PENTECOST:

Acts 2: 1-11;: 1 Corinthians 12: 3-7;Gospel: John 20: 19-23

Come Holy Spirit and fill the heart of your faithful and enkindle in them the fire of your love. Today is Pentecost Sunday. The sending of His Spirit was the final element of Christ's salvific work on earth. Between Christ's Ascension and the day that He will come again in glory, the Holy Spirit guides the Church and each of us as Christians.  

For the past seven weeks we have kept the Easter Candle here in the sanctuary, lighting it every time we have celebrated Mass. The living flame of the Easter Candle reminded us that Christ is alive, that he rose from the dead just as the sun rises each morning to put an end to the darkness of the night. The tall, white candle with a burning flame on top reminded us of God's faithfulness throughout all of history. It symbolized the two miraculous pillars - smoke by day and fire by night - that had guided the ancient Israelites out of Egypt, through the desert to the Promised Land. Now it is Christ, the Risen Lord, who is our pillar of smoke and pillar of fire, our sure guide out of slavery to sin, through this world of trials and temptations into the Promised Land of Heaven. But today we remove the Easter Candle from our sanctuary. Until next Easter,

we will only use it during baptism ceremonies, when Christ's risen life is given for the first time to new members of the Church. Does the removal of the Easter Candle mean that Christ is no longer among us? No.  The sanctuary lamp beside the Tabernacle (in the Bl.Sacrament Chapel) reminds us that Christ hasn't' gone on vacation. Rather it is the day when Christ's risen life was entrusted to the Church by the gift of the Holy Spirit, who descended like tongues of fire on the Apostles after Christ has ascended into heaven. That new season in the life of the Church is paralleled by our new liturgical season, Ordinary Time, when we take the Easter Candle out of the sanctuary, because we ourselves become living Easter Candles, burning flames of wisdom, pillars of Christian faith and love, spreading Christ’s hope in the world.

Why did the apostles receive the Holy Spirit at Pentecost but not on the day Jesus rose from the dead? Possibly at the first Easter the apostles were not honest with themselves about their sins and fears. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth (Jn 16:13). We must be consecrated by truth to receive the Spirit (Jn 17:17). If we are honest with ourselves we will be subservient to the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit, being God, will not take orders from us. Rather, He will command us to do His will. We, naturally don't want anyone, even God, to tell us what to do. We must honestly face this resistance to the Spirit, repent of our selfishness, and make a decision to do God's will instead of ours. Then we will be filled with the Spirit.

Jesus was aware that sins create rupture in man and destroys the peace in him. So when he wished them "peace"  he also granted  them the power to  destroy sin. To destroy a powerful enemy we need a powerful weapon. Jesus put this weapon in the hands of the church when communicating to his Apostles the power to forgive sins through the sacrament of Reconciliation. Jesus said to the apostles: "Those whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven: Those whose sins you retain, they are retained."

He also gave them power to become new people through the Spirit, by breathing on them.  As God breathed into Adam the breath of life, so Jesus now breathed the Spirit into these disciples, making them a new people.  In the power of the Spirit they left their narrow dungeon and preached the news of Jesus to the whole world.  The religious culture of their time led them to fear and despise foreigners, seeing them as a source of contamination.  But the Spirit they received was not a spirit of timidity and flight.

Inside every believer dwells an intimate, all-sufficient Helper with one goal: to ensure we grow in Christ-likeness. Saint Paul reminds the Corinthian community of this fact when he asks, "Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?" (I Corinthians 3:16). It is the Holy Spirit who develops our intimacy with God.  "God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts crying, ‘Abba! Father!’” (Gal 4:6). "God’s love has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit who has been given to us" (Romans 5:5). "No one can say, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ except by the Holy Spirit" (I Corinthians 12:3). Moreover, we know that it is the Holy Spirit who teaches us to pray (Romans 8:26). Holy Spirit, God's transforming presence in our lives, helps us to obey his will out of love.

The Holy Spirit reminds us, that we have a mission. Our mission is to tell everybody the Good News that God is their Father, that God is the Father of us all, that in spite of all the visible difference of language and culture and social status, we are all one family and should therefore live as brothers and sisters. Our mission is to break the barriers between "us" and "them," between male and female, between Jew and Gentile, between rich and poor, between Black and White, between First World and Third World, and to bring all humankind to speak the one universal language of brotherly/sisterly love. This is possible only through the working of the Holy Spirit.

At the trial scene Peter   disowned Jesus and swore that he did not know him. But after receiving the spirit the same Peter proclaimed aloud the message of Jesus and   called the people to repentance. The Spirit blesses us too with courage. When we accept it we too will be able to make our contribution to better the world. Don’t ever think that what we are able to do is mighty little; what ever we are able to do that will have great impact on the world.

