Jesus Christ

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Thursday, 18 April 2013 : 3rd Week of Easter (Scripture Reflection)

Jesus again reiterated the message in today’s Gospel reading, that He is the bread of life, the source of salvation, which can only come through Christ, and through the ultimate sacrifice He had committed on that hill of Calvary on that fateful day, when He was raised high between the heavens and the earth. That moment marked the moment when the pure and unblemished Lamb of God was sacrificed that His blood, splashing down on us, washes us away from our sins.

The Lamb of God did not resist when He was about to be killed, He kept His mouth shut and silent against the false accusations of those who tried to kill Him and bring about His death. Through His submission to the will of the Father, He had been glorified after His death through resurrection, and through this submission, He brought about salvation and reunion of all mankind with God who loves them all.

He died for us that we might live. His blood purifying us from our faults and sins, making us pure once again and worthy to stand before the presence of our God in heaven. Heaven had been closed to all of us since the day when our ancestors defied the will of God, and obeyed the evil one instead, believing in the wisdom of Satan rather than God, and through their disobedience, mankind fall into sin and become the thrall of death.

That was because Adam and Eve, our first ancestors failed to resist the temptation of evil in order to gain more knowledge into themselves, and desiring to become equal as God. But they, who were pure since the day of their creation, now knew the meaning of evil and sin, and as a result, the white slate of paper became splotched with ink and became ruined. That was the state of our soul too before our salvation in Christ.

We suffered the same punishment that Adam and Eve had been made to suffer for their rebellion, that is to roam this earthly plane, to work and toil hard, and death would claim us, and to dust our bodies would return, and we were to be enslaved by Satan. But yet, God is loving just as He is just. He hates sin, but He did not leave us His beloved children without hope of salvation. That hope He brought into our world through Christ His Son, whom He sent to be the Messiah who would save all mankind, once and for all, from the dominion of the evil one.

Christ had become the new Adam, the new beginning, by virtue of being born as man, but unlike Adam, who was sinless and pure as Christ was, but sinned through disobedience, Christ as the Lamb of God obeyed the Lord fully unto His death. This perfect obedience became the perfect offering that entirely countered the rebellion of our ancestors and made all of us worthy once again of God.

Through His Precious Body and Blood, which He offered to all of us freely, He made us into one body in Himself, the Body that is our Church, that all who believes in Christ may be united as one people, and praising God as one people, and sharing the faith that we have in God with one another, and also share the love that He had given us, that love would reign as the motivation behind all our actions.

Therefore, dear brothers and sisters in Christ, let us always remember that Jesus Christ our Lord is the bread of life, and also the way, the truth, and the life, and in Him alone lies salvation. Let us treasure the Eucharist that we receive in the Mass, that we truly honour the Precious Body and Blood of our Lord, and worthily take Him into ourselves, that we may always be united with Him, and be united with our fellow brethren, who also believe in Him our Saviour. God bless us all. Amen.

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Thursday, 18 April 2013 : 3rd Week of Easter (Gospel Reading)

John 6 : 44-51

No one can come to Me unless he is drawn by the Father who sent Me; and I will raise Him up on the last day. It has been written in the Prophets : ‘They shall all be taught by God.’ So whoever listens and learns from the Father comes to Me.

For no one has seen the Father except the One who comes from God; He has seen the Father. Truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Though your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, they died. But here you have the bread which comes from heaven, so that you may eat of it, and not die.

I am the living bread which has come from heaven; whoever eats of this bread will live forever. The bread I shall give is My flesh, and I will give it for the life of the world.

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Thursday, 18 April 2013 : 3rd Week of Easter (First Reading)

Acts 8 : 26-40

An angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Go south towards the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza, the desert road.” So, he set out and it happened that an Ethiopian was passing along that way. He was an official in charge of the treasury of the queen of the Ethiopians; he had come on pilgrimage to Jerusalem, and was on his way home. He was sitting in his carriage and reading the prophet Isaiah.

The Spirit said to Philip, “Go and catch up with that carriage.” So Philip ran up and heard the man reading the prophet Isaiah; and he asked, “Do you really understand what you are reading?” The Ethiopian replied, “How can I, unless someone explains it to me?”

He then invited Philip to get in and sit beside him. This was the passage of the Scripture he was reading : “He was led like a sheep to be slaughtered; like a lamb that is dumb before the shearer, He did not open His mouth. He was humbled and deprived of His rights. Who can speak of His descendants? For He was uprooted from the earth.”

The official asked Philip, “Tell me, please, does the prophet speak of himself or of someone else?” Then Philip began to tell him the Good News of Jesus, using this text of Scripture as his starting point. As they travelled down the road they came to a place where there was some water. Then the Ethiopian official said, “Look, here is water; what is to keep me from being baptised?”

Then he ordered the carriage to stop; both Philip and the Ethiopian went down into the water and Philip baptised him. When they came out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord took Philip away. The Ethiopian saw him no more, but he continued on his way full of joy.

