The disciples experienced a miraculous release from gaol. On  a daily basis I too always  have to remember that I have been released from the guilt of my sins. I have to remember that it was Christ who died . It was Christ who suffered torture. It was Christ who tasted his own blood running down from his crown of thorns. And this suffering was not for some idea of sinful mankind but for me the specific person whose sins I know too well.

Dear Lord, let me live without sin this day and let me grow in your love to sincerely hate the cause of your suffering, my sins and the sins of the whole world.

Nicodemus was greatly honoured to receive teaching directly from the mouth of Jesus. These words in John's gospel are the complete word of God illuminating his new covenant. It is a joyful message but at the same time it is severe for those who refuse to accept that  God's message is Jesus  and the Holy Spirit. If I don't believe that Jesus is the Son of God preaching a new witness of the Holy Spirit I am already condemned.

Dear Lord help thou my unbelief which is shown by my sinful  behaviour. Let me avoid all occasion of sin remembering that you are with us even to the end of time.

 There is a lot to be envied about the early Christians. Even if  they themselves were not aware of Jesus when he was walking around on his mission to Israel they knew plenty of people who had seen him and heard him teaching in the Temple. There were people with whom they wee rubbing shoulders who had even seen the risen Lord. Even their way of living was supported by the early church and all things were held in common. Our position today seems much more difficult. But for the individual alive at this moment the gift of faith is still there for the asking and the Lord is still  our saviour and our hope.

Dear Lord  let the example of your early disciples and Church inspire us to put all our trust in you the Way the Truth and the Life.

Nicodemus later helps with entombing the body of Jesus; probably at some personal risk to his standing in the community of the temple. Jesus' words to him must  have prompted reflection which resulted in his actions at the Crucifixion. He had disputed the idea of rebirth as it is impossible to return to the womb once born into the world.. We don't know how he reacted to the Resurrection but Jesus' words as written by John must have been to the forefront of his mind.

Dear Lord let your words even paraphrases of your knowledge become dear to me so that my actions may be a reflection, however remote, of your grace acting within me.

 The teaching of our Christian Church is that God created us to be free to chose God before all else. We are not constrained by any force to follow God but must freely chose to accept his love and return it. This is what it means to be human. Today's first reading at mass seems to show that the first Christians did not believe this as they see the events of history as predestined by the Will of the Father. How much does God's total knowledge of everything conflict with the idea of me being able to choose God; to say yes or no to Christ's call, through the Holy Spirit, to follow him to his "Father's  mansion"?

Dear God we cannot understand your ways; let this "unknowing" lead me to the glory and mercy that is your "all in all".

By the time John's Gospel was written the Church had begun to question herself about how to follow the  Christ who still had not returned. The gentiles would have been baffled by the intensity of the mission to know one God. The first Jewish Christians were aware of a special relationship with the one true God and confused by Jesus' "Go out and teach all nations". Baptism or Eucharist; what was the focus of the first cultic rites? What is sure is that they developed from the rites of the Temple. Christianity is a Jewish sect and shares with Jews in God's promises; his Covenant.

Dear Lord, let me respond to your loving kindness and continue in life without fear as you are with me always.

 The first community of Christians seem to have lived a perfect life by following the Sermon on the Mount in all its straight forward simplicity. Must we regret that this living in the Love of Christ did not last? By the time John is preparing his remembrances of the Lord and of His teaching, the disciples are no longer making their own society their own world, but the world is something for them to overcome and to be avoided in tune with Jesus "What does it profit a man if he gain the whole world but suffer the loss of his own eternal life" A life won for us by the crucifixion of God and guaranteed by his resurrection.

Dear Lord I have to accept that this World is what you have created for me and allowed it to continue, help me to reconcile it and its faults with the Grace you have given to your people who seem  unable to act in the way taught to your disciples. Lord send us holy priests.

 Jesus' resurrection  is real, so real that those witnessing it have no doubts that the wounded body that they see and touch is God. What would happen to me if this became my reality. What happened on the road to Damascus was the beginning for those who had not seen. The Church filled the empty places in the hearts of men but all the time it longed to recreate the days in Jerusalem with the Lord. There is no true happiness without Jesus. 

Let me truly believe without direct sight and welcome the blessing that is thus acquired. We must believe and acknowledge that Jesus died for us to be resurrected as our new life.

 The proclamation of God's Good News was entrusted to "uneducated laymen". The "temple" refused them but were believing to the extent that they knew the  cripple had been cured in "Jesus Name". The people praised God for allowing them to have witnessed such an event; the priests forbad the disciples to speak about Jesus, the Word of God. Priests of the temple were threatened when the reality of God appeared before them. Were they evil or did the humanity of their institution blind them to the true purpose of the temple.

Dear Lord may I, this day,  keep your presence before me in all that I do and know that sinful priests are not beyond the infinite extent of you mercy.

It is certainly true that more words have been written about the ending of today's gospel than were spoken by Jesus during his life on earth. Scholarship is a wonderful way of passing time during our lives on earth but it too has the ability to capture our souls in the way that more worldly pass-times can more obviously do. If we put ourselves in the place in our lives that truly belongs to God "I may have faith that will move mountains " but without love I will be more than chided by the Lord.

Dear Lord may I truly believe my thoughts and recognise the inspiration that is not mine ; but comes from you.

 Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit and able to withstand the aggressive questioning by the temple authorities. The curing of the cripple had been by Jesus' Name. The  "N. A. M. E." is not just  "J. E.S.U.S." but the Being of Jesus who is God. The now absolute faith Peter and the other disciples had in God who raised Jesus thus filling them with The Holy Spirit stayed with the Church in those early days and has been glimpsed again over the passing centuries. But what about today?

Dear Lord you are always with me and the world please let me not lose sight of the holiness that your mercy has brought to all of us.

We believe that Scripture is inspired by God and in the words so preserved he reveals Himself. By the shore His bread and fire show that the Resurrection is truly a body capable of feeling in the way our bodies are. The narrative used to emphasise the wonderment felt by the downhearted fishermen maybe gilding the lily; but the catching of only one fish in the sight of the Lord would have equally confirmed of the uniqueness of the times the disciples were witnessing. The risen Lord is still with us today.

Dear Lord let not the beauties of your world occupy us to such an extent that we lose sight of you. Let our pastors  (and us)turn off their TVs and use their time to study the things of heaven.

 When Peter preaches it is a partial answer to the question that can be asked about what  Jesus spent on did on earth. He was with us much more time  than recorded in the Gospels.. We know that he went back from the Temple and was "subject" to Mary and Joseph; but the following twenty years are a blank. The Gospels cover a three year period but even then much more time elapsed than reported therein. Peter was a fisherman but preaches as an authority on God's word. Jesus did teach. He was in truth "Rabbani".

Lord let me experience in full the effects of your teaching on earth. Let me strive to know you as the first disciples did and let my faith result in works outside of myself. 

Jesus resurrected is the same Jesus as known to the disciples but in a new mode of being. We cannot walk through walls; other forms and molecules get in the way. We can imagine a spiritual being being able to move about at will. Jesus calls this "a ghost"( if the translation is correct). He is flesh and bone and blood but in a mode completely beyond our experience and knowledge. The Resurrection is what gives meaning to our living; otherwise it would be hopeless. Without Christ our lives would still be God's creation but how would we be forgiven for our sins? God's creation is an act of Love and the Incarnation Crucifixion Resurrection, Jesus, is that Love in saving mercy.

Lord let the devotion I feel at this moment stay in my soul by avoiding sin and occasion of sin throughout this day. Let me truly know you.