A black squirrel once asked a wise old owl what was the weight of a single snowflake. "Why, nothing more than nothing," the owl answered. The squirrel then went on to tell the owl about a time when he was resting on a branch of a maple tree, counting each snowflake that came to rest on the branch until he reached the number 1,973,864. Then with the settling of the very next flake -- crack! The branch suddenly snapped, throwing the squirrel and the snow to the ground. "That was surely a whole lot of nothing," said the squirrel.

Our daily personal efforts to spread the reign of love and justice may be as lightweight as snowflakes. But by heaping our snowflakes together we shall eventually be able to break the heavy branch of sin, evil and injustice growing in our world today.

St.Paul says: To each individual the manifestation of the Spirit is given for some benefit." It may be the homeless, or the injustice of abortion, or the lack of solid religious education. Maybe God has given us a special sensitivity in that area because he is calling us to shine his light there. If each of us made the commitment to brighten up just one dark corner of the world with Christ's light this year, think how much brighter the world would be twelve months from now! Today, let's pray for a new Pentecost in our lives, our parish, and our world, and let's promise to do our part to make that come true.

May the Spirit of the Lord rest on us with wisdom and understanding, with counsel and might, with knowledge and the fear of the Lord. Amen.

VIth Sunday of Easter

VI-SUNDAY OF EASTER. Acts 10: 25-26, 34-35, 44-48; 1 John 4: 7-10; Gospel: John 15: 9-17 Dr. Tony Campolo is a well-known and highly-respected, inspirational speaker. Over the last several years, Tony Campolo has spent much of his time traveling around the world on speaking tours. Meanwhile, his wife, Peggy, has chosen to stay home and give herself and all that she has to the "Bringing Up" of their two children, Bart and Lisa. On those rare occasions when Peggy does travel with Tony, she finds herself engaged in conversations with some of the most accomplished, impressive, influential, sophisticated people in the world. After one such trip, Peggy told Tony that sometimes as she visits with these powerful people... she finds herself feeling intimidated and sometimes even questioning her own self-worth. Tony said to her: "Well, honey, why don't you come up with something you could say when you meet people that will let them know that you strongly value what you do and you feel that it is dramatically, urgent and crucial and important. Well, not long after that, Tony and Peggy Campolo were at a party... when a woman said to Peggy in a rather condescending tone, "Well, my dear, what do you do?" Tony Campolo heard his wife say: "I am nurturing two Homo Sapiens into the dominant values of the Judaeo-Christian tradition in order that they might become instruments for the transformation of the social order into the kind of eschatological utopia God envisioned from the beginning of time." And the other woman said: "O, my, I'm just a lawyer." There are a lot of important jobs in the world today but not one of them is more important than the job of being a mother. This Sunday, the second Sunday in May, has been officially designated as "Mother's Day" since May 9, 1914. But in England as far back as the 1600's there has been a tradition of a "Mothering Sunday." Originally it was born out of the Catholic celebrations of Mary, the Mother of Christ. Birth of a child makes a woman a mother, and even if she had been mother to other children, she becomes mother to this new one too. On this Mother’s day let’s gratefully remember our own mothers who sacrificed their comforts for their children, sacrificed sleepless nights for the health of their babies. Let’s pray for women who refuse to give birth to children for selfish reasons, that they may come to appreciate and embrace the dignity of motherhood. Let’s also remember women who wished they had their own biological children, but could not due to biological or health reasons, but choose to be spiritual mothers to many by their actions. Today's Gospel fits right in, since it's all about Jesus' command that we love one another as He loves us. The parallel between God's love and our mothers' love seems to fit so perfectly. Jesus says that those who believe in him and obey his commandment of love “remain in, God and God in them. We can have two kinds of relationships with God. 1) A servant – master relationship. 2) A friend to friend relationship. In the Bible, doulos, the slave, the servant of God was no title of shame; it was a title of the highest honor. Moses was the servant of God (Deut. 34: 5); so was Joshua (Joshua 24: 29); so was David (Psalm 89: 20). It is a title which Paul counted it an honor to use (Titus 1: 1); and so did James (James 1: 1). The greatest men in the past had been proud to be called the douli, the slaves of God. With the exception of mystics, traditional lay spirituality in the church has usually followed the master-servant model. But Jesus says: "I have something greater for you yet. You are no longer slaves; you are friends." This seems to indicate that he called them servants until then. Christ offers an intimacy with God which not even the greatest men knew before Jesus came into the world. The idea of being the friend of God also has a biblical background. Abraham was the friend of God (Isaiah 4 1: 8). In Wisdom 7: 27, Wisdom is said to make us the friends of God. Jesus has called us to be his friends and the friends of God. Jesus has given us this intimacy with God, so that he is no longer a distant stranger, but our close friend. The primary reason Jesus calls us his friends is that he shared with us the secrets from the Father. A master doesn’t share his secrets with servants, but with friends. Our relationship with Christ goes through different stages. First it starts off as a master-servant relationship when we are new to the faith, but then as our relationship with Christ deepens it changes into a less formal friend-friend type of relationship. Today's gospel is a call for us to move beyond the infant stage, the servant-master relationship, and go over to the adult stage, the friend-friend way of relating to Christ. This will change the way we pray and the way we live. We shall begin to pray better (John 15:7) and to experience more peace and joy in our lives, as people do who are in love. The key to remain in his love is to keep his commandments. A servant obeys commands out of fear and a friend obeys commands out of love for the friend. All God's commandments come from love and from the goodness of His nature,” said Meister Eckhart, “for if they did not come from love they would not be God's commandments. For God's commandment is the goodness of His nature, and His nature is His goodness in His commandment.” Some of the interpretations of the Sabbath laws were not born out of love. That is why Jesus broke the Sabbath laws often to teach them the true meaning of the Sabbath. God is love (1 John 4:8; 4:16), so God’s commandments must be acts of love. Yes, God loves and accepts us as we are, but God loves us too much to leave us as we are. We love babies as they are, yet we want them to grow up. God expects us, similarly, to grow in His love. The Lord's offer to us of friendship and intimacy with him should not be an excuse for callousness and indifference. When I choose to vote for a candidate who is against the freedom to practice God’s commandments, I am indifferent towards God’s commandment and don’t choose to remain in him. Because Jesus said if you keep my commandments you will remain in my love. So it becomes a Catholic obligation to learn about each candidate what they choose to stand for. Do they stand to defend justice and religious freedom, do they stand to respect life in all its stages, do they stand to defend family values ? You may not find a candidate who is best in all of these. But when it is difficult to choose you need to weigh in according to the priorities of values. Choose the lesser evil. Let’s not shirk of the duty in this. Remember, Hitler won by just one margin of vote. And how that changed the history of the world we know. So, each vote counts for the future of the country. Our Bishop will soon issue a circular guideline on the HHS mandate for contraception, sterilization and abortion inducing drugs. In an unprecedented way, the federal government will force religious institutions to facilitate and fund a product contrary to their own moral teaching and will purport to define which religious institutions are “religious enough” to merit protection of their religious liberty. Failing to comply with these regulations will incur a very heavy fine on the religious institutions. These features of the “preventive services” mandate, amount to an unjust law. If this mandate takes effect, religious liberty in this country will not be any better than the religious liberty in Iran. So, let us pray that may not happen. Let’s develop a genuine love for the commandments of the lord so that we may remain and dwell in his love.

