Fifth Sunday of Easter Year B

Sunday May 3 2015 is the Fifth Sunday of Easter Year B

SUNDAY SUNDAY SUNDAY PODCAST – LIFETEEN

Reflections for the Fifth Sunday of Easter – Christ in Our Neighborhood guide materials – Father Dolan, Diocese of San Diego

Sunday Connection – www.loyolapress.com

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch of mine that bears no fruit, he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. You are already made clean by the word which I have spoken to you.” – Homily from Father Daniel Meynen

Coloring Page for Fifth Sunday of Easter

Easter Crossword Puzzle – CatholicMom.com

Sunday reflections Fr. Eugene Lobo S.J – “In this gospel passage from the last discourse of Jesus we hear Jesus say that he is the Vine and we are the branches. Without his initiative of being pruned, no branch can bear any fruit. He says that each one must bear fruit to the glory of the Father.”

Gospel Message Fifth Sunday of Easter Year B- “I am the tree of life that my Father has planted in the world, he who wants to become part of me eternally, must become part of this tree, he must convert into one of my branches and take sap from me. My Father and I touch the hearts of all human beings and call them to come, because I am the Way, the Truth and the Life, no one can come to my Father except through me. My Father has prepared eternal life for all those who listen to me, this is why my words are the guide for the faithful but also the condemnation for the disobedient. Those who do not listen, those who reject the voice of the Spirit and break the commandments without caring for the divine truth, do not produce any fruit, this is why my Father cuts those branches and allow them to whither and die without any hope of everlasting life. Those who listen to me receive gifts, and in the same way that the vinedresser prunes his vine to embellish it, life is full of frustrations and crosses that my Father sends to the soul in order to prune it of self love, egoism, vanity and pride. These sufferings produce wisdom and bring perfection to the soul in humility.”

The Vine and the Branches – Father Robert Barron homily

“Again and again, life’s experiences teach us that, as members of the Earth community, we cannot make it on our own. We need one another, other living beings, the sun, the soil, the water and everything else that formed from exploding stars in the distant past. The gospel reading reminds us that as baptised Christians we are not just intimately interlinked but that the source of our unity is the Risen Christ. As limbs and leaves and sap of the same vine, we simply cannot survive in isolation.” – Veronica Lawson RSM

Mother Angelica Live – John 15 – 11/5/1991

‘You are the Vine’ music video ~ Laurie Sterling

CONNECTION – “As Christians we might walk the road of conscience disdained by the secular world, but does not mean we are disconnected. Our connection to life is not the world, but someone far greater.” – www.word-sunday.org

Easter Resources from 4catholiceducators.com

May 2015 Sunday Gospel Activities CatholicMom.com Resources

Easter Sundays – Paschal Tide

Sunday Mass Readings 5/3/2015 from USCCB

ACTS 9:26-31 – Saul comes to Jerusalem and the disciples fear him. But, Barnabas vouched for him

PS 22:26-27, 28, 30, 31-32 – I will praise you, Lord, in the assembly of your people.

1 JN 3:18-24 – Children, let us love not in word or speech but in deed and truth…Those who keep his commandments remain in him, and he in them, and the way we know that he remains in us is from the Spirit he gave us.

JN 15:1-8 – Jesus said to his disciples, “Remain in me, as I remain in you. By this is my Father glorified,
that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.”

The Vine and the Branches

When Saul had come to Jerusalem, he attempted to join the disciples; and they were all afraid of him, for they did not believe that he was a disciple. But Barnabas took him, brought him to the apostles, and described for them how on the road he had seen the Lord, who had spoken to him, and how in Damascus he had spoken boldly in the name of Jesus. So he went in and out among them in Jerusalem, speaking boldly in the name of the Lord. He spoke and argued with the Hellenists; but they were attempting to kill him. When the believers learned of it, they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus. Meanwhile the church throughout Judea, Galilee, and Samaria had peace and was built up. Living in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it increased in numbers.

Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action. And by this we will know that we are from the truth and will reassure our hearts before him whenever our hearts condemn us; for God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. Beloved, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have boldness before God; and we receive from him whatever we ask, because we obey his commandments and do what pleases him. And this is his commandment, that we should believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us. All who obey his commandments abide in him, and he abides in them. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit that he has given us.

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower. He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit. You have already been cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing.

Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Listen to the Readings

Pope Francis

APOSTOLIC LETTER OF HIS HOLINESS POPE FRANCIS TO ALL CONSECRATED PEOPLE ON THE OCCASION OF THE YEAR OF CONSECRATED LIFE“In response to requests from many of you and from the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and for Societies of Apostolic Life, I decided to proclaim a Year of Consecrated Life on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium -Pope Francis

On the Vine – Scott Hahn

Mass Preparation for this Sunday

Hymns for the Fifth Sunday of Easter

Pastoral Reflections Institute – www.pastoralreflectionsinstitute.com

Sacerdos Homily

Fr. Joseph Pellegrino Homily

The Center for Liturgy at St Louis University

St Charles Borromeo Catholic Church – www.scborromeo.org

Catholic Doors Homilies

The Order of Mass – An overview