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LATIN - YEAR A

EASTER - A

Easter I – A (1)

SYNOPSIS OF THE HOMILY ON THE ASCENSION OF OUR LORD (Mt 28: 16-20) Introduction: Today’s readings describe the Ascension of the Lord Jesus into his Heavenly glory after promising his disciples the Holy Spirit as their source of Heavenly power, and after commanding them to bear witness to him by their lives and by preaching throughout the world. But the ascended Jesus is still with us through the indwelling Holy Spirit as he has promised, "I am with you always; yes, to the end of time.” Today’s feast is a celebration of Jesus’ glory after his suffering and death – a glory in which we also hope to share. The scripture lessons: The first reading, taken from the Acts of the Apostles, describes the scene of Jesus’ Ascension, his promise of the Holy Spirit, his instruction to the apostles to wait in Jerusalem for the power from above and his missionary command to his apostles to bear witness to him. In the second reading, St. Paul amplifies this message, saying, "May God enlighten the eyes of our heart so that we may know the great hope to which we have been called." Paul teaches us that God revealed His might in the Resurrection and Ascension of Christ and in his exaltation over all angelic forces. Jesus remains accessible to us now in the life-giving Holy Spirit. Today’s gospel tells us that, with his return to the Father, Jesus completed his mission on earth. But just before his Ascension, he entrusted to his disciples the mission of preaching and teaching the Good News and evangelizing the whole world by bearing witness to him through their lives. In the descriptions of Christ after his Resurrection, we are given a hint of what life will be like in Heaven. But it is in his Ascension that we see him entering fully into the life and glory of God. The prospect of sharing in that glory should be the driving force of our lives. Life messages: 1) We need to be proclaimers and evangelizers: 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. Let us ask the guidance of the Holy Spirit to bear witness to Jesus by our transparent Christian lives. 2) We have a teaching mission: Jesus taught us lessons of Faith, Hope, Love, forgiveness, mercy and salvation by his life and preaching and gave us the mission to teach these to others. Hence, let us learn about Jesus and his teachings by our daily study of the Bible and the teachings of the Church, experience him in personal prayer, reception of the Sacraments and works of charity, and, with the help of his Holy Spirit, convey to others Jesus whom we have experienced. 3) The ascended Jesus is our source of strength and encouragement: We will be able to overcome doubts about our Faith and baseless fears, anxieties and worries by meditating on Jesus’ Ascension and the lesson it teaches that we, too, are called to share Jesus’ glory in Heaven.)

THE FEAST OF ASCENSION OF OUR LORD – (Acts 1:1-11; Eph 1:17-23; Mt 28:16-20) Anecdote

#1: Solar Power: One of the national coordinators of Sun Day held early in May every year is Denis Hayes. He worked as researcher at a Washington D.C. ‘think-tank’ and has written a book on solar energy entitled Rays of Hope: The Transition to a Post-Petroleum World. Hayes claims that we are at the crossroads of making a critical choice for mankind – the choice between going solar or going nuclear for a power source. Hayes opts for the sun because it is “the world’s only inexhaustible, predictable, egalitarian, non-polluting, safe, terrorist-resistant and free energy source.” We’ve already learned to use the power of the sun to grow food, make wine and operate greenhouses. All we need to do is develop better technology to harness solar energy to heat houses, drive our cars and run our industry. People like Hayes are looking at the sky with its sun as the main source of our future energy supply. Today we turn our attention to the sky for another reason – to commemorate our Lord’s Ascension into Heaven. In the first reading, taken from Acts, Jesus makes a promise, “You will receive Power when the Holy Spirit comes down on you.” That Spirit is the power source that can give all the energy we need to live our lives to the full. (Albert Cylwicki in His Word Resounds).

#2: The Unfinished Painting: Leonardo da Vinci had started to work on a large canvas in his studio. For a while he worked at it – choosing the subject, planning the perspective, sketching the outline, applying the colors, with his own inimitable genius. Then suddenly he stopped working on it. Summoning one of his talented students, the master invited him to complete the work. The horrified student protested that he was both unworthy and unable of completing the great painting which his master had begun. But da Vinci silenced him. "Will not what I have done inspire you to do your best?" Jesus our Master began to spread the Good News two thousand years ago by what he said and did and, supremely, by what he suffered. He illustrated his message and he has left us to finish the picture. Will his life not inspire us to finish the picture? This is the message of the Ascension (John Rose in John's Sunday Homilies). # 3: "I have no other plan -- it must work." A beautiful old story tells of how Jesus, after his Ascension into Heaven, was surrounded by the angels who began to enquire about his work on earth. Jesus told them about His birth, life, preaching, death and Resurrection, and how he had accomplished the salvation of the world. The Archangel Gabriel asked, “Well, now that you are back in Heaven, who will continue your work on earth?" Jesus said, "While I was on earth, I gathered a group of people around me who believed in me and loved me. They will continue to spread the Gospel and carry on the work of the Church.” Gabriel was perplexed. "You mean Peter, who denied you thrice and all the rest who ran away when you were crucified? You mean to tell us that you left them to carry on your work? And what will you do if this plan doesn't work?" Jesus said, "I have no other plan -- it must work." Truly, Jesus has no other plan than to depend on the efforts of his followers!

# 4; The disciples who completed Puccini’s opera Turandot. The Italian composer Giacomo Puccini wrote, among other operas, La Boheme, Madama Butterfly and Tosca. It was during his battle with terminal cancer in 1922 that he began to write Turandot, which many now consider his best work. He worked on the score day and night, despite his friends' advice to rest, and to save his energy. When his sickness worsened, Puccini said to his disciples, "If I don't finish Turandot, I want you to finish it." He died in 1924, leaving the work unfinished. His disciples gathered all that was written of Turandot, studied it in great detail, and then proceeded to write the remainder of the opera. The world premier was performed in La Scala Opera House in Milan in 1926, and Toscanini, Puccini’s favorite student, conducted it. The opera went beautifully, until Toscanini came to the end of the part written by Puccini. He stopped the music, put down the baton, turned to the audience, and announced, "Thus far the master wrote, but he died." There was a long pause; no one moved. Then Toscanini picked up the baton, looked at the audience and, with tears in his eyes, announced, "But his disciples finished his work." The opera closed to thunderous applause and to a permanent place in the annals of great works. Jesus instructs us in his Ascension message to finish his work of saving mankind by proclaiming His Good News by words and deeds. Introduction: Today’s readings describe 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 after 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. Matthew’s Gospel begins with the promise of Emmanuel – God is with us; it concludes with the promise of the Risen Christ, “I am with you always, even to the end of time.” 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, taken 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 the Holy Spirit and confident of God’s protection even amid suffering and death. Jesus’ Ascension is both an ending and a beginning. The physical appearances of Jesus are at an end; his revelation of the “Good News” is complete; the promise of the Messiah is fulfilled. Now begins the work of the disciples to teach what they have learned and to share what they have witnessed. The first reading, taken from the Acts of the Apostles, describes the scene of Jesus’ Ascension, his promise of the Holy Spirit, and his missionary command to bear witness to him throughout the world. In the second reading, St. Paul explains the theological meaning of Jesus’ exaltation. He amplifies this message by saying, "May God enlighten the eyes of our heart so that we may know the great hope to which we have been called." Although risen and ascended, Jesus is still with us through the power of the Holy Spirit, in the Holy Bible, in the Sacraments, especially the Holy Eucharist, and in the praying community. He remains accessible to us now with every prayer and every breath, if we so choose. Today’s Gospel tells us that, with his return to the Father, Jesus has completed his mission on earth. In the descriptions of Christ after his Resurrection, we are given a hint of what life will be like in Heaven. But it is in his Ascension that we see him entering fully into the life and glory of God. The prospect of sharing that glory should be the driving force of our lives. The first reading: Acts 1:1-11 describes how Jesus interacted with his disciples for forty days after his Resurrection. He instructed his disciples to remain in Jerusalem to receive the Holy Spirit, the source of power. Once they received the Spirit they would bear witness to him to the ends of the earth by their preaching and lives: “You will be baptized with the Holy Spirit” and become his “witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and to the ends of the earth.” Then he was lifted up in the sky and a cloud covered him. The disciples received the angelic message that the ascended Jesus would come back again in glory. Thus, the Ascension of Jesus means that the risen Jesus has entered into the glory of his Heavenly Father. He has accomplished our salvation by his suffering and death, Resurrection, Ascension, and the sending of the Spirit. Today's Responsorial Psalm (Ps 47), “God is king of all the earth,” celebrates God's universal kingship. It was originally sung in connection with a cultic procession honoring the Ark of the Covenant. This most sacred religious object served as a pedestal upon which God was invisibly enthroned. During an annual feast it would be taken from repose in the Temple’s Holy of Holies and returned in solemn procession. "God mounts his throne!" This cultic cry, our Psalm refrain today, refers to the solemn installation of the Ark within the Temple, a liturgical reenactment of the universal lordship that is God's from eternity. Now, by his Ascension the risen Lord likewise "mounts his throne" in glory. In the second reading (Eph 1:17-23), St. Paul puts special emphasis on the truth that Jesus, our triumphant Lord, now rules in glory over all creation. He prays: "May God enlighten the eyes of our heart so that we may know the great hope to which we have been called." In the alternate second reading (Eph. 4:4-13), Paul exhorts the disciples to live in a manner worthy of their calling and mission. The greatest witness we can bear to the presence of Jesus in our midst is our unity with God, seen in our living with one another in peace and harmony.

Exegetical notes:

A) The Ascension: Each Sunday we profess through the Creed, "He ascended into Heaven." Christ’s Ascension was the culmination of God’s divine plan for Christ Jesus, his return to his Father with “Mission Accomplished." Ascension is the grand finale of all his words and works done for us and for our salvation. It was a culmination, but not the conclusion. As Jesus is now with God in glory, he is now with us in Spirit: "Lo, I am with you always." The feast of the Ascension celebrates one aspect of the Resurrection, namely Jesus’ exaltation. He did not wait 40 days to be glorified at God’s right hand. That had already happened at his Resurrection. Like the 40 days after Easter during which He appeared to many in Israel, this public Ascension in to Heaven was given to us for our sakes. The 40 days allowed many to experience personally his Resurrection and his being alive in a glorified body as fact to be counted upon, reality, and the fulfillment of prophecy. The focus of this feast is the Heavenly reign of Christ, and the Lord’s being” seated at God’s right hand,” meaning He alone will be in control of the continuing plan of salvation through the Holy Spirit, unrestricted by time, space or culture. It is there, at the “right hand of God,” that he continues to make intercession for all of us with the Father. Thus, the Paschal Mystery -- Jesus' passion, death, Resurrection, Ascension and the sending of the Holy Spirit – is a single, unbroken Reality which is to be understood by Faith. By His Ascension, Jesus, the risen Christ, True God and True Man, is One with the Father and the Holy Spirit in glory forever.

B) The Ascension account: The Biblical accounts of the Ascension focus not so much on the details of the event as on the mission Jesus gave to his disciples. For example, in the accounts narrated in Luke and Acts, the Ascension took place in Jerusalem. In Matthew and Mark, on the other hand, the event occurred in Galilee. All accounts, however, agree that the Ascension, a real event, happening in real time and observed by real people, took place on a mountain. In Luke and Acts, the Ascension happened forty days after the Resurrection, a period during which Jesus appeared repeatedly to his followers. In Matthew and Mark there is no indication of the time period between the Resurrection and the Ascension. The Gospel writers apparently were not aiming at accuracy of historical detail but were more concerned with transmitting Our Lord’s message.

C) The Ascension message: "Preach the Good News and be my witnesses:" Matthew, Mark and Acts record Jesus’ last words differently: 1) “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8). 2) “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age” (Matthew 28:19-21). 3) “Go into all the world and proclaim the good news to the whole creation” (Mark.16:15). All are in agreement that (a) Jesus gave his disciples a mission of bearing witness to him by preaching and living the Good News. They are to tell and re-tell the story of Jesus' life, suffering, death and Resurrection, Ascension and sending of the Holy Spirit. (b) He assured them of the Divine assistance of the Holy Spirit in the carrying out of this mission.

D) Christmas and Ascension: The Ascension is most closely related, in meaning, to Christmas. In Jesus, the human and the Divine become united in the person and life of one man. That's Christmas. At the Ascension, this human being – the Person and the risen, glorified body of Jesus – became for all eternity a part of who God is. It was not the spirit of Jesus or the Divine nature of Jesus alone that ascended to the Father. It was the risen Jesus, whole, alive and entire, in his glorified Body that ascended: a body which the disciples had touched, the body in which Jesus had eaten and drunk with them both before and after His Resurrection, a real, physical, but gloriously restored body, bearing the marks of nails and a spear. This is what ascended. This is what, now and forever, is a living, participating part of God. The Ascension, along with the Incarnation, is here to tell us that it is a good thing to be a human being; indeed it is a wonderful and an important and a holy thing to be a human being. It is such an important thing that God did it. Even more, the fullness of God now includes what it means to be a human being.

Life messages: 1) We need to be proclaimers and evangelizers: In today's Gospel, Jesus gives his mission to all the 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 and love, of 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 need to live a life of Christian joy in the presence of the ascended Lord. According to Luke, the disciples "returned to Jerusalem with great joy." Apparently, Jesus' exaltation and final blessing gave them, as it gives us, the assurance that, though absent, he is still present, present even in the pain and sorrow we undergo. That is why St. Augustine assures us, “Christ is now exalted above the Heavens, but he still suffers on earth all the pain that we, the members of his Body, have to bear. He showed this when he cried out from above: 'Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me?' and when he said: 'I was hungry and you gave me food.' While in Heaven he is also with us; and while on earth we are with him. He is here with us by his Divinity, his power and his love. We cannot be in Heaven, as he is on earth, by Divinity, but in him, we can be there by love." “With a spirit of wisdom and insight to know him clearly,” we can discover Christ's presence at every turn of our life’s journeys to his final return at the end of time.

