• Cycle A - Year 1:  

  
  

  4 June 2017:  Pentecost Sunday 

  (Liturgical Color: Red)

  
  

  Gospel:Please Read John 20:19-23

  
  

  The Holy Spirit empowers us!

  
  

  Today is Pentecost Sunday, which comes fifty days after the resurrection of our Lord. That is why it is called "Pentecost". After Jesus ascended into heaven last Sunday, now it it the turn of the Holy Spirit to continue the work of Jesus through His disciples and Holy Mother Church.

  
  

  The great event of the first Pentecost is described in the first reading from the Acts of the Apostles: "When the time for Pentecost was fulfilled, they were all in one place together. And suddenly there came from the sky a noise like a strong driving wind, and it filled the entire house in which they were. Then there appeared to them tongues as of fire, which parted and came to rest on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in different tongues, as the Holy Spirit enabled them to proclaim." (Acts 2:1-4)

  
  

  Pentecost Sunday celebrates the great beginning of the Catholic Church, often called as the birthday of the Church. So today we can greet ourselves a Happy Birthday or Happy Anniversary, as we mark a fresh start for all of us as the New Church, the People of God in journey toward the Father's house.

  
  

  The Gospel from St. John speaks about the very first encounter of the risen Lord with His disciples. When the resurrected Christ appears, He offered proof of His resurrection by showing the disciples the wounds of His passion, His pierced hands and side. Then He calmed their fears and brought them peace, the peace which reconciles sinners and makes one a friend of God. Jesus then commissioned His weak and timid apostles to carry the Gospel to the ends of the earth. He breathes on them the gifts of the Holy Spirit. These gifts would help them to fulfill their mission to preach the Gospel to all nations.

  
  

  For the rest of us today, the same gifts from the Holy Spirit --granted when we are infused with sanctifying grace, the life of God in our souls-- help us to live authentic Christian life. In other words, we are empowered by the same Holy Spirit to continue the missionary work of the Church, to face the challenges of our time, especially in matters of faith and morality.

  
  

  Thus, through the gift of faith we proclaim that Jesus is our personal Lord and our God. He died and rose again that we might have new life in Him. The Lord offers each of us new life in His Holy Spirit that we may know Him personally and walk in this new way of life through the power of His resurrection.

  
  

  So that at times when we struggle to pray because  of so many distractions, or when we want to pray but do not have the words, it is the Holy Spirit that links us to God and interprets our desire before Him. In the words of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, "It is the Holy Spirit who helps our inability, who enlightens our minds and warms our hearts, guiding us as we turn to God."

  
  

  In the Eucharist at Mass, let us pray that the Holy Spirit empowers us with His seven gifts (wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord) to keep us unwavering in our faith and remain committed to all the teachings of the Church handed down from the apostles to the bishops and the Pope. And let us use these gifts to build and strengthen  the Church as the Body of Christ through constant prayers. Because it is through prayers that the Holy Spirit works in our humanity, strengthens our weaknesses and transforms us from men bound to material realities into men filled with the Spirit of Christ. Amen.

  
  

  A blessed Sunday to us all. And thank you for a moment with God.

  
  

  Ad Jesum per Mariam!

  
  

  
  

Cycle A - Year 1:  

28 May 2017:  Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord 

(Liturgical Color: White)

Gospel:Please Read Matthew 28:16-20

Go, share the faith!

A community is alive and growing when it is able to produce new breed of individuals to take over the leadership. We can say the same for any other groups or organizations.  This is evident in the basic unit of a family. The children must be able to take over from their parents the responsibility of taking care of the family, and raising their own families as well over time. Because the gift of life is not meant to be forever, in our human world, that is.

Continuity is also necessary even in the much wider reality of our faith. Recall that in the Old Testament the chosen people had the history of unfaithfulness to God. In the New Testament, God Himself sent His only Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, to lead us back to the Father. And so, when Jesus has accomplished His mission, it is time for Him to move on, so to speak, and pass on the leadership to the first Apostles.

This Sunday is the Solemnity of the Ascension of our Lord. Forty days after His resurrection Jesus returns to the Father. The first reading from the Acts of the Apostles describes this momentous event: "When he had said this, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him from their sight." (Acts 1:9)

The Lord's departure and ascension, for His disciples, is both an end and a beginning. It was the end of Jesus' physical  presence with the disciples, but at the same time it is also the beginning of the Lord's presence with them in a new way.

The evangelist Matthew focuses on Jesus' parting words to His disciples, which are both comforting and reassuring: "And behold, I am with you always, until the end of age." (Mt 28:20, which incidentally are also the concluding words of Matthew's Gospel).  