Vth SUNDAY IN EASTER SEASON. Acts 9: 26-31; 1 John 3: 18-24;Gospel: John 15: 1-8 In last Sunday's gospel reading Jesus was the good shepherd and we the sheep. Today's image expresses an even closer relationship: a vine and its branches. This is so close a relationship that you could say it is beyond relationship; it expresses identification. "I am the vine…you the branches." But a vine is all branches! It is not like a tree or a big shrub where you have a substantial trunk and a profusion of branches. The vine is just branches. He has identified himself with us. Jesus lives in us and we live in Jesus. This is also the teaching of St Paul. Christ, he said, is the head and we are the body. "We, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another" (Rom:12:4); "Just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ"(1Cor:12:12). A favorite word in John's gospel and letters is 'abide' (or 'remain'): abiding in God, abiding in Christ, abiding in his word. To abide is not to be a visitor, it is even more than being a friend, it is to be at home. It seems that no image can go far enough in expressing our union with Christ and God. Meister Eckhart said, "If anyone puts water in a barrel, the barrel would surround the water, but the water would not be in the barrel [i.e., it would not occupy the same space as the wood of the barrel], nor would the barrel be in the water: but the soul is wholly one with God….In spiritual things there is no separating of one from another." Just as the Father is in the Son, and the Son in the Father, so a Christian is in the trinity. C.S. Lewis wrote, "God has designed the human machine to run on Himself. He Himself is the fuel our spirits were designed to burn, or the food our spirits were designed to feed on. There is no other. That is why it is just no good asking God to make us happy without bothering about religion. God cannot give us happiness and peace apart from Himself, because it is not there. There is no such thing." Take a fish and place him on a beach. Watch his gills gasp and scales dry. Is he happy? No! How do you make him happy? Do you cover him with a mountain of cash? Do you get him a beach chair and sunglasses? Do you bring him a Play fish magazine and a martini? Of course not! So, how do you make him happy? You put him back in his element. That’s what you do. You put him back in the water. He will never be happy on the beach because he was not made for the beach. Indeed so, and the same is true for you and me. We will never be happy living apart from the One who made us and saved us. Just like a fish was made to live in water… we were made to live in close fellowship with our Lord… and nothing can take the place of that.” We have been grafted into the true vine of Jesus and are called to bear fruit by being in communion with him. A little five-year-old boy who fell out of bed. His cry awakened the entire household. After his mother had safely tucked him back under the covers, she said, "Why did you fall out of bed?" Between tears and sobs, he said, "Well, I guess I went to sleep too close to where I got in." Far too many Christians make the same mistake. They fall out of the bed of life and go to heaven; yet they slept too close to where they got in. They never learned the difference between union and communion. When you trust Christ, you become a branch in His vine. That is union. But Jesus goes on to say in v.5, "He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit." Now that is communion. Union is the basis of communion. When a branch does not abide in the vine it will dry of. To abide in Christ is a twenty-four hour a day, seven days a week, fifty-two weeks a year intimate fellowship with Him, so that you become a fruit-bearing branch. We need to be aware that vines may come in many shapes and colors each soliciting our primary allegiance. Materialism, pleasure and power are among the most popular vines of our times. Once we identify ourselves with a false vine, it immediately conditions and determines how we see ourselves and what we do with our lives. So we need to make sure we are connected with the true vine, not just any kind of non-nourishing vine. By baptism we became a branch of the Vine-Jesus. But to remain in him and to draw sap or life blood form him we need to be with him in communion of prayer and nourishing ourselves with the sacraments, especially the Eucharist. That is why Jesus said if you do not eat my body and drink my blood you cannot have life in you. Do I realize fully that apart from Jesus I can do nothing ? Do I try to produce fruits away from him ?As we continue with this nourishing sacrament let us examine :Am I a branch belonging to the vine that is Christ. Do I give glory to the Father by bearing much fruit ?

