AD SENSE

Easter 5th Week: May 16-21

 Easter 5th Week: May 16-21

 May 16 Monday:

The context: Today’s Gospel passage is taken from Jesus’ Last Super discourse.

It was commonly held by the Jews that when the Messiah came, he would be revealed to the whole world as King and Savior. Hence, Judas Thaddeus asks why Jesus is revealing himself only to his disciples. Jesus does not answer that question directly. Instead, He continues his work of preparing his disciples for his imminent departure from them by assuring them that he is not leaving them alone. Instead, Jesus is going to live in them along with God his Father and God the Holy Spirit. The presence of the Father can be experienced through the experience of love. It means that the criterion of the Father is always the same: love. “If anyone loves Me, he will observe My word, and My Father will love him and We shall come to him and make a home in him.”

Jesus promises the abiding presence of the Holy Trinity in his disciples who express their responsive love for him by keeping his commandments, especially his commandment of love, because only this type of loving will open them and make them receptive to the Divine Indwelling of the Trinitarian God. Jesus is referring to the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in the soul renewed by grace. God repeatedly revealed Himself in the Old Testament and promised to dwell in the midst of His people (cf. Ex 29:45; Ez 37:26-27; etc.). But here Jesus speaks of the presence of God in each person. We are each a part of the Divine chain of love. God loves man. He sent His Son to prove it. After Jesus’ Resurrection and Ascension, God the Father continues to live in us with His Son and the Holy Spirit. This abiding God gives us the Father’s protection and providence, the Son’s redemption and forgiveness of sins, and the Holy Spirit’s sanctification and guidance.

Life messages: 1) Let us live in constant awareness of the abiding presence of the Trinitarian God within us and behave well in His presence. 2) During moments of doubts and temptations, let us seek the active guidance and strengthening of our indwelling God. Fr. Tony(https://frtonyshomilies.com/) 

May 17 Tuesday: 

The context: In his Last Supper discourse, Jesus gives two gifts to his disciples, namely, the gift of peace and the gift of the cross leading to glory. Today’s passage refers to the gift of peace. Wishing a person peace (Shalom), was, and still is, the usual form of greeting among the Jews and the Arabs. Shalom is a right relationship with God and with others. Arabs wish each other saying “Assalaam 'alaikum” in Arabic, meaning peace be with you. And the response is “Wa 'alaikum assalaam” (and also with you). Moses instructed the Israelites to bless others with God’s peace: “The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make His face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up His countenance upon you, and give you peace” (Nm 6:22-26). “Peace be with you!” is the greeting which Jesus used, and which the Apostles continued to use. Hence, the Church uses it several times in the liturgy. Peace is one of the great Messianic gifts. St. Paul tells us that it is it is one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit. Jesus repeats his promise saying, “My peace I give to you, my peace I leave with you.” Pope St. Paul VI (canonized October 14, 2018), said: “True peace must be founded upon justice, upon a sense of the untouchable dignity of man, upon the recognition of an indelible and happy equality between men, upon the basic principle of human brotherhood.”

Life message: 1) We are invited to live in the peace wished by Jesus. This requires that we be reconciled every day with ourselves, with our neighbours, and with our God. Reconciliation with God demands that we obey His commandments, repent every day of our sins, and ask God’s forgivenessReconciliation with others demands that we forgive others for their offenses against us, and that we ask for their forgiveness for our offenses against them in words and deeds. Reconciliation with ourselves comes from our grace-given humble recognition of our weaknesses and failures and our grateful acceptance and use of the Holy Spirit’s loving gifts to us of deepened love and trust that God loves us in spite of these weaknesses, forgives us our sins when we repent, helps us to do better, and uses our weaknesses to bring us closer to Him, and to demonstrate His own Love and Power working through us for His glory. (Fr. Tony) (http://frtonyshomilies.com/)

May 18 Wednesday: (St. John I, Pope, Martyr): 

The context: During his Last Supper discourse, Jesus uses one of his favorite images, the vine and the branches, to help his disciples understand the closeness of their relationship with him and the necessity of their maintaining it. Jesus assures them, using the parable of the vine and branches, that the Life-giving Spirit, Whom Jesus will send them, will be present and active among his disciples and their successors. This Gospel passage also emphasizes the need for Christians to abide in Christ as an essential condition for producing fruits of kindness, mercy, justice, charity, and holiness. Paul further clarifies this idea in Colossians 1:18 using another metaphor, that Christ is the Head and Christians are the different members of His Mystical Body. Pruning is an essential part of growing fruit-producing branches. In the vineyards in Palestine, dead branches were pruned to save the vine. Fruitless, leafy branches draining life sap from the main trunk were also pruned away leaving only fruit-bearing branches. Jesus tells his apostles that they have already been pruned by the words he has spoken to them. Eventually, they will be pruned of all attachment to the things of this world so that they may be ready to attach themselves to the things of Heaven.

