Holy Spirit

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Wednesday, 3 April 2013 : Wednesday of the Easter Octave (Scripture Reflection)

Christ is risen and He lives! Yes, dear brothers and sisters in Christ, as we all know, this Easter season, we celebrate Christ who is not dead, and who does not suffer the penalty of death in hell, but who rose in glory, that through Him all mankind may have hope of eternal life through His resurrection.

Yet, many of us are like the disciples on their way to Emmaus, blinded in their spiritual eyes to see God’s presence in their midst, and the doubt that evil had sown in their heart shook their faith, when they knew and saw Christ crucified and died on the cross. Their fear and doubt prevented them from recognising and proclaiming that Christ is alive, and that He is not dead.

Yes, the suffering and death of Christ formed a great part of our faith, where we see the Messiah carrying the cross of sin and suffering that is due to mankind and took it upon Himself that all of us can be saved. It is through the suffering and death of Christ that our death may be averted, not in the sense of the death that will indeed claim us all in the end of our lives, but the eternal death in which we are completely separated from Christ.

This will not happen since Christ did not remain among the dead, for just as God is the God of the living, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who did not stay dead, but arisen again to live forever with Him in heaven, therefore Christ too, as God’s greatest servant, the Son of Man, was arisen in glory, that all who bask in His Resurrection may have hope of eternal life through Him.

Our faith is based upon the centrepiece of Christ’s mission in this world, that is His Resurrection. For without the Resurrection, our faith in Him has no base, for He stayed dead just as others did, but because He returned to life in glory, He became the first to be risen, that we too someday may be risen ourselves with Him.

Jesus is calling upon us to follow Him, and to follow His teachings and examples. He is calling on us to cast away the veil of doubt and fear from our hearts. He came to save us, and saved we are, if we remain firm and strong in our faith in Him. Do not fear, and do not fret, for God is with us, all the times of our life. He is there to share our joy in times of happiness, and to help us bear our burdens in times of sorrow and fear.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, let us pray, that God will strengthen us, in faith, hope, and love, that we will become shining beacon of truth and the love of God in this world. May through our hands, God will do great wonders in our broken and darkened world, to make it anew and bright once again. Amen.

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Tuesday, 2 April 2013 : Tuesday of the Easter Octave (Scripture Reflection)

The Lord Jesus Christ is risen, and He offers to all of us who believe in Him, the gift of the Holy Spirit as St. Peter the Apostle had mentioned. Through Christ, the Holy Spirit descends upon us all. Remember the words of St. John the Baptist at the Jordan, that while he would baptise people with water, the Lord, the Messiah would baptise all with fire and the Holy Spirit. That Messiah is indeed Christ, Risen Lord, our Saviour.

The Lord brought justice to all and He brought salvation to all of us. He is our hope, and He represents the living water, the endless spring through which we can sate our spiritual thirst for God’s love, just as Christ had said to the Samaritan woman. He gave us His Body, the very Precious Body, as our spiritual food too, that just like Elijah, who walked the desert for forty days and nights after receiving the food from the angel, we too can do so in our evangelising mission, and here is a Body and Food greater than that received by Elijah!

Christ was lifted up high between the heavens and the earth on the cross, and this reminds us of the time when Israel walked the desert with Moses, when they rebelled against God and rebelled against His love. God who loves all His children, is also a just God, who hates evil. Thus, He sent the serpents to kill many of the sinful people of Israel, due to their rebellion.

Just as Moses crafted the bronze serpent on the Lord’s instruction, such that when it is lifted up high, all the people who saw it may live, therefore, the same happened, as Christ, whom was lifted up high like the bronze serpent, becomes the new symbol of hope, through whom all mankind who look up towards Him can be saved and gain eternal life.

Through the waters of baptism, we have seen Christ, and we have looked upon Him, and He looked down upon us baptised in Him, that we share with Him now the everlasting life He promised all of us who have faith in Him. But never slacken, as our sight of Christ is often covered by the filth of sin, and by the shaking of our faith.

