FIFTH SUNDAY OF EASTER - I AM THE WAY, THE TRUTH AND THE LIFE

Fifth Sunday of Easter – A: (Acts 6:1-7; 1Pt 2:4-9; John 14:1-12)
Theme: COME, WE WILL GO TO OUR FATHER’S HOUSE

Reflection:
- This Fifth Sunday of Easter reminds us that the Risen Jesus is the TRUE AND SURE WAY that leads us to the Father’s House.
- Last Sunday we have reflected that Jesus is the Door/Gate through which we enter into the communion with the other sheep. In this way, God wills that there would be One Shepherd and One Flock. Communion with the others, either our own Christian brothers and sisters or even our brothers and sisters of other faiths, is possible only through the genuine knowledge of Jesus who opens the door of every sheep with the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
- This communion will be completely realized when we Christians, as our Christian task and responsibility, open the door of our life to Jesus and to the others.
- Now, today we mediate on how we can reach our Father’s House, which is our TRUE AND ETERNAL HOME, because there are rooms for all and Jesus is going ahead of us to prepare each one a room each. Therefore, the invitation of Risen Jesus to us, today, is: Come, We will go to our Father’s House.

First Reading:
- The institution of the diaconate and the election of first seven deacons.
o Deacon, which originates from ‘dia-kones’, means ‘to be at service’ or ‘to serve’.
o They are to be men of ‘good standing, full of spirit and of wisdom’.
o Apostles’ laying of their hands on them is the gesture through which the appointed ones receive both the grace of God (through the authority Jesus himself has given them) and the power of the Holy Spirit (the gift of His Resurrection that Jesus has offered to his apostles)
o The deacons are elected to be at their service of the community’s needs and for the equal and just distribution of the food.
- It is not right (in better translation: it is not just) to neglect the word of God in order to wait on tables (better translation is: keeping accounts) v. 2:
o The vast distance that has to be and which the Apostles have found out soon is between: the proclamation of the Word of God and the needs of our daily life.
o They do not say that the daily necessities are to be fully kept aside for the word of God but because of these preoccupations the Word of God should not be blocked and should not be disturbed. The Word of God has to take certain priority.
o The word they use is: it is NOT RIGHT, not just to neglect the word of God:
 It is not just to go leave God’s word unheard and un-followed just for the desires of the world.
 It is not just to neglect the spiritual nourishment for the motives of bodily and physical satisfactions like that of food and drink, in fact, Jesus promises us that we should not worry about what to eat and what to drink……if we work of the kingdom of God, everything else would be given to us (Mt 6:25-33). We do not buy the gold and give to the pigs.
 It is not just to leave the church/ or neglect the Church’s teaching and liturgy for the motives of unauthentic and attractive fantasies that the modern technology and politics keep before us; and so on.
 The apostles do not use any other word, like it is not good and all, but, it is NOT JUST. Because it is with the ‘Justice’ that one day we have to give the accounts for the gifts of life and freedom we have received from the goodness of God.
 To keep the word of God away is equal to keep the life away and Jesus today affirms that He is the Way, the Truth and the Life.
- We, for our part, will devote ourselves to prayer and to serving the word (v.4): the exact word that was used for ‘devout’ is ‘dedicate’.
o Dedicate means ‘giving the utmost importance’ and ‘doing everything’ to make the matter come into reality;
o The apostles, who have seen the Word’s presence amidst them (word became flesh and is amidst them, Jn 1:14), who have seen the Kingdom of God proclaimed by Jesus in his words and wonders, now, with the presence and power of Risen Jesus which is the Holy Spirit, realize that ‘serving the word’ is the only occupation and preoccupation they have to carry on.
o ‘Serving the word’ is not just the proclamation of the word but it’s ‘task’ and ‘challenge’ of living. It is a service to word. Servant is always present to the masters will and orders. Here the servants of the word are always to be ready to carry upon what it demands and its challenges. A good servant stands by the master, by the mastery of the Word.
o They dedicate themselves, for nothing more or nothing else, but for the prayer and proclamation of the word. They are ready to spend each single second of their life for this service and this is the meaning of dedication.
- The word of God continued to spread and the number of disciples increased greatly, v.7:
o This is the result of dedicated proclamation of the Gospel; its abundant grace reaches every one; it is like a mustard seed which grows into a big tree as Jesus tells in Mt 13.
o When the word of God is given the utmost importance, when all the hindrances that make the word to be hidden (like hidden talents) are removed and when it is served with the dedication and devotion, it grows and spreads its efficacious fruits to the recipients.

Second Reading:
- Spiritual House of living stones on the LIVING STONE:
o For the house each single stone is very important. It makes the building complete. It gives the building the shape.
o Even if one single, simple and small stone is missing the strength of the building starts falling down; may be as a single stone it may be overlooked but once it becomes the part of the building, it cannot be overlooked because, it makes the building loose the strength, shape and its fullness.
o We are those living stones with which God has built his dwelling, his Spiritual House; each one of us is very precious for God. This is not any house where are many moments of joy and also sadness; but this is the Spiritual House, where the Holy Spirit is keeps intact everything with His power; He sees that no stone is removed or overlooked; He strengthens each and individual stone; otherwise, the building loses its spirit and its spiral unity and spiritual communion.
o This brotherly unity and fraternal communion is always possible just because this spiritual house is built upon the Living Rock, Jesus Christ, a rock that was thrown by the non-believers but that stands out to be the foundation stone for the living building for the faithful.
- Believing is an Honor- v.7: for those who believe he is precious; in the little authentic translation we find ‘it is honor for those who believe’.
o Now we are clear of in where consists our honor: it consists proper in believing in Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh, died and Risen and has become the Corner Stone.
o We may try to search for many other places for the honor; we may do many other things to get this honor from the people; we may work hard/make risks in order to enter into the life of honor in the society; but finally it consists only in believing Jesus, who has re-brought to us this honor lost by our pride and disobedience. Whatever is the other possible honor in the world, it is false honor or at least the honor which lasts only for some time. This honor for us is a loving gift of God; though unworthy by ourselves and incapable with our own strength, God has gifted this honor to us by making us his own; how did he make us his own?
- You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, v.9:
o God’s choice is gratuitous: There many other people who are more powerful, more capable and more intelligent and more in many aspects; but God’s will is different; his thoughts are different unlike our thoughts, Is 55; His choice comes freely; we are picked up from among many peoples and many faiths to be his people and this is the honor of being ‘God’s chosen race’;
o Priesthood is a gift of God in Christ and in Spirit: Priesthood is to be at the service of the word and the service of the sacraments; some celebrate and some receive; but the grace is equal to the celebrant as well as the recipient; we are equal participant of the grace of priesthood, although some are consecrated in particular manner in the sacrament of Holy Orders and other remain as belonging to the lay priesthood. The same grace of the Spirit flows in us and is given to us according to our need and vocation; above all, our honor consists not only having this grace of priesthood but in living it;
o Holy Nation: not as an individual but as a community. Christian faith is the community faith. All profess one baptism and one creed; we are one in spirit and one in mind; and we have to preserve this holiness as a race, as a community and as a nation; and our honor properly consists in the ‘manifestation of the holy nation’.
o God’s own people: This is the dignity of our recognition. It is made possible to us by the grace fetching merits of Jesus Christ; we are God’s; we belong to God; what a grace! What an honor!

