It is different from what mankind hopes for or tries to achieve. The peace of Jesus flows from victory over sin, over selfishness which impedes us from loving one another as brothers and sisters. It is a gift of God and a sign of his presence. Each disciple called today to follow Jesus carrying the cross, receives within him- or herself the peace of the Crucified and Risen One in the certainty of his victory and in expectation of his definitive coming.
May the Virgin Mary help us to welcome with docility the Holy Spirit as interior Teacher and as the living Memory of Christ on the daily journey. Pope Francis I (Regina Caeli, 1 May 2016)
Extracts: In what does the Holy Spirit’s mission, which Jesus promises as a gift, consist? He describes it himself: “he will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you”. Throughout his earthly life, Jesus already passed on all that he wanted to entrust to the Apostles: he fulfilled divine Revelation, namely, all that the Father wanted to impart to mankind with the incarnation of the Son. The Holy Spirit’s task is to remind, that is, to enable full understanding and to induce us to concretely implement Jesus’ teachings. And this is also precisely the mission of the Church, which she accomplishes through a precise way of life, characterized by a few requirements: faith in the Lord and observance of his Word; docility to the action of the Holy Spirit, who constantly renders the Risen Lord alive and present; acceptance of his peace and the witness borne to it through an attitude of openness and of encounter with the other.
Note: This webpage has many hyperlinks to the Vatican Webpage. The above extracts were compiled for your easy reading. This Publication is aimed to encourage all of Goodwill around the World. It is not for business or profit purposes but it is our way to thank our Creator for His continuous blessings!
Compiled on 19 May 2019 Last updated : 21 May 2022, 19:08 SGT
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