SANCTIFY IN CHRIST
SISTH SUNDAY OF EASTER

Yesterday about 123 young people from our parish received the sacrament of confirmation. Confirmation is the sacrament of the Holy Spirit. The Gospel reading this morning we have the story of Jesus promising the Holy Spirit.

Why is the Holy Spirit so important in our life? Holy Spirit, the third person in the Trinity, is the principle agent of sanctification. The Church is holy because of the presence of the Spirit. We are holy because of the presence of the Holy Spirit in our life.

Our vocation is to be holy. We are called to be holy. Peter, in today’s second reading, invites us to ‘sanctify Christ as the Lord in our hearts’. The Holy Spirit helps us to be holy in two ways. First of all the Spirit gives wisdom to discern what is right with God. Secondly, the Holy Spirit gives the courage to do what is right with God. Therefore, every day we need to pray for the Gifts of the Holy Spirit.

It is also important to know that to become a full-fledged member of the Church we need three sacraments. They are Baptism, the Eucharist and Confirmation. Together they called the sacrament of initiation. Baptism is the sacrament of the Father, the Eucharist is the sacrament of the Son and confirmation is the sacrament of the Hoy Spirit. Through the reception of these three sacraments, we enter the life of the Hoy Trinity, an essential condition to grow in holiness.

HE KNOWS THE WAY
FIFTH SUNDAY OF EASTER

“An elderly man was out walking with his young grandson. "How far are we from Home?" he asked the boy. The boy answered, "Grandpa, I don’t know." The grandfather asked, "Well, where are you?" Again, the boy answered, "I don’t know." Then the grandfather said, "Sounds to me as if you are lost." The young boy looked up at his grandfather and said, "No, I can’t be lost. I’m with you.”

The gospel reading for the fifth Sunday of Easter talks about two things. They are the destination of our life and the way to reach that goal. Our destination is the House of God. Immediately after the transfiguration experience peter suggested, “Let us make three tents here…” God, however, rejected that plan and said, “Listen to Jesus.” We do not have a lasting dwelling place here on earth. The way to reach our destination, the house of God is Jesus himself. He is the way to true life. As long as we are with him, we are on the right path.

The way of Jesus is uncolored love: A love that goes to the extent of sacrificing one’s life for the other. Our challenge is to walk the way that Jesus walked. If we walk the way Jesus walked then we reach the place where Jesus reached.

GPS
FOURTH SUNDAY OF EASTER

A priest was coming to St। Denis church. Half way he lost his way. He went to a gas station and asked for help. “Who are you?” The manager asked. “I am a priest”, he replied. “What do you do?” He asked again. “I am teaching”. That was his answer. The conversation continued. “What do you teach?” “I teach people how to get heaven.” “What? You do not even know how to get St. Denis Church! How do you teach people to get heaven?”

We need in our life someone who knows the way। We have that person in Jesus. He is the Gate. He is our GPS.

Jesus is the gate (way to life) because God approved his way by raising him from the dead. His way consists of three qualities. Knowing each one of his fold, leading them from the front, defending each one’s life by risking his own life. These are the qualities of a good Shepherd. Jesus, therefore, identified himself with a Good shepherd. As his disciples, we have two responsibilities.

1 LISTENING AND RECOGNIZING THE VOICE OF JESUS IS THE MARK OF OUR FAITHFULNESS.

Our challenge is to listen and discern his voice. The problem is that we are bombardedwith a lot of voices (distractions) today. The voice of the secular society, the voice of the self and the voice of various isms are a few among them. Many of these voices appeal to our ears and look good. In the midst of these confusing voices how do we discern Jesus’ voice? How do we prove that we are his faithful Disciples? There are different tools to discern Christ’s voice in our life and understand God’s plan for each one of us. They are prayer, Scripture reading, the celebration of the sacraments, charitable works and different ministries in the church.

Following the Word of Jesus completes the act of listening. Listening alone is not enough. St. James says: “Be doers of the word and not hearers only” (James 1: 22). Listening is complete in the act of following all the way to the extent of laying down one’s life for the sheep entrusted to oneself. St. James continues: “If anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his own face in a mirror. He sees himself, then goes off and promptly forgets what he looked like” (James 1:22-24).