Gospel Reading:

- Many dwelling places in the Father’s House (v.2):
o Father’s house is the ‘state of relationship’ or ‘bond of unity’ with the Triune God; God is in Three and three persons in God; the heart of the Trinity is the House; in this heart of God there is place for everyone; there are many dwelling places which are already willed and designed by God; He does not want that anybody go away from the house (like a small son of the parable of prodigal son, who goes out of the house) or anybody stand outside the house (like that of the elder son in the same parable who was reluctant to enter into the house); the will of God is that everyone (for, God do not make differences – Acts 10:34) has to enter into the house because God has prepared it out of his immense love for the humankind.
o Even in and from the time of creation God has given each one a place in his thought (mind), in his presence (body) and in his heart (spirit) and thus called each creature into existence; coming into existence means coming into life and there was no life outside God; and so coming into life means participating in the life that God offers from his love and goodness; and it goes on; there is no end for life; it’s origin and end is God himself; each one is already carved in the mind of God before being borne in the womb of the mother, therefore God is the origin and source of life; each is invited to the salvation because life continues ever after this earthly pilgrimage and continues in God, therefore God is the end and destiny of life; our life has no end because God, the life, has no end; therefore, the heart of God (the design of God for everyone) is always open and is always ready for our dwelling;
o ‘Many’ has no limited number; many signifies the continuous growth; ‘many dwelling houses’ means that ‘there are as many rooms as there are as many people’. if the number of people increase, even the number of the rooms increase; therefore, ‘many’ may has the starting number, because starts always with one, but there is no ending number; this shows the immensity in the design of God for all; all can/have to be in his House; this is the meaning of what we usually use, “God is in all and all are in God”.
o There are rooms for everyone; but it is we who have to become worthy (by love of God and others) to occupy the room; the door is open but it is we have to be eligible (with the service of prayer and proclamation – first reading) who have to enter into the house; the grace of God is abundant and ever flowing but it is we who have receive it by our availability for the life of Word of God, Jesus. If we do, we occupy the room prepared for us; otherwise, rooms are ready but we are not ready to receive them; and it is we who are going to miss them; there is no accusing of God because He has already made possible the room; it is we who have accuse ourselves for having trodden down the possibility;
- I will Go – Prepare – Come again and will take you to myself (v.3):
o It’s always God who initiates an event; He who makes and moves the first step towards anything; it is because He is the only ‘unmoved mover’. Only he who has life can move; the creation started to move (revolve – process of growth) only because it has received this life from God; therefore, God, who is Life in Fullness, takes the first step to do anything; God wanted to shared his life (inner life as unity and outer life as distinct) with the creation and that is the reason why he called whole of creation to himself; I will ‘go’ and ‘prepare’ a place for you, I will ‘come again’: all these are the movements of God, not of the man; therefore, God is the one who initiates and bring into completion;
o ‘Go-prepare-come again’ is a process of God’s revelation of love for man and this is seen in all the events of God’s doing, either before Jesus (in the Old Testament) or after Jesus (in the New Testament and even to this present day);
 In the act of creation – we see how God has come out of himself (I will go) and created every creature and finally man in his own image and likeness (prepare) and made creation to be his own and destined it to be in his intimate union and thus called it into life (come gain to take it with me);
 In the ‘event of salvation’ (From Abraham to the last of the prophets) of the Old Testament – it is God who made move and walked before his chosen race (second reading also) of Israel, (I will go – in the form of cloud and fire) and opened every possibility of deliverance from the hands of the oppressing empires (prepare) and re-brought them into his covenant of promise of continuous love and mercy and thus made them live in him and for him (come again to take them);
 In the ‘event of Incarnation’: It is more obvious and more manifesting in the Incarnation the movement of God; it is God has left everything and came out of himself (I will go) and opened the door of salvation to the whole of humanity in his union of natures (prepare) and called them into his life with all the revelation in wonderful words and marvelous deeds (come again) and it is for this he says: “I have come so that you may have life and life in abundance” (Jn 10:10);
 In the ‘Paschal Event’ – this movement of God reached its culmination even to the point of giving (offering) his life for the humanity; it is true because only who has life can give life and who has the love to offer life can give life and no one else can do; God who has life only can give this life for humanity because he has the love to do it so (no man can have greater love than giving his own life for his friends); here consists also the authenticity of good news of God’s salvation: God has taken initiative to call to himself all the existence and takes the ultimate step of ‘giving his own life’ for the same existence; the love of God can go any further; it can do anything and even at the cost of death (only human term and human reality because for God death is one event as simple as any event in the recycling design of God); How can God die? Can God die at all? If dies is he really a God? For such a questions posed by so many philosophers/fundamentalists/ and atheist, there is only one answer: ‘the Paschal event’: God who died for man and because the death is not a great power for him and as death has no power over him, has come into life again; this event could be give to the humanity the hope of salvation; God comes out of his nature of death (I will go) and died and made a possibility (prepare) to have the salvation and life (come again);
o From Jesus Christ it has its direction towards the eschatological completion: it is, in today’s Gospel, Jesus who tells about his going to prepare the room and come again to take his disciples. It also has two fold movement of Christ: one in his first coming (his historical and earthly life) and another in his second coming (his glorious and heavenly life); as we have seen above, God in the person of Jesus Christ, entered into the world (I will go) and through his words and deeds of love, which includes also the passion and death, has made the salvation possible (prepare) and in this way humanity can have an access to his risen glory (Come again);
- Where I am, there you may also be (v.3):
o This is the result of God’s movement towards humanity;
o We are made full partakers of Jesus life and so we have to be where he is and we have to be how he is;
o We are being created and called to be with Him; once we have fallen into sin and gone astray from Him, He has come in search of us so that we can be still with Him – that is the movement of Christ Event;
o If Jesus has just visited the world for it is not his permanent dwelling, we also need to consider the world in the same manner and reach the ‘Eternal Home’ and ‘Father’s House’ where Jesus sits at His Right side; we should not cling on this earth and worldly desires because we are not of this world because Jesus calls us to be with him.
o He has enough space for every one of us; he wills that we have to be with him; and he takes every possible step to take us with him so that we are always ‘Through Him’, ‘With Him’ and ‘In Him’.
- I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life (v.6):
o It could be either the way – the truth – and the life: it’s a process one leading to the other, one finding its completion and fulfillment in the other; the Way that leads to the Truth and the Truth that gives the Life and the Life again which makes known the Way; in this way, one goes before the other/or/ one follows the other and in a better way, we can say that, one completes the other; we cannot stop with the first one, the way; we cannot also remain only with the second one, the Truth; and finally we cannot be just happy with the third one, the life, without showing again the way to the others;
• we cannot stop and content with the Way: there are various religions that show ‘the way’ (like Buddhism which itself accepts to be only the way) and it may also lead to the truth but truth in partial, not in full; because the Nirvana is the state perfect happiness a person reaches after giving up all his earthly and bodily desires. And with detachment from the world, in Buddhism, a man reaches a state of joy and it is true; but it is partial because with that the person stops looking for something more; that means, he is not attached to or striving for something spiritual; the life is both physical, mental and more over spiritual; therefore, the person reaches only the partial truth; the fullness of truth consists in ‘detachment’ from what is illusory and temporary and in ‘attachment’ to what is real and eternal; and that’s what Jesus intents when he says that anyone who wants to follow him, deny (detachment) the proper self and take up (attachment) the cross; therefore, when Buddhism is content only with the detachment of the world and thus attaining the Nirvana, which has nothing to do with the life in God, then it is only partial truth;
• we cannot be content neither only with the Truth: there are various religions that are ‘the true’ (like that of Islam who take their sources from the revelation of God through Abraham); but reaching the truth is not enough; the truth has to set us free; the truth has to make us life for God and for his love with the love of neighbors; and we see the negligence of this aspect from the part of this particular fundamental ‘truth’ of Islam; it is also partial because it shows the way and reaches the truth but stops there without attaining life of God;
• we cannot just stop ourselves even with the life: there are various sect of the same religion which call themselves as having the life of Christ (like that of many sects of Christianity – Catholics, orthodox, protestant, Anglican and so on); Indeed, they have life in Christ but not life in common; they have faith in Christ but not united in Christ; each has its own doctrine, its own faith and its own ‘way’ and it own ‘truth’ and its own ‘life’; Jesus did not intent this when he revealed the mystery of God; mystery of God is that all his people are One in mind and One in Spirit; when that do not happen, there is no life;
o Then, where to reach and how to reach the True Father’s Home? The answer is already revealed: Jesus, the way and the truth and the life; It is not very easy to distinguish and decide which shows the way when we have uncountable religions; but from the time that the mystery of Christ Jesus is revealed, the Christians have an access to the Father’s House (Eternal Happiness); but when this revealed ‘way’, ‘truth’ and the ‘life’ is divided into various pieces by various sects, Jesus himself is divided; Now we have look for the better option among all that we have; we have to look for that which is little more authentic, more witnessing and more risk-taking for the service of the word of God and finally we find the ‘Catholic Church’ which seems to be very closer to the design of God’s salvation to man; because it show the ‘way of Jesus’ by its passionate and grace-fetching sacraments; it leads us to the truth by its un-tired proclamation of the Good news and God’s will; and it finally takes initiative (as God always makes his movements for the good of the humanity) with its dialogue, message of peace and call of reconciliation to the fraternal unity of Christ’s followers and of whole humanity, so that, they may have life and life in abundance; and Jesus is ‘The Way’ (I am door, who enters through me, will have share in my life), is ‘The Truth’ (I am the Truth: Jesus’ words to Pilate) and is ‘The Life’ (I am the Life and Resurrection); it is his own revelation which he has manifested with his words, deeds and more over with his Passion, death and Resurrection;
- Whoever has seen me has seen the Father (v.9):
o If we understand all that is revealed in Christ we come to know God; that is what Jesus tells Philip;
o Jesus reveals once again the intimate and undividable unity that exists between God and himself; the mystery of God revealed in fullness in Christ earthly life and thus Jesus becomes as, St. Paul says, fullness of God dwells in him (Col 1:19).
o All the truth that we have meditated on the words of Jesus applies, in the immediate manner and in the implicit manner, to the mystery of the Father;
o Our final destination is to see God face to face, that is beatific vision of God; and we reach that state only when we enter into Father’s House in which rooms are prepared for us by Christ, who is the Way, the Truth and the Life.

