Study:  Reflect on a time in life when someone reached out and welcomed you.  What key points stand out?  Consider any opportunities you have today to do this for another.

Pray:  Is there a rift in your life that calls for healing and unity?  Ask the Lord for grace and mercy to make it happen.

Serve:  What is one thing you can do this week to be “part of the solution” in fostering unity in your life?

Mass Readings – 4th Sunday of Easter

The Scripture readings this week are filled with an uplifting message: we are invited to be part of the Lord’s family of faith.  Check out some high points from the readings:

• 1st Reading – Paul & Barnabas are a “light to the Gentiles”
• Psalm – “We are his people, the sheep of his flock”
• 2nd Reading – the great multitude of every “nation, race, people, and tongue”
• Gospel – Jesus knows his sheep and they follow him

Consider some points that follow from these incredible readings:

1. The Good News of Christ is preached to all people.  There is not limit or boundary; all have access to the Lord.
2. The Lord claims us!  What’s more, like the Psalmist, we can boldly claim our relationship to the Lord and trust in his love.
3. The divisions that often separate us on earth (race, creed, nationality, language) simply do not exist in heaven; we are one family.
4. We are known by the Lord – who calls us by name – and we follow Him.

If this unity is thus part of the reality of our Family of Faith, perhaps now is a good time to practice this unity here on earth?  Perhaps today we can cross the boundaries and divisions that keep us from one another as we continue to share the Good News in our words and actions?

As disciples we have been given an example of unity; our lives today provide plenty of opportunities to foster it.  May the grace of Easter inspire us to be a light to one another, after all – we are members of a vast and diverse family!

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Catholic Inspiration Archives

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Note: This post was first published on April 16, 2016.