Today we celebrate the Feast of Pentecost.  Both the Jews and the Christians celebrate Pentecost.  Along with the Feast of the Passover and the Feast of Tabernacles, Pentecost was one of the major feasts of the Jews.  During these three great Jewish festivals, every male Jew living within twenty miles of Jerusalem was legally bound to go to Jerusalem to participate in the feast.  

For Christians, Pentecost marks the end and the goal of the Easter season.  It is a memorial of the day the Holy Spirit descended upon the apostles and the Virgin Mary in the form of fiery tongues, an event that took place fifty days after the Resurrection of Jesus.  The Paschal Mystery — the Passion, the Death, the Resurrection, and the Ascension of Jesus — culminates in the sending of the Holy Spirit by the Father (at the request of His Son), on Jesus’ disciples. The feast also commemorates the official inauguration of the Christian Church through the apostolic preaching of St. Peter, which resulted in the conversion of 3000 Jews to the Christian Faith.  Pentecost is, thus, the official birthday of the Church. 

Today’s Scripture readings remind us that Pentecost is an event of both the past and the present. The selection from the Acts of the Apostles for today describes in detail the miraculous transformation that took place during the first Pentecost, thus fulfilling Jesus’ promise to his apostles that they would receive “Power from on high.”   There was first “a noise like a strong driving wind.”  Then there were “tongues as of fire” resting on the disciples, and each of them was filled with the Holy Spirit.  

The first manifestation of their reception of the Holy Spirit came immediately, as the formerly timid, frightened apostles burst out of doors and began to proclaim the Good News of Jesus! Then, everyone there (regardless of their many different native languages), was able to understand the Apostles’ proclamation of the Good News of the salvation of mankind, “in his own tongue.”  The Jews in the crowds came from sixteen different geographical regions. The miracle of tongues on Pentecost thus reverses the confusion of tongues wrought by God at the Tower of Babel, as described in Genesis 11.  

Later, the Acts of the Apostles describes how the Holy Spirit empowered the early Christians to bear witness to Christ by their sharing love and strong Faith.  This “anointing by the Holy Spirit” also strengthened the early Christian martyrs during the period of brutal persecution that followed, as it has done through the centuries and as it does today for the thousands of Christians presently under attack for their Faith who hold fast to it, drawing on the Power of the Holy Spirit 

as they live and as they die.

In the second reading St. Paul explains how the sharing of the various spiritual gifts of the Holy Spirit enriches the Church.  He refers to the varieties of gifts given to the Church as coming from the same Spirit Who activates all of them in Christians for the common good.  They are described as the gifts, fruits, and charisms of the Spirit.  They may take different forms like prophecy, teaching, administration, acts of charity, healing, and speaking 

in tongues; they may be granted to and reside in 

different persons like apostles, prophets, teachers, healers, and so on.

Today’s Gospel relates how the Risen Jesus gave his apostles a foretaste of Pentecost on the evening of Easter Sunday by appearing to them, sending them to carry on the mission given to Jesus by his Heavenly Father, then empowering them to do so by breathing upon them and saying, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” On the day of Pentecost, Jesus fulfilled his promise to send the Advocate or Paraclete. The gift of the Spirit would enable the Apostles to fulfill Jesus’ commission to preach the Gospel to all nations.

We need to permit the Holy Spirit to direct our lives:  a) by constantly remembering and appreciating His Holy Presence within us, especially in the Sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation;  b) by fortifying ourselves with the help of the Holy Spirit against all types of temptations;  c) by seeking the assistance of the Holy Spirit in our thoughts, words, and deeds, and in the breaking of our evil habits, substituting for them habits of Goodness and Love;  d) by listening to the voice of the Holy Spirit speaking to us through the Bible and through the good counsel of others; e) by fervently praying for the gifts, fruits, and charisms of the Holy Spirit; f) by renewing our lives through the anointing of the Holy Spirit; and g) by living our lives in the Holy Spirit as lives of commitment, of sacrifice, and of joy.  We are called to love as Jesus loved, not counting the cost. As Saint Paul exhorts us, “Walk by the Spirit, and do not gratify the desires of the flesh.  If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit” (Gal 5:16, 25).

Jesus was crucified on Passover. These two dates don’t always coincide due to the fact that Jewish celebrations were based on a lunar calendar. Even now, Easter is connected to the Spring equinox and the moon. Easter is the First Sunday after the first full moon after the Spring Equinox. 

Jesus’ resurrection is on the first day of the week following Passover. For forty days, Jesus is seen by those whom He wishes to appear to and then ascends to the Father, body and soul. Forty days? The Jewish number of purification. Jesus is on earth for forty days to “purify the Church”.  

In the Upper Room (the Last Supper’s space), are gathered 120 followers. They are very scared. So they pray and they pray hard. How long? Nine Days. The first novena of the Church. Then on the next day, we come to day fifty. On this day, the Jews celebrated the giving of the law (Shavuot).  According to Levitical law, this was one of the days everyone should return to the Temple, if they could. So people from many countries were present. 

Old Testament connection?  Dedication of the First Temple, (Solomon’s Temple) had an offering on the altar and a ball of fire consumes the offering leaving nothing but the offering. There were 120 priests present proclaiming the event with trumpets. Jesus has refined the law, completed the message and the 120 people in the Upper Room receive refined tongues of fire. 

The Greek word for fifty days is Pentecost. On this day, the Holy Spirit descends in tongues of fire to the 120 in the Upper Room and they receive the gifts of the Spirit. They are no longer afraid but throw open the doors and preach the Great Commission of Jesus to “go out to all the world and preach the Good News”.  

 “ I remind you to stir into flame the gift of God* that you have through the imposition of my hands. For God did not give us a spirit of cowardice but rather of power and love and self-control.8So do not be ashamed of your testimony to our Lord, nor of me, a prisoner for his sake; but bear your share of hardship for the gospel with the strength that comes from God.” [2Tim.1:6-8]

Recall what those 120 people did after their confirmation. Those of us who are confirmed, what are we doing? There are souls at stake. 

Jesus’ descent into the realm of flesh, into the world, is the bringing together of Heaven and Earth. Jesus makes a marriage of human and divine, a connection of the Kingdom of God existing now; with us connection; “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done. 

Then, Jesus ascends to the Father. Into another place. Not another place in the world, or in space; not even in time. To the Father, where time is a human construct. To the Father where “every tear” is wiped away. We call it Heaven.  Jesus’ ascension is the realization of hope for us. There is something else beyond this life and since Jesus’ body and spirit ascended, Heaven is not some ethereal idea, but an actual, physical place.  His “humanness” goes up with Him; the body is not shrugged off and left behind which confirms the promise of our physical reality in Heaven

The Temple” of Jesus…… His body, goes with His Spirit.  “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.” (John 2:19) Then, He is in Heaven………. St. John tells us about Heaven: “… I saw a new heaven and a new earth. I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God almighty and the Lamb.23* The city had no need of sun or moon to shine on it. for the glory of God gave it light, and its lamp was the Lamb.24The nations will walk by its light,*and Jesus is the temple. (Rev. 21:21-24). 

Made in the image and likeness of God, our bodies are also Temples in which God dwells and we hold the Eucharist and carry Jesus into the world,  

In the Jewish Temple, there was a veil separating the people form the Holy of Holies:  containing the Ark. Only the High Priest could enter past the veil into the “Presence of God”. And then only on a specific day; Yom Kipper.  On his day, a goat is selected and hands are lain upon the goat to transfer the sins of the people. A red ribbon is tied to the horn of the goat and to the door of the Temple. The goat is driven out into the desert: the “scape goat”. When the goat dies, the ribbon on the door of the Temple turns white. Isiah tells us in 1;18, “Though your sins are as scarlet, they shall become as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, they shall be like wool. “The priest intercedes for the Israelites to God.”

 The veil is literally torn in two with the death of Jesus symbolizing the reality that now everyone has access to God. Everyone has access to Heaven; to enter the gates. And on the Last Day, our fleshy “Temples” will arise and go to the Father. The temple is the place of Holocaust; offering of animals; lambs to God. St. John the Baptist tells that Jesus is the “Lamb of God”. Jesus is sacrificed. He ascends to the Father into the tabernacle not made of human hands where he constantly intercedes for us. We can unite our sufferings and pleas to Christ. At the Mass we always offer our personal intentions which Jesus offers to the Father as He intercedes for us. 

We celebrate the Ascension of the Lord Jesus into his Heavenly glory after promising the Holy Spirit as the source of Heavenly power for his disciples and commanding them to bear witness to him by their lives and preaching throughout the world.  What is celebrated is Jesus’ exaltation and the end of his earthly existence as a prelude to the gift of the Spirit.  The ascended Jesus is still with us because of his promise, “I am with you always; yes, to the end of time.”  He is with us at all times and in all places, releasing a new energy upon the earth, the energy of the Holy Spirit to preach his Good News of salvation by bearing witness to him.  Hence, today’s feast is the celebration of Jesus’ glory after his suffering and death – the glory in which we also hope to share.  The Ascension and Pentecost, together, mark the beginning of the Church.  The feast of the Ascension tells us that the Church must be a community in mission, guided by God’s Spirit and confident of God’s protection even amid suffering and death.

The first reading gives an account of the event of the Ascension as recorded in the first chapter of the Acts of the Apostles. First, Jesus instructed his apostles to remain in Jerusalem and wait for the baptism by the Holy Spirit so that they might become his “witnesses to the ends of the earth” by the power of the Holy Spirit. Then a cloud took Jesus from the sight of the disciples and two Heavenly messengers in white garments gave them the assurance of Jesus’ “second coming” or return in glory. The Refrain for today’s Responsorial Psalm (Ps 47) suggests that by his Ascension, the risen Lord “mounts his throne” in glory. 

In the second reading, Paul explains the theological meaning of Jesus’ exaltation, giving us the assurance that one day, we, too, will be ascending to Heavenly Glory, provided we fulfill the mission entrusted to us by the ascending Lord. Today’s Gospel describes how Jesus ascended to Heaven after giving his final blessing and missionary command to his disciples. The command was to “proclaim the Good News to the whole creation,” “to be his witnesses,” and “to make disciples of all nations.” (Mt 28:16-20, Mk 16:15-20, Lk 24:46-53, Acts 1:1-11).

1) We need to be proclaimers and evangelizers: In the Gospel, Jesus gives his mission to all believers: “Go out to the whole world and proclaim the Gospel to every creature.” This mission is not given to a select few but to all believers. To be a Christian is to be a proclaimer and an evangelizer. There is a difference between preaching and proclaiming. “We preach with words but we proclaim with our lives.” As we celebrate the Lord’s return to His Father in Heaven – His Ascension — we are being commissioned to go forth and proclaim the Gospel of life, love, hope, and peace, by the witness of our lives. On this day of hope, encouragement and commissioning, let us renew our commitment to be true disciples everywhere we go, beginning with our family and our parish, “living in a manner worthy of the call [we] have received.” 

2) We have a teaching mission:  Jesus gave us lessons in Faith, Hope, Love, forgiveness, mercy, and Redemption.  We cannot put these lessons on a shelf and ignore them.  They stand before us in the person of Jesus.  Although no longer visibly present in the world, He is present in his words. We must make his words real in our lives and in the lives of others. Christianity was meant to be a Faith in which Jesus’ followers would help and care for others, just as Jesus had done. But the spreading of the Good News to all nations is not a goal that can be attained by human might and craft.  This is why Jesus promises to empower his messengers with His abiding presence and that of the Holy Spirit.  We must learn to be humble and let the Holy Spirit lead the way.