Acts 4: 8-12; 1 John 3: 1-2;Gospel: John 10: 11-18 GOOD SHEPHERD SUNDAY. There is the story of a particular census taker who went to a poor home in the mountains of West Virginia to gather information. He asked the mother how many children she had. The woman began, "Well, there is Rosie, and Billy, and Jacky, Susie, Harry, and Jeffrey. There's Johnny, and Harvey, and our dog, Willie. The census taker interrupted her and said: "No, ma'am, that's not necessary. I only need the humans. "Ah," she said. And began to pronounce the names of the children. Once again, the census taker interrupted her and said, "No, ma'am, I just need the numbers." The old woman replied, "But I don't know them by numbers. I only know them by name." In today's gospel Jesus the good shepherd says that he knows his sheep by name. The fourth Sunday of Easter is known as Good Shepherd Sunday and we reflect on the image of Jesus as the Good Shepherd, devotedly taking care of his flock. In the Old Testament, the image of the Shepherd is often applied to God as well as to the leaders of the people. The book of Exodus several times calls Yahweh a shepherd. Likewise, the prophets Isaiah and Ezekiel compare Yahweh's care and protection of His people to that of a shepherd. Ezekiel represents God as a loving shepherd who searches diligently for the lost sheep. The life of the shepherd in biblical times was one of personal self-giving and sacrifice. His work was that of watchful care and closeness to the flock. There were two kinds of shepherds. There was the hired hand for whom keeping the sheep was just the available job. He moved from flock to flock depending on the conditions of service and he would not risk his life for them. Seeing wolves or thieves coming, he would flee for dear life and leave the flock at the mercy of the invaders. Jesus said that he is not that kind of shepherd. Then there is the shepherd-owner of the flock who grows up with the flock and stays with the same flock all his life. He knows each and every sheep in the flock individually. He calls each one by name and could tell you the personal story of each one of the sheep, when and where it was born, the problems it has had in life, its personal characteristics, etc. He attends to the individual needs of each and every one of them. He knows which ones are likely to lag behind after a long walk and he would carry them in his arms. He knows which ones were likely to stray from the flock and he would keep an eye on them when they came to dangerous places. He knows which ones are pregnant and need special food. When attacked by wolves or thieves he would risk his life and fight to defend his flock. He is the good shepherd who lays down his life for his sheep. In the New Testament Jesus introduces himself as the good shepherd of his flock, who knows each one of us, our needs, our merits and our faults. He loves us as we are, with all our limitations. The greatest expression of his love was his death on the cross. On every page of the gospel we find Jesus seeking out these marginalized people: public sinners, lepers, Samaritans, the sick, the tormented…. He stood up to the authorities for their sake, he defied the systems that made them outcasts, he laid down his life rather than turn his back on them. A little girl reciting the 23rd Psalm began, "The Lord is my shepherd; that's all I want." Maybe she missed the wording, but she sure got the theology right. To have Jesus as our shepherd is indeed a blessing. As he moves towards the cross, Jesus holds up this model of the good shepherd, reminding his listeners that a good shepherd would lay down his life for the sheep. A pastor was taking a group of parishioners on a tour of the Holy Land. He had just read them the parable of the good shepherd and was explaining to them that, as they continued their tour, they would see shepherds on the hillsides just as in Jesus' day. He wanted to impress the group, so he told them what every good pastor tells his people about shepherds. He described how, in the Holy Land, shepherds always lead their sheep, always walking in front to face dangers, always protecting the sheep by going ahead of them. He barely got the last word out when, sure enough, they rounded a corner and saw a man and his sheep on the hillside. There was only one problem: the man wasn't leading the sheep as the good pastor had said. No, he was behind the sheep and seemed to be chasing them. The pastor turned red. Flabbergasted, he ran over to the fence and said, “I always thought shepherds in this region led their sheep -- out in front. I told my people that a good shepherd never chases his sheep.” The man replied, “That's absolutely true... you're are correct. But I'm not the shepherd. I'm the butcher!” Jesus is the good shepherd who walks in front. He never leads us to where he has never been. He is leading the Way. Way is always in front of us, not behind us. We can not walk or drive if we don’t see the way in front of us. Jesus is the only way to the Father. He is not only our good shepherd but he is our pasture too. He is our food. He feeds us with his own body and blood. Jesus the good Shepherd laid down his life for the flock, that is, the church. In a general way he invites everyone in the church to share in the work of caring for the flock in our own little ways. But he also calls some people from among us to a life-long commitment to the work of shepherding the flock of God. These people are called to share more closely than the rest of the believers in the life and work of Jesus the Good Shepherd. If today you should hear God's voice calling you to this way of life, harden not your hearts. And if you do not hear God calling you to this way of life, then do everything in your power to encourage those who are called to it and who struggle even with faltering steps to follow the footsteps of Jesus the good shepherd. Today is World Day of Prayer for Vocations, a day that Christians are invited to reflect on the meaning of God's call and to pray for vocations. We are asked to encourage and pray for our young men to respond to God’s call to serve His Church in the ministerial priesthood. Most of us here are shepherds in one way or other. Every one who is entrusted with the care of others is a shepherd. Hence pastors, parents, teachers, doctors, nurses, government officials and politicians are all shepherds. Since, shepherding a diocese, a parish, a civil community or a family is very demanding, dedication, commitment, sacrifice and vigilance are needed every day on the part of the shepherds. We become good shepherds by loving those entrusted to us, praying for them, spending our time and talents for their welfare, and guarding them from physical and spiritual dangers. All the shepherds need to be careful of their duties by becoming role models for under their care by leading exemplary lives. Let’s stay close to Jesus the Good Shepherd as a branch remains in the vine so that we may be defended by him and we may defend and protect those who are sheep under us.

