Easter Sunday

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Sunday, 28 April 2013 : 5th Sunday of Easter (Scripture Reflection)

God is love, this is the fundamental and the most basic nature of our Lord and God, my dear brothers and sisters. For love is the centre of being of our God, for His love is infinite, and in His infinite and boundless love, He willingly sacrificed Himself that all of us, unworthy and sinful mankind, may be saved from the eternal separation from Himself.

It may not be easy to see God in our daily lives today, since God is no longer walking among us, just as He did at the time of the disciples, to whom He appeared often after His resurrection. But do we then abandon God in the search of something more tangible, for something more real? That is why many of the faithful in Christ had lapsed in their faith in God, simply because they had been allured by the evil one and his myriad tools that he used to lure mankind away from God.

There are many means that the devil had used in his attempts to corrupt mankind, by offering many seemingly better alternatives to God, whom he tried to portray to many as being boring and inexistent. Instead, men loves his creations, that of worldly goods, wealth, affluence, and other false idols, solely aimed at the separation of men from God, and the ruination of Christ’ salvific mission in this world.

But Satan will never succeed, for God will ultimately triumph, and despite all the plots and the devices that Satan had used in his attempts to deceive mankind, God’s love and faith in us will be a key weapon in the fight against the devil and his fallen angels, who ceaselessly tried to divert us from the true path towards the Lord.

There are indeed many false gods and idols that our world offer us all today, my brothers and sisters, most obvious of which is money and material possessions, which many of us desire to the point of worshipping them instead of God, to whom only all honour and glory should go. Many of us are so embroiled and involved in our pursuit for success and wealth, that we forgot that the Lord is always with us. We enjoy the company of money and material goods more than we do for the Lord.

How many of us find it a great chore to just go and attend the Sunday Mass to worship our Lord? and how many of us then spend so much time in our career and our work, and in the attempt to secure more pay and more money? And even worse are those who employ underhanded and illegal means to secure these wealth and possessions, that is through corruption and nepotism, which had marred many of our high ranking politicians, businessmen, and many other people, and do not be mistaken that this happens only on the top, since corruption and all these vices also exist in the bottom rung of the society, with many of us seduced by the allure of money, and became obsessed in attaining more of it, that we forget the Lord and His love.

The Lord Himself had said, that we should not worry about our lives and what we are to have in our daily lives, since God Himself will provide all that we need, just like how He provided for the animals and other beings that He had created. For mankind, especially, there had been a blurring of distinctions between what we want, and what we truly need for our lives. Too often we seek something that we do not actually need, but out of our insatiable desire for things that we want to have.

Dear brothers and sisters, let us take a step back from our mindless pursuits of wealth, affluence, fame, and material possessions. Seek not what can bring us glory in this world, but seek for the true glory in heaven instead. How to do so? By loving one another as the Lord has loved us, just as He had commanded the apostles to do so. Love is the core tenet of our faith, since our very salvation is anchored on the great and infinite love that God has for us, that He wanted to endure death for our sake, that we may live.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, let us strive to love one another ever greater, and put love manifested in all our words, our thoughts, and our actions, that whenever we do something, or say something, or think of something, love will always form the core of our speech, our decisions, and our actions. Remember that God is love, and by doing so, we have already obeyed God’s will and commandments, allowing even others to see our actions and believe in the Lord, saving more people for Christ who died for them.

Let us pray, that we can be ever more loving and more compassionate in our society, helping those who are weakest and the least there, and reaching out to all in need, both physically and spiritually, that God’s love will be made manifest in this world, through us, and through our actions. May God bless all of us. Amen.

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Sunday, 28 April 2013 : 5th Sunday of Easter (Gospel Reading)

John 13 : 31-33a, 34-35

When Judas had gone out, Jesus said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in Him. God will glorify Him, and He will glorify Him very soon.”

“My children, I am with you for only a little while. Now I give you a new commandment : ‘Love one another! Just as I have loved you, you also must love one another.’ By this everyone will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

 

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Sunday, 28 April 2013 : 5th Sunday of Easter (Second Reading)

Revelation 21 : 1-5a

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth. The first heaven and the first earth had passed away and no longer was there any sea. I saw the new Jerusalem, the holy city coming down from God, out of heaven, adorned as a bride prepared for her husband. A loud voice came from the throne, “Here is the dwelling of God among mortals : ‘He will pitch His tent among them and they will be His people,’ He will be God-with-them.”

“‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes.’ There shall be no more death or mourning, crying out or pain, for the world that was has passed away.” The One seated on the throne said, “See, I make all things new.”

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Sunday, 28 April 2013 : 5th Sunday of Easter (Psalm)

Psalm 144 : 8-9, 10-11, 12-13ab

Compassionate and gracious is the Lord, slow to anger and abounding in love. The Lord is good to everyone; His mercy embraces all His creation.

