Sunday:       5 TH SUNDAY OF EASTER
Date:         May 2, 1999
Year:         A
The readings: [Acts 6:1-7; 1 Pet. 2:4-9; Jn. 14:1-12]
The message:  YOU ARE A LIVING STONE, PRECIOUS IN GOD'S SIGHT.
Prepared by:  CATHOLIC DOORS MINISTRY
Total words:  930

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My brothers and sisters in Christ, you are living stones, precious in God's sight! These are very powerful words! When it is said that you are living stones, it means that you have left the darkness from which you were called by Jesus. You firmly established your faith in the Lord Jesus. You repented of your former life of the worldly ways. You received the precious Sacrament of Baptism that gave you a new living spirit. And now, you are spiritually growing by the power of the Holy Spirit. Now, you are full of life, the life of Jesus Christ.

Today's readings teaches us that we have been called to perform our spiritual duties. The Pastors are called to preach the Word of God to satisfy the spiritual hunger of the Christians. The Christians are called to support one another in their daily physical needs, this freeing the Pastors to provide the spiritual needs of the Christian community.

By answering your calls, this means drawing criticism and persecution by the mortals who continue to walk in the darkness. Why do they criticize you? It is because they do not understand your walk of life according to the spirit that you have received from Christ. They cannot understand why you care about others. They cannot understand why you visit the sick or the elders. They cannot understand why you give away your food to the hungry or pass out outgrown clothing to those in need. They cannot understand why in the world you would want to visit the prisoners to share the Word of God with them. To them, you are out of your mind. You are wasting your time. You are giving away valuable time, goods and money that you could have saved up for your future worldly pleasures.

My brothers and sisters, how blind they are! Their treasures are here and now. You, as living stones, your treasures are being laid in Heaven. Your treasures are waiting for you when you will appear before the Lord God in soul and spirit to inherit your salvation and the glorious reward of your earthly works.

Let not your hearts be troubled if the burden seems heavy at times. God's grace is sufficient to carry you through all obstacles. Your hope is a living hope of what is to come. Life on earth is but a second compared to eternal life. As you cannot remember today a second of your life ten years ago, when you will have spent millions of years in Heaven, you will not be able to remember the sufferings that you endured in your earthly life. It will be as a second, forgotten forever.

You are a chosen race, God's people. You belong to His large family of all the saints, past, present and future, in Heaven and on earth. You are members of a royal priesthood by the nature of the new spirit that you have received in the Sacrament of Baptism, a new creation of the seed of God. You belong to a holy nation.

As God's people, He has revealed Himself to you. Jesus said to Philip, "Whoever has seen Me has seen the Father. Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own; but the Father who dwells in Me does His work. Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me."

In these few words, Jesus revealed the Father to you, His children. He revealed the formless Divine Soul Consciousness of the eternal Father, the "I am". In Jesus dwelled the fullness of the Trinity, the Heavenly Father, the begotten Son and the Holy Spirit. [Col. 1:19, 2:9]

Many search to know God, jumping from religion to religion in hope of finding the truth. But you, God's children, you are well established in your faith. You know your Heavenly Father for you know the Son Jesus Christ. You know that the formless Divine Soul Consciousness of the Heavenly Father cannot be seen by anyone but the Son. At the same time, you know that the Heavenly Father manifested Himself through His only begotten Son Jesus Christ. The Words of Jesus are the Words of the Father for they are One. The actions of Jesus are the actions of the Father for they are One.

In simple terms, this could be explained by my asking you to show me your soul. You would answer, "You cannot see my soul because it is a formless intelligence. My soul manifest itself through the mind of my physical body." Yet your body, having life in itself, is not your soul, the real you, the "Me" or the "I". When Jesus said, "Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me?", He was telling you the truth. In Divine love towards His child, Jesus was not only revealing Himself as God to you; He was also revealing the Heavenly Father to you.

Today you know the Father for Jesus has revealed Him to you. Knowing Jesus, you know what the Heavenly Father wants from you. He wants you to live a holy life as Jesus taught you to do by loving God first with all your heart, all your mind, all your soul, all your spirit, all your body and all your strength. Then, He wants you to shine in that same love towards one another. Doing so, you can be assured of your salvation.

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The readings...

[The readings were taken from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible (C) 1989 Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Church of Christ in the United States of America.]

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First Reading...

"Now during those days, when the disciples were increasing in number, the Hellenists complained against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution of food. And the twelve called together the whole community of the disciples and said, "It is not right that we should neglect the word of God in order to wait on tables. Therefore, friends, select from among yourselves seven men of good standing, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may appoint to this task, while we, for our part, will devote ourselves to prayer and to serving the word. What they said pleased the whole community, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, together with Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Permenas, and Nicolaus, a convert of Antioch. They had these men stand before the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them." [Acts 6:1-7]

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Second Reading...

"Come to the Lord, a living stone, though rejected by mortals yet chosen and precious in God's sight. Like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For it stands in scripture: "See, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious; and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame." To you then who believe, he is precious; but for those who do not believe, "The stone that the builders rejected has become the very head of the corner." and "A stone that makes them stumble, and a rock that makes them fall." They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do. But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation. God's own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvellous light." [1 Pet. 2:4-9]

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Gospel Reading...

"Jesus said to his disciples: "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also. And you know the way to the place where I am going. Thomas said to him, "Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way? Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him." Philip said to him, "Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied." Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? 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? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own; but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; but if you do not, then believe me because of the works themselves. Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father."[Jn. 14:1-12]

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