Philip found himself at Azotus, and he went about announcing the Good News in all the towns until he reached Caesarea.

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Tuesday, 16 April 2013 : 3rd Week of Easter (Scripture Reflection)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we heard the story of the courage of Stephen, the first martyr, who welcomed death in Christ when he defended his faith and his belief in Christ against the Pharisees and the Jewish high priests when he was questioned and ridiculed for his faith. Instead of fighting back in anger, he explained in detail the story of mankind from its creation and how God brought about salvation through Christ.

Yet, they rejected still the explanation by Stephen, and despite the fact that Stephen himself was full of the Holy Spirit, which is manifested in his shining face, that looks like an angel, the Pharisees and the chief priests still failed to see the truth that was told to them by Stephen, and which they surely had heard as well, from Jesus Himself in their numerous encounters, especially those designed to trap Him and allow them to arrest Him for blasphemy.

They were blinded in their jealousy and hatred against the Lord, against Christ our Risen Lord and Saviour, that they refused to believe all that had happened and had been told about Him and His works, His resurrection, and His nature as the Messiah. They rejected Him not because His message was wrong, but because of human weakness and them allowing Satan to enter their hearts.

They persecuted Stephen and the disciples just as they had persecuted Christ. Yet, this is where Christian qualities came out best, in that of forgiveness and love. Instead of hating them back and cursing, Stephen, just like Jesus on the cross, forgave them and indeed, asked God not to blame the priests and the Pharisees for their faults, especially for having killed the holy man of God in Stephen himself.

Forgiveness is a very difficult thing to do, particularly if we are deeply immersed in hatred and prejudice against others. It is not easy to forgive, but if we do not forgive, we are merely continuing the vicious cycle of evil, that is perpetuated by hatred, anger, jealousy, and violence, which will continue to make the people blind from the truth of God, and that was exactly what happened to the Jewish priesthood who stoned and killed Stephen, and also brought Jesus to be condemned and death on the cross.

Despite all that, both of them forgave their oppressors and their condemners. They did not want to let Satan to revel in the continuation of that endless cycle of evil. Rather, as Christ had wanted, He wanted love to flourish, and begin a new rejuvenation of the human soul, purified from hatred and sin. In order to do so, even though it may be very difficult, we need to first learn to forgive, and to douse our anger and hatred with the cool spring of love.

Therefore, dear brothers and sisters in Christ, let us today pray, pray that God will grant us a new heart, filled with love and compassion, and mercy for others, and also filled to the brim with forgiveness, that we will forgive those who had caused us pain and suffering, and instead sharing God’s love with them, that neither us nor them will be lost, and we will eventually praise the Lord in our heavenly glory together. May God bless us all, and bless our world with His love and mercy. Amen.

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Tuesday, 16 April 2013 : 3rd Week of Easter (Gospel Reading)

John 6 : 30-35

Then they said, “Show us miraculous signs, that we may see and believe You. What sign do You perform? Our ancestors ate manna in the desert; as Scripture says : ‘They were given bread from heaven to eat.’

Jesus then said to them, “Truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven. My Father gives you the true bread from heaven. The bread God gives is the One who comes from heaven and gives life to the world.” And they said to Him, “Give us this bread always.”

Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to Me, shall never be hungry, and whoever believes in Me, shall never be thirsty.”

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Tuesday, 16 April 2013 : 3rd Week of Easter (First Reading)

Acts 7 : 51 – Acts 8 : 1a

But you are a stubborn people, you hardened your hearts and closed your ears. You have always resisted the Holy Spirit just as your fathers did. Was there a prophet whom your ancestors did not persecute? They killed those who announced the coming of the Just One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered, you who received the Law through the angels but did not fulfill it.

When they heard this reproach, they were enraged and they gnashed their teeth against Stephen. But he, full of the Holy Spirit, fixed his eyes on heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus at God’s right hand, so he declared : “I see the heavens open and the Son of Man at the right hand of God.”

But they shouted and covered their ears with their hands and rushed together upon him. They brought him out of the city and stoned him, and the witnesses laid down their cloaks at the feet of a young man named Saul. As they were stoning him, Stephen prayed saying : “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”

Then he knelt down and said in a loud voice : “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” And when he had said this, he died.

Saul was there, approving his murder. This was the beginning of a great persecution against the Church in Jerusalem. All, except the apostles, were scattered throughout the region of Judea and Samaria.

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Monday, 15 April 2013 : 3rd Week of Easter (Gospel Reading)

John 6 : 22-29

Next day the people, who had stayed on the other side, realised that only one boat had been there, and that Jesus had not entered it with His disciples; but rather, the disciples had gone away alone. Bigger boats from Tiberias came near the place where all these people had eaten the bread. When they saw that neither Jesus nor His disciples were there, they got into the boats and went to Capernaum looking or Jesus.

When they found Him on the other side of the lake, they asked Him, “Master, when did You come here?” Jesus answered, “Truly, I say to you, you look for Me, not because of the signs which you have seen, but because you ate bread and were satisfied. Work then, not for perishable food, but for the lasting food which gives eternal life. The Son of Man will give it to you, for He is the One on whom the Father has put His mark.”