3) The ascended Jesus is our source of strength and encouragement: Perhaps some of the nagging doubts, which inevitably accompany the journey of Faith, could be lessened by our meditating on the Ascension and its implications. When we are too far from Faith to pray on our own, let us remember that we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the Righteous, praying for us. When the trials of life feel too heavy to bear, we must remember that Christ will come again in glory, the same glory in which He arose from the tomb, the same glory in which He ascended, and the same glory in which He currently abides. Though our limited perception might find Jesus absent, our Lord is fully present, participating in every moment of our lives. By His Ascension, Christ has not deserted us but has made it possible for the Holy Spirit to enter all times and places. In this way it is possible for each of us to be transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit into agents or instruments of Christ. We are enlivened, and our actions become animated in a new way by Holy Spirit as we serve the God we love. Each of us, particularly, each ministerial priest, has become “another Christ” (alter Christus) in the world.

The growth of the Church started with one Man, then 12, then thousands.  The Church spread to the Jews, the Gentiles, out from Jerusalem, to Rome and other lands and peoples. 

There were many who were scared and frightened by the new Church, they persecuted the messengers. But despite persecution, the Church took hold, grew and expanded; eventually to every corner of the globe. Why was the message of Christ so successful?  The tools of humanity had always been power, domination, violence and intimidation. The biggest bully wins and controls. 

Power can be overt as when the Egyptians held Israel in slavery, the Assyrians, Babylonians, and in our memory, the Civil War, World War I, II, Korea Vietnam, Iraq, etc…  By the world’s standards, control is brought about by conflict and aggression; “might makes right.”  But the control is always temporary. The Civil War grows into a great oppression of the South by Robber Barons and Carpet Baggers. WWI grows into WWII.  WWII grows into the Cold War. Korea grows into a tenuous stalemate separation of the country. Rights, benefits and glory belong to the victors; the common people seem to just be in the way.

Jesus proclaims a new way.  A world governed by love.  Love your neighbor, love even your enemy. This flip in philosophy makes everyone important; not just the powerful. Every human should be loved and respected. Every person has the dignity of being made in the image and likeness of God even our enemies. But the most lasting changes are brought about by love, agreement between people, focusing on the dignity of the individual.  King, Gandhi, Mandela, Jesus.  

And here’s the thing that I think makes Christianity most appealing; Jesus is inclusive.  Everyone can jump on board: Today’s reading:  Only circumcised members?  No, all the Gentiles without restriction. When we see someone that’s different? Love them.  Other faiths, Moslem, Hindu, atheist, agnostic, rich, poor homeless, gay……love them. Now, I’m not saying that everyone is right; everyone is good; but that’s not my job.  My job; our job is to love them! We can see the Church in two ways:  Everyone has to be like me to join, just like in the first reading some believed that to follow Jesus, you had to adhere to the Jewish practices or you couldn’t belong, or the second way; all of us are sinners and all of us are seeking the good. His love; his forgiveness. 

But in this modern world, but how do we spread the word of Jesus? Live the Gospel constantly, speak when it’s necessary. Offer answers to questions, or if you don’t know the answer, get the answer to teach others and yourself. But let’s take a different look at living the Gospel out in our lives.

How do you become the most influential person in your class, your school, your place of business? Four words: do the right thing. All of us have or will be placed in a situation where others are doing the wrong thing and you have to make the decision to go along or not.

I encourage you to plant your feet and do the right thing. Primary, High School, college, life; all will bring their tests to you. By not going along with the group, you will talk some flack: “momma’s boy”, “scardy cat”, sissy”.  But soon, very soon, someone from the group who made the wrong decision will circle back to you and ask your opinion about something. Why? Because they know you are right and they want to be right to. 

Eventually, everyone will come to your side or leave. You will inherit the air of authority. You will be the one others turn to for advice You will become the most influential person because you are right and stand up for what is right. You will be the start of loving God, others and making disciples for many others. 

Today’s readings show us the effects of the abiding presence of God in His Church and of His indwelling in each one of us. The first reading, taken from the Acts of the Apostles, tells us how the Holy Spirit, dwelling in the Church, helped the apostles to solve a major doctrinal problem, which shook the very foundation of the early Church. The Responsorial Psalm (Ps 67) prays that all the nations on the earth, not just Israel, may recognize their God and praise Him. The second reading, taken from the Book of Revelation describes the Church as the Heavenly Jerusalem, a city united in love, with the victorious Jesus, residing in it and in each of its members, replacing the Holy Presence of God in the Holy of Holies of the Temple in Jerusalem. 

The Gospel passage reminds us that the Holy Spirit abiding within us is our teacher and the Source of all peace.  The passage offers a vision of Hope.  Jesus promises his followers that the Holy Spirit will come and instruct them in everything they need to know. John (Chapter 14) continues to recount Jesus’ farewell discourse after the Last Supper.  Today’s Gospel passage explains the doctrine of the indwelling of the Holy Trinity in the human soul, and the role of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

The promise of God’s abiding presence must have been of great comfort to John’s community who knew that the Temple in Jerusalem — the symbol of God’s presence with His people — had been destroyed by the Roman army.  In today’s Gospel passage, Jesus tells us that the one thing in life which we can always trust is God’s presence. God inhabits our hearts so deeply and intimately that we become the visible dwelling place of God.  His living and life-affirming Presence is always with us, yet “hidden” in the very things we so often take for granted.  Thus, we are invited to look for and encounter — “God-with-us,” yet “hidden” — in the person sitting next to us, in the words we speak, and in the songs, we sing at worship.

The role of the Holy Spirit is twofold: a) to “teach” the disciples and b) to “remind” them of what Jesus has already taught them” (v. 26).  Jesus affirms that even though He will no longer be visibly with them, he will continue to be present among them through the Holy Spirit.  The Spirit of Truth will continue teaching them and helping them to understand and to build on what Jesus has already taught them.  The Advocate will bring no new revelation because God has already revealed Himself in Jesus.  But the Advocate will deepen their understanding of the revelation given by Jesus.

1) Let us be aware of the abiding presence of God within us: We live in the New Covenant of Jesus, daily facing uncertainty, conflict, and temptations.  It is the abiding presence of God within us that enables us to face the future with undying Hope and true Christian courage.  The Holy Spirit, sent upon the Church by the Father at the request of the risen Lord, prompts us to turn to His Holy Scriptures for support and encouragement, enables us to learn the Divine truths, and grants us His peace at all times.  However, to be able to receive these gifts, it is necessary for us to spend a little time each day in personal prayer, talking to God and listening to Him.  We must deepen our relationship with Jesus, learn to get in touch with him, and sincerely love him.  When we listen to the Holy Spirit, we will   know His plan for our life and His solutions for whatever problems we face.  We will be able to love our fellow human beings, and there will be a core of peace within us.  The Holy Spirit teaches us through the Scriptures and preaching during the Holy Mass as well as in our prayer and our private reading of Scripture. Jesus loves us and comes to us in Communion.   When the Mass is ended, we go forth in the peace of Christ – and all this takes place under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

2) We are not alone:  One of the great social and ethical problems of our time is isolation.   Today approximately 25% of all adults live alone.   Spouses, parents, and children often live as virtual strangers to one another.   This is unfortunate because we never need to be alone.   Jesus can always be present to us.   He shares with us his joy and replaces the burden of our guilt with the freedom of forgiveness.  He takes our grief and turns it into joy.  We need only allow Jesus into our lives to be rid of this loneliness.   Oneness with Jesus is the greatest gift we can give our children, our friends, or those who see no purpose in life.   We can help to bring people to unity with Jesus, a unity that will change their lives. As we celebrate this Eucharistic meal, our Mass, let us celebrate in a special way the price Jesus paid for our redemption.   May this Eucharistic celebration empower us to lead a true Life in the Spirit.

If we love one another, God’s love is perfected in us.  Catherine of Sienna a Catholic mystic form the late 14th Century, wrote The Dialogue. This is an account of a communication between herself and Jesus.  In part 64, she writes: 

 “I ask you to love me with the same love with which I love you. But for me you cannot do this, for I loved you without being loved. Whatever love you have for me you owe me, so you love me not gratuitously but out of duty, while I love you not out of duty but gratuitously. So you cannot give me the kind of love I ask of you. This is why I have put you among your neighbors: so that you can do for them what you cannot do for me-that is, love them without any concern for thanks and without looking for any profit for yourself.  And whatever you do for them I will consider done for me.”

Of course, we thing we should love God first, but the most perfect love is not love out of duty, but love gratuitously. Jesus (God) has given us everything so we owe Him everything. You need to love those without duty but with gratuity. St. Thomas’s definition is willing the good of the other just because they exist. When we love someone without expecting anything in return, that is perfected love. We cannot love God as He loves us because God is love and He loves us even when we didn’t love Him. Nothing can stop God from loving us. We humans are subject to a human condition. 

We can’t like everyone, but we can love everyone. It beyond liking, friendship or tit for tat. We love the other, even our enemies without expecting anything in return and this is the perfection of our love. 

Like is the invitation to dinner, a party, a weekend away with friends.  Jesus describes love for us Mt. 25: 37-40 “Then the righteous* will answer him and say, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? When did we see you ill or in prison, and visit you?’ And the king will say to them in reply, ‘Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.’

Today’s readings are about new things: the New Jerusalem, a new Heaven and a new earth, with a new commandment. In the reading taken from the Book of Revelation, God tells us that His saving and healing work in the world is ongoing: “See, I am making all things new” (Rv 21:5a).  

The first reading, taken from the Acts of the Apostles, describes how the small Christian communities helped the work of renewal in their members by their agápe love, imitating the agápe love of Paul and Barnabas. The Responsorial Psalm (Ps 145) prays that “Your faithful ones” may “make known Your might to the children of Adam,” not just to Israel. The second reading, taken from Revelation, explains how God renews His Church by being present in her members, in their parish communities, and in their liturgical celebrations. 

Today’s Gospel passage gives us the secret of Christian renewal as the faithful practice of Jesus’ new commandment: “Love one another as I have loved you” (Jn 13:35). Jesus has added a new element to the Old Testament command of love by telling us that the true test of discipleship is to love other people in the same way that he has loved us. Hence, the renewal of Christian life means a radical change of vision and a reordering of our priorities in life. Such a renewal brings us to embrace new attitudes, new values, and new standards of relating to God, to other people and, indeed, to our whole environment. For most of us, “renewal” is something that comes at different stages in our lives, each time bringing us to a deeper understanding, insight, and commitment.

