PENTECOST - FULL OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

PENTECOST SUNDAY – A: (Acts 2:1-11; 1Cor 12:3-7, 12-13; John 20:19-23)

Theme: WE ARE FULL OF JOY BECAUSE WE ARE FULL OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

Reflections:
- Today we celebrate the solemnity of the Holy Spirit
- We commemorate today the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles and from that until today, his continuous and efficacious presence amidst the world.
- Holy Spirit is the gift of the Father and of the Son Jesus but it is not like any other gift: but it is the Gift of all the gifts and the Giver of all the gifts.
- He is not just the great gift of God and His Son but He is God himself and He is the Third person of the Trinity.
- God the Father’s presence in the world is made known in many forms in the Old Testament and the Best Form he has chosen is the ‘human form in the person of his son’. The Son Jesus is the fullness of revelation of the presence and plan of the Father.
- Jesus who is the second person of the Triune God and who is God himself has revealed himself and the Father’s love for the humanity in ‘time and space’ and so we have the Christ-Event which happened in the history.
- After the event of Christ, it is the turn and the time of the Spirit to continue to this revelation of the God’s designs and Christ’s redemptive merits in the world.
- This does not mean that they divide the work and do it separately. In each and every thought and the deed that come out from the mind and hand of God is the work of the Trinity. Though the work is attributed to the one particular person of the Trinity in the given period of revelation, still the work is done by the Trinity. There is no and there could be no event in which there is the missing of even a single person.
- The works commonly attributed to each single person of the trinity are: to the Father the work of the creation but there is the presence of the Son in the form of the Word and the presence of the Spirit which was hovering on the waters; to the Son Jesus Christ the work of redemptive but there is the presence of the Father in form of obedience of the son and the presence of the Spirit in the form of sacrifice of the Son; and finally to the Holy Spirit the work of ‘leading the humanity to the Truth’ which includes both sanctification and making the disciples remember what Jesus said and so there is the presence of the Son and the presence of the Father because the spirit is the bread of God the Father himself.
- After the forty days of resurrection and ten days of his ascension Jesus sends the Holy Spirit as he has already promised and given in the word and symbol: in the word – receive the Holy Spirit; in the symbol – he breathed on them (today’s gospel).

First Reading:

- Pentecost is the ‘fiftieth day’: the day of liberation and salvation
o In the Old Testament there is a good significance for the fiftieth day because it is the day of Joy and Liberation for all the slaves; there was a command of God for all the people of Israel to release their slaves on the year after seven times seven, that is, the fiftieth year.
o The revelation of God is always connected to the human and historical events; God has made use of this ‘important fiftieth’ (Pentecost) day for the sending of the Holy Spirit. The fiftieth day after the ‘Paschal Resurrection’ in and through which Jesus has entered into the glory and has gloried God in a perfect manner, God sends the Holy Spirit and therefore to fulfill also the Old Testament revelation of total liberation of the humanity with the descent of the Holy Spirit.
o The fullness of liberation from the bondage of sin and death is given to us in the Holy Spirit: the disciples have fully understood the mystery of Christ not when he was with them and not when they looked and lived all the moments with Jesus but with the coming of the Holy Spirit; the disciples who were incapable of understanding the mysteries of God’s salvation and fearful of the same authority and closed themselves up into the room are NOW have become the WITNESSES of the new life of resurrection of Jesus; they have been liberated fully from the fear and incomprehension with the Holy Spirit. The merits of Christ event will be fruitful in us with the work of the sanctification of the Holy Spirit.
o In this way the resurrection of Jesus and the descent of the Holy Spirit are intimately connected and they are interlinked with each other because the Holy Spirit is the gift of the Risen Jesus and the Resurrection of Jesus is the work of the Father in the Spirit.
- Pentecost is the beginning of the mystery and ministry of the Church:
o Jesus when he has initiated his work of salvation and the predication of the kingdom of God, he has done it with the power of the Holy Spirit. We see, according to the gospel of Luke, that in the beginning of his proclamation, in the temple of Jerusalem, he was given a book to read and as he opened it he found immediately these words: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me and he has anointed me to preach the good news of salvation”. With this acknowledgement of the presence of the Spirit Jesus has started his ministry. And in all his words and action there is the Spirit of the Father working in it.
o Now it is the time for the Church, the first Christian community of the Risen Christ, to start its proclamation of the Gospel of Salvation. Now it is the time because there is the presence and power of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit has empowered the disciples of Jesus to come out of the closed room, to come out of the closed hearts with the fear and to come out of the proper life and enter into the world as the preachers of the Word and the witness of the Life. When the disciples are filled with the Holy Spirit they have started proclaiming the all the mysteries of God (v.4).
o This is just a beginning of His Mission and, from that moment and from that day the Spirit has never stopped his work of sanctification of the humanity and of the world through the life and ministry of the Church. The number of the witnesses that were sprouted is the fruit of the Holy Spirit. The message of love and peace that was spread out is the breath of the Holy Spirit.
- Pentecost is the revelation of the Trinitarian Presence:
o Jesus has manifested in his words and in his deeds the Father and the Spirit; in fact there was an event of the Father who led whole history of Israel with the promises and prophecies and in the appointed/elected time, there was an even of the Son who led this chosen people and all the humanity into the possibility of salvation through his death and resurrection; though these events are undoubtedly and unconditionally the working of all the Three Persons but in history and time, there is also the particular event of the Holy Spirit and that happens today and continues till the end;
o In this way the event of the Pentecost reveal once again the fullness of the Trinity to the world and to the humanity.
- Pentecost is the revelation of the fullness of symbolism: the wind and the fire
o The wind:
 could be the breath of God at the time of creation; not only the breath God has breathed but also the breeze that was on the waters;
 could be also the presence of God as we see in the Old Testament: God appears in the form of the wind;
 could be also the force that can sweep away everything so that there is a space for the new beginning/new creation;
o the fire:
 could be the presence of the Father YHWH who was amidst the people of Israel to guide them in the form of the pillar of the fire;
 could be the descent of God’s blessing and his acceptance in the time of Elijah when the fire came and taken away the offerings (1Kings 18:38 – fire of the Lord);
 could be also the substance that can burn everything so that there is a possibility for the new blossom and new start;
o Holy Spirit is the Wind that can blow away what is Old and what is existing and create the occasion for the New Creation; Holy Spirit is the Fire that can burn what is filthy and impure and create the possibility for the New Being.
- Pentecost is the language of the heart/soul: gift of tongues but one proclamation
o Tower of Bebel and Tower of confusion: there was an instance in the Old Testament in which men, out of their pride and arrogance, wanted to reach God and go above him; for this they wanted to construct a big tower; when God saw this he sent different languages so that they do not understand each other; there was confusion of comprehension and finally they failed to construct what they desired for; their manifestation of pride and power fell to the ground;
o Edifice of New Bebel and Tower of comprehension/the Church: this is the instance which happened with the coming of the Holy Spirit; men of Risen Jesus, out of their docility and meekness, wanted to reach God and his salvation; When God saw them and their desire to be with him he has sent the ‘Person of the Consolation’ who has given them the gift of tongues to speak in different languages not to create confusion but to create communication and communion of the Gospel proclamation; and New Edifice/the Church is constructed; their proclamation has reached to the ends of the earth with everyone understanding it in their own language.
o Not the different language which are more important to understand the mysteries of God and of his salvation for us; but it is the language of the heart and the soul which is important and only this language could lead us to the love of God and the love of neighbor and once again this is also the working of the Holy Spirit.

