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“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives.”   The sixth Sunday of this Easter Season directs us to the message of the resurrection and the joy it brings. Today’s readings are about the effect of the abiding presence of God in His Church and of His indwelling in each one of us. Particularly, in today’s Gospel Jesus talks to us about Love, Peace and the Advocate – the Spirit of Truth. Our hearts were made for love and peace and will remain restless until we have them. The daily news reminds us each morning of how much our world needs this real peace and love. But love and peace are not things we can just wish into existence; no matter how many songs and poems we write about them, no matter how long we talk about them, we will not truly experience them until we follow the means Jesus describes in the Gospel. As with the new love commandment, this peace is also new. It is not sentimental, complacent, secure, or even conflict-free. It is new because Jesus says, “My peace” is a peace that comforts the afflicted and afflicts the comfortable. It is a gift given not in the context of cozy table talk, but on the eve of His death when one friend has already become an enemy and left the companionship of the table, and Jesus is saying goodbyes to those who, with one exception, will fail to stand by Him during the time of His trial and death. He assures them that they should not be afraid but find new courage in His peace. This peace is shalom, the right relationship that flows from our loving union with God through Jesus and the Holy Spirit.

This Sunday, we are brought back to the Last Supper, when Jesus was gathered with His closest companions and opened His heart to them. It was the night when His heart overflowed with love as it never had before. In the five short verses of this Gospel, two words are constantly repeated – glory and love. The Lord speaks to them only after Judas –His disciple who betrayed Him – has gone into the darkness of the night that has totally consumed his soul. This is also time for Jesus’ hour to come – the hour of His glory and love that will become His ultimate self-sacrifice and journey to the resurrection – His new glory, life, and love that He will share with His disciples.

On this beautiful day dedicated to motherhood, my prayer is that the Holy Spirit will renew the hearts of all mothers so that they can live out their calling to motherhood with a deeper and more generous love within the daily circumstances of their lives. I pray that the Holy Spirit will fill all women with the gift of love and that they may fully understand their true dignity as daughters of the awesome God of love. “Every vocation to the priesthood comes from the heart of God, but it passes through the heart of a mother” -St. Pius X

At the time when St. John wrote his gospel, the first persecutions had already broken out. The Roman Emperors had already begun their policy of executing Christians for treason, because Christians refused to worship the Roman gods. The Gospel gives us a powerful insight of the early Christian communities after the “hour” of Jesus’ Death and Resurrection. Their lack of faith, dashed hopes and unfulfilled expectations bring them back to do what they knew best – they went back to fishing. Together were Simon Peter, Thomas called Didymus, Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, Zebedee’s sons, and two others of his disciples. Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.” They said to him, “We also will come with you.”

“Peace be with you!”        These first words of Jesus after the Resurrection fill us with the tremendous joy of Easter. At Easter, peace comes to us as a gift from God and invites us into a right relationship with Him, with ourselves, with others, and the entire world. This peace implies well-being, harmony between God and ourselves and the world surrounding us. With this harmony comes security, happiness, and a profound experience of peace – the first gift of the Risen Lord.

 Today we celebrate Easter! The glorious Feast of the Resurrection of Jesus reflects the highest truth of our faith - the Immortal One had taken on mortality when He became man; He reclaimed His immortality and ours when He crashed the gates of sin and death and rose gloriously from the tomb that first Easter Sunday.

Today we celebrate Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion – the triumphant entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem. Branches of palm, olive or sometimes even budding willow are ancient symbols of victory and hope as well as new life. The procession celebrating Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem overflowed with praise and excitement as the onlookers waved these triumphant branches and proclaimed their blessings. Yet, in a few days they will cry out, “Away with Him!”, “Crucify Him!”

“Has no one condemned you?... Neither do I condemn you. Go, and from now on do not sin anymore.” Reminding us of God’s readiness to forgive sin and to restore people to His friendship, today’s readings challenge us to show the same mercy to the sinners around us and to live as forgiven people, actively seeking reconciliation. This Sunday invites us to look into our own hearts and see that we need forgiveness, so we can become people after the example of Jesus Himself who showed inexhaustible mercy and compassion to sinners by dying for our sins. Today we learn from Jesus that God goes beyond the law, for He forgives and keeps forgiving. This is the attitude we learn from God.

