6th Week of Easter, Wednesday, 08-05-2024

Acts 17:15, 22 - 18:1 / John 16:12-15  

Christianity is a religion that is essentially founded on the revelation from God.

Without God’s revelation of who He is and what are His ways, man would be making assumptions and presumptions about God.

But God reached out to His creation and reached out to man and revealed Himself.

In the Bible are the accounts of God calling and revealing Himself to people like Abraham, Issac, Jacob and Moses.

And at the appointed time, God sent His Son to become a man like us to reveal His great love for us.

Jesus has revealed to us the deep and intimate love of God, especially when He died on the Cross to save us.

In the gospel, Jesus says that He has more to reveal to us, and He will do this by sending us the Spirit of truth.

The Spirit of truth has revealed through the Bible about the nature and the ways of God to the Church and to us.

The Spirit of truth will continue to reveal God’s love for us in our relationships with Him and with others.

Let us read and meditate on God’s Word, and the Spirit of love and truth will lead us to  a deeper understanding of who God is and His love for us.

6th Week of Easter, Tuesday, 07-05-2024

Acts 16:22-34 / John 16:5-11 

For busy people who manage their own schedules, there is this worry and anxiety.

And that is there will be a double-booking of appointments at the same time slot.

And we know that this is not an imaginative anxiety. 

It is a reality because it has happened before, though it may not be that frequent.

But that is enough to make us keep checking and updating our schedules and appointments.

But that also tells us that we cannot say “yes” to two appointments at the same time.

Nor can we be at two different locations at the same time.

In the gospel, Jesus says this: I must tell you the truth: it is for your own good that I am going, because unless I go, the Advocate will not come to you.

Jesus sends the Holy Spirit to be with each of us .

Through the Holy Spirit, Jesus will be present with each of us.

And united by the Holy Spirit, we will be able to be in communion with each other and fulfil God’s plan for ourselves as well as for the Body of Christ.

Indeed, it is for our good that Jesus sent us the Holy Spirit.

And the Holy Spirit is truly the best gift for each of us as well as all of us.

6th Week of Easter, Monday, 06-05-2024

Acts 16:11-15 / John 15:26 - 16:4  

What is right or wrong is not a matter of personal or public opinion.

Right is right, even if no one is doing it.

And wrong is wrong, even if everyone is doing it.

So, what is right or wrong is determined by an objective truth.

In the gospel, Jesus says this: When the Advocate comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who issues from the Father, he will be my witness.

Jesus is the Truth, and He proclaimed and witnessed to the truth of love.

And the truth of love bears the fruits of forgiveness, compassion, kindness, understanding, patience, all of which are the fruits of the Spirit of truth.

So the use of violence, terrorism and other hostile violations of the human dignity is certainly not the truth of life, nor can it be a truth from God.

Jesus calls us to be His witnesses, and He sends us the Holy Spirit to be our Advocate.

Let us be faithful to Jesus who is the Truth.

And when confronted with opposition and resistance, let us believe that in the end, the truth will prevail.

6th Sunday of Easter Year B, 05.05.2024

 Acts 10:25-26, 34-35, 44-48 / 1 John 4:7-10 / John 15:9-17

There are many ways to describe what life is like, and what life is about. 

It can be said that life is like boarding a train and going on a long long journey. 

When we go on board a train, there are already people on it. 

As the train moves along, we will gradually strike up conversations, and make friends with people. 

There are some whom we will easily make friends with because of similarity in personality, and common interests. 

And then there are some who will just be acquaintances, and we won't know much about them, and they also will not know much about us. 

And then there might be some whom we will keep a distance from, for one reason or another. 

As the train travels from station to station, some people will come on board, while some will alight the train.

So, there are some people that we will meet, and then there will be some friends that we will miss, and we wonder if we will ever meet them again. 

And then there will be some who will remain on the train with us along the journey. 

They may become our good friends, and some may also become our best friends. 

So, life is like a train journey where we will meet people. And in that journey, we don't merely look at the passing scenery in solitude. 

Rather, we develop relationships, and some of these relationships will last throughout the journey. 

And when these relationships are enriching, then the journey of life will truly be beautiful and wonderful. 

