The first reading tells us that death is not God’s plan for us because we are created for life and death is of Satan. Death came as a result of Satan’s envy and if we live truly and in God’s love even if we die physical we will have abundant life in Jesus spiritually. In the second reading, Paul encourages the Corinthians to imitate the generosity of Jesus in their own way of life.

In the first reading we see God speaking through the storm as a way to point to us that He is the Lord of all creation including the storms of the sea and storms of life that threaten our peace. Thus, the book of Job says, “The Lord addressed Job out of the storm and said, who shut within doors the sea, when it burst forth from the womb” “when I made the clouds its garment and thick darkness its swaddling bands, when I set limits for it.” In most parts of the book of Job, there was dialogue between Job and his friends on why innocent and good people like Job suffer and God keeps silent at such situations. Today’s passage presents us with the response of God to Job and his friends and questions where they were when He created the world. God’s response is a direct way of telling us that whatever is in the world is in His hands and the works of His hands which explains why He could speak through the clouds.

The first reading from the prophet Ezekiel tells of the promise of God to restore His chosen people Israel after the Babylonia exile. He says, “I too, will take from the crest of cedar, from its topmost branches tear off a tender shoot, and plant it on a high and lofty mountain on a mountain heights of Israel I will plant it.” The Babylonian exiles are like tender shoot after their exiles experience, God promised that He Himself would place them on a height where birds of every kind shall dwell beneath it. God is saying even though they had disobeyed Me by their actions and lack of faithfulness He would still restore them to a better position and not just bring them back but put them up to a higher level. In the same way, we may lose our way due to our unfaithfulness to God’s love but the moment we finally find our way back to God He restores us and places us in a high place beyond our own imagination. It is equally a way of encouraging us never to give up even when we feel we have lost our bearing. God would always restore us to a high mountain.

The feast of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ called the Corpus Christi was introduced into the Church’s calendar in 1264 following the vision of an Augustinian nun Juliana of Liège.

Today the Church celebrates the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity. The Solemnity simply means that there are three persons in One God. That is to say, God is One and Three at the same time. It is a mystery and that is why it is called the mystery of the Trinity. A mystery does not mean something we cannot understand or does not have any clue about it, but something we cannot fully grasp completely with our own limited human mind. Mystery is part of our religion and in fact, every authentic religion has elements of mystery in it. Jesus revealed to His disciples the great mystery of our faith; the triune nature of God in three person and the inseparable union of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Jesus’ mission is to reveal the glory of God to us, God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit and to unite us with God in a community of unbreakable unity and everlasting love. The ultimate end, the purpose for which God created us, is the entry of God’s sons and daughters into perfect unity of the blessed Trinity.

Today 50 days after Easter Sunday the Church celebrates the great feast of Pentecost the day the Apostles received power from above and were filled with the grace of the Holy Spirit. It is on this day that the church came into existence. Before the coming of the Holy Spirit on the apostles they were all in one room for fear of the Jews, not knowing what would befall them and thus they could not go out. However, with the coming of the Holy Spirit upon them they were empowered and they went out with courage and started proclaiming the great news of salvation. That is why my dear friends that the Holy Spirit is the wonder worker. When we become aware of His power in us, we are empowered to work wonders.

Peter in the first reading of today addresses the crowd on the need to find a replacement for Judas who according to Peter “was a guide for those who arrested Jesus”. He was among us and was allotted a share in this ministry, for it is written in the book of Psalms ‘may another take his office.’ Judas was one of the chosen, but betrayed his master by selling Him to the Jews. It is important for us to ask some personal question, what can make us betray our master? One of the weak points of Judas that the Jews exploited was his greed and his excessive love for money. When that was offered to him it became easy for him to fall. What can be a bait that can make us betray ourselves, and betray our faith in Jesus and our Lord. Just like Judas was called and chosen so are we also called and chosen to be an apostle. When we pay less attention to our Master we may lose our position and betray Jesus as Judas did.