Ascension Sunday is the "great commissioning" which the risen Christ gives to His disciples and to the whole Church. That means, all of us who believe must share in this mission to share the faith, to be heralds of the Good News and ambassadors for our Lord Jesus Christ in our generation today.

Although Jesus is no longer with His disciples physically, in reality our Lord does not leave His followers to work by themselves in their mission. For the risen Lord continues to work in and through us by the power of the Holy Spirit. And next Sunday, the Church will celebrate Pentecost Sunday, when the promise of our Lord to send the Holy Spirit is fulfilled.

Also this Sunday the Church celebrates the 51st World Communications Day. It is a timely reminder for us to make use of the wonder of digital media to spread the Good News and continue our Lord's redemptive mission  on earth through His Holy Church. Let us also pray that those spreading "fake news" may change their ways, for love of country and for fear of the Lord.

A blessed Sunday to us all. And thank you for a moment with God.

Ad Jesum per Mariam!

Cycle A - Year 1:  

21 May 2017: Sixth Sunday of Easter 

(Liturgical Color: White)

Gospel:Please Read John 14:15-21

To love our Lord!

Can love really move mountains? But first, what does this sentence mean?

It means that, as long as you have love you can get through anything and past any obstacle. Also, once you're in love, nothing can stand in your way. Because love is so strong.

On the sixth Sunday of Easter we hear Jesus speak about love.... and the power of

unconditional love for those who believe in Him and choose to follow in our Lord's footsteps. This discourse to His disciples is part of His farewell to them as our Lord was about to undertake His passion on Calvary.

Jesus challenges His disciples in this Gospel passage: "If you love me, you will keep my commandments". That is very clear as it can be.

To all of us who profess to truly love Jesus, we must obey His commandments and teachings because they enable us to make the love of God real in our lives.

One of the most spiritually destructive ideas that has infected the world today is the fallacy of claiming to love Jesus Christ while at the same time ignoring, and even rejecting, the commandments and teachings of His Church. It is like "double-talk".

In our human experience, the real test and testimony of our love for a person lies in our acceptance of what that person we love holds dear. In other words, authentic love means cherishing and honoring what the person we love cherishes and honors. That is what our Lord is telling us today: "If you love me, you will keep my commandments" through the teachings of His Church.

Jesus Himself showed us that His victory over death was through the way of the Cross for the love of us. There is no other way for us, too, if we want to follow our Lord. That is why following Jesus is a real challenge indeed. But if we love Jesus, nothing can stand in our way to follow His commandments.

The second point in our reflection is our Lord's promise that He will not leave us orphans but will ask the Father to give us "another Advocate to be with us always."

As we approach Pentecost, Jesus prepares His apostles for the coming of the Holy Spirit, through whom the Church will be built and the nations converted.

The Person of the Holy Spirit is with us to empower us to love and to fulfill God's law and commandments. The Holy Spirit comes and remains with us in order to engender within us a filial trust in the Lord and so the certainty of being loved by Him in return.

With the Holy Spirit within us, we are then filled with the light of truth so that we can embrace and live the Gospel freedom that comes to us through the blessing of the Lord's commandments: the freedom to love, the freedom to choose what is good in every situation, even when doing so is difficult and challenging. 

In sum, let us then listen to the final words of our Lord Jesus Christ in today's Gospel: "Whoever has my commandments and observes them is the one who loves me. And whoever loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and reveal myself to him."

At every Eucharistic celebration, the Holy Spirit is truly with us. Let us open our hearts to the inspiration of the Holy Spirit so that we can truly love our Lord Jesus Christ and follow all His commandments, through the official teachings of the Church.

A blessed Sunday to us all. And thank you for a moment with God.

Ad Jesum per Mariam!

Cycle A - Year 1:  

14 May 2017:  Fifth Sunday of Easter 

(Liturgical Color: White)

Gospel:Please Read John 14:1-12

"I am the way and the truth and the life!"

This is from the theme song of the 1975 movie "Mahogany", pupularized by singer Diana Ross:

Do you know where you're going to?

Do you like the things that life is showing you?

Where are you going to, do you know?

Do you get what you're hoping for?

When you look behind you there's no open door.

What are you hoping for, do you know?

I never had the chance to see this movie, but I always love listening to the song. It is about evaluating life's journey, asking if what lies ahead is what we really want and hope for.

And so in our journey of faith, we must also ask the pivotal question: Do we know where we are going to?

The Good News in this Sunday's Gospel is a timely reminder not only about the right path in our earthly journey but most importantly the way to our final destiny.

For those who believe that heaven is our final destination, how then can we be sure that we know the way to heaven without some kind of map or guide? Well perhaps, we can refer to the Scriptures which actually tell the way we should go to reach heaven. 

