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Fifth Sunday of Easter (A)

May 03, 2026

Fr. John Colacino C.PP.S.

Introit

Rite of Sprinkling

Collect

Almighty ever-living God,
constantly accomplish the Paschal Mystery within us,
that those you were pleased to make new in Holy Baptism
may, under your protective care, bear much fruit
and come to the joys of life eternal.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

First Reading Acts 6:1-7

Now during those days, when the disciples were increasing in number, the Hellenists complained against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution of food. 2 And the twelve called together the whole community of the disciples and said, “It is not right that we should neglect the word of God in order to wait on tables. 3 Therefore, friends, select from among yourselves seven men of good standing, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may appoint to this task, 4 while we, for our part, will devote ourselves to prayer and to serving the word.” 5 What they said pleased the whole community, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, together with Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a convert of Antioch. 6 They had these men stand before the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them. 7 The word of God continued to spread; the number of the disciples increased greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith.

Responsorial Psalm

Second Reading 1 Peter 2:4-9

Come to the Lord, a living stone, though rejected by mortals yet chosen and precious in God’s sight. 5 Like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6 For it stands in scripture: “See, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious; and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.” 7 To you then who believe, he is precious; but for those who do not believe, “The stone that the builders rejected has become the very head of the corner,” and 8 “A stone that makes them stumble, and a rock that makes them fall.” They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do. But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.

Verse before the Gospel

Gospel John 14:1-12

Jesus said to his disciples: 1 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. 2 In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also. 4 And you know the way to the place where I am going.” 5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” 6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.” 8 Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.” 9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own; but the Father who dwells in me does his works. 11 Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; but if you do not, then believe me because of the works themselves. 12 Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father.”

Catena Nova

Let us march forward intrepidly to meet our Redeemer, Jesus, pursuing our onward course without swerving until we come to the assembly of the saints and are welcomed by the company of the just. It is to join our Christian forebears that we are journeying, to those who taught us our faith—that faith which comes to our aid and safeguards our heritage for us even when we have no good works to show. In the place we are making, the Lord will be everyone’s light; the true light which enlightens every human person will shine upon all. In the house where we are going the Lord Jesus has prepared many dwelling-places for his servants, so that where he is we also may be, for this was his desire…. Yes, Lord Jesus, we do follow you, but we can only come at your bidding. No one can make the ascent without you, for you are our way, our truth, our life, our strength, our confidence, our reward. Be the way that receives us, the truth that strengthens us, the life that invigorates us (St. Ambrose of Milan).

Christ himself is the way, and therefore he says: I am the way. This certainly is eminently right for through him we have access to the Father. Since this way is not separate from its end, but joined to it, he adds the truth and the life; thus he is himself at once both the way and the goal. In his human nature he is the way, and in his divine nature he is the goal. Therefore, speaking as man he says: I am the way; and speaking as God he adds: the truth and the life. These two words are an apt description of this goal. For this goal is the object of human desire, and a person desires two things above all. In the first place he wants to know the truth, which is peculiar to him; and secondly he wants to continue to exist, which is common to all things. Christ is the way by which we come to know truth, though he is also that truth: Lead me, O Lord, in truth, and I shall enter into your way. Christ is also the way to come to life, though he is also that life: You have made known the ways of life… If you are looking for a goal, hold fast to Christ, because he himself is the truth, where we desire to be. My mouth shall reflect on the truth. If you are looking for a resting place, hold fast to Christ, because he himself is the life. Whoever finds me finds life, and receives salvation from the Lord. Therefore hold fast to Christ if you wish to be safe. (St. Thomas Aquinas).

I have made a Bridge of my Word, of my only-begotten Son, and this is the truth. I have given you the Bridge of my Son, in order that, passing across the flood (of the tempestuous sea of this life), you may not be drowned. Look at the Bridge of my Son, and see the greatness thereof. The height of the Divinity, humbled to the earth, and joined with your humanity, made the Bridge in order that man might come to his true happiness with the angels…. The pilgrim, having passed the Bridge, arrives at the door which is part of the Bridge, at which all must enter, wherefore he says: “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life; he who follows me does not walk in darkness, but in light.” For those who cross by the Bridge, being still in the darkness of the body, find light, and being mortal, find immortal life, tasting, through love, the light of eternal truth which promises refreshment (St. Catherine of Siena).

