Ascension of the Lord-Year B

Acts1:1-11

Ps. 47:2-9

Eph. 1:17-23

Mt. 16: 15-20

Pope Benedict XVI in his book Jesus of Nazareth provides a wonderful explanation of the Ascension. The Ascension is not Jesus’ departure into some unseen and remote space. Rather, it means Jesus transcended the limitation of time and space so that he can be at all places at all times. Therefore, the Ascension is a movement from physical to divine presence, a stronger closeness and intimacy with his disciples. If Jesus did not ascend, he would have been limited to Israel or any place that he can humanly be at a time, and all disciples would have to be where he is. For example, that would have meant that if you wanted to attend Mass you would need to travel to where Jesus is at a particular time since only Jesus celebrates the Mass. Can you imagine how difficult and expensive Christianity would have been? That is why the all-wise and all-loving God ascended so that not limited by time and space, he can be with us at all times and in all places. Beloved, this should mean a lot to us, Christians, and bring us great joy! It means that at every given moment in our life, no matter where we are and what is going on, Jesus is with us. It means in joy and pain, in suffering and death, in achievements and disappointments, Jesus is with us.

Our first reading and the gospel today remind us that the Ascension takes place in the midst of unfinished business and a commission that seems impossible to carry out. Luke tells us that the disciples asked Jesus: “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” As if they were telling him. Okay we have witnessed your death and resurrection. Now tell us, when are you going to take all our troubles away? Beloved, do you feel like asking Jesus that same question sometimes? I do. But let’s listen to Jesus’ response to that question? “It is not for you to know the times or seasons that the Father has established by his own authority”. If you pay attention to the response, Jesus did not say I will not solve your problems. Rather he said it is not for you to know the time and season when I will solve your problems. Which means he will, but he is not going to tell us how and when.

There are some important symbols in the story of the ascension that we should always reflect on and allow to influence out thoughts and actions. One of these is The Cloud: This is a symbol of God’s presence. Thus, the ascension affirms the divinity of Jesus and reminds us that Jesus, the God we worship, is the God who led the people of Israel in the form of a cloud in the desert (Ex. 13). He will always lead us in good and in bad times, he goes ahead of us to make a way. And this is the Good News that Jesus invites us to share with the world, that God is with us and that he will make a way even where there seems to be no way. It is not for us to know the times and seasons but to be open to the gifts of the Holy Spirit and witness to Jesus in good and bad times and help others to know that, regardless of what is going on, our God is always with us.

Beloved, it’s okay to have questions but we should not let those questions make us turn our back on God or others. If we remain faithful and obedient despite the unfinished businesses and the problems in our lives, Jesus will turn our tears into joy. You shall cross the barren desert, but you shall not die of thirst, you shall wonder far in safety, though you do not know the way. You will speak your word in foreign land and all will understand, you shall see the face of God and live… Be not afraid, I go before you always, come follow me, and I will give you rest.

6^th Sunday of Easter-Year B

Without Friendship, All Efforts of Christian Evangelization will be in Vain

5^th Sunday of Easter-Year B

God: The Vine Dresser

One of my most favorite passages in the Bible comes from Jeremiah 29:11 when God tells us “ I know the plans I have for you, …plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope”. I can tell you that in as much as I love this passage, there are many things that happen in my life that make me ask: “God, is this also part of plan? What good can come out of this pain?

In our gospel today Jesus talks about how God brings the best out of us and make us bear more fruit (become more of a means of blessing) to family, friends, church, community, and the world. Jesus describes the process as pruning, and God the Father as a vinedresser. Physical pruning involves cutting off part of a tree in order to make it more healthy and beautiful. In the spiritual sense, this might be likened to any suffering that God allows us to go through. Today’s gospel teaches sufferings can be God’s tool for spiritual pruning. That even though God does not cause the suffering, He can allow it if it is important for our pruning.

