Message for the Sixth Sunday of Easter

Dear friends,

                     We are still in the most joyful season of Easter.  We have celebrated  and will be celebrating all thorough the  Liturgical  year the Easter mystery of  Joy.  Since we  did not have any celebration together  with the parishioners of ‘The Church of the Assumption and St. Pius X  Church,  we have planned to have it on Saturday May 28th. The first and the most important purpose is to come together as one body in Christ and show our love. There will be picnic for  all of us with games and  many other activities from 1:00 p.m. to 5.00 p.m. Then we will go to the church for the Thanksgiving Mass followed by  Dinner.  May 29^th happens to be my 34^th Ordination Anniversary,  May 27^th being the last day of  the school year. Hence we celebrate. This is what Jesus desires, “that they all may be one, as you Father and I are one."

                    The first reading from the Acts of the Apostles 8:5-8, 14-17 encourages this type of union. We can see as the Apostles proclaimed the Risen Christ with great Joy,  prayed  together and all received the Holy Spirit. “...they had only been Baptized  in the name of the Lord Jesus.  Then they laid hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit.” This is how  we can come together and be united.

                      The second reading taken from the first letter of St. Peter 3:15-18  gives us the opportunity to sanctify the Lord in our hearts by being ready to give explanation to anyone who asks us for a reason for our hope. St. Peter says, “Sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts.”  He goes on, “For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that be the will of God, than for doing evil.” This goes to say first of all that we can sanctify the mystical body of Christ by becoming the worthy parts of it, by having Jesus in your hearts. It also has one necessary point that  our innocent suffering, if it is according  to God’s will,  it will also unite us with Jesus Christ and  with one another.

                   Through the Holy Gospel according to St. John 14:15-21 we have the most consoling promise from Jesus, “I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you. In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me, because I live and you will live.  On that day you will realize that I am in my Father and you are in me and I in you.”

Let us celebrate this most joyful season of Easter by uniting ourselves with Jesus by uniting ourselves with all our family members, friends, neighbors and even the enemies.     

Message for the Fifth Sunday in Easter

Dear friends,

                      As we are still in the most joyful season of Easter and traveling toward  and waiting for the coming of the Holy Spirit, Jesus is expressing his strong desire  for us, “Where I am, you also may be." Should  it not be our final desire? Out of gratitude to Jesus that he is expressing what we most desire, let us learn how to get where Jesus is with the Word which is revealed to us today.

                      The first reading from the Acts of the Apostle 6:1-7  tells us, “so they chose  Stephen, a man filled with faith and the Holy Spirit …”  This indicates to us that Stephen and six others who were chosen were  men filled with faith and the Holy Spirit.  If we want to be where Jesus is, we need to be men filled with faith and Holy Spirit. 

                    In the first letter of St. Peter 2:4-9  we are invited to go through three steps. The first is to “Come to him, a living stone." Stone, Rock or Petros is an indication by Jesus for the strong faith. The first stage Peter is inviting us is to a strong faith. The second stage is “ to be a holy priesthood.” Our community is a priestly community in comparison with the other communities. "A people set apart." As Jesus the Eternal Priest became the lamb of sacrifice, the  victim, so also the Christian community must become the lamb of sacrifice. We must suffer for each other in the family and the community at large. The third stage is “so that you may announce His praises.” This can take place by itself if we strictly follow the first two steps well namely,  in order to praise God,  if we posses  a faith as strong as stone, Rock and if we are ready to suffer, we can praise God in action and thus  ‘we can reach where Jesus is !’

                    In the Holy Gospel according to St. John 14:1-12  Jesus repeats what St. Peter is preaching, “You have faith in God;  have faith also in me (Jesus).”  As Jesus goes on with His discourse,  He also says, “Amen , amen, I say to you, whoever believes in me will do the works that I do, and will do greater ones than these, because I am going to the Father.” This also indicates that if Jesus expresses, ‘where I am you also may be’ he gives us an ability even to bring others where Jesus is. What we need is faith. 

