Fifth Sunday of Easter
Acts – 6:1-7
Peter – 2:4-9
John – 14:1-12
Do not be afraid. Have Faith in Me and in My Father. I am going to prepare a place for you so that I will come again and take you to myself so that where I am you also may be. Phillip said to Him, “Jesus, show us the Father”. Jesus replied, “Phillip, I have been with you all this time and still you do not believe. Whoever sees me sees the Father. Believe Me because I am in the Father and the Father is in Me. That’s why I was sent. I am the Truth, the Way and the Light.”
My dear people, this is a very powerful gospel. In order to understand it we must go through the cycles. In the first reading today, we see how the apostles, after Pentecost, are responsible not only for the spiritual needs of the people but also for their personal needs and belongings. We see a division between the Jews and the Hellenists (they are the Greeks). The Hellenists believe they are not being taken care of the same as the Jews. So the apostles decided that they should not have to deal with the situations at the tables – their mission was to evangelize and preach the word of Jesus.
It was decided that seven men from among them be selected as deacons. They laid their hands on them and prayer over them. These seven men would be the ones who would care for the personal needs of the people in the distribution of the bread.
Remember, there are three things that you must keep in mind – prayer, men and laying of hands. That is why the deaconate is only for men. It’s not because the church hates women but because that was the founders’ instruction. Filled with the Holy Spirit, they prayed over them and imposed their hands on them. The apostles passed on the Holy Spirit to them to do the work of the Father, which is the work of the Son, to care for the building of the church.
In the gospel today, we find Jesus at the last supper. Those words from the last supper are very important to us because they are the words of our savior who loved us so very much. Even in that moment when He is about to be betrayed, He found room to love us. He wants to strengthen the apostles and us in our daily lives. All of us, like the apostles, have anxieties and times when we question our faith and we feel God is distant from us. Jesus assures us with the words ‘Do not be afraid’. The first words spoken by our great pope John Paul when he was selected to be the Vicar of Christ were ‘Do not be afraid’. Jesus is with us and will never abandon us. Jesus was going to the Father because He did the will of the Father. He is commissioning us to continue His work. The Father will send the Holy Spirit to you to strengthen and guide you.
Jesus told the apostles while He is with the Father, He will prepare a place for them. Because those who love Him and keep His word, He has a place in His heart and in His Father’s house for them. But He will come back – to judge the living and the dead. He will judge each one of us according to how we have accepted Him in this life. For those of us who believe, we will be called to a life of sanctity. We will be in heaven with Him. Whoever believes that Jesus came in the flesh will be saved. Not just believe in Him but accept His words.
Jesus said He is the Way because what he has done to us we are to do to one another. From this the world comes to know that we are His disciples in the love that we cherish for one another. Where there is no love in a community, there is no God. Where there is no caring for those in the community, we do no know Him. So as the Father has loved you, you must love one another. Jesus gave His life to show us that He gave His life for us – the ones He loves. He said if we believe in Him and act like Him we will be replicas of Him, then He will give us life. That life begins now in the waters of baptism. It makes us children of God. By accepting Jesus and living His message, you will be given the pledge of eternal life.
I would like to focus, today on the words St. Peter which are very powerful. Sometimes we go through the ritual of baptism and don’t understand what it’s all about. St. Peter tells us to come to Jesus, who is the living stone rejected by human beings but precious in the sight of God. He is the precious stone who was rejected when He came into this world. The world cannot understand what God has intended for us. And like a living stone, let yourselves be built like a spiritual house that will be acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
At baptism when I anoint a baby with chrism and say “As Christ who is anointed as priest, prophet and king” I say this so you too may be one. By baptism, we are priestly people. A few moments from now I will tell you to “Pray my bothers and sisters that OUR sacrifice”. It is not my sacrifice but ours. In the Eucharist Prayer, I say “Father, WE offer You.” It is not my offering but our offering. I just happen to be the one who prays on your behalf. We are priestly people. Sunday is the day set aside by the church to allow us to recognize what we receive from God and to show Him our thanks. It is important to know that we have that obligation to give to God that hour of time each week because He has given us so much. We are priestly people because we are offering only one sacrifice. Listen very carefully! One is the altar, one is the priesthood of Jesus Christ that I share with Him, one is the bread that we break, and one is the cup that we share among us. Do you see the oneness of the sacrifice?
This is why St. Peter told us we are a holy priesthood. Yes, we are holy because our action of the mass is going to make us holy. Do we not say that we hope to join one day with the union of the saints? This mass is moving us on this spiritual journey to our goal of being with the Blessed Mother. She is that beautiful woman who loved us so much that she became the mother of God. The saints are not in the plaster of the statues we see around the church. They are a reminder that one day we will also be in heaven. But the sacrifice comes through one person and that is Jesus Christ.
