" Therefore, every Christine should be a living book in which the teaching of the Gospel can be read." St. Joseph of Leonessa

Our life as a Christian may seem ordinary, but it isn't. Our life is to be a witness to the truth of who we are and what God has done in and for us. The Gospel Jesus proclaimed was the love of God shown through our salvation and final destination. The Commandment to love as he has loved us is to be our rule of life. The commission to be be a true disciple/winess is to be embraced as our primary task. To be attentive to and to follow the lead of the Holy Spirit is our daily resposibility. All this is to take place in the midst of our daily duties. In fact, being a living gospel as we go about out our responsibilities is to be our life. 

 "Eternal God...You are a mystery as deep as the sea; the more I search, the more I find, and the more I find the more I search for you. But I can never be satisfied; what I receive will ever leave me desiring more." St Catherine of Siena

St Agustine expressed the same understanding. Realizing a hunger in our hearts, he said: "Our heart is restless until it rests in You, O God."  With his everlasting, unconditional love God draws us to himself. The more we love him in return, the more we open ourselves to his love. Like the person in the Song of Songs, once a person tastes the sweetness of her lover, she goes searching for him no matter the cost. How blessed is the one caught in the web od God's love! Nothing will fully satisfy the person, ecept union with the beloved. So the search for more of him.

 "Live so as not to fear death. For those who live well in the world, death is not frightening, but sweet and precious." St. Rose of Viterbo  

The reason for this perspective is based on the promise of God. Those who live and die in Christ in this world will not suffer eternal death but enjoy eternal life. Jesus ensured this by his death and resurrection. They do not see death as a finality, but an entrance into fullness of life. They know who they are and whose they belong to and what their destiny is so as to be fulfilled. There are those who do not fear death because they are committed to a cause. And there are those who do not fear death because they ie for a person, who is the beginning of their life.

 "We become what we love and who we love shapes what we become." St, Claire of Assisi

We can begin to understand why God gave us the command to love. For when He is the focus of our love, we become like God, sharing his life. The opposite is true. If we give to others what is only to be given to God and in place of God, then we become what we focus on. This is the tactic of the Evil one. He seeks to divert our love from God to something less in order to separate us from God, from life to death, from light to darkness, from freedom to slavery. Love what is deserving of your love and live as a child of God.

 "When we associate with the virtuous, we form  ourselves in imitation of their virtues, or at least lose every day, something of our faults." Pope St. Agapetus

How true this is! Associate with virtous persons can have a positive impact on us. Associate ourselves with shady characters may encourage us to imitate their life style.  Or to put it in another way. If we work in a perfume factory, we will smell like perfume. If we work in a fertilizer plant, we will reek of the fertilizer smell. Choose the environment that will lead you to God. or the environment that will us away from the Lord. Companions who do not lead us to God are not true friends. 

 "To abandon yourself to rage is often to bring upon yourself the fault of another." St. Agapetus I

No wonder Jesus spoke against the sin of rage, while at the same time urging forgiveness from the heart. Your rage affects you more than the other. To combat this, St Paul urges us not to let the sun go down on your anger, lest you give the devil an opening. The initial anger is an emotion. The sustained anger is a sin. Take control of our emotion, otherwise it will contol us. 

 "The devil's snare does not catch you, unless you are first caught by thedevil's bait." St Ambrose

 

What brought about the first sin? Eve took the bait and snared by the devil was seprated from God. The same thing happens to each of us when we sin. The devil offers an attractive bait on a hook, When we grab it, we are hooked. At the same time, Jesus offers us the strength of his grace to recognize the trap and to embrace God's will instead. One choice leads to darkness and bondage. The other leads to love, life and freedom. Be aware of the bait and snare, Choose what gives real life, peace and joy.

"And let them remember that prayer should accompany the reading of Sacred Scripture, so that God and man may talk together; for 'we speak to Him when we pray; we hear Him when we read the divine saying.'" St Ambrose

Before we begin reading God' Word, we should pray to the Holy Spirit, asking for the gift of understanding. As we read and reflect on God's Word, we should pray to know the deeper meaning of God's message. For everytime we delve into the scriptures, there can be a new understanding. The Word of God is like a prism upon which the light of the Spirit shines. Then when we finish our reflection, we should praise and thank God for his Word and its understanding.  