Just like Mary of Magdalene, who was faithful to our Lord, but whose faith in Him had been shaken by then recent death of Jesus on the cross, that she failed to see that the One speaking to her is none other than Christ Himself, risen from the dead. Therefore, we too can fail to see the Risen Christ, because our faith in Him had been shaken.

Never fear! For the Lord comes to save us all, and if we put our faith firmly in Him, we shall get our heavenly reward in due time. Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, let us strive to put our trust, all of it, in God who is Risen, who died to save us all, and then rise up again to show His triumph against death and sin, that had enslaved us for so long.

Let us be free from the sins and the evils that blind us from seeing the glory of the Risen Christ, and let us pray for one another that all of us will be ever faithful. May God bless us all. Amen.

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Tuesday, 2 April 2013 : Tuesday of the Easter Octave (First Reading)

Acts 2 : 36-41

Let Israel then know for sure that God has made Lord and Christ this Jesus whom you crucified.

When they heard this, they were deeply troubled. And they asked Peter and the other apostles, “What shall we do, brothers?”

Peter answered, “Each of you must repent and be baptised in the Name of Jesus Christ, so that your sins may be forgiven. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise of God was made to you and your children, and to all those from afar whom our God may call.”

With many other words Peter gave the message and appealed to them saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.” So those who accepted His word were baptised; some there thousand persons were added to their number that day.

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(Easter Sunday) Sunday, 31 March 2013 : Easter Sunday of the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, Holy Week, Easter Octave (Scripture Reflection)

Alleluia! The Lord is Risen! He had conquered death through His glorious Resurrection, and victory over death. He triumphed over Satan, who had tried to end His mission on this world by condemning Him to death through the people and crucifying Him, but all to no avail. Satan failed to realise that in crucifixion lay the very key to our redemption by Christ, who became our Paschal Lamb, through whom we are made whole and worthy of God.

Yes, just as the lamb was sacrificed and the blood marked the doorposts of the people of Israel in Egypt, Christ had shed His blood on the cross, and this blood marked all of us as His chosen people, whom He would protect against certain death, and bring into life in Him. For the blood marked the people of Israel apart from their Egyptian masters, so that the angel of the Lord passed over them when they killed the firstborn sons of the Egyptians, animals and humans alike.

Therefore, in Christ, lie our new Christian Passover, for all of us deserved death for our sins and our sinful ways, and through the rebellion of our forefathers, since the days of Adam and Eve, who disobeyed the Lord and ate the fruits of the tree of knowledge. But although we deserved death, God loves us so much that, He could not bear us to face death and separation from Him.

That is why, God sent His only Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who became man like us, and was born in the flesh through Mary, His mother. He is the Lamb of God, that became the Paschal Lamb, that is the lamb of sacrifice for our sins, but not like any other lamb. Being divine, and yet lowering Himself as a human, He alone is worthy to redeem all mankind from their sins. His Precious Blood that flowed down from the cross washed down evil and sin in those who believed in Him, and who has faith in Him and believe in His Resurrection.

Let us firmly reject Satan and his lies, and reject his temptations on us with worldly goods and desires, just as our Lord rejected his approaches in the desert. Remain true to our mission just as Christ was obedient unto death on the cross. That through our faith we will be rewarded with resurrection into life just as Christ was resurrected. Let us renew our commitment to serve the people of God and make the Holy Spirit that God had given us through baptism and confirmation to bear much fruit in both ourselves and in our fellow men.

Let us strive to become truly the people of God in this blessed Easter season. Let us make full use of this season of Easter, both in our great joy in the resurrection of our Lord, and as well as to share this joy that we have, with others around us, that they too will learn of the great joy of all Christians, that is the Lord crucified had been risen from the dead, and through that resurrection, all of us are saved, and had our life restored to us.

Therefore, dear brothers and sisters in Christ, let us keep on praying that God will continue to bless us everyday of our lives, and may He guide us as we embark on the new year after this Easter season, that from today onwards till the next year when we celebrate Easter again, we can make this year a truly fruitful and blessed year. Also in the spirit of the Year of the Faith, let us also strive to strengthen our faith in the remaining half a year of the celebration of this Holy Year.

