HOME IMPROVEMENT
‘ ” —Acts 16:15
After her conversion, the first words of Lydia, the first convert of the Western world, involved making her home a base for evangelisation. Jesus stayed at home for about thirty years before His three years of public ministry. The Church met primarily in homes for its first three hundred years. The Church fathers taught that the Christian home is a “domestic church” (see Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1656, 1666). The Lord has clearly and repeatedly made the statement that the home is foundational and central to Christianity.

Consequently, Satan tries to destroy our homes through abortion, contraception, promiscuity, unfaithfulness, and divorce. He attacks the home through TV, the Internet, and other forms of media. Satan makes it seem economically necessary to work away from home for most of our waking hours. He has been largely successful in getting meals, education, recreation, medical care, and business taken out of the home. The home is then relegated to a boarding house where residents merely sleep and entertain themselves.

By the power of the risen Christ and with wisdom from the Holy Spirit, let us restore our homes to their crucial place in God’s plan of salvation. Risen Lord Jesus, in these last days of Easter, raise our homes from the ruins of our culture of death.

PRAYER: Father, protect me from being brainwashed.
PROMISE: “When the Paraclete comes, the Spirit of truth Who comes from the Father — and Whom I Myself will send from the Father — He will bear witness on My behalf. You must bear witness as well.” –Jn 15:26-27
PRAISE: Pope St. John I made peace between the emperors of the East and West.

THE GOD OF LIFESTYLE
“It is the decision of the Holy Spirit, and ours too, not to lay on you any burden beyond that which is strictly necessary.” —Acts 15:28
The elders of the church of Jerusalem and the Holy Spirit decided Gentile Christians did not need to be circumcised, but rather had to change their lifestyle, “namely, to abstain from meat sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals” (Acts 15:29). Meat sacrificed to idols was a major item in the marketplace. Therefore, to abstain from this was, in part, an economic decision. The Gentiles were also told to change their eating habits. In other words, the Gentiles were required to make lifestyle changes in the areas of money, food. This is comparable to telling a modern person, even a Christian, to stop buying certain foods, to quit eating meat or drinking caffeine.

When the letter containing these rules was read, “there was great delight at the encouragement it gave” (Acts 15:31). If a similar letter requiring lifestyle changes was read at your church, would the people be delighted or defiant? Lifestyle is the false god of the modern church. Our comforts, pleasure, and entertainment mean more to us than loving God. That’s where our time and money goes, and God gets the leftovers, if there are any. Repent!

PRAYER: Risen Jesus, may I repent of living for selfish pleasure.
PROMISE: “This is My commandment: love one another as I have loved you.” –Jn 15:12
PRAISE: St. Isidore was canonised in 1622. He’s in good company: St. Ignatius of Loyola, St. Francis Xavier, St. Teresa of Avila, and St. Philip Neri were declared saints at the same time.

BROKEN DOWN VEHICLES ON THE ROAD
“Then they prayed, ‘O Lord, You read the hearts of men. Make known to us which of these two You choose for this apostolic ministry, replacing Judas, who deserted the cause and went the way he was destined to go.’ ” —Acts 1:24-25
Things break. People break and cry, and they break down and die. So many things and people break that we may give up fixing all the broken things, even the broken people. While we may take our time to fix broken things, we need to take broken people, broken hearts, broken relationships, and broken lives to the Lord immediately. He has fixed every person’s brokenness through His death and Resurrection, and He wants to show His love for the broken right away (see Ps 34:19).

After Jesus’ death, the apostles were broken. Judas had sold and betrayed Christ. Then he committed suicide. Peter denied Christ three times. All the apostles abandoned Christ. They all had sinned grievously. They were so broken that they refused to face their brokenness. But they began to turn to the Lord and pick up the pieces of their ruined lives when they sought the Lord’s will in replacing Judas. Matthias, Judas’ replacement, was the focal point of the apostles’ repenting of their lethargy and bringing their brokenness to the Lord.

Do you have a breakdown of communication, discipline, freedom, love, or hope in your life? How long have you let your brokenness sit there untouched? Deal with your Judases by calling on the Lord. The Lord will send you Matthiases of healing and hope. Then with all the brokenness of your life in the healing hands of the Lord, you can receive the Holy Spirit in a new Pentecost.

PRAYER: Father, may we make straight the way of the Holy Spirit.
PROMISE: “I no longer speak of you as slaves, for a slave does not know what his master is about. Instead, I call you friends, since I have made known to you all that I heard from My Father.” –Jn 15:15
PRAISE: Pray today with Pope Francis for the end to Coronavirus-prayer is a powerful

TO YIELD FRUIT, YIELD

—John 15:2
Disciples of Jesus bear a lot of fruit, and they can grow weary. They need energy because they are consumed as they live out their calling. A major battleground of a veteran disciple is the temptation to invest time in people or things they enjoy, which “give them life” and re-energize them. After a while, the disciple can find himself or herself starting to be energized enough by this source that they come to it to get energized instead of coming to Jesus (cf Mt 11:28). At this point, the activity has become a “sucker branch” that not only bears no fruit, it also consumes the disciple’s time so they don’t have much time or energy to bear fruit.

These activities may be good or even religious. Yet if we won’t yield these activities to the will of God for the purpose of bearing fruit, the Father will soon come with a sharp sickle to cut them off. “He prunes away every barren branch” (Jn 15:2) from our life. He insists we bear fruit for His glory (Jn 15:8).