 Death is not scary for those who wait for the Lord. Scary is for the one who lives as if there is no eternity." St, Theophan the Recluse

Many people are afraid of death. They think that they can extend their life by various means. Even then, they die. They focused more on this life rather than on eternal life. They fall into the category which Jesus spoke of, What profit to gain the whole world but lose one's chance for real life? On the contrary, we are called to see death as a mere instant in the life-death-life cycle ending in the ultimate life with God eternally. Our focus is not this earthy life, which is here today but gone tomorrw, but our life with God. This mystery doesn't scaer us, but motivates us.

 "The gate of heaven is very low; only the humble can enter it" St. Elizabeth Ann Seaton

Only when we remove sin from our hearts are we able to enter in the eternal Kingdom of heaven. Sin puffs us up; humilty deflates our ego. Pride weighs us down; humility allows us to rise. Jesus uses adifferent analogies of the wide road or gate and the narrow road or gate. When we humble the self through obedience, love and service of others we will be ready to enter.  Jesus as the Way, the Truth and the Life has shown us the path through his example. He was obedient in all things to the will of the Father; he loved and served in multiple ways. He tells us, "As I have done, so you must do."

 "What does it matter to you whether Jesus wishes to guide you to Heaven by way of the desert or by the meadow, so long as he is always with you and you arrive at the possession of a blessed eternity?"

In reality, Jesus gives us both experiences, the desert and the meadow. He gives us the dryness of the desert in order to strip and purify us, like the Israelites in their desrert wanderings. He also gives us respit in lush meadows of life to refresh and renew us. Though we prefer the latter than the former, both are needed. God knows what is best for us at each stage of our spiritual journey. In either case, what really matters is arriving at tke Promise Land of eternal union with God. 

 "There is a joy which is not given to the ungodly, but to those who love you, Lord,  for your own sake, whose joy you yoursef are. And this is the happy life, to rejoice in you, of you, for you; this it is, and there is no other." St. Agustine

 

This joy is the fruit of the Spirit, given to those wo love and serve the Lord. The psalmist said: "The joy of the Lord is my strength." Do you have this joy? As an alleluia people, we are not only to experience this joy,  but we are to witness and manifest this joy to others. When others ask us the reason our joy, we can tell them that it is Lord, who has made a difference in our life. "Rejoice in the Lord always," is to be our way of living. 

 "For those with faith, no evidence is necessary; for those without it, no evidence will suhhice." St Thomas Aquinas

Faith is a gift from God that needs to be embraced by us. It is rooted in our acceptance and acknowlegement of God, who has revealed his mysteries to us. After the transubstantiaton of the bread and wine, we proclaim in faith "My Lord and my God." Those without faith see only bread and wine. Those who believed that Jesus was the Messiah saw him in his resurrected body. Those who had no faith rejected the proclamation of these witnesses. Thank God for this gift of faith, which allows us to know the mysteries of divine revelation.

"The things that we love tells us what we are." St Thomas Aquinas 

Have you ever thought of this? How true it is. If we love material things, we are a material person with limited focus. If we love spiritual realities, then we are a spiritual person with unlimited focus. That is why Jesus urges us to focus on the things that will matter eternally. We are to use material things not as ends, but as means to do what God desires us to do. Material entities will come to end. Spiitual realities opens us up eternal realities. 

 "Easter is not just a day to celebrate; it is a season to live with renewed faith and hope." - Saint John Chrysostom

Unfortunately, like Christmas, most people approach Easter as a one day event and move on. We have allowed commercialism to dictate our life. Accordingly, pre-Christmas and pre-Easter are more important than the seasons of Christmas and Easter.  Who can change that, if not us? This Easter continue to be an Alleluia person, praising God privately and publicly, celebrating the resurrection of Christ by living as a resurrected person. Let your Easter smile radiate to others. Let your Easter love impact your relationships. It is Christ who has set us free. Proclaim it.

