2nd Sunday of Easter, Year A, 12.04.2025

Acts 2:42-47 / 1 Peter 1:3-9 / John 20:19-31  

One of the challenges that we face in the morning is waking up. 

In the morning, the bed is like a big magnet and our body is fighting the magnetic pull of the bed. 

And if we didn't have a good night’s sleep, or running under the weather, then we are really like stuck to the bed. 

So even if the alarm clock is ringing on and on, we will tell ourselves, just another 5 or 10 minutes, and then we will over-sleep and run late. 

And talking about alarm clocks, there is this joke about a husband and wife having a cold war. 

However, the husband had an early morning flight to catch the next day, but he didn’t want to talk to his wife and tell her about it. 

So, he wrote a note and stuck it on her bedside table with this message, “Wake me up at 7:00 am”. 

The next morning, he happened to open his eyes and he glanced at the clock, and it was already 8:30 am. 

And there was a note stuck next to the clock that is written by his wife, and it read, “Wake up, wake up, it is already 7:00 am”. 

So, the moral of the joke is that it is not worth having cold wars, because we will not gain anything and we will also be late for everything. 

Not only alarm clocks may not be able to wake us up. 

What we see around us, and what others say, may not wake us up either. 

Especially when the issue is inconvenient, troublesome or burdensome to us. 

We would ignore or resist, or look away and don’t want to hear about what really matters. 

In the gospel, the risen Lord Jesus appeared to the disciples, and they were filled with joy when they saw the Lord. 

But Thomas was not with them when Jesus came. 

When the disciples told him that they had seen the Risen Lord, he was skeptical, to say the least.

And Thomas also made a very bold demand, and it is this: Unless I see the holes that the nails made in His hands, and can put my finger into the holes they made, and unless I can put my hand into His side, I refuse to believe. 

For Thomas, seeing is not enough, he wants to touch the wounds of Jesus. 

Maybe the death of Jesus on the Cross had broken the faith of Thomas, such that his faith also crumpled and withered away. 

Maybe that is why Thomas made such a bold and challenging demand. 

More than just doubting what the disciples said, Thomas wants the truth, and he even wants to touch the truth. 

God is truth and God is life. 

When Thomas was with the disciples, Jesus appeared again. 

Jesus not only wanted Thomas to see and to touch the truth, He also came to give a wake-up call to the faith of Thomas. 

From a crumpled and withered faith, Thomas woke up and declared: My Lord and my God. 

Yes, God is truth and God is life. 

But when it comes to the truth, we can ignore it or reject it, we can doubt it or disregard it. 

But along with truth is also life, and the Lord of life will give us a wake-up call so that we will wake up to life, and the truth will also set us free. 

And God is giving us a wake-up call through Pope Leo XIV. 

The Pope called for a worldwide vigil of prayer for peace on the 11th of April. 

We cannot ignore that call for prayer for peace. 

To ignore is to disregard and even to doubt the horrors and the tragedies of war and violence. 

But the truth is that blood is shed, and innocent lives are lost, and children and the defenceless are in danger. 

When the world is not at peace, we won’t be at peace. 

When blood is shed, we must pray, because only God can stop the violence and the bloodshed. 

Let us heed the call to prayer because we must wake up to life, and the truth will also set us free, free to believe in the love of God, and to pray for the power of God to overcome war and violence and bloodshed.

Saturday within Octave of Easter, 11-04-2026

Acts 4:13-21 / Mark 16:9-15  

Waking up in the morning can be like fighting magnetic forces.

The bed is like a big magnet pulling us in and not letting go of us.

More so if we didn’t sleep well and are running under the weather.

So, we will want to give ourselves just 5 or 10 more minutes, and then we oversleep.

The alarm might just go on and on, but somehow we don’t seem to hear a thing.

In a sense, the disciples in the gospel were like in a morning wake-up call.

For whatever reason, they just don’t want to wake up to the reality that Jesus has risen.

Witnesses might say all they want about having encountered the Risen Lord, but still it would be more comfortable and even safer to shut their ears and sleep on.

In the end, Jesus had to show Himself and this time the disciples had to wake up.

They were reproached for refusing to believe those who had seen the Risen Lord Jesus.

But when the disciples finally woke up, then it was time to get moving and working.

We see that in the 1st reading when Peter and John were interrogated by the rulers, elders and scribes.

And when those in power wanted Peter and John to stop proclaiming Jesus, Peter and John retorted:

You must judge whether in God’s eyes it is right to listen to you and not to God.

So the next time we hear the alarm going off, God is calling out to us to get up.

Yes, let us rise from our slumber and go forth to do what God wants of us.

Friday within Octave of Easter, 10-04-2026

Acts 4:1-12 / John 21:1-14   

The mystery of the Incarnation is a deep belief of our faith.

We believe that God became man in Jesus Christ and lived as a human being.

Jesus was like us in all aspects as a human being except that He did not sin.

And even after He rose from the dead, He did not distance from His disciples.

In the gospel, when Peter and the rest of the disciples were kind of lost in life, they went back to what they were familiar with, and that is fishing.

