Whenever we pray, we start and end our prayers with our acknowledgement of the Trinity.
A few months before my father died, he wrote a letter addressed to my mum and all the siblings. We did not know it until the funeral day. It was a short letter written with so much love and affection for the family especially his grandchildren.
Dad loved to write in cursive style and I’ve always loved to watch him take special care in writing as well as the content of what he writes. He could write on anything from old cardboards to used A4 papers, and would still looked stunning.
“The meaning of Christ’s Ascension,” writes Pope Benedict XVI, “expresses our belief that in Christ the humanity that we all share has entered into the inner life of God in a new and hitherto unheard of way. It means that we have found an everlasting place in God.” It would be a mistake to interpret the Ascension as “the temporary absence of Christ from the world.” Rather, “we go to heaven to the extent that we go to Jesus Christ and enter into him.” Heaven is a person: “Jesus himself is what we call heaven.”
“Peace be with you!” These words, spoken by Jesus not long before His life on earth would seemingly come to an end, are recorded in the Gospel of John (14:23-29). With Jesus’ death, the relatively peaceful lives of those who heard those words, His closest followers, were thrown into turmoil. Rightfully, they must have wondered what Jesus could have meant by “peace” when they experienced the opposite.
Love is a word that we always hear. Every time we hear the word love our eyes light up and somehow our heart beats just a little bit faster. However, the word love is one of the most misunderstood and one of the most abused words, in my opinion.
The FOURTH Sunday of Easter is known as ‘Good Shepherd Sunday’. It is also the World Day of Prayer for Vocations. Each year on this Sunday we reflect on the image of Jesus as the ‘Good Shepherd’.
The image of God as a shepherd is Biblical. In the OT we have references to it in the book of the Prophets Isaiah chapter 40 and Ezekiel chapter 34 who speak of Yahweh as the shepherd of Israel.
Happy Easter! The three-fold question of Jesus to Peter emphasizes the seriousness of Jesus’ inquiry. To love Jesus is not just a single response – it takes a lifetime of service.
When I was discerning this path to become a religious missionary, my initial response was a very casual “yes”. I was not sure of what it would entail until I reached the continent of Africa. There I was challenged to the very core of my being of what it means to say “yes” to Jesus’ question.
A nominal Catholic came up to the priest after a mass. He complained, “Father, your homily is boring. Every time I go to church it is always the same. It is always about the birth of Christ.” The priest replied, “My son, it is always the birth of Christ because you only come to church during Christmas.”
Some years ago I was ministering in a large and densely populated Catholic community in the south of Mexico City. One Easter Saturday evening saw me celebrating the Easter vigil with four newly formed and robust communities, one after the other across the parish.
"To live Holy Week following Jesus means learning to come out of ourselves ... to reach out to others, to go to the outskirts of existence, ourselves taking the first step towards our brothers and sisters, especially those farthest away, those who are forgotten, those most in need of understanding, consolation, help.
Most of us have seen this scene in a movie: there’s a person who is strapped on an electric chair about to die. The police are just waiting for 3:00pm on the clock before pulling down the lever to deliver thousand of volts of electricity so that the prisoner who is condemned to die will be killed. And with just a few seconds before 3pm, the phone rings. The President just called up and ordered the police to give the prisoner a reprieve.
Friends, how wonderful this weekend, that all of our readings look forward and speak of fresh beginnings - about not becoming imprisoned in our past, but what we could all become under God’s influence. I am sure all of us have been so moved by the simplicity and pastoral outlook of our new Pope. Friends, we have a God who makes all things new and in that we find hope.
Let’s face it.
We’re all prodigal children. For me the real hero of the story is the compassionate Elder. Elders are teachers of true values and philosophies that last forever. They touch the hearts of the younger generation with their symbolic connection to the past and knowledge of cultural and spiritual leadership.
In today's Gospel we hear a story that all of us are familiar with. It's the parable of the
Prodigal Son. It's a beautiful reflection on the love of a father for his son, which Jesus related in order to describe God's love for us. However, when hearing this story, one could rightly ask, "Where was the son's mother?"
“Unless you repent, you will likewise perish.” This is not a threat, but an invitation to lead a more fulfilled Christian life. During the 40 days of Lent we’ll be constantly reminded to repent, to have a change of heart for our own good; to change our evil ways and follow the way of the Lord, who is the only ‘way, truth and life.’ (Jn. 14:6).