 "If you are suffering from a bad man's injustice, forgive him, lest there be two bad men.: St. Augustine

Forgiveness is key to holiness. Do not let the sin of another become your sin as well. But arise above the trap of our fallen nature and follow the path of righteousness. Though Jesus was innocent, he suffered at the hands of others. Still, in his humanity he chose to rise above any righteous revenge. He chose to forgive them. He set the example for us to imitate. We may be innocent of the hatred of another, but we are not innocent of any wrongdoing.  God has forgiven us. As he has forgiven us, he expects us to forgive others unconditionally. Otherwise, we will reject his forgiveness.

 

Homily Second Sunday of Easter Year A

 

Reading 1: It is not enough to say I believe or even to believe. Our new relationship with God through baptism must impact and transform our lives. We see what happened to the initial believers in Christ as Lord and Savior. They devoted themselves to a new way of life. They wanted to know more about Jesus and his teachings. “They devoted themselves to the teachings of the apostles.” They entered into a relationship with God and with one another through prayer, both private and communal. This was essential in deepening their relationship with God.

 

They devoted themselves to the breaking of the bread. The Eucharist was essential to their new way of life, both as a sign of their gratitude to God for their new life and as a sign of their union with God through sharing in the Lord’s Body and Blood. They shared life in common, supporting and encouraging one another in their new community as brothers and sisters of the Lord.

 

Their personal and communal lives were not only internally directed but externally as well. They shared with others what God had done in their lives and signs and wonders confirmed their testimony. Their faith was evident and effective. They were a people of great joy and love which others witnessed and sought. Is the same true about us?

 

Gospel: Jesus’ first appearance to the Apostles on Easter was a transforming moment of grace. He could have reprimanded them for abandoning him in the time of his greatest need. Instead, Jesus shows them his love and mercy by extending them peace.

 

Then he commissioned them. “As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” He empowered, as he was anointed, by imparting to them the gift of the Holy Spirit. He extended to them the power to forgive sins in his name. The focus was not to relish in his resurrected presence but to be apostles, sent to bring the gift of new life to others, beginning with the forgiveness of sins.

The second part of today’s reading was the importance of believing without seeing, believing in the power of Jesus without always seeing the results. Thomas was not present when Jesus appeared to the others on the day of his resurrection. When told what Jesus said and did, Thomas would not believe, because he needed personal evidence.

 

When Jesus appears to Thomas and challenges his unbelief, Thomas is the first to publicly profess that Jesus is Lord and God. 

 

Sometimes, we have a hard time accepting the plan of God. Like Thomas, we have our own conditions before we have that conversion experience of total submission to God’s plan. We still are living out of our human framework, rather than yielding to the plan of God. Jesus could have easily dismissed Thomas for his unbelief. But he doesn’t. Jesus reminds Thomas and us of the greater faith than seeing him with human eyes. “Blessed are they who have not seen and still believe.” We have not seen the risen Lord with our human eyes but have seen him with the eyes of faith. As Paul says: “We walk by faith and not by sight.”

 

Reading 2: Peter is writing to Christians years after the event of Easter and Pentecost. Even though they had never seen Jesus, they believed in him and were baptized in his name. Their new life in Christ was real. In the midst of their trials and sufferings, their faith in Jesus as Lord and Savior sustained and strengthened them.

 

Peter said in his great mercy God gave us a new birth to a new life because of the death and resurrection of Jesus. In that gift we were given the promise of sharing with God forever in glory, if we remain faithful to God.

 

 

 

 

 "I pray that God will open your eyes more and more so that you will realize on the one hand the depth of the abyss from which you have been saved and, on the other, the infinite love that has lifted you from it." St. John the Baptist do LaSalle

This is a central message of Easter that we need to reflect on.  Sin plunged us in the depth of alienation and darkness, hopelessness and despair. Jesus' death and resurrection has lifted us from this abyss into the light of God's love. From wretchedness to blessedness through no merits of our own.  As we meditate on the hopelessness of our former way of life and the beauty of our present way of life in Christ, can we choose to remain in sin in the future? Should we not be eternally grateful for God's mercy that we choose union with him  rather than return to our former darkness?