Jesus is the Vine, our Energy, and our Strength (Ps 18:2). He knows we grow weary, so He invites us to come to Him to be refreshed (Mt 11:28). He consumes us (Heb 12:29). However, as we are consumed by Him, we are not burned out (see Ex 3:2). Instead, we receive sustaining energy (Col 1:29; Heb 1:3) and new life (Jn 10:10). In Jesus, the Source of our strength, we have strength for everything (Phil 4:13).

PRAYER: Jesus, when I get tired for You, may I never get tired of You. Blow a cool, refreshing wind of the Spirit in my life so that I may bear abundant, enduring fruit for Your glory (Jn 15:8, 16).
PROMISE: “He who lives in Me and I in Him, will produce abundantly, for apart from Me you can do nothing.” –Jn 15:5
PRAISE: Our Lady of Fatima appeared to three children in 1917. The message of Fatima is simple: Pray.

GOD IS PEACE (EPH 2:14)

” ‘Peace’ is My farewell to you, My peace is My gift to you.” —John 14:27

Peace is what Jesus left us in His last will and testament. Because of this, peace has a special significance for those who love Jesus. Peace is the binding force which unifies the Church, marriages, and families (Eph 4:3). Peace is the guard of our hearts and minds (Phil 4:7). Without peace, we will be subject to heart-failure and mind-games. Without peace, our God-given relationships begin to unravel and society begins to disintegrate.

Zeal to propagate the Gospel of peace is our footgear and part of our spiritual armor (Eph 6:15). Without zeal to proclaim peace, the beautiful feet (Is 52:7) of Christians remain unprotected. Under these circumstances, we leave ourselves wide open for Satan to bind our feet, and in that state we will no longer be free to go to the nations with the Good News of Jesus.

Peace is the fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:22). Jesus, God Himself, is Peace (Eph 2:14). Therefore, pray for peace, make peace (Mt 5:9), and adore Jesus, our Peace.

PRAYER:               “Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace.”

PROMISE:            “We must undergo many trials if we are to enter into the reign of God.” –Acts 14:22

PRAISE:                 Sts. Nereus and Achilleus were soldiers of the Roman army. They became Christians and, shortly after being baptized, were martyred.

THE KNOW-IT-ALL
“The Paraclete, the Holy Spirit Whom the Father will send in My name, will instruct you in everything, and remind you of all that I told you.” —John 14:26
Eternal life is to know God the Father and Jesus (Jn 17:3). Because love requires freedom and freedom requires some knowledge, knowledge is necessary to love. Therefore, we are created both to know and to love God. We can “perish for want of knowledge” (Hos 4:6).

Because knowing is so important for life and love, teaching is extremely important in God’s plan. Although God the Father (see Jn 6:44-45) and Jesus teach us, in this post-Pentecost age the Holy Spirit is the Focus of teaching in that He teaches us everything (Jn 14:26) and guides us to all truth (Jn 16:13).

We have victory, freedom, love, and hope because we know what we need to know. We know all we need because the Holy Spirit teaches us and because we are docile, that is, teachable, to His teachings.

If you know millions of things, that means there are still many millions of things you don’t know. You don’t know the future, your heart, or others’ hearts (see Jer 17:10). These are critical things not to know. So we are doomed to be impossibly ignorant. Our only hope is to know the One Who knows all and will teach us all we need to know (Jn 14:26). Our only Hope is the Holy Spirit.

PRAYER: Father, break through my pride to make me docile to the Holy Spirit.
PROMISE: “There was a man who was lame from birth; he used to sit crippled, never having walked in his life. On one occasion he was listening to Paul preaching, and Paul looked directly at him and saw that he had the faith to be saved. He called out to him in a loud voice, ‘Stand up! On your feet!’ The man jumped up and began to walk around.” –Acts 14:8-10
PRAISE: All through the day when you are making decisions or if you are worried say “Jesus, I trust in You.”

A HEELING MASS?
“He who partook of bread with Me has raised his heel against Me.” —John 13:18
In the time of Jesus, showing the bottom of your foot to someone was a sign of contempt toward them. Judas, in betraying Jesus, no longer considered Jesus his Master. Judas had committed to the service of new masters, the Sanhedrin. “No man can serve two masters. He will … be attentive to one and despise the other” (Mt 6:24). Therefore, Judas despised Jesus. By eating the Last Supper with Jesus, Judas showed the greatest contempt for Him (Ps 41:10), even if he outwardly appeared sociable.

When you break bread with Jesus at Mass, are you coming to serve Jesus as your Master? Do you have His interests in mind? Are you listening for a message from Him? (Jn 13:16) Or do you come to Mass while serving someone else, such as yourself? If you are serving anyone else but Jesus, you’ll eventually love them and despise Him (Mt 6:24). Others may see your Mass attendance as respectful, but that’s not what Jesus sees. He may see the bottom of your foot raised against Him in contempt (Jn 13:18).

How do you spend your prime time? Your answer tells you what you serve. If the answer is not Jesus and His interests, repent now. Give up all that you have to gain Jesus as your Treasure and your Master (Mt 13:44). When you humble yourself and accept Jesus as your Master, Lord, and Savior, you paradoxically discover who you are (Mt 10:39). “Once you know all these things, blest will you be if you put them into practice” (Jn 13:17).

PRAYER: Father, I will live no longer for myself but for Jesus (2 Cor 5:15). Help me to love Jesus in the Mass ever more deeply.
PROMISE: “Through all generations my mouth shall proclaim Your faithfulness.” –Ps 89:2
PRAISE: Give thanks for your daily bread and say a prayer of thanks next time you are served or share a meal.