A reading from the Acts of the Apostles
Acts 19:1-8
While Apollos was in Corinth,
Paul traveled through the interior of the country
and down to Ephesus where he found some disciples.
He said to them,
“Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you became believers?”
They answered him,
“We have never even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”
He said, “How were you baptized?”
They replied, “With the baptism of John.”
Paul then said, “John baptized with a baptism of repentance,
telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him,
that is, in Jesus.”
When they heard this,
they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.
And when Paul laid his hands on them,
the Holy Spirit came upon them,
and they spoke in tongues and prophesied.
Altogether there were about twelve men.
He entered the synagogue, and for three months debated boldly
with persuasive arguments about the Kingdom of God.
From the Gospel according to John
Jn 16:29-33
The disciples said to Jesus,
“Now you are talking plainly, and not in any figure of speech.
Now we realize that you know everything
and that you do not need to have anyone question you.
Because of this we believe that you came from God.”
Jesus answered them, “Do you believe now?
Behold, the hour is coming and has arrived
when each of you will be scattered to his own home
and you will leave me alone.
But I am not alone, because the Father is with me.
I have told you this so that you might have peace in me.
In the world you will have trouble,
but take courage, I have conquered the world.”
‘To endure’, it is more than just having patience, it is carrying on your shoulders, bearing the weight of tribulation. And “the Christian’s life has moments like this”. But “Jesus tells us: ‘Have courage in that moment. I have won, and you too will be winners’”. Thus “this first word enlightens us” in facing “the most difficult moments in life, those moments that make us suffer”. (…) To entrust something to the Lord, entrust this difficult moment to the Lord, entrust oneself to the Lord, entrust our faithful to the Lord, our priests, bishops, entrust our families to the Lord, our friends”. We need to know how to say to the Lord: “Take care of these, they are yours”. However, it is “not a prayer that we always make: the prayer of entrustment”. It is a beautiful Christian prayer when one says: “Lord I entrust to you this, I bring it here before you”. It is “an attitude of trust in the power of the Lord, and in the tenderness of the Lord who is Father”. (…) Three words: Hardships, trust and peace. In life we must go through hardship, because that “is the law of life”; but we should always remember in those moments to “entrust ourselves to the Lord”. And “he will respond to us with peace”. The Lord “is Father, he loves us very much and never disappoints us. (Santa Marta, 5 May 2015)
