First Reading: Acts 8:5-8, 14-17
Psalm 66
Second Reading: Peter 3:15-18
Gospel: John 14:15-21

In the first reading, we continue to read about the spread of the Good News in the area of Samaria and the beginning of the sacrament of Confirmation. After some converts were baptized, they needed the apostles to lay hands on them to receive the Holy Spirit. This was a good sign from God that the Church was growing. It shows us the power of the Good News of the Gospel even before it was written down.

In the second reading, we have a letter written by the first Pope, St Peter, telling the first Christians they were called to share in the suffering of Christ. This is before the persecutions that made many of the first Christians saints. We have not been called to die for our faith but we are called to witness it to the word.

Finally, in the Gospel Jesus calls us to keep his commandments in order to stay connected with Him. He is not leaving us orphans but through the church and the sacraments He will be with us forever.  The commandments of Love of God and of our neighbor will keep us connected to Jesus and God the Father and the Holy Spirit. We are in need of the Love of the Trinity during these troubled times. Know the God is with us through this all.
God Bless you.
Fr. Tom