First Reading

Acts of the Apostles 9:26-31

Paul is accepted by the apostles at Jerusalem.

Responsorial Psalm

Psalm 22:26-27,28,30,31-32

The whole world shall praise the Lord.

Second Reading

1 John 3:18-24

God commands us to believe in Jesus Christ and to love one another.

Gospel Reading

John 15:1-8

Jesus teaches that he is the vine and that his disciples are the branches.

Background on the Gospel Reading

Today’s reading from the Gospel of John is part of Jesus’ discourse at the Last Supper. Recall that John tells the story of Jesus’ Last Supper differently from the other Evangelists. In John’s Gospel, the Last Supper begins with Jesus washing his disciples’ feet. Jesus then provides them with a series of instructions. We call this section the Last Supper discourse or Jesus’ farewell discourse. In these chapters of John’s Gospel, Jesus instructs his disciples about the importance of following his example of love and service, about the gift they will receive when Jesus sends them the Holy Spirit, and about their relationship with Jesus and with the world. The Last Supper discourse concludes with Jesus’ prayer for his disciples.

Today’s Gospel reading is taken from middle of the Last Supper discourse. Jesus speaks about his relationship to his disciples. In his metaphor of the vine and the branches, Jesus is referencing the Hebrew Scriptures. In the Hebrew Scriptures, Israel is the vineyard, and Yahweh himself tends the vineyard. One of the primary themes of John’s Gospel is to show Jesus to be the fulfillment of God’s promises to Israel.

In this passage, Jesus teaches his disciples that his relationship with them will not end after his death; he will remain with them always. This unity between Jesus and his disciples is the basis for their ability to continue to do the work that he began. Similarly, Jesus’ presence with us through the Gift of the Holy Spirit enables us to continue the work of love and reconciliation that he began.

Jesus also teaches his disciples about the importance of the words he has taught to them. Just as Jesus will remain in the disciples, so too will his words. We come to know Jesus through the Scriptures, the living Word of God. Our commitment to be Christ’s disciples is sustained through God’s Word. This commitment is also strengthened by our life of prayer and nourished by the Eucharist. Through the Eucharist, Jesus dwells in us, remains with us, and transforms us so that we might bear fruit in his name.

We observe many people who act in ways that show their commitment to serve their neighbor. Christians and non-Christians feed the hungry, care for the sick, shelter the homeless, and give alms to the poor. These actions become acts of Christian discipleship when they are motivated by our relationship with Jesus. Whatever the immediate results, Jesus promises us that these actions will bear fruit when we undertake them in his name.

Time to start Pruning

Every Monday as I begin the week, I look at the upcoming Gospel reading. I love to think about it all week long. I am always amazed at how it is so relevant in my daily life. This week’s Gospel we hear the passage from John 15:1-8 about the true vine, bearing fruit and pruning the dead branches away. Two things came to mind. The first was when I was a young child helping my daddy prune the apple trees on our farm. I can remember tagging along after him and watching him study the apple trees to decide which branches should be cut away. I would ask him a million questions and he always patiently answered them. “Why are you taking that one away?” He would answer, “It was dead and no longer fruitful to the tree.” He would continue pruning I would gather the sticks and make piles. Then we would take the piles to the field and burn them up into ashes. When “we” were done, we would have trees that looked a bit different.  Healthier looking trees. Fruitful trees. I couldn’t wait for the fruit of those trees in the fall! A some times long and tenuous job but one that had to be done to reap the benefits of the delicious fruit.

My second thought about the Gospel this week was when I noticed that many of our lilac bushes needed pruning. There was a lot of dead limbs and branches among the blooming branches. So, I set out to begin pruning them. The dead pieces were so brittle and cut easily away. Some breaking in my hand without the use of a tool.  As I cut each dead branch off, I just kept thinking about the Gospel. “I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit, because without me you can do nothing.

Anyone who does not remain in me will be thrown out like a branch and wither; people will gather them and throw them into a fire and they will be burned.” Jn15:5-6 That verse kept going through my mind. It was so easy to understand what the Lord was teaching the disciples in this text with every dead branch falling to the ground. It was so easy to see what he was teaching me in this text as the pile of dead branches became bigger and bigger. It was right in front of me almost my whole life. If we don’t prune out the old and dying branches in ourselves, how can we live in Christ? How can we be disciples of his love and peace? Is it not Christ in our hearts that help us to produce love, kindness, understanding, forgiveness, friendship, mercy, gentleness, patience, peace, and hope and share with the world? If we are fruitful disciples of God, we can live in him and he in us always.

“If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask for whatever you want and it will be done for you. By this is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.” Jn 15:7-8 J. Geeting

Have you visited the Diocese of Palm Beach Website and read BISHOP BARBARITO'S LIVING THE TRUTH IN LOVE COLUMNS? If you haven't they are very good. Just click on the link above! ENJOY!