St. Peter said we must build a spiritual sacrifice accepted by God. We cannot offer our own sacrifice. It comes to us through one person and that person is Jesus Christ. Jesus came to fulfill the prophecy that God would lay a cornerstone in
Do not be like those who have no faith and rejected Him. When He came the builders rejected the cornerstone. St. Peter referred to Jesus as the stone who would make people stumble. Do you remember the words of Simeon to the Blessed Mother? He said, “This child will be the stumbling block of many”. Many will not follow Him and He will not be attracted to them. The Word of God, Jesus Christ, will be a stumbling block to those who do not believe. They stumbled by disobeying the Word. And who is the Word? It is Jesus Christ who is the Word of God make flesh.
We are a chosen race because from many people you have been chosen to come to mass. We are a royal priesthood because we belong to the priesthood of Jesus who is the King of Kings. We are a holy nation because we believe that is what we are called. Do we not believe in the one, holy and universal church? We are called to be holy. We are a people who belong to Him alone.
When we sing the Gloria, we should be excited because this is the time when we glorify the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. They are the three persons in one. We sing it because it is a hymn of praise to the Eternal Father. If we don’t sing the Gloria, do we really understand what we are doing? We would be dancing with joy if we understood what we are singing. We are here to offer thanks for all the blessings He has bestowed on us. We reach out to make His message known by the life that we lead.
My dear people, this is what our Holy Father is trying to say to us in every discourse. Christ is our hope. How can He be our hope? He said to us “Do not be afraid”. If we are not afraid, there is hope that tomorrow will be better. But we don’t rely on tomorrow – we rely on today because today is the first step towards tomorrow. Look at Phillip- Jesus told him He had been with him all this time and still he asked to be shown the Father! If we are waiting for a miracle, it isn’t going to happen because we already have the miracle. It is in the Word. It is in our congregation! Let us take it now and make it fruitful.
The Holy Father stressed very greatly that bishops, priests, deacons and catechists (teachers of the faith) and parents must work together for one common thing – that is the building of our young children. My dear parents, I cannot stress it enough to you that you are the builders of our church. We can do but without you we can do nothing. And if you as teachers do not have the faith and know the catechism, how can you teach it? Our society has spent the last 30 years fooling around with our faith. Many of our young people under 30 or 40 do not know the faith. If you ask them why they go to church they don’t know. They don’t know the sacraments and what they mean.
The Holy Father said that we had 200 years of great builders of the faith. He mentioned several priests by name and said that
My dear parents, we have responsibility to the church of tomorrow. I am going to face a very harsh judgment. Because tomorrow if we do not sow, there will be nothing to reap. My mother and father and grandmother were not theologians but they were better than the professors I had in the seminary because they instilled in me faith. In my country, St. Gorge Precca started classes to teach the faith.
We cannot learn the faith by looking at each other and asking what are we going to do. There are lots of things we can do. Download the speeches of the Holy Father and read them and listen to his words. Make copies and give them to whomever you can. Then take time to reflect on those words. He said we need to take care of the earth and environment because God created it and we need to preserve it. And if we preserve the environment how much more will we preserve another creature this it the human species? We cannot contradict ourselves. We preserve the whales and trees and we kill the babies in the womb. We cannot do this. We must be people of life.
Our teaching must be with the heart of the church if we want to be called Catholic. We have an identity. The words of our Holy Father were not spoken to make us feel bad but to give us a push to continue in our efforts to do good.
Let us build the church, dear people. Let us love our faith. Let us have hope in Jesus Christ because tomorrow will come. I believe that the spring of the church is about to dawn. We are now in winter. The church has been disgraced with the evil of priest abuse and divorce and separation and abortion. But now our young people want to return. I can see it in their eyes when I talk with young couples who want to be married. Both of their parents may be divorced and they don’t want that.
We must struggle to become better and if we do then we will have peace. That peace comes only from one source – Jesus Christ. God Bless You!
Third Sunday of Easter
Readings: Acts – :14, 22-33
Peter – 1: 17-21
Luke – 24: 13-35
Were not our hearts burning within us when He spoke to us on the road and opened the Scripture to us? Don’t go because the night is here and the day is almost over! My dear people, these are the words we just heard in the gospel today.
In the first reading, we find Peter on the day of Pentecost. That was the day the fulfillment of Jesus in passing from this life to eternity was sealed by the promise made by the Father that His name was sent to the Apostles. That is why the season of Easter goes to Pentecost. Pentecost is the confirmation of Easter. That is why on that first day after His resurrection He gave the apostles the Holy Spirit. Today we see how the apostles, filled with that Holy Spirit, went out and began speaking to all who were visiting for the festival. Remember, the Pentecost of the time was the Pentecost of the Jews. Fifty days after the feast of the Passover was the feast of the harvest when everyone would come with one tenth of what they had and give it to the temple. There they gave thanks to God for a good harvest.