1) Let us learn to love ourselves so that we may learn to love each other.   The old Commandment says: “You shall love your neighbor as you love yourself” (Lv 19:1-2, 9-18). How do we learn to cherish others and care for them if we have never learned to do the same for ourselves?  We live in a culture that devalues life and worships death—a culture in which people drug themselves into oblivion. Women and girls are willing to starve themselves to fit some unrealistic media image of beauty and worth.  People and relationships are sacrificed on the altar of “workaholism.”  How are we to love ourselves when we are told over and over again that we are unlovable?  How do we reclaim our basic worth?   We can become whole and holy only when we learn to love ourselves properly, acknowledging the loving presence of the Triune God in our souls, making our bodies the “temple of the Holy Spirit.” Only when we are fully convinced that we are lovable because God has loved us first -- from all Eternity -- has brought us into being here and now, is guiding us, is drawing us to Himself, and will never cease to love us, can we love Him back. Only then can we love others as He has loved and reach out, comfortably, to love unconditionally those who, themselves, cannot love but can only hurt and hate and destroy. It is through constant love-centered interaction with God and each other that the “new earth, the new Heaven and the new Jerusalem” can begin to come into existence.

2) Let us love others in our daily lives: We are asked to love as Jesus loved, in the ordinary course of our lives.  This means that we should love others by allowing ourselves to be moved with pity for them. We love others by responding to their everyday needs. We can show love by materially sharing with those who have less. We love others by comforting and protecting those who have experienced loss.  We love others by serving others in every possible way, no matter how small.  We love others by forgiving rather than condemning, by challenging rather than condoning.  We love others by responding to the call of God in our lives and by walking in the footsteps of Jesus.  We love others by making sacrifices for them. This is how the world will know that we are the Disciples of Christ.

3) Let us demonstrate our love for others: When we are assembled and have guests, we have an opportunity to demonstrate our love for one another. They must see Christians as people who are glad to see one another, who are willing to take the time to visit with each other and who know each other’s names. Our assemblies may be the only time some guests have the opportunity to see Christians interact with love and concern for one another, an interaction that reveals the strong love and appreciation for one another which the members have. Christians will often sin against one another and offend one another. But others should see in us a quickness to forgive, even as Christ has forgiven us.  “This is how all will know that you are my disciples …”

Jesus is the Good Shepherd. He lays down His life for His Sheep. Imagine sheep without a shepherd, without protection. They wander away and are picked off by wild animals. In a group, they are strong; separate, they are defenseless. We, in this community are gathered into a flock; a family led by Christ the Good Shepherd. We belong to an even larger flock; the universal Church. But many of us worry about those who have left the flock; our community and the Church. Are they left out?  No. Jesus tell us that,” I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. These also I must lead, and they will hear my voice, and there will be one flock, one shepherd.”

Most of us have a family member who has left the Church, left the flock. There are many reasons why someone would leave the Church, but surprisingly, the largest percentage of those leaving (71%) noted that they didn’t have a particular reason, they just drifted away. 

There are also several myths as to why people leave the Church, the biggest being that it’s the parent’s fault. We all develop into a sense of self determination and free will. It is usually never a parent’s fault. However, keep in mind that what you hold important, your child will see as important also. So if they do leave the Church, what can we do?                                                                                             

Well there are five ways that will guarantee that they will not come back.1. Don’t force them to go to Mass. Now, I’m not talking about young children, but late teens and college age. You will only frustrate the situation. For Catholics, the Mass is the final point of return. If someone doesn’t know the front end of the Church, the Mass can become useless. That’s why we try to keep our young learning past just First Communion and Confirmation.  The Mass was never intended to convert. Its primary focus is to worship God and provide us with sanctifying grace to be Christ in the world. 2. Don’t criticize their lifestyle. That is, don’t lead with moral correction; waging a finger about how they are doing the wrong thing. Focus on the heart’s sickness rather than the symptoms. Be open to how they see things, listening without moral correction.3. Don’t nag. 4. Do not dismiss their objections. Listen with an open mind. There may be some validity there. If you refuse to see their side, you’re telling them they are not adult or smart enough to know what they need. 5. Do not assume you can change your adult child. However, live your faith joyously. Success breeds success. Is what you have in your faith what they would want? 

So what can we do? 1. Do the front end work of prayer, fasting and sacrificing for your child. Get others to pray for your child. These are powerful tools that all of us tend to overlook. They are powerful and extremely important. 2. Equip yourself. Do you know your faith? Do you know why you are a Catholic? Do you know your story? Why does the Church mean more to you than to them? Familiarize yourself with answers to the big questions. 3. Plant seeds. Drop off a good book, send a link to a good YouTube video. Put a crucifix in their luggage while always sharing unconditional love with your child no matter what their decisions are. Take an interest in your child’s hobbies. The door is always open, there is always a place at the table, your child is always welcome and loved despite their disagreements with you. 4. Start a conversation. Ask them if they are happy. That’s what we’re all looking for anyway. Ask them what their objections are to the Church, but don’t criticize. You have to find out what they don’t like to address the situation. Conversation can lead to many good outcomes. Don’t start with faith. Remember the thresholds of faith starts with trust. Let them know they can talk about anything and not be ridiculed. It may be as simple as just asking are they happy with the decisions they have made? Invite and connect but when you get to an impasse, be big enough to acknowledge it’s time to take a break. Don’t argue. 

Keep communication going, identify the issue, share, discuss, but above all love. Never give up. God loves your child more than you could ever love them. Even if they have left the Church, that doesn’t necessarily mean they have left God. They have a Shepherd just like you do Who calls us back. Holding us carefully close to His heart; leading us home. 

The Fourth Sunday of Easter, known as Good Shepherd Sunday, is also the “World Day of Prayer for Vocations.” Each year on this Sunday, we reflect on the image of Jesus as the Good Shepherd, devotedly and kindly taking care of his flock. This year we have special reason to celebrate and thank the Good Shepherd because we have received a new shepherd in Pope Leo IV. The title “Pastor” means shepherd. A shepherd leads, feeds, nurtures, comforts, corrects, and protects his flock—responsibilities that belong to all Church leaders, parents, civil leaders, and all who are in charge of others.

Today we also thank our mothers, pray for them, and honor them by celebrating Mother’s Day, offering our mothers on the altar of God, and praying for them. This is a day to admit gratefully the fact that none of us can return, in the same measure, all the love that our mothers have given us. Our mothers are the good shepherds we all experienced. They gave us life, nursed us, fed us, taught us, disciplined us and showed Christ’s self-sacrificing agape love for us, their children, practicing Christ’s commandment of love: “Love others as I have loved you.” Let us remember that we have two mothers, one earthly and one Heavenly. Hence, let us entrust our earthly mothers to our Heavenly Mother, Mary, the mother of Jesus, his last gift to us as he was dying on the cross.

Today’s first reading describes how Paul and Barnabas opted to listen to the voice of Jesus, the Good Shepherd and follow him, and so, to suffer as their Master had done, being rebuffed and rejected by many when they tried to share the good news of salvation. The reading also suggests that the sympathy of the early Christians for the Gentiles occasioned a rupture between those following Jesus and Judaism. The second reading, taken from the Book of Revelation, depicts Jesus as both the glorified Lamb (slain but still standing) and the Shepherd. John’s vision encourages his readers with the assurance that every person who has ever followed Christ and led others to him will share everlasting life with him. The Gospel text offers us both comfort and a great challenge. The comforting message is that no one can snatch the sheep out of his Father’s hands. The challenge is that pastors should be good shepherds to those entrusted to their care, while their flock of lay people should respond by being good sheep.

In the Old Testament, the image of the Shepherd is often applied to God as well as to the leaders of the people. The book of Exodus represents Yahweh several times as a Shepherd. The prophets Isaiah and Ezekiel compare Yahweh’s ongoing care of His people to care a shepherd exercises for his flock. Ezekiel represents God as a loving Shepherd who searches diligently for the lost sheep. Psalm 23 is David’s famous picture of God as The Good Shepherd: “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.” 

In the New Testament Jesus introduces himself as the Good Shepherd of his flock and makes three claims in today’s Gospel. 1) He knows his sheep and his sheep hear his voice: 2) He gives eternal life to us, his sheep by giving us Faith in him through Baptism, and then by strengthening that Faith through Confirmation, through nourishing our souls with the Holy Eucharist and the Holy Bible, and by making our society holy through the Sacraments of Matrimony and the priesthood (Holy Orders). 3) He protects his sheep by placing them in the loving hands of his Almighty Father. St. John’s Gospel adds two more claims: 4) He goes in search of stray lambs and heals the sick ones (through the Sacraments of Reconciliation and Anointing of the sick). 5) Jesus died for us, his sheep, to free us from our sins, giving us Life.

Let us become good shepherds and good sheep, good leaders and good followers. 

(1) Let us become good shepherds: Everyone who is entrusted with the care of others is a shepherd. Hence, pastors, parents, teachers, doctors, nurses, government officials, etc. are all shepherds. We become good shepherds by loving those entrusted to us, praying for them, spending our time and talents for their welfare, and guarding them from physical and spiritual dangers. 

(2) Let us be good sheep in the fold of Jesus, the Good Shepherd: Our local parish is our sheepfold, and our pastors are our shepherds. Hence, as the good sheep of the parish, parishioners are expected to a) hear and follow the voice of their shepherds through their homilies, Bible classes, counseling, and advice; b) receive the spiritual food their pastors provide by regular participation in the Holy Mass, by frequenting the Sacraments, and by attending prayer services, renewal programs, and missions; c) cooperate with their pastors by giving them positive suggestions for the welfare of the parish, by encouraging them in their duties, by lovingly offering them constructive criticism when they are found failing in their duties, by praying for them always, forgiving them at need; and d) by cooperating in the activities of the various councils, ministries, and parish associations. 

(3) Let us pray for vocations to priestly and religious life so that we may have more good shepherds to lead, feed, and protect the Catholic community.

Simon Peter, Thomas called Didymus, Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, Zebedee's sons, and two others of his disciples; 7 in all. 7 is the number of completeness. Creation took six days and on the seventh, everything is finished and God rests. Peter, who speaks for the group says, "let's go fishing". How many go fishing? Seven. The seven, in their completeness represents everyone; everyone is called to go "fishing". That is the task of the Church and of all of us; to go fishing for souls to come into the completeness of salvation offered to each one of us.

Now, the 7 got into the "boat". Any time you see the Apostles in a boat, the scene refers to the Church. All of them are "in the boat". The part of the church where you sit is called the Nave, (Lt. navis), boat. All of us are "in the boat" of the Church. When we get out of the "boat" we drown, sink. When we miss Mass intentionally, we suffer from our absence. At Mass, we are present for each other and for Christ.

They fish all night and catch nothing. Night time is the dark. We are all in the dark until Christ, the Light of the world enters in. Judas betrays Jesus, and it is night. Nicodemus meets with Jesus in the dark to relate his ignorance of heavenly things as Jesus explains them to him. When we are away from the Light of the World, Jesus, we are in the dark. When we "fish for souls" in the dark, away for Jesus, we will be unsuccessful.

Jesus appears on the shore. It is dawn, the sun is coming up. The Light of the World is present. "Children, have you caught anything?" No, not in the dark, not without Jesus. Cast your nets to the right side. And they catch so many fish it's difficult to haul them in. With our work focused on Jesus, we "fish" in the light and on the right side, in the right way, and we will be successful.

St. John, known as the Apostle whom Jesus loved recognizes Jesus. In his love, John recognizes Jesus. Hatred and anger keeps us away; love brings us together. "It is the Lord"! Peter puts on clothes and jumps into the water. Peter, who denied Jesus three times represents us, the sinners. In his fishing, Peter was lightly clad but to approach the Lord, he puts on clothes. Remember the first man, Adam. Naked before God.

