This week's readings Week of April 28-May 4 Sunday April 28, 2002 Reading I: Acts 6:1-7 Reading II: 1 Pt 2:4-9 Gospel: Jn 14:1-12 Monday, April 29, 2002 Reading I: Acts 14:5-18 Gospel: Jn 14:21-26 Tuesday, April 30, 2002 Reading I: Acts 14:19-28 Gospel: Jn 14:27-31a Wednesday, May 1, 2002 Reading I: Acts 15:1-6 Gospel: Jn 5:1-8 Thursday, May 2, 2002 Reading I: Acts 15:7-21 Gospel: Jn 15:9-11 Friday, May 3, 2002 Reading I: 1 Cor 15:1-8 Gospel: Jn 14:6-14 Saturday, May 4, 2002 Reading I: Acts 16:1-10 Gospel: Jn 15:18-21 Pope's Prayer Intentions April General Intention That family life may be central to world society: That even amidst the world's unsettled ways, the family may be seen as crucial in its vocation as a cradle of life and school of faith and right values. April Mission Intention Finding courage and strength from the martyrs of our time to proclaim the Gospel: That the heroic martyrs of our time may hearten our ecclesial communities to courageously announce Jesus Christ the Redeemer of humankind.

I'll come back:

		Word of God  Word of Life  Fr. John G. Stillmank

The election of the first deacons to assist the apostles in the growing work of the early Church was an important step. Both in their recognition that the second coming of the Lord might not be imminent and in their trust of the Holy Spirit's guidance for the work of the Church, the apostles started to make key decisions for the future.

"Thus the Church was - and is - being built up into that spiritual house for the worship of the Father, with Christ the priest, the victim, and the altar of sacrifice, and the Holy Spirit of love binding together the members of his Body."

The apostles "prayed and laid hands on them," thus using what has been handed down to us as the rite of ordination in order to give the gift of the Holy Spirit in a special way to those called to the ministry we know as the diaconate. They did it out of the growing need to differentiate duties, or to delegate responsibilities, so that the apostles could devote themselves "to prayer and to the ministry of the word."

The word of God continued to grow and spread, we read in Acts, and the Church grew under the influence of the Holy Spirit and the wise decisions made by the apostles, planning for the future.

Peter, the first among the apostles, in his first letter, likens the members of the Church to living stones to be "built into a spiritual house," with Christ as the cornerstone. He reminds us that we are to be a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of his own. The Church is to be a strong and lasting house, too.

Thus the Church was - and is - being built up into that spiritual house for the worship of the Father, with Christ the priest, the victim, and the altar of sacrifice, and the Holy Spirit of love binding together the members of his Body.

In John's gospel Jesus reminds us that he is going to prepare a special place for us, and that this place is in the very life of the Trinity. He taught his disciples that he would return to the Father, to whom all creation is drawn through Christ. "No one comes to the Father except through me," Jesus says.

Readings for Fifth Sunday of Easter (April 28) Acts 6:1-7 Psalm 33: 1-2, 4-5, 18-19 1Peter 2: 4-9 John 14: 1-12

Jesus does two remarkable things in this discourse. He reveals that whoever sees him sees the Father, for he observes Jesus doing the Father's work. Thus we who worship the unseen God now can see the Father in Jesus, for Jesus says "I am in the Father and the Father is in me."

He also promises that he will come back and take us to live with him.

Jesus doesn't say when, or how, or exactly what will happen. He has given his apostles a blueprint for living by his teachings, and he goes to the Father to prepare a place for those who love him. But for now, the apostles realize, they must plan for the future of the Church here on earth.

We, who are hearers of the apostolic faith, witnesses with the apostles and the first believers to the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, and beneficiaries of the carefully thought out decisions they made, have a responsibility to pass on that living wisdom to others.

Not all are apostles, or bishops, or priests, or deacons. Not everyone lives as a member of a religious community. Not everyone marries. But all are called by the power of their baptism to be witnesses to Christ, each in his or her own way of life.

All this is part of the plan of Jesus for spreading the Gospel to all the world, through the ministry of the apostles, through the service of bishops, priests, and deacons, through the prayer and sacrifice of religious, through the holiness of marriage and the simplicity of the single life. Each of us awaits the return of the Lord, who promised he would come back and take us home with him.

Fr. John G. Stillmank is Moderator of the Curia for the Diocese of Madison and pastor of St. Andrew Parish, Verona, and St. William Parish, Paoli.