3) We have a teaching mission: Jesus taught us lessons of Faith, Hope, forgiveness, mercy, Redemption and Love. 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, and in so doing, care for him in them. 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. The challenge of sharing the Good News with all mankind should, therefore, begin with our admission that we have often been arrogant and overbearing. We must learn to be humble and let the Holy Spirit lead the way.

4) 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 him absent, he 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 We have become Christs in the world.

JOKE OF THE WEEK

# 1: The Ascension mission to preach the Gospel: After attending a convention led by Billy Graham a woman wrote to him. “Dear Sir, I feel that God is calling me to preach the Gospel. But the trouble is that I have twelve children. What shall I do?” The televangelist replied: “Dear Madam, I am delighted to hear that God has called you to preach the Gospel. I am even more delighted to hear that He has already provided you with a congregation in your own home.”

# 2: The Ascension walk-out: There was a long-winded pastor who preached salvation history from Genesis to Revelation in every sermon. On the feast of Ascension as he reached Isaiah, he remarked that the prophet said nothing about the Ascension of Our Lord. He asked his audience, “What shall we do with him?” One old man in the front seat said, “He can have my seat, Father, I am leaving.”

# 3: And after death ascend or descend? At the end of school what do you want to do? I want to do my Senior Certificate. After your Senior Certificate what do you want to do? - I want to go to college. After college what do you want to do? - I want to get a job. Then what do you want to do? - I want to make big money. What do you want to do after making money? - I want to build a big house. After that what do you intend to do? - I want to get married. What will you do after getting married? - I will have a family. What will you do after having a family? - I will retire. What do you want to do after you retire? - I want to take a rest. What will you do after taking a rest? - I don’t know. Will you die? - Oh yes, I will die too. What will happen after death? I am not sure!

Easter I – A (2)

SYNOPSIS: Feast the HOLY TRINITY [A] Jn 3:16-18 L/17 Introduction: The mystery of the most Holy Trinity is a basic doctrine of Faith in Christianity, understandable not with our heads but with our hearts. It teaches us that there are three distinct Persons in one God, sharing the same Divine Nature, co-equal and co-eternal. Our mind cannot grasp this doctrine which teaches that 1 1 1 = 1 and not 3. But we believe in this Mystery because Jesus who is God taught it clearly, the Evangelists recorded it, the Fathers of the Church tried to explain it and the Councils of Nicaea and Constantinople defined it as a dogma of Christian Faith. Importance in Christian life: 1) All prayers in the Church begin in the Name of the Holy Trinity and end glorifying the Trinity. 2) All Sacraments are administered (we are baptized, confirmed, anointed, our sins are forgiven, our marriage blessed, and our Bishops, priests and deacons ordained) in the name of the Holy Trinity.3) Church bells ring thrice daily, reminding us to give glory to the Holy Trinity for the Incarnation of Jesus and His Redemption of all of us.4) We bless ourselves, and the priest blesses us, in the Name of the Holy Trinity. Biblical evidences: There are only vague and hidden references to the Trinity in the Old Testament. But the New Testament gives clear teachings on the Holy Trinity.

At the Annunciation, God the Father sends His angel to Mary, God the Holy Spirit comes upon her, the Power of the Most High overshadows her and God the Son becomes incarnate in her womb.

2) At the baptism of Jesus, when the Son receives baptism from John the Baptist, the Father’s Voice is heard and the Holy Spirit appears as a Dove. 3) At the Ascension, Jesus gives the missionary command to his disciples to baptize those who believe, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. 4) In John, chapters 15--18, we have a detailed account of Jesus’ teaching of the role of each Person of the Holy Trinity: a) God the Father creates and provides for His creatures. b) God the Son redeems us and reconciles us with God. c) God the Holy Spirit sanctifies us, strengthens us, teaches us and guides us to God. Life messages: 1) Let us respect ourselves and others because everyone is the temple of the Holy Spirit where all the Three Persons of the Holy Trinity abide. 2) Let us have the firm conviction that the Trinitarian God abides in us, that He is the Source of our hope, courage and strength, and that He is our final destination. 3) Let us practice the Trinitarian relationship of love and unity in the family relationships of father, mother and children because by Baptism we become children of God and members of God’s Trinitarian family. 4) Let us practice the I–God–my neighbor vertical and horizontal Trinitarian relationship in society by loving God living in others. (Fr. Tony)

Easter II – A (1)

HOMILY SYNOPSIS: EASTER II (DIVINE MERCY SUNDAY) L/17 Introduction: The readings for this Sunday are about God’s mercy, the necessity for trusting Faith and the need for the forgiveness of sins. Theopening prayer addresses the Father as "God of everlasting Mercy." In the Responsorial Psalm (Ps 118), we repeat several times, “His mercy endures forever!” God revealed His mercy, first and foremost, by sending His only-begotten Son to become our Savior and Lord by His suffering, death and Resurrection. Divine mercy is given to us also in each celebration of the Sacraments, instituted to sanctify us. Scripture lessons: The first reading (Acts 2:42-47) tells us how the early Church grew every day because of the acts of mercy and sharing, the sacrificialagápe love practiced by the early Christians. In the second reading (1 Peter 1:3-9), St. Peter glorifies God, the Father of Jesus Christ, for showing us His mercy by granting Resurrection from the dead and glorious Ascension into Heaven to His Son, Jesus, thus giving us the assurance of our own resurrection. Today’s Gospel vividly reminds us of how Jesus instituted the Sacrament of Reconciliation, a sacrament of Divine Mercy. The risen Lord gave his Apostles 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 his mercy to the doubting apostle and emphasizes the importance of Faith. Life messages: 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 one our loving service. The spiritual Fathers 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 communal prayer. c) Third, we must share in the Divine Life of Jesus by frequenting the Sacraments of Reconciliation and 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.” EASTER II [A] Acts 2:42-47, I Peter 1:3-9, John 20:19-31 Divine Mercy in action: A TIME magazine issue in 1984 presented a startling cover. It pictured a prison cell where two men sat on metal folding chairs. The young man wore a black turtleneck sweater, blue jeans and white running shoes. The older man was dressed in a white robe and had a white skullcap on his head. They sat facing one another, up-close and personal. They spoke quietly so as to keep others from hearing the conversation. The young man was Mehmet Ali Agca, the pope’s would-be assassin (he shot and wounded the Pope on May 13, 1981); the other man was Pope St. John Paul II, the intended victim. The Pope held the hand that had held the gun whose bullet tore into the Pope’s body. This was a living icon of mercy. John Paul’s forgiveness was deeply Christian. His deed with Ali Agca spoke a thousand words. He embraced his enemy and pardoned him. At the end of their 20-minute meeting, Ali Agca raised the Pope’s hand to his forehead as a sign of respect. John Paul shook Ali Agca’s hand tenderly. When the Pope left the cell he said, “What we talked about must remain a secret between us. I spoke to him as a brother whom I have pardoned and who has my complete trust.” This is an example of God’s Divine Mercy, the same Divine Mercy whose message St. Faustina witnessed. Edith Zierer the Jewish holocaust survivor: “Pope saved me from death:” Edith Zierer, a Holocaust survivor now living in Israel, recalls how Karol Wojtyla, who later became Pope John Paul II, carried her to safety after she fled a Nazi concentration camp when she was 13 years old. Polish-born Zierer was 13 when she ran away from the Nazi camp at Czestochowa in Poland after the Soviet army liberated it in January 1945, five months before World War II ended in Europe. She was heading towards her hometown in Poland to find her parents, who, she would later learn, had died in the Holocaust. Exhausted, she reached a train station and sat there for two days without food or water while people ignored her. "Suddenly, there he was," Zierer said, referring to Wojtyla, the seminarian, in his priestly robe. "He brought me some tea and two pieces of bread with cheese and then carried me to a train carriage. He sat with me and put his cloak on me because it was freezing. We came to Krakow and then I ran away because people started to ask why a priest was walking with a Jewish girl." After spending, a few years in orphanages in Poland and France, Zierer emigrated from Europe to British-mandated Palestine, where she later married and bore a son and daughter in what became Israel. She now has five grandchildren. She wrote to Wojtyla after he became Pope in 1979, saying she was the little girl he had saved at the train station in Poland decades ago. After a correspondence ensured, the Pontiff invited her to the Vatican in 1998. She last met him in 2000, when he visited Israel on a millennium pilgrimage and met several survivors at the Vad Vashem Holocaust museum. She said she and the Pope kept up their correspondence, writing mostly during Christmas and before birthdays. "I received a letter from him last year and I knew it was the last," she said. "He included a picture from his private collection and his handwriting was very shaky. I wrote to thank him for the memory that never left." Edith Zierer, 84, mourned the death of her former savior, and remembered the warm look in the seminarian Karol Wojtyla's eyes in the railway station years ago and God’s mercy expressed in his actions. "He was a kindred spirit in the greatest sense -- a man who could save a girl in such a state, freezing, starving and full of lice, and carry her to safety," she told Reuters. "I would not have survived had it not been for him." (). Pope John Paul made mercy the core of his priesthood. He saw mercy as a light against darkness. And has the world known darker times than when the Nazis and Communists oppressed millions of people? On April 27, 2014, Divine Mercy Sunday, John Paul II, along with Pope John XXIII, was officially recognized as a Saint. It is no accident that Pope St. John Paul who was instrumental in spreading the observance of Divine Mercy Sunday was canonized on that Feast.

Easter III – A (1)

Easter Sunday Homily (on John 20:1-9) L-17 Introduction: Significance of Easter: Easter is the greatest and the most important feast in the Church for three 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, because Jesus had prophesied His Resurrection as a sign of His divinity: “Tear down this temple and in three days I will build it again” (Jn 2:19). The founder of no other religion has an empty tomb as Jesus has. 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 is our belief in the Real Presence of the Risen Jesus in our souls, in His Church, in the Blessed Sacrament and in Heaven that gives Golden Goose Starter meaning to our personal as well as our communal prayer, strength to fight against temptations and freedom from unnecessary worries and fears. Life Messages: 1) Let us live the lives of Resurrection people: Easter 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, dangerous addictions, despair, discouragement, or doubts. Instead, we are expected to live a joyful and peaceful life, constantly experiencing the living presence of the Risen Lord in all the events of our lives and amid the boredom, suffering, pain and tensions of our day-to-day life. 2) 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 resurrection, help us to control our thoughts, desires, words and behavior. This salutary thought inspires us to honor our bodies, keeping them holy, pure and free from evil habits and addictions. Our conviction about the presence of the Risen Lord in our neighbors and in all those with whom we come into contact should encourage us to respect them, and to render them loving, humble and selfless service. 3) We need to become transparent Christians: We are called to be transparent Christians, showing others through our lives the love, mercy, compassion and spirit of self-sacrificing service of the Risen Jesus living in our hearts. 4) We need to live lives of love in the power of Jesus’ Resurrection: Let us recall that, each time we try to practice Christian charity, mercy and forgiveness and each time we fight against temptations we share in the Resurrection of Jesus.

Easter III – A (2)

Synopsis: Easter III [A] Ferragamo Lace Up Sale Homily on Luke 24:13-35 (L-17) Introduction: Our Scripture lessons for today have one common, encouraging theme: No matter what happens in our lives, the risen Jesus is always with us. God is always near to those who seek Him and who want to live in His presence, doing His will. Scripture lessons: The first reading, from Acts, is taken from the beginning of Peter's first public proclamation about Jesus and how God raised Jesus from death, thus fulfilling the Messianic prophecies about the promised descendant of David. In the second reading, Peter exhorts the early Christians to place their Faith and Hope in God Who has saved them through the precious Blood of His Son and Who has raised Jesus from the dead. The Ferragamo Shoes Sale Online Emmaus Ferragamo Mens Sandals Sale incident described in today’s Gospel is the story of a God who will not leave us alone when we are hurt and disappointed. The message of today’s Scripture readings is that the Ferragamo Shoes Sale Online followers of Jesus are to maintain contact with their Risen Lord through the Eucharist and the Bible. The readings also remind us that our belief in Jesus’ presence in the consecrated Bread and Wine Ferragamo Shoes Sale Online should help us to understand better his presence in the Bible and in the believing and Salvatore Ferragamo Wedges Shoes Sale worshipping community. Putting the two appearances (to the Emmaus disciples and to Peter), together, it is clear that the risen Jesus wanted Peter to act as spokesman for him and that the faithful who seek to follow Jesus should seek his company in the Eucharist and in the Bible under the direction of Peter and his successors.

