Fifth Sunday after Easter

he Catholic Epistle of St. James the Apostle, i. 22-27.

Dearly Beloved: Be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only: deceiving your own selves. But if a man be a hearer of the word, and not a doer: he shall be compared to a man beholding his own countenance in a glass: for he beheld himself, and went his way, and presently forgot what manner of man he was. But he that hath looked into the perfect law of liberty, and hath continued therein, not becoming a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed. And if any man think himself to be religious, not bridling his tongue, but deceiving his own heart, this man's religion is vain. Religion clean and undefiled before God and the Father, is this: to visit the fatherless and widows in their tribulation: and to keep one's self unspotted from this world.

he Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ, According to St. John, xvi. 23-30.

At that time Jesus said to His disciples: Amen, amen I say to you: if you ask the Father anything in My name, He will give it you. Hitherto you have not asked anything in My name: ask, and you shall receive, that your joy may be full. These things I have spoken to you in proverbs. The hour cometh when I will no more speak to you in proverbs, but will show you plainly of the Father: in that day you shall ask in My name: and I say not to you, that I will ask the Father for you: for the Father Himself loveth you, because you have loved Me, and have believed that I came out from God. I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world: again I leave the world and I go to the Father. His disciples say to Him: Behold, now Thou speakest plainly, and speakest no proverb; now we know that Thou knowest all things, and Thou needest not that any man should ask Thee. By this we believe that Thou comest forth from God.

    Why does God wish us to pray to Him?
    To remind us: 1. That all good things come from Him, and that without Him we have nothing. 2. That we may confide in Him and try to make ourselves worthy of His divine grace, by thoughts pleasing to Him, and valuing more, and using better, the graces we receive.

    Why is our prayer often not heard?
    Because we often ask for something that would be more hurtful than profitable to us.

    When ought we to pray?
    At all times, but especially at, 1, morning, noon, and night; 2, in time of great temptation; 3, when receiving the sacraments; 4, when about to undertake anything important; 5, at the hour of death.

    Which is the best of all prayers?
    The Lord's Prayer; but though we say it a hundred times, it will fail to produce its beneficial effects if we repeat it thoughtlessly, without thinking of its meaning or purpose.