Sunday Mass is at St. Jude, Tequesta. The Celebrant is Very Reverend Charles E Notabartolo, Vicar General & Moderator of the Curia and Pastor at St. Jude. Lector is James Wollam. Music Director is Lisa Bucheck.

St. Joseph, The Worker

Feast Day May 1

Saint Joseph, the virginal father of Jesus Christ, was faithful to his daily work as a carpenter. With his work, Saint Joseph supported his virgin wife, Mary, and the Child Jesus, his Son.

“Go, then to Joseph, and do all that he shall say to you; Go to Joseph, and obey him as Jesus and Mary obeyed him; Go to Joseph, and speak to him as they spoke to him;

Go to Joseph, and consult him as they consulted him; Go to Joseph, and honor him as they honored him; Go to Joseph, and be grateful to him as they were grateful to him;

Go to Joseph, and love him, as they love him still” (St. Alphonsus Liguori).



Pope Pius XII established the feast of Saint Joseph the Worker in 1955. He chose May 1, a day the Communists used to celebrate their view of labor, as the day for this important feast which shows the importance of work in a Christian’s life. The pope gave Christian workers the example of Saint Joseph to show forth the dignity of labor, no matter how menial.

“If the Family of Nazareth is an example and model for human families, in the order of salvation and holiness, so too, by analogy, is Jesus’ work at the side of Joseph the carpenter. In our own day, the Church has emphasized this by instituting the liturgical memorial of St. Joseph the Worker on May 1” (St. John Paul II).

St. John Paul II went on to say: “Human work, and especially manual labor, receive special prominence in the Gospel… At the workbench where he plied his trade together with Jesus, Joseph brought human work closer to the mystery of the Redemption.”

In 2005, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI stated: “It is necessary to live a spirituality that helps believers to sanctify themselves through their work, imitating St. Joseph, who had to provide with his own hands for the daily needs of the Holy Family and whom, consequently, the Church holds up as Patron of workers.”

Prayer for our work helps us get through the stresses and struggles we experience as we support ourselves and our loved ones. We can offer our work to God for His honor and glory and for the good of ourselves and others; in this way work becomes a prayer.

This prayer to St. Joseph the Worker, a prayer for our work, was written by Pope Pius X. St. Joseph, patron of workers, a happy death, and the Universal Church, pray for us!

Saint Joseph the Worker Prayer

O Glorious St. Joseph, model of all those who are devoted to labor, obtain for me the grace to work conscientiously, putting the call of duty above my natural inclinations, to work with gratitude and joy, in a spirit of penance for the remission of my sins, considering it an honor to employ and develop by means of labor the gifts received from God, to work with order, peace, moderation and patience, without ever shrinking from weariness and difficulties, to work above all with purity of intention and detachment from self, having death always before my eyes and the account that I must render of time lost, of talents wasted, of good omitted, of vain complacency in success, so fatal to the work of God. All for Jesus, all through Mary, all after thine example, O Patriarch St. Joseph. Such shall be my motto in life and in death.

To help us appreciate the life of St. Athanasius and the masterful work of De Incarnatione, here are 10 inspiring quotes from a Church Father whose example of standing up for the truth still has relevance today:

1) “Christians, instead of arming themselves with swords, extend their hands in prayer.”

2) “The holy and inspired Scriptures are sufficient of themselves for the preaching of the truth.”

3) “Jesus became what we are that he might make us what he is.”

4) “You cannot put straight in others what is warped in yourself.”

5) “Similarly, anyone who wishes to understand the mind of the sacred writers must first cleanse his own life, and approach the saints by copying their deeds.”

6) “For, indeed, everything about is marvelous, and wherever a man turns his gaze he sees the Godhead of the Word and is smitten with awe.”

7) “The presence and love of the Word had called them into being; inevitably, therefore when they lost the knowledge of God, they lost existence with it; for it is God alone Who exists, evil is non-being, the negation and antithesis of good.”

8) “For of what use is existence to the creature if it cannot know its Maker?”

9) “The Greek philosophers have compiled many works with persuasiveness and much skill in words; but what fruit have they to show for this such as has the cross of Christ? Their wise thoughts were persuasive enough until they died.”

10) “Even on the cross he did not hide himself from sight; rather, he made all creation witness to the presence of its Maker.”

Saints Philip and James

Saint of the Day for May 3

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As in the case of the other apostles, we see in James and Philip human men who became foundation stones of the Church, and we are reminded again that holiness and its consequent apostolate are entirely the gift of God, not a matter of human achieving. All power is God’s power, even the power of human freedom to accept his gifts. “You will be clothed with power from on high,” Jesus told Philip and the others. Their first commission had been to expel unclean spirits, heal diseases, announce the kingdom. They learned, gradually, that these externals were sacraments of an even greater miracle inside their persons—the divine power to love like God.