Easter III – A (3)

Synopsis: Pentecost [A] Homily John 20:19-23) L/17 Pentecost literally means 50^th. It is a feast celebrated on the 50^th day after the Passover feast by the Jews and a feast celebrated on the 50^th day after the feast of the Resurrection of Jesus by the Christians. The Jewish Pentecost was originally a post-harvest thanksgiving feast. Later, the Jews included in it the remembrance of God’s Covenants with Noah after the Deluge and with Moses at Mt. Sinai The event: On the day of Pentecost 1) The Holy Spirit descended upon the apostles and the Blessed Virgin Mary as fiery tongues. 2) The frightened apostles were transformed into fiery preachers and evangelizers and were given the gift of tongues by a special anointing of the Holy Spirit. 3) The listeners experienced a fresh anointing of the Holy Spirit through the apostles’ gift of tongues: they heard Peter speaking in their native languages. 4) The early Christians became powerful witnesses and brave martyrs for their Faith in Jesus. The role of the Holy Spirit in Christian life: 1) As an indwelling God, He makes us His Living Temples (I Cor 3:16). 2) As a strengthening God, He strengthens us in our fight against temptations and in our mission of bearing witness to Christ by transparent Christian lives. 3) As a sanctifying God, He makes us holy through the Sacraments: a) He makes us children of God and heirs of Heaven through Baptism. b) He makes us temples of God, warriors and defenders of the Faith, through Confirmation. c) He enables us to be reconciled with God by pardoning our sins through the Sacrament of Reconciliation. d) He gives us spiritual nourishment via the Holy Eucharist by converting bread and wine into Jesus’ Body and Blood through Epiclesis. 4) As a teaching and guiding God, He clarifies and constantly reminds us of Christ’s teachings. 5) As a listening and talking God, He listens to our prayers and enables us to pray, and He speaks to us mainly through the Bible. 6) As a Giver of gifts, He gives us His gifts, fruits and charisms. Life messages: We need to permit the Holy Spirit to take control of our lives: 1) by constantly remembering His holy presence and behaving well; 2) by praying for His daily anointing so that we may fight against our temptations and control our evil tendencies, evil habits and addictions; 3) by asking His daily assistance to pray, listening to God through meditative Bible reading and talking to Him; and 4) by asking the help of the Holy Spirit to do good for others and to be reconciled with God and others every day. Pentecost (June 4) Acts 2:1-11; I Cor 12:3b-7, 12-13; Jn 20:19-23 1) "Well, Chippie doesn’t sing much anymore.” It happened in Galveston, TX. A woman was cleaning the bottom of the cage of her parrot Chippie with the canister vacuum cleaner. She was not using an attachment on the tube. When the telephone rang, she turned her head to pick it up, continuing to vacuum the cage as she said, "Hello," into the phone. Then she heard the horrible noise of Chippie being sucked into the vacuum. Immediately she put down the phone, ripped open the vacuum bag, and found Chippie in there, stunned but still alive. Since the bird was covered with dust and dirt, she grabbed it, ran it into the bathroom, turned on the faucet, and held the bird under the water to clean it off. When she finished that, she saw the hair dryer on the bathroom sink. She turned it on and held the bird in front of the blast of hot air to dry him off. A few weeks later, a reporter from the newspaper that originally published the story went out to the house to ask the woman, "How’s Chippie doing now?" She said, “He just sort of sits and stares." Today’s Gospel tells us that it was what happened to the apostles. They all were traumatized by the arrest and crucifixion of their master and bewildered by his post-Resurrection appearances and his command to prepare for the coming of his Holy Spirit. Many of us can identify with Chippie and the apostles. Life has sucked us up, thrown cold water on us, and blown us away. Somewhere in the trauma, we have lost our song. Hence, we, too, need the daily anointing of the Holy Spirit to keep us singing songs of Christian witnessing through agápe love. 2) The Spirit of God is the melody that energizes the Church: In the last years of his life, the great cellist and conductor Pablo Casals suffered greatly from rheumatoid arthritis and emphysema. At 90, he was badly stooped and his head pitched forward; his breathing was labored. He needed the help of his wife, Marta, to get dressed in the morning. Marta would then help him shuffle into his studio where he would, with great difficulty, arrange himself on the piano bench. Casals would then manage to raise his swollen, clenched fingers above the keyboard. A visitor describes what he saw next one particular morning: “I was not prepared for the miracle that was about to happen. The fingers slowly unlocked and reached toward the keys like the buds of a plant toward the sunlight. His back straightened. He seemed to breathe more freely. Now his fingers settled on the keys. Then came the opening bars of Bach’s Wohltemperierte Klavier [Well-tempered Clavier], played with great sensitivity and control . . . He hummed as he played, then said that Bach ‘spoke to him here’ – and he placed his hand over his heart. “Then he plunged into a Brahms concerto and his fingers, now agile and powerful, raced across the keyboard with dazzling speed. His entire body seemed fused with the music; it was no longer stiff and shrunken but supple and graceful and completely freed of its arthritic coils. “Having finished the piece, he stood up by himself, far straighter and taller than when he had come into the room. He walked to the breakfast table with no trace of a shuffle, ate heartily, talked animatedly, finished the meal, then went for a walk on the beach.” (From Anatomy of an Illness as Perceived by the Patient: Reflections on Healing and Regeneration by Norman Cousins). Like music that inspires and exhilarates, the Spirit of God is the melody that energizes the Church, uniting our many different voices into the song of the Love of God. God has formed us into a community, or Church, an instrument for bringing his life and love into our world. But what makes our Church more than just a gathering of good people is His “Breath” infusing the Church with the music of His Divinity. Today we celebrate that presence. In Jesus’ breathing upon the assembled disciples on Easter night the new life of the Holy Spirit, the community of the Resurrection — the Church — takes flight. That same Holy Spirit continues to “blow” through today’s Church giving life and direction to our mission and ministry to preach the Gospel to every nation, to immerse all of humanity into the music of God’s love and the symphony of the Resurrection. 4) Treasure within: An old beggar lay on his deathbed. His last words were to his youngest son who had been his constant companion during his begging trips. “Dear son," he said, “I have nothing to give you except a cotton bag and a dirty bronze bowl which I got in my younger days from the junk yard of a rich lady.” After his father’s death, the boy continued begging, using the bowl his father had given him. One day a gold merchant dropped a coin in the boy’s bowl and he was surprised to hear a familiar clinking sound. “Let me check your bowl,” the merchant said. To his great surprise, he found that the beggar’s bowl was made of pure gold. “My dear young man," he said, “why do you waste your time begging? You are a rich man. That bowl of yours is worth at least thirty thousand dollars.” We Christians are often like this beggar boy who failed to recognize and appreciate the value of his bowl. We fail to appreciate the infinite worth of the Holy Spirit living within each of us, sharing His gifts and fruits and charisms with us. On this major feast day, we are invited to experience and appreciate the transforming, sanctifying and strengthening presence of the Holy Spirit within us. This is also a day to renew the promises made to God during our Baptism and Confirmation, to profess our Faith, and to practice it. Introduction: The Jewish Pentecost: Both the Jews and the Christians now 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. The word Pentecost is Greek for pentecostes which means “fiftieth.” The feast received this name because it was celebrated fifty days after the Feast of the Passover. Another name for the Jewish Pentecost is Shebuot or "The Feast of Weeks“(the "week" of seven Sabbaths between Passover and Pentecost). It was originally a day of thanksgiving for the completion of the harvest. During Passover, the first omer (a Hebrew measure of about a bushel), of barley was offered to God. At Pentecost, two loaves of bread were offered in gratitude for the harvest. Later, the Jews added to the Feast of Pentecost the element of Yahweh’s Covenant with Noah, which took place fifty days after the great deluge. Still later, they made this feast an occasion to thank God for His Sinaitic Covenant with Moses, which occurred fifty days after the beginning of the Exodus from Egypt. The Christian Pentecost: Pentecost marks the end and the goal of the Easter season. For Christians, it is a memorial of the day the Holy Spirit descended on 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 by 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. But years ago, This Rock Magazine reported that there are now 34,000 Protestant denominations which means that, on the average, more than sixty-nine new denominations had sprung up every year since the Reformation began in 1517. So whose birthday is it anyway? You could say, Pentecost is the birthday of the Church Jesus established nearly 2,000 years ago. Today’s Scripture readings remind us that Pentecost is an event of both the past and the present. The main theme of today’s readings is that the gift of the Holy Spirit is something to be shared with others. In other words, the readings remind us that the gift of the Holy Spirit moves its recipients to action and inspires them to share this gift with others. The first reading, taken from the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 2:1-11), 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 when the apostles began to proclaim the Good News of Jesus, and everyone there (regardless of their many different native languages), was able to understand them “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. In the second reading (I Cor 12:3-7, 12-13), 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, and they may reside in different persons like apostles, prophets, teachers, healers and so on. Paul lists the fruits of the Spirit in his Letter to the Galatians “What the Spirit brings is … love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control” (5:22). He continues, “Since the Spirit is our life, let us be directed by the Spirit” (5:25). Paul insists that these spiritual gifts are to be used in the present time for the benefit of others, for the common good and for the building up of the Body of Christ. 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 and sending them to carry on the mission given him by his Heavenly Father. He then empowered 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 also enable them to fulfill Jesus’ commission to preach the Gospel to all nations. Today’s Gospel passage also tells us how Jesus gave to the Apostles the power and authority to forgive sins. “Receive the Holy Spirit. For those whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven; for those whose sins you retain, they are retained.” These wonderful words, which bind together inseparably the presence of the Holy Spirit and the gift of forgiveness, are referred to directly in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. But they have a much wider meaning. Those words remind us of the Christian vocation we are all have, to love and forgive as we have been loved and forgiven, in the world of today, which is often fiercely judgmental and vengeful. Exegetical notes: Role of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer and of the Church: How beautiful is the thought that the Holy Spirit lives within us! Saint Paul reminds the Corinthian community of this fact when he asks, "Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?" (I Corinthians 3:16). It is the Holy Spirit who develops our intimacy with God. "God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts crying, ‘Abba!' ('Father!’)” (Gal 4:6). "God’s love has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit Who has been given to us" (Romans 5:5). "No one can say, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ except by the Holy Spirit" (I Corinthians 12:3). Moreover, we know that it is the Holy Spirit Who teaches us to pray (Romans 8:26). By the power of the Spirit, we also know the Lord Jesus through his Church. Pentecost Sunday is the birthday of the Church. It is the Holy Spirit who enlivens, enlightens, guides, and sanctifies the Church. The Psalm refrain for this Sunday says it so well: “Lord, send out your Spirit, and renew the face of the earth.” We know Jesus through the Sacramental Mysteries of the Church, and Holy Spirit is at the heart of the Sacramental life of the Church. Baptism, Confirmation and Holy Orders are the Sacramental Mysteries through which people receive the seal of the Holy Spirit. It would be impossible for us to receive Jesus in the Eucharist without the descent of the Holy Spirit at the Epiclesis of the Divine Liturgy. Even the forgiveness of sins comes through the Holy Spirit (John 20:21-23). The Holy Spirit both confirmed the apostles in Holy Orders as priests and empowered them to forgive sins by His power, a work which He continues today in each of our priests. The action of the Holy Spirit in the daily lives of Christians: The Spirit is that Paraclete (a Greek word that is translated as Counselor, Comforter, Helper, Encourager, or Enabler), Who quietly works in us and through us every day behind the scenes in the basic activities of our lives and the lives of the people around us. He is there in all his fullness wherever people worship and pray in the name of Jesus. When we believe and trust in Jesus we have that Faith through the Holy Spirit’s work in us and the Holy Spirit’s filling us. The Holy Spirit leads us to turn away from our sinfulness and reassures us that we are still loved in spite of our sin and that Jesus died on a cross just for those moments when we rebel against God's way. He confronts us and urges us to take a good look at ourselves and where we are heading, to make a U-turn, to leave the old behind and try something new. He’s not afraid to challenge us and stretch us to go and do things for Christ – things we have never done before or ever imagined ourselves doing. He’s the One Who says to us, "Stop being so self-focussed. Stop looking into yourself all the time and being depressed by what you see, or fool yourself into thinking that what you see in yourself is enough to get you through! Look up, look away, look to Jesus and let Him turn your around; let Him take control!" “The feast of Pentecost celebrates the unseen, immeasurable presence of God in our lives and in our Church – the ruah that animates us to do the work of the Gospel of the Risen One, the ruah that makes God’s will our will, the ruah of God living in us and transforming us so that we might bring his life and love to our broken world. God “breathes” his Spirit into our souls that we may live in his life and love; God ignites the “fire” of his Spirit within our hearts and minds that we may seek God in all things in order to realize the coming of his reign.” (Connections).