Unashamed to be in God's presence because he was sinless; without guilt. Adam, covers himself before God to hide his shame; his sin.

The other apostles come ashore and Jesus gathers them all around a fire. Remember Peter stood around a fire as he denied Jesus. Peter denied Jesus three times around a fire and now Jesus asks him ifhe loves Him three times. Three denials; three confirmations oflove. I'm sure Peter's heart was on fire with the presence of Jesus, as Peter's cowardice of denial is wiped away.

"Give me some of your fish." They eat and are fed by Jesus. The Eucharist feeds us to strengthen us to fish. To do the work of the Church. Our end is to be happy with Jesus in the Heavenly banquet which John describes in the Book of Revelation. By eating the a forbidden meal, we fell into sin, by eating Christ, we are saved. St. John describes Heaven as a great banquet, the banquet of the Bridegroom, Jesus and His Bride, the Church.

How do we know we are successful fishers of people? It has been said that I, as a priest, will not be successful until I replace myself; until I fish for, and catch someone to be a priest after me. Apply that to your mission. We will be successful when we replace ourselves with another fish; another Christian brought into the "boat" of salvation.

Again, the seven in the "boat" represents all of humanity; all of us are called to fish. The Apostles catch 153 fish. There are several conjectures of exactly what the number of 153 species means. One notion is that at the time, there were thought to be 153 species of fish. Every fish is represented; every person is called to the Kingdom. Another notion is that if you count up the number of individuals upon whom Jesus bestowed a miracle, there were 153 incidents. (The group miracles of the feeding of thousands not being included.) But the reality that the net was not broken tells us that there is room for everyone in the Church.

To be successful in our fishing, we need to fish in the light of Christ, not the dark. Peter and the others were only successful when they followed the command of the Lord to fish with Him as their focus, in the light and on the right side of the boat. Get in the boat and stay there to be fed for our work of fishing for people.

Today’s Gospel narrative shows us the rehabilitation of Peter, who denied Jesus three times in the courtyard of Caiaphas, repented, and then received Primacy in the Church from Jesus. The Gospel also shows us God in search of man, even when man tries to evade Him.

The first reading, taken from the Acts of the Apostles, tells us how the Holy Spirit transformed Peter, whom Jesus had appointed head of his Church, from a man fearful of powerful men into a brave witness to the Resurrection. Today’s Responsorial Psalm, (Ps. 30) reminds us that it is God Who rescues us from our troubles and that it is because of Him that, for us as well as for our Risen Lord, “at nightfall weeping enters in, but with the dawn, rejoicing.”   

The second reading, taken from Revelation (the Apocalypse), presents John’s vision of the Risen Lord as the glorified “Lamb of God” enthroned in heaven.  Using rich imagery, John explains that Jesus has done something unprecedented and has given us more than we deserve.  Hence, the angels sing praises around God’s throne. The Book of Revelation is an expression of Christian hope in the Risen Lord. The Gospel tells the post-Resurrection story of our merciful Savior who goes in search of His band of disappointed, dejected disciples.  John presents this as the third of Jesus’ post-Resurrection apparitions.   The incident proves that Jesus’ post-Resurrection appearances were not mere hallucinations.  

In the first part of today’s Gospel, the risen Jesus appears to His disciples and gives them a symbol of their mission in a miraculous catch of fish followed by a grilled fish breakfast prepared by Jesus. The second part is a dialogue between Jesus and Simon. Three times, Jesus asks Simon Peter, “Do you love Me?” and Peter responds that he does, as if in reparation for his triple denial of Jesus.  The two metaphors used in the story, namely fishing and shepherding, are duties of the Church referring to her missionary work. Peter, as a forgiven sinner, is chosen as a leader in a community of brothers and sisters for the quality of his love. As his primary mission, he is given the care of the vulnerable lambs and sheep, and he is told that his fidelity to this mission will lead him to martyrdom.

We need to open our eyes, ears and hearts wide to see, hear and experience the Risen Lord coming to our life in various forms, circumstances and events.  

1) The Risen Lord gives us success and achievements: We often fail to acknowledge the presence of the risen Jesus behind our unexpected victories, great achievements, job promotions, miraculous healings, and success in relationships.  Let us not foolishly attribute a success in our career only to hard work; our good health only to daily exercise coupled with moderation in food and drink; and our sound financial position only to frugal spending habits and good management of money.  Let us remember the Divine warnings, “Without Me you can do nothing” (Jn 15:5); and “If the Lord does not build the house, the work of the builders is useless” (Ps.127: 1).

2) The Risen Lord is present in our pain and suffering:  Acts 9:1-13 tells us how the Risen Lord transformed the life of Saul by flattening him on the Damascus Road and allowing him to suffer temporarily blindness.  The same Jesus often visits us in the form of accidents, illnesses, the loss of dear ones, pain, suffering, and problems in relationships.  

3) The Risen Lord is visiting us in our friends and well-wishers: He is present in those who visit us and encourage us in our sad, desperate moments.  The Risen Lord visits us in the form of unexpected help from the least expected persons in our dire needs.  He is right there in our parties, celebrations, and occasions of rejoicing. 

4) The Risen Lord is present in our Christian worship. He is present on our altars during the Holy Mass to share his life with us; he is present in the words of Holy Scripture; he is there in the Sacraments and he is there where two or three are gathered in his name (Mt 18:20).2) We need to work with the Risen Lord and plan all our activities with his blessing, after consulting him in prayer and receiving his instructions.  Let us pray that we may be a Church that continues in that Gospel lifestyle of fishing for people, of tending the sheep and feeding them with the word of life.

God is simple, that means He is one. There is no division in him. Since God is love; everything is from that one simple item.  His mercy, his forgiveness, his justice, his forbearance, his patience, everything is love. Think of a prism. One, simple white lite is broken into many colors. But the colors are still part of the one, simple white light. 

We tend to see different attributes as standing alone.  Justice is different than love. But for God, it is all the same. But in that perfect love and mercy, we can never say that he will overlook everything; that there is no Hell or everyone goes to Heaven. He is the perfection of every virtue. Yes, he loves perfectly but his justice is perfect also. We can always assume his love, but not his forgiveness. Forgiveness is something we are required to ask for. 

Love is not what God does. Love is not what God has. Love is what God is. He cannot deny himself of what he is. He loves us all. No matter what. Nothing can make him stop loving us. His mercy endures forever. God will always love us. But for us humans, his primary expression of his love for us is in his mercy; his willingness to forgive. Just as there is nothing that can make God not love us, there is nothing that God will not forgive. We need only to ask.

That forgiveness, that mercy is exhibited in a special way today, the Second Sunday of Easter we call Divine Mercy Sunday. 

In 1905 at the beginning of the 20th century, Helena Kowalska was born. Later, she would become Sr. Maria Faustina Kowalska of the Blessed Sacrament.  In a convent not far from the quarry which employed the young Karol Wojtyla, the future St. Pope John Paul II, Sr. Faustina was given a vision of Christ. Most notably, the Sacred Heart of Christ with two beams of light emanating; one blue, the other red. The blue beam signified the waters of Baptism while the red signified the Blood of the Eucharist. 

St. John Paul, elevated Sr. Faustina to saint and promoted a devotion to the image displayed to her and the message delivered to her by the Savior.  The image of Divine Mercy and the message of Christ’s forgiveness and his love for us. St. John Paul noted that this daughter of Poland, St. Faustina died on the eve of the desolation of his own native country, when one year later the Nazis overran and conquered territories for their own advantage.  He also noted that the 20th century, with its two world wars, the rise of Communism in Russia and China, Vietnam, the threat of nuclear destruction, genocide in Russia, Africa, Europe, and Southeast Asia was the deadliest century of all time. Surely, Jesus was offering his mercy to his children during this most bloody time and painful time in all of history. 

Jesus appears in the Upper Room and establishes the Sacrament of Reconciliation when he said, ““Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them…”. This is our opportunity to participate in the great mercy of God. To be forgiven of every sin and to be reconciled to Christ, his Church and each other. Peace be with you. Not revenge. Not anger.  No exhibition of force whatsoever by our Savior in terms of our earthly understandings. Just, the power of God in his love which overcomes all hurts.

Through all we encounter, in this world due to our own sins, miss-steps, misunderstandings, disease, sufferings and pain, we have the motto of the Divine Mercy to assist us in enduring what we have done, what we have failed to do and whatever may befall us.  Jesus, I trust in You!

The readings for this Sunday are about God’s Mercy, the necessity for trusting Faith, and our need for God’s forgiveness of our sins.  The opening prayer addresses the Father as “God of Mercy.”  In the Responsorial Psalm (Ps 118), we repeat several times, “Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; for His mercy endures forever!” (Ps 118:22-23). God revealed His mercy first and foremost by sending His only begotten Son Who, as “the stone rejected by the builders [which] has become the corner stone (Ps 118: 22),” became our Savior and Lord by his suffering, death, and Resurrection.  Divine Mercy is given to us also in each celebration of the Sacraments.  

The first reading, taken from the Acts of the Apostles, explains how the Risen Lord continued to show his Divine Mercy to the sick through the healing and preaching ministry of his apostles in the early Church.  The apostles’ Faith enabled them to minister to the people, giving them the Lord’s healing love in “signs and wonders.” The Responsorial Psalm (Ps 118) shows the Divine Mercy that “endures forever,” in action: “I was hard-pressed and was falling, but the Lord helped me…” and    concludes, “This is the Day the Lord has made! Let us be glad and rejoice in it!” 

The second reading, taken from the Book of Revelation (given by Jesus to the Apostle John in exile on Patmos), was intended to comfort and bolster the Faith of persecuted Christians for all time. Today’s selection encourages us to fight fear with Faith, and trepidation about the future with trust and Hope.  

Today’s Gospel vividly reminds us of how Jesus instituted the Sacrament of Reconciliation, a Sacrament of Divine Mercy.  The Risen Lord gave the apostles and their successors the power to forgive sins with the words, “Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained” (Jn 20: 19-23).  Presenting the doubting Thomas’ famous profession of Faith, “My Lord and my God,” the Gospel illustrates how Jesus showed mercy to the doubting apostle and emphasizes the importance of Faith.

1) We need to accept God’s invitation to celebrate and practice mercy in our Christian lives: One way the Church celebrates God’s mercy throughout the year is through the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Finding time for Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament is another good way to receive and give thanks for Divine Mercy. But it is mainly through the corporal and spiritual works of mercy that we practice mercy in our daily lives and become eligible for God’s merciful judgment.

2) Let us ask God for the Faith that culminates in self-surrender to God and that leads us to serve those we encounter with love. Living Faith enables us to see the risen Lord in everyone and gives us the willingness to render to each our loving service. The Fathers of the Church prescribe the following traditional means to grow in the living and dynamic faith of St. Thomas the Apostle: a) First, we must come to know Jesus personally and intimately by our daily and meditative reading of the Bible. b) Next, we must strengthen our Faith through our personal and community prayer. c) Third, we must share in the Divine Life of Jesus by frequenting the Sacraments of Reconciliation and receiving the Holy Eucharist. St. Teresa of Calcutta (Mother Teresa) presents it this way: “If we pray, we will believe; if we believe, we will love; if we love, we will serve. Only then we put our love of God into action.”