While they were in
In the gospel today, we find what we do every time we come to mass. What is mass? Mass is the sacrifice of the cross. It is divided into two parts – the liturgy of the Word and the liturgy of the Eucharist. That is why we have two tables which are permanent because the Word of God is permanent and so is the altar. We don’t have other altars in church because one is the sacrifice, one is the priesthood and one is the emulation that all of us give to the Father in this sacrifice of the mass. That is why the victim is Jesus Christ. The church tells us that in the liturgy of the Word God speaks to us.
Some people complain that the priest does not want to speak to them before mass. St. John Vianney used to say, “Before mass, I talk to God. During mass, God speaks to me. After mass, I speak to you.” That is exactly what it is. During mass God speaks to us from the word of Scripture. We don’t read Shakespeare or the Fathers of the Church. We read scripture because it was written for one important issue – that is to prepare us for the coming of Jesus Christ. Jesus fulfilled all that was said about Him. So the table of the Word is important. Then we come to the table of the Eucharist. There Jesus becomes our victim and we offer Him from our means. The collection is not to make me happy. That collection comes from you to you. Everything we have here goes back to you because we must support education, those who work behind the scenes for the church, the diocese and many other things.
You should not be embarrassed when asked to carry the gifts. It is a great honor especially when the mass is for one of your loved ones. When you carry the gifts at the offertory, you bring the gifts of all the people to the altar where they are placed on the paten and offered to the Father. From what God has given us, He is asking us to give it to Him so in return He gives Himself to us. At the offertory do we not say, “Fruit of the earth and work of human hands to become the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ”? This is the first part of the Eucharist.
The second part of the Eucharist is the killing of the victim. At the time of the Consecration, Jesus dies on the altar. Imagine! Jesus actually dies which is why I don’t say “The Body and Blood” but say “This is My Body which will be given for you. This is My Blood which will be shed for you”. That is the meaning of sacrifice – destruction of the victim. If the victim is not destroyed, then there is no sacrifice whatsoever. We cannot deny that the Sacrifice of the Mass is a sacrifice. Jesus gave Himself on the wood of the cross and He emulates Himself on our altar in a very special way.
The third part of the Eucharist is communion when we become part of Him and He becomes part of us. And this is what we heard today. When the disciples of Emmaus recognized Jesus at the breaking of the bread they said to each other “He was here and we failed to recognize Him”.
Unfortunately, dear people, these are the words that some of us can say. We go to mass but our minds are not to be given to Him. Our minds were not set on the Word. Many of us have been prevented from knowing Jesus. To know Jesus you must have one thing in common – that is to have the heart of Jesus. We cannot come to Jesus unless we have been given that privilege. This is why the church say, “The Lord be with you”. Unless the Lord is with you, you cannot recognize Him.
God is acknowledged by those who are in God. This is very important. The disciples questioned themselves wondering why they didn’t recognize Him when He was explaining the Scriptures. But what happened at the house? Jesus pretended that He wanted to leave. They pleaded with Him, telling Him it was almost dark and to stay with them. He could continue His journey tomorrow. Can you tell me what Pope used these words in his encyclical? (Congregant replies – John Paul II) That is correct! It was the last letter he wrote about the Eucharist. “Stay with us Lord because the night is about to come” are words that I will explain to you very seriously. Then Jesus entered the house and when He did He took bread, broke it and gave blessing to the Father. And what did He do next? He gave it to them. These are the actions of the Eucharist.
In a few moments from now you will see me doing this (Father puts his hands together, palms down and extends them). Do you know what that means? It is the imposition of the Holy Spirit. When we were ordained, the bishop laid his hands on us and imposed on us the Holy Spirit. If we look at the Eucharistic Prayer, you will see that we pray to the Father, we pray for the intercession of Jesus through the power of the Holy Spirit. Listen carefully to those first three sentences.
We do not come to the altar and feed ourselves. As the example Jesus set giving us the bread, the minister also hands the Eucharist to you. Jesus personally comes to us and He was us personally to exchange this gift from person to person. How beautiful it is! Everything we do in our church has meaning. Everything is taken from Scripture. Jesus broke the bread, put the blessing, gave it to his disciples and they gave it to the others.
Now – the disciples said, “Stay with us Lord because the night is about to come.” Stay with us Lord because there is no fear. Do not fear because I am with you until the end of time. And what do they mean when they were speaking about ‘the night’? They were referring to the power the evil one who comes at night. He is the power of darkness and causes all sort of evil things to happen under the cover of darkness. We ask Him to stay with us because the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. If we succumb to the temptation of the night, we will fail. We ask the Lord to preserve us from these hours of darkness when we try to find happiness outside of Him.
Jesus is here before us so we can pour out all our trials and tribulations to Him that we have from the weight of the world. Come to Me all you who are burdened and I will give you rest. He knows we have human limitations and will come to touch us with His grace. Although with crosses remain with us, they will be easier with Him.