Easter III – A (4)

Synopsis: The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ [A] Importance: 1) The Holy Eucharist as our spiritual Food and Drink on Holy Thursday and Jesus’ mother Mary as our mother on Good Friday are the two last precious gifts given to us by Jesus. 2) Corpus Christi is the celebration of the abiding presence of a loving God as Emmanuel – God-with --us – in order to give collective thanks to our Lord living with us in the Eucharist. 3) The feast gives us an occasion to learn more about the importance and value of the “Real Presence” so that we may appreciate the Sacrament better and receive maximum benefit from receiving Him. We believe in the “Real Presence” of Jesus in the Holy Eucharist because 1) Jesus promised it after miraculously feeding the 5000. 2) Jesus instituted the Holy Eucharist during his Last Supper. 3) Jesus commanded his disciples to repeat it in his memory. 4) “Nothing is impossible for God.” We explain the Real Presence of Jesus in the Holy Eucharist by: “transubstantiation” which means that the substance of the offered bread and wine is changed by Consecration to the substance of the risen Jesus’ glorified Body and Blood by the action of the Holy Spirit, and its accidents (like color, shape, taste etc.), remain the same. Scripture lessons: 1) In the first reading, Dt 8:2-3, 14b-16a, Moses instructs the Israelites to “remember and not forget” the miraculous provision of food in the manna given to them. The Church, through the Holy Mass, remembers and reenacts the Sacramental meal (Last Supper) and Jesus’ sacrifice on Calvary. In the second reading, Paul reminds the Corinthians that the Bread they share is the real Body of Christ, which makes their community also the Body of the risen Christ. In today’s Gospel passage, Jesus identifies himself as “the Living Bread that came down from Heaven,” thus linking himself with the manna in the wilderness, while assuring his disciples that, unlike those who ate manna, “One who eats this Bread will live forever.” A Sacrament and a sacrifice: Jesus instituted the Holy Eucharist both as a sacramental banquet and a sacrificial offering. As a Sacrament a) the Eucharist is a visible sign that gives us God’s grace and God’s life and b) as a meal it nourishes our souls. As a sacrifice a) the Eucharistic celebration is a re-presentation or re-enactment of Jesus’ sacrifice on Calvary, completed in His Resurrection. b) We offer Jesus’ sacrifice to God the Father for the remission of our sins, using signs and symbols. Life messages: 1) Let us appreciate the “Real Presence” of Jesus in the Holy Eucharist, by receiving him with true repentance for our sins, due preparation and reverence. 2) Let us be Christ-bearers and -conveyers: By receiving Holy Communion, we become Christ-bearers as Mary was, with the duty of conveying Christ to others at home and in the workplace, through love, mercy, forgiveness and humble and sacrificial service. 3) Let us offer our lives on the altar along with Jesus’ sacrifice, asking pardon for our sins, expressing gratitude for the blessings we have received and presenting our needs and petitions on the altar. THE MOST HOLY BODY AND BLOOD OF CHRIST [A] (CORPUS CHRISTI) Dt 8:2-3,14b-16a; I Cor 10:16-17 Jn 6:51-58) Anecdotes: # 1: Holy Communion in outer space: Astronaut Mike Hopkins is one of those selected few. He spent six months on the International Space Station (ISS) in 2013. And though he was thrilled when he was chosen for a space mission, there was one Person he didn’t want to leave behind: Jesus in the Eucharist. Hopkins had been received into the Church less than a year before his launch. After a long wait, he was finally able to receive Our Lord at each Mass. Facing the prospect of being off the planet for half a year, he decided he had to find out if Jesus could travel with him. It turns out he could — and he did. Hopkins says, “In 2011, I got assigned to a mission to the International Space Station. I was going to go up and spend six months in space, starting in 2013. So I started asking the question, ’Is there any chance I can take the Eucharist up with me into space?’ The weekend before I left for Russia — we launch on a Russian rocket from Kazakhstan — I went to Mass one last time, and [the priest with permission from his bishop] consecrated the wafers into the Body of Christ, and I was able to take the pyx with me. NASA has been great. … They didn’t have any reservations about me taking the Eucharist up or to practicing my Faith in orbit. The Russians were amazing. I went in with all my personal items, and I explained what the pyx was and the meaning of it to me — because for them, they, of course, saw it just as bread, if you will, the wafers — and yet for me [I knew] it was the Body of Christ. And they completely understood and said, “Okay, we’ll estimate it weighs this much, and no problem. You can keep it with you.” All these doors opened up, and I was able to take the Eucharist up — and I was able to have Communion, basically, every week. There were a couple of times when I received Communion on, I’ll say, special occasions: I did two spacewalks; so on the morning of both of those days, when I went out for the spacewalk, I had Communion. It was really helpful for me to know that Jesus was with me when I went out the hatch into the vacuum of space. And then I received my last Communion on my last day on orbit in the ‘Cupola, ’which is this large window that looks down at the Earth, and that was a very special moment before I came home.” # 2: The greatest work of art in St. Peter’s Basilica: "One of the seminarians who gives tours of St. Peter’s told me of an interesting incident. He was leading a group of Japanese tourists who knew absolutely nothing of our Faith. With particular care he explained the great masterpieces of art, sculpture and architecture. He finally concluded at the Blessed Sacrament Chapel trying his best to explain quickly what it was. As the group dispersed, an elderly man, who had been particularly attentive stayed behind, and said, 'Pardon me. Would you explain again this “Blessed Sacrament?' Our student did, after which the man exclaimed, 'Ah, if this is so, what is in this chapel is a greater work of art than anything else in this basilica.'” [Msgr. Timothy M Dolan in Priests of the Third Millennium, (2000) p. 226.] Today’s feast of Corpus Christi is intended to make us value and appreciate the worth of Jesus in the Holy Eucharist. # 3: Communion on the moon: The Lord's Supper ensures that we can remember Jesus from any place. Apollo 11 landed on the moon on Sunday, July 20, 1969. Most remember astronaut Neil Armstrong's first words as he stepped onto the moon's surface: "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." But few know about the first meal eaten on the moon. Dennis Fisher reports that Buzz Aldrin, the NASA Astronaut had taken aboard the spacecraft a tiny pyx provided by his Catholic pastor. (It was probably after his divorce and second marriage, that he became a Presbyterian, as fact-checked by Snopes (. Aldrin sent a radio broadcast to Earth asking listeners to contemplate the events of the day and give thanks. Then, blacking out the broadcast for privacy, Aldrin read, "I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit." Then, silently, he gave thanks for their successful journey to the moon and received Jesus in the Holy Eucharist, surrendering moon to Jesus. Next he descended on the moon and walked on it with Neil Armstrong. [Dan Gulley: "Communion on the Moon": Our Daily Bread (June/July/August 2007).] His actions remind us that in the Lord's Supper, God's children can share the life of Jesus from any place on Earth — and even from the moon. God is everywhere, and our worship should reflect this reality. In Psalm 139 we are told that wherever we go, God is intimately present with us. Buzz Aldrin celebrated that experience on the surface of the moon. Thousands of miles from earth, he took time to commune with the One who created, redeemed, and established fellowship with him. Notes: Buzz Aldrin Catholic or Presbyterian???? Dear Fr. Tony, I read your anecdote 'communion on the Moon' with some amusement. Buzz Aldrin was Roman Catholic. He was an altar server to an uncle of mine Fr. Dennis Barry in St. Martin's Church, La Mesa, California. My uncle said Mass in his hotel room with Buzz as the altar server the day before his trip to the Moon, and I have photographs of that Mass with Buzz holding the wine and water at the Offertory. My uncle gave Buzz the Body of Christ to take to the Moon with him and that was his first 'meal on the moon'. I later met Buzz Aldrin at my uncle's funeral in La Mesa in 1986. So, Buzz was not a Presbyterian. God Bless. Fr. Eddie Collins. The Presbytery, O'Rahilly Street, Clonakilty, Co Cork, )) Introduction: The feast and its objectives: Today, we celebrate the solemn feast of Corpus Christi. This Solemnity is three feasts in one: the feast of the Eucharistic sacrifice, the feast of the Sacrament of the Eucharist and the feast of the Real Presence of Jesus in this Sacrament. Corpus Christi is a doctrinal feast established for three purposes: 1) to give God collective thanks for Christ’s abiding presence with us in the Eucharist and to honor Him there; 2) to instruct the people in the Mystery, Faith and devotion surrounding the Eucharist, and 3) to teach us to appreciate and make use of the great gift of the Holy Eucharist, both as a Sacrament and as a sacrifice. In the three-year cycle of the Sunday liturgy, there is a different theme each year for this Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ. In Cycle A the theme is the Eucharist as our food and drink; in Cycle B the emphasis is on the Eucharist as the sign of the covenant; and in Cycle C the theme focuses on the priesthood of Jesus. Although we celebrate the institution of the Holy Eucharist on Holy Thursday, the Church wants to emphasize its importance by a special feast, formerly called “Corpus Christi.” It was Pope Urban IV who first extended the feast to the universal Church. This is one of the few feasts left in which we observe a pre-Gospel procession and a sung “Sequence.” The historical development: Today's celebration of the Body and Blood of the Lord originated in the Diocese of Liege, Belgium, in 1246 as the feast of Corpus Christi. In the reforms of Vatican II, Corpus Christi was joined with the feast of the Precious Blood (July 1) to become the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of the Lord. We celebrate today Christ's gift to us of the Eucharist, the Source and Summit of our life together as the Church. The Council of Trent (1545 to 1563), declared that we must honor Our Lord Jesus Christ in the Faith of Catholics in the Most Holy Eucharist might be attracted to the Eucharistic Lord and believe in the Divinity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, present in this great Sacrament. "The Catholic Church teaches that in the Eucharist, the Body and Blood of the God-man are really, truly, substantially, and abidingly present together with his soul and Divinity by reason of the Transubstantiation of the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ. This takes place in the unbloodysacrifice of the Mass." The Biblical foundation: Our belief in this Real Presence of Jesus in the Holy Eucharist derives from the literal interpretation of the promise of Christ to give us his Body and Blood for our spiritual food and drink, as found in St. John's Gospel, Chapter 6, and also in the four independent accounts of the fulfillment of this promise at the Last Supper (Mt 26; Mk 14; Lk 22; 1 Cor11). Eucharistic theologians explain the Real Presence by a process called transubstantiation: the entire substance of bread and wine is changed into the entire substance of the risen and glorified Body and Blood of Christ, retaining only the “accidents” (taste, color, shape) of bread and wine. Can there be a religion in which God is closer to man than our Catholic Christianity? Jesus does not believe that he is humiliating himself in coming to us and giving himself to us in his Flesh and Blood to be our spiritual Food. Analysis of today’s readings: The first reading (Dt 8:2-3, 14-16): The setting of today’s first reading is near the end of the Exodus from Egypt when the people are at last becoming accustomed to their long-promised new homeland. Moses realizes that the sudden change from hardship to comfort and security may dull the people and make them forgetful of the Lord on whom they depend. Therefore, he tells them, "Remember," and "Do not forget,” referring to the manna that the Lord had miraculously provided for them earlier. The Church chooses this reading for today because we see in the manna a prototype of the Eucharist. But we do not read directly from this “manna narrative" (Exodus 16), for today’s feast. Rather, we are enjoined “not to forget,” and “to remember.” That is what we do when we celebrate the Eucharist. We remember Jesus' self-gift at the Last Supper and on the Cross. God has endowed this act with the power to make the remembered events present to us again. In the responsorial psalm (Ps 147), the Psalmist takes up the theme of God's providential care and His close association with His people. The second reading: (1 Cor 10:16-17): The Corinthian Christians were apparently ill-mannered and rude in their celebration of the Lord's Supper. So Paul was trying to make them behave in a more Christ-like fashion. Paul was also clearly distinguishing the Eucharist from the ritual meals of some pagan groups known to the Corinthians. For Paul, “the Body of Christ” can have two meanings: the Body of Christ that we share in the Eucharist and the Body of Christ that we form as the community of believers, united with the risen Christ. Paul extended this union with Jesus to include union with all believers. As Paul says, “the cup of blessing is a sharing in the Blood of Christ, and the bread we break is a sharing in the Body of Christ.” The language is mystical, but it carries the meaning of the union of all believers with Jesus and thus with one another. “Because there is one Bread, we who are many are one Body because we all partake of the one Bread” (1 Cor 10: -17). Today’s Gospel passage (Jn 6:51-58) is situated in the context of what is sometimes called Jesus' Eucharistic discourse. These verses constitute the ending of the “Bread of Life Discourse” (John 6: 22-58), given at the synagogue in Capernaum whereJesus identified himself as “the living Bread that came down from Heaven,” thus linking himself with the manna in the wilderness. The Eucharistic discourse is a teaching about the Lord's providential care for his faithful followers, describing Jesus’ promises to the Jewish crowd that He would give them his Body and Blood as their spiritual food and drink. The reference in today’s passage to the manna in the desert alludes to the care of God for His people during the years of their desert wandering. The manna God provided and the water He gave sustained their natural life at the time. Eventually, however, they died. But Jesus claimed that he was the true Bread come down from Heaven to give everlasting Life. "One who eats this Bread will live forever" (John 6:58). Our participation in the Eucharist concretizes and energizes our relationships with Christ and one another. The process of eating and ingesting the Bread is the sign of our belief in the Word Who thus gives Himself to us, and through Whom we thus receive eternal life. The separate mention of "flesh" and "blood" symbolizes theologically Jesus' redemptive death for all people. Exegesis: Theological significance: Vatican II states that as a sacrifice, "the Holy Eucharist is the center and culmination of Christian life" (Lumen Gentium, 11). Why? 1) Because it enables us to participate in Christ’s sacrifice as a present reality and to benefit from its fruits in our own lives. 2) Because it helps us to worship the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in the most perfect way. 3) Because it strengthens our charity and unity with Jesus and each other in a joint offering of his Body and Blood to the Father. 4) Because it gives us a lasting memorial of Christ’s suffering, death and Resurrection, reminding us of our obligation to make loving sacrifices for others. The Eucharist is the Mystery of our Faith, the Mystery of our Hope, the Mystery of our Charity. Why do we celebrate the Eucharist some 2,000 years later? We do this because Jesus told us to do so: “Do this in memory of me.” St. Augustine in the 5^th century AD said it best when he said: “It is your Mystery, the Mystery of your life that has been placed on the altar.” This Holy Memorial is known by various names: 1) "The Eucharist” because Jesus offered himself to God the Father as an act of thanksgiving; 2) "The Lord’s Supper" -- or “The Breaking of the Bread”-- because we celebrate it as a meal; 3) "Holy Communion" because, we become one with Christ by receiving him; and 4) "Holy Mass” (holy sending), because it gives us a mission: “Go in peace glorifying God by your life.” Jesus replaces the Old Covenant with the New Covenant: Jesus instituted the Eucharist in deliberate allusion to, and fulfillment of, what happened on Mount Sinai. He replaced Moses as the God-chosen mediator, establishing the New Covenant promised through the prophet Jeremiah (Jer 31:31-34), by using His own Blood rather than that of sacrificial animals. By sacramentally consuming the Body and Blood of the God-Man, we, the final-age people of God, are interiorly transformed through the most perfect possible union with God. Jesus creates a faithful people intimately united with God by means of his Sacramental Blood. The Jewish Passover is transformed into the Eucharistic celebration: Jesus instituted the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist while eating the Passover meal, the feast on which the Jews still gather annually to commemorate their ancestors' deliverance from Egyptian slavery. This foundational event began the night God "passed over" the Israelites while punishing their oppressors, who had resisted His will. Israel was "saved through the blood" of sacrificial lambs sprinkled on doorways. (There are some modern Bible scholars who doubt whether Jesus’ Last Supper was strictly a Passover meal because many items of the Passover meal are not mentioned). In the second half of today's Gospel, Jesus' words and gestures are understood as mediating the fullness of salvation through Blood that would be his own. That night he offered "the Blood of the (New) Covenant," as Blood to be drunk rather than sprinkled. Moreover, since it was his own, this Blood needed no further identification with God by splashing against an altar. Finally, the Blood was "to be poured out on behalf of the many (a Semitism for 'all')." Thus, the new and perfect Paschal Lamb accomplished for people of every nation what Mosaic sacrifices only imperfectly achieved for the Jews. The giving of both "Body" and "Blood" establishes the context of Jesus' sacrificial death, a New Covenant sealed with his Blood. The Sacrament and the sacrifice: Jesus instituted the Holy Eucharist during the Last Supper as a Sacramental banquet and a sacrificial offering. As a Sacrament, the Holy Eucharist is an outward sign in and through which we meet Jesus who shares his life of grace with us. “In the Most Blessed Sacrament of the Eucharist the Body and Blood, together with the soul and Divinity, of our Lord Jesus Christ and, therefore, the whole Christ is truly, really, and substantially contained" (CCC #1374). In this Sacrament of the Eucharist, we do meet Jesus, the Risen Lord who comes to us under signs of Bread and Wine to nourish and strengthen us for our journey through life. The Eucharistic Meal is a great mystery because during the Eucharistic celebration the substance of bread and wine are converted into the substance of the risen Jesus' Body and Blood, while their appearances (or ’accidents’) remain. We believe in this transformation of bread and wine (called Transubstantiation), because Jesus unequivocally taught it and authorized his apostles to repeat it. As a Sacrament, the Holy Eucharist imparts to us Jesus’ abiding presence in our souls. In addition, we share in his Divine life, which is an assurance of eternal life and the basis for the conviction that we are children of God the Father. God shares His life with Jesus and with all other people. The Eucharist is the Sacrament of our union with Jesus. In this Sacrament, Jesus gives us his own Body, broken for us on the cross and his precious Blood poured out for us, in order that our sins may be forgiven. The Eucharistic celebration is also a sacrifice because it is the re-presentation or re-living in an unbloody manner of Christ’s Death on GoodFriday and of his Resurrection on Easter Sunday. By means of signs, symbols and prayers, we share in Christ’s passion, death and Resurrection made really present for us in an unbloody manner. This re-presenting, this re-living, of the One Sacrifice of Christ, which is the heart and point of every Mass, assures us of Jesus’ love for us and of his forgiveness of our sins. Through this sacrifice, the risen Jesus becomes present on the altar, offering himself to the Father through the ministry of the priest. Life Messages: 1) We need to receive this message of unity and sacrificial love: The Eucharist, (the Body and Blood of Christ), teaches us the importance of community, the bond that results from this sacrifice. John Chrysostom says: “What is the Bread actually? The Body of Christ. What do communicants become? The Body of Christ. Just as the bread comes from many grains, which remain themselves and are not distinguished from one another because they are united, so we are united with Christ.” Just as numerous grains of wheat are pounded together to make the host, and many grapes are crushed together to make the wine, so we become unified in this sacrifice. Our Lord chose these elements in order to show us that we ought to seek union with one another, to allow the Holy Spirit to transform us into Our Lord Jesus Christ and to work with Him in the process. Christ is the Head and we are the Body. Together we are one. That which unites us is our willingness to sacrifice our time, talents and treasure as needed to God in our fellow members in Christ’s Mystical Body. This is symbolized by our sharing in the same Bread and the same Cup. Hence, Holy Communion should strengthen our sense of unity and love. 2) We need to prepare properly to receive Holy Communion: We have tarnished God’s image within us through acts of impurity, injustice, disobedience and the like. Hence, there is always need for repentance, and a need for the Sacramental confession of grave sins, before we receive Holy Communion. We should remember the warning given by St. Paul: "Whoever, therefore, eats the Bread or drinks the Cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be answerable for the Body and Blood of the Lord. Examine yourselves, and only then eat of the Bread and drink of the Cup. For all who eat and drink without discerning the Body, eat and drink judgment against themselves." [1 Cor 11:27-9]. Hence, let us receive Holy Communion with fervent love and respect -- not merely as a matter of routine. St. Paul is speaking also of the Mystical Body of Christ, i.e., the people of God gathered at the altar. Such a union, plainly, means that our outward piety towards the consecrated Bread and Wine cannot coexist with rudeness, unkindness, slander, cruelty, gossiping or any other breach of charity toward our brothers and sisters. 3) We need to become Christ-bearers and -conveyers: By receiving Holy Communion we become Christ-bearers as Mary was, with the duty of conveying Christ to others at home and in the workplace, as love, mercy, forgiveness and humble and sacrificial service. As we celebrate this great feast of faith, let us worship what St. Thomas Aquinas did not hesitate to call, "the greatest miracle that Christ ever worked on earth ... My Body ... My Blood". Before the greatness of this mystery, let us exclaim with St. Augustine,"O Sacrament of devotion! O Sign of unity! O Bond of charity!" Let us also repeat St. Thomas Aquinas' prayer of devotion in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament: "O Sacrament most holy! O Sacrament Divine! All praise and all thanksgiving be every momentThine!" JOKE OF THE WEEK: "Do you think two cases of whiskey are enough?" There was to be a Baptismal party for the new baby of a soldier and his wife at their home on an Army base. Before the ceremony the chaplain took the new father aside. "Are you prepared for this solemn event?" he asked. "I guess so," replied the soldier. "I've got two hams, pickles, bread, cake, cookies…" "No, no!" interrupted the chaplain. "I mean spiritually prepared!" "Well, I don't know," said the soldier thoughtfully. "Do you think two cases of whiskey are enough?" Beyond all that we hunger for is the hunger for spiritual nourishment. Sometimes people aren't even aware that this exists. But Jesus realized this hunger and instituted the Holy Eucharist to feed our starving souls.