3) We need to meet the challenge for a transparent Christian life — “Unless I see … I will not believe.” (Jn 20:25).   This “seeing” is what others demand of us.  They ask that we reflect Jesus, the Risen Lord, in our lives by our selfless love, unconditional forgiveness, and humble service.  The integrity of our lives bears a fundamental witness to others who want to see the Risen Lord alive and active, working in us.  Christ’s mercy shines forth from us whenever we reach out to the poor, the needy, or the marginalized, as St. Teresa of Calcutta (Mother Teresa) did.  C.S. Lewis, the author, once wrote that next to the Blessed Sacrament itself, your neighbor is the holiest object presented to your senses, for in your neighbor, Christ’s glory, Himself, is truly hidden. His mercy shines forth as we remain open to those who struggle in Faith, as did the Apostle Thomas in today’s Gospel.  We should be able to appreciate the presence of Jesus, crucified and raised, in our own suffering and in our suffering brothers and sisters, thus recognizing the glorified wounds of the Risen Lord in the suffering of others.

After hearing from the great revelations of Jesus, to St Faustina, in the 1930’s, the Church, under Pope St. John Paul II, in the year 2000, instituted the liturgy we celebrate today, Divine Mercy Sunday. It offers us the secret of forgiving ourselves. Forgiving others and falling in love with God; taking in the mercy that God offers us. John said: “We love him because He 1 loved us.” Knowing what we’ve been forgiven, makes it impossible to judge anyone, for any reason. Jesus said: “He who has been forgiven much, loves much.” If there’s someone in your life today, that you cannot forgive, this is something you’ve forgotten.

If you do not sin, you do not need this message. But, if you are like many of us, who after confession, still wonder if what we’ve done is truly forgiven and forgotten, listen carefully to the words of Jesus, as recorded by St Faustina:

“Do not argue with Me about your wretchedness. You will give Me pleasure if you hand over to Me all your troubles and griefs. I shall heap upon you the treasures of My grace.”

Consider the treasures of grace Jesus heaps upon his disciples, in today’s gospel story. After walking with him for 3 years, seeing the miracles and performing some of them themselves, they all abandoned Him at the cross, in His most vulnerable moment! Putting behind the great commission they had received to go out and preach, that others might be saved, they locked themselves behind closed doors, seeking only to save themselves. When suddenly, Jesus appears to them and looks them in the eye, instead of hearing the scolding they knew that they deserved, they hear: “Peace be with you.”.

Jesus gifts them with the Holy Spirit. He entrusts them with the authority to forgive sins. Jesus is always looking at where we’re going and what we’re becoming, not where we’ve been and what we’ve done in the past.

Thomas’ story show us that Jesus is not angered by our honest doubt. He invites us to feel His wounds, if that’s what we need to believe.

St Maximilian Kolby explains why God allows failure in our lives: 

“My beloved, may every fall, even - serious & habitual sin, always become,… us a small step toward a higher degree of perfection.

In fact, the only reason why the Lord permits us to fall is to cure us from our self-conceit, from our pride, to make us humble and thus make us docile to the divine graces.”.

Today, let us pray: “Jesus, open my heart to receive your mercy. Thank you that you carried all of my sins to the cross, past, present and future. I will not argue with you about my wretchedness. I put my trust in you.”

Easter Sunday

Jesus was dead.  There is no question that He has died.  The Romans put Him to death in a horrible and bloody way. Not hidden from view, but in public.  Beaten, nailed to a cross. The execution reserved for criminals.  To be certain that Jesus was dead, a guard pierces His side with a lance.  The Romans were good at executing criminals.  There was no question that Jesus is dead. 

Death held many views in the minds of the Jewish people of Jesus’ day.  Some believed that there was nothing after death. You lived. You died…. and that was all there was.  Some Jews saw death as a passing from this world to a place of shadows called Sheol. You existed after death, but not as full and complete as when you were alive on earth. There were also those who believed that for righteous people; for good people, there would be a resurrection of the dead at the end of times.  We see hints of this in the Book of Daniel. The Sadducees and the Pharisees argued about this very issue. The Sadducees denying …and the Pharisees accepting a resurrection after death. Others, influenced by the Greeks, saw death as a releasing of the spirit from the cage of the body. The spirit lived on while the body turned to dust. Some believed in a sort of reincarnation. Remember when Jesus asked, ““Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” They replied, some say Elijah or some other prophet.

When Mary Magdalen arrived at the tomb to anoint the dead body of Jesus, she finds the stone entrance rolled back and the doorway open. There is no body. No corpse. No Jesus. Mary Magdalen runs to tell Peter and John.  "They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we don't know where they put him." Peter and John run to the tomb. 

If I had just buried someone that I loved and found an empty tomb just days after the burial, I too, would run to get an answer, to find out what had happened.  What would you think? Someone has taken the body! Grave robbers?

 The younger apostle, John arrives at the grave first; looking into the tomb and sees the burial cloths of Jesus. Peter arrives. They enter the tomb for a closer inspection.  They want to find out what has happened. The cloth for the head of Jesus is separate from the other cloths.  And the head cloth is neatly rolled up. Grave robbers?   Wouldn’t grave robbers just take the body?  Why take the time to unravel the burial cloths? Why take the time to neatly roll up the head cloth and place it by itself?

But we’re told that they had, “not yet understood the Scripture that he had to rise from the dead.” But we know the rest of the story.  That’s why we’re here today. Jesus Christ was dead and now He is alive. The resurrection is that great, “I told you so” moment.”  The words of Christ are solidified by the resurrection. 

Over the years, there are those who have tried to denounce the resurrection.  They say it’s just another in a long line of myths. A myth like the Egyptian’s Osiris, and the Greek’s Dionysius who portray a resurrected life after death.  But these ARE myths. Myths are never set in history. They are not set in some distinct time or place. They begin “once upon a time” or even “in a galaxy, far, far away. “The story of Jesus’ death and resurrection happened in a specific time and a specific place.  Jesus was crucified at the hands of Pontius Pilate; a real, historical person. The real and tangible places of Judea and Jerusalem are noted in the account of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection. St. Thomas said, “[when] I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger into the nail marks and put my hand into his side, [then I will believe].”  And the physical Jesus presented Himself for Thomas to see the real nail marks and the real tear in His side. 

And finally, no one has ever died for a myth.  There are no martyrs of Osiris. No martyrs for Thor. No martyrs for Dionysius. No one dies for a myth. Yet we know that so many Christians died for the true, historical truth in a risen God. Eye-witnesses attest to Jesus’ life. Eye-witnesses attest to Jesus’ death. And eye-witnesses attest to Jesus’ resurrection.  And the resurrected Jesus doesn’t fit any of the notions the Jews had about death.  When we hear the account of the resurrection of Christ, we hear none of the notions people held about death.  We hear something completely new and different.

The first eye-witnesses maintained that the very same Jesus that they had seen put to death was alive and in their presence. This didn’t happen much later on, at the end of time, but rather, only three days after Jesus’ death. They didn’t give an account whereby Jesus was with God the Father in some vague manner. The resurrected Jesus was not a spirit separated from the body.  He was not reincarnated into another, different person. They were able to touch, see and hear the same person they had seen die earlier. 

The resurrection of Jesus was something new. A new beginning.  

Our belief in Christ brings us into a new life. Do I recognize the gift? Do I recognize the privilege?  

The past is over and before us lies how we decide to treat the Giver of our new lives; and how we deal with ourselves as new creations.  Every day is the ability to begin again, to do better, to get things right. 

The life we have is a gift from God. What we do with our lives is our gift to God. 

Easter Sunday

I wish you all a “Happy Easter”.  Easter is the greatest and the most important feast in the Church. It marks the birthday of our eternal hope.  We celebrate it with pride and jubilation for many reasons:

1) The Resurrection of Christ is the basis of our Christian Faith. It is the greatest of the miracles, for it proves that Jesus is God. That is why St. Paul writes: “If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain; and your Faith is in vain” (I Cor 15:14). “Jesus is Lord! He is risen!” (Rom 10:9), was the central theme of the kerygma (or “preaching”), of the Apostles.

2) Easter is the guarantee of our own resurrection. Jesus assured Martha at the tomb of Lazarus: “I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me will live even though he dies…” (Jn 11:25-26).

3) Easter is a feast which gives us hope and encouragement in this world of pain, sorrows and tears. It reminds us that life is worth living. It also gives us strength to fight against temptations and freedom from unnecessary worries and fears.

4) Easter gives meaning to our prayers: It supports our belief in the Real Presence of the Risen Jesus in and around us, in His Church, in the Blessed Sacrament, and in Heaven and so gives meaning to our personal as well as our communal prayers.

Easter messages:

1) We are to be Resurrection people:  Easter, the feast of the Resurrection, gives us the joyful message that we are a “Resurrection people.”  This means that we are not supposed to lie buried in the tomb of our sins, evil habits, and dangerous addictions.  It gives us the Good News that no tombs can hold us down any longer – not the tombs of despair, discouragement, doubt, or death itself.  Instead, we are expected to live a joyful and peaceful life, constantly experiencing the real Presence of the Risen Lord in all the events of our lives.  “This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad” (Ps 118:24). 

2) We need to seek our peace and joy in the Risen Jesus:  The living presence of the Risen Lord gives us lasting peace and celestial joy in the face of the boredom, suffering, pain, and tensions of our day-to-day life.  “Peace be with you!” (Jn 20:19), was Jesus’ salutation to his disciples at all post-Resurrection appearances.  For the true Christian, every day must be an Easter Day, lived joyfully in the close company of the Risen Lord.

3) We need to live new, disciplined lives in the Risen Jesus:  Our awareness of the all-pervading presence of the Risen Lord in and around us, and the strong conviction of our own coming resurrection, help us control our thoughts, desires, words, and behaviors.  Our conviction about the presence of the Risen Lord in our neighbors, and in all those with whom we come in contact, should encourage us to respect them, and to render them loving, humble, selfless service.

4) We need to remember Easter in our Good Fridays:  Easter reminds us that every Good Friday in our lives will have an Easter Sunday, and that Jesus will let us share the power of his Resurrection.  Each time we display our love of others, we share in the Resurrection.  Each time we face a betrayal of trust and, with God’s grace, forgive the betrayer and forget the offense, we share in the Resurrection of Jesus.  Each time we fail in our attempts to ward off temptations – but keep on trying to overcome them – we share in the Resurrection.  Each time we continue to hope – even when our hope seems unanswered – we share in the power of Jesus’ Resurrection.  In short, the message of Easter is that nothing can destroy us – not pain, sin, rejection, betrayal, or death. Because Christ has conquered all these, we, too, can conquer them — if we put our Faith and trust in Him. 

