4th Week of Easter, Monday, 01-05-2023

Acts 11:1-18 / John 10:11-18 (for Year A)

Today the Church celebrates the memorial of St. Joseph and specifically under the title of St. Joseph the Worker.

Hence St. Joseph is also the patron of all working people, besides being the patron of the Church, fathers and carpenters and also of the dying.

Being a patron of all working people, we would feel a deep affiliation with St. Joseph because we spend a considerable amount of time at work.

And we could relate with him in what was told of us in the scriptures.

We are told that he took his family to Jerusalem every year for Passover, something that could not have been easy for a working man.

We know he was a carpenter, a working man, and in the gospel a skeptical question was asked about Jesus, "Is this not the carpenter's son?" (Matthew 13:55).

He wasn't rich for when he took Jesus to the Temple to be circumcised and Mary to be purified, he offered the sacrifice of two turtledoves or a pair of pigeons, allowed only for those who could not afford a lamb (Luke 2:24).

There is much we wish we could know about Joseph, about where and when he was born, about how he spent his days, about when and how he died.

But Scripture has left us with one of the most important knowledge of who he was - "a righteous man" (Matthew 1:18).

May we always turn to St. Joseph for his intercession before and at the end of our work.

May we also be righteous and honest in our dealings at work and with our superiors and colleagues so that in all we do at work, we will give glory to God.

4th Sunday of Easter, Year A, 30.04.2023

Acts 2:14, 36-41 / 1 Peter 2:20-25 / John 10:1-10

The general understanding of a religion is that there is a God and the followers of that religion worship that God. 

Then comes along the precepts of the religion, like Commandments and regulations. 

The reason that people follow a particular religion is because of family traditions, or that they have experienced some goodness of that religion. 

As for the Christian faith, it has all the above aspects and maybe even more. 

But, as we reflect either on our Christian faith, we will come to see one fundamental and essential aspect. 

And that aspect is relationship. 

It is the relationship between God and us, and our relationship with one another. 

That relationship is profoundly expressed in the Commandment to love God and to love one another. 

And as much as God calls us His people, there is also another image that is used to express the relationship between God and us. 

And that image is the shepherd and his sheep. That image runs throughout the Bible, in the writings of the prophets, in the Psalms and in the gospels, like in today's Gospel. 

And this Sunday, the 4th Sunday of Easter, is also called Good Shepherd Sunday, with an emphasis on vocations to the priesthood and religious life. 

So, there is a religious basis to call Jesus our Good Shepherd, and we willingly call ourselves His sheep. 

And when we understand the relationship between the shepherd and his sheep, then we will know why that imagery is used. 

Out there in the fields and in the pastures, the shepherd is often alone with his sheep. 

He knows every one of his sheep, and the unique characteristic of the sheep is that they listen to the shepherd's voice, and only to his voice. 

At the end of the day, the shepherd will gather his sheep into a cove-like area, and he will rest at the entrance. 

It is an image of an intimate relationship between the shepherd and his sheep, almost like that of a father and his children. 

So, we may wonder, how can a sheep go missing and be lost. The reason is that when a sheep is sick, it will not be able to listen clearly, and it will not see clearly as well, so it will not hear the shepherd's voice and lose sight of the flock.

Hence, the urgency of the shepherd to look for that lost sheep before anything tragic happens to it. 

As we think about all these on Good Shepherd Sunday, we may come to see that to be a shepherd is a challenging and demanding vocation. 

Yes, we pray for those who are preparing for the priesthood to offer themselves in service to God and to His people. 

We also pray for those who have answered the call to serve, meaning the priests who are the shepherds of the Church, that they will be faithful and committed to their sacred vocation. 

We pray also for ourselves who are God's sheep, that we will listen to the voice of truth and love, and follow the Good Shepherd in the path of salvation. 

And we pray that we will also look out for the lost sheep. 

For whatever reason that they have left the Church, their deep desire is to come back to God and to the Church. 

And may we, the shepherds and the sheep, the priests and the People of God, be the voice, the hands and the feet of the Good Shepherd who will look for those lost sheep. 

The world has many other distracting voices, and there are those who want to steal, to kill and to destroy. 

We pray that Jesus, our Good Shepherd, will protect the shepherds and the sheep of His Church, and lead us to the pastures of blessings, and to the eternal pastures of the Kingdom of Heaven.

3rd Week of Easter, Saturday, 29-04-2023

Acts 9:31-42 / John 6:60-69

To be spoilt for choice may initially sounds like exciting.

There will be many options and we can compare one with the other.

It is like going to a computer shop and looking at the number of laptops on display and we can browse from one model to the other.

But in the end, if we can only choose to buy one, then no matter how many choices there are, no matter how many options there are, then it is “Yes” to one and “No” to the rest.