I wish everyone a happy and blessed Easter, and may the Risen Christ our Lord shine His face upon all of you, to share in the glory of His Resurrection. Amen!

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(Easter Sunday) Sunday, 31 March 2013 : Easter Sunday of the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, Holy Week, Easter Octave (First Reading)

Acts 10 : 34a, 37-43

Peter then spoke to them, “No doubt you have heard of the event that occured throughout the whole country of the Jews, beginning from Galilee, after the baptism John preached. You know how God anointed Jesus the Nazarean with Holy Spirit and power.

He went about doing good and healing all who were under the devil’s power, because God was with Him; we are witnesses of all that He did throughout the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem itself. Yet they put Him to death by hanging Him on a wooden cross.

But God raised Him to life on the third day and let Him manifest Himself, not to all the people, but to the witnesses that were chosen beforehand by God – to us who ate and drank with Him after His resurrection from death. And He commanded us to preach to the people and to bear witness that He is the One appointed by God to judge the living and the dead.

All the prophets say of Him, that everyone who believes in Him has forgiveness of sins through His Name.

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(Easter Vigil) Saturday, 30 March 2013 : Easter Vigil of the Resurrection of the Lord, Holy Week (Scripture Reflection)

Today marks the greatest day in our entire year, and marks the greatest event that there ever was in the history of all mankind and the history of the world. For today, our Lord, who had died for us on the cross, did not stay dead, but was risen by the glory of God to Father in the most glorious Resurrection.

Jesus Christ, our Lord, who is Risen Lord, has harrowed hell in His descent there after His death,  He has liberated souls of sinners imprisoned and enchained by Satan, but having true faith in the Lord, freed from their bonds, and now join our Lord in His glorious Resurrection. Yes, glorious indeed is  His Resurrection. For in His Resurrection, our life are restored, in a new life in Him, just as our past is dead, when Christ died for us on that cross on Calvary.

Jesus Christ, the Risen Lord, had given His life that all of us who shared in His death through baptism, just as St. Paul said in his letter to the Romans, we can also be freed from eternal death in sin, and enter into eternal life and be Resurrected to true life just together with Christ’s resurrection. All of us who had been baptised in Christ, had been marked by Christ, our Lord as His, and His alone. The devil and his snares of sin no longer has any power over us.

Indeed, we who had been baptised, had received the gift of life through our faith in the living God, the resurrected Christ, who triumphed over Satan and death. But we must always stay vigilant, that Satan certainly will not stay silent while his dominions over sinful men are being assailed. He will fight back hard, and all of us must be ready, and must be strong.

As in what we had heard in all the readings we have today, today we hear the story of God’s love and His love for all of us, from the time when He created us and all the earth, through all the tribulations that His people encountered in Egypt, and through His salvation of them through Moses, His servant, and finally through the prophets, and ended in the greatest love and salvation of all that is, the salvation of all mankind through Christ, who died for us, and risen for us, that all of us join Him to once again return to the Father who loves us, and who created us out of His breath of life though we are dust.

So great is God’s love that He laid down His life for us, for His is the only worthy life that when surrendered in death, worth all of our iniquities and faults, that we who believe in Him can be rid of those, and becoming truly perfect in virtue, in our being and our soul, that we are worthy of being one with God, and be in His Presence again.

For when our forefathers rejected God through their rebellion, through Adam and Eve’s disobedience of eating the forbidden fruits of the tree of knowledge, we had been marred, and therefore, we could not stand before God in our imperfections, for God is perfect, and though He loves us so much indeed, no imperfections or iniquities can stand in His presence and survive.

A great chasm had appeared between us and God the Father, our creator. Ever since Adam and Eve were banished from the Gardens of Eden for their disobedience, we have ever since wonder around in this earth, separated from the fullness of God’s love, which Adam and Eve enjoyed in their early life of bliss in Eden before the fall of mankind to sin, and which we are to enjoy again, if we truly believe in Christ, and allow Him to transform us through His death and resurrection, to be purified, and therefore, worthy once again of the fullness of love of our God.