Easter IV – A (1)

Synopsis: Easter IV [A] Sunday Homily on John 10:1-10 Introduction: On this Good Shepherd Sunday and World Day of Prayer for Vocations, the Church reminds us of our call to become good shepherds of God’s flock and good sheep of His parishes and invites us to pray for vocations to the priesthood, the diaconate and the consecrated life. Both the Old and New Testaments use the image of a Shepherd and His flock to describe the unique relationship of God with Israel and of the Christ with Christians. The first reading is taken from St. Peter’s first sermon, given on the day of Pentecost. He reminds his Jewish listeners that they have crucified their true Shepherd. Hence, they need to receive the forgiveness of their sin by getting baptized in the name of Jesus and acknowledging the risen Jesus as their Lord and Savior, as Jesus had commanded. The Responsorial Psalm (Ps 23), introduces Yahweh as the Good Shepherd of Israel Who cares for us, His sheep, providing for our needs. In the second reading, Peter encourages the suffering Christians to follow in the footsteps of their Good Shepherd, Jesus, the “suffering servant,” realizing the truth that Jesus’ suffering and death have enabled them to become more fully the children of God. In today’s Gospel, two brief parables show us Jesus, the first as our unique gateway to eternal salvation ("sheep gate") and the second as a selfless, caring “shepherd” who provides his sheep protection and life itself. Besides guiding his flock to Eternal Life as the Good Shepherd, Jesus is himself the gateway to Eternal Life. Life Messages: 1) We need to become good shepherds and good leaders: Everyone who is entrusted with the care of others is a shepherd. Hence, pastors, parents, teachers, doctors, nurses, government officials and caregivers, among others, are all shepherds. We become good shepherds by loving those entrusted to us, praying for them, spending our time, talents and blessings for their welfare, and guarding them from physical and spiritual dangers. Parents must be especially careful of their duties by giving good example and instruction to their children, training them in Christian principles. 2) We need to become good sheep in the fold of Jesus, the Good Shepherd: Our local parish is our sheepfold, and our pastors are our shepherds. Jesus is the High Priest, the Bishops are the successors of the Apostles, the pastors are their helpers and the parishioners are the sheep. Hence, as the good sheep of the parish, parishioners are expected to a) Hear and follow the voice of our shepherds through their homilies, Bible classes, counseling and advice. b) Receive the spiritual food given by our pastors through our regular participation in the Holy Mass, our frequenting of the Sacraments and our participation in the prayer Cheap Fleecewear Stone Island services, renewal programs and missions they offer. c) Cooperate with our pastors by giving them positive suggestions for the welfare of the parish, by encouraging them in their duties, by lovingly correcting them with constructive criticism when they are found misbehaving or failing in their duties and always by praying for them d) Actively participate in the activities of various councils, ministries and parish associations. 3) We need to pray for vocations. (L/17) -------------------------- EASTER IV [A] Sunday: Acts 2:14, 36-41; 1Pt 2:20-25; Jn 10:1-10 Anecdote: 1) Pope St. John Paul II, the good shepherd. The most beautiful and meaningful comment on the life and the legacy of our late Holy Father, Pope St. John Paul II, was made by the famous televangelist, Billy Graham. In a TV interview, he said: “He lived like his Master, the Good Shepherd, and he died like his Master, the Good Shepherd.” In today’s Gospel, Jesus claims that he is the Good Shepherd and explains what he does for his sheep. 2) Moses, the shepherd-leader: The Jews had a lovely legend to explain why God chose Moses to be the leader of His people. "When Moses was feeding the sheep of his father-in-law in the wilderness, a young lamb ran away. Moses followed it until it reached a ravine, where it found a well to drink from. When Moses got up to it, he said: `I did not know that you ran away because you were thirsty. Now you must be weary.' He took the lamb on his shoulders and carried it back. Then God said: `Because you have shown pity in leading back one of a flock belonging to another man, you shall lead my flock Israel.'" 3) Showing the way: In San Salvador on March 24, 1980, an assassin killed Archbishop Oscar Romero with a single shot to the heart while he was saying Mass. Only a few minutes before, Archbishop Romero had finished a hope-filled Stone Island Jeans Mens Sale Uk homily in which he urged the people to serve one another. Since Archbishop Romero was demanding human rights for his people under oppression, he knew that his life was in danger. Still he persisted in speaking out against tyranny and for freedom. He once told newspapermen that even if his enemies killed him, he would rise again among his people. Today, good shepherds who lay down their lives are husbands and wives who can’t do enough for each other to demonstrate their commitment to each other; parents who make countless sacrifices for the good of their children; teachers who spend untold hours instructing the weak students; doctors and nurses who work untiringly, spending themselves to care for their patients; employers who share profits with their Cheap Stone Island Down Jacket Men workers; politicians who unselfishly promote the common good of their voters and parishioners who generously support their parish community (Albert Cylwicki in His Word Resounds). Full movie: (parts i-iv) Introduction: This is Good Shepherd Sunday. Today, the Church calls us to reflect on the meaning of God's call for each of us and to pray for vocations to the priesthood, the diaconate and the consecrated life because the entire Christian community shares the responsibility for fostering vocations. Both the Old and New Testaments use the image of a Shepherd and His flock to describe the unique relationship of God with Israel and Christ with Christians. The first reading is taken from St. Peter’s first sermon, given on Pentecost. Here, he exhorts his listeners, Jewish people gathered for the Feast of Weeks – the "Sabbath" of the seven weeks that have elapsed since Passover -- to know beyond any doubt that the One they have allowed to be crucified is the true Shepherd, the Lord and Messiah. Peter then proclaims that the proper response to the Good News about Jesus is to repent and be baptized “in the name of Jesus Christ,” and thus to become members of the Good Shepherd’s flock. Through the Sacrament of Baptism, they will receive the forgiveness of sins. The Responsorial Psalm (Ps 23), introduces Yahweh as the Good Shepherd of Israel and describes all of the things the Lord does for us, His sheep, in providing for our needs. The second reading continues the "shepherd” imagery. Peter encourages the suffering Christians to follow in their shepherd’s (“suffering servant”) footsteps and remember that they have been claimed by him. Peter also explains how Jesus, the innocent sufferer, was a model of patience and trust in God, and he reminds us that Jesus’ suffering has enabled us to become more fully children of God. In today’s Gospel, two brief parables about sheep reveal Jesus as our unique means to salvation. He is the "sheep gate," the gateway to eternal life, and the selfless, caring “shepherd” who provides protection and life itself. The first reading, Acts 2:14a, 36-41: This text gives us a summary of the whole Gospel message: Who Jesus is, how he saves us, and how we should respond. Peter tells the people: “You crucified your God and Messiah, but he has risen from death and offers you forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” The conclusion of the sermon sums up the whole kerygma in a single Christological formula: "God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus Whom you crucified." The titles "Lord" and "Christ” have great significance. "Lord" was a title reserved for God alone. When early Christians realized that God had been made flesh in the person of Jesus, they dared to give him this Divine title. "Christ" is the Greek form of the Hebrew word "Messiah," meaning the "anointed one,” or "King." He is the long-awaited successor to King David, and the fulfillment of all the hopes based on David’s glorious reign. The second reading: 1 Peter 2:20b-25: The "shepherd" reference in the last verse of this reading from Peter’s epistle links it to the day's Gospel. “He himself bore our sins in his body upon the cross, so that, free from sin, we might live for righteousness. By his wounds, you have been healed. For you had gone astray like sheep, but now you have returned to the Shepherd, the guardian of your souls” (vv. 24-25). Peter then makes three contrasts in this part of his epistle: a) between what Jesus suffered and his surprising Cheap Mens Stone Island Jacket Sale responses: "...insulted, he returned no insult;" "when he suffered, he did not threaten"(v. 23); b) between Jesus and us: HE bore OUR sins; by HIS wounds WE are healed (v. 24); c) between our former lost condition and our graced present state. Exegesis: The context: Jesus was not talking to his followers. He was addressing the Pharisees. They were accusing him of being from the devil because he had healed a blind man on the Sabbath. His response was that he was the Good Shepherd. He was not like the hired hands who collected their pay for watching the sheep but abandoned the sheep in their time of need because they didn’t really care about the sheep. So, the Pharisees knew exactly what Jesus meant — he was claiming to be God. They also knew he was contrasting himself to them — the hired hands entrusted to care for God’s people, but caring only for themselves. Yahweh, the Good Shepherd. For a long time, the Jewish people had used the Good Shepherd image for God. The usage goes all the way back to Genesis 49:24, which says that Joseph was saved "By the power of the mighty one of Jacob, by the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel, the God of your father ..." Such imagery was used by Moses, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Amos, Zechariah, and of course by David in his Psalms. The psalmist addresses Yahweh as his Shepherd. Psalm 23:1 “The Lord is my Shepherd; nothing shall I want.” (Compare also Psalms 77:20, 79:13, 97:7). "He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hand" (Ps.95:7). “Like a shepherd, He feeds His flock; in His arms He gathers the lambs, carrying them in His bosom, and leading the ewes with care” (Isaiah 40:11). Ezekiel foretells what the Messiah will do as Good Shepherd. “I myself will tend My sheep …I will search for the lost and bring back the strays. I will bind up the injured and strengthen the weak” (Ezekiel 34: 15-16). In short, God is the ultimate Shepherd of the people, providing guidance, sustenance and protection (Psalm 23), and He intended their Kings and other leaders to be their shepherds as well. The Good Shepherd image in the New Testament: In Palestine, the word "shepherd" was a synonym for selfless love, sincerity, commitment and sacrificial service. Hence, Jesus selects it as the most fitting term to denote his life and mission (Mt 2:6, 9:36, 18:12-14, 26:31; Mk 6:34, 14:27; Lk 12:32, 15:4; I Pt 2:25, 5:2-4; Heb 13:20). The prophets pointed out the main duties of the Good Shepherd: 1) The Good Shepherd leads the sheep to the pasture, provides them with food and water and protects them. In Palestine, the shepherd went in front and the sheep followed behind. 2) He guarded them, not allowing them to get lost in the desert or become victims of robbers and wild Stone Island Polo Shirts Mens animals - preventive vigilance. 3) He went in search of the lost ones and healed their wounds - protective vigilance. 