5) We are to be bearers of the Good News of Resurrection power. Resurrection is Good News, but at the same time, it’s sometimes painful because it involves death. Before the power of the Resurrection can take hold in our own lives, we’re called to die to sin, to die to self. We may even have to die to our own dreams, so that God can do what He wants to do with our lives. Resurrection is about seeing our world in a new way. Early that Easter morning, Mary Magdalene did not find what she was looking for, the dead body of Jesus. But she found something better than she could have imagined: the Risen Jesus. Sometimes, the things we think we need most are not granted to us.  What we get instead is an experience of God’s new ways of working in the world. That’s the power of the Resurrection. When those moments come, we must spread the news–just as Mary Magdalene did: “I have seen the Lord!” (Jn 20:18)

Palm Sunday

The Church celebrates this Sixth Sunday in Lent as both Palm Sunday and Passion Sunday.  It is on Palm Sunday that we enter Holy Week, welcoming Jesus into our lives and asking Him to allow us a share in His suffering, death, and Resurrection. This is the time of the year when we stop, to remember and relive the events which brought about our redemption and salvation. The Holy Week liturgies present us with the actual events of the dying and rising of Jesus.  These liturgies enable us to experience in our lives, here and now, what Jesus went through then.  In other words, what we commemorate and relive during this week is not just Jesus’ dying and rising, but our own lifetime of dying and rising in Him, which will result in our healing, reconciliation, and redemption.  

Today’s liturgy combines two moments seen in contrast: one of glory, — the welcome of Jesus into Jerusalem — the other of suffering: the drama of his trial which ends in his freely accepted and offered condemnation, crucifixion, and death. Let us rejoice and sing as Jesus comes into our life today. Let us also weep and mourn as his death confronts us with our sin. 

Today’s first reading, the third of Isaiah’s four Servant Songs, like the other three, foreshadows Jesus’ own life and mission. The Refrain for today’s Responsorial Psalm (Ps 22), “My God, My God, why have You abandoned Me?” plunges us into the heart of Christ’s Passion. The Second Reading, taken from Paul’s letter to the Philippians, is an ancient Christian hymn representing a very early Christian understanding of who Jesus is, and of how his mission saves us from sin and death. 

The first part of today’s Gospel describes the royal reception Jesus received from his admirers, who paraded with him for a distance of the two miles between the Mount of Olives and the city of Jerusalem.   In the second part of today’s Gospel, we   listen to/participate in   a reading of the Passion of Christ according to Luke.  We are challenged to examine our own lives in the light of some of the characters in the Passion story – like Peter who denied Jesus, Judas who betrayed Jesus, Herod who ridiculed Jesus, Pilate who acted against his conscience as he condemned Jesus to death on the cross, and the leaders of the people who preserved their position by getting rid of Jesus.

We need to answer 6 questions today: 

1) Does Jesus weep over my sinful soul as he wept over Jerusalem at the beginning of his Palm Sunday procession? 

2) Am I a barren fig tree?  God expects me to produce fruits of holiness, purity, justice, humility, obedience, charity, and forgiveness.  Do I? Or worse, do I continue to produce bitter fruits of impurity, injustice, pride, hatred, jealousy, and selfishness? 

3) Will Jesus need to cleanse my heart with his whip?  Jesus cannot tolerate the desecration of the temple of the Holy Spirit (which I have become), by my addiction to uncharitable, unjust, impure thoughts, words, and deeds; nor does Jesus praise my business mentality or calculation of loss and gain in my relationship with God, my Heavenly Father.  

4) Do I welcome Jesus into my heart?  Am I ready to surrender my life to him during this Holy Week and welcome him into all areas of my life as my Lord and Savior? Let us remember that we are all sinners who have crucified Jesus by our sins, but we are still able to turn to Jesus again to ask for pardon and mercy in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. It is through the Passion of Jesus that we receive forgiveness: “with His stripes  we are healed.” (Is 53:5).  

5) Are we like the humble donkey that carried Jesus, bringing Jesus’ universal love, unconditional forgiveness, and sacrificial service to our families, schools, places of work, and communities by the way we live our lives? 

6) Do we reread our own story in the characters in Jesus’ passion story as well? What about Peter who denied Jesus, Judas who betrayed Jesus, the Apostles who fled for their lives, Pilate who betrayed his conscience, the High Priests who abused his position, the guards and soldiers who inflicted unbearable pain on Jesus, and/or the people who welcomed Jesus on Palm Sunday and then betrayed him during his trial?

Attentive participation in the Holy Week liturgies will deepen our relationship with God, increase our Faith, and strengthen our lives as disciples of Jesus.  But let us remember that Holy Week can become “holy” for us only if we actively and consciously take part in the liturgies of this week.  During this week of PASSION — Passionate suffering, Passionate grace, Passionate love, and Passionate forgiving – each of us is called to remember the Christ of Calvary and then to embrace and lighten the burden of the Christ Whose passion continues to be experienced in the hungry, the poor, the sick, the homeless, the aged, the lonely, and the outcast.  

St Augustine has a very unique homily on the Gospel of the woman caught in adultery. His puzzlement lay in the fact that adultery is such a great sin, why did Jesus let her off so easily?

Adultery is indeed, one of the big sins; one of the Ten commandments.  Think of the damage this sin causes: it insults the sacrament of marriage, it destroys the relationship between husband and wife. Everyone involved gets hurt: husband, wife, the other partner and even the children.  So much pain and heartache is caused at the cost of this sin.  But Jesus simply says, “go and sin no more.”  Isn’t that a little too easy? Some early Christians were even scandalized at the reaction of Jesus. The penalty due the sin is not applied. 

From Augustine we get a much deeper insight. Jesus’ answer really upholds the law at the same time He demonstrates the fulfillment of the Law as applied with mercy. 

Jesus doesn’t say the woman should NOT be stoned. Right off the bat, this would show that He was not going to hold to the Law and anger the scribes and Pharisees. However, Jesus had no intention of saying “let her be stoned” because He came to save sinners, to reconcile and to relieve our transgressions. Jesus’ response contains truth, justice and clemency in its full measure. 

So, is Jesus giving His approval to immorality? No. However, Jesus does tell her to, “go and sin no more”.  Jesus does pass sentence in the fact that the actions of the woman are evil and against the commandments. So much that he says, don’t do this again. The woman was wrong. Jesus is condemning the sin, but not the person.  If Jesus were showing an approval of the immoral actions, He would be saying, “neither do I condemn you, go on and do as you please.  I give you the certainty that I will overlook all your sins; all your transgressions.”  But Jesus doesn’t overlook the sin. The sin is condemned while he offers the woman the ability to turn away, repent and follow the commandments. In today’s world, sometimes we see this as a sin of presumption; the fact that I can do whatever I want, then go to confession and it will be forgiven. This is not an indication that we are truly sorry for our sins.  However, Jesus is saying that she has no fear of her past. The past is over, now go and don’t repeat sin.  But, in order to gain for yourself eternal life, from this moment on, sin no more. 

The Sacrament of Reconciliation offers us all the same mercy; the past is gone; the past is over. By the forgiveness of our sins, we attempt to sin no more; to fight against evil. The future is to keep trying. Trying our best to conform ourselves to God and thus to attain the eternal happiness with the Father in Heaven.

As we approach the season of Easter, pray for the strength to “go and sin no more”. 

Today’s readings remind us, first, of the horror and the just consequences of sin; second, of the incredible gift of God’s mercy; and third, of what we need to do to receive that mercy. Reminding us of God’s readiness to forgive sin and to restore us to His friendship, today’s readings challenge us to show the same mercy to the sinners around us and to live as forgiven people, actively seeking reconciliation. Mercy and pardon are the hallmarks of a Christian. 

The central theme of all three readings is a merciful God’s steadfast love. Both the verses of the Responsorial Psalm (Ps 126) and the reading from Paul invite us to respond to such Divine graciousness with joy and gratitude.  The readings also encourage us to reflect seriously on the ultimate example of God’s compassionate love for us. They remind us that we cannot self-righteously condemn the lives of others when God is calling them tenderly to conversion. Repentance is not something we do. Rather, repentance is allowing the forgiving power of God to touch our lives and lead us along new paths. 

Explaining how a merciful God forgives the sins of His chosen people and leads them back from the Babylonian exile, the first reading reminds us that we too are forgiven, and that we are saved from our own sinfulness. By having Isaiah remind them of how God had liberated their ancestors from their slavery in Egypt eight centuries earlier, (miraculously destroying the army of the Pharaoh and providing them food and water in the desert), the Lord God assures the exiles that He has forgiven their sins. The reading gives us the message that we, too, are forgiven, and we are, with His grace, walking His Way of Salvation away from our own sinfulness toward Heaven.  In the Responsorial Psalm (Ps 126), the Psalmist reminds us of the joy God’s Mercy brings us when we ask for and receive His pardon. 

In the second reading, Paul presents himself as a forgiven sinner who has been completely transformed by his Faith in Christ Jesus. His life is an example of obedience to the Gospel exhortation, “Sin no more.” Paul loves Christ so much that he wants to share in his sufferings and even in his death so that he may share in Christ’s Resurrection. 

The sinful woman’s story of sin committed, and sin forgiven in today’s Gospel also shows the inexhaustible mercy and compassion Jesus grants to sinners. It invites us to recognize and experience in our own lives both God’s Justice and His Mercy. We bear witness to the Justice of God by confessing our sinfulness and determining to avoid sin, and we bear witness to God’s Mercy by accepting the forgiveness of our sins and by determining to forgive those who have offended us.

Hence, the story of the woman caught in adultery helps us recognize and receive the immensity of God’s mercy. That is why Pope Francis in his first Sunday homily as Pope declared: “God never tires of forgiving us…. It’s we who tire of asking for forgiveness.” Then he prayed, “May we never tire of asking for what God never tires to give!” According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, home is the first Christian school where one learns love and repeated forgiveness (CCC #1657), based on the loving mercy of God. The gates of forgiveness should always be open to anyone who turns away from sin. There is no sin, however serious, that the Church cannot forgive (CCC #982).

1: We need to become forgiving people, ready for reconciliation: Jesus has shown inexhaustible mercy and compassion to sinners by dying for our sins. But we are often self-righteous, like the Pharisees, and ready to spread scandal about others with a bit of spicy gossip. We are judgmental about the unmarried mother, the alcoholic, the drug addict, or the shoplifter, ignoring Jesus’ command: “Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.”  Let us learn to acknowledge our sins, ask God’s forgiveness every day and extend the same forgiveness to our erring brothers and sisters. We need to learn to hate the sin but love the sinners, showing them Jesus’ compassion and working with the Holy Spirit to make our own lives exemplary so that we can help lead them to Jesus’ ways.

2) We have no right to judge others: We have no right to judge others because we often commit the very faults we condemn; we are often partial and prejudiced in our judgment and we do not know the circumstances which have led someone to sin. Hence, let us leave the judgment to our just and merciful God who reads people’s hearts. We should show mercy and compassion to those who sin because we ourselves are sinners in need of God’s forgiveness. The apostle Paul reminds us: “But if we judged ourselves, we would not come under judgment.” (1 Cor 11:31).

Jesus had a sort of “magnetic” power. Most especially recognized by those away from God. But a magnet has two sides; it attracts and repels. “The tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to listen to him, but the Pharisees and scribes began to complain…” Here are the two sides: the sinner and the self-righteously religious. Two responses to God’s love.  In the parable of the Prodigal Son these two sides are represented by two sons.

The younger son approaches his father. ‘Father, give me the share of your estate that should come to me.” A slap in the face. Inheritance, if any, comes to us after death. “Father, I wish you would die; give me what you have for me now. Many of us, myself included, often want what God has to give…. right now. We want existence, life, good health and success; our inheritance right now. And we pay no attention to the God, Whose existence, (I am Who I AM) is pure giving. Love is willing the good of the other. God will’s our good perfectly.