EASTER SUNDAY-2012

EASTER- 2012
One lady wrote in to a question and answer forum. "Dear Sirs, Our preacher said on Easter, that Jesus just swooned on the cross and that the disciples nursed Him back to health. What do you think? Sincerely, Bewildered.
Dear Bewildered, Beat your preacher with a cat-of-nine-tails, nail him to a cross; hang him in the sun for 6 hours; run a spear through his side...put him in an airless tomb for 36 hours and see what happens." Sincerely, Charles.
The most contented tenet of Christianity in the early church and even today is the fact of Resurrection of Jesus. Because it is the only basis of Christian faith. Easter is the greatest and the most important feast in the Church. Some people think, it is Christmas the greatest feast of Christians. No. It is Easter that gives Christmas its meaning.
You want proof? In all the New Testament no major doctrinal point is ever built upon the virgin birth of Christ. Not one. It's true; it happened. But it's never discussed or mentioned. In fact, two gospels don't even say anything about it. But the resurrection? That's a different story. In every part of the New Testament, it comes up again and again. Read the sermons of Acts. When the first Christians preached, they didn't mention Bethlehem; they talked about the empty tomb. They never got over the fact that on Easter Sunday when they went to the tomb, Jesus was gone.
The resurrection is the greatest of the miracles, proving that Jesus is God. That is why St. Paul writes: “If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain; and your faith is in vain” (I Cor 15: 14). “Jesus is Lord, he is risen” (Rom 10: 9), was the central theme of the preaching of the apostles because Jesus prophesied it as a sign of his divinity: “Tear down this temple and in three days I will build it again” (Jn 2: 19). In fact Jesus made the comparison between His resurrection and the life of Jonah in the belly of the fish, similarly the Son of Man would be resurrected from the dead after three days (Matt 12:40).

