Pentecost

The Gospel for Pentecost is John 7:37-52, 8:12:

 (Jn 7:37-52) ³⁷Now on the last and greatest day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink! ³⁸He who believes in me, as the Scripture has said, from within him will flow rivers of living water." ³⁹But he said this about the Spirit, which those believing in him were to receive. For the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus wasn't yet glorified.

⁴⁰Many of the multitude therefore, when they heard these words, said, "This is truly the prophet." ⁴¹Others said, "This is the Christ." But some said, "What, does the Christ come out of Galilee? ⁴²Hasn't the Scripture said that the Christ comes of the seed of David,* and from Bethlehem,* the village where David was?" ⁴³So there arose a division in the multitude because of him. ⁴⁴Some of them would have arrested him, but no one laid hands on him. ⁴⁵The officers therefore came to the chief priests and Pharisees, and they said to them, "Why didn't you bring him?"

⁴⁶The officers answered, "No man ever spoke like this man!"

⁴⁷The Pharisees therefore answered them, "You aren't also led astray, are you? ⁴⁸Have any of the rulers believed in him, or of the Pharisees? ⁴⁹But this multitude that doesn't know the law is accursed."

⁵⁰Nicodemus (he who came to him by night, being one of them) said to them, ⁵¹"Does our law judge a man, unless it first hears from him personally and knows what he does?"

⁵²They answered him, "Are you also from Galilee? Search, and see that no prophet has arisen out of Galilee.*"

…

(Jn 8:12) ¹²Again, therefore, Jesus spoke to them, saying, "I am the light of the world.* He who follows me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the light of life."

Notes:

John 7:37-38:

(Ps 62(63):1-8) ¹God, you are my God.

I will earnestly seek you.

My soul thirsts for you.

My flesh longs for you,

in a dry and weary land, where there is no water.

²So I have seen you in the sanctuary,

watching your power and your glory.

³Because your loving kindness is better than life,

my lips shall praise you.

⁴So I will bless you while I live.

I will lift up my hands in your name.

⁵My soul shall be satisfied as with the richest food.

My mouth shall praise you with joyful lips,

⁶when I remember you on my bed,

and think about you in the night watches.

⁷For you have been my help.

I will rejoice in the shadow of your wings.

⁸My soul stays close to you.

Your right hand holds me up.

John 7:40:

(Dt 18:15-19) ¹⁵Yahweh your God will raise up to you a prophet from the midst of you, of your brothers, like me. You shall listen to him. ¹⁶This is according to all that you desired of Yahweh your God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, Let me not hear again the voice of Yahweh my God, neither let me see this great fire any more, that I not die. ¹⁷Yahweh said to me, They have well said that which they have spoken. ¹⁸I will raise them up a prophet from among their brothers, like you; and I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I shall command him. ¹⁹It shall happen, that whoever will not listen to my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him.

John 7:41-43:

(Mi 5:2) ²But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,

being small among the clans of Judah,

out of you one will come forth to me that is to be ruler in Israel;

whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting.

John 8:12:

(Jn 1:4-9) ⁴In him was life, and the life was the light of men. ⁵The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness hasn't overcome it. ⁶There came a man, sent from God, whose name was John. ⁷The same came as a witness, that he might testify about the light, that all might believe through him. ⁸He was not the light, but was sent that he might testify about the light. ⁹The true light that enlightens everyone was coming into the world.

(1Jn 1:5) ⁵This is the message which we have heard from him and announce to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.

(Mt 5:14) ¹⁴You are the light of the world. A city located on a hill can't be hidden.

(Phl 2:15) ¹⁵that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you are seen as lights in the world,

(Jn 9:1-7) ¹As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. ²His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?"

³Jesus answered, "Neither did this man sin, nor his parents; but, that the works of God might be revealed in him. ⁴I must work the works of him who sent me, while it is day. The night is coming, when no one can work. ⁵While I am in the world, I am the light of the world." ⁶When he had said this, he spat on the ground, made mud with the saliva, anointed the blind man's eyes with the mud, ⁷and said to him, "Go, wash in the pool of Siloam" (which means "Sent"). So he went away, washed, and came back seeing.

Seventh Sunday of Pascha – Sunday of the Holy Fathers of the First Ecumenical Council

The Epistle for the Sunday of the Holy Fathers of the First Ecumenical Council is Acts 20:16-18, 28-36:

¹⁶For Paul had determined to sail past Ephesus, that he might not have to spend time in Asia; for he was hastening, if it were possible for him, to be in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost.