For, just like the slavery of the people of Israel, God’s people in Egypt shows to us, this separation from God is just temporary. For as God sent Moses, His servant to free the people of Israel from their bondage under Pharaoh, so He had sent His only Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, to deliver all of us, not just Israel, God’s first chosen people, but now through Christ, He delivers all of us, His new chosen people, from the bondage under sin and Satan, the evil one.

Just as He split open the Red Sea through Moses, to allow the people of Israel to walk dryshod through the sea, so He also opened the path to Himself, through Christ, to allow us to walk and return to He who loves us. For that great chasm between us and Him is insurmountable and infinite in span, but yet, Christ, our Lord, who gave His life for us, had become that great bridge through His Resurrection, that this bridge, like the dry land of the Red Sea’s seafloor, it allows us to pass through despite the chasm, to return back to our Father in heaven.

Yet, the path would not be easy, and we may fall along the way. Indeed, we had been chosen and marked by Christ through baptism, that we reflect His death and resurrection in ourselves, within our heart, but just as God’s chosen people, the people of Israel had shown, we can fall in our way. We knew it well that Israel often rebelled against the Lord, beginning from when they had been brought out of Egypt, when they often brought the Lord to the test, and made numerous complaints to the Lord, and even established rival gods like that of the golden calf, and the false gods of the people of Midian and Canaan.

We too can falter in our way, and can also fall into the same kind of trap that had befallen Israel. Therefore, we must always be vigilant, and keep at all times, our focus in Christ, our Lord, in His love and trust in His authority. Let us keep one another strong in faith, strong in God’s love, and strong in our hope for eternal life through Christ. Help out one another, especially those who are struggling with the faith.

Though the people of Israel, the chosen people, constantly rebelled against God and His commandments, and slaughtering many of His chosen prophets, and ultimately crucified His Son, God incarnate in Christ Jesus, He still readily forgave them, since in His own words that they do not know what they are doing, that in their ignorance, and in the blindness of their eyes and hearts, they failed to see God and His wonderful mission of redemption.

Therefore brothers and sisters in Christ. Today let us make true the mission that God has entrusted to all of us through His Apostles, that is to spread the Good News to all the nations, and to baptise them in the Name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. As we commemorate the Resurrection of our Lord today, let this moment be a moment of renewal of our commitment to evangelise the Good News of the Lord to all the people.

That through evangelisation and knowledge of the Lord, the people will no longer rebel against the Lord who loves them, and will no longer dwell in sin and darkness, but will return to the light, just as all of us had been redeemed into light by our own baptism.

Let us pray fervently for our brethren who will be baptised in the ceremony today, either in the Easter Vigil or the Easter Sunday celebrations, that the love and fear of the Lord will continue to grow stronger in their hearts, that the call which they had received to become catechumens, will continue to resonate loudly within their beings and their hearts even after their baptism. May the Holy Spirit descend upon them and dwell in their hearts, and through them and their actions, and also in all of us gathered as one community of the faithful ones in Christ, bear much fruits of the Holy Spirit, most important of which is love.

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, I wish you all a most happy and blessed Easter, that in this holy season of Easter, may all of us rejoice in the glorious Resurrection of our Lord, and commit ourselves to further the evangelisation of our Lord’s Good News, that many more will be able to join our Lord too, in new life, born out of baptism, and be resurrected like Christ was resurrected, from our past lives and die to ourselves, so that we can be born into a new life in Christ. God bless us all. Amen.

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(Easter Vigil) Saturday, 30 March 2013 : Easter Vigil of the Resurrection of the Lord, Holy Week (Psalm after Seventh Reading)

Psalm 41 : 3, 5 and Psalm 42 : 3, 4

My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I go and see the face of God?

Now as I pour out my soul, I remember all this – how I used to lead the faithful in procession to the house of God, amid shouts of joy and thanksgiving, among the feasting throng.

Send forth your light and your truth; let them be my guide, let them take me to Your holy mountain, to the place where You reside.

Then I will go to the altar of God, to God, my gladness and delight. I will praise You with the lyre and harp, o God, my God.