2 RRESPONSIBLE STEWARDSHIP IS THE PROOF OF ACTIVE FOLLOWING.

Following Jesus means taking the responsibility of our call. We too are shepherds in our own life situations. Some of us are parents, some of us are teachers, and some of us are doctors. We are given responsibilities of one kind or the other. The important question is how we are taking care of our ‘sheep’

FOLLOWING JESUS THROUGH PRIESTLY AND RELIGIOUS VOCATION

Today we are invited to hear Jesus’ call in a in a particular way. Today is World Vocation Sunday. We are called to listen to his call to the priesthood and religious life. The vocation to the priesthood is a unique ministry in the Church. Jesus himself instituted the priesthood. During the Last Supper, after the institution of the Eucharist, Jesus said to his apostles: “Do this in memory of me”. Jesus ordered them to make the bread of life available until the end of time. Jesus established the priesthood to make the Eucharist available. Since the Eucharist is the summit of our Catholic faith, the Church cannot exist without priests. The teaching, sanctifying and shepherding ministries of the Church continue through Holy Orders.

As you are well aware, today our church is suffering from a shortage of priestly and religious vocations. We cannot imagine a situation where we do not have enough priests because no priest means no Eucharist and no Eucharist means no Catholic Church. The problem is not with God, it is with us. God is still calling us to ministry but we do not recognize either his call or fail to respond to it. If a person fails to respond to God’s call not only he/she, but the whole community suffers. Therefore, the families and communities have a great responsibility to encourage our young people to consider priesthood as one of the options. On this day, I invite the parents to see how they are listening to the voice of God and shepherding their families to bring up good shepherds. Family is the primary catalyst of faith formation. Family is the domestic church where vocations take root.

WAIT WITH PATIENCE
THIRD SUNDAY OF EASTER

A number of times Jesus made himself visible to his disciples. Any of these appearances hardly convinced them. Peter went back to his old job with his brother. Thomas wandered around looking for a proof. Disciples one by one returned to their own villages, frustrated and confused. The Emmaus incident gives us one of such scenes.

Two things are worth mentioning.

The disciples were not patient enough to see the whole things in perspective. They were carried away by one event alone. They neither bothered to see things in proper context nor in its relationship with one another. Therefore, they lost all the hope right away and left the place immediately. No event in isolation brings out the whole meaning. Meaning derives in its relatedness. Jesus helped them to see his death in the context of the salvation history by explaining the Scripture. The two disciples right away got the message.

Secondly, even though the disciples gave up on Jesus, Jesus did not give up on them. Jesus acted like a loving mother. Mothers are like that. They never give up on their children. On this Mother’s Day, let us remember our mothers with gratitude. Jesus did not give up on their disciples. He met them where they were. Jesus went up to Thomas. He met Peter on the bank of the sea. Jesus travelled on the way to Emmaus to ketch up on them.

Do not give up. Like Mary Magdalena, let us wait with patience. We will see Him.

DIVINE MERCY SUNDAY
(SECOND SUNDAY OF EASTER)

The Emperor Napoleon was moved by a mother's plea for pardon for her soldier son. However, the emperor said that since it was the man’s second major offense, justice demanded death. "I do not ask for justice," implored the mother, "I plead for mercy." "But," said the emperor, "he does not deserve mercy." "Sir," cried the mother, "it would not be mercy if he deserved it, and mercy is all I ask for." The compassion and clarity of the mother's logic prompted Napoleon to respond, "Well, then, I will have mercy."

The Divine Mercy Sunday. The Second Sunday after Easter is celebrated as Divine Mercy Sunday. In 1930, Jesus appeared to Faustina, a Polish Nun, and revealed to her the nature of God’s love. Jesus said to her: “My love is unlimited and available to all, especially to the poor sinners”. Jesus blessed her with a prayer for mercy. Sr. Faustina started a special devotion to the Divine Mercy of Jesus and popularized it. Our Late Holy Father Pope John Paul II encouraged this devotion and in 2000 on the day of her canonization, the Pope advised the universal church to celebrate this devotion on the first Sunday after Easter.

Mercy, another name for God. God is merciful and compassionate. The whole Bible is a series of stories that proclaim the unfailing and unconditional love of God towards humanity. The expressions like “Can a mother forget her infant, be without tenderness for the child of her womb? Even should she forget, I will never forget you. See, upon the palms of my hands, I have written your name; your walls are ever before me” (Isaiah 49:15-16) talk volumes about the nature of God’s love. The Evangelist John beautifully summarized the depth and width of God’s love in the following statement: “ For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life” John 3:16).

Divine Mercy! What does it Means? The word mercy is derived from the Latin word misericordia. Miseriacordia is a combination of two words: miseri and cordia. Miseri means suffering and cordia means heart. Misericordia means a heart that is willing to suffer for others. God is merciful means that God has a heart which is willing to suffer for us, willing to do anything for us.