All Your works will give You thanks; all Your saints, o Lord, will praise You. They will tell of the glory of Your kingdom and speak of Your power.

That all may know of Your mighty deeds, Your reign and its glorious splendour. Your reign is from age to age.

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Sunday, 28 April 2013 : 5th Sunday of Easter (First Reading)

Acts 14 : 21b-27

The apostles returned to Lystra and Iconium, and on to Antioch. They were strengthening the disciples and encouraging them to remain firm in the faith, for they said, “We must go through many trials to enter the Kingdom of God.”

In each church they appointed elders and, after praying and fasting, they commended them to the Lord in whom they had placed their faith. Then they travelled through Pisidia, and came to Pamphylia. They preached the Word in Perga and went down to Attalia. From there, they sailed back to Antioch, where they had first been commended to God’s grace for the task they had now completed.

On their arrival they gathered the Church together and told them all that God had done through them and how he had opened the door of faith to the non-Jews.

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Sunday, 21 April 2013 : 4th Sunday of Easter, Good Shepherd Sunday, World Day of Prayer for Vocations (50th Anniversary) (Scripture Reflection)

It is always sad when we hear about those who reject the Lord, and who refused to believe in God and His message through Christ our Lord, who had died on the cross and risen, and had shown Himself to many of the faithful, that many would have hope of eternal life in God. That was exactly what happened during the mission of St. Paul to the faithful in the pagan lands of Antioch and beyond, when the Jews, blinded in their hatred and jealousy, spread falsehood and lies in rejection of the Lord.

God is our Lord, and He is our shepherd, the Good Shepherd, who laid down His life for His sheep. He died on the cross, as our shepherd, that we, who are His sheep, may gain life through Him, and that the wolves, led by Satan, would not be able to attack us and snatch us from His hands. He as our shepherd gave Himself in sacrifice to the hands of the agents of Satan, so that we would be safe and would live.

As Christ had said to the disciples and to the people in His teaching, that His sheep would know Him, just like the sheep knows the true shepherd, and not those paid to be shepherds or the thief, He said that to show that all of us who truly believe in Him and those who belong to Him would recognise Him as their shepherd, their Lord, and God.

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, in our world today, there are many false shepherds who would want to deceive the faithful and lead the sheep of the Lord away from the true path and pasture of the Lord. There are many temptations and evil in this world, that shake even faithful shepherds that the Lord had chosen for His sheep, His people. Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, be careful, that we will not fall into the trap of Satan that he sprang through his false agents and prophets, proclaiming falsehood instead of truth.

Today, we mark the World Day of Prayer for Vocations, and it is indeed appropriate, for the Fourth Sunday of Easter is also Good Shepherd Sunday, and priests, who we pray for today, and those aspiring to the priesthood and service of the Lord had been chosen by the Lord as shepherds for His people. Today happened to be the fiftieth anniversary of this prayer day, which was promulgated in 1963, during the Second Vatican Council.

Sadly, in recent decades, we saw the vocations to the priesthood in rapid decline, and the number of priests often no longer sufficient to serve all the needs of the faithful as it was in the past. Imagine a large flock of sheep with a single, poor shepherd to herd all of them and guide them! It is not an impossible task for them to do, but certainly many of our priests are burdened with ever greater task, both to administer to the growing number of the faithful in Christ, and on the other side, to combat the rising secularism and evils in our world today.

We need more good, holy, faithful, and dedicated priests to harvest the good harvest of the Lord, which had been bountiful in the wake of the evangelisation attempts of the past decades, especially in Asia and Africa, where our Church is rapidly growing, and with more and more people turning towards the Lord. The harvest is indeed plentiful, but the labourers are few. But the laity too can play a part in providing support to our shepherd priests in various ways and means available to us.

Parents should cultivate good faith and morale in their children, that they will grow up to be good and devoted children of God. Then in the future, these children will become good husbands and wives, caring for one another in love, and for their children. And if God wills it, some of those would be called to serve Him and the people of God either through the sacred priesthood or religious life.

We who are parents should be happy if one of our children are chosen by God to be His shepherds to guide His flock. The community too should provide care and support, ensuring that the children would grow up in a fertile soil for their faith, that would allow them later to be dedicated, faithful, and obedient shepherd of the flock of the Lord. Do not be judgmental and prevent your children from choosing the path of vocation, as if it is the Lord’s will that this happens, you will be against God yourself.

Many of us are too fixated with achievements in life, and therefore, placed too much emphasis on results and material possessions. This is one very major reason, especially in Asia, why many parents oppose, either openly or discreetly, on their children’s decisions to dedicate themselves to God. We are too fixated on the idea of our children’s success, which we often attribute to wealth and possessions, and affluence, to the point that we often dismiss priesthood as a ‘career’ that has no prospect, and therefore is not for our children to take.