Ignoring the insult of his son, the father divides what he has. Division separates us from God, our Father, and each other. God freely gives His love; but He never forces or imposes Himself contrary to our free will. It is through our own free will, that we reject or accept. Our free will places us in separation, division from God and each other. 

Then, the younger son “set[s] off to a distant country.” The Greek here is Cora Macra: “the great emptiness”. When I remove myself from God, that’s where I put myself: in “the great emptiness.”  In this Cora Macra, the son “squander[s] his inheritance on a life of dissipation”.  Is there anyone here who has experienced spending your college tuition on beer or spent hard earned money on having a “good time?”

And then, without money, “a severe famine struck that country, and he found himself in dire need. Here is the basic reality of our life with God; if we squander the gifts we receive from God, that is, we disconnect the gifts we have…. from God… we dry up. Without the Eucharist, without a right relationship with God, famine strikes us, we don’t receive our spiritual food. 

“So he hired himself out to one of the local citizens who sent him to his farm to tend the swine.” What an insult for a Jew; to tend “unclean” animals. “And he longed to eat his fill of the pods on which the swine fed….” The son had become a “pig”, willing to eat the food a pig desires. Finally, like so many of us after our youth, he come to our senses. We come to our senses. We try to warn our children; to protect them from the bad decisions we made in our youth.  But they have free will.  “Coming to his senses [the young man] thought, ‘How many of my father’s hired workers have more than enough food to eat, but here am I, dying from hunger?” When we return to God afterwards… we are fed. From rich to poor, everyone comes to Christ and is fed. We reconnect to God and “come to our senses.”  “I shall get up and go to my father and I shall say to him, “Father, I have sinned… against you.” 

And, “While he was still a long way off, his father caught sight of him, and was filled with compassion. He ran to his son, embraced him and kissed him.” The Gospels are not so much about us finding God as they are about God finding us. The Father is looking for us and runs to meet us. Even though we walk away from God, He is always there, with us within our reach.

The son’s apology is interrupted. Welcome back. Welcome home. We tell God we are sorry because we realize the enormity of our faults, but all through the Gospels, Jesus never requires, “I’m sorry”. He forgives. That’s what God’s existence is, God exists “FOR…. GIVING”. 

In a rather sanctimonious manner, the other son says, “Look, all these years I served you and not once did I disobey your orders….” What do I get? He was constantly getting everything the father offers. In the presence of God, the Father, we are constantly receiving His gifts…. that’s what you “get”.  Have you ever heard someone say, or have you said it yourself……I don’t get anything out of Mass! Really?  We “get” so much, perhaps Mass is a time to “give”.

And when someone comes back to us, back to family, we don’t hold their past against them. God doesn’t hold our past against us. “…celebrate and rejoice, … your brother was dead and has come to life again…”

 God never “needles us”. God never nags us.  God invites us; we, in our free will decide. Is someone away from your family? Away from our family? Don’t preach to them, or get mad, or argue.  Love them, pray for them and welcome them as they are, where they are. Leave your door open and a place at the table. We constantly receive the gifts of our God, Who exists “FOR…. GIVING”. We don’t make these gifts our personal property, but give these gifts away to others. In discipleship we offer our gifts to others. Our joy is found in giving. God gives Himself to us, we give ourselves to others, and we receive even more. The son who went away, in coming home receives the Father’s love. The son who stayed had received the same love. 

But the prodigal son comes into the house;’ or as we say, “back to the Church.”  But now the other son removes himself from the father, from the “house”. He will not go in.  His pride removes him from the Church due to his pride. 

God never holds our past against us and we have until our last breath to come into the house, back to God. So, who really is the prodigal son? The one who sinned but then came back? Or, the son that let his pride remove himself from the father?

The fourth Sunday of Lent marks the midpoint in the Lenten preparation for Easter.  Traditionally, it is called Laetare Sunday (Rejoice Sunday). It is a sign of what liturgical authors call “anticipatory joy”— a reminder that we are moving swiftly toward the end of our Lenten fast, and the joy of Easter is already on the horizon. This Sunday is set aside for us to recall God’s graciousness and to rejoice because of it.  In many ways we have been dead, but through God’s grace we have come to life again; we have been lost, but now we are found.  We have every reason to rejoice.  

Hence, each of the three readings characterizes one of the many facets of Easter joy.  In the first reading, the Chosen People of God are portrayed as celebrating, for the first time in their own land, the feast of their freedom.  Their joy is one of promises fulfilled.  In today’s Responsorial Psalm the joyful Psalmist invites us, “Glorify the Lord with me; let us together extol His Name!” then gives us our reason for rejoicing, “I sought the Lord, and He answered me, and delivered me from all my fears!” 

The second reading joyfully proclaims the effect of Jesus’ saving act as the reconciliation of all peoples to the Father. He tells the Corinthian converts that they are a new creation, made so through the blood of Christ.  It is the shedding of Christ’s blood that has reconciled them with God and made them righteous, so they have reason to rejoice.

In the Gospel, the joy is that of a young son’s “coming home,” where he discovers and is healed by, his father’s forgiving and gratuitous love.  It is also the story of a loving and forgiving father who celebrates the return of his prodigal son by throwing a big party in his honor, a banquet celebrating the reconciliation of the son with his father, his family, his community, and his God.  It is really the Parable of the Forgiving Father, the story of Divine love and mercy for us sinners, a love that is almost beyond belief.  The common theme of joy resulting from reconciliation with God and other human beings is announced to all of us present in this Church – an assembly of sinful people, now ready to receive God’s forgiveness and His Personal Presence as a forgiving God in the Holy Eucharist.

1) Let us return to our Heavenly Father with repentant hearts: As prodigal children, we face spiritual famine all around us in the form of drug and alcohol abuse, fraud and theft in the workplace, murders, abortions and violence, pornography, premarital sex, marital infidelity, and priestly infidelity, as well as in hostility between and among people. All of these evils have proliferated because we have been squandering God’s abundant blessings, not only in our country and in our families, but also in our personal lives. Hence, let us repent and return to our Heavenly Father’s home.

2) Holy Mass enhances our “pass over,” from a world of sin to a world of reconciliation. At every Mass, we come to our loving Heavenly Father’s house as prodigal children acknowledging that we have sinned (“I confess to Almighty God”). In the Offertory, we give ourselves back to the Father, and this is the moment of our surrendering our sinful lives to God our Father. At the consecration, we hear God’s invitation through Jesus: “… this is My Body, which will be given up for you… this is the chalice of My Blood … which will be poured out for you…” (= ”All I have is yours”). In Holy Communion, we participate in the banquet of reconciliation, thus restoring our full relationship with God and our fellow human beings.

3) We need to accept the loving offer of our Heavenly Father: “All I have is yours”. Faraway hills and forest look green; there are many attractions in life; there are many voices saying to us, “Follow me,” or “Follow your desires and you will find happiness.”  But the best and the only real offer of lasting happiness is from God our Father, “All I have is yours.”  God, our Heavenly Father, stands outside our door waiting for us to open it to Him.  For the remainder of Lent, let us try to make every effort to answer that invitation from our Heavenly Father, “All I have is yours.” Each Lent offers us sinners a chance to return home with a confession of sins, where we will find His welcome and open-armed love.  Such a confession will enable us to hasten toward Easter with the eagerness of Faith and love, and it will make possible the rejoicing which today’s liturgy assures us in our Lord’s words: “There is more joy in Heaven over the one sinner who does penance than over the ninety-nine just who do not need penance.”

In today’s readings we have two plants; a bush and a Fig tree. 

First the bush. Moses is tending to the flocks of his Father-in-law, Jethro and he comes near the mountain named Horeb also called Mt. Sanai. Moses sees a bush on fire. Yet, the fire continues and the bush is not consumed. This is how God, Yahweh, presents Himself to Moses. 

In the mythology of the Greeks and Romans, whenever a god broke forth into the human realm, they appeared in competition…destructively. Something of this realm had to give way to reveal something of the realm of the gods. When a human came face to face with one of these gods in their proper form, they were consumed. But with our God, it’s different. 

The bush represents the realm of creatures. When our God presents himself, we are not consumed. God doesn’t take anything away but rather adds to the reality of the thing He has created.  When God is in us; close to us, we become more beautiful, more fully ourselves. We become more radiant. We reflect the Light of God onto the world, into other people. A burning tree, out in the open, sends light in all directions. And so do we.

Moses, like other Jews, adhered to a multi-god theology; the god of this or that place, this or that people. Remember, their one god theology wasn’t defined until the Law was given to Moses. 

So, Moses wanted to know the name of this particular god. He was asking for clarification: which god are you? But God declines. He doesn’t give a name but merely states, “I am Who [I] am.”  God is telling us that He is not a specific type of being. He is not from this or that place. He is not One among many. He is not a “being”. From this, theologians reflect on God as being itself; pure being. Aquinas’,” Ipsum Esse”, to be itself. We can’t classify God. In order to understand anything, we try to name it and categorize it. Then we can identify. Now we can compare things. God is above all that we know; outside of us. Outside of creation. We can’t compare God to anything. Aquinas goes on to tell us that God cannot even be place in the Genus of “Being”.  That’s the broadest category we have. God is outside all of that.  God is not this, or that, here or there, higher than, bigger than.  God is the act of being itself, the act of existence.  

In our theology, this is very important.  If I move into your space, I compete for your space.  A dog cannot become a cat and still remain a dog. Plants grow and “take over” the space where they grow. We creatures live in competition with each other. 

God, Who is the act of being can enter into us and not consume us or diminish Himself. He can make us radiant and not leave us destroyed. And although we become more, God never becomes less. We can become like the burning bush, more beautiful, more radiant and more alive, but still remain what we are. God doesn’t compete with His creatures in any way. He doesn’t shove Himself on us. He never imposes Himself. He invites.  Remember the picture of our Lord knocking on the door. There is no handle on the outside. We have to open the door and invite God to come in. 

The bush, alive with the radiance of God. Every one of us has a purpose and mission.  To know, love and serve God in this life so as to be happy with Him in the next by being a conduit of God to the world; shining His light reflectively in the world.

Now, the Fig tree.  Growing but not producing any fruit.

 The fullness of God: burning with love. The absence of God: fruitless. 

All three of today’s readings speak of God the Father’s mercy and compassion, even in disciplining His children by occasional punishment in the form of natural or manmade tragedies, while giving them second chances to repent of their sins and renew their lives, despite their repeated sins. God expects us to show our repentance and renewal of life, especially during Lent, by producing fruits of love, mercy, forgiveness, and selfless service, instead of remaining like a barren fig tree in Christ’s Church.

The first reading tells us how God showed His mercy to His chosen people in Egyptian slavery by giving them Moses as their leader and liberator. The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (v 6) revealed Himself to Moses from the burning bush and assured Moses of His Divine presence with His people and of His awareness of their sufferings in Egypt. God declared His intention to use Moses as the leader who would rescue His enslaved people. Then God revealed His name as Yahweh (“I AM Who AM”) and renewed His promise to the patriarchs (v 8), to give them a “land flowing with milk and honey”.

The second reading warns us that our merciful God is also a disciplining God. Paul reminds the Christians of Corinth that they must learn from the sad experience of the unfaithful Israelites in the desert who were punished for their sins by a merciful and just God. The merciful and gracious God is also just and demanding; hence, the Corinthians, and we, must be free from sexual sins and idolatry. 

