HIS LOVE HAS NO END

II SUNDAY OF EASTER - John 20:19-31

This Second Sunday of Easter is also known as Divine Mercy Sunday. The responsorial psalm gives the tone for this Sunday's celebration:

Let the sons of Israel say:

  ‘His love has no end.’

Let the sons of Aaron say:

  ‘His love has no end.’

Let those who fear the Lord say:

  ‘His love has no end.’ - Psalm 118

Indeed, let us sing God’s praise, because his love is without end. During his public ministry, Jesus welcomed sinners and shared meals with them, which was considered unbecoming behaviour for a prophet. Jesus answered their criticism, quoting the prophet Hosea 6:6 by saying: “I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.” And added: “For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” (Mt 9:13/ 12:7). In the mercy parables, Jesus revealed the Father’s heart, a heart full of love and compassion. Being God’s children, we are called to become like him, that is, loving, compassionate and merciful. Jesus gave his disciples this commandment: “Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.” (Lk 6:36).

This Sunday, we celebrate God’s mercy, as we hear his call to be merciful. As we experience God’s love and mercy, we are moved by His Spirit, who enables us to be merciful, forgiving those who have sinned against us. Jesus came to call sinners to repentance, assuring them of God’s merciful love.

Jesus entrusted his disciples to continue his mission: “As the Father sent me, so am I sending you.” The Church must proclaim the gospel, calling people to repentance and conversion. To carry out this mission, the disciples received the Holy Spirit from Jesus, who entrusted them with the ministry of reconciliation. Jesus gave the Church authority to forgive sins, bringing about reconciliation with God: “For those whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven; for those whose sins you retain, they are retained.” The reconciliation with God paves the way for reconciliation with others and ourselves. Reconciliation is made possible by being loved and forgiven, thus opening the way to build peace and establish a just society. Every day, as we pray to the Father, we ask: May your Kingdom come. God’s Kingdom comes whenever we do God’s will. And God, who forgives, calls us to forgive.

With Jesus’ resurrection, the power of sin and death has been defeated, and in Him we are renewed through the power of the Spirit that he granted us. Today’s gospel teaches us that the experience of the risen Lord must be done in the community of the disciples. When we withdraw from it, we lack the support found in shared love and reconciliation. Thomas went through that experience. Once back in the community to participate in the Sunday (the first day) assembly, he encountered Christ and proclaimed his faith. We must do the same profession of faith: “My Lord and my God!”

THE LORD HAS RISEN! ALELUIA!

EASTER SUNDAY - Acts 10:34, 37-43

The Jewish Passover was the first great feast of liberation. Every year, the people of Israel celebrated the great action of God that set them free, constituting them as the People of God. The lamb's sacrifice and the Passover meal were at the centre of the celebration. However, that liberation and the feast that celebrated it were prophecies and prefigurations of a greater liberation brought about by Christ, the Messiah, who offered himself in sacrifice as the Lamb of God who takes away the world's sins. It’s by his blood shed for us that we are set free from the slavery of sin. He died for us and overcame death by his resurrection. Being one with Him, we become whole, and God’s glory may shine on us again.  If we share in his death, we will share in his resurrection. In communion with the Son, we become God’s children and are given the right to enter his kingdom and sit at his table.

During the celebration of the Easter Vigil, we are called to give thanks and praise to God because the words of Isaiah are fulfilled in Jesus Christ.

Oh, come to the water all you who are thirsty;

though you have no money, come!

Buy corn without money, and eat,

and, at no cost, wine and milk.

Why spend money on what is not bread,

your wages on what fails to satisfy?

Listen, listen to me, and you will have good things to eat

and rich food to enjoy.

Pay attention, come to me;

listen, and your soul will live. 

With you I will make an everlasting covenant

out of the favours promised to David. (Is 55:1-3)

You may listen to the song composed by the group of students doing the spiritual year in preparation for the promise to commit themselves to the proclamation of the Gospel.

1- The Lord has risen from the dead

As he announced

Let us rejoice

For he reigns forever

Chorus: Christ's Passover/ It is the salvation of men. Alleluia, alleluia (2x).

2- Christ came down from heaven

To rescue the people

He stripped himself of his greatness

With a kind heart

Chorus: Christ's Passover/ It is the salvation of men. Alleluia, alleluia (2x).

3- Rejoice, peoples of the earth

Christ lives forever

Christ reigns over humanity

His kingdom is one of peace.

Chorus: Christ's Passover/ It is the salvation of men. Alleluia, alleluia (2x).

May the words of Peter taken from the first Easter Sunday reading find echo in our hearts:

“They killed him by hanging him on a tree, yet three days afterwards God raised him to life and allowed him to be seen, not by the whole people but only by certain witnesses God had chosen beforehand. Now we are those witnesses – we have eaten and drunk with him after his resurrection from the dead – and he has ordered us to proclaim this to his people and to tell them that God has appointed him to judge everyone, alive or dead. It is to him that all the prophets bear this witness: that all who believe in Jesus will have their sins forgiven through his name.’” (Act 10:37-43)

CHRIST JESUS DID NOT CLING TO HIS EQUALITY WITH GOD

PALM SUNDAY - Luke 22:14-23:56

The Lenten season has ended, and we begin the Holy Week with Palm Sunday. We celebrate the solemn entrance in Jerusalem when a big crowd of disciples proclaimed him the Messiah-King, “who comes in the name of the Lord”. Some Pharisees who accompanied him considered those words provocative and asked Jesus to rebuke his disciples, but Jesus answered them: ”I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.’