I would like to conclude with that second reading – the letter of St. Peter. It is very powerful. He said to us that in the fullness of time, the Father sent His son, Jesus, to take on our sins. He sent Him to destroy what we inherited from our forefathers. Because we inherited disobedience, the Father gave us His son. If we are saved by Jesus, we will journey towards our destination living a life that is pleasing to Him. Let us live a life that is full of good conduct so that we who celebrate the Eucharist can change the world. The Christ, who died and is still dying in your crosses, is the Christ who we witness is still alive. He is the Christ who will come again in glory.
This is what St. Peter is saying to us. Jesus was known before the foundation of the world. But He was revealed to us in our final time. This is the final time. True men will believe in God who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory so that through faith you can have hope in this glory that God will give us if we follow His son.
Can you see, dear people, why I have great love for Protestant people? They live the word. They preach the word. They love the word. If you have no love for the word, you don’t understand it. If you don’t understand what you are receiving, how can appreciate it? If I give you a box and tell you it contains precious things, you will not believe me unless you open it. When you see something in there that you don’t have use for, you discard it. Or you say Thank you because you want to be polite. But in reality the precious things are in there. It is the same with us. The church gives us so much so we can understand what we are doing.
Everything we do in our celebration has a meaning. Then when we come together, we celebrate with great joy these Pascal mysteries and at the end of the mass the church tells you to “GO
My dear people, this is the gospel today. The disciples of Emmaus, although it was night and seven miles from their home, first of all would not let Jesus go. Secondly, they ran to
Second Sunday of Easter, Divine Mercy Sunday
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Peter – 1:3-9
John – 20:19-31
And the early Christians were faithful to the teaching of the Apostles. They had everything in common among them. They were faithful to the breaking of the bread and were united together in prayer. That is the model of every Christian’s life. If we really look at this reading today and examine ourselves, we have to come to the conclusion and ask ourselves “Are we true to the community of Jesus?”
My dear people, that first reading is very powerful. In this reading we see how the Christians were the envy of other people. People were trying to find out where they got their happiness. This happiness comes from the risen Christ. That by the power of the Holy Spirit they were changed into a people who were full of love and courage to proclaim Him (the one they crucified) as witnesses of His resurrection.
The church wants to put in front of us a model of Christian life. First and foremost – we ask ourselves if we are faithful to the teaching of the apostles? Do we really believe what we profess in the creed? Or are there some teachings in the church that we don’t like and we simply discard them? How many times do we say that we have our own feelings and are not going to be led by the nose? This is not the kind of faith we profess in the creed. We believe that there is a God and that there are three persons in Him. We believe that God loves us so much that He sent His son to die for us. We believe in His resurrection. We believe that there is a resurrection of the body because He was the pioneer for each one of us as He had died and we die too like Him if we bear the suffering of the cross that St. Peter spoke about in the second reading. We will achieve the glory that we pray each Sunday will be revealed when He comes so His glory will be our glory.
We believe in one baptism. We know that baptism makes us heirs of the
Some people feel that other churches have the same teaching. I remind you, and I am not putting any churches down, but this is the truth of the Catholic Church. We can trace our faith to the Christ and the Apostles. They cannot because they were founded in the middle ages. They are called Protestants because the protest the truth. By the laying of the hands on those who came after the Apostles, we trace our lineage to them. Peter ordained Linus and Linus ordained other bishops who followed in the footsteps of the Apostles. A community that does not believe the same common teaching is not a community at all. This is why we have communion – common union. We are in union with common teaching.
They were also a community who sold their property and laid the money at the feet of the apostles. So they would share equally. None of them go for want. Imagine how many people, not in
My dear people, this is the idea that we together at Christmas and Easter and during the week to share from your goodness with the people who come to our door. And they do not come for money. They come for food. That is a kind of community. I admire many of you people seated here because of your concern. If you don’t see Jesus in the poor, you don’t know Jesus. Look what He did for us. He was God! He did not you or me yet He humbled Himself as we read on Good Friday. He became lower than an angel. He took on our body with all the suffering, rejection and even the guilt of the cross. And He rose. And for what reason? He showered His love on us. He who was God lowered Himself and became obedient even to the cross. But the Father gave Him the power of the resurrection. That is why at the name of Jesus every knee shall bend and every tongue will proclaim that He is the Lord.
My dear people, that is what community is all about. The early Christians used to go to temple for the psalms but the breaking of the bread took place only in their houses because not all were in one communion or believed in same teaching. There was a distinction. The Eucharist was not given to everyone. Some people feel the church should change, because they are divorced and remarried and they cannot receive communion. This is not my teaching. It is the teaching of the church who received this from Jesus – Whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven. This is not because the church is happy to punish people. Do you think I am happy to retain absolution in the confessional? I did it once in my 27 years because the person was not truly sorry for his sins and refused to stop living in sin. And I am very sorry for that.