Conclusion:
- The resurrection of Christ reveals so much of truth about God and human destiny;
- Fullness of God’s revelation passes through the mysteries of Christ;
- Christ’s proclamation of God’s kingdom is nothing but reaching our true home, that is, the Father’s House;
- Rooms are ready, the access is made easy to enter into the bosom of the Father, but it is we, who are supposed to be working with the dedication and devotion (first reading) to be authentic ‘chosen race’ who are being bought by God (second reading) for the following ‘the way-the truth-the life’ (Gospel) in order to reach our Father’s House;
- Come, we will go to the Father’s House, Alleluia!

FOURTH SUNDAY OF EASTER: I AM THE GATE/DOOR

THE FOURTH SUNDAY OF EASTER – A: (Acts 2:14a, 36-41; 1Pet 2:20b-25; John 10:1-10)
Theme: Open the door of our life to Jesus and to our neighbors

Reflection:
- In the fourth Sunday of Easter we still walk with the Risen Jesus. Jesus does not leave us alone. He manifests and reveals the truth of Christian Life till we understand it. He opens our hearts to listen and accept his voice. His voice echoes in the every moment and in every event of our life. If we listen to His voice we are people of His Pasture and He is our Shepherd.
- Like that of disciples of Emmaus (last Sunday) who, after recognizing Jesus in the breaking of the bread, have returned to Jerusalem from where they have to give the testimony for the truth they have received, also we, have to move towards opening of the door of our life after entering into the communion with Jesus.

First Reading:
- Still we are in the discourse of Peter, his first testimony, of the Resurrection of Jesus. He stands out in the public to speak of the truth which he himself denied three times for the fear of death. This is the great witness that once we recognize and receive, to the fullness, the truth about Jesus and the mystery of his death and resurrection, we cannot but proclaim it by our words and testify it by our life. The truth itself opens the closed door of our fear and incapacity and makes us enter into the intimacy with the mystery revealed and received.
- The bold announcement of Peter is that Jesus who was rejected and killed, is the one whom God has constituted as the Lord and Christ: the Lord of the universe, who was from the beginning of the world and for whom every was created (Eph 1) and who holds it together; and Christ, the Messiah Promised and Consecrated for the accomplishment of the design of salvation of God for all the humanity. The Jews, and in particular, the Jewish authority, in their blindness to the truth and in their pride and egoism of being the chosen people of God, failed to recognize the fulfillment of their Law, Prophets and the Psalms in Jesus, who is amidst them talking to them and doing wonders for them. Their blindness and their egoism led them to nail truth to the cross and to put the life (I am the Life) to the death. But as both Peter and Paul know well that death has no power over him (Acts 2:24; Rom 6:9), God has raised him from the dead and made him the Lord and Christ.
- “When they (the people) heard this, they were cut to the heart” (v.37): It is very similar to the disciples of Emmaus who felt “were our hearts not burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?” (Lk 24:32). When the Word of God (both the Scriptures and the Person of Jesus himself) is being proclaimed and when it is accepted and embraced by good listening, our hearts will be open and minds will see the truth. This happened to the crowd that gathered to listen to the Apostles on the day of Pentecost and even before it happened, as we have already noted, to the disciples who were sadly returning to Emmaus. Yes, indeed, the word of God is so powerful and so truthful that it cuts our beings deep within us and arouse in us the spirit to see the clear connection between what is proclaimed and the person who received heard it, like a double-edged sword. The process of listening is not over with the hearts being burnt with and for the truth. It goes forward to ask how to receive it and how to make it one’s own and how to live it and finally how to enjoy the fruits of it. That is the consequence of the listening to the word proclaimed. The power of the word makes the listener to ask:
- “Brothers, what should we do?” (v.37): this is the authentic fruit of good listening of the word of God proclaimed with power and truth. It creates in us the interest to do something to do to gain it; once the kingdom of God is found as a treasure hidden in a field, or like a pearl of great value, we sell everything we have in order to buy it (Mt 13:44-45). The word of God is the treasure (‘riches of his grace that he lavished upon us’: Eph 1:8) of highest value. It buy and to have it for ourselves we have to do something (selling what we have, returning to buy and having it) and this is what Peter tells them when they asked what should we do.
- “Repent and be baptized and you will receive the Holy Spirit” (v.38):
o Repenting is the process of renouncing and leaving aside what we have and what we possess and especially what we hold on as a great treasure, that is, the treasures of the world and desires of the flesh;
o Being baptized is the process of embracing what we have found. We have found Jesus and his word and to embrace it now we have to enter into his life with the profession of faith, in the sacramental way through the baptism;
o Receiving the Holy Spirit is the process of making the space for the Spirit of love and service and for the desires of the spirit.
- The same thing happens to us every time when we hear the word of God; it has to happen to us; after listening to the word proclaimed we need to ask, “Jesus, what should I do” as an individual and “Lord, what should we do” as the community. These are the questions that we have to often ask ourselves. Immediately the consequence follows: giving up what we have, creating the place or opening the door of our life in faith to embrace Jesus and his word and finally offering ourselves to the action of the Spirit. Unless this happens, the word proclaimed goes in vain and goes fruitless and as Jesus will say in today’s Gospel, without having life.

