14TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME, YEAR C

Isaiah 66:10-14
Psalm 66
Galatians 6:14-18
Luke 10:1-12.17-20

YOU ARE A MESSENGER OF CHRIST

There is always the need to preach the Good News to all people. This need is more urgent today than ever. The first reading exhorts us to rejoice and be glad. This joy is focused around Jerusalem, the City of God. Here God speaks like a mother. He promises unfailing love, care, consolation, restoration and renewal to his people. In the second reading, St Paul expresses his joy to have a share in the suffering of Christ. He ends his letter with words of blessing and invokes the peace and mercy of the Lord upon those who embrace the new creation brought about through the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.

In the gospel, Jesus commissions seventy-two messengers to go ahead of him proclaiming the Good News. Jesus realizes that the harvest is abundant but the laborers are few. There is therefore the need to pray the Lord of the harvest to send more laborers into his vineyard. Unfortunately, upon hearing these words, we usually think of priests and religious as the sole missionaries and evangelizers. But each Christian is a Christ-bearer, a missionary by virtue of his baptism.

Consequently, unless we too bring the message of peace and joy to others, we are not worthy of our baptism, which becomes an empty ritual like circumcision. At the end of each Mass, we are told: “Go forth, the Mass is ended.” It is a sending forth, a mission we receive. Thus our mission is to share with others what we have received from the Lord. At each Mass we are comforted and renewed by being fed from the Word and Eucharist as from the breasts of a mother. As such, we must fill the hearts of others with this joy and peace. We must gladden and console all we meet.
May the Lord help us to become trustworthy messengers so as to change the world. Amen

Corpus Christi, Year C

Genesis 14:18-20
Ps 110
1Corinthians 11:23-26
Luke 9:11-17

                              "THIS IS MY BODY",...."THIS IS MY BLOOD"

Today, we celebrate Corpus Christi, the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ. One thing that cuts across the readings is “bread and wine.” Bread is a necessity of life and the fruit of human labour. Wine is the symbol of joy and of divine communion. In the first reading, the mysterious king of Salem (king of peace) and priest of God Most High, Melchizedek brought bread and wine to offer in thanksgiving on behalf of Abraham who had won a battle against the kings of the valley.

The gospel reading is the Lukan account of the multiplication of loaves and fish. Out of five loaves of bread and two fish, Jesus fed five thousands men, and there was twelve baskets of leftover fragments. This account has a Eucharistic undertone: Jesus took the bread, blessed it, broke it and gave it to the disciples to be shared among the people.

These are the words we find in the institution narratives as recorded by St Paul in the second reading. And these are words the priest speaks over the bread and wine during consecration at Holy Mass. By the words “this is my body…”, “this is my blood…” Jesus identified the bread with his Body and the wine with his Blood. As such, the bread we take and the wine we drink are really the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ.

Jesus is a person of hospitality and has compassion for us. He wants to feed us always. And he does so with his own body and blood. In the Eucharist therefore, Jesus gives himself to us as food and drink. Moreover, through the story of the multiplication of bread, we see the power of God at work in Jesus. He satisfies all our needs. This reminds us of his call: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matt. 11:28). May we find joy, peace, breakthrough, strength and rest in Jesus who is really present in the Eucharist. Amen.

THE SOLEMNITY OF THE HOLY TRINITY

Proverbs 8:22-31
Psalm 8
Romans 5:1-5
John 16:12-15

THE TRINITY: A MYSTERY OF LOVE

We celebrate today the ineffable mystery of the Holy Trinity, which is the central mystery of our Christian faith. For we believe in One God who exists in Three Persons: God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. We begin our Christian life "in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit". Moreover, the last thing a priest will do at our graveside is to make the sign of the cross over our body.

Though the word "Trinity" cannot be found in the Bible, the revelation of God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit is uncontestably present in the Bible. Thus, in the first reading, God's Wisdom is introduced to us as a Person. Wisdom was with God before creation, and present when God was creating everything (Prov. 8:22-31). The Evangelist John will help us later identify this Wisdom personified with Jesus Christ, the Word of God who became man.

In the Gospel, Jesus Christ promises to his disciples the coming of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth. He also addresses God as Father, something that expresses an intimate relationship between them (Jn 16:12-15). This love that unites the Father and the Son is the Holy Spirit. The Trinity is therefore a community of Love. Love is another name of the Triune God and this love fills the whole universe. Hence the Psalmist exclaims: "O Lord, our God, how great is your name throughout the earth."

According to St Paul in the second reading, this love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us in our baptism  (Rom. 5:1-5). Therefore, the best way to know and experience God is by loving one another genuinely. Again, whenever we are afflicted, we should persevere in hope , because God loves us and will not abandon us.
May the Love of the Trinity be upon us as we place our trust in Him. Amen.

PENTECOST SUNDAY, YEAR C

Acts 1:1-11
Psalm 103
Romans 8:8-17
John 14:15-16.23-26

A NEW PENTECOST FOR US!!!

The solemnity of Pentecost commemorates the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles. The event took place on Pentecost, the Jewish Harvest Festival or Feast of the Weeks, an occasion when the Jews recalled their covenant with God on Mount Sinai, fifty days after their escape from Egypt.

This day was foretold by the prophets, and announced by Jesus Christ. For he promised the disciples that he would send them the Advocate, the Defender, the Holy Spirit. Here he clearly outlines the works of the Holy Spirit: He would be with the disciples for ever; he would teach them everything and reminds them of all that Jesus had told them (John 14:15-16.23-26).

The first reading narrates the fulfillment of Jesus’ promise. As described by Luke, the Pentecost event was a unique, spectacular and transforming experience. With it the Jesus’ group was henceforth open to everyone, freely involving anyone it comes across as the wind, having a burning and transforming power like fire, proclaiming the wonders of God to all peoples. This way, the Holy Spirit freed the disciples from cowardice and fear, and empowered them to speak boldly about the wonders of God (Acts 1:1-11).

We too have received the Holy Spirit at our baptism. Hence, St Paul tells us in the second reading that we have received not a spirit of slavery and fear, but the Spirit of freedom and sonship that cries out in us to God: “Abba, Father”. As such, we must live by the Spirit of God allowing him to move and lead us. This way, our lives will become living testimonies to the wonders of God. For each of us is a miracle of God’s grace given to us in the Holy Spirit. It is high time therefore to come out of our self-inflicted prisons caused by fear, selfishness, wickedness, divisions, etc so as to allow others experience the love of God.

May the Holy Spirit fall afresh on us, mold us, fill us and use us, enabling us to be true witnesses of Christ. Amen.