We see this in the life of Jesus, when he became man. The Father pruned him. Jesus suffered not because of any sin he had committed but because the Father wanted him to bear much fruit: To save the world through sacrificial love. No wonder Jesus calls his Father: the vinedresser. It is through those sufferings that God allows that he teaches us how to align our will to his will and become the blessing he made us to be in people’s life. Remember in the Garden of Gethsemane, that difficult conversation between Jesus and his Father when Jesus cried out “ Father, if it is your will let this cup pass me by, take this cup away, if it is your will”. Did the Father prune Jesus? Yes, he allowed Jesus to go through the agony of the Cross because Jesus was going to bear much more fruit that way. Can you imagine what the world would be like if there were no Christians?  

In the first reading, we read about one of the most important figures in Christianity, St. Paul. He wrote about 40 percent of the entire New Testament. When you look at his life, you can come to one conclusion that suffering can be a tool that God uses to prune us to bear more fruit. In today’s reading Paul is going through great suffering for the sake of the gospel. The Christian community in Jerusalem does not trust Paul because of his past. They know him to be a murderer and persecutor of Christians. The Hellenist, want to kill him because he is preaching the gospel. The result of this confusion is the Church in Jerusalem asking Paul not to do what he desired most, preaching the Word of God and sending Paul into a kind of silent retreat for about 10 years in Tarsus. However, all these very painful experiences and sufferings are what draw Paul closer to Christ and the Church and gave him all the deep insights about God that he wrote down in what has become most of the books in the New Testament. The suffering that Paul went through were tools that God used to make him bear fruits that will last for all generations.

Spiritual pruning is not something that only Jesus and Paul went through. All the early Christians and indeed all people who want to live and bear fruit in the name of God went through and will go through some sort of pruning. In our day, God uses suffering as a tool for spiritual pruning so that we can also bear more fruit and bring life to many more people. What are the most challenging situations you are going through right now? What brings tears into your eyes? Could God be using that as a tool to prune you? St. John in the second reading tells us the way to respond to the process of pruning in order to bear much fruit: A loving heart. In order to heal the wounds that suffering causes and bear much fruits we need to take four steps:

May God give us the strength to respond to any pruning he takes us through with a loving heart and hope in him. Do not be afraid! I am with you! I have called you each by Name! You are Mine!

4^th Sunday of Easter-B

Acts 4:8-12

Psalm 118

I Jn. 3:1-2

John 10:11-18

You Cannot Save What You Don’t Place Value On

Beloved in Christ, it does not matter how long this winter takes, Spring will be here soon, so just hold onJ Today feels like Spring, and we thank God for a wonderful weather. Spring is also a time for cleaning. We clean our yards, our houses, and closets. As we do so, we throw away things that we don’t value anymore but we save things that we see to have value. As I was cleaning my closet today, I threw away some old socks because they were torn and I cannot wear them anymore. But I also found some money in my closet and my face just beamed with a huge smileJ I did not throw the money way and you know why, right? We all save things that we think have value. 

In the Bible, the people of Israel were always aware of how other nations looked down on them because they often had a small army, were often defeated, and enslaved by other nations. But they also knew that when other nations looked down on them, God placed value on them, made a covenant with them, and made them an instrument of salvation for the world. That is why they would often praise God in the psalms like the one we just sung today in our responsorial psalm (118): “The stone rejected by the builders has become the corner stone”. This for them was salvation: that they were rejected by other nations but God placed value on them and treated them as a people with dignity. That explains why they saw themselves as a people sent to bring salvation to others. However, on many occasions like the time of Jesus, the chief priest, the Sadducees, the Pharisees, and other leaders of God’s people had forgotten what it means to save and needed a loving reminder in Jesus.

Like the people of Israel, we Christians are also called to help save the world; but many times we forget what it means to save. St. Peter, in our first reading today, reminds us that if we really want to understand what it means to save, we should look at the way Jesus did it:  “There is no salvation through anyone else, nor is there any other name under heaven given to the human race by which we are to be saved” except Jesus! In the ministry, Suffering, Death, and Resurrection of Jesus, God reminds us that no matter how bad our human condition gets, God still places value on us. St. John in our second reading reminds us that, despite our sin, God is not ashamed to call us his children.