We come to communion because we have common teaching. We are one with Christ. The teachings of the church are very strong about this. We see it in the letters of Paul, in the gospel and in the Acts of the Apostles. We don’t deserve a communion with the Lord but because of His great love He hides behind the species and comes to us even with our frailties and weakness. We have to be sure that we are not under the pain of mortal sin.
My dear people, I want to ask you a question and do not want to offend anyone because of European style of speaking. Are you happy with our liturgies? Do you feel Jesus when you come to church? Do you feel the risen Jesus in your heart? Do you feel you are in a community with the songs and responses that is so uplifting that you do not want to leave? Do you want my opinion? You are far away from it because you are not sharing your talent and time with other people. You come here to give God your thanks. Thanks for what? Because God will kill me if I don’t go to mass or because my wife told me I had to go to mass? No – We come to mass because we have an obligation to give thanks to God for all He has bestowed on us.
What am I going to put on that paten today? Is it because I’m celebrating mass? No – each one of us is going to bring his talent, his time, his love and his service that he gave to others. This makes up for the times when we should have been his mouthpiece, his hands and feet to reach out to those who are really in need. Then our liturgy will be happy. We have to give back to God what He has given us. We have to have joy. When we sing the Gloria, some of us just sit and do nothing. That is not rejoicing. We need to give God praise and thanks. We are thankful and Eucharistic people but sometimes we don’t put in the effort. If you don’t get anything out of mass, look at yourself to see what you brought with you to mass. Do you read the readings and prepare yourself before you come to mass? Do you put yourself in the presence of God? Do you sing with the cantor? My dear people, we must make an effort.
In the gospel today we find that the terrified apostles were locked in the upper room when all of a sudden Jesus appeared in front of them. And what is the greeting of the Easter season? It is “peace”! Jesus said it two times – “My peace I give to you! As the Father has sent me, now I send you. I finished my job.” His mission was finished and now we begin ours. The sins that you forgive are forgiven and the sins that you hold bound will be retained. But one of them, Thomas was not with them.
Eight days later they were again gathered in the Upper Room and this time Thomas was there. Although they locked the doors because they were afraid for their lives, Jesus appeared. And He selected Thomas to come and put his fingers in His wounds and his hand in Jesus’ side. And even though he was afraid, Thomas did as Jesus asked. Then full of awe said, “My Lord and My God!” Then Lord replied that He was accepted his proposition but He was more pleased with those who have not seen but yet believed. Jesus cannot err and cannot be deceived.
This is why the church calls these eight days the Octave of Easter. Today is equal to last Sunday. Nothing can be celebrated this week except the celebration of Easter. This is the festival of the greatest feast of the church.
On that day, Jesus gave us the greatest His gift to the church – the sacrament of Penance. Some people feel Penance is an invention of the church. If you think this way, you do not believe in the teaching of the Catholic Church. In chapter 20 of John verses 19 to 21 are those verses we just read. Jesus said, “The sins that you forgive – the sins that you retain will be done in heaven”! Christ must die to pay the price before He established the sacrament of Penance. Can you believe it? All the other sacraments were instituted during His lifetime.
I’m going to ask you another question and please don’t be offended by it. How many of you went to confession this Easter? Don’t raise your hands – it is not my business. If you fail to go, then Easter is a zero in your life. Do you remember the Precepts of the Church? It says you must go to confession at least once a year and receive Holy Communion. This is what Easter is all about. I die to myself to rise with Him to a new life. In the water of Baptism, we die with Christ and rise with Him to a new life.
All of you are seeing that picture over there (Father points to the right side of the altar), and many of you know who it is. It is the Divine Mercy. It was Sister Maria Faustina, a young Polish nun, who began to feel something in the chapel where she was praying. She was so terrified that the first day that she ran to her room and was afraid to go to the chapel by herself. But Jesus told her He had a mystery to reveal to you. He began to tell her what He wanted from her – to spread the devotion of the Divine Mercy. It is the second Sunday of Easter because God in His mercy forgives us our sins. He then showed her His very image. She asked Him why were there rays coming from His side. He told that as He hung on the cross water and blood flowed from His side. The water identifies baptism cleanses us and makes us heirs to the kingdom of heaven. The blood signifies the Eucharist which will nourish you on the journey to eternity.
My dear people, it is very important to understand that Easter is the feast of the sacrament of Penance. And I ask you in a very special way as I conclude with that second reading where St. Peter said, “That this life is full of trials. This life is full of crosses. If we endure them with Christ, we who never saw Him, but we still believe in Him because our faith assures us of our salvation.” Jesus said, “I am the Truth. I am the Way. I am the Life.” I am the Truth because I have revealed to you as I heard it from the Father. The Father loves you. I am the Way because I preach it to you where I become the expression of love. I healed and touched people and had compassion for those who lost their loved ones. And I am Life because in Me alone, you will have life because no one goes to the Father except through me.