The founder of no other religion has an empty tomb as Jesus has. His is the only tomb stone which does not bear any engraving on it like “Here lies Jesus of Nazareth. The occupant of that tomb has overcome death and came to life again. Among the vast array of humanity's greatest heroes, only about Jesus Christ can we say: "He rose again on the third day, in fulfillment of the scriptures."

Josh McDowell, a Christian apologist, said, "After more than 700 hours of studying this subject and thoroughly investigating its foundation, I have come to the conclusion that the resurrection of Jesus Christ is one of the most wicked, vicious, heartless hoaxes ever foisted upon the minds of men, OR it is the most fantastic fact of history."

The resurrection is not merely important to the historic Christian faith; without it, there would be no Christianity. It is the singular doctrine that elevates Christianity above all other world religions.
With this in mind, D. James Kennedy said, "The evidence of the resurrection of Jesus Christ has been examined more carefully than the evidence for any other fact in history."

Just as the heart pumps life-giving blood to every part of the body, so the truth of the resurrection gives life to every other area of the gospel truth. Again, without the resurrection, Christianity would be so much wishful thinking, taking its place alongside all other human philosophy and religious speculation.

In the Resurrection, reality becomes more wonderful than myth. Only the reality of the Resurrection can explain the reality of the history of the Church: A few weak, non-influential, and uneducated fishermen from Galilee, frightened out of their wits when Jesus was arrested and executed, suddenly become world travelers, phenomenally successful preachers, and valiant martyrs. And the Church they spread continues to spread after they die, holding fast to the exact same doctrine they preached, century after century, in nation after nation. Only the abiding presence of the Lord can explain this, and only the resurrection explains the abiding presence of the Lord. This is what makes us, as Christians, different.

The Risen Lord proved that the stone could not have held him prisoner in the tomb. Its removal was a sign of the resurrection, not a condition for it. Bede the Venerable wrote, “The angel rolled back the stone not to throw open a way for our Lord to come forth, but to provide evidence to people that he had already come forth.” In fact I believe that the stone was rolled away after Jesus came out of the tomb, not before, of course he was able to pass through closed doors.
We are able to seal our minds and hearts with impenetrable stones of prejudice, hatred and fear. “To behold the resurrection, the stone of obstinacy must first be rolled away from our hearts.
John whom Jesus loved, writes of himself: He saw and believed” (Jn 20:8). Through his faith he realizes that the empty tomb and the linen cloths lying flat and the napkin rolled up in its place, were all signs God had been there, signs of the new life. Love can see signals where others cannot, and small signs may suffice. His love drove away all the fear and prejudice from his mind and heart.

Only in Christ's resurrection does love prove that it is stronger than death. In Christ and in his resurrection, a new hope dawns for all mankind, the hope that if we stay united to him through faith and grace, we will rise with him, rise from our very tombs, and live with him forever in the never-ending adventure of heaven.
No one else offers such a hope, because no one else has risen from the dead to be able to offer it - only the Lord.

Though we have followed Jesus through the last week of his life, it was not the same for us as it was for the Apostles. As we went through Holy Week over the past few days, we knew how the story would end. The Apostles did not. All along we knew that on the third day he would rise again. They had no such comfort. For them, his death was the end; they would never see him again. They had let him down at the very moment when he needed them; and now they would never be able to ask his forgiveness.
The Gospels do say he warned the Apostles that he would suffer and die, and then rise again. But the Gospels also say that they simply did not understand what he meant. Many, though not all, of the Jews at the time believed in resurrection from the dead; but they were thinking of a general resurrection in the future, when God would finally establish his Kingdom on earth and all the righteous would be gathered together in eternal bliss. They never imagined that one person would be resurrected ahead of all the rest.
Easter is a feast which gives us hope and encouragement in this world of pain, sorrows and tears. It reminds us that life is worth living. It is our belief in the real presence of the risen Jesus that gives meaning to our personal as well as our communal prayer, strength to fight against temptations and freedom from unnecessary worries and fears.
Good Friday narrative is not the last chapter of the gospels. If that were the end of the story that would be a bad story, a tragedy. Death is not the end of the story. There is one more chapter. This is the most important chapter because, as the saying goes, they who laugh last laugh best. And in the last chapter of the story of Jesus we see him rise from the dead in all glory and majesty.
Darryl Stingley was a receiver for the New England Patriots. He was injured in a game against the Oakland Raiders. It left him paralyzed chest down. He could use only one hand and moved about in an electric wheelchair.
Darryl insisted that in some ways his life was better now. Recalling his playing days, he said, "I had tunnel vision. All I wanted was to be the best athlete I could be. A lot of other things got overlooked. Now I've come back to them. This is a rebirth for me." That statement by Darryl showed the power of the resurrection at work in people's lives today--a power so strong that it can bring forth life from death.