Saint Augustine says that there is a mysterious place deep in the soul that is beyond time and this world, a part higher than that which gives life and movement to the body; true prayer so raises the heart that God can come into this innermost place, the most disinterested, intimate, and noble part of our being, the seat of our unity. It is His eternal dwelling-place, and into this grand and mysterious kingdom He pours the sweet delight of which I have spoken. Then is man no longer troubled by anything: he is recollected, quiet, and really himself, and becomes daily more detached, spiritualized, and contemplative, for God is within him, reigning and working in the depths of his soul. (Johannes Tauler)

Without the Way, there is no going, Without the Truth, there is no knowing, Without the Life, there is no living. (Thomas à Kempis)

He who glorified Christ, imparts Him thus glorified to us. If He could work miracles in the days of His flesh, how much more can He work miracles now? and if His visible miracles were full of power, how much more His miracles invisible. Let us beg of Him grace wherewith to enter into the depth of our privileges,—to enjoy what we possess,—to believe, to use, to improve, to glory in our present gifts as "members of Christ, children of God, and inheritors of the kingdom of heaven" (St. John Henry Newman).

This is what Jesus did for us: he reserved us a place in Heaven. He took our humanity upon himself to take it beyond death, to a new place, to Heaven, so that where he is, we might also be there. It is the certainty that consoles us: there is a reserved place for everyone. There's a place for me, too. Each of us can say: there is a place for me. We do not live aimlessly and without destination. We are expected, we are precious. God is in love with us, we are his children. And for us he has prepared the most worthy and beautiful place: Paradise. Let us not forget this: the dwelling place that awaits us is Paradise. Here we are passing through. We are made for Heaven, for eternal life, to live forever. Forever: it's something we can't even imagine now. But it is even more beautiful to think that this forever will be entirely in joy, in full communion with God and with others, without more tears, without resentments, without divisions and troubles. (Pope Francis)

Homily

Have you walked on water lately? Fed a crowd with a few loaves of bread and some fish? Healed the blind, the deaf, the paralyzed, the lame? Changed water into wine? Raised anyone from the dead? No works greater than those of Christ? Even though he said, Whoever believes in me will do the works that I do, and will do greater ones than these (G)?

Seems something’s amiss here. What works could possibly be greater than the ones Christ performed? Or is there a difference between his works and ours? Well, one theologian, Hans Urs von Balthasar, has suggested this verse from John’s gospel is indeed about something different: “This refers,” he says, “not to outstanding miracles, but to the fact there is reserved for the Church an effect on the world that Jesus himself did not wish to have. His task was action, failure, death.” (A Theology of History). But there's a caution. He adds, "[The Church's] leaven, which continues to ferment in society and presses for worldly power to be used in the service of justice and peace, is powerless in itself." (Theo-Drama V). In fact, he insists, whenever the Church “reaches out to take hold of power…the face of Satan glimmers in her” (Bernanos: An Ecclesial Existence).

So this is no Christian nationalist, with aims to dominate the political and social sphere in some theocratic fantasy. Like the one promoted by so-called "pastor" Douglas Wilson. He's a staunch backer of "biblical patriarchy," which among other things would deny women the vote, employ the death penalty for gay people, and which views slavery in America as resting “on firm scriptural ground” and “a relationship based upon mutual affection and confidence."

And would you be surprised to learn one of his followers is our very own self-styled "Secretary of War?" Who sports a tattoo on one of his biceps with the words, Deus vult, ("God wills it") — a phrase chanted in the Eleventh Century as the pope sent Christian soldiers onward to reclaim the Holy Land for Christendom. But their version of a "Christian" nation sounds very much like the Ayatollahs whose regime they were hoping to change, no?

That's why von Balthasar reminds us that the Church is never itself when it attempts to enforce spiritual matters by worldly means. Why? Because in such moments "the authentic spirituality of Jesus Christ" is abandoned: "who as a 'lamb' and not a tiger bore the sin of the world, who proclaimed the teachings of the Father on the pillory of the cross…who loved his neighbor in an attitude of service and at ground level, simply and without 'apostolic tactics' and essentially without regard for his own integrity, as a 'Samaritan across the enemy border.'" (Integralismus). By the way, he wrote those words in a devastating critique of Opus Dei — one place where nationalist drums still beat within the Catholic Church.