Today’s Gospel explains how God disciplines His people and invites them to repent of their sins, to renew their lives, and to produce the fruits of the Holy Spirit. Citing two tragic events, Jesus exhorts the Jews to repent and reform their lives. One of the incidents was the ruthless murder of some Galileans while they were in the middle of their Temple sacrifices. The victims were probably political agitators, and this was Pilate’s way of silencing them. The other incident was a construction accident which occurred near the Temple during the building of a water aqueduct. Apparently, this building project was hated by the Jews because Temple funds had been appropriated from the Temple treasury by Pilate to finance it. — These two incidents are brought up because the Jews of Jesus’ day presumed that those who were killed were being punished by God for their sins. But Jesus denies this. Instead, he asserts that what really destroys life is our unwillingness to repent and change our lives. Jesus says, not once, but twice by way of emphasis: “Unless you repent, you will perish as they did.” 

With the parable of the barren fig tree, Jesus also warns them that the merciful God will not put up with them indefinitely. Although God patiently waits for sinners to repent, giving them grace to do so, He will not wait forever. Time may run out; therefore, timely repentance is necessary. Hence, one can say, “A Lent missed is a year lost from the spiritual life.”

1) We need to live lives of repentance: (a) We never know when we will meet a tragedy of our own. Let us turn to Christ, acknowledge our faults and failings, and receive from him mercy, forgiveness and the promise of eternal life. b) There is no better way to take these words of Jesus to heart than to go to sacramental confession, and there is no better time to go to confession than during Lent. (c) Repentance helps us in life and in death. It helps us to live as forgiven people and helps us to face death without fear. 

2) We need to be fruitful trees in God’s orchard.  Lent is an ideal time “to dig around and manure” the tree of our life so that it may bring forth fruits.  The “fruits” God expects from us during Lent are repentance, renewal of life, and the resulting virtues of love, compassion, mercy, forgiveness, selflessness, and humble service.  Let us start producing these fruits in the family by becoming more sensitive to the feelings of others and by accepting each member of the family with love and respect.  The Christian fruits of reconciliation will grow in the family when each member shows good will by forgiving others and by asking their forgiveness. We become fruit-bearing in the community by caring for the poor, the sick, the little ones, the old, and the lonely.

3) We need to make the best use of the “second chances” God gives us.  Our merciful Father always gives us a second chance.  The prodigal son, returning to the father, was welcomed as a son, not treated as a slave. During Lent, we, too, are given another chance to repent and return to our Heavenly Father’s love.  We are also expected to give others another chance when they ask our forgiveness.  God would like to use each one of us as the “gardener” in the parable to help Him cultivate our families and communities and enrich them with grace.  Let us thank God for using others to help us bear fruit.  Grace is everywhere.  Let us always cooperate with grace, especially during Lent.

In the original Greek, the word for transfiguration is metamorphoo (metamorphisis)  signifying a radical change. Jesus is radically changed so His divinity is brought forth and revealed. Before this event, Jesus has just asked His follows, “who do you say that I am?” There are differing answers and so the disciples surely must have questions as to whether they are truly following the right person. But Peter gets it right. As given to him by the Father, Peter says, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”

Jesus decides to make a physical statement. He takes Peter, James and John up on a mountain (usually stated as Mt. Tabor, but we’re really not sure which mountain it was.) Up on the mountain, the heavy hitters of the Old Testament appear: Moses representing the Law and Elijah representing all of the prophets. Both indicating that Jesus is the Messiah. And to seal all doubt, from a cloud, the Father’s voice is heard, “this is my chosen Son, listen to Him.”

There are many parallels here to Moses on Mt. Sinai. First of all, Moses goes up on the mountain on the 7th day. Not, in today’s passage, but in St. Mark’s account of the Transfiguration, Jesus goes up after 6 days. Moses takes his spokesman, Aaron and his two sons; Abihu and Nedab. Jesus takes the leader of the 12 and two brothers. On Mt. Sinai, God speaks to Moses from a cloud and at the Transfiguration, the Father speaks also from a cloud. After Moses’ encounter with God, his face shown bright. He even covered his face to not frighten his people. Today, not only Jesus’ face, but His entire being radiates brightly. Moses was transformed and today Jesus, Who so far has only provided his followers with His human nature, removes the doubt and conveys His divinity. Both Moses and Jesus are leading an Exodus; Moses from the slavery of the Egyptians, Jesus from the slavery of sin back to Paradise.

Are you in the midst of terrible trials? Are you in doubt about your faith? Why is this happening? What is God doing? How many of us have read a book and in the middle, terrible things happen to the characters? The entire situation seems hopeless. And then we cheat. We flip to the last chapter and read that everything comes out just great. The darkness in our lives may seem terrible, but the last chapter of our lives, our “book”, has a happy ending if we pursue the story, if we hold tight the plot God promises us; to endure, carry our cross, love God and love others. The Transfiguration shows us that Jesus, who proclaimed to Peter that He must suffer and die will finally reach the chapter where He wins because He is God and He will overcome every enemy; death being the last.

The Transfiguration is telling us all that as we face suffering and death, as we carry our crosses, the resurrection and ascension will ultimately follow.

The common theme of today’s readings is metamorphosis or transformation. The readings invite us to work with the Holy Spirit to transform our lives by renewing them during Lent so that they radiate the glory and grace of the transfigured Lord to all around us by our Spirit-filled lives.

The first reading describes the transformation of Abram, a pagan patriarch, into a believer in the one God (Who would later “transform” Abram’s name to Abraham), and the first covenant of God with Abraham’s family as a reward for his Faith and obedience to God. The Responsorial Psalm (Ps 27) declares that Faith, singing, “I believe that I shall see the bounty of the Lord in the land of the living.”

In the second reading, St. Paul argues that it is not observance of the Mosaic Law and circumcision that transforms people into Christians, and hence, that Gentiles need not become Jews to become Christians. St. Paul urges us to stand firm in our Faith and to live a life of discipleship with Jesus now, so that we may share in a glorious future later.

The Holy Spirit, through Church, invites us to reflect on Christ’s humanity by presenting the temptations of Christ on the first Sunday of Lent, But, on the second Sunday, by presenting the Transfiguration scene, the Church invites us to reflect on Christ’s Divinity. The Transfiguration of Our Lord on this Second Sunday in Lent gives us a glimpse of the coming future glory of Christ on Easter. But it also reminds us that the only way to Easter is through the cross.

The primary purpose of Jesus’ Transfiguration was to allow Him to consult his Heavenly Father in order to ascertain His plan for His Son’s suffering, death, and Resurrection. The secondary aim was to make Jesus’ chosen disciples aware of his Divine glory, so that they might discard their worldly ambitions and dreams of a conquering political Messiah, and might be strengthened in their time of trial. On the mountain, Jesus is identified by the Heavenly Voice as the Son of God. Thus, the Transfiguration experience is a Christophany, that is, a manifestation or revelation of Who Jesus really IS. Describing Jesus’ Transfiguration, the Gospel gives us a glimpse of the Heavenly glory awaiting those who do God’s will by putting their trusting Faith in Him.

(1) The transubstantiation in the Holy Mass is the source of our strength: In each Holy Mass, the bread and wine we offer on the altar become transubstantiated into the living Body and Blood of the crucified, risen, and glorified Jesus. Just as Jesus’ Transfiguration strengthened the apostles in their time of trial, each holy Mass should be our source of Heavenly strength against temptations, and our renewal during Lent. In addition, our Holy Communion with the living Jesus should be the source of our daily “transfiguration,” transforming our minds and hearts so that we may do more good by humble and selfless service to others.

(2) Each time we receive one of the Sacraments, we are transformed: For example, Baptism transforms us into sons and daughters of God and heirs of heaven. Confirmation makes us temples of the Holy Spirit and warriors of God. By the Sacrament of Reconciliation, God brings back the sinner to the path of holiness.

(3) The Transfiguration offers us a message of encouragement and hope: In moments of doubt and during our dark moments of despair and hopelessness, the thought of our transfiguration in Heaven will help us to reach out to God and to listen to His consoling words: “This is My beloved Son.” Let us offer our Lenten sacrifices to our Lord, that through these practices of Lent and through the acceptance of our daily crosses we may grow closer to him in his suffering and may share in the carrying of his cross so that we may finally share the glory of his Transfiguration.

4) We need “mountain-top experiences” in our lives: We share the mountain-top experience of Peter, James, and John when we spend extra time in prayer during Lent. Fasting for one day can help the body to store up spiritual energy. This spiritual energy can help us have thoughts that are far higher and nobler than our usual mundane thinking. The hunger we experience can put us more closely in touch with God and make us more willing to help the hungry. The crosses of our daily lives also can lead us to the glory of transfiguration and resurrection.

Among all the countries in the ancient world, God chose Israel to be the light of the nations and the center of reconciliation through the instructions of the law and temple sacrifice.  Out of all of Israel, he chose the 12. Out of the 12, he chose the 3; Peter, James and John, to witness the transfiguration. Out of the 3, he would choose St John to receive the visions in the book of revelations.

In the economy of God’s salvation, he invests his revelations in those who will take them and value them enough to share them in such a way, as to move family, friends, the church and culture. Before we complain that God’s not visiting me with any revelations, we must ask ourselves, if he gives them to me, will I take them in and take action?

Some of the greatest spiritual events in the Bible, took place on mountains. Abram took his son to sacrifice on Mt Moriah. Moses received the 10 commandments on Mt Sinai. It was unlikely this was lost on the disciples, when Jesus invites them to the mountain to pray. They had seen powerful things happen many times, through his prayers! In spite of all of these things, the disciples are not praying, they are sleeping! How often is this representative of the times when we are sleep walking through life, unaware of Jesus’ presence?

The disciples are awakened as Jesus is transformed and speaks with Moses and Elijah. Moses represents the law and Elijah represents the prophets. Together, the law and the prophets testify to Jesus’ divinity. As Luke explains, they were talking about Jesus’ death in Jerusalem

Having no idea what to say or do, does not stop Peter from speaking. He is quickly made to understand that he’s not there to start building tents, when the Father says: “This is my beloved son; listen to him.”! 

How well are we doing when it comes to quieting ourselves and listening to God? Has our performance based, western culture made us into human doings, instead of human beings? Has it imparted to us the feeling that quieting ourselves in prayer is down time from our productivity?

IF we say: “I do not experience God speaking to me; what am I missing?” Are we failing to get the fact that he is always broadcasting his communication and I’m just not on his frequency?

Who’s voice is it in the readings in the mass? In the Eucharistic prayers, the priest is praying in persona Christi. How can I hear him when I go home, if I do not read his word in the Bible?

What we listen to influences us. Are we listening to church teaching when it comes to matters of faith and morals? Or, am I slipping into the moral relativism of our culture’s secular philosophies about religion and sexual behaviors?

We will do well in our marriages, despite our struggles, if we listen to him. We will work through all the questions about our sexual identify, if we listen to him. We will be the model employee; punctual, flexible and industrious, if we listen to him. We will share our faith without shame or backing down, if we listen to the wisdom of the Holy Spirit.

Today, let us pray: “Lord, open my ears that I might hear you. Give me the grace to take it in and be that one who moves my family, friends, the church and culture.”.