In the gospel, Jesus, the Good Shepherd who places value on even the lost sheep, tells us that in Christianity, there is no room for rejection. Every human being has a place in God’s eternal plan. Jesus speaks of all human beings as belonging to his sheep, and that he will not abandon them because of their sin or any situation they find themselves in; but that he will fight to save all even from sin until all are gathered into the sheepfold. By this, Jesus teaches us that you cannot save that which you don’t place value on. The first step in helping God save somebody is to place value on the person. That is what our readings today challenge us on: The kind of value we place on people especially those we find difficult to love.

In my religious studies class some years back, I read that one reason why the Prophet Mohammed started a new community of believers was because the Christians in his area at that time did not want anything to do with him and his family. They placed no value on Mohammed and his family. Perhaps you are saying you wish those Christians had, right? I also wish they had welcomed Mohammed and his family and genuinely listened to what God had to teach them through the Prophet.

In our own individual lives, we at times fail to reach out to those who are rejected by society. What value do you place on strangers, on people who are different than you? What value do you place on people of different religions, worldviews, and lifestyles? What value do you place on those who have offended you? At times, these are the very stones that we the builders reject. May God give us the grace to put value on all human beings and created things so that we can pick up those stones that are rejected and turn them into cornerstones. Let’s pray in this Mass, that God will open our eyes to see His face in those people that we reject; that God will open our ears to hear his voice in the voices of people we look down on; that God will open our hearts to love those we find difficult to love.

3^rd Sunday of Easter-B

Living In Memory of Christ

As I was preparing my homily for this week, something strange happened. I had a call from somebody who did something some years ago to really hurt me. At first, I did not want to pick up the call but I heard a voice “ Do this in memory of me”.  I could not link that still voice I was hearing to the call that was coming in so I told God, Yes, I am about to go and celebrate Mass and I will surely do that in memory of you. The person kept calling and I heard the still voice again, pick up this call in memory of me. It was tough but I finally obeyed; and we had a beautiful conversation. The person apologized and I forgave the person and now I am free of that burden. This experience reminded me of the words of Pope Francis in his new Apostolic Exultation: Rejoice and Be Glad, which was releases some few days ago. The Holy Father writes: “The Lord asks everything of us, and in return he offers us true life, the happiness for which we were created. He wants us to be saints and not to settle for a bland and mediocre existence” (Gaudete et Exultate, # 1).

Beloved in Christ, we prayed in the responsorial psalm today that God would let His face shine on us. The phrase “let your face shine on us” is an expression that the Israelites used to implore God’s mercy. Literally, it means “God please smile at us, do not be angry with us forever; do not let our sin make you turn your face away from us; please forgive us.” This cry for mercy is what each of us has repeated to God this morning.

The gospel reading tells us that God will always listen to our cry of mercy. Jesus appears to the disciples who had denied, betrayed, and abandoned him. Instead of blaming them, he wishes them Peace, Shalom, the peace that the world cannot give. He tells them, “My friends, its aright; I forgive you; let’s start all over”. He wanted to let them know that regardless of all their weaknesses and their denial of him, they still had something good and beautiful in them to offer and that was what he wanted them to focus on. This is what he symbolizes by asking them if they had anything to offer him to eat. After he has forgiven them, once again, he tells them “You are witnesses of these things”. All he wants them to do is for they to become ambassadors of that merciful love they have received! … so “that repentance, for the forgiveness of sins”, would reach every human being in the world.

This is the good news of Easter and the Power of the Resurrection. This is the truth that St. Peter is witnessing to in the first reading. After he had received mercy of the Risen Lord, Peter became an instrument of mercy. He was transformed from a man who cuts the ears of those who hurt him and his loved ones into a man who forgives people; he excuses their sin and teaches them how to act out of love.

St. John, in our second reading, reminds us that the mercy of God is always mediated. Just as God needed Christ to reveal his mercy to the world, God needs you and me to be the instruments of his mercy for the world today. Jesus, the expiation for our sins, did not only die to take away our sins, but that we, in turn, will help others overcome sin by showing them the merciful love we have received from God and helping them realize that they are more than their sin; that despite their sin, there is something more beautiful in them that is yet to come out.