The Stations of the Cross are a Catholic devotion that consist of prayers and meditations which commemorates the Passion and death of our Lord Jesus Christ. Each of the fourteen stations represents an event which occurred during Jesus' Passion and death at Calvary on Good Friday. During the time of the crusades (1095-1270), it became popular for pilgrims in the Holy Land to walk in the footsteps of Jesus to Calvary. After the Muslims recaptured the Holy Land pilgrimages were too dangerous. As a result, the Stations of the Cross became a popular substitute pilgrimage throughout Europe. The Stations represented critical events from Scripture or tradition of Jesus' journey to Calvary. Originally done only outdoors, the Stations were allowed inside churches in the mid-18th century. Eventually fixed at fourteen, the Stations soon became a familiar feature in all Catholic churches. The devotion may be conducted personally by the faithful, making their way from one station to another and saying the prayers, or by having an officiating celebrant move from cross to cross while the faithful make the responses. The stations themselves must consist of, at the very least, fourteen wooden crosses, pictures alone do not suffice, and they must be blessed by someone with the authority to erect stations. (Community of Hope)

As we reflect upon the reading for the Third Sunday of Lent we come to realize that people haven't changed much since ancient times. Currently, the most popular topics of conversation are dramatic news stories of the war in Ukraine that claims the lives of innocent people and leads to destruction of human lives in every respect. We talk about our own boarder crisis, struggles with the pandemic, gas and food prices and raging inflation. It seems it was the same among the contemporaries of Jesus as they talked about their major events: the collapse of the tower at Siloam, and the violent tactics Pilate used to control the Jews. 

On every Second Sunday of Lent we reflect upon the story of the Transfiguration. It is the powerful moment when God expresses the fulfillment of His relationship with His people. The Gospel tells us that Jesus went up the mountain to pray and was transformed! On the mountain of transfiguration in the company of two great Hebrew figures - Moses, representing the Law, and Elijah, the greatest of the prophets, Peter, James and John witnessed the glory of Jesus’ identity as the “Chosen Son.” The transfiguration in turn gives us a foretaste of the fulfillment we all await: the glory of resurrection and eternal life.

With the celebration of Ash Wednesday when we received ashes on our foreheads, this was the first moment and sign of entering into the process of encountering God on the spiritual journey of Lent. This simple yet powerful gesture of humility reminds us of our unworthiness and sinfulness in the face of the majesty and mercy of God. It calls us to conversion, “Turn away from sin and believe in the Gospel,”  and brings awareness of the significant role of Lent. This Holy Season should help us awaken the gift of our relationship with God. The liturgy offers us various signs and symbols drawing abundantly from a long human tradition to which God has given a valuable meaning. It is worth seeing these symbols and signs as a way to approach God’s plan for us.

Today, for the third straight week, we have a chance to listen to Jesus and the greatest homily ever given as He continues to preach His sermon on the Plain. After teaching us the Beatitudes- to love our enemies, to pray for our persecutors, to do good to those who persecute us, to turn the other cheek, to walk the extra mile out of love for even someone who doesn’t love us, today He continues to call us to action.

 In the foothills of the mountains of Galilee, in a grassy meadow surrounded by what Luke calls a "great crowd", Jesus paints a simple yet powerful description of a true disciple/Christian. The identifying mark of a Christian is treating others - all others - the way God does, the way God treats us. Jesus indirectly gives us a portrait of Himself; He shows us what kind of Lord He really is - a lavish one. Nothing limits His generosity and love – nothing! If we are ungrateful to Him, He is still generous with us; if we oppose Him, disobey Him, insult Him, or abandon Him- He keeps on loving us. He simply does not give up on us!

This week invites us to focus on the purpose of our lives – to get to heaven. We are reminded that the physical and material desires are not to become obstacles on the way to heaven. We are also reminded not to domesticate the call to discipleship, since it always demands the high price of exclusion, struggle, hardship, suffering and opposition. And yet, in these totally reversed ordinary standards, we are called to “rejoice and leap on that day…for your reward will be great in heaven.”

The Gospel this Sunday presents us with the call of the first disciples of Jesus. For Simon Peter, the humble fisherman from Galilee, this was the first day of the rest of his life. From this day on, life became meaningful, purposeful, and fulfilling. On this day there was a revolution in his life. It's the revolution we are all thirsting for.

The opening verse in today’s Gospel should sound very familiar. Jesus once again reminds us about the significance of His message: "Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing." This scripture passage introduces Jesus’ public ministry in the Gospel of Luke. In our response to what is revealed to us through the Word, we are challenged to put the Word into practice so that the good works may abound in us. In a sense, we are asking God to make us good students at Jesus' school of love so as to learn the best way to grow in charity.

The meaning of today’s Liturgy of the Word is the creation of a new people of God...Today, we are reminded of our new creation in relationship with God. “One of the most dangerous mistakes in life is to ignore the moments that invite us to walk down another street.

Today’s Sunday brings us to Ordinary Time in the Liturgy of the Church.  The term “Ordinary Time” may be misleading…for there is nothing ordinary about it.  In the context of the liturgical year, the term “ordinary” does not mean “usual or average”, but rather celebrates all aspects of the Mystery of Christ and instructs us on how to live out our Christian faith in our daily lives. 

Bible Study: The Mystery of the Eucharist. Meets every 4th Saturday of the month, 8:00-10:00am.