Second Reading:

- Pauline Pentecost: Holy Spirit is the fountain
o Of Faith: Only He can create in a man the faith in Jesus Christ and only He can make him to call God ‘Abba, Father’ (Rom 8:15-16) and He can only make him to accept and say that “Jesus is the Lord” (1Cor 12:3).
o Of Common Good: only He can generate the common good of the community because he has given each, one particular charisma of manifestation of his proper life; each one is called to the communion of fraternity and we can see this effect immediately and clearly in the first Christian Community who were sharing everything they have for the common good (Acts 2:42ff).
o Of Unity: only He can bring everyone together into the one body and one construction; Christ is the head and we are all members but all make One Body and this is the work of the Spirit to keep up this unity intact. This unity is possible because of the Spirit that all of us have received in the Baptism. And therefore, the Holy Spirit is the Cause of the Unity.

Gospel Reading:

- The First Day of the Week and the Evening of the same day (v.19)
o The First Day theology in St. John’s Gospel:
 First Day is the day in which God has created the world and all that it holds including man; therefore, the beginning of the first creation.
 First Day is the day in which God has made Christ to be risen from the dead and the day of victory over death and evil; therefore, the beginning of new creation/new being.
 Now again the First Day is the day in which Christ has appeared to the disciples to breath them the Holy Spirit; therefore, the beginning of new life in the forgiveness of sins.
o The Evening: the evening is the ‘hour of the Holy Spirit’
 Morning is the ‘hour of the Father’ who has began his creation with the calling of light/the day;
 Noon is the ‘hour of the Son’ who has suffered on the cross and breathed his last and there was a clouds and night;
 Evening is the ‘hour of the Holy Spirit’ who has been given to the disciples by Jesus (v.1) and he has come down on the apostles in the evening because the day was about to end (First reading: Acts 2:1);
 In this way the DAY is the ‘Day of the Trinity’/Day of the Lord and we sing along with the Psalmist that ‘this is the Day that the Lord has made we will rejoice and be glad in it.’
- Passage from the fear to the peace:
o Peace is the first gift of the Risen Jesus and this peace is possible and complete with the presence of the Holy Spirit; the disciples who were fearful and afraid of the Jews (v.19) wanted first of all nothing else than the peace and