Let us examine ourselves to see what kind of community we are. Let us examine ourselves to see what confession can do for us. It is not a sacrament for the little one or those who are dying but it is for each one of us.
If you receive the “Paper of Rome”, there was a picture of the Holy Father stepping down from the confessional. It was so beautiful because he came to hear confessions. That is what Easter is all about. That is why we invite you to the missions and penance services we have. Easter is the spring cleaning of our souls. By removing sin from our lives, we can give a great welcome to the Risen Christ. Where there is sin, Christ will never come. Christ does not compromise. If you want to live the pleasures of life, you will never have the peace and joy of Easter. Jesus comes to give us true peace – not as the world gives peace – but as peace from the Father. By removing sin, we can radiate that peace to other people. Then our celebration, our liturgy, will be uplifting and meaningful. We come here to give thanks for what we have received. God bless!
Easter Sunday 2008 - Mass of the Resurrection< xml="true" ns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" prefix="o" namespace="">
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Jn – 20:1-9
Simon Peter and John ran to the tomb after the proclamation of the women that Jesus had been taken from the tomb. John arrived at the tomb first but did not enter it. Simon Peter arrived and went in. He saw the buried clothes thrown aside. But the Lord Jesus was not there. John also entered the tomb. He saw and believed.
My dear people, this is what we celebrate today. We celebrate that great day when God loved us so much He gave us His only son to die on the cross. After His burial, He was given the power of the resurrection. That resurrection is the hope of each one of us who believe. That the Christ who died is the Christ who we proclaim is risen and is the Christ we expect to come again in glory. That is the hope of each on of us. In order to understand this, we go to the readings.
In the first reading today, we hear the first sermon St. Peter gave on the day of Pentecost. That was the day when the Holy Spirit came upon and them and turned them into fearless people. From intimidated and fearful people, they went out and proclaimed the message that the Christ you put to the cross is the Christ we believe that has risen. We are witness to this.
Every year on this day we read one gospel – the gospel of John because he was the eye witness. It is very important to understand that this is not an invention of the church. This is the act of God in which we celebrate the great mystery of our faith. The Christ who walked this earth with us has become our high priest and victim who was killed on the wood of the cross, buried and is the one we proclaim in His name alone we find salvation. That is why the gospel today is very important. There are so many things in that gospel that reflect our faith.
First and foremost, it was not John but Peter who entered that tomb. It was to Peter that the promise was made that he would be the head of the church. The first nine chapters of the Acts of the Apostles speak of the role of Peter. He is the witness of the resurrection. He is the healer of the crippled man. He is the one who appointed the successor of Judas. He is the one who advised the Council of Jerusalem to let go of the inheritance of the law of Moses but give us the true law of Jesus – if you believe in Jesus Christ you will have salvation without performing other rituals. The role of Peter is very important. That is why he entered to tomb first and then John. This indicated the papacy of Peter. That he, by right is the Vicar of Christ on earth.
Second – they came and saw the empty tomb. Remember, in the gospel of Good Friday, it was written that they placed Jesus in a tomb in which no one had been laid. The empty tomb signifies the resurrection. The scriptures say they saw but did not understand because they have not yet received the gift of the Holy Spirit. Then they saw the burial clothes thrown aside. This is another sign of the resurrection because Jesus does not need any clothes because He is now with God. He is in His glorious body that does not need space and time to exist.
Next we see the women experience the resurrection of Jesus. They came to Him as He called them by name. The apostles were filled with awe and returned to the tomb because as humans they did not want to believe. They did not yet have the power of the Holy Spirit.
My dear people, I would like to focus today on that second reading of
When we see evil in the world we say “How come God does not destroy the world?” We have the redeemer with His five wounds and every time the world goes ugly, the Father looks at His son and what He did for us and has mercy on us. It is not you or me who earns the blessings from God. It was through His son who sits and His right hand and intercedes for His Bride, the church. Seek Christ who is at the right hand. Is this not what we say in the Creed? The Creed comes from Scripture.
Listen to the words of the consecration – This is My Body which will be given! Every priest should listen carefully to what he says on the altar because he is there to serve you. That is very important! If a priest is not a servant, he is not Persona Christi! Not another Christ! With our limitations and short comings, that is the calling of the priest! That is why
Why are we here? We’re here to celebrate His glory! And we hope one day will be ours. The Christ who died and is still dying in us by the crosses of life that we carry. The Christ who is resurrected by your lives witness to Him in situations where you have to stand up and defend your Christian beliefs. The Christ who we believe will come in glory so His glory will be ours.
My dear people, as you look at the altar you see a lot of symbolism. The most important symbol we have today is the candle. We call it the Christ candle. Last night we blest the fire because Christ is the Alpha and the Omega – the beginning and the end. The wax of the candle symbolizes that Christ is still being consumed for our salvation.
Then we see the water of baptism. This water keeps each one of us pure because by this water we are cleansed from our sins. With the sprinkling of water, we are reminded of our baptismal promise that if we die to sin and profess our faith we will be saved.