There was a story of a young man who was rejected from entering the seminary, just because the decision to enter the seminary was not his own, but his own parents’, who decided that because he was rather ‘useless’ in life and unable to achieve anything of good, he should be entering the seminary and become a priest instead. While this may not be true anymore today, but I am sure, many of us whose children are aspirants to the priesthood and religious life are reluctant to ‘let them go’ because of reasons similar to the one mentioned.

Our priests and those who serve the Lord must be of good quality, well prepared and trained, and also having a good intellect and knowledge, both of the faith and the vocation which he is about to embark into, but most importantly, they must be dedicated, loving, and faithful, to God, and to His children to whom they are about to give themselves entirely to, as the bride of the Church of God.

Therefore, dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today, as we commemorate this Good Shepherd Sunday, and the fiftieth anniversary of the World Day of Prayer for Vocations, let us take a step back and reflect, that many of us are called to serve the Lord, in various ways, some of us as laity, and others as priests and servants of the Lord, through the Church.

Let us not say no to the Lord, and let us not close our hearts and our minds to His calling. Let us open ourselves fully to God’s love, and allow Him to lead us in our path, that we will be able to maximise the life that we had been granted, that in this life, we would be able to improve the life of others, through prayer and service, and through dedication into works of love, for the sake of our most beloved brethren.

Pray for one another, and pray for more vocations in the Church, pray for more good and holy priests to serve the Lord and His people, and never cease to continue our own roles and works in helping one another, physically and spiritually. When we see a growing vocation, let us support instead of chastising or badmouthing the person to the point that such a potential be wasted. Trust in the Lord, and do not worry, for God will take care of everything. He is our shepherd, and He cares for us. He will not leave us hungry nor thirsty, because by His death and resurrection, He gave us an eternal spring and bread of life. Amen.

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Sunday, 21 April 2013 : 4th Sunday of Easter, Good Shepherd Sunday, World Day of Prayer for Vocations (50th Anniversary) (Gospel Reading)

John 10 : 27-30

My sheep hear My voice and I know them; they follow Me and I give them eternal life. They shall never perish , and no one will ever steal them from Me. What the Father has given Me is above everything else, and no one can snatch it from out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are One.

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Sunday, 21 April 2013 : 4th Sunday of Easter, Good Shepherd Sunday, World Day of Prayer for Vocations (50th Anniversary) (Second Reading)

Revelation 7 : 9, 14b-17

After this I saw a great crowd, impossible to count, from every nation, race, people, and tongue, standing before the throne and the Lamb, clothed in white, with palm branches in their hands.

They are those who have come out of the great persecution; they have washed and made their clothes white in the blood of the Lamb. This is why they stand before the throne of God and serve Him day and night in His sanctuary. He who sits on the throne will spread His tent over them.

Never again will they suffer hunger or thirst or be burned by the sun or any scorching wind. For the Lamb near the throne will be their Shepherd, and He will bring them to springs of life-giving water, and God will wipe away their tears.”

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Sunday, 21 April 2013 : 4th Sunday of Easter, Good Shepherd Sunday, World Day of Prayer for Vocations (50th Anniversary) (Psalm)

Psalm 99 : 2, 3, 5

Serve the Lord with gladness; come before Him with joyful songs.

Know that the Lord is God; He created us and we are His people, the sheep of His fold.

For the Lord is good; His love lasts forever and His faithfulness through all generations.

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Sunday, 21 April 2013 : 4th Sunday of Easter, Good Shepherd Sunday, World Day of Prayer for Vocations (50th Anniversary) (First Reading)

Acts 13 : 14, 43-52

While they went on from Perga and came to Antioch in Pisidia. On the Sabbath day they entered the synagogue and sat down. After that, when the assembly broke up, many Jews and devout God-fearing people followed them and to these they spoke, urging them to hold fast to the grace of God.

The following Sabbath almost the entire city gathered to listen to Paul, who spoke a fairly long time about the Lord. But the presence of such a crowd made the Jews jealous. So they began to oppose with insults whatever Paul said.

Then Paul and Barnabas spoke out firmly, saying, “It was necessary that God’s word be first proclaimed to you, but since you now reject it and judge yourself to be unworthy of eternal life, we turn to non-Jewish people. For thus we were commanded by the Lord : ‘I have set you as a light to the pagan nations, so that you may bring My salvation to the ends of the earth.’

Those who were not Jews rejoiced when they heard this and praised the message of the Lord, and all those destined for everlasting life believed in it. Thus the Word spread throughout the whole region.

Some of the Jews, however, incited God-fearing women of the upper class and the leading men of the city, as well, and stirred up an intense persecution against Paul and Barnabas. Finally they had them expelled from their region.

The apostles shook the dust from their feet in protest against this people and went to Iconium, leaving the disciples filled with joy and Holy Spirit.