¹⁷From Miletus he sent to Ephesus, and called to himself the elders of the assembly. ¹⁸When they had come to him, he said to them, "You yourselves know, from the first day that I set foot in Asia, how I was with you all the time,

…

²⁸Take heed, therefore, to yourselves, and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the assembly of the Lord and God which he purchased with his own blood. ²⁹For I know that after my departure, vicious wolves will enter in among you, not sparing the flock. ³⁰Men will arise from among your own selves, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them. ³¹Therefore watch, remembering that for a period of three years I didn't cease to admonish everyone night and day with tears. ³²Now, brothers, I entrust you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build up, and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified. ³³I coveted no one's silver, or gold, or clothing. ³⁴You yourselves know that these hands served my necessities, and those who were with me. ³⁵In all things I gave you an example, that so laboring you ought to help the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that he himself said, 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.' "

³⁶When he had spoken these things, he knelt down and prayed with them all.

Notes:

Acts 20:28:

(Jn 21:15-17) ¹⁵So when they had eaten their breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me more than these?"

He said to him, "Yes, Lord; you know that I have affection for you."

He said to him, "Feed my lambs." ¹⁶He said to him again a second time, "Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me?"

He said to him, "Yes, Lord; you know that I have affection for you."

He said to him, "Tend my sheep." ¹⁷He said to him the third time, "Simon, son of Jonah, do you have affection for me?"

Peter was grieved because he asked him the third time, "Do you have affection for me?" He said to him, "Lord, you know everything. You know that I have affection for you."

Jesus said to him, "Feed my sheep.

Acts 20:29-30:

(Mt 7:15) ¹⁵"Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravening wolves.

Sixth Sunday of Pascha – Sunday of the Blind Man

The Epistle for the Sunday of the Blind Man is Acts 16:16-34:

¹⁶It happened, as we were going to prayer, that a certain girl having a spirit of divination met us, who brought her masters much gain by fortune telling. ¹⁷Following Paul and us, she cried out, "These men are servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to us the way of salvation!" ¹⁸She was doing this for many days.

But Paul, becoming greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, "I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her!" It came out that very hour. ¹⁹But when her masters saw that the hope of their gain was gone, they seized Paul and Silas, and dragged them into the marketplace before the rulers. ²⁰When they had brought them to the magistrates, they said, "These men, being Jews, are agitating our city, ²¹and set forth customs which it is not lawful for us to accept or to observe, being Romans."

²²The multitude rose up together against them, and the magistrates tore their clothes off of them, and commanded them to be beaten with rods. ²³When they had laid many stripes on them, they threw them into prison, charging the jailer to keep them safely, ²⁴who, having received such a command, threw them into the inner prison, and secured their feet in the stocks.

²⁵But about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. ²⁶Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone's bonds were loosened. ²⁷The jailer, being roused out of sleep and seeing the prison doors open, drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped. ²⁸But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, "Don't harm yourself, for we are all here!"

²⁹He called for lights and sprang in, and, fell down trembling before Paul and Silas, ³⁰and brought them out and said, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?"

³¹They said, "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household." ³²They spoke the word of the Lord to him, and to all who were in his house.

³³He took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes, and was immediately baptized, he and all his household. ³⁴He brought them up into his house, and set food before them, and rejoiced greatly, with all his household, having believed in God.

Flowers for Mother's Day

Tear after tear streamed down her face; she probably wouldn’t make it in time.  It was late, almost dark, and the rain had started falling faster.  She was tired, had hardly slept in days, but she didn’t care and started pedaling even harder than she already was.  This might be her very last chance for this, which was a thought she could hardly stand.

She turned the corner into the parking lot, and barely had the bike stopped before she jumped off and grabbed the flowers and card from under the plastic protective cover on the bike basket.

Running inside the automatic doors, she checked the clock.  Twelve minutes before hospital visiting hours were over.  She would make it.  She wiped the tears off of her face with the back of her hand as she raced down the hall.

Opening the door to the room, her lips quivered into a smile.  She put the flowers in the vase on the small table beside the bed and leaned the card against it before sitting on the bed and putting her arms around the “sleeping patient.”

“Happy Mother’s Day, Momma,” she sniffed.  “I love you.”

She was still sitting there hugging her mom when the heart monitor started the long beep while the nurses rushed in and the woman took her last breath.  That was when the girl melted into an ocean of her tears.