Beloved, this is the kind of transformation we celebrate at Easter. It is the transformation we have gathered here today to celebrate. The goal of our Eucharistic celebration is the forgiveness of sins: That we receive the mercy of God and become agents of that merciful love.  I believe we all have people who have hurt us in our family and among our friends. You and I, who have experienced the mercy of God, should let our faces shine on others, especially those who are close to us and so offend us most often and can hurt us most deeply: husband, wife, children, parents, family, friends, colleagues at work etc. God wants you to look at your loved ones who have offended you and say, “you know what? I know there have been ups and downs but I still love you!

2^nd Sunday of Easter-Year B

(Divine Mercy Sunday)

Have Mercy ON us; and Have Mercy Through US

Our second reading tells us that we are begotten by God and that if we live out that power, we can conquer the world” The way Jesus conquered the world was to take sin away, overcome sin with mercy! Jesus takes away the sin of the world in two way:

Establishing our families, schools, communities, churches, country, and the world as one community of one mind and one heart is not an easy task. However, the goal of Christian discipleship is to walk with people who have doubts in God’s love and mercy the way Jesus walked with Thomas. To help them move from “unless .... I will not believe” to having them proclaim “ My Lord and my God! Only one sign transforms people from doubt to faith in God: Merciful love. Jesus could have said “too bad for you Thomas if you don’t believe” but no he was patient with Thomas and showed him the sign that Thomas was looking for “The wounds”, that is the sign that you will die for me. If you can show me the wounds and still love me despite the wound, you can get me to change my mind. That is the sign people are looking for. Can we show them the wounds they have caused us by the wrong choices they have made and still make them feel loved? If we do, we can conquer the world with God’s love.

I pray that God will not only have mercy on us today but that we will allow Him to have mercy through us!

 

5^th Sunday of Lent-Year B

We would like to see Jesus

Beloved, five years ago, I was traveling and something very weird happened at the airport. I saw a young woman sitting quietly but with tears in her eyes. I heard a voice asking me to go talk to her. My first reaction was, Nope, I am not doing that. I heard that voice repeatedly and finally gave in. I went to sit by her and asked: Are you okay? Her response was: Go away: Don’t think you are going to convert me. Convert yourself. I told her I was not there to convert her but that I had heard a voice to come sit by her. She ignored me, did not talk to me; but after an hour when she was about to leave, she wrote her number for me and said: Here, you can ask the voice that talked to you to talk directly to me. I laughed and took the number. I called her when I got home and for the past five years we have been praying together. And she always tells me, don’t try to convert me. However, something wonderful happened this past weekend. She on her own decided to attend Mass so she found one parish close to her house and went to church.

In our first reading today, God promised to bring about a new creation: The promise was fulfilled in Christ! This mission of bringing people to reconcile with God is so important that St. Paul tells us in the second reading, when Jesus was in the flesh, he did whatever to took, prayers, supplications, crying, tears, and even death to bring people closer to God. Beloved, Christ is always making things new and drawing people to himself but he always does it through his disciples. That is the privilege and responsibility we have as people who are called and empowered to impact the world and help change it for the glory God. True love by nature is life-giving! If you truly love somebody, you bring that person to Christ. When we fail to reveal Christ to them, we cannot claim to love them.

In the gospel, St. John tells us a story about some Greeks who had come to the temple, finished worship, but still felt empty and yearned for the only source of life, Jesus! Thus, they came to a disciple who they believed could lead them to Jesus. They came to Philip, one of the apostles with a Greek name. They might have come to him for two reasons: they could identify with him and they knew he could lead them lead them to Christ. Philip succeeded with the help of Andrew in brining them to Christ.