Responsorial Psalm:
- What is the meaning of saying or singing, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want”: when we have the Lord as our guide who leads us to the pastures of life, the greenery of the word and the lawn of the Eucharist, we don’t have to fear anything and we do not need anything more. Once we accept and embrace this eternal companion and shepherd of our souls as says Peter in the second reading (1 Pet 2:25), we need not to be occupied and preoccupied with anything else. Paul expresses the fruit and effect of having ‘the Lord as our shepherd’ when he says, “I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord” (Phil 3:7). It is to the Lord we need to give priority and it is the Lord who has to be the centre of our life. Everything else is secondary. This is what it meaning living what we say and what we sing, the Lord is my shepherd. If we do not live in this way, only our lips say these word but our heart are far away from the Lord as once again God says through the psalmist: ‘they praise me by their lips but their hearts are astray”.

Second Reading:
- Peter analyses how Christ stand out as the model and example for our day to-day life and its contents: though we have daily events that affect our life we need to confront them in the different way as Jesus did. “He did not commit any sin and no wrong is on his mouth; he was insulted but did not respond with insults….”: even Jesus had the moments and situations to fall into temptation and to fall into sin by talking so much of malice but he did not do. The situations are same as they are for us but he acted differently. His way of confrontation is different. He did not give any room for the sin and for the slightest power of the sin. That is what we have to learn from Jesus because He stands out as a great model for leading the life in ‘manner of committing oneself to the will of God’.
- Patience is the final winner: we have to support our suffering with the patience because that is what is pleasing to God and that’s what Christ did by his own passion for us. In fact, we are called to be faithful to our call by accepting and enduring our daily sufferings with the patience, just because we are healed by his wounds (v.25).

Gospel Reading:
- The figure of ‘the gate’ or ‘the door’:
o The door is the entrance through which has an access to what is inside the room.
o The door opens the ‘possibility’ to the other mode of being.
o The door is not the finality but paves the way to the finality.
- The self revelation of Jesus: ‘I am the door’
o Jesus does not stop just telling I am the door, but there is, continuity: He is the entrance to have an access to the life inside, the love and communion of the Trinity. What happens to the one who enters through this door? He receives the salvation and that’s what Jesus reveals telling that he, “who enters through me will be saved” (v.9); and therefore, the finality of this entrance is the salvation.
o This door opens the possibility of freedom, ‘comes and goes’ (v.9): one who is inside has, always, the freedom of coming and going. But this freedom leads to the Christian mission: comes in to learn from the life of Jesus and goes out to give testimony to what has been experienced, that’s what we find peter doing in the first reading: he comes out and stand out to proclaim what he has experienced with the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
o This door opens the possibility of secure life, ‘finds the pasture’ (v.9): one who enters inside can, always, be sure of the nourishment; he needs not fear of hunger; the green pastures are always available and in plenty; in fact, Jesus himself is the bread of life and wine of salvation; once we enter into the life of God through the door of Jesus, we always have the nutriment of our soul, that is, the word proclaimed and the bread broken;
- The figure of ‘sheep’:
o In the history of Israel the imagery of ‘sheep and shepherd’ is very familiar and prophets often used this expression to reveal the rapport and relationship between God and his chosen people Israel. God is the shepherd and his people, who listen to him, are the sheep for God promises them that if they would listen to his commandments, He would be their God and they would be his people.
o Therefore, the responsibility of the sheep: listening and following:
 Firstly, to listen to the shepherd and to make out his voice (v.3);
 Secondly, to follow him (v.4);
- Jesus, the shepherd and his sheep: the love of calling and leading to the good pastures:
o Jesus calls them (v.3): calling is a first action of the creator; In the beginning, God has called all the creation into existence; therefore, call is an invitation to be something; Even here Jesus, as the shepherd calls the sheep in to the life and communion of God.
o Calls them by name (v.3): one who has full knowledge of the person and one who loves only calls by name; God, out of his immense love, calls each one of us by name; It is not difficult and impossible for him to call each one by name because his love for each one is unconditional and unlimited; in fact, He reveals it through the prophet Isaiah, “See, I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands” (Is 49:16); Even Jesus tells that each one of our hair is counted. He remembers us by name and calls us by name; this shows how important we are for him and how much he loves us;
o He leads them out (v.3): leading the sheep out of the place where they are; the sheep is in the wrong place; the sheep is in the desert where there is no good pastures and so starving of hunger and thirst; the sheep, the people before the coming of Jesus, is in the hands of thieves and bandits, who were robbing, killing and destroying their life with false witnesses and false attractions; now Jesus, call them out of this slavery of falsehood and out of bondage of evil powers. He calls them out of the evil teaching and over burdens of the Jewish authority;
o He goes ahead of them (v.4): the shepherd goes in front of the sheep so that the sheep is very clear about the path and the way; the shepherd goes ahead preparing the way; if there are thorns and stones he clears them; if there is crooked and rough way he makes it smooth and straight; this is what shepherd who goes ahead does; this way, the prophecy of Isaiah was fulfilled in Jesus Christ for whom the way is prepared, “prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. Every valley shall be filled and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth and all the flesh shall see the salvation of God” (Luke 3:4-6), and now Jesus himself prepares this way for the salvation of his people.
o This is the love of the shepherd for the sheep: He CALLS them by NAME and LEADS them OUT. He calls us into sharing of his life and leads us out of the deceptive life of false shepherds.
- the presence of false teachers and false gods is always there: before and after Jesus there are thieves and bandits:
o What do these thieves and bandits (false teacher and false gods) do? As Jesus himself says they ‘steal and kill and destroy’ (v.9). What do they steal, kill and destroy? They steal the authentic conscience and they kill the spirit of goodness and finally they destroy the very life leading them into the eternal damnation.
o What does the good shepherd, instead, do? As Jesus himself says, he ‘leads them out of this falsehood and gives life and life in abundance’ (v.10).
o Jesus is not talking certainly about the all those who have come before him because there are many prophets who have come and announced God’s word; he talks about those who have come in the name of God but leading the people out of God’s fold and they are false teaches (thieves) and false gods (bandits). There is one instance in Acts of the Apostles of this (5:35-39);
o They are there certainly also after Christ who use and preach in the name of Jesus but do everything in the contrary. They by their erroneous doctrines and by their misuse of authority lead the people out of relationship of God and thus throwing them into the hells of fire.
o The sheep, the people of God, has to be very careful about these thieves and bandits and about not following them; otherwise, they lose their very life.
o The sheep knows well the ‘voice of the shepherd’, the authentic Church, and there it has to listen attentively and follow it with commitment and dedication, so that, it may have life and life in abundance.