Next we see the cross, lying on the floor. Christ conquered sin and destroyed the power of evil. The cross is no longer a means of salvation. He is the salvation! He is the glory! He is the redeemer! He is the way to the Father!
And of course we see the Risen Christ who indicates to us that He is now risen and death has no power over Him. He is asking each one of us that if our lives here on earth be like His and we bear our cross and follow Him, we too will share in His eternal glory.
The flowers on the altar identify spring. It is a birth – a renewal! I am asking you to renew yourselves in Jesus Christ.
My dear people, I am so glad to see you here this morning. Some of you are visiting and I welcome you to St. Anthony. But I see some who have come because of a loved one or spouse. Remember Jesus is not the Jesus of Christmas and Easter. Jesus is a person of God. Have a relationship with Him! Many times we endure the troubles of life because sometimes the Lord is trying to warn us and touch us. He loves us very much and wants us to listen to His message. He wants us to admit that we have sinned. But also to remind us by His guidance and love we can have a very beautiful life. I always feel that heaven begins now but unfortunately hell also begins now.
If you are right with Jesus, the troubles of life will not cease but you will have peace of heart. For the young people, the only drug you need in your life is the drug of Jesus Christ. He said, ”Without Me you can do nothing!” There are other things in life that try to make us happy but they do not. In fact, they make us sick and more depressed and do not fulfill what they promise.
I challenge you today to come to know and experience Jesus. May the beautiful greeting which I give to you today remain with you – “Alleluia! Alleluia! The Lord Jesus is indeed risen! Alleluia!
God Bless!!
Third Sunday in Lent
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Rm 5: 1-2, 5-8
Jn 4: 5-42
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I have met the one who has told me everything I have done and the people of
In the first reading today, we see God’s chosen people, a people who have experienced God in their lives. They saw Him select Moses to take them out of exile. They have seen Him going through the plagues of
Moses went to God and told Him that they weren’t complaining about him but about God. They wished that they died in
But do you see how it is? The Lord shows us step by step that he is never going to leave us alone. The water that was struck from the rock represents two things. It foretells Jesus who is the rock and it foretells the sacrament of Baptism. And this is very important as we will see in the gospel.
The gospels we will read in the upcoming Sundays will be only from the gospels of John because he was an eyewitness to the events. We will see him at the well. We will see him at the rising of Lazarus. John is trying to report to us even the hour in which the events occurred. If something dramatic happens to you, you remember the place, the people you were with and even the hour the event occurred. So John tells us it was
This made the woman quite happy because she would not have to carry water from the well again and she wanted to know where she could get this water. But Jesus answered her by asking her to go and get her husband. She lowered her head and replied that she had no husband. Jesus replied that she was correct in saying that because she in fact had five husbands and the man she was with was not her husband. She asked Jesus if He was a prophet because if He were she did not want to hear His words.
Is this not always the case with humans? Whenever we are put to the test and faced with the truth, we hide. They say they don’t need to go to church but they can read the bible at home. They are only hiding behind the bible. They don’t want to hear the word. The Word makes them think. The Word makes them ashamed. The Word is asking them for something they must do in order to confirm with the Word.
So the woman went running to the town saying, “I have met a man who told me everything I did! Can He be the Christ?” In the meantime, the disciples returned. They showed Jesus the food had and asked Him to eat. He replied that He had other food. They were confused and wanted to know where He had gotten food. Jesus told them that the food He had was to do the will of the Father and to finish the job for which He was sent.
Look at the cross. The last words that Jesus said before He expired were “Your will be done. It is finished!” That is why Jesus came. He didn’t come to be the cute baby in
I would like to concentrate today on that second reading which is the focus of our teaching. Remember that the second reading is always the teaching of the church. The first reading is the prophecy and the gospel is the fulfillment of that prophecy.
We boast in hope of the glory of God. If I say to you that I am going to give each one of you a ten dollar bill that will not be fulfilled. First of all, I don’t have the ten dollars for each one of you, even if I go to the bank and ask for it. Secondly, I am human. I am promising things that because I feel happy I say things. But the hope we have is in the Divine Son of God and God cannot deceive or be deceived. His hope is divine. His hope is sure. That is why
When did we receive the Holy Spirit? We received the Holy Spirit for the first time in baptism. And what does baptism do for us? First, it takes away original sin. Second, it makes us children of God. Third, it makes us children of the church. And finally, it opens the door to receive the other sacraments. These are the four actions of baptism. Can you receive communion without being baptized? Or receive penance? The answer is no because baptism takes away all sins.