Once they came to Christ, he taught them how they in turn can bring others to God. Jesus, tells them, the way to lead others to God is to sacrifice your life for them, that is what scripture refers to as dying for them.  Jesus uses the image of being lifted up to describe his Crucifixion. If only we can also see and describe the sufferings we go through for the sake of others as “Being lifted up” we will have the strength to die for family, friends, church and society and draw them to Christ in us. This is the essence of true Christian discipleship. You cannot die for people if you cannot even acknowledge the their presence with a simple hello, a smile, a hand shake, a hug, and a conversation that shows that you care about what is going on in their lives.

My Dear People of God, our world is hurting! Many are yearning and thirsting for Christ, the only life. The school children who leave their classes to march for better gun laws are crying out: We want to see Jesus, the Prince of Peace! The DACA children, who are worried about their future and their very survival are crying out to us: We want to See Jesus, the lord who welcomes strangers and treats them as family. Children who are being sold in human trafficking are crying out to us: We want to see Jesus, the Lord who saves. The sick and the aged are crying out: We want to see Jesus who heals, comforts, and cares for the weak and the vulnerable. Can we be like Philip and Andrew and lead people to Christ? Can the those who are thirsting and yearning for God’s saving hand and his love find Christ in our parish, in our family, in your marriage, in your friendships, and in our schools? Can they find Jesus in me?

4th Sunday of Lent-Year B

2 Chr 36:14-16, 19-2

Ps 137:1-2, 3, 4-5, 6

Eph 2:4-10

Jn 3:14-21  .

Give God the Benefit of the Doubt

Beloved in Christ, we all go through situations in our lives that make us cry out: “God, is everything going to be alright? Why me, Why this? Why this time? Why my family? We struggle with sin and at times, the harder we try, the more we fail. Perhaps, you have tried many Lenten practices like prayers, reading of scripture, fasting, and almsgiving but still you struggle with sin. This could be very discouraging and you might want to give up. We do not only struggle with sin, we also have disasters that befall our families. We have illnesses and death of loved ones. In the face of all this we might wonder if life will ever get better. But our readings today answer that question. Yes, life will get better.

Our first reading from the book of Chronicles talks about how the people of Israel had to suffer in exile for 70 years; and that even after 70 years, God still had a plan and delivered his people. What is striking about that story is how God did it. It was totally different from the way the people thought he was going to do it. They thought God was going to call one of them to lead them to fight and defeat the Babylonians. In that way the people would have had to shed their own blood to get their freedom. But no, God had a better plan. To their surprise, God chose a pagan king, Cyrus of Persia, who defeated the Babylonians, set the people free without any of them shedding their blood, and gave them all that they needed to rebuild their temple and their lives back in Jerusalem. Beloved, you see what God can do? Indeed, God’s ways are not our ways; His delays are not denials. He is a faithful God and he works in ways that might be contrary to what we expect, but he will always make things better for us.

In the gospel, St. John tells us that God did not send his Son to destroy the world but to save it. God is working everyday to save the world. St. Paul tells us in the second reading that God’s grace saw him through all the ups and downs in his life and that if we don’t give up but hold on to our faith in Christ, God’s grace will see us through life. It will not be easy; but we will always come out of those difficult situations victorious.

That is the faith we celebrate in the Eucharist. If you pay attention during the mass, you will see that after the kiss of peace, the priest breaks the bread which has become the body of Christ into two and puts it back together and lifts it up as he calls on the congregation to behold the lamb of God. The breaking of the bread symbolizes the death of Christ and the fact that on many occasions things get broken in our own lives. The bringing of the two pieces of the broken bread back together symbolizes the Resurrection and reminds us that no matter how broken things get, God can restore our lives if we put our trust in him.

My Brothers and Sisters in Christ, I don’t know what you are going through right now in your life, but I know one thing: God’s grace will see you through this phase of your life. It is human to have doubts but let’s give God the benefit of the doubt. He will make a way even where there seems to be no way! Give God the benefit of the doubt!