Conclusion
- Jesus is the way, the truth and the life: He is the Way (the door or the gate) to enter into the Truth (the love and communion of God with humanity in Christ and in Spirit) and thus to have the Life, the fullness of Life.
- He himself calls us by name and leads us to the good pastures of the word (liturgy of the scriptures) and of the bread (liturgy of the Eucharist) and we who are to be good sheep, have to LISTEN to him and FOLLOW him.
- Once we listen and follow him who is ‘our shepherd’ we do not want anything else and we consider everything else as secondary and as nothing and makes him our prior good and example.
- This is the only ‘WAY’ or the ‘DOOR’ or the ‘GATE’ through which we enter into Life and Life in abundance.
- Our responsibility is to ask Jesus every time: “Lord, what must we do” and the listen to his will and his will be our task;
- Our task today and from today is to ‘OPEN THE DOOR OF OUR LIFE TO JESUS AND TO OTHERS’.

THIRD SUNDAY OF EASTER: FROM EMMAUS TO JERUSALEM

THIRD SUNDAY OF EASTER – A: (Acts 2:14a, 22-33; 1Pt 1:17-21; Luke 24:13-35)
Theme: We can walk confidently in the way towards Heavenly Jerusalem because we have a companion of journey, the Risen Jesus.

Reflection:
- We are still walking with the Risen Jesus, full of joy and full of life: the resurrection of Jesus the central point from where our life starts and also the culmination where our life reaches its fullness.
- There is no more discouragement and desperation in spite of our doubts, illusion of mind, but the hope of finding the Lord in the Scriptures and in the Eucharist.
- He is Immanuel on the road to Emmaus, the ‘Lord with us’ as He is with the helpless and discouraged disciples on the road to Emmaus. He revealed himself, once again as He does always, as the one ‘who stays with us’. He is our companion.

First Reading:
- Peter is the first testimony of Jesus’ Resurrection to the public:
o He is the hero of Gospel of Risen Jesus: He is always ready to take up the first word for all other disciples/companions. In today’s first reading we see Peter standing up in the public, exactly opposite of what he was before the resurrection of Jesus where he was afraid and hidden himself from the authority and from the public. The one who denied Jesus in front of the people, is now, become the first one to testify and witness the power of resurrection of Jesus.
o The coward becomes the man of courage and hope: He does not fear to tell the truth of Jesus. He does not look back once he has seen Risen Jesus. He does not hide the joy of having seen the Lord whom he thought to be dead and gone. Yes, he was coward; he was fearful; he was stepping back; but it was in the past. Very soon he recovered his faith; very soon he realized his mistake; very soon he accepted his fault; and very soon he committed himself to the love of the Lord; the people who listen to him can easily find out who he was before and who he is now. They begin to see in him the true message of Christ. They start admiring his words and his stand for Jesus. The man of fear has become the man of courage and hope.
- Peter proclaims the hidden mysteries of God:
o All the events of Christ, before, during and after his earthly life in history, are the ONE DESIGN OF GOD’S SALVATION TO THE HUMANITY. This design is already pre-established and it already existed in the plan of God. All other personalities, like that of Mary and Joseph, the disciples whom he has called to himself and the authority who has condemned him to death, are the ‘instruments’ and ‘means’ that God made use of for bringing this salvation into the completion. Peter expresses this design of God beautifully in his first public speech: “this man, handed over to you according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you have crucified and killed by the hands of those outside the law. But God raised him up, having freed him from death” (vv.23-24).
o In the mystery of God, death is not the aim but the life. God has created everything not because they may die and vanish but that they may live and participate in the fullness of life of God. This is the mystery revealed from the eternity and from the first moment of creation and therefore, our God is not God of the dead but of the living. He does not want the death of the sinner but may have life with reconciliation and conversion of the heart. In fact, death has entered into the world because of one man’s disobedience and denial of God’s communion. But God, out of his infinite love and mercy, desired and designed to save man, again by another man in substitution to the first one, by his own son Jesus Christ. Because of this man’s suffering and death and finally resurrection, the death has lost its power. The death is once and for all defeated. By his victory with the cross, he has eliminated and destroyed the powers of death. There is no more corruption of the body but its glorification in Risen Jesus. Jesus has become the cause for life. We who share in this mystery of God become the men of living, not of the death because as Peter says: “God raised him up, having freed him from death, because it was impossible for him to be help in its power” (v.24).

Second Reading:
- We belong to God for Christ has made us God’s children through his precious blood:
o By the death and resurrection of Jesus, we are all bought and brought to the life of God, which we lost by the sin of disobedience and rejection of grace. It is the fruit of resurrection. Therefore, we now belong only to Him who has called us to himself in Christ and in the Spirit.
o As we are of God, we do not belong to the world and its desires; we are living here as the strangers and as the pilgrims. We have no permanent tent here. We have eternal life here on earth. As Blessed John Paul II holds, we are in the world but not of the world. One day this pilgrimage will be over and we will reach to our home with God. We are called to be there with him sharing his life and joy.
- The character of the Baptism makes us participate in the mystery of Christ, that is, in his suffering, death and resurrection:
o We have to be always in the fear of the Lord (v. 17): Having the fear of the Lord is ‘contemplating his presence’ in faith (today’s Responsorial Psalm) and ‘partaking in his life with the works of charity’. Fear of the Lord always leads us to the knowledge of him. It is the grace of God in the Spirit. The Holy Spirit gives us this gift and virtue of the fear of the Lord.
o The baptism we receive is the participation in the life of God: this follows immediately the responsibility and duty of safeguarding and nourishing one’s own faith and transforming and transmitting this life of faith into witnessing of Christ.

