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 Prayer for Peace

Thank you Deacon Vincent for your Reflections for the Seventh Sunday of Easter – Year B
1st Reading from the Acts of the Apostles 1: 15-17, 20-26
Peter is here exercising his leadership, to replace Judas the traitor. He directs who the candidates should be and their qualifications for the position, but he allows God to make the choice by the drawing of lots, and the lot falls on Matthias, who is then accounted as one of the Twelve. It is a very interesting qualification that the candidates needed to possess. They had to be in the company of Jesus right from the time that John was baptising in the Jordon, travelling with them right up to when Jesus was taken up from them. He has to bear witness to the resurrection to the people of Israel. That is all we know of him, and he is not mentioned again in scripture. It is a very impressive set of qualifications to possess, and God is happy to select such a person to be an Apostle. It illustrates how the Holy Spirit was guiding the early church as it was coming to terms with its task of conversion and shepherding the flock..
Psalm 102: 1-2, 11-12, 19-20.
A song in praise of God’s goodness and all he has done for us. Sometimes when we are dry and unable to articulate what we want to say to God, the psalms can say things for us that we sometimes forget about. They are a wonderful way of praying to God, and gradually learn to adapt and use our own words to express our love and thanks to our God.
2nd Reading from the First Letter of St. John 4: 11-16.
We continue our reading of John’s letter, with its echoes of his fourth Gospel. The themes of Love of God must be reflected by our love of each other (the community), we are united by the Spirit, who enables us to acknowledge that Jesus is the Son of God. We live in love because God loved us first, and because we love, he lives in us, through the Holy Spirit. We are indeed a fortunate group of people, to have God deep within us.
The Holy Gospel according to John 17: 11-39.
Holy Mother Church continues to teach us through Jesus’ last discourse before he suffered. It is a wonderful prayer to the Father for our unity with God and each other in similar mode as Jesus and the Father are one. We are united by the Holy Spirit especially in the Eucharist. In the Eucharist, we receive one Christ, and if we love like Jesus, we will love the Father and Jesus and through the Spirit love each other. We need to work hard to maintain that unity for which Jesus craved of his followers. We should be Jesus seamless garment and not be tearing it apart. Let us take to heart his deep felt desire for us to all be one.
Praise God. Alleluia, Alleluia.
God Bless you all and stay safe. Deacon Vincent.

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