St. Florian

Saint of the Day for May 4

History of St Florian (Patron Saint of Firefighters) May 4th marks St Florian’s Day, also known as International Firefighters Day. St Florian is the patron saint of firefighters. Florian (250-304AD) was a high ranking Roman Army officer in the Roman province of Noricum. His superiors said he was good with people, a real problem solver, and a dedicated hardworker. Roman firefighters belonged to the Equestrian Class (Knight). They were highly trained and paid. Distinguished from the regular Roman soldiers by their green tunics. Florian died for his Christian faith, making him a Martyr and elevated him to patron to all things in the prevention of danger from fire. Florian was born in Austria in the 4th century about 250 A.D. in Cetium (now in Austria). The St. Florian commemorated in the Roman Martyrology on May 4th. Through his position as an officer of the Roman army, he advanced in the ranks and occupied a high administrative post in Noricum, now part of Austria. The saint suffered "death for the Faith" in the days of Diocletian. Although he became an officer of the Roman army, he didn't observe a "don't ask, don't tell" policy and confessed to his Christianity in antiChristian times. His legendary "Acts" state that he gave himself up at Lorch to the soldiers of Aquilinus, and the governor of Lorch, when they were rounding up the Christians. The Emperor Diocletian was shocked to learn that Florian did not carry out his orders to persecute all Christians in the area, and, thus, was sentenced to death by fire. Standing on the funeral pyre, Florian is reputed to have challenged the Roman soldiers to light the fire, saying "If you do, I will climb to heaven on the flames." Apprehensive to his words, instead of burning Florian, he was flogged and flayed after making the bold confession. He was twice scourged, half-flayed alive, set on fire, and finally thrown into the river Enns with a stone around his neck. His body was recovered by a pious woman, and he was buried honorably. About 600 years later, sometime between 900-955, a monastery was erected near Florian's tomb, and subsequently the village of St. Florian grew up around it. His body, recovered and was eventually removed to the Augustinian Abbey of St. Florian, near Linz. St. Florian was adopted as patron saint of Poland after Pope Lucius III, in 1138, consented to the request of King Casimir of Poland and to the Bishop of Cracow, to send relics of Florian to that country. Since that time, St. Florian has been regarded as a patron of Poland as well as of Linz, Upper Austria and of firemen. Soon after, a person was saved from a fire by invoking St. Florian's name. Since then, Florian has been invoked against fire and has generally been regarded in most countries as the patron saint of the fire service. Florian is associated with brewers because of a legendary incident in which he miraculously stopped a fire with a single pitcher of water. He is often depicted holding a pitcher. Florian is also the patron of chimney sweeps, Austria, Poland and soap boilers. There has been popular devotion to St. Florian in many parts of central Europe, and the tradition as to his martyrdom, not far from the spot where the Enns flows into the Danube, is ancient and reliable. Many miracles of healing are attributed to his intercession and he is invoked as a powerful protector in danger from fire, and floods and against drowning. His feast day is May 4th . 

Saint Hilary of Arles

Saint of the Day for May 5

(c. 401 – May 5, 449)

Please consider volunteering to become a Eucharistic Minister. We could us your help. The following meeting is for anyone interested in becoming a EM at St. Lucy Parish. WE need help at Daily Mass, Weekend Masses, and taking Communion to the Sick. If you have been considering this way to volunteer your gifts to the Lord we hope you will attend. It is such a rewarding ministry.

A great and interesting video click below!

St.John Vianney’s Prayer for Priests

God, please give to your Church today

many more priests after your own heart.

May they be worthy representatives of Christ the Good Shepherd.

May they wholeheartedly devote themselves to prayer and penance;

be examples of humility and poverty;

shining models of holiness;

tireless and powerful preachers of the Word of God;

zealous dispensers of your grace in the sacraments.

May their loving devotion to your Son Jesus in the Eucharist

and to Mary his Mother be the twin fountains of fruitfulness for their ministry.

Prayer for Seminarians

O Lord Jesus Christ, great High Priest, I pray that You call many worthy souls to Your holy priesthood. Enlighten the Bishop in the choice of candidates, the Spiritual Director in molding them, and the professors in instructing them. Lead the seminarians daily in Your unerring footsteps; so that they may become priests who are models of purity, possessors of wisdom and heroes of sacrifice; steeped in humility and aflame with love for God and man; apostles of Your glory and sanctifiers of souls.

Amen.

Thank you for being part of our faith Community! We look forward to seeing you next week!