4) He was ready to surrender his life for his sheep - redemptive vigilance. The first parable in today’s Gospel: The first part of today’s Gospel contrasts Jesus, the true Shepherd, with fake shepherds, thieves and robbers. Jesus gives us warning against false shepherds and false teachers in his Church. Jesus' love and concern for each of us must be accepted with trust and serenity because he alone is our Shepherd, and no one else deserves our undivided commitment. As a true Shepherd, he leads his sheep, giving them the food and protection only Jesus, the Good Shepherd, can provide, and he protects us and leads us to true happiness. The second parable. During the time of Jesus in the land of Palestine, the shepherds would bring the sheep down from the hills in the evening to protect them at night when the wolves and mountain lions were hunting their prey. At night, the shepherds would gather their sheep together and lead them into large pens or sheepfolds which had five-foot-high stone walls. The shepherds put the prickly briars along the top of the wall to prevent the mountain lions and wolves from jumping over it. Now, the doorway was about two feet wide, a narrow space in the front wall facing a fire of wood lit outside at night. The shepherd himself would sleep there in the small opening of the stone wall facing the burning fire with his club and staff. If any mountain lion came, the shepherd would fight it off with his weapons, his short stocky club or his long-pointed staff. Thus, literally and actually, the shepherd himself was the door. In this second parable Jesus compares himself to the Shepherd and to the Gate. The first title represents His ownership because Shepherd is the true owner of the sheep. The second title represents His leadership. Jesus is the Gate, the only Way. He is the One Mediator between God and mankind. All must go through Him, through His Church, in order to arrive in Heaven. By identifying Himself with the sheep-gate, Jesus gives the assurance that whoever enters the pen through Him will be safe and well cared-for. Jesus is the living Door to His Father’s house and Father’s family, the Door into the Father’s safety and into the fullness of life. It is through Jesus, the Door, that we come into the sheepfold where we are protected from the wolves of life. There is safety and security in being a Christian. There is a spiritual, emotional and psychological security and safety when we live within Jesus and his Church, within the protectiveness of Christ, Christian friends and a Christian family. Life Messages: 1) We need to be good shepherds and good leaders: Everyone who is entrusted with the care of others is a shepherd. Hence, pastors, parents, teachers, doctors, nurses, government officials, and caregivers, among others, are all shepherds. We become good shepherds by loving those entrusted to us, praying for them, spending our time, talents and blessings for their welfare, and guarding them from physical and spiritual dangers. Parents must be especially careful of their duties toward their children, giving them good example and sound religious instruction. Above all, parents should pray for their children and infuse into them sound Christian moral principles. 2) We need to be good sheep in the fold of Jesus, the Good Shepherd: Our local parish is our sheepfold, and our pastors are our shepherds. Jesus is the High Priest, the Bishops are the successors of the Apostles, the pastors are their helpers and the parishioners are the sheep. Hence, as the good sheep of the parish, parishioners are expected to a) Hear and follow the voice of our shepherds through their homilies, Bible classes, counseling and advice. b) Receive the spiritual food given by our pastors by regular participation in the Holy Mass, by frequenting the Sacraments and by participating in prayer services, renewal programs and missions as far as we are able to do so. c) Cooperate with our pastors by giving them positive suggestions for the welfare of the parish, by encouraging them in their duties, by lovingly correcting them with constructive criticism when they are found misbehaving or failing in their duties and, always, by praying for them d) Actively participate in the work of various councils, ministries and parish associations. 3) We need to pray for good pastors and vocations. The Church uses this Sunday to encourage vocations to the ministerial priesthood, the diaconate and the consecrated life. All Christians share in the responsibility of fostering these vocations: a) The faith community must continuously pray for vocations both in the Church and in their families. b) Since good priests, deacons and people embracing the consecrated life come from good Christian families, all Christian parents need to live their faith in Christ on a daily basis by leading exemplary lives as parents and by fostering good relationships with, and among, their children. c) Parents need to respect and encourage a child who shows an interest in becoming a priest or deacon or of entering upon a consecrated life. Parents need to encourage their children, including their teenagers and young adults, to participate actively in the children’s and youth activities in the parish, like Sunday school, children’s clubs, and youth associations. They also need to encourage and actively support them in becoming altar servants, gift-bearers, lectors and ministers of hospitality. On this World Day of Prayer for Religious Vocations, let us begin, or continue, to pray for our priests, deacons and those living a consecrated life instead of criticizing them. Jokes of the week: Modern shepherds: Four pastors, taking a short break from their heavy Cheap Mens Stone Island Accessories schedules, were on a park bench, chatting and enjoying an early spring day. “You know, since all of us are such good friends,” said one, “this might be a good time to discuss personal problems.” They all agreed. “Well, I would like to share with you the fact that I drink to excess,” said one. There was a gasp from the other three. Then another spoke up. “Since you were so honest, I’d like to say that my big problem is gambling. It’s terrible, I know, but I can’t quit. I’ve even been tempted to take money from the tithing contribution.” Another gasp was heard, and the third clergyman spoke up. “I’m really troubled, brothers, because I’m growing fond of a woman in my church — a married woman.” More gasps. But the fourth remained silent. After a few minutes the others coaxed him to open up. “The fact is,” he said, “I just don’t know how to tell you about my problem.” “It’s all right, brother. Your secret is safe with us,” said the others. “Well, it’s this way,” he said. “You see, I’m an incurable gossip monger. I wonder how I would not share these personal problems with my wife.” 2) "I guess you must be a sheep dog." A pastor was teaching the 23rd Psalm in the Sunday school. He told the children about sheep, that they weren't smart and needed lots of guidance, and that a shepherd's job was to stay close to the sheep, protect them from wild animals and keep them from wandering off. He pointed to the little children in the room and said that they were the sheep and needed lots of guidance. Then the pastor put his hands out to the side, palms up in a dramatic gesture, and with raised eyebrows said to the children, "If you are the sheep, then who is the shepherd?" He was pretty sure that all the kids would point out to him as the shepherd. A silence of a few seconds followed. Then a young girl said, "Jesus! Jesus is the shepherd." The young pastor, obviously caught by surprise, said to the little girl, "Well then, who am I?" The girl frowned thoughtfully and then said with a shrug, "I guess you must be a sheep dog." 3) Pastor’s vacation: It's been said that every pastor ought to have six weeks of vacation each year, because if he is a really good shepherd, he deserves it; and if he is not a very good shepherd, his congregation deserves it. L/17

Easter V – A (1)

Synopsis: Easter V [A] Sunday (Homily on John 14:1-12 Introduction: Today’s readings tell us how the early Church accepted the challenge of keeping Jesus’ memory alive by remaining a dynamic Christian community, bearing witness to Christ by their unity, fidelity in worship and spirit of loving and humble service. Today’s Gospel introduces Jesus as the Way to God, the Truth to be accepted and the Life to be Ferragamo Mens Slip Ons Sale Online shared and lived. Scripture lessons: The first reading, taken from Acts, shows us the early Church as a loving, serving and worshipping community (Acts 6:1-7). Hence, it easily solved a problem of perceived discrimination by instituting the diaconate for the service of the community. In the second reading, St. Peter advises the early Christians to renew the memory of Jesus by making their community a spiritual edifice built from the “living stones” of believers upon the “Living Cornerstone of Christ” (I Pt 2:4-5). Peter praises Christians, Ferragamo Womens Sneakers Sale Gentiles and Jewish, as “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, and God’s own people.” In today’s Gospel, Jesus consoles his apostles who are sad and disheartened at the prospect of his arrest and crucifixion by assuring them that he is going to prepare an everlasting accommodation for them in his Father’s House in Heaven. He gives them the assurance that he will come back to take them to their Heavenly abodes. It is then that Thomas asks Jesus where he is going and the way to reach him. Jesus answers Thomas’ question with, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but by me.” The basic doctrine of Judaism is that Yahweh is the Way the Truth and the Life. Hence, Jesus is making a revolutionary claim that he is equivalent to Yahweh. Jesus declares that he is the safest and surest way to God, discrediting the notions that all religions are equally sure ways to reach God, or that no organized religion but only living a good life of sharing love is necessary to reach God. But Jesus the Way is narrow Ferragamo Shoes Sale Online because it is the way of loving, humble and Cheap Ferragamo Mens Belts Sale sacrificial service. Jesus is the Truth who taught revealed truths about God and God’s relation to man. Jesus also taught moral truths by demonstrating them in his life. Jesus is the Life because as God he possesses the eternal life of God and shares his Divine life with his disciples through the Word of God and the Sacraments. Life messages: We need to accept Jesus as the Way, Truth and the Life: We accept Jesus as the Way by walking the narrow way of loving, humble and sacrificial service. We accept Jesus the Truth by learning and practicing what he taught as given in the Bible and in the teachings of the Church. We share the Divine life of God by making use of the means Jesus established in his Church. a) By actively participating in the Eucharistic celebration and properly Ferragamo Mens Wallets Sale receiving the Body and Blood of Christ in Holy Communion. b) By the worthy reception of the other Sacraments. c) By the meditative and daily reading of the Word of God. d) By allowing the Holy Spirit living in the Church and within us to guide and strengthen us. e) By communicating with God the Source of Life, in personal and family prayers. EASTER V [A] : Acts 6:1-7, I Pt 2:4-9, Jn 14:1-12 (L/17) Anecdotes: 1)” My Father’s house.” When St. John Chrysostom was summoned before the Roman Emperor Ferragamo Womens Sneakers Sale Online Arcadius and threatened with banishment, he replied, “You cannot banish me, for the world is my Father’s house.” “Then I will kill you,” exclaimed the Emperor angrily. “No, you cannot,” retorted Chrysostom, “because my life is hidden with Christ in God.” “Your treasures shall be confiscated,” the Emperor replied grimly. “Sir, you can’t do that because my treasures are in Heaven as my heart is there.” “I will drive you from your people, and you shall have no friends left,” threatened the Emperor. “That you cannot do either, Sir, for I have a Friend in Heaven Who has said, ‘I will never leave you or forsake you.’” In today’s Gospel Jesus, the Way, the Truth and the Life, gives us the same assurance. “In my Father's house, there are many dwelling places. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back again and take you to myself, so that where I am you also may be.” #2) Surprises in Heaven: A few years ago, a minister of the United Methodist Church was forced out of his congregation and the ministry because he had the “audacity to preach heresy” during his Sunday sermon: "I'm in a Church,” he said, “which acts as if God has a very small house, with only a few rooms and only one door. But thanks be to God, God's house, according to Jesus, has many rooms, many places to dwell. If it were not so, he would have told us." To add fuel to the fire, he explained his theory with a story. A good man died and was ushered into heaven, which appeared to be an enormous house. An angel began to escort him down a long hallway past "many rooms". "What's in that room?" the man asked, pointing to a very somber-looking group of people chanting a Gregorian Mass. "That's the Roman Catholic room,” said the angel. “Very high church.” "What's in that noisy room?" the man asked, pointing to a group of white-clothed people dancing, clapping and singing and occasionally shrieking out loud. "That's the Pentecostal group," said the angel. "Very lively." "What's in that room?" asked the man, pointing to a group of bald-headed people meditating to the sound of an enormous gong." That's the Zen group," said the angel. "Very quiet. You would hardly know they were here." Then the angel stopped the man, as they were about to round a corner. "Now, when we get to the next room," said the angel, "I would appreciate it if you would tiptoe past. We mustn't make any sound." "Why's that?" asked the man. "Because in that room there's a bunch of very fundamentalist Christians; and they think they're the only ones here." In today’s Gospel, Jesus gives a true picture of his Father’s house. Introduction: Today’s readings tell us how the early Church accepted the challenge of keeping Jesus’ memory alive in the Christian community by fashioning it into a serving and worshipping community (Acts 6:1-7), making of it a spiritual edifice built from the “living stones” of believers upon the “Living Cornerstone of Christ” (I Pt 2:4-5), and as the Father’s House (John 14:1-12). Today’s Gospel gives the image of the Church as a Church in glory in the Father’s House. It also reminds us of the great truth that Jesus is the Way to God, that he is the Truth of God and that in him and through him we receive God’s own Life. Today’s readings demand from us real Faith not only in God the Father but also in Jesus precisely because he is “the Way, the Truth and the Life” (Jn. 14:6). “You have faith in God; have faith also in Me” (Jn. 14:1).