So, in being spoilt for choice, we may end up wasting more time, getting distracted from what we really need, losing focus on what we really want and even being unhappy with the one that we eventually choose.

When it comes to putting our faith in Jesus, then we also know that we must believe and trust in Him alone.

But the gospel said that many of the followers of Jesus could not accept what Jesus said and thought that it was intolerable language and they stopped going with Him.

But when Peter and the apostles had to make choice, Peter said this, which we must always remember:

Lord, who shall we go to? You have the message of eternal life, and we believe; we know that you are the Holy One of God.

May Jesus be our only choice. The other options are not worth it.

3rd Week of Easter, Friday, 28-04-2023

Acts 9:1-20 / John 6:52-59

All religious leaders understand one fundamental duty as they teach and preach to their congregation.

And that is, that they are bound to teach the truth and they should not be teaching or preaching something that is against the religion that they claim to profess.

More so, in a place of worship, or in a holy place of prayer, religious leaders are expected to conduct themselves in proper behaviour and to speak in a dignified manner.

In the gospel, when Jesus gave the teaching about eating His flesh and drinking His blood, His listeners were astounded and puzzled by what He said.

The gospel ended off by noting that Jesus gave that teaching at Capernaum, in the synagogue.

The synagogue is a place where the people gathered for prayer and listen to the Scriptures and to the teachings.

So what Jesus taught was not done in an ordinary place but in a holy place, a place of prayer.

What Jesus taught was the truth, and there was no doubt that He meant what He said.

As we participate in the Eucharist, let us be reminded of this truth and let us truly believe in it.

When we believe in what we are receiving at Holy Communion, then we will also echo the teaching that Jesus gave in the gospel.

And may others also come to believe in that teaching by the examples of our lives.

3rd Week of Easter, Thursday, 27-04-2023

Acts 8:26-40 / John 6:44-51   

The quest for immortality is not something alien to humanity nor is it a figment of imagination.

There were monarchs, emperors, leaders and famous people who searched for what can be generally called immortality.

It may be some mystical elixir of life, or some potion of everlasting youth, or some object that will have the powers of healing and protection for a life-time.

So, throughout history, there were people who obsessively search for either an immortal life on earth, or an afterlife that has a resemblance to the life on earth.

So when Jesus tells us about the eternal life that God wants to give to us, He is addressing a deep need in us.

He is addressing our question to the meaning of our life on earth as well as what happens when we pass on from this world to the next.

Jesus is our Bread of Life and in Him we will have true life on earth as well as eternal life in heaven.

With Jesus, let us live our lives confidently because our questions about life is answered, whether it is life on earth or life in heaven.

3rd Week of Easter, Wednesday, 26-04-2023

Acts 8:1-8 / John 6:35-40

It is said that genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration (Thomas Edison)

It means that a person achieves great things primarily through hard work rather than creative ideas.

That can also be said when it comes to understanding God’s plans, as the early Church in the 1st reading showed us.

A bitter persecution against the Church started after the martyrdom of Stephen, and the believers fled and were scattered all over the place.

But as they went from to place to place, they kept the faith and they preached the Good News.

And in some places like the Samaritan town that Philip went to, they welcomed the Good News.

And there was also deliverance and healing and there was great rejoicing.

So out of tribulation and perspiration, there was revelation and inspiration.

The early believers kept the faith and they were strengthened by Jesus, their Bread of Life.

As we partake of the Bread of Life, Jesus will reveal God’s plan for us and we will get the inspiration to keep proclaiming the Good News.

St. Mark, Evangelist, 25-04-2023

1 Peter 5:5-14 / Mark 16:15-20     

St Mark the Evangelist is the traditional author of the Gospel according to Mark, and he is closely identified as (John) Mark that we heard about in the 1st reading, who was a disciple of St. Peter.

St. Mark is also closely identified as the cousin of Barnabas, who together with St. Paul were zealous missionaries in the Acts of the Apostles.

So St. Mark had connection with early missionaries in the New Testament, but that was not why he became prominent in the Bible.

He was greatly involved in the missionary work of the early Church and he founded the Church in Alexandria.

He may have been recognized for his gift of writing and being a disciple of St. Peter, he wrote the gospel through the reflections and teaching of St. Peter.

So St. Mark was a missionary and a writer and he was also involved in the work of the early Church.

He may have discovered these gifts gradually but he knew what these gifts were for.

As the 1st reading says: Wrap yourselves in humility to be servants of each other, because God refuses the proud and will always favour the humble.

So in spite of being associated with big names in the Church and bestowed with gifts, St. Mark remained a humble servant of the Church.

So let us learn from St. Mark to be humble servants of God and to humble servants to each other.

That is the first requisite for the proclamation of the Good News of our Lord Jesus Christ.