Gospel Reading:
- From Emmaus to Jerusalem: Return to Jerusalem is a return to the hope lost:
o Today’s gospel speaks about the two disciples who are on the road to Emmaus. They are going away from Jerusalem. They are going away from the hope they created in Jesus. The reason is because they desired to see a great victory and triumph of Jesus over the Romans and Jewish authority and establish his own kingdom. When they saw Jesus speaking about the kingdom and its good news, doing many wonders by the way of miracles, they indeed, thought him to be the Messiah who would establish a kingdom of his own. We can observe this in the discouragement and helplessness of disciples and in a particular way in their return to home, in their road away from Jerusalem: “The things about Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people…. we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel” (vv.19 and 21). But nothing of this sort happened. Instead, has taken place what was contrary: He was “condemned to death and crucified” (v.20). They have no more hope in salvation. What they have is only the way return to home and usual life and work. They started going away from Jerusalem.
o Joy of Resurrection of Jesus brings them back to Jerusalem: their sadness is over. Everything appeared to them as lost. All life and all desires seemed to be doomed into abyss. But at the end of the road they had seen and recognized their Jesus Risen, in the Scriptures that talked about Him and in the Bread that was broken by Him. Once they have recognized Risen Jesus, they are filled with great joy and their hearts were burning with His presence and they started coming back to Jerusalem. Their way back to hope.
o This is the effect of Resurrection of Jesus: although we seem to be going away from the right path and right place (from the community of believers as we have seen last week) with the burden of our doubts (drowned in the worldly challenges to the faith) and with the darkness of the soul (immersed in the desires of the world and pleasures of the flesh), our companion, Risen Jesus, always enlightens us (makes the path clear) and guides us (makes us walk back to the hope) and leads us (makes us joyful of being found in the right place again) to the Heavenly Jerusalem where we have to stay forever.
o Road to Emmaus is the road to the world. Return to Jerusalem is a return to the Father’s house. The disciples on the road to Emmaus are the disciples lost, like that of the lost son (prodigal son) who, from the moment he stepped out of the house established for him to take his own way, started losing all he has, not only the wealth but also the hope of being a son. Even these disciples once they have taken the wrong road, leaving aside the place they are called to be in, that is Jerusalem, they started losing all their life and their hope of being a disciples and the portion of partaking in the life of their master. But finally, with the help of their companion, Jesus, on their way, they started their return journey to Jerusalem immediately not wasting even a single minute, “that same hour they got up and returned to Jerusalem” (v.33). This is the same hour for us to get up from the road to the world and to get back to the way that is prepared for us, the way of Jesus, towards the eternal joy of the vision of the Lord.
- Journey from the delusion/illusion to the recognition and proclamation of Risen Jesus:
o They stood still looking sad: this is the stage they are in with all the happenings of last three days, from the death to the disappearance of Jesus’ body in the tomb. They are confused. They are in an illusion. They finally look sad. They could not digest and understand what has happened and what is happening. What has happened was the condemnation and death of Jesus on the cross and his burial (v.20). What is happening is the women’s vision of angels who said that Jesus is alive (v. 23). They are in delusion (v.17). His condemnation and death were sure because they themselves have seen; but they are little more astounded (v.22) with the testimony of the women. They are in abyss between the sorrow of death and the hope of resurrection. That’s why they stood still looking sad.
o They proclaimed what has happened on the road and how they recognized him in the breaking of the bread: this is the stage they have reached at the end of the road. They have found Jesus who was with them, who was explaining them the Scriptures, from Moses to the Prophets that already talked about him, but found him only at the end, at the banquet and at the breaking of the bread. The word of God leads us to the body of the Lord (the passage from the Scriptures, table of the word, to the Eucharist, the table of the breaking of the bread). The Eucharist is the culmination of the word proclaimed and accepted.
o In this journey from the delusion to the recognition we are not alone; we have one great Companion, Jesus. In this company we do not flatter. In his guidance we do not go astray. In his banquet we are not hungry. He himself makes us to come out of this delusion and doubt and hardheartedness (“Oh, how foolish you and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have declared!” v. 25) to the burning of the heart for him and for his joy that never ends and that never can be taken away from anybody (“were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the Scriptures to us?” v.32).
o This is the passage everyone of us has to make; this is the journey that each one of us has to take up today and from this very moment; once we recognize Jesus we cannot but move towards that joy of proclamation of wonderful deeds that God has done for us;
o “This same hour” (v.33) is the key word in accepting and seeing the effect of God’s wonderful work. The servant of the centurion was healed in ‘that hour’ (Mt 8:13). This is the hour in which we have found the Lord, in the Scripture and in the Eucharist, and this is the same hour that we have to proclaim him. ‘Now’ is the moment we have to sell all that we have and follow him (parable of rich young man); ‘Today’ is the day that the salvation has come to this house (Luke 19:1-10). As Paul also admonishes, “see now is the acceptable time; see now is the day of salvation!” (2Cor 6:2). Let us return to the life of hope; let us return to the Scriptures; let us return to the Eucharist; and let us return to the heavenly Jerusalem.

Conclusion:
- We can stand still, firm and secure because the Lord stays with us, once again He reveals himself as Emmanuel on the road to Emmaus because “he went in to stay with them” (v.29).
- We can move forward with hope and confidence because he always accompanies us in our journey, for Jesus “himself cam near and went with them” (v.15).
- We can be sure of the vision of the Lord because he is present in the Scriptures we read and meditate and in the Eucharist we share and take part and therefore, the celebration of the Mass, the Eucharist is the summit and culmination of our liturgical and spiritual life. His presence and power is always with us in the words proclaimed and in the bread broken.
- We can start our journey towards the knowledge and recognition of the Lord because he himself is our guide, master and companion.
- Get up! Let us go to proclaim what we have seen. Let us announce that we have seen the Lord. Let us cry out that Jesus is risen! Alleluia. Alleluia.

SECOND SUNDAY OF EASTER: DIVINE MERCY

SECOND SUNDAY OF EASTER – A: (Acts 2:42-47; 1Pet 1:3-9; John 20:19-31)

Theme: Joy of the vision of Risen Jesus makes us cry out ‘My Lord and My God’.

Reflection:
- Jesus, who is risen from the dead, did not abandon his disciples without giving them his vision and his touch. Instead, He kept on manifesting his glorious nature and presence creating in them the life and testimony.
- The Resurrection of Jesus is the ultimate revelation of God’s continuous love to the humanity. His immense love crosses the borders of suffering and death and enters into the eternity.
- This Sunday the Church celebrates as the day of Divine Mercy. The mercy of God is fully expressed in the love that God has for the humanity, which is extended in His Begotten Son, in whom He is well pleased. In the particular manner, in His offering of self, for the will of His Father, Jesus, extended the loving mercy to the sinful being and to bring him to the participation of life in God.

