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 forgiveness. Reconciliation 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/)