Then
Several years ago, Pope John Paul presided over the canonization of a man named Maximillian Kolbe. He was a priest who gave his life so that a man who had a family might live. When it was time for his canonization the question arose that he deliberately offered himself to die because we don’t seek death. But John Paul overruled those who questioned because he said that his man saw the goodness of what the man had in store for him. Fr. Kolbe had established a life of grace. Already in his 60’s, he had done many good things including using the radio to bring the catholic faith to the world. Then he died and became a saint. This is what St. Paul is saying here. That only with difficulty does one die for another.
Now listen to this – But God who has love for us in while we were still sinners sent Christ to die for us. Imagine- that while we were enemies of God, He found room in His heart to love us and to die for us. That is the love of God.
So you see, dear people, this is what life is all about. Lent is to reflect on your own life and see if you are in accord with Him. We come to the notion that we have sinned. All of us have sinned. That is what we give to God. And God in His mercy will acknowledge our sinfulness with open arms and bestow on us His peace and healing and forgiveness. That is why the church asks us to do something extra during this season of Lent. On Friday’s we have the Stations of the Cross. What if you get a call from a hospital that someone you love is approaching their final hours on earth? You don’t tell the doctor to call you when they die. No – you get in the car and drive to hospital – even if it’s for several days of waiting. Why? Because you don’t want them to die alone.
On Good Friday, Christ died for us and during each mass He renews the dying and resurrection and shows His love for us. He is saying to us that His blood will be poured for us. He wants to be given to us. But we tell Him we have other things to do. That is why the church, in this season, asks us to intensify our love for Him. He loves us so much that even though we are sinners, he died for us. He showered us with the most important gifts that we really need – that Is, reconciliation with the Father and the pledge of eternal life.
In the responsorial psalm today, we sing “If today you hear His voice, harden not your hearts”. That is exactly what the Lord is saying to us. If the message has been preached to you don’t harden your hearts but open them to the Lord. Let the Lord take it from there. Just acknowledge that we have put Him on the cross. God loves me so much that in that cross I have the power of my reconciliation. In that cross is the power of our victory. God Bless!
Second Sunday in Lent – February 17, 200
Readings: Gn. 12: 1-4a
Tim. 1: 8b-10
Mt. 17: 1-9
This is My beloved son on whom my favor rests. Listen to Him! These are the words that were spoken by the Father as Jesus was transfigured on
In the first reading today, we have a very unique story. Abram, a Mesopotamian, was called by God to leave his home. Together with his barren wife, Sarah, he was to leave everything and go to Or. Many times this reading makes me feel very uncomfortable because Abram was so obedient to God that I have to question and ask why. He took his wife and livestock and off he went. God told him He would bless those who bless him and He would curse those who curse him. This would be a sign that God would be present in the world.
In the gospel today, we find the story of the Transfiguration. Remember, Jesus already revealed to His apostles that He must go to Jesusalem to be crucified, to die and be buried and the rise. But to the apostles, He was talking over their heads. When they heard the words that He was going to pass on, they became distressed because they had put their trust in Him. They left everything to follow Him and now all of sudden He was going to leave them. Jesus wants to give them a glimpse of what it means to “rise from the dead.” While He was on the mountain He became white and with Him appeared Moses and Elijah. The apostles Peter, James and John were there at the foot of the mountain.
This is very important because we now see the transition from the old testament and the beginning of the new testament. Jesus is speaking with the prophets who foretold His coming. Now prophecy is fulfilled in His coming. He is going to direct the church into the hands of Peter, James and John to proclaim the Good News to the world. Listen to the words of the Father – “This is My Son in whom My favor rests! Listen to Him!”
How many times do we hear people say “That the Blessed Mother was appearing here and there and everywhere?” The revelation is not in His mother. The revelation is Jesus. This is the only thing we have to believe because the revelation was written for the coming of one person – Jesus Christ. With the death of John, who was the last one to write scripture, the revelation was closed. There will be no other revelation given to us. That is why the church is very hesitant. For example, this year we celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Our Lady’s appearance in
Bernadette was not a very smart girl. She was about 13 years of age and could not received Communion. The pastor refused to give it to her because she could not memorize the catechism. This young girl who went to the priest and told him what the Blessed Mother said is something to behold. The priest questioned her for the meaning of what she said and she told him that he was the priest and he was supposed to know. “I am the Immaculate Conception.” That is exactly what Mary revealed on March 25, 1858.
Remember, revelation is very important because it is the holy scripture. Jesus told his apostles not to tell anyone what they saw. When the Son of Man rises from the dead, then they would understand the meaning of what they saw.
The second reading today is what we are all about. Remember the Lent is the season where we come together to recognize our sinfulness. Our Holy Father says that Lent is the time when we am conscious that we have sinned and take full responsibility for our sinfulness and make a conversion. That means we turn to the Lord. Lent is not about not eating meat or candy. Don’t misunderstand me. Not eating meat on Fridays during Lent is a regulation of the church. But Lent is the time when we recognize our sinful ways and begin to change. This is the call to conversion.
Today, what
St. Timothy was going through a hard time. He was seeing a division in his own diocese.