In a few days, the people of Jerusalem would accuse him of treason and ask for his death. During the Holy Week, we remember Jesus’ passion, which ended in his death on the cross. On this Palm Sunday, we read the Passion according to Luke. During the Last Supper, Jesus gave the meaning of his death as the sacrifice of the New Covenant, in which his blood is poured out for us. Then Jesus announced his betrayal by one of them. For a while, they questioned themselves who would do such a thing, but they did not seem too concerned with such matters. They had more pressing problems, disputing among them who would be the greatest. Jesus had to scold them, presenting himself as the “one who serves”. After the Last Supper, he went with his disciples to the Mount of Olives. There, while in prayer, he went through terrible moments of anguish but accepted the Father’s will, being ready to drink the cup of suffering to the full. Betrayed by Judas, who knew where Jesus was passing the night, he was arrested and treated like a brigand. In Jesus’ arrest, we can see the “reign of darkness” showing its power and dominion. Taken to the high priest’s house,  he was insulted, mocked and beaten. While there, Simon Peter denied Jesus and then repented, weeping bitterly. Early in the morning, he was presented to the assembly of the elders of the people, the chief priests and the scribes for a summary trial in which he was found guilty of blasphemy. He was taken immediately to Pilate, the Roman governor, and accused of treason. Despite not being convinced of his guilt, Pilate sentenced him to death on the cross.

Luke’s gospel is considered the gospel of God’s mercy, and that mercy is shown in Jesus’ attitudes and words. Jesus addressed a group of women weeping for him and consoled them. Then, crucified on the cross, Jesus asked forgiveness for all those who were involved in his killing: “Father, forgive them; they do not know what they are doing.” One of the criminals crucified with him recognised his sin and asked Jesus to remember him. And Jesus assured him of salvation: “Indeed, I promise you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

Then, in a last effort, he “cried out in a loud voice”, saying: “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” Jesus remained faithful to the end, thus overcoming the power of darkness and evil. 

As we follow Jesus’ steps to the Calvary, we are made to realise his great love. 

Being divine, 

“Christ Jesus did not cling

to his equality with God

but emptied himself

to assume the condition of a slave

and became as men are;

and being as all men are,

he was humbler yet,

even to accepting death,

death on a cross.”

Before such a mystery, we remain silent, short of words,

contemplating the tortured face of Christ, who died for us to set us free, reconciling us with God and restoring in us his divine image.

NEITHER DO I CONDEMN YOU

V SUNDAY OF LENT - John 8:1-11

We continuously compare the present with the past and consider the past better than the present. The golden age is always in the past. We hope for better times, but our references are in the past. However, in the Scriptures, we are called to look forward since the golden age will be in the future.

In the first reading, taken from Isaiah 43:16-21, the prophet remembers the past, bringing to mind the crossing of the Red Sea (Sea of Reeds), but then, he turns his mind to the future with the promise that God is going to do more extraordinary wonders for the sake of his people:

“No need to recall the past,

no need to think about what was done before.

See, I am doing a new deed,

even now it comes to light; can you not see it?

Yes, I am making a road in the wilderness,

paths in the wilds.”

Christians live in the hope that the Lord Jesus Christ will bring salvation to completion. Many times, we live trapped in our past, which pulls us down, destroying any hope of renewal and redemption. The encounter with Christ fills us with light, dispelling the darkness of our hearts and giving us a path to the future. In his youth, Paul was filled with a zeal for God so strong that it left him blind and unable to discover God’s presence and action beyond his narrow mind. His heart became full of anger and hatred, leading him to persecute innocent people in the name of God. The deep experience of the encounter with God transformed him and allowed him to look upon new horizons. In the letter to the Philippians, Paul speaks of his experience, which marked him forever.

For Christ, “I have accepted the loss of everything, and I look on everything as so much rubbish if only I can have Christ and be given a place in him.” The love of Christ became the only motivation of his life. “I believe nothing can happen that will outweigh the supreme advantage of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.” (Phil 3:8-14).

In this Sunday’s gospel, we have another instance of redemption and salvation. The encounter with Christ sets the woman free not only from the ones who want to stone her to death but also from her sinful past. God shows forth his justice through his mercy, while human beings pretend to exercise justice through revenge and punishment.

In the episode of the woman caught in adultery, Jesus unmasked the hypocrisy of her accusers., saving her from stoning. Due to Jesus’ intervention, the woman was not condemned. Then, Jesus told her: “‘Neither do I condemn you. Go away, and do not sin any more.”

“For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” (Jn 3:17)

Jesus reveals to us God’s mercifulness and love.