Let us wish and pray that where Jesus is, all of us may also be.

Message for the Fourth Sunday of Easter

Jesus, the Eternal Word. The Good Shepherd. The Gate.

Dear friends,

                      Last Tuesday I visited Eternal World Television Network with my sister Mary, brother-in-law Joseph, together with our parishioner Jaime O’Rourke.  I concelebrated with  Fr. Mitch Pacwa in the 7.00 a.m. Holy Mass. It is broadcasted all over the world through an antenna called Gabriel. As soon as I came out of the  chapel at the studio and put on my cell phone, I found to my pleasant surprise that there were  four  messages indicating, "we saw you." The  persons who had  left voice messages were: the first  from Bombay, India, my niece Joyce Sequira; the second  Penny Abruzzi  from Long Island, New York; the third Mary Ray from St. Rose Parish, Murfreesboro; and the fourth Robert Brady from our Assumption Parish.

 Each one of them said, "I saw you on EWTN." I read something between the lines. They and many others all over the world watch and listen to the Eternal Word Television. They are able to get the message, the ‘Good News’  every day through this most powerful and modern media of communication.

                This weekend The Eternal Word, the church passes on to us  is Jesus is the good Shepherd, Jesus is the Gate of the sheepfold. The first reading taken from the Acts of the Apostles 2:14,36-41 telling us, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit."  Does it not say that to receive the Eternal Word, one needs to repent and be baptized?

            The second reading from the first letter of St. Peter 2:20-25 gives us a sure confirmation of receiving the Eternal Word by saying, “If you are patient when you suffer for doing what is good, this is a grace before God.”  Yes, is something that confirms our reception of the Eternal Word, i.e. the Lord Jesus Christ.

                  Finally Jesus himself in today’s Holy Gospel according to John 10:1-10 tells us, "...I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly.” This is that Eternal Word, The Good Shepherd, The Gate. It is not a thing but a person. His name is The Lord Jesus Christ.

                We are necessary part, necessary media to spread  this Eternal Word. The right process of spreading the Eternal Word  is:

        1)Repent and be baptized.

        2)Be patient when you suffer.

        3)Use Jesus as the Gate, make Him your Good Shepherd.

Message for the Third Sunday of Easter

Dear friends,

                     After going through the grace filled season of Lent, the Holy Week, the most joyous feast Easter, the Diving Mercy Sunday celebration and as we are still in the joyful season of Easter, as  we had and are going to have the May Crowning to mark the month of May devotion to honor Our beloved Mother Mary, the best theme we can think of and  meditate upon is, ‘The  Experience of the Risen Lord’. The experience the disciples had on their way to Emmaus and many others at many different places. The experience and the recognition of the Risen Lord simply means I have seen the Risen Lord, He spoke to me.  I have experienced the Risen Lord. I am rejoicing.

                    The first reading from the Acts of the Apostles 2:14, 22-33  is a powerful speech of  St. Peter. He quotes David. David says of Jesus, “I saw the Lord ever before me, with him at my right hand I shall not be disturbed. Therefore my heart has been glad and my tongue has exulted; my flesh, too, will dwell in hope, because you will not abandon my soul to the netherworld, nor will you suffer your holy one to see corruption. You have made known to me the paths of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence.” What Peter is trying to tell us is David foresaw and spoke of the Resurrection of Christ. What an experience?

                     The first letter of Peter 1:17-21 says, “If you invoke the Father as Father ……………… He will bless you with the precious blood of Christ as of a spotless unblemished lamp.” As part of experience of the Risen Lord Peter goes on, “He was known before the foundation of the world but revealed in the final time for you, who through him believe in God who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.” Here once again Peter is advising us to have our faith and hope in God which will give us the experience of the Risen Lord.

                 The Holy Gospel, Luke 24:13-35 is one of the most dramatic descriptions of the experience of the Risen Lord when they said, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he spoke to us on the way and opened the Scriptures to us ?”

Shall we work on having ‘The Experience of the Risen Lord’ with faith and hope ?