Saturday, May 9, 2026
Saturday of the Fifth week of Easter
John 15:18-21
Listen to the whole reading — MP3
First reading
Acts 16:1-10
He came to Derbe and Lystra: and behold, a certain disciple was there, named Timothy, the son of a Jewess who believed; but his father was a Greek. The brothers who were at Lystra and Iconium gave a good testimony about him. Paul wanted to have him go out with him, and he took and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those parts; for they all knew that his father was a Greek. As they went on their way through the cities, they delivered the decrees to them to keep which had been ordained by the apostles and elders who were at Jerusalem. So the assemblies were strengthened in the faith, and increased in number daily. When they had gone through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. When they had come opposite Mysia, they tried to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit didn’t allow them. Passing by Mysia, they came down to Troas. A vision appeared to Paul in the night. There was a man of Macedonia standing, begging him, and saying, “Come over into Macedonia and help us.” When he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go out to Macedonia, concluding that the Lord had called us to preach the Good News to them.
Responsorial psalm
Psalms 100:1-2,3,5
Shout for joy to the Lord, all you lands! Serve the Lord with gladness. Come before his presence with singing. Know that the Lord, he is God. It is he who has made us, and we are his. We are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. For the Lord is good. His loving kindness endures forever, his faithfulness to all generations.
Gospel
John 15:18-21
If the world hates you, you know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. But because you are not of the world, since I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his lord.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. But all these things will they do to you for my name’s sake, because they don’t know him who sent me.
Lectio
There is a quiet drama in Paul's journey through Phrygia and Galatia. He has plans, good and holy plans, to preach the word in Asia and to enter Bithynia. Twice he is stopped — not by enemies or hardship, but by the Holy Spirit Himself. We rarely imagine the Spirit as the one who closes doors, yet here He does, again and again, until in the silence of a night vision a stranger from Macedonia pleads, "Come over and help us." Only then does the way open. Paul's obedience required him to surrender his own map and trust that the closed doors were as much grace as the open one.
This is the kind of trust the psalmist sings into: "It is he who has made us, and we are his." We are the sheep of his pasture, which means we are not the ones who chart the path. To belong to God this completely is consoling and also costly, for the Gospel reminds us that the world will not understand a life so wholly given over to Another. "If you were of the world, the world would love its own." The redirected journeys, the misunderstood choices, the hatred Jesus speaks of — these are not signs that we have gone wrong, but often signs that we belong to him who was Himself rejected. A servant is not greater than his master.
Between the closed door and the night vision, Paul had to wait without knowing. So do we. And in that waiting, the question is not whether we are productive, but whether we still trust that the Shepherd is good.
Where in your life right now have your own good plans been quietly thwarted, and have you considered that the closed door might be the Spirit redirecting you toward a "Macedonia" you cannot yet see?
Is there a relationship or situation where you sense you are being misunderstood or resisted precisely because you are trying to live for Christ — and how are you tempted to ease that tension by quietly becoming "of the world" again?
Saint of the day
St. Pachomius
Ora reads this aloud, every morning, free. Ora