Maybe the disciples wanted to go back to their previous ordinary way of life.

Yet, in the ordinary, Jesus showed Himself again to His disciples.

They had caught nothing until Jesus appeared and told them where to catch the fish.

Then they remembered that once upon a time they too had a miraculous catch of fish when Jesus was around.

And now, this Jesus who rose from the dead, is with them, but they were still trying to come to terms that this Risen Jesus is still so near with them.

Indeed, the Risen Lord Jesus is always so near to us and He is always with us.

Let us call out to Him when we are lost in life and finding life boring and without direction.

Jesus our Risen Lord will show us the way, for He is the Way, the Truth and the Life.

Thursday within Octave of Easter, 09-04-2026

Acts 3:11-26 / Luke 24:35-48   

Normally speaking, when everything is under control, we would be able to think calmly and clearly.

But life is not always calm and under our control.

When something unexpected happens, chaos explodes and we may not think calmly and clearly.

Even what we are supposed to know and remember can just be a black-out for us.

For example, when the fire alarm goes off, the sharp ringing is enough to throw us off-balance, as calm turns to chaos.

For the disciples in the gospel, as they shared their encounters of the Risen Lord, they were also not sure if they were seeing visions or suffering from the trauma of the deep shock of seeing Jesus dead on the Cross.

And in all this chaos and fear, Jesus comes to them and His first words to them are “Peace be with you”.

Jesus came to calm their fears and to give them the peace that would heal their broken minds and hearts.

Life is rough and we get injured with bruises and cuts here and there.

And when life becomes chaotic, then our minds and hearts can get broken and cracked.

But the Risen Lord Jesus comes to give us a peace that the world cannot give.

His peace will calm and heal our minds and hearts.

And when we become calm and peaceful again, let us also share this peace of Jesus with others.

Wednesday within Octave of Easter, 08-04-2026

Acts 3:1-10 / Luke 24:13-35    

As we journey along in life, we gain many things at the beginning.

From infancy to early adulthood, it was quite a growth in almost every aspects of life.

We gain knowledge, we grow physically, we build relationships and, of course, we also work for our financial security.

But in the later part of life, we begin to lose bit by bit.

Our health slowly weakens, some of our loved ones and friends pass on, and we are also worried if we will lose our financial security.

As for the two disciples of Jesus, it seems that they have lost their inspiration and motivation.

They had put their hope in Jesus, but that hope was shattered on the Cross.

Their hope was shattered, but they did not know that Jesus rose from the dead.

And He came along to journey with them in their desolation, and at the breaking of bread, He re-ignited their hope and consolation.

In life we gain and we lose, but Jesus will always stay with us.

And in life, we may not have silver or gold to give to others.

But like Peter who shared with the crippled man the healing power of the love of Jesus, we too can do that.

And that is also our mission, because there is nothing that we can give or share with others, except the presence and love of Jesus.

Tuesday within Octave of Easter, 07-04-2026

Acts 2:36-41 / John 20:11-18   

In Church, we see many signs of the presence of God.

There is the Blessed Sacrament in the Adoration Room, the Crucifix, holy pictures and statues, among many others.

We also hear God speaking to us in the reading of the Scriptures at Mass and at prayer.

But when God speaks to us in a personal way, how would we know it?

In the 1st reading, Peter spoke to the Jews in these words: The whole House of Israel can be certain that God has made this Jesus whom you crucified both Lord and Christ.

Those words are the truth, but they may not seem to be that moving or inspiring or motivating.

Yet, when the people heard this, they were cut to the heart.

And that is because God used the simple and straight-forward words of Peter to speak to the people.

Similarly in the gospel, the Risen Lord Jesus called out to Mary by her name, and she knew then it was Jesus.

And from her heart, Mary responded in Hebrew, a language that is close to her heart.

God speaks to us in simple and ordinary ways, and when we hear the voice of the Lord, we will respond like Mary and the people.

And when we hear the voice of the Lord, let us respond with all our heart and be ready to do His will.

Monday within Easter Octave, 06-04-2026

Acts 2:14, 22-33 / Matthew 28:8-15  

Two persons looking at the same thing will have different opinions.

That is simply because they have different perceptions.

Individual perceptions are shaped and influenced by a person’s knowledge, presumptions, preferences and other factors.

In the gospel, two groups of people encountered the same phenomenon.

The women, as well as the soldiers, saw the angel of the Lord, descending from heaven, came and rolled away the stone at the tomb and sat on it.

The soldiers were so shaken, so frightened of him, that they were like dead men.

But the angel spoke and he told the women that Jesus had risen from the dead.

The women went quickly away from the tomb and ran to tell the disciples, and they also met Jesus along the way.

The soldiers, however, went to tell the chief priests about what happened.

The soldiers eventually succumbed to a lie, because there it was too risky to admit the truth.

But the truth is the truth even if no one believes in it.

And a lie is a lie even if everyone believes in it.

May Jesus who is the Truth deepen our faith in His Resurrection.

And the Truth will set us free from whatever presumptions or preferences to succumbing to falsehood.