In the first reading from the Acts of the Apostles Peter proclaims that God shows no partiality “Rather in every nation whoever fears Him and acts uprightly is acceptable to Him.” This is because God is love and shows His love to everyone no matter your circumstance or state of life. He shows His love to everyone no matter where you are or where you come from. Thus, anyone who opens himself or herself to Him will experience the depth of His love. The only obstacle to witnessing God’s love in our lives is when we close ourselves to His love. This can happen when we fail to believe in Him, obey Him or keep His commandments, but even at that He still loves each one of us in an amazing way. The theme of God’s love also is seen in the second reading, “everyone who loves is begotten by God for God is love”. Then, in the Gospel Jesus says, “As the Father has loved Me, so I have loved you, and remain in My love; abide in My love. If you keep my commandments you will abide in My love. Just as I have kept my Father’s commandment and abide in His love.”

The first reading of today presents us with the personality of Paul who, in spite of all the difficulties, challenges, misunderstanding and suspicion preserved the union with Christ and with the community of his disciples. It is a call to each and every one of us to preserve the unity of our Christian faith despite the challenges we may face in bearing the name of Christ. St John in his first letter underscores a very important point that our faith in Christ is shown by works of love. This ensures the possession of the life of God’s Spirit in us. In the Gospel, John tells us that we can produce works that are the fruit of the Spirit only if we remain and abide in Jesus.

Today is Good Shepherd Sunday and the day we also pray for vocations to the priesthood and religious life. The opening sentence in today’s gospel passage is very comforting. Jesus says “I am the Good Shepherd. A good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep. The image of the good shepherd manifests the various aspect of the person of Jesus. In this image we see a fierce protector who, at the cost of his own life, stands up to anybody who threatens his flock. The description of the good shepherd laying down his life for his sheep alludes to the servant offering his life as a sacrifice. This is what Jesus is for all of us as He gives His life for us. He fights for us and saves us from any kind of harm that threatens our life and makes life unbearable for us. He gives His life in exchange for our lives.

We are still celebrating the resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ by which He conquered the power of shame, injustice, evil, lies, darkness, death and sin and taken the victory. In His name mighty deeds are done because there is power in the risen Christ, this is what Peter in the first reading exhorts the crowd who were amazed at the miracle Peter and the apostles did in the name of the Christ by healing a crippled beggar. He takes them through the Old Testament and explains to them how God has glorified his servant Jesus whom He caused to rise from the dead. He proclaims that they are witnesses to these great works of God that is they who give the testimony of His rising from the dead and believe in it. We as Christ followers should also believe in it and give the testimony of our own faith in the Risen Christ. As Easter people we have also received the power to conquer the power of evil, despair, sin and darkness in our own lives.

The second reading John explains to us that Jesus is the advocate who is the expiatioREAD MORE

What a wonderful joy fills us today as we ponder the inexhaustible mercy of God. “Mercy is the heart of God,” Pope Francis tells us. The image of a heart has been used to point to the very life source of a person as it is the organ that allows life to flow through our veins and sustain us. Mercy is the heart of God. Imagine this dynamic, powerful, compassionate, piercing, embracing, loving, propelling, penetrating, absorbing, and enveloping, transforming presence of God flowing into the very depth of our souls. It is God’s mercy that allows blood to flow through our veins. It is God’s mercy that forms every atom of our being and leads us to what is true. God’s mercy reveals all superficiality and falsehood, and lays bare all distortions, empty promises, weakness, and sin.

Today we celebrate the greatest solemnity of our Faith. The foundation on which our hope and faith as Christians stand. We celebrate and rejoice that Our Lord Jesus Christ has risen from the dead. By rising from the dead He has defeated the power of death, Satan, evil forces, falsehood, and injustice and took the Glory. God made Him to rise from dead to prove that He has power over life and death. As Paul would say, “if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and our faith is in vain” (1 Cor 15:14-15). But because Christ has been raised we have hope and our faith is credible and that is what we celebrate. That is the reason we shout Alleluia! Alleluia! Indeed the Lord has truly risen.