First Reading:
- In the Acts, we see, the first community of believers of Risen Jesus: The first fruit of Resurrection of Jesus is ‘communion’: communion with God and communion with fellow beings.
o Through His death and Resurrection, Jesus, has set right all that is being divided by sin. The unity of man with God and with his neighbors is broken by his sin of disbelief and disobedience. Now Jesus has restored this life of communion with His death and Resurrection. Therefore, the Christians, who believe in the Risen Jesus, have to be in ‘unity’ and in the ‘community’.
o With their ‘one in mind and one in heart’ they have to witness the Life that Risen Jesus has given them. No more a reign of sin and death. No more a reign of evil and division. From now on, it is a reign of spirit and life. From this moment, it is a reign of God and unity. All this restoration is re-brought by the blood of Jesus on the Cross and His Resurrection. All who are in Risen Jesus participate in His Glorious Life.
- Life is no more individual but common: “All who believed were together and had all things in common” (Acts 2:44).
o The mentality of ‘this is mine’ is defeated by the attitude of ‘this is ours’. They are together, sharing the fellowship, the gift of the Holy Spirit, because they have believed in Jesus who is dead and risen. They have believed and so as the fruit of their faith, they are together. Therefore, the faith and togetherness or fellowship, go hand in hand. Faith in God cannot keep us away from the fellowship of the others. So also the participation in the life of Christ makes us always sharers of faith with our fellow beings. Life of resurrection is not individual but common.
o They had all things in common: not only what they are having abundantly, not only the things they are happy with, but all that belong to them, they had in common. This signifies not only of the joys but also sufferings. The first Christians were not free of hardships and trials of their faith. They had to undergo all kinds of persecutions and give witness to the Risen Lord till their last breath. Even in this ‘testimony of faith’ they are united.
- The four pillars of New Christian Building: “they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers” (Acts 2:42):
o Teaching of the Apostles: It is the commission entrusted to the apostles by their Master, Jesus, himself. In the special way, the Risen Jesus sends them to all the corners of the world to teach the kingdom of God, for He says, “go into the entire world and proclaim the good news (Gospel) to the whole creation. The one who believes and is baptized will be saved” (Mk 16:15). What they teach is not their own teaching but all that Christ, their master and teacher, taught them: “I have said these things to you while I am still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you” (John 14:25-26). Those who listen to the Apostles truly listen to the words of Jesus who speaks through them. The voice of the Apostles is the voice of the Jesus. Therefore, one who listens to the apostles’ teaching truly listens to Jesus himself. That’s what the first community of believers did. They dedicated themselves to the teaching of the apostles because they are the direct transmission of Jesus’ life and words.
o Fellowship: The word of Jesus which comes to the believers through the teaching of apostles is primarily, the word of salvation. The salvation in the Christian sense is not of the individual but of the community. From the beginning God did not intend to have individuals but will to have the community. Even in the act of creation He has made everything in fellowship. Each one is related to other. Each element is connected to the other. Each being compliments the other. The creation of man and women, not as the individuals, but as the community of love, itself is a great example of God’s will of communion between the creatures. The whole story of the salvation history initiated and carried upon by God himself either in the Old Covenant or in the New Alliance in Christ, is, the revelation of God’s communion in calling to himself, not the individual but a race, a community of Israel in the Old Testament and the community of disciples in the New Testament. This fellowship, which is divided and made individual by the egoism and pride, is ultimately restored by the Resurrection of Jesus. Even Christ himself did not act individually but in communion with the Father and with the Spirit. This is the fellowship that has to prevail in the community of New Life in Christ and this was exactly manifested in the first community of believers.
o The breaking of the bread, the Eucharist: The mystical act of Christ, changing the bread and wine into His Body and Blood during the Last Supper, is the centre of this New Christian community. They continue this ‘Christ’s Event’ in ‘His Memory’ (do this in memory of me). The apostles’ teaching leads them finally to be nourished by this Eucharist, the lovable and continuous presence of Risen Jesus. They consider this ‘memorial meal’ as the self-sacrifice of Jesus’ love to the humanity and so as they participate in it, they are also ready to become the sacrificing victims for the faith in Risen Christ. Apostle’s teaching has its culmination in the breaking of the bread. If the bread is not broken and all do not share in the Eucharist, then, the teaching itself is half-done. Therefore, finally, the fellowship becomes ‘the table of the word’ and ‘the table of Eucharist.’ Teaching (or the word) leads to the breaking of the bread (or the Eucharist); and the Eucharist presupposes the preaching of the word. Even if one element is missing then the fellowship is not complete. That’s the reason why the first community of believers gave lot of importance to these two particular aspects of the fellowship and they were even ready to offer their own life in defending their faith (teaching and preaching) and preserving the communion (Eucharist).
o The prayers: The act of coming together itself is the first step of prayer. The believers preserve their rapport with the Risen Jesus, thus with the experience of the Apostles and the total community itself with constant ‘being together’ and Jesus promises his presence where two or three gather in his name. Prayer is not a formal verbal prayer for the first believing community. It is a living and witnessing the experience of Risen Jesus. In this prayer, the words of the mouth become the deeds of the charity. They speak and share the event of Christ. They talk among themselves nothing but the presence of Risen Jesus amidst them in the form of teaching of the Apostles and the Eucharist. In this way, they avoid and eliminate useless talk and blaming one another and instead they encourage one another in faith and in charity and this is the ‘act of prayer’ in the first Christian community. Their life itself becomes the prayer.
- The first Christian community is the community of GIVING:
o The community of believers who are based on these four pillars is constructed with the love and love knows only giving, not expecting back or not asking in return. This is not only verbal expression but living experience. Now, the community knows well how to sell their properties and give for the common good. By now it is not anymore hard for them to renounce what they have and follow the Risen Jesus (Mt 16:24). They are well aware of the heavenly riches. They are taking every step to preserve their wealth in the presence of their living God where neither moth nor rust consume (Mt 6:19-20); they do not sacrifice their heart for the passing treasures (Mt 6:21) and they do not want to win whole world and lose their soul (Mt 16:26) for filthy riches and rubbish things (Phil 3:8).
o This community who knows only giving lives with glad and generous hearts. They rejoice in the well being of others. They take joy in the growth of fellow beings. Each member of the community is precious. Each is given at most care and concern. They are ready to do anything, even cast their own life, for the happiness of the other. Each tries to defend the other.
- Thus, the first believing community is the ‘community of God’:
o God does all the wonder possible amidst and through his people (v.43: awe came upon everyone, because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles).
o The presence of God is very much visible in its continuous growth (v.47: day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved).

The second reading:
- Resurrection of Jesus is the REGENERATION of a believer into the living hope. Once we are re-made into the community of God, he is of God. We are new creation in Christ. The old man and old nature of our being is destroyed by the death of Jesus and it is not over there, moreover, it is re-created/regenerated again with the glory of resurrection. This regeneration (v.3 or a new birth) into the believing and living community of Risen Jesus is the point of our departure and we move/travel with the hope that never ends and that never dies (v.3) towards the arriving point of revelation of Jesus Christ (v.7).
- This living hope does not eliminate from us the trials and does not free us from the hardships. We are to be always tested with the fires of earthly life as gold. We are not destroyed by our trials but we are examined and tested and finally purified so that we become worthy of the imperishable and indescribable glory of the Resurrection. We do not fear anymore to offer our praise and honor to the Lord who has, out of his great mercy, made us his new creation. That is the joy of life we are blessed with in the resurrection of Jesus from the dead.
- Those who are regenerated are no more slaves of earthly pleasures. They do not lose their hope amidst many a trial they have to undergo. Their love for Him (v.8) who has loved them till his last drop of blood and last breath of life, keeps them alive and active in their mission of regeneration.
- New creation/regeneration is an act of God through His Son Jesus and in the Holy Spirit. This is also a new mission. All those who are given a new birth have to live and continue being a new creation. They cannot and should not go back to the old nature or previous life of the world and its desires. The fruit of resurrection is the living hope that makes those regenerated into the community of God and so in communion with God and with the neighbors. ‘Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ’ (v.3) for all the spiritual riches He has given to humanity in the resurrection of His Son – the salvation of our souls (v.9).