3^rd Sunday of Lent-Year B

Ex. 20: 1-17

Psalm 19:8-11

I Cor. 1: 22-25

    Jn. 2:13-25

God Stops at Nothing To Save US

Today, we celebrate the first rite of scrutiny with our Catechumens who are on their journey to give their lives in a sacramental way to God and receive a renewed life in Jesus at Easter. The rite of scrutiny is a moment of grace and an invitation to the Catechumens to reflect on their relationship with the God who is calling them to examine their minds, words, and actions to see if they truly trust God that much to give him their lives.  However, this scrutiny is not only for the Catechumens. The Church invites all of us to join the Catechumens in scrutinizing our faith.

God created the world to reveal his glory; and anything that destroys his glory, God will resist and defeat. That sounds selfish right? It sounds like God is all about himself until you come to understand what God’s glory really is. God’s glory is the well-being (both physical and spiritual) of the human person and all that God has created. Human flourishing and that of entire creation is the glory of God. So to seek the glory of God is to seek the spiritual and physical well-being of all people including yourself. That is why God gets angry when we make choices that destroy our spiritual and physical lives.

In our first reading, God tells us that the Ten Commandments are not meant to enslave us, but to ensure our physical and spiritual well-being; and so reveal God’s glory in our world. St Paul tells us in the second reading that Jesus Christ is the power of wisdom of God. Living like Christ, laying down our lives for others, is the power and wisdom that transforms this world and reveals God’s glory.

In the gospel, Jesus teaches us that when it comes to salvation of souls, God stops at nothing. God will fight you to save you if that is what it takes. He will fight me to save me if that is what it takes. Because when you truly love somebody, you cannot stand aside and watch that person destroy him/herself. You resist anything that destroys that person.  In scripture, the temple is a symbol of the glory of God. It is therefore not surprising that St. Peter tells us that we are the temple of Christ. Our physical and spiritual well-being is the glory of God. God will fight anything that destroys his glory. Pope Benedict XVI in his book, Jesus of Nazareth, reflects that “God does not protect a temple that has been turned into a “den of thieves”  (p.20), he cleanses it. That is what we see Jesus doing in the gospel today. Just as Jesus cleansed the physical temple in the gospel today he will fight to cleanse our lives of anything that destroys us.

When you look at the universal Church today, what will Jesus call our attention to as something that needs cleansing? What does our parish need cleansing from? As an individual temple of Christ, what do you think Jesus will tell you that you need cleansing from? As a family find some time during the week to reflect on this question: “what would Jesus call our family’s attention to as something that needs cleansing? As friends, what do you think Jesus would like to cleanse in your relationship?

First Sunday of Lent (Year B)

 You are Worth My Pain

Beloved in Christ, was Youcef  Nadarkhani crazy?  No! I don’t think so. So why did he hold on to his faith even in the face of death? Our scriptural readings today help us understand why people like Youcef live the way they do. The first reading from Genesis reminds us that we have a covenant relationship with God; a covenant that cannot be broken. God has always been faithful in keeping his covenant with us.  It is a covenant of Love. That is why when we sin, God looks at us and says I cannot destroy my people. That is the promised God made to us through Noah.  In the Gospel, Jesus teaches us that when we refuse to denounce our faith in God, even in the face of temptation, we bring life to others and glory to God. That is why Jesus calls on you and me to be faithful to our covenant with God in the face of all temptations. St Peter in the second reading tells us that our baptism was not meant to take way dirt from our bodies but to provide a true encounter with Christ; draw our hearts and minds into a deeper love-relationship with God and others. 

 Beloved, Jesus calls on his followers to be faithful to their covenant with God by showing us an example. The early Christians and the saints have shown us that human beings can be like God. Human beings can also be faithful. In our day, Youcef has shown that it is possible to be a faithful Christian. Not even the love for his family or his own life could force Youcef to denounce Christ. The question I ask myself as I reflect on the readings today is “Do I love Christ that much? Is Christ worth my pain? Does my life communicate to those God has placed in my life that they are worth my pain? Will I go though anything, even pain, if that will show the world that it is only in living like Jesus, an imitation of Christ as Youcef did, that this world will know peace and joy?  May Christ be our light! May he shine in our heart and through the darkness. May Christ shine in his Church, gathered today!