Sunday, May 10, 2026
Sixth Sunday of Easter
John 14:15-21
Listen to the whole reading — MP3
First reading
Acts 8:5-8,14-17
Philip went down to the city of Samaria, and proclaimed to them the Christ. The multitudes listened with one accord to the things that were spoken by Philip, when they heard and saw the signs which he did. For unclean spirits came out of many of those who had them. They came out, crying with a loud voice. Many who had been paralyzed and lame were healed. There was great joy in that city. Now when the apostles who were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them, who, when they had come down, prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Spirit; for as yet he had fallen on none of them. They had only been baptized in the name of Christ Jesus. Then they laid their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.
Responsorial psalm
Psalms 66:1-3,4-5,6-7,16,20
Make a joyful shout to God, all the earth! Sing to the glory of his name! Offer glory and praise! Tell God, “How awesome are your deeds! Through the greatness of your power, your enemies submit themselves to you. All the earth will worship you, and will sing to you; they will sing to your name.” Selah. Come, and see God’s deeds— awesome work on behalf of the children of men. He turned the sea into dry land. They went through the river on foot. There, we rejoiced in him. He rules by his might forever. His eyes watch the nations. Don’t let the rebellious rise up against him. Selah. Come, and hear, all you who fear God. I will declare what he has done for my soul. Blessed be God, who has not turned away my prayer, nor his loving kindness from me.
Gospel
John 14:15-21
If you love me, keep my commandments. I will pray to the Father, and he will give you another Counselor, that he may be with you forever,— the Spirit of truth, whom the world can’t receive; for it doesn’t see him, neither knows him. You know him, for he lives with you, and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans. I will come to you. Yet a little while, and the world will see me no more; but you will see me. Because I live, you will live also. In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. One who has my commandments, and keeps them, that person is one who loves me. One who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him, and will reveal myself to him.”
Lectio
There is a quiet thread running through these readings, and it is the gift of presence. In Samaria, the people had heard the word, believed, and been baptized — and yet something was still waiting to be given. Peter and John came down, laid hands on them, and the Holy Spirit fell. It is a tender reminder that God is not content to leave us at the threshold of faith. He keeps drawing nearer, deepening what He has begun, filling rooms in us we did not know were empty. The joy that broke out in that city was not the excitement of a single miracle but the joy of being inhabited by God Himself.
Jesus says it plainly in the Gospel: "I will not leave you orphans." These are the words of someone who knows how often the human heart feels abandoned — by people who have left, by prayers that seemed to go unanswered, by a sense that we are managing life alone. Into that loneliness Christ promises not a feeling but a Person, the Spirit of truth who lives with us and will be in us. And He weds this promise to love, almost gently insisting that loving Him and keeping His word are not two things but one. Love, for Jesus, is never abstract; it takes the shape of small daily fidelities, the ordinary keeping of His commandments that quietly opens us to His indwelling.
The Psalmist, having tasted this nearness, cannot stay silent: "I will declare what he has done for my soul." This is the natural overflow of a heart that knows it is no longer orphaned. We are not asked to manufacture joy, only to notice the One who has not turned away our prayer, and to let that recognition make us sing.
Where in your life right now do you feel like an orphan — managing alone, unaccompanied — and what would change if you truly believed the Spirit "lives with you" in exactly that place?
Jesus ties loving Him to keeping His word; is there one specific commandment or quiet fidelity you have been avoiding lately, and what is it costing your sense of His presence?
Saint of the day
St. Jozef Damian De Veuster, Priest (1840-1889)
Ora reads this aloud, every morning, free. Ora