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First Reading
Acts 14:21-27

1. Paul and Barnabas traveled around the country spreading the good news. According to them, who was responsible for accepting the Gentiles? Who is in charge of your ministry? How deep is your belief about that?

2. Acts refers to its author “undergoing some hardships.” Could these be connected to the “new commandment” about love that Jesus gives in Sunday’s Gospel? And what about you? Have you discovered hardships in your life connected to loving your neighbor? Even though God opened the doors to the Gentiles, what still must take place before faith is received?


Second Reading

Revelation 21:1-5a

1. What is the connection between the holy city in the reading and God’s dwelling with the human race?

2. God and human persons dwell together. Where is this visible? Is it in the Lord’s legacy of selfless love? “He will wipe every tear from their eyes.” Can you think of times God has wiped away your tears? How can God wipe others’ tears away through you?


Gospel
John 13:31-33a, 34-35

1. Did Jesus give us edicts, rubrics and canons? What one rule did he give us over and over? What teaching of the Church do you think will bring all people to Christ? Do you recognize saintly people by how hard they work and the money and time they give––or by how much they love others? Or both? Does God love the world through us if we let it happen?

2. “As I have loved you, so should you love one another.” According to Pope Francis, how does Jesus’ love within us help us with our barriers of loving each other

We all have people—whether ‘enemies’ I do not know—but who do not get along with us, who are on “the other side”; or some have people who have hurt them. ... Am I capable of loving those people, that man, that woman who hurt me, who offended me? Am I capable of forgiving them? Each of you can respond in your heart. Jesus’ love shows us the other as a present or future member of the community of Jesus’ friends. It spurs us to dialogue and helps us to listen to one another and to mutually get to know each other.

Love opens up toward the other, becoming the foundation of human relationships. It renders us capable of overcoming the barriers of our own weaknesses and prejudices. Jesus’ love within us creates bridges, teaches new paths, triggers the dynamism of fraternity. 

God’s love knows no limits
Angelus, May 20, 2019

Anne Osdieck



Art by Martin Erspamer, OSB
from Religious Clip Art for the Liturgical Year (A, B, and C). This art may be reproduced only by parishes who purchase the collection in book or CD-ROM form. For more information go http://www.ltp.org