Life messages 1) We need pruning in our Christian life. Pruning, which cuts out of our lives everything that is contrary to the spirit of Jesus and renews our commitment to Christian ideals in our lives every day, is the first type of self-imposed pruning expected of us. A second kind of pruning is accomplished by practicing self-control over our evil inclinations, sinful addictions, and aberrations. A third type of pruning is done by our permitting Jesus to prune, purify, and strengthen us as God allows us to face pain, suffering, contradictions, and difficulties with His grace and the courage of our Christian convictions. 2) Let us abide in Christ and let Christ abide in us: Personal and liturgical prayers, frequenting of the Sacraments of the Holy Eucharist and Reconciliation, daily, meditative reading of the Bible, and selfless, loving acts of kindness, mercy, and forgiveness enable us to abide in Jesus, the true vine, as fruit-bearing branches (Fr. Tony) (http://frtonyshomilies.com/)

May 19 Thursday:

The context: During the Last Supper discourse, Jesus teaches his disciples that love is the hallmark and the criterion of Christians. Jesus reminds his disciples that he has chosen them as his friends with a triple mission. First, they are to love others as he has loved them. Second, they are to bear the fruits of the Holy Spirit in their lives. Third, they are to ask God the Father for whatever they need in Jesus’ name.

The criteria of Christian love: First, Jesus modifies the Old Testament command from “love your neighbor as you love yourselves” (Lv 19: 18) to “love others as I have loved you.” This means that our love for others must be unconditional, forgiving, and sacrificial. Jesus invites each Christian to be in the inner circle of his friends by obeying his commandments including the new commandment of love. Such friends abide in Jesus, and Jesus abides in them, and their prayers in Jesus’ name will be answered promptly by God the Father. We express our love for Christ by obeying his new commandment of love. Jesus further explains that the real source of Christian joy is the certainty that God loves us. We, too, must be ready to express our love for others by our readiness to die for them as Jesus died for us.

Life message: 1) Let us remember that true Christian love is costly and painful because it involves sacrifice on our part when we start loving unlovable, ungrateful, and hostile people with Christ’s unconditional, forgiving, sacrificial love. But our Christian call is to love others as Jesus has loved us, and as Jesus loves them. (Fr. Tony) (http://frtonyshomilies.com/) L/22

May 20 Friday: (St. Berndine of Siena, priest): 

The context: Today’s Gospel passage is a part of Jesus’ Last Supper discourse. Jesus reminds his disciples that he has chosen them as his friends with a triple mission. First, they are to love others as he has loved them. Second, they are to bear the fruits of the Holy Spirit in their lives. Third, they are to ask God the Father in Jesus’ Name, for whatever they need.

First, Jesus modifies the Old Testament command from “love your neighbor as you love yourselves” (Lv 19:18) to “love others as I have loved you.” This means that our love for others must be unconditional, forgiving, and sacrificial. We, too, must be ready to express our love for others by our readiness to die for them as Jesus died for us. Jesus reminds the apostles that the ultimate expression of love (and especially Christian love, agápê) lies in self-sacrifice for others” Second, Jesus explains that the calling to produce fruits, which the Apostles received, and which every Christian also receives, does not originate in the individual’s good desires but in Christ’s free choice. Third, Jesus concludes his advice by referring to the effectiveness of prayer offered in his Name. That is why the Church usually ends the prayers of the liturgy with the invocation “Through Jesus Christ our Lord….”

Life messages: 1) Let us cultivate an abiding and loving friendship with Jesus: a) The qualities we normally expect from our friends are trust, mutuality, faithfulness, equality, forgiveness, joy, and self-sacrifice. Jesus offers us all these qualities in our friendship with him. b) As a friend, Jesus has trusted us by sharing with us everything that he has heard from his Father. Hence, we have to trust him as a friend by listening to him through the Bible and talking to him by prayer. c) As our friend, Jesus will be always faithful to us. Let us return this fidelity by being faithful to him in doing His will. d) By calling us his friends, Jesus makes us equal to him. Let us be proud of this and lead lives worthy of our unique status. e) As an understanding friend, Jesus is ready to forgive us time and time again. Let us also forgive those who offend us. f) As a friend, Christ has told us everything so that our joy might be complete in him. Let us enjoy Jesus’ Divine friendship. g) Jesus declared that there is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for a friend. He has done it for us. Hence, let us also love others sacrificially.

#2: Let us be persons for others: Jesus demonstrated the love God, his Father, has for us by living for us and dying for us. Hence, as his disciples, we are to be persons for others, sacrificing our time, talents, and lives for others. (Fr. Tony) (http://frtonyshomilies.com/) L/22.

May 21 Saturday: (St. Christopher Magallanes):

The context: In today’s Gospel passage, taken from the Last Supper discourse, Jesus warns his apostles of what they are to expect from a world which ignores God and His teaching. They will be hated and persecuted as Jesus was. But there can be no compromise between Christ’s disciples and the followers of the powers of darkness. The term “world” in today’s Gospel passage means people who are hostile towards God and opposed to His will. They represent an evil society which “calls evil good and good evil” (Is 5:20). Such a society will hate Christ and his teachings because Christian teaching exposes the evil of society and its false and dangerous doctrines. Since the Church Jesus established stands for truth, morality and justice, it does not support the modern “dictatorship of relativism.” The modern world hates and ridicules everything Christian through its liberal, agnostic and atheistic media.

Life message: Let us ask the Holy Spirit for the courage of our Christian convictions to believe and practice what Jesus taught and what Jesus continues to teach through the Church. (Fr. Tony) (http://frtonyshomilies.com/)