Can we recall a tragedy in my life that ended up a spiritual rebirth?
We are not supposed to lie buried in the tomb of our sins, evil habits and dangerous addictions. It gives us the good news that no tomb can hold us down anymore - not the tomb of despair, discouragement, doubt nor death. Instead, we are expected to live a joyful and peaceful life, constantly experiencing the real presence of the resurrected Lord in all the events of our lives. “This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad” (Psalm 118:24).

GOOD FRIDAY

GOOD FRIDAY.2012

Two brothers lived together in the same apartment. The older brother was an honest, hard-working and God-fearing man and the younger a dishonest, gun-totting, substance-abusing rogue. Many a night the younger man would come back into the apartment late, drunk and with a lot of cash and the elder brother would spend hours pleading with him to mend his ways and live a decent life. But the young man would have none of it. One night the junior brother runs into the house with a smoking gun and blood-stained clothes. “I killed a man,” he announced. In a few minutes the house was surrounded by police and the two brothers knew there was no escape. “I did not mean to kill him,” stammered the young brother, “I don’t want to die.” By now the police were knocking at the door. The older brother had an idea. He exchanged his clothes with the blood-stained clothes of his killer brother. The police arrested him, tried him and condemned him to death for murder. He was killed and his junior brother lived. He died for his brother.

What do we feel when we hear this: we should feel grateful and admiring. Jesus taught us the price of love: “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends” (Jn 15:13). Our Christian faith is not just the reverential relationship to a distant and even abstract God we know nothing about, but the adhesion to a Person, true man like us and, at the same time, true God. The Invisible one became flesh of our flesh and assumed to be a man until death, a death on the Cross. But, it was a death accepted as a ransom for us all, redeeming death, death that brings us life.
As we look up to the cross today and contemplate Jesus dying to make the full payment for our sins, let us thank him, and let us promise him that our whole lives will be one unbroken song of thanksgiving to him who gave his life to make full payment for the immeasurable debt we owe to God. Every time we come before the cross, or make the sign of the cross it should remind us of this great love of God.

Just as he loved us enough to come into this fallen world and take a share in our crosses, so we should bring his love to those around us by helping them carry their crosses. There are people all around us who are out there trying to bear their heavy crosses all alone. They don't know that Christ has died for them, or they have forgotten it, or they are too frightened and ashamed to accept it. Jesus is yearning to strengthen them. He just needs hands and feet and tongues to help him. We each know at least one person who is struggling to carry their cross.
What better way to thank Christ for his gift to us than to promise him to lend that person a hand: to pray for them, to accompany them, to relieve their burden a little bit, to show them through our own confidence in God that there is hope, that Christ can give meaning to their suffering.

Today when we gaze on the Cross, the instrument of victory over sin, when we kiss the Cross, we should thank God for this great gift, the mystery of Christ's cross that has rebuilt the bridge of trust. We should let it penetrate our hearts. When we come up to kiss the crucifix, we should do so with that in mind.
Now when the wood of the Cross is unveiled before us on which has hung the Savior of the world. Let’s Respond to the Church's call: "Come, let us adore."
Let’s adore Christ, and we praise him, because by his Holy Cross he has saved the world.

PALM AND PASSION SUNDAY

Isaiah 50: 4-7; Philippians 2: 6-11 ; Mark11: 1-10; 14: 1-15:47

Today begins the holiest week of the year for Christians. This is the week in which the divine Jesus empties Himself of His nature as God, in order that He may experience to the full His weakness and helplessness as a human being. This is the week when Jesus identifies Himself with us to show us how Love acts when attacked by Evil. Today's liturgy is unsparing in its irony concerning human fickleness and betrayal.

The Church celebrates today as both Palm Sunday and Passion Sunday. This is also the time we remember and relive the events which brought about our redemption and salvation.

Many who witnessed Jesus riding into Jerusalem on that first Palm Sunday probably thought they were witnessing an April Fools’ prank. The fact that the Roman officials did not interfere with this demonstration, not taking it as an insurrection against Romans shows that they just saw the whole thing as utterly contemptible, and a laughing stock.

Many had come out to see what they thought was the leader of a new religious movement, and quite possibly the long-awaited Messiah. They had heard amazing stories about this man about his feeding thousands of people with two fish and five small loaves, about his ability to heal, and even about his raising of Lazarus from the dead. Could this be, they wondered hopefully, the One they had long been awaiting?