Jesus, Mercy incarnated. “I desire Mercy not sacrifice, I haven’t come to call the righteous but sinners” (Matthew 9:13). These words of Jesus beautifully explain how much Jesus possesses the heart and mind of God. Paul says: “God, who is rich in mercy, brought us to life with Christ” (Ephesians 2: 4). Sharing the mercy and love of God was Jesus’ mission. Jesus invited everyone “To find rest in him” (Matthew 12:28-30).

The readings for the second Sunday of Easter further substantiate this point. The Gospel (John 20:19-29) talks about two specific actions of Jesus that reflect his mercy and compassion.

1. When Jesus came to the room where disciples were hiding out of fear and remorse, he said to them: “Peace be with you, receive the Holy Spirit”. Jesus did not bring the past. He did not scold Peter for denying Him on the way to Calvary. Transcending the past, forgetting everything that had happened a couple of days ago, Jesus offered them peace and reconciliation.

By offering them the Holy Spirit, Jesus was absolving them from their failures because God the Holy Spirit is the principle agent of sanctification. This is evident, if you recall the prayer of absolution in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. “God, the Father of Mercies, through the death and resurrection of Jesus, has reconciled the world to Himself and sent the Holy Spirit upon the church for the forgiveness of sins…”

2. Jesus showed the same mercy towards Thomas too. When Thomas was reluctant to believe in the resurrection, Jesus came to him, showed his wounded hands and satisfied his desire in the way Thomas wanted.

The way of mercy is the way of Grace. God is merciful. It is not enough to receive mercy from God. We need to show mercy to others. This is evident when Jesus said: “Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy” (Matthew 5:7) and “I desire mercy not sacrifice. I did not come to call the righteous but sinners” (Mt 9:13). The disciples understood this message. After they themselves witnessed the mercy of Jesus, they started a new life style based on the same principle. The second reading (Acts of the Apostles 4:32-35) is the practical application of this new life style. “They took care of each other. There was no one among them who was in need”. Jesus expects us to show mercy to one another. On the day of the final Judgment, the only criterion that Jesus is going to use will be ‘whether we were merciful to one another’ (Matthew 25:40,45). Finally, as the second reading (1 John 5:1-6) states: When we practice mercy in our daily life, we proclaim that we are the children of God.

PASSION SUNDAY Today is Passion Sunday। Today we celebrate the fist passion Sunday where people welcomed Jesus crying out and saying: Hosanna to the Son of David.

Hosanna means ‘Lord save us”. Jesus has already saved us by his supreme act of sacrifice on the cross. Therefore, our challenge today is to own the salvation. Make salvation my own. An important way of achieving this goal is through the celebration of the sacrament of reconciliation. During this week, let us take time to: Discover the stones that suppress us and roll it away Find the bondage and untie it Come out of the tomb and start again.

It is not our sinfulness but the pretension by which we hide them is preventing us from enjoying salvation।

ROLL AWAY THE STONE AND COME OUT FIFTH SUNDAY OF LENT A funeral director called a man for further instructions about his mother-in-law’s body. “Do you want her embalmed, cremated or buried?” “All the three!’ the man answered promptly. “Do not take any chances”. COMPLETELY FALLEN Our gospel reading for the fifth Sunday of lent is the story of Jesus bringing back Lazarus to life four days after his death. ‘Fourth Day’ has a great theological significance for Jews. According to the rabbinic belief, the soul/ spirit remain with the dead body for three more days after death. On the fourth day, the soul separates from the body and the body begins to decay. Symbolically fourth day represents the picture of a fallen man; someone completely alienated from God, the breath of life. UNWILLING TO GIVE UP We give up, not God. “Don’t go there! There is stench…Situation is too grave.” We too times share the feeling of Martha. God does not! Sometimes he waits at the well for us. At times, he goes out looking for the lost sheep. Even if it requires to travel up to the graveside, he does not care. His love is so great that he wants to give us life in its abundance. Jesus went to the graveside of Lazarus. NOTHING IS TOO GRAVE FOR GOD Nothing is outside the boundaries of God. God can bring forth good out of darkness. He created the universe out of darkness. The prodigal son never thought of a royal welcome from his father. Even when we see no point of return, God sees otherwise. Our problem is that we put limits on the power of God. Trust him, obey Him and then leave the rest for Him; you will see miracles happening. SEEKING OUR HELP God wants to work it out together. Jesus told them to untie Lazarus. Jesus continues this ‘untying ministry’ through the community of the Church. Our salvation is not an individual project. It is a community program. Be part of the community. Seek the help of other part of the Body of Christ Contribute your share to other members of the community