A story was told of a child who was very calm in a flight in the midst of very severe turbulence, while other passengers on board panicked, screamed and prayed. When everything returned to normalcy the kid was asked why he remained calm as the turbulence raged, he simply replied “Because my father is the pilot, so I know that everything will be fine”. If this child could have such confidence in his father, with his limited human abilities, how much more confidence ought we to be in God our Almighty and All-knowing father?

The popular 19th century hymn by J. Oatman of New Jersey, Count your blessings exhorts us to count our blessings in times of serious troubles. The refrain of this song ends thus: Count your blessings, name them one by one, count your many blessings see what God has done. A modified version of it ends with …and it will surprise you what the Lord has done. Also the Archangel Raphael taught us that it is right to keep the secret of the king but a duty to reveal and publicize the deeds of God, and to thank him honorably (Tobit 12:7,11). The reason behind these admonitions is that when we feed our minds with memories of the past great deeds of the Lord, we become emboldened to believe what God can still do in our current situation. Such testimonies give vital force to our faith, dispel our fears and doubts, and strengthen our hope. Above all, they show us the color of God’s love.

Today, we celebrate the real presence of Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist. We celebrate Christ’s great gift of himself to abide with us forever. The sacred body and blood of Christ is our viaticum (our companion for the journey). The Lord feeds us with heavenly food to strengthen us in our pilgrimage to the kingdom of God. It is the assurance of life eternal for Jesus says “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life and I will raise him up on the last day” (Jn 6:54). His flesh is indeed real food (Jn 6:55).

In the collect for this mass we pray, “God the Father, who by sending into the world, the Word of truth and the Spirit of Sanctification, made known to the human race your wondrous mystery…” This prayer points to us the truth that what we know about God is only what He reveals to us about Himself and the highest point of this divine self-revelation is the incarnation of Jesus Christ. The invisible God became visible in time and walked with us on earth. This revelation is further consolidated in the sending of the Holy Spirit.

Dear friends, it is Pentecost!

This is the great day when the Church became catholic, which means, a universal sacrament of salvation for all people, nations, languages and cultures. We are re-enacting this universality via our multi-cultural celebration today to show that all cultures, tribes and peoples are taken up in an embrace of the divine human salvific encounter.

As the time for his departure from the world draws near, Jesus rounds off his instruction to his disciples. His attention turns towards the welfare of the disciples whom he will be leaving behind for the continued propagation of the good news of salvation. They have learned to depend on him in all difficult situations, but now, he must go to suffer and return to the Father. Hence, his concern about their survival in the trials that were about to visit them when he will not be physically there to guide. Jesus undertakes a long reassuring parting address promising not to leave them as orphans but to send them the Holy Spirit (John 14:16 -18). He concludes his discourse with a long priestly prayer to his father on their behalf (John 17).

The first reading of today’s liturgy, taken from the Acts of Apostles, tells us how Philip took the gospel message to Samaria and proclaimed the Christ to them and the people welcomed the message. In the second reading, Peter encourages us never to give up our faith due to the persecution and challenges we may encounter since Jesus first suffered for us and left us an example to follow. In the Gospel Jesus said to his disciples; “If you love me, you will keep my commandment.”

In the first reading, the disciples dealt with the issue of injustice and marginalization by choosing men filled with the Holy Spirit to do the ministry of service. Peter, in the second reading, encourages us to draw close to God so that we can be living stones built into a spiritual temple. Jesus tells us in the gospel that He is the way, the truth and the life. St. Peter’s call, in the second reading, is very imperative and profound to us today as it was for the first Christians. We are called to be Saints which means that our Christian vocation is a call to take our place in heaven when our earthly life is ended. We seem to know this but for far too many of us, it is more a subconscious than a conscious thought in our daily lives. While doing the same daily tasks, we waste precious months and sometimes years in which we could be storing up treasures in heaven, because we forget God and the purpose of our Christian vocation.

A profound message in today’s first reading is the reaction of the people after listening to Peter’s speech. The author of the “Acts of the Apostles” says that “they were cut to the heart” and they asked the question “what are we to do.” To be cut to the heart means that the words spoken made a deep impact on their lives. They listened with an open mind and their hearts burning with a great desire to make a change. “God’s words are spirit, and they are alive” and when one opens his heart to God’s word it provokes a response of change of heart.

Peter, in the first reading of today, stood up and proclaimed to the Jews how they used lawless men to condemn and crucify Jesus whom God commended to them, a man filled with mighty deeds and powers. He put it to them that they know how Jesus worked miracles in their midst and did many wonders but even though they killed Him out of wickedness that God raised Him up on the last day. The speech of Peter, in this first reading, testifies to the power of the risen Lord. This is the same Peter who could not stand before a teenage girl now speaks directly to the leaders of the religious authority, even blaming them for killing Jesus to their faces with boldness. What it means is that the power of the risen Lord had transformed him in such a way that he speaks boldly without fear. When we allow the risen Lord to transform our lives we have nothing to fear because having conquered death; there is nothing more to worry about. As we celebrate this power of the risen Lord let us recognize that His power transforms situations, events and lives that He touches.

Today is the Second Sunday of Easter as we celebrate Divine Mercy Sunday instituted by Saint John Paul II in the year 2000. On the institution of Divine Mercy Sunday, he said, “there is nothing that man needs more than Divine mercy. Apart from the mercy of God there is no other source of hope for mankind.” Today, our world needs God’s mercy more than anything else. We need God’s mercy as the world battles with all kinds of political crisis, injustice especially in the war going on in Ukraine. We pray for the Mercy of God to come down like rain from heaven to bring an end to this war and many other countries where there are crises. We pray for God’s mercy on many families who have lost their loved ones in this war in Ukraine. Many people have been displaced and forced to leave their home; we pray that the mercy of God would bring consolation to them. We cannot forget the military who have been over stretched as result of this war that they may be encouraged.

Today we celebrate the greatest solemnity of our Faith, the foundation on which our hope and faith as Christians stands. 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 claimed the Glory. God made Him to rise from the 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.” (1Cor 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.

The passion narrative gives us an insight of what Jesus suffered for us, especially the love He has for us that made Him endure all the insults and humiliation for our sake. Today’s liturgy does not require a long homily but allows the events of the passion story to speak directly to us in the silence of our heart. Our meditation is on Jesus’ suffering and death for our sake. He gave Himself completely to us by His preaching, miracles and healing and sacrificing Himself humbly on the cross.