Easter VI – A (1)

Synopsis: Easter VI [A] Sunday on John 14:15-21 (L-17) Introduction: From Easter to Pentecost our readings focus on the early apostolic preaching of the Good News of salvation and on the promises of Jesus to his disciples, especially his promise of the Holy Spirit. Today's readings explain Who the Holy Spirit is, what His roles are and how we can experience Him in our daily lives. Scripture lessons: The first reading describes how the Holy Spirit helped the Deacon Philip to preach powerfully and convert the Samaritans in large numbers. It also explains how the baptized Samaritans received a fresh anointing of the Holy Spirit through the imposition of hands by the apostles Peter and John. In the second reading, Peter shows us the God-fearing lives, which the Holy Spirit makes it possible for believers, including ourselves, to live in the midst of opposition and persecution. Today’s Gospel, taken from Jesus’ “Last Supper Discourse,” describes the gift he will send, the Holy Spirit, Who will live as the Paraclete, the Divine Advocate, in those who obey Jesus’ commandments, especially the commandment of love. Thus, Jesus will continue to live in his believers with the Father and the Holy Spirit and they will not be left as orphans. The risen Jesus’ continued presence in us and in the Church through the Holy Spirit gives meaning and purpose to all we are and all we do in his Name. As the Divine Advocate, the Holy Spirit will instruct us in Jesus’ doctrines and illumine our minds to receive deeper knowledge of our Faith. In addition, the Divine Advocate will empower us to defend our Faith powerfully and guide us properly in the practice of true Christian love. Thus, we will be able to recognize Jesus in the in the poor, in the sick, in the homeless, in the marginalized, in the outcast, in the drug addicts and even in the criminals ("I was in prison..."), thus becoming agents of healing and reconciliation in a broken and divided world. Life message: 1) We need to be open to the Holy Spirit, our Paraclete. The purpose of the indwelling Holy Spirit is to help us grow towards maturity and wholeness. We all have faults that prevent our growth: blocks of sin and imperfection, blocks due to childhood conflicts, blocks due to deeply ingrained personality traits and habits, blocks caused by addictions, and blocks resulting from bad choices we have made. We all have these blocks within us and they keep us from becoming what God wants us to be. They prevent us from growing into maturity and wholeness. God, the Holy Spirit, helps us see the truth about ourselves, to discern the blocks that inhibit our growth and to allow Him to transform us. Like the good counselor He is, the Spirit enables us to become stronger. The Holy Spirit also comes to our aid and gives us the strength to make difficult and painful decisions. God’s Spirit actually lives in us, and we hear the voice of the Spirit, counseling and guiding us in the way of truth. Let us open the ears of our minds to hear Him and to obey His promptings. EASTER VI [A] (May 21): Acts 8:5-8, 14-17, I Pt 3:15-18, Jn 14:15-21. Anecdote: # 1: The Winners: Upon until 1987, only eleven horses had won the coveted Triple Crown in Thoroughbred racing. What is it that makes some horses winning thoroughbreds? Why is it that some horses have more speed, strength and stamina than other horses? Essentially, of course, these traits have to come from within the horses themselves: from their own inner capacity and from their inherited gene structure. Still, it seems that they also need help from outside. To become champions, they need the help of expert trainers and skillful jockeys to activate and develop their inner powers. It is the same with us. Born human, we have within us capacities to love, learn, choose, work and so on. But we need the help of parents, teachers and friends to activate and develop these capacities so that we can reach our full human potential. That is why we need the Holy Spirit and why Jesus promised to send Him to us: “I will ask the Father and He will give you another Paraclete – to be with you always; to remain with you and be within you.” (Albert Cylwicki in His Word Resounds) # 2: "I would obey the commandments of God." When Jimmy Carter was running for President of the United States, one of the more vivid moments in the campaign passed by almost unnoticed. One Sunday morning, candidate Carter had been worshipping at the Baptist Church in Plains, Georgia. When the service was over, he exited the church into the swarm of press encamped on the church's front lawn. Cameras whirring, video lights glaring, microphones thrust forward, the media mavens moved in for interviews, pushing themselves to think of clever questions to ask a Presidential candidate on the way out of a Southern Baptist Church. Suddenly, a reporter, probably with a stroke of luck, shouted out a question that genuinely mattered: "Mr. Carter, suppose when you are President, you get into a situation where the laws of the United States are in conflict with what you understand to be the will of God. Which will you follow, the laws of the state or the commandments of God?" Carter stopped, looked up, perhaps with the Spirit gently whispering the lyrics of the Gospel into his ears, he turned toward the reporter and replied, "I would obey the commandments of God." Alert aides, alarmed by this candor and unnerved by their candidate's near-treasonous remark, hurriedly whisked him away from the press and into a waiting car. Carter the politician should have avoided the question, or hewed closely to the law of the land, but Carter the Christian was open to the Holy Spirit Who encouraged him to give an honest answer. # 3: A multimillion-dollar airplane, running out of fuel: In 1991 an Air Canada flight ran into big trouble. Passengers were enjoying an in-flight movie on the Boeing 767 when the jumbo jet's massive engines abruptly stopped. At first only those without earphones on noticed anything. However, soon it was apparent the jet was in trouble. The pilot came on the speaker system and announced that Flight 143 would be making an emergency landing in a nearby aerodrome. The 69 people on board were trapped in an agonizingly slow but inescapable descent to earth. For several minutes a desperate silence hung over the cabin. Then fear gave way to screams of anxiety as the landing neared. All the latest technology could not keep the jumbo jet in the air. What had happened was this. The electronic digital fuel gauge was out of order. So the flight crew had depended on the figures given them by the refueling crew before takeoff. But someone on the refueling crew had confused pounds with kilograms. Therefore, eight hundred miles short of its destination, that mighty jet simply ran out of fuel and was forced to make an emergency landing. Fortunately no one was injured. A multimillion-dollar airplane, headed in the right direction, but running out of fuel – that's what's happening to a lot of people today. They have everything in life going for them -- a new car, a wonderful home, a good education, and a good job -- and one day they wake up out of fuel. At the center of their lives there is emptiness. They don't know why they are living. There is nothing outside of themselves to live for. Don't let that happen to you. Jesus tells us that the power for successful living comes from God. It is the promised gift that Jesus offers us. "Peace be with you," he says. "My peace I give to you, not as the world gives you. Let not your hearts be troubled, believe in God, believe also in me." Introduction: From Easter to Pentecost our readings focus on the promises of Jesus to his disciples, especially the promise of the Holy Spirit, and on the early apostolic preaching of the Good News of salvation. Today's readings provide answers to puzzling questions about Who the Holy Spirit is, what He does, and how we experience Him in our daily lives. Today’s first and second readings were chosen to help us prepare for the soon-to-be-celebrated feast of Pentecost. They show us how the Spirit worked in the everyday activities of Jesus’ first followers. The first reading describes the success of Philip among the despised Samaritans and explains how the converted Samaritans received a fresh anointing of the Holy Spirit through the imposition of hands by the apostles Peter and John. According to today's Responsorial Psalm (Ps 66), the Spirit causes believers in every age and place to experience personally the same marvelous acts of Divine liberation. In the second reading, Peter shows us the God-fearing lives, which the Holy Spirit makes it possible for believers, including ourselves, to live in the midst of opposition and persecution. Today’s Gospel, taken from Jesus’ “Last Supper Discourse,” describes the gift he will send, the Holy Spirit, Who will live as the Paraclete, the Divine Advocate, in those who obey Jesus’ commandments, especially the commandment of love. Jesus was preparing His disciples for the day when He would no longer be with them physically. So Jesus promised to send the Holy Spirit upon the Church. The Gospel reminds us that the Spirit causes Jesus to be truly present in the Church. The risen Jesus’ continued presence in us through the Holy Spirit gives meaning and purpose to all we are and all we do in his name. The Spirit reveals to us what God is really like by empowering us to practice mutual love and by providing us with trustworthy guidance. Dwelling within us, the Holy Spirit enables us to manifest our love for God by observing the commandments of Jesus, especially the commandment of love. This commandment includes commands to recognize Jesus in the neediest, in the poor, in the sick, in the marginalized and even in the criminal ("I was in prison..."), and to be agents of healing and reconciliation in a broken and divided world. The first reading (Acts 8:5-8) describes the success of Philip, the Deacon, among the despised Samaritans. Owing to the vigorous persecution which began in Jerusalem after the martyrdom of St. Stephen, the disciples had been dispersed. Philip turned the dispersal into an opportunity to preach the Gospel message by taking it to Samaria. Although the Samaritans were despised by the Jews, Philip followed the assignment Jesus gave the apostles in chapter 1 of Acts: "You are to be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, yes even to the ends of the earth." Peter and John also went to Samaria so that community could meet someone who had experienced the risen Jesus. The early Church believed that that no Christian community could exist without a relationship with someone who had experienced the risen Jesus. By calling down the Spirit upon the newly converted Samaritans, Peter and John brought them into fellowship with the whole Christian community, thus healing a 500-year Samaritan schism. Thus, we see that the Holy Spirit operates only where there is communion with the apostles who, as “witnesses of Jesus’ Resurrection,” certify the risen One’s continued activity on earth. Through the imposition of hands by the successors of the apostles (our bishops), we also receive the Holy Spirit. We are empowered to profess our Faith boldly, to bear witness to the Truth of the Lord and to stand for what is right and good. We receive the Spirit’s consolation in our difficulties. The second reading (I Pt 3:15-18) explains how the Holy Spirit makes possible God-fearing lives in the midst of opposition and persecution. Peter warns that God-fearing Christians shouldn't be surprised by angry outbursts of resentment and militant confrontation. He clearly encourages the persecuted Christians to keep to the moral high ground no matter how much they're mistreated. If we are willing to suffer for Christ and with Christ, God will see us through and will vindicate us. Meanwhile, we have the consolation of the Holy Spirit Who lives in our hearts and Who raised Christ from death. But those who refuse to die and rise with Jesus constantly keep the Spirit away. Peter also advises the newly-baptized in his community that Jesus must be so much a part of their lives that His dying and rising come through even in the way they respond to questions about their Faith. "Sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts." "Always be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope, but do it with gentleness and reverence. “ Exegesis: The context: Jesus' promise to his disciples of the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit (John 14:15-21), is part of the long "Farewell Discourse" near the end of John's Gospel. Jesus made this farewell to his disciples at their Last Supper, just prior to his arrest, crucifixion, death and Resurrection. This long discourse is a unique summary of the mystery of the Incarnation and the role of the Holy Spirit. God's promise of the Holy Spirit should not have been a mystery to the followers of Jesus who knew the Holy Scriptures. The origin of this promise can be traced to the Old Testament books of Jeremiah and Ezekiel. In the days of the prophets, God had promised to make a new Covenant [Jer 31:31] with His people. He had promised to put His law within His people, writing it on their hearts, that He might be their God and they might be His people [Jer 31:33]. He had also promised to put a new spirit within His people, to remove their heart of stone and to give them a heart of flesh [Ez 11:19, 18:31, 36:26]. And finally, God had promised to put His Spirit within His people to make them follow His statutes and be careful to observe His ordinances [Ez 36:27]. Paul tells us that this promise has been fulfilled: "Do you not know that you are God's Temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you?" [1 Cor 3:16]. The Jewish concept of Spirit: In Hebrew, the word for spirit is ruach () – in Greek, pneuma ( ); in Latin, spiritus – all of which suggest breathing. The idea is that when a person is breathing, he is alive. It is from this notion that the idea of an animating, life-giving, intelligent and active force comes. The word (in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin), thus meant “breath”, “life” and “spirit.” The Jewish tradition taught that when the Messiah came, God’s very own Life (Breath, Spirit) would be poured out upon all the faithful believers. The promise of the Paraclete – the Comforter, Helper or Counselor: To Jesus, real love is something difficult, and it must be expressed not as sentiment or emotion but as real obedience to God. So we weak human beings need the daily assistance of a Divine Helper in the Person of the Holy Spirit to practice real love. The Greek word used in John’s Gospel for this Helper is Parakletos. For the Greeks, the word parakletos meant a lawyer, a legal assistant, a courtroom advocate. Jesus is telling us that the Holy Spirit is our Advocate Who speaks up for us when we're accused, judged, or wrongly condemned, and our Witness Who testifies in our behalf. Parakletos can also refer to a person who comforts, counsels or strengths us in time of need. The Holy Spirit gives us Life, stands by us, defends us, strengthens us, and consoles us. Jesus was the first Paraclete sent by the Father. “But if anyone does sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous one” (I Jn 2:1). Since Jesus’ presence as a Paraclete was limited in time and place, he assured his disciples of "another Paraclete" in the Person of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit assists us in our inadequacies and enables us to cope with life in the true Christian spirit. The Paraclete is our Defense Attorney defending us before God, the Judge. Although the penalty for our sins has been paid in full by Jesus, we still need the help of the Holy Spirit in our daily struggles. In addition to being Companion, Defense Attorney, Witness and Prosecutor, the Paraclete will also be present to teach the disciples and to remind them of what Jesus had taught them (14:25-26). (For the additional roles of the Holy Spirit confer Jn 14:26, 15:26, and 16:7-14). Assurance of the Risen Lord’s presence with us. Jesus assures his disciples that they will not be left as orphans. He promises them awareness of his risen presence – in themselves, in each other, in the Church, in Scripture, in the Sacraments and in the praying community -- through the enlightening presence, teaching and action of the Holy Spirit. We will never have to face any trial alone—even death—if we walk with Jesus. He protects us from the Evil One. His Resurrection, in fact, changed the despair of the apostles to hope when they realized beyond doubt that he is the Son of God. "You will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you" (Jn 14:20). The indwelling Spirit of God nourishes us each time we receive the Sacraments, each time we pray and each time we read the Bible. Life message: We need to be open to the Holy Spirit, our Paraclete. The purpose of the indwelling Holy Spirit is to help us grow towards maturity and wholeness. We all have faults that prevent our growth: blocks of sin and imperfection, blocks due to childhood conflicts, blocks due to deeply ingrained personality traits and habits, blocks caused by addictions, and blocks resulting from bad choices we have made. We all have these blocks within us and they keep us from becoming what God wants us to be. They prevent us from growing into maturity and wholeness. God, the Holy Spirit, helps us to see the truth about ourselves, to discern the blocks that inhibit our growth and to allow Him to transform us. 2 Like the good counselor He is, the Spirit enables us to become stronger. The Holy Spirit comes to our aid and gives us the strength to make difficult and painful decisions. The Holy Spirit actually lives in us, and we hear the voice of the Spirit, counseling and guiding us in the way of truth. Let us open our minds and hearts to hear Him and to obey His promptings. JOKES OF THE WEEK: The Heavenly Attorney’s earthly counterparts. 1) A lawyer and a Pope die at the same time and go up to Heaven together. After they've been there awhile, the Pope notices that the lawyer gets a little better treatment than he does. So he calls St. Peter over to ask him and says, "You know that lawyer I came up here with? Well, I'm not complaining, but he seems to be treated a little better than I am... he's got a better house and more servants. I don't understand. I was a Pope and served God all my life; this guy was just a lawyer. What gives?" St. Peter responded, "You have to understand - we get Popes all the time; this is the first lawyer we've ever had." 2) An attorney was on vacation in a small farming town. While walking through the streets, he noticed that a car was involved in an accident. As expected, a large crowd gathered. The attorney was eager to get to the injured, but he couldn't get near the car. Being a rather clever person, he started shouting loudly, "Let me through! Let me through! I am the son of the victim." The crowd made way for him. Lying in front of the car was a donkey. 3) A lawyer's dog, running around town unleashed, heads for a butcher shop and steals a roast. The butcher goes to the lawyer's office and asks, "If a dog running unleashed steals a piece of meat from my store, do I have a right to demand payment for the meat from the dog's owner?" The lawyer answers, "Absolutely." "Then you owe me $8.50. Your dog was loose and stole a roast from me today." The lawyer, without a word, writes the butcher a check for $8.50. The butcher, with a feeling of satisfaction, leaves. Three days later, the butcher finds a bill from the lawyer for $100-- for consultation.