 

Alternative Psalm (If there is baptism)

 

Psalm 50 : 12-15, 18, 19

Create in me, o God, a pure heart; give me a new and steadfast spirit. Do not cast me out of Your presence nor take Your Holy Spirit from me.

Give me again the joy of Your salvation and sustain me with a willing spirit. Then I will show wrongdoers Your ways and sinners will return to You.

You take no pleasure in sacrifice; were I to give a burnt offering, You would not delight in it.

O God, my sacrifice is a broken spirit; a contrite heart You will not despise.

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(Chrism Mass) Thursday, 28 March 2013 : Chrism Mass, Holy Week (Scripture Reflection)

Jesus Christ is the Messiah, the Christ, or the Anointed one of God, for He came from the Lord, and sent by the Lord God, He was anointed as the servant and the messenger of God’s wish and will in this world. Upon Him lay the works of salvation that would bring this world and all its people much closer to God.

He came to bring salvation, liberty to the captives, succour for the poor and the neglected ones. Love for the unloved and for the rejected ones. For through Him, God wanted to bring all mankind to Himself, especially these weak and little ones, whom He preferred over others. Since these little ones are more sincere in their love for God, being unfettered by chains of worldly temptations of power, greed, pride, avarice, and others.

He who is God and divine, is willing to give Himself up for our sake, to lower Himself such that He died a criminal’s death on the cross. A king crucified, a king humiliated, and a king despised, and yet, despite all this, He forgave all those who had shouted for His death, and prayed for them.

Despite His despair and suffering, He persevered through, all because of His love for all of us. Because of that infinite love, the huge amounts of our sins combined weighed heavily upon Him, but did not crush Him.

With every steps that Jesus took towards Calvary, He took with us all our afflictions and our corruptions by Satan and evil. He granted us salvation by the shedding of His Blood and His life, just as He had said, “No greater love than someone who lays down his life for his friend”. Yes, Jesus is our friend, He is our brother as all of us who believes in Him are the children of God, but even those who does not yet believe are also children of the same God, for did He not create all mankind?

Remember this, as we enter into the holiest season of the year in the Easter Triduum, the three most important days in our liturgical calendar, commemorating the institution of the Holy Eucharist, which became the basis of our salvation and the Mass that we have today, in the Eucharist we receive during Communion, and then also the Passion and death of our Lord, who died on the cross for us.

But again, all did not end there, for if our Lord Jesus Christ just died on the cross and was buried, it would have ended there, just like any other death, and just like any other man. But Jesus is the Son of God just as He is the Son of Man. Upon His death, He descended into hell, and in what is known as the harrowing of hell, He opened the prison and freed the innumerable faithful souls from the clutches of Satan and hell, and brought them with Him together in resurrection. This is why many dead ones were risen at the time of Christ’s resurrection, since through Christ’s death, He destroyed the power of death forever, and through His resurrection and life, He brought life back to the dead, that we all may live together with Him in paradise.

For remember that our God is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living, of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who did not die anymore, but are living now together with Him in heaven. When it is also time for us to depart this world, He will welcome us, and we will live with Him, with all His saints and angels in perfect happiness and harmony, without any more taints of evil and sin that had all these while chained us and enslaved us.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, as today the holy oils used for baptism, chrism, and the anointment of the sick are blessed, let us pray that God who anointed us with these oils will strengthen in us the Holy Spirit that dwells within us. May the Spirit continue to guide our path and our life, that through us, the love of God will be made manifest into this world through our good works, and may our faith in Him continues to grow and grow. Amen.

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Tuesday, 26 March 2013 : Tuesday of Holy Week (Scripture Reflection)

Jesus, the Christ, the Son of God who became Man, is the servant of God mentioned in the book of the prophet Isaiah in our first reading, as the messenger of God, and the labourer of God, who made Israel, scattered over all nations for their disobedience and sins, whole once again, and return them into the the Lord’s fold.