 Second Sunday of Easter Gospel:  Year A 

On the evening of that first day of the week, when the doors were locked, where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, "Peace be with you."  

How often are we paralyzed by fear and lack of trust in the word of God?

Notice that Jesus= resurrected body is different yet the same: different, it is not limited by a closed door; the same, it is the person of Jesus.

When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side.  The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.  (Jesus) said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you."  

What is it that Jesus was sent to do by the Father that the disciples and we are equally sent to do?

And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained."

In John=s theology we can=t separate the death and resurrection of Jesus from the gift of the Holy Spirit.  Together the two events make up the Paschal Mystery of God=s plan.  In Luke the two events are separated by fifty days.

Just as Jesus received the anointing of the Spirit after his baptism, empowering him to do the work of the Father, so the disciples and we are given the gift of the Spirit for the same purpose. How have we responded?

This mandate to forgive sins is one of the scriptural foundations for the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Do we take advantage of this gift of reconciliation from Jesus?

Thomas, called Didymus, one of the Twelve, was not with them when Jesus came.  So the other disciples said to him, "We have seen the Lord." 

Following what Jesus told them to do, the first person the disciples witnessed to was to Thomas.

But he said to them, "Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger into the nailmarks and put my hand into his side, I will not believe." 

Have we found ourselves at times in the same place as Thomas was, struggling with doubts, in spite of what others tell us about Jesus and what he has done?

Have we at times put conditions to Jesus to fulfill before we acted in faith?

Now a week later his disciples were again inside and Thomas was with them. Jesus came, although the doors were locked, and stood in their midst and said, "Peace be with you." Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here and see my hands, and bring your hand and put it into my side, and do not be unbelieving, but believe."   Thomas answered and said to him, "My Lord and my God!"  

Jesus does not chastise or condemn Thomas for his unbelief. He reaches out in compassion and love.

Of all the confessions of faith in Jesus found in John=s Gospel this is the highest.

Jesus said to him, "Have you come to believe because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed." 

To believe without seeing is a greater sign of faith than seeing and then believing.

 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of (his) disciples that are not written in this book. But these are written that you may (come to) believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through this belief you may have life in his name. 

The closing verses are addressed to us today.  How has our faith in Jesus impacted our lives?

Other reflections?

"Glow with the brightness that comes from the good example of a praiseworthy and blameless life.: St.  John  of Capistrano.

We are called to be praiseworthy and blameless by God. As he calls us, he also graces us, enabling us with his strength to fulfill our call, Thus, it is not impossible for us to reach this goal. The lives of many ordinary people who have become saints attest to this. We must believe it is possible for us to be praiseworthy and blameless in his sight. Then, with his grace, we must choose to live such a life. If we slip, then we need to get up and resume our journey of our life in Christ. In him we can do all things and become whom we are called to be.

 "The glory of God is that man lives. Behold, man lives in Christ. Here is the moment in which what he, Christ, said is accomplished: "I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live.'" St. John Paul II

Alleluia! He is risen! What we celebrate is the fulfillment of God's promise to us. His promise was redemption and new life. Christ's resurrection is the gift of life for all who believe and are baptized. It is also the foreshadowing of the resurrected and immortal life we will share with Jesus, if we die in his grace. The resurrection of Jesus is the apex of all of salvation history. As the tomb is forever open, new life bursts forth; the darkness of sin is shattered; new life in God has begun. Alleluia!

 Alleluia! He is risen! May you have a blessed Easter season. May the risen Lord pour out his unconditional love upon you and your loved ones.

 "The mind that is occupied with the thought of God has little room for other thoughts, especially evil ones." St. Ignatius Brianchaninot

Where there is a vacuum, there is an entrance. The more we can keep our minds focused on God and his goodness, the less other thoughts will be able to find a place to root. That is one of the reasons the Desert Fathers would recite a mantra throughout the day like: Lord Jesus Christ, son of the living God, have mercy on me. The Evil One looks for ways to distract us away from God with all kinds of thoughts. It is our choice to decide what our focus will be.  It takes discipline to keep our heart and mind on God. If we close the door, the Lord remains.