In the gospel, Jesus tells us that He calls us friends, because He has made known to us everything He has learned from His Father. 

In the Bible, the word “friend” is more than an interpersonal relationship. 

In the Bible the word “friend” also expresses a deep personal relationship between God and man. 

God refers to Abraham as “my friend” (Isaiah 41: 8). And the Lord speaks to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend (Exodus 33:11). 

When Jesus calls us friends, He means to say that He knows us through and through. 

He was with us when we came into this world, and He will be with us right till the day when we leave this world. 

Yes, Jesus is with us all throughout the journey of life. He chose us to be His friends, and He wants to be our good friend, to be our best friend. 

But, as in any friendship and relationship, the test will come. 

Jesus wants to be our friend, a friend who would be willing to make the sacrifice and to lay down His life for us. 

Jesus showed what a friend He is to us, by dying on the Cross in order to save us. 

Truly, a man can have no greater love than to lay down his life for his friends. 

Yes, what a friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs He bears. And what a privilege to carry everything to Him in prayer. 

Let us be a friend to Jesus by being with Him in prayer, daily and faithfully. 

When we have a friend in Jesus, He will also bless all our friendships. 

Then the journey of life, and the journey in life, will be beautiful and wonderful.

5th Week of Easter, Saturday, 04-05-2024

Acts 16:1-10 / John 15:18-21   

Progress and development are held in high esteem by the world.

The present generation strives to be better than the previous generation.

Each generation wants to leave a legacy behind for the next generation to follow up and to match up.

As much as all this may sound good, there can be the danger of ego and pride.

Under the masks of progress, development and improvement, the tendency is to be the master, the boss and the leader.

To be a servant, a subordinate or a humble worker would probably mean that there was no goals, no direction and no ambition.

But in the gospel, Jesus says that a servant is not greater than his master.

A good servant requires humility to serve and to learn from his master.

And a good master will teach his servants or disciples the virtues of humility and service.

That will be the legacy that any good master will impress on his servants or disciples.

Sts. Philip and James, Apostles, Friday, 03-05-2024

1 Cor 15:1-8 / John 14:6-14

At times we would wonder about those people who see visions of Jesus and Mary.

The most recent saint who had a vision of Mary is St. Bernadette Soubirous who saw our Lady at Lourdes.

She is also one of the saints whose body remained incorrupted, and her body is kept in a crystal reliquary for veneration.

Indeed, seeing leads to believing. Especially when we are able to verify and authenticate what we see to be true and real.

In the gospel, Philip asked Jesus to let them see the Father and then they shall be satisfied.

The reply of Jesus was profound as well as stunning - to have seen Him is to have seen the Father!

As for us, we have not seen Jesus nor have we had any visions of Him, so we may think that we are not that privileged enough and that our faith is not as strong as that of St. Philip and St. James.

But if the apostles, in seeing Jesus saw the Father, then for us, we must, with the eyes of faith, see Jesus in one another.

In fact, the greatest vision we can ever have is to see Jesus in the ordinary, humble and lowly people.

That is the faith of the saints. May that also be our faith, in that we have eyes that see with faith.

5th Week of Easter, Thursday, 02-05-2024

Acts 15:7-21 / John 15:9-11 

At meetings, there are usually important matters to discuss and burning issues to resolve.

As much as such meetings are necessary, they can become long-drawn and boring when the focus is lost with too many personal opinions.

When principles and objective reasoning is not adhered to, then meetings won’t be fruitful or meaningful.

In the 1st reading, the apostles and elders met to discuss on the matter of pagans becoming Christians and the issue of imposing religious practices on them.

The discussion had gone on for a long time, and then Peter stood up to address the apostles and elders.

He brought them to focus on the will of God and the workings of the Holy Spirit among the pagans.

Peter also reminded them that it is by the grace of God that salvation is offered to all.

That silenced the entire assembly, and the meeting carried on with the focus on God and on His will.

From this we are reminded that in Church meetings and discussions, it is so necessary to pray and invoke God’s blessings on the assembly.

And the Holy Spirit will guide minds and hearts that are softened by prayer to look at matters and issues with the mind of God.

Then meetings will be fruitful with blessings and issues will be resolved with love.