When Jesus rides into the city of Jerusalem on a donkey, why does some of the crowd rush out to greet Him? The answer is found in Jewish culture and history. In Old Testament times, one of the ways a king was inaugurated was to get on a donkey and have a large retinue of people walk along behind him shouting, "Long live the King!"
The crowd in the temple wants to make Jesus king. When they see Him riding toward them on a donkey, they use it as an opportunity to precipitate a coronation. That he was crucified shortly afterward indicates that they were looking only for a national leader rather than a personal Savior.
We have two readings from Mark's gospel, and each describes a crowd. There is the enthusiastic crowd of people who cheer Jesus when he enters Jerusalem on the back of the donkey, and there is the mob that jeers at him on the cross.
Crowds are notoriously unstable. A group of football fans that is at one moment enjoying a match with relaxed cheerfulness can easily become a threatening mob. To be in a big group of people can feel like belonging to a community, and may be so. But you can be sucked up into a gang in which one loses one's individuality and consents to terrible deeds.
Today we begin Holy Week, and we are invited to become holy. Holy people grow into an independence of mind and heart which protect them from the seductions of the mob. A saint is someone who, by the grace of God, is becoming the person whom God created them to be. The saints take the risk of being themselves, the unique friend of God that they are. They are non-conformist.
The crowd that cheers Jesus as he enters Jerusalem is drawn by his power. He comes as the promised King, the descendant of their father David. They sing 'Hosanna', which means 'Save us'. They gather around him and escort him into the city. But the crowd that mocks him, many of whom were probably the same people, taunting him with his powerlessness. When they saw him not behaving like a powerful king after their demonstration, they turn against him. Don’t we at times behave the way this crowd behaved when we try to ally and associate with only powerful people, inviting them for parties or joining them in parties, may be wishing to share in their power and prestige, where as on the other side, we don’t like to associate willingly with the powerless and the poor ?

What is Palm Sunday? Maybe another way to approach that question is to ask another question: what if the gospel story ended with Palm Sunday? Like the disciples, we would like it if the gospel could conclude right here. After all that the disciples had been through, and with their own secret hope that Jesus would be a political success on whose coattails they would ride to prominence, the disciples looked at the Triumphal Entry and thought, "Now this is more like it!" They probably wanted to capture and bottle that festive atmosphere. It was rather like Peter's reaction to Jesus' transfiguration when Moses and Elijah also appeared with Jesus on the mountaintop. Peter piped up and said, "Let's build some tabernacles right here so we can keep this great thing going forever!" So also on Palm Sunday: if they could have hit the pause button on the remote control of life, this would have been a wonderful image to freeze frame.

The problem is that there is no salvation for anyone on Palm Sunday. The people cried "Hosanna," which means "Save us!" Have we thought about what we would really want God to save us from? Save me from anger, bitterness, depression, strife in the family, from debt, from humiliation, loneliness, from all type of fears. But given the world we are in, there could be no salvation from that kind of happy parade. It doesn't address the problems that need solving. We are saved not on Palm Sunday, but on Good Friday.

M. Kaeler described the gospels as "accounts of the death of Jesus, preceded by long introductions." One third of the gospels is about the passion and death of Jesus. The essential Christian proclamation is, "Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again." The primary interest was the manner of his death, and that God raised him from death, giving us hope of rising with him.
The Cross of Christ has been a potent symbol throughout the ages. Its vertical axis, it was said, joins heaven and earth, and its horizontal axis joins all ages and races of humankind; everything meets in the broken body of Christ.
The Christian faith without the Cross is nothing. The Cross tells us that our goodness is not good enough. We cannot 'achieve' God by our own efforts: that would be to try to possess God as a sort of ornament on a life of achievement. Our ego would indeed love to do this, and is always ready to imagine that it has done so in fact.
The grave is a narrow place, and to suffer is distressing. But this is the narrow road that leads to life. First of all the Scriptures, and then the saints and mystics, vouch for this. First the narrow way, then the opening out. A Christianity without the Cross has never worked, and it is never likely to do so. It takes a crucified Church to bring a crucified Christ before the eyes of the world.

Martin Luther says that God thrusts us into death and permits the devil to pounce on us. But it is not his purpose to devour us; he wants to test us, to purify us, and to manifest himself ever more to us, that we may recognize his love. Such trials and strife are to let us experience something that preaching alone is not able to do, namely, how powerful Christ is and how sincerely the Father loves us.

This week sums up the whole meaning of our theology and daily lives as followers of Christ. Let us realize that true glory cannot be separated from some measure of suffering –Easter cannot be divorced from Good Friday. Let us go to die with Jesus, that we may rise with Him anew.