Easter VII – A (1)

SYNOPSIS OF EASTER VII SUNDAY (Jn 17:1-11a) L/17 Introduction: Our central challenge from the Holy Spirit in today’s readings is, with His grace, to rejoice in our suffering for the Faith because the more we suffer the more we are identified with Jesus who has liberated us from the bondage of sin by his suffering and death. The first reading tells us how the apostles waited in prayer for Pentecost which would enable them to preach Christ and bear witness to him in spite of persecutions. In the second reading, Peter challenges his early Christian audience and us to view and accept sufferings as an opportunity to be more fully one with Jesus. The Gospel gives us the beginning of the “High Priestly Prayer" of Jesus in which he prays for himself and for protection and unity for his disciples. In the first part of the section we hear today, Jesus prays for himself and his chosen apostles. He prays for the protection and unity of his disciples. In the second part, Jesus commends his apostles to the Father and prays for them because they have accepted the word of God and acknowledged his divine origin as the Messiah. They have put their trust in Jesus and His Father. Jesus prays that they may act as agents of truth and love in the world. They are to be the leaven in the dough, the purifying salt and lights shining in the darkness. Jesus prays for their protection from evil and for their unity. Life messages: 1) We need to center our Christian life on prayer. Christian prayer has several forms for individual Christians and for communities. These include individual prayer, the prayer of the liturgy, para-liturgical prayers/services, such as Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament. There are also different kinds of prayer, including vocal prayer, the Rosary, and contemplative prayer. In the final analysis, prayer means getting into contact with God -- listening to Him and talking to Him. We should try to set aside some time each day to spend with God in prayer. If we are convinced of the presence of God within us, we can talk to Him even while we are driving, waiting in line or doing routine work in the kitchen or yard. Our talk with God can include praise and thanksgiving, pleas for forgiveness and prayer for our needs. A few minutes spent in reading the Bible is a good way of listening to God. 2) We need to glorify Christ by the lives we live. When we live ethical lives, that is, lives of integrity in which our performance is in harmony with our profession of Faith, we are glorifying Jesus. An honest day’s work for an honest day’s pay, a fair deal on a product, a truthful, trustworthy guarantee – all these reflect our integrity. We glorify God by our prayer life and faithful observance of the Lord’s Day. We glorify Jesus by humble and selfless service – distributing lunches to the homeless begging on the street corner, volunteering at homeless shelters, tutoring children, helping with after-school care, teaching Vacation Bible School, or doing random acts of kindness. Finally, we glorify God by speaking kind, merciful, loving and encouraging words. EASTER VII SUNDAY : ; ; Jn 17:1-11 Anecdote: # 1: The great ones found their glory in their death: William Barclay says “It was in their death that the great ones found their glory.” Abraham Lincoln had his enemies in his lifetime, but even those who had criticized him saw his greatness when he died. Joan of Arc was burned as a witch and a heretic by the English. But some people left the scene saying, “We are all lost because we have burned a saint.” Martin Luther King, Jr. was ridiculed as a radical, a rabble-rouser, and a dangerous Communist in his lifetime, but is hailed today as a prophet. Maybe that’s what Jesus had in mind when he turned his eyes toward heaven and prayed, “Father, the time has come; glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you.” The one who endured the shame of the cross brought salvation to a broken world. It was in their death that the great ones found their glory. # 2: "I look at God and God looks at me." There is a familiar anecdote in the life of St. John Maria Vianney, the “Cure D’Ars.” He used to notice a peasant standing in front of the tabernacle in the village church every morning on his way for farm work. One day he asked him, “What do you do here every morning?” The man answered very simply: "I look at God and God looks at me." The Cure D’Ars liked to repeat this story: "He looked at God and God looked at him: this says everything about genuine prayer, my children!" Today’s first reading gives us the model of a silent spiritual retreat as conducted by the apostles, and the Gospel gives us a model for prayer in Jesus’ own farewell prayer. # 3: "Reggie, this is God. Go to Green Bay." Here's a good story for football fans. Many of you may know the name Reggie White. Reggie is a defensive end for the Green Bay Packers. But he is also an ordained minister. Before signing a 17 million dollar deal with the Packers, White had said that he would look to God to tell him where to play. Later, Green Bay Coach Mike Holmgren confessed that he had left a message on White's answering machine that said, "Reggie, this is God. Go to Green Bay." (Sports Illustrated) Today we want to focus for a few moments on prayer, but not just any prayer; we are focusing on a prayer from the lips of God Incarnate - Jesus’ “High Priestly prayer.” Introduction: The season of Easter is nearly at an end. This past Thursday we celebrated the Ascension of our Lord. The central theme of today’s readings is a challenge to us to rejoice in our suffering for the Faith because the more we suffer the more we are identified with Jesus who has liberated us from the bondage of sin by his suffering and death. The first reading tells us how the apostles waited in prayer for the promised coming of the Holy Spirit, which would enable them to preach Christ and bear witness to him in spite of persecutions. In the second reading, Peter challenges his early Christian audience and us to view and accept sufferings as an opportunity to be more fully one with Jesus. The Gospel gives us the first part of the “High Priestly Prayer" of Jesus in which he prays for himself and for protection and unity for his disciples. The first reading () provides a historical link between the Ascension and the election of Matthias to fill the place of Judas Iscariot. It depicts a kind of spiritual retreat for Mary and the apostles. The disciples had returned to the upper room, the site of Jesus’ last meal. Listing those gathered, Luke mentions 11 disciples and then explicitly notes the presence of “some women,” including Mary, the mother of Jesus, and his brothers. They needed the time to pray as they waited for clearer direction from the Holy Spirit before undertaking the dynamic mission that was their destiny. The apostles had been told that when the Spirit came upon them, they would receive the power they had been promised (Luke 24:49). This instruction anticipated the coming of the Spirit and the power that would be given the apostles on Pentecost (Acts 2), which we will celebrate next Sunday. In today’s Responsorial Psalm (Ps 27), the pervading theme is also prayer -- prayer which brings us closer to God and to His Son, Jesus Christ. The second reading (): Peter challenges his early Christian audience to accept sufferings as opportunities to identify themselves with Jesus. "Rejoice," he encourages the newly-baptized, "to the extent that you share in the sufferings of Christ. Whoever is made to suffer as a Christian should not be ashamed but should glorify God because of the Name." Both the Jewish and the Gentile Christians had to face persecutions and inner suffering. The Jewish members had to give up many of their long cherished traditions and to suffer the loss of their Jewish friends. The Gentiles had to struggle to give up some of their old ways, such as magic and idolatry, which were incompatible with the Gospel. Although they all considered Jesus the restorer of the kingship of David, they soon discovered that his throne included the cross and suffering as well as joy. Peter is not suggesting that greater Faith will make one impervious to suffering, but that, properly accepted, it can render that suffering salvific. Jesus, the Messiah, that is, the restorer of the glorious kingship of David, a monarch above all suffering, had the cross for His throne, and found his strength in his submission to the evil others did to him. Hence, the believer needs and is meant to use suffering to give meaning to his life by identifying himself with the suffering Jesus. Exegesis: The “High Priestly Prayer:" Today’s Gospel gives us the first part of Jesus' magnificent prayer at the Last Supper. This farewell prayer is often likened to Moses' farewell address (Dt 31:30ff), which concludes with Moses' final blessing on Israel (Dt 33). In the section for today, taken from the beginning of the “High Priestly Prayer,” Jesus prays for himself and his chosen apostles. He prays for the protection and unity of his disciples. This prayer is called “The High Priestly Prayer” because Jesus, as High Priest, is preparing to offer himself as a sacrifice for the sins of the world, and he is interceding for his disciples just as the high priest interceded for the people of Israel. It is also called the "Prayer of Consecration" because in it Jesus consecrates himself to his redemptive death, offering himself to the Father as an obedient, willing sacrifice. Also, he prays that through his death the Father and the Son may be glorified. Thus, the prayer proclaims our hope and our certainty— a life lived in communion with the Father and the Son. Jesus has glorified the Father; the Father has glorified the Son. We know that Jesus has come from the Father. We are “incorporated,” and so in Christ by adoption, as Christ is, by Nature, in the Father. We belong to God and He will protect us so that we may be one with each other in Him. The sufferings we face are only temporary; the glory we will receive is eternal. Glory in crucifixion: Jesus prays first for the success of his mission. "Glorify your Son so that your Son may glorify you." This “glory” of the Son would come in a very strange way – through suffering and death. To Jesus, the Cross is the glory of life and the way to the glory of eternity. Jesus considers his crucifixion as his glorification -- as do the martyrs. Their deaths show people what, who, and Whose, they really are. The Cross is the glory of Jesus because it is the completion of his Redemptive work. "I have accomplished the work," he says to the Father, "which You gave me to do." His work is to show men, by his life, suffering and death, how God loves them. The cross of Jesus glorifies God because Jesus accepts the death on the cross in perfect obedience to God. The essence of eternal life: According to the New Testament “eternal life is this: to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent" (Jn 17:3). To know God in the Gospel sense is to have a deep personal experience of God Who is working in our lives. It involves a close, intimate relationship which matures eventually into a mutual love and trust. Christian Faith is essentially a 'believing in'-- a total surrender. It is the way we come to 'know' Christ. Prayer for the disciples: In the second part of today’s section of the “High Priestly Prayer,” Jesus commends his apostles to the Father and prays for them because they have already accepted the word of God and acknowledged his Divine origin as the Messiah. They have put their trust in Jesus and His Father. Jesus prays that they may act as agents of truth and love in the world. They are to be the leaven in the dough, the purifying salt and the lights shining in the darkness. Jesus prays for their protection from evil and for their unity. Prayer is a constant and continuing attitude of trust and acceptance of God's presence in the community. It is not merely asking for something, but also giving Him thanks for everything. It is desiring that God's Holy Will may be done effectively in and through our lives.

Prepared by: Fr. Anthony Kadavil, Chaplain, Sacred Heart Residence of the Little Sisters of the Poor, 1655 McGill Ave, AL 36604, USA