Then the Jews asked Him, “What shall we do? What are the works that God wants us to do?” And Jesus answered them, “The work God wants is this : that you believe in the One whom God has sent.”

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Sunday, 14 April 2013 : 3rd Sunday of Easter (Gospel Reading)

John 21 : 1-19

After this, Jesus revealed Himself to the disciples by the Lake of Tiberias. He appeared to them in this way. Simon Peter, Thomas who was called the Twin, Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples were together; and Simon Peter said to them, “I’m going fishing.” They replied, “We will come with you.” And they went out and got into the boat, but they caught nothing that night.

When day had already broken, Jesus was standing on the shore, but the disciples did not know it was Jesus. Jesus called them, “Friends, have you anything to eat?” They answered, “Nothing.” Then He said to them, “Throw the net on the right side of the boat and you will find something.” When they had lowered the net, they were not able to pull it in because of the great number of fish.

Then the disciple Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” Simon Peter put on his clothes, for he was stripped for work, and jumped into the water. The other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish; they were not far from land, about a hundred metres.

When they landed, they saw a charcoal fire with fish on it, and some bread. Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish you have just caught.” So Simon Peter climbed into the boat and pulled the net to shore. It was full of big fish – one hundred and fifty-three – but, in spite of this, the net was not torn.

Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” And not one of the disciples dared to ask Him, “Who are You?” for they knew it was the Lord. Jesus then came and took the bread and gave it to them, and He did the same with the fish.

This was the third time that Jesus revealed Himself to His disciples after rising from the dead.

After they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me more than these?” He answered, “Yes, Lord, You know that I love You.” And Jesus said, “Feed My lambs.”

A second time Jesus said to him, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me?” And Peter answered, “Yes, Lord, You know that I love You.” Jesus said to Him, “Look after My sheep.” And a third time He said to him, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me?”

Peter was saddened because Jesus asked him a third time, “Do you love Me?” and he said, “Lord, You know everything; You know that I love You.” Jesus then said, “Feed My sheep! Truly, I say to you, when you were young, you put on your belt and walked where you liked. But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will put a belt around you, and lead you where you do not wish to go.”

Jesus said this to make known the kind of death by which Peter was to glorify God. And He added, “Follow Me.”

 

Alternative Reading (Shorter version)

John 21 : 1-14

After this, Jesus revealed Himself to the disciples by the Lake of Tiberias. He appeared to them in this way. Simon Peter, Thomas who was called the Twin, Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples were together; and Simon Peter said to them, “I’m going fishing.” They replied, “We will come with you.” And they went out and got into the boat, but they caught nothing that night.

When day had already broken, Jesus was standing on the shore, but the disciples did not know it was Jesus. Jesus called them, “Friends, have you anything to eat?” They answered, “Nothing.” Then He said to them, “Throw the net on the right side of the boat and you will find something.” When they had lowered the net, they were not able to pull it in because of the great number of fish.

Then the disciple Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” Simon Peter put on his clothes, for he was stripped for work, and jumped into the water. The other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish; they were not far from land, about a hundred metres.

When they landed, they saw a charcoal fire with fish on it, and some bread. Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish you have just caught.” So Simon Peter climbed into the boat and pulled the net to shore. It was full of big fish – one hundred and fifty-three – but, in spite of this, the net was not torn.

Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” And not one of the disciples dared to ask Him, “Who are You?” for they knew it was the Lord. Jesus then came and took the bread and gave it to them, and He did the same with the fish.

This was the third time that Jesus revealed Himself to His disciples after rising from the dead.

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Sunday, 14 April 2013 : 3rd Sunday of Easter (First Reading)

Acts 5 : 27b-32, 40b-41

The High Priest questioned the apostles, “We gave you strict orders not to preach such a Saviour; but you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and you intend charging us with the killing of this Man.”

To this Peter and the apostles replied, “Better for us to obey God rather than any human authority! The God of our ancestors raised Jesus whom you killed by hanging Him on a wooden post. God set Him at His right hand as Leader and Saviour, to grant repentance and forgiveness of sins to Israel. We are witnesses to all these things, as well as the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey Him.”

They were ordered not to speak again of Jesus Saviour. Then they set them free. The Apostles went out from the Council rejoicing that they were considered worthy to suffer disgrace for the sake of the Name.

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Saturday, 13 April 2013 : 2nd Week of Easter, Memorial of Pope St. Martin I, Pope and Martyr (Gospel Reading)

John 6 : 16-21

When evening came, the disciples went down to the shore. After a while, they got into a boat to make for Capernaum on the other side of the sea, for it was now dark and Jesus had not yet come to them. But the sea was getting rough because a strong wind was blowing.

They had rowed about three or four miles, when they saw Jesus walking on the sea, and He was drawing near to the boat. They were frightened, but He said to them, “It is I! Don’t be afraid!”

They wanted to take Him into the boat, but immediately the boat was at the shore to which they were going.