Yet, as the servant of God had mentioned, that He had laboured in vain, because indeed, many of the people in Israel remained deaf and blind to the works of God through Him. Many still rejected God’s servant, just as they had rejected many prophets that God had sent to them across time, since the beginning of Israel to the coming of Christ, God’s servant.

Christ is also to die, just as the people murdered God’s prophet, and so did Christ had to endure the same suffering and death.

However, Christ put His trust entirely in the Lord, God His Father, for He placed a complete trust in Him, as well as out of His great and undying love for all of us, He remained true and faithful to His mission, despite the weight of such a burden and responsibility, that He even wavered at times, greatly distressed in His Spirit.

This is how we can follow the example of Christ. That is to pray, whenever we are faced with great trouble and persecution. Christ prayed at the Garden of Gethsemane prior to His arrest by the temple guards and Judas’ betrayal, so that He would be strengthened for whatever things that are to come.

The lack of prayer and faith is what made Peter betrayed Jesus, just as Judas Iscariot had betrayed Christ for the thirty silver coins he received from the chief priests for his betrayal. Judas had failed his temptation by Satan and allowed Satan to enter into him, to betray the Lord, because he had let himself to falter in his faith, for in fact, he barely has faith for the Lord at all.

For already it was known that from yesterday’s readings, that he appropriated some of the common purse’s money for his own use. He didn’t follow the Lord out of true faith and dedication to God’s mission, but rather as an opportunist, and being a thief he was, he took advantage of the situation, and even betrayed his Master for the sake of money. When he regretted that, it was already too late for him to repent.

For Peter, and also the other disciples, they did have faith in the Lord, but that faith was yet strong enough to endure harsh moments and persecutions. For when the Lord was arrested, and He was brought to the chief priests for trial, the fear that came before all of them, including Peter, prevented their faith in Christ to come forth in them, and instead they cower behind their fears, and their own self-preservation instincts.

That was why Peter denied Jesus three times, all to protect himself, from facing the same fate as that of Christ. He denied Him three times despite having pledged his life to defend Christ just hours before that denial. But Christ saw the true faith that was in Peter, only that it was being shrouded in fear. Once that shroud of fear was removed, the true faith could shine brightly for all to see. That was why Christ forgave Peter through His three questions of love to Peter, and then commended to Him the people of God, to be his as the shepherd, representing Himself as the Chief Shepherd.

Therefore brothers and sisters in Christ, as we approach the Easter Triduum beginning this Thursday, let us pray, that our faith will be strengthened. That we will never again be afraid or be ashamed to stand up for Christ and for the teachings of God and His values. Let us strive to help one another, to strengthen one another in faith, and to bring all God’s people together in love. May God bless our Holy Week celebration, that we will have a fruitful and blessed time. Amen!

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Tuesday, 26 March 2013 : Tuesday of Holy Week (Gospel Reading)

John 13 : 21-33, 36-38

After saying this, Jesus was distressed in Spirit, and said plainly, “Truly, one of you will betray Me.” The disciples then looked at one another, wondering whom He meant. One of the disciples, the one Jesus loved, was reclining near Jesus; so Simon Peter signaled him to ask Jesus whom He meant.

And the disciple, who was reclining near Jesus, asked Him, “Lord, who is it?” Jesus answered, “I shall dip a piece of bread in the dish, and he to whom I give it, is the one.” So Jesus dipped the bread and gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon. And as Judas took the piece of bread, Satan entered into him. Jesus then said to him, “What you are going to do, do quickly.”

None of the others, reclining at the table, understood why Jesus said this to Judas. As Judas had the common purse, they may have thought that Jesus was telling him, “Buy what we need for the feast, ” or, “Give something to the poor.” Judas left as soon as he had eaten the bread. It was night.

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; you will look for Me, but as I already told the Jews, so now I tell you : where I am going you cannot come.”

Simon Peter said to Him, “Lord, where are You going? Jesus answered, “Where I am going you cannot follow Me now, but afterwards you will.” Peter said, “Lord, why can’t I follow You now? I am ready to give my life for You.”

“To give your life for Me?” Jesus asked Peter, “Truly I tell you, the cock will not crow, before you have denied Me three times.”