+(Intro) In our first reading this morning we will hear of how the early Church was very much in tune with how the Holy Spirit was guiding them. Let us take a moment to reflect on how we may fail to be attuned to the presence and working of the Holy Spirit in our own lives.
(After the gospel) Our gospel presents us with a world that stands in opposition to the Christian community. In every age one sees the opposition in which our Christian faith challenges the values held or treasured by the society in which we live.
It is all too easy to get caught up in a value system foreign to our faith. Jesus tells us that he has chosen us out of the world and that is why the world hates us. The text from the Holy Rule that we heard yesterday at our noon meal about monks going on a journey and how they are not to tell what they saw or heard when they return, reminds us of the same wisdom. All this to say, Jesus is inviting us not to get caught up in the ways of the world that will distract us from our deepest identity as followers of Christ.
The Eucharist grounds us ever more firmly in those values that last forever. In a world where the media can so easily distract us from our values, let us receive this gift into the whole of our lives.
Acts 16:1-10; John 15:18-21