Saturday – April 27, 2024 – Eastertide

Today’s Gospel Reading:

John 14:7-14

Jesus said to his disciples:

“If you know me, then you will also know my Father.

From now on you do know him and have seen him.”

Philip said to Jesus,

“Master, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us.”

Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you for so long a time

and you still do not know me, Philip?

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 speak to you I do not speak on my own.

The Father who dwells in me is doing his works.

Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me,

or else, believe because of the works themselves.

Amen, amen, I say to you,

whoever believes in me will do the works that I do,

and will do greater ones than these,

because I am going to the Father.

And whatever you ask in my name, I will do,

so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

If you ask anything of me in my name, I will do it.”

Friday – April 26, 2024 – Eastertide

Today’s Gospel Reading:

John 14:1-6

Jesus said to his disciples:

“Do not let your hearts be troubled.

You have faith in God; have faith also in me.

In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places.

If there were not,

would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you?

And if I go and prepare a place for you,

I will come back again and take you to myself,

so that where I am you also may be.

Where I am going you know the way.”

Thomas said to him,

“Master, 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.”

Thursday – April 25, 2024 – Eastertide

Today’s Gospel Reading:

Mark 16:15-20

Jesus appeared to the Eleven and said to them:

“Go into the whole world

and proclaim the Gospel to every creature.

Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved;

whoever does not believe will be condemned.

These signs will accompany those who believe:

in my name they will drive out demons,

they will speak new languages.

They will pick up serpents with their hands,

and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not harm them.

They will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”

Then the Lord Jesus, after he spoke to them,

was taken up into heaven

and took his seat at the right hand of God.

But they went forth and preached everywhere,

while the Lord worked with them

and confirmed the word through accompanying signs.

Wednesday – April 24, 2024 – Eastertide

Today’s Gospel Reading:

John 12:44-50

Jesus cried out and said,

“Whoever believes in me believes not only in me

but also in the one who sent me,

and whoever sees me sees the one who sent me.

I came into the world as light,

so that everyone who believes in me might not remain in darkness.

And if anyone hears my words and does not observe them,

I do not condemn him,

for I did not come to condemn the world but to save the world.

Whoever rejects me and does not accept my words

has something to judge him: the word that I spoke,

it will condemn him on the last day,

because I did not speak on my own,

but the Father who sent me commanded me what to say and speak.

And I know that his commandment is eternal life.

So what I say, I say as the Father told me.”

Tuesday – April 23, 2024 – Eastertide

Today’s Gospel Reading:

John 10:22-30

The feast of the Dedication was taking place in Jerusalem.

It was winter.

And Jesus walked about in the temple area on the Portico of Solomon.

So the Jews gathered around him and said to him,

“How long are you going to keep us in suspense?

If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.”

Jesus answered them, “I told you and you do not believe.

The works I do in my Father’s name testify to me.

But you do not believe, because you are not among my sheep.

My sheep hear my voice;

I know them, and they follow me.

I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish.

No one can take them out of my hand.

My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all,

and no one can take them out of the Father’s hand.

The Father and I are one.”

Monday – April 22, 2024 – Eastertide

Today’s Gospel Reading:

John 10:1-10

Jesus said:

“Amen, amen, I say to you,

whoever does not enter a sheepfold through the gate

but climbs over elsewhere is a thief and a robber.

But whoever enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep.

The gatekeeper opens it for him, and the sheep hear his voice,

as he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.

When he has driven out all his own,

he walks ahead of them, and the sheep follow him,

because they recognize his voice.

But they will not follow a stranger;

they will run away from him,

because they do not recognize the voice of strangers.”

Although Jesus used this figure of speech,

they did not realize what he was trying to tell them.

So Jesus said again, “Amen, amen, I say to you,

I am the gate for the sheep.

All who came before me are thieves and robbers,

but the sheep did not listen to them.

I am the gate.

Whoever enters through me will be saved,

and will come in and go out and find pasture.

A thief comes only to steal and slaughter and destroy;

I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly.”

Sunday – April 21, 2024 – Fourth Sunday of Easter (Eastertide) – World Day of Prayer for Vocations

Today’s Gospel Reading:

Jesus said:

“I am the good shepherd.

A good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

A hired man, who is not a shepherd

and whose sheep are not his own,

sees a wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away,

and the wolf catches and scatters them.

This is because he works for pay and has no concern for the sheep.

I am the good shepherd,

and I know mine and mine know me,

just as the Father knows me and I know the Father;

and I will lay down my life for the sheep.

I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold.

These also I must lead, and they will hear my voice,

and there will be one flock, one shepherd.

This is why the Father loves me,

because I lay down my life in order to take it up again.

No one takes it from me, but I lay it down on my own.

I have power to lay it down, and power to take it up again.

This command I have received from my Father.”

Saturday – April 20, 2024 – Eastertide

Today’s Gospel Reading:

John 6:60-69

Many of the disciples of Jesus who were listening said,

“This saying is hard; who can accept it?”

Since Jesus knew that his disciples were murmuring about this,

he said to them, “Does this shock you?

What if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before?

It is the Spirit that gives life, while the flesh is of no avail.

The words I have spoken to you are Spirit and life.

But there are some of you who do not believe.”

Jesus knew from the beginning the ones who would not believe

and the one who would betray him.

And he said, “For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me

unless it is granted him by my Father.”

As a result of this,

many of his disciples returned to their former way of life

and no longer walked with him.

Jesus then said to the Twelve, “Do you also want to leave?”

Simon Peter answered him, “Master, to whom shall we go?

You have the words of eternal life.

We have come to believe

and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God.”

Friday – April 19, 2024 – Eastertide

Today’s Gospel Reading:

John 6: 52-59

The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying,
“How can this man give us his Flesh to eat?”
Jesus said to them,
“Amen, amen, I say to you,
unless you eat the Flesh of the Son of Man and drink his Blood,
you do not have life within you.
Whoever eats my Flesh and drinks my Blood
has eternal life,
and I will raise him on the last day.
For my Flesh is true food,
and my Blood is true drink.
Whoever eats my Flesh and drinks my Blood
remains in me and I in him.
Just as the living Father sent me
and I have life because of the Father,
so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me.
This is the bread that came down from heaven.
Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died,
whoever eats this bread will live forever.”
These things he said while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.

APRIL IS NATIONAL POETRY MONTH

Whirlybirds

We always called maple seeds whirlybirds,

just as we always did so many things, as children.

We liked them best when they were yellow—

when tossed alone, in twos, or even bunches—

.

they came swirling down.  Too green,

they fell with a plop.  Too brown too thin to fly,

or they fell apart, exposing their spider veins

like the vertical strings on a badminton racket.

.

If we had rain: mush, beside the welcome mat.

But this morning, sailing swiftly by my window,

catching the light—white and lovely—

landing in a driveway crack

.

or in gutters in the fertile loam that once was

maple leaves, there those ’copters from the sky—

unshaken in purpose—became a circle of trees.

first published in TMP Irregular