Gospel:
- The three moments of Divine Mercy of the Risen Jesus to the Apostles:
o He stood among them and said ‘Peace, be with you’: Indeed they need a encouraging presence and word of peace. The mercy of Risen Jesus is to give them what they needed in that hour. He stood among them (his presence) and gave them the word of assurance (his peace). They are closed themselves in the room for the fear of Jews. Their life and their hope is, shattered. They are in confusion of what is happening in spite of Jesus’ repeated predication of these events. They have nothing in mind. They lost everything what they have. They are just living with the minimum breath of hope that these things will pass away soon and they become normal again and they can go back to their old life where they have come from before three years. Once the fear of Jews is gone and once all these events are forgotten soon or later, they want to return immediately to their life and forget these three bitter years. These are the bitter years because they hoped for something in Jesus whom they considered to be the Messiah and they desired that they will be saved in the victorious manner. But nothing happened; not even one of their thoughts and desires are fulfilled. All the hopes they had till this moment are shattered. They remained silent and perplexed. They want to forget these moments and return to lead the normal life as though nothing had happened. They do not want to lose their life half a way like this in the hands of the Jews. Therefore, with confusion and with fear they closed themselves in the secret place. Jesus, who always knows their thoughts, has appeared to them. Nothing was impeding him to enter into the room, not even door. The doors remained closed and yet Jesus entered. He is more worried about the closed doors of their hearts than the room. In the right moment of their need Jesus gives them the peace. They are in need of push. They need something extraordinary to encourage them and to lead them out of that ‘room of fear’. They exactly need the peace of heart. And Jesus gives them what they need: ‘peace be with you’ (v.19). His presence and His peace are the first gifts of Risen Jesus to his disciples.
o He breathed on them and said “Receive the Holy Spirit”: Breathing the spirit is always an act of creation. In the act of first creation God has breathed his Spirit into the nostrils of man and he began to live and move in Him (we live, move and have our being in Him). in the act of second creation (is a regeneration as Peter admonishes) Jesus breathes the Spirit into the hearts of frightened disciples and they become new creation who live and move in Risen Jesus.
 The Spirit makes them ‘new beings in Christ’: the darkness of fear in them is dispelled and the light of joy is shone upon them. The closed doors are open. The cold hearts become warmed up with the breathing of Jesus. The cowards become the witnesses. They move out with the new mind and with the new heart and in a word, with the new life in Christ.
 The Spirit sends them into the world: the breath of Risen Jesus effects in them, the mission of being sent. ‘Being Sent’ is the mission: sent into the world; sent to give to the world the word of God (evangelization); sent to give the world the grace of God (sacraments); sent to give the world the life (testimony of faith). Jesus who has received it from His Father did it perfectly and those who are sent by Jesus, “As the Father has sent me, so I send you” (v.21), have to be in the world and for the world but not by the world or of the world. This is the mission of regenerating the souls to God by witness of the faith.
 The Spirit gives them the authority: the spirit which Jesus gives as the fruit of His Death and Resurrection is not the spirit of fear but the Spirit of Power. All that Jesus has said and done is transmitted to his disciples by this Spirit. They have to exercise the authority that the Spirit of Risen Jesus gives them. They are given the power to do their ministry of sowing the love. They have to teach and administer the grace of God with the same authority that Jesus has exercised. Their word is authoritative because it is not from their mouth but from the Spirit that is given to them. Their grace is efficacious because it is not of their own power and merit but of the power of the Spirit that is active in them.
o Do not doubt but believe: The words that Jesus spoke to Thomas are the words to each one of us. Jesus does not want to abandon even one. He searches and seeks what is lost, for he came ‘to seek out and to save the lost’ (Lk 19:10). He goes always behind the lost sheep leaving aside the ninety-nine safe sheep (Lk 15:4-7). He does not take pleasure in the lost disciple, Thomas. He wanted to complete his revelation of glory to them all. That’s the reason why he reappeared to them in the same mode who has done the first time, one week ago. Now Thomas is there. He goes straight away to Thomas and tells him to do want he wanted. He wanted to see the holes that the nails have made and put his finger in his side. Jesus exactly asked him to do the same. The divine mercy never stops anyone from their desire of knowing. Jesus then says to him not to doubt bu believe. More than the holes and the side in which he has put his fingers to touch and see, the assurance of his risen glory came to him in His words of love and comfort: ‘do not doubt, Thomas, but believe’.
 Whenever we are doubtful about the authenticity of Christian faith, the divine mercy is revealed to man by the various appearances in the history of the Church, like that of Mary in Fatima, Lourdes and various other places and different modes. All that just to say one word to the world: do not doubt but believe.
 Whenever the persecutions and trials come in various forms of atheism, secularism, fundamentalism and so on, Jesus generates the holy lives and authentic testimony of the faith in His Church, many saints and blessed people, like that of Pope John Paul II, the defender of faith, for a simple example, the one who is made ‘blessed’ today (1.5.2011), just to tell the world: ‘do not doubt, but believe’.
 The result of this assurance of Risen Jesus is the ‘acceptance of Him’ on the part of his disciples and believers (all the believing community, the first reading) as ‘My Lord and My God’ (v.28). Once Jesus is recognized as the Lord and God, the believer, becomes regenerated and new creation (second reading) who lives for him alone and nothing in the world can separate him from the One in whom He has believed.
- The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord (v.20):
o Joy of seeing the Lord is recognizing him as the messiah: Jesus invited the first disciples to come and see where he is staying. They went and saw and remained with him that day and when they returned they have proclaimed the joy of see the Lord and they said: “We have found the Messiah” (John 2:41).
o Joy of seeing the Lord is accepting him as God: the gospel tells us that the disciples have seen, not just Jesus with whom they have been for all these days but the Lord Jesus, in whom all the glory of God is revealed through the resurrection from the dead. If they have seen just a Jesus of miracles and pious words they would have still remained in confusion and in doubt; but they see the Risen Jesus, the Lord, therefore they have overcome all the fear and doubt and recognized him as the Lord and God and now the joy is all over. No one take away this joy as Jesus promised and not even suffering and death.

Conclusion:
- As the believing community we have to be founded on the four pillars of the ‘word’ (Knowledge of God), the ‘fellowship’ (Service of God), the ‘breaking of the bread’ (Love of God) and the ‘prayer’ (Intimacy of God): God has created us to ‘know’ him, to ‘love’ him and to ‘serve’ him and thus ‘become one with him’. This is the new creation of God in Jesus Christ.
- This new creation or regeneration leads us to ‘living hope’ which does not disappear in the time of trials but all the more, lives and testify it even to the point of offering of the self. We live with the hope and our hope is a living one.
- Once we have seen Jesus, died and risen, we have the JOY of God’s life in us and through us. We not only recognize him as ‘Our Lord and Our God’ but we manifest Him through our lives.
- The Joy never keeps us un-responded but keeps us ‘go forward’ sharing this joy and doubling it by giving it to others. We are no more individuals but community in which all have the ‘joy’, the treasures, in common.
- We are the New Building in which there dwells always the Spirit of God. This is the marvelous making of God. Let us rejoice and be glad in it. Let us live and let others live this joy of the vision of Risen Jesus.