Jesus proclaims: "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father

except through me." (Jn 14:6) This means that our Lord Jesus Christ does not simply give us advice and direction, but He personally is the only Way to the Father. We cannot miss it. Because Jesus also says "Whoever has seen me has seen the Father." (Jn 14:9)

So now we ask, why is the Father known in Jesus? This is because Jesus reflects the Father perfectly, like (in human language) a mirror image can be said to reflect the original subject.

Thus, we can say then that the only way to experience and encounter God, who is divine, is through the very humanity of our Lord Jesus Christ Himself. Because by virtue of being God's perfect image, Jesus indwells in the Father and the Father in Jesus. 

Jesus tells the disciples that He is the Truth and the Life. Because Jesus embodies the truth in His very person. And He not only shows us the right path of life, He gives us the kind of life which only God can give, and that is the eternal life with the Father.

In sum, we ought to journey to the Father's house by following Jesus, that is to sayto walk Jesus' way, to live like He did, surrendering ourselves totally to the will of the Father. This is our real challenge, to dedicate our lives to love and serve others, including bearing our own crosses daily, enduring suffering for the kingdom, and even offering our very lives for the love of God, if need be.

Are we ready to walk the Wayof Jesus, to follow the straight path to God's kingdom?

A blessed Sunday to us all. And thank you for a moment with God.

Ad Jesum per Mariam!

Cycle A - Year 1:  

7 May 2017: Fourth Sunday of Easter

(Liturgical Color: White)

Gospel:Please Read John 10:1-10

The Lord is my Shepherd!

Who do you think is an effective leader: the one who simply gives commands for others to follow, or the one who works with the team to achieve the desired results?

Well, both kinds of leaders may get things done in their own way, but the one who works with the rest achieves something more, like the respect and admiration of those he or she leads. 

This Sunday's Gospel narrative provides us the best model of leadership in our Lord Jesus Christ Himself as the Good Shepherd.

In the Church liturgy, the fourth Sunday of the Easter Season is a celebration of the Good

Shepherd Sunday. The Responsorial Psalm in the Mass sums it up beautifully: "The Lord is my Shepherd there is nothing I shall want! (Ps 23)

During the time of our Lord shepherding was the main occupation of people. Hence, the imagery of a "Good Shepherd" relates to the practical realities of daily living of people at that time.

But in our particular situation, we have no experience of shepherding.  Nonetheless, we can reflect on the qualities of a good shepherd and the relationship between the shepherd and the sheep to remind us how to exercise authority or leadership in our generation.

In a general sense "good shepherd" is an image that implies someone who gives a caring, compassionate leadership. A good shepherd walks in front of the sheep and the sheep follow the shepherd freely; they are not driven or coerced to follow him. Because the relationship between the shepherd and his sheep is that of mutual recognition through the use of voice, where there is a voluntary following or trust. Thus, those who stay with the shepherd are not lost. And at the end of the day the shepherd bring all his sheep into the shelter.

So what can shepherding teach us about God and our relationship with Him?

The Scriptures describe God as a shepherd who brings security and peace to his people. Just as the shepherd keeps watch over his sheep and protects them from danger, so Jesus stands watch over his people as the Shepherd and Guardian of our souls.

Thus, we can use the imagery of the Good Shepherd to guide us in choosing our political leaders when it is election time. We should support and elect only those candidates who by their examples of caring, compassionate leadership, love and respect for human life can truly lead us to be a God-fearing nation. It may be a bit late now for this, but let us not lose hope that our risen Lord will not abandon us and find a way of "resurrection" from our own-made national tragedy.

The second point in our reflection is to heed seriously the words of our Lord Jesus Himself about Him as the only Gate for His sheep. And only if we enter through this Gate that we can have life and have it abundantly, 

We need to be weary of those who profess to be "Catholics" and yet want to lead others astray from the only "Gate" for the sheep through "pollution" of the official teachings of the Church for their own selfish interest, for example, on the sanctity of human life.

If we do not recognize, or refuse to recognize, our Lord Jesus Christ in the voice of His own Church and those who are tasked to proclaim God's kingdom we are likely to get lost. And perhaps many, including those who professed to be Christians, do lose their way because they do not heed the voice of the Good Shepherd and do not want to enter the only "Gate" to God's kingdom, Jesus Christ Himself.

So let us pray, that the celebration of Good Shepherd Sunday may enlighten and convert those who exercise authority to reflect and follow the example of our Lord Jesus Christ, who came that we might have life and have it abundantly.

A blessed Sunday to us all. And thank you for a moment with God.

Ad Jesum per Mariam!