Now Church history bears all this out. Take Nero, during whose reign Peter and Paul were martyred. Yet his successor, Constantine, would build the original basilicas in Rome honoring the Galilean fisherman and the tentmaker from Tarsus – albeit centuries later. In the same city you can also visit the Church of St. Clement built over the Temple of Mithras; the Basilica of St. Mary Major built over the Shrine of Cybele; and the Pantheon built to honor “all the Roman gods” but now dedicated to “St. Mary and all Martyrs.”

Then there’s Napoleon, who coerced Pope Pius VII to come to Paris to crown him Emperor, only to take the crown from the pope’s hands and crown himself instead. Napoleon died in confinement on the island of Saint Helena while the same pope, returning from exile, would live to oversee the Restoration of the Papal States after the Emperor met his Waterloo. And then there’s the Ugandan King Mwanga II, who saw to the martyrdom of numerous Christian converts in the Nineteenth Century, including St. Charles Lwanga. He too is gone, while Africa is today the epicenter of the “next Christianity.”

Don't forget Adolf Hitler, who died in a Berlin bunker, while the churches of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Maximilian Kolbe, Edith Stein, Titus Brandsma, and other martyrs of the Third Reich survive. And surely, Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin would be shocked to learn how an Archbishop of Krakow, and later of Rome, would be instrumental in seeing the Soviet Union disbanded, the Berlin Wall come down, and the Orthodox Church rise again.

That's why Tertullian, in the year197, noted how, “The blood of martyrs is the seed of Christians.” Or as von Balthasar went on to note: “In failure and under persecution the Church will smash through all barriers erected against her.” (Razing the Bastions). In that sense, she is no different than her Lord: that is to say, rejected by human beings. And while one might note a certain advance of the Church over her enemies as time marches on, it’s only by imitation of her Lord, the stone that the builders rejected (II).

So as we try to discern where Providence is at work in our lives, where the “greater works” are unfolding among us and within us, it is easy to point to what we consider the apparent triumphs of our lives, our greatest successes, and proudest accomplishments. But it’s in those moments of apparent failure, loss of prestige, and humbling circumstances that God may be doing the greatest works. And like poor Thomas and Philip we might easily miss what’s right there in front of us! Namely, the Christ whose Way is not the world’s; whose Truth shatters human wisdom, and whose Life emerges from a tomb: Christ, the way, the truth and the life (G). Who lives and reigns, forever and ever. Amen.

(Cf. Julia Carrie Wong, "Pete Hegseth's holy war: the militant Christian theology animating the US attack on Iran"; The Guardian; April 10, 2026).

Intercessions (Joe Milner; The Sunday Website)

For the church: that we may live as God’s chosen people and follow Christ who is our Way, our Truth and our Life.

For those struggling to understand Christ: that the Spirit will lead them to recognize the works of God in their lives and the world around them as a sign of God's love and presence.

For all who serve the poor, widows, orphans and the forgotten of society: that God will renew their hearts and strengthen their spirits to continue to reach out to those in need.

For all burdened by worry and anxiety: that they may find in Christ hope, freedom, and peace.

For all who are struggling with addictions: that Christ may be their way to freedom and wholeness.

For all who work the earth: that they may use their skills wisely to feed the human family and that God will give them favorable weather and an abundant harvest

For all who are unemployed: that God will give them courage, help them to persevere as they wait, and help them find support from others.

We have beheld your glory, O God, in the face of Christ Jesus, your Son. Enliven our faith, that through Christ we may put our trust in you. Deepen our faith, that in Christ we may serve you. Complete our faith, that one day we may live with you in that place which Christ prepares for us, where he lives with you now and always in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God for ever and ever. Amen. (ICEL; 1998)

Offertory Chant

Offertory Hymn

Come, risen Lord, and deign to be our guest; nay, let us be thy guests; the feast is thine; thyself at thine own board make manifest in this our sacrament of bread and wine.

We meet as in the upper room they met; thou at thy table, blessing, yet dost stand: “This is my body”: so thou givest yet; faith still receives the cup as from thy hand.

One with each other, Lord, and one in thee, who art one Saviour and one living Head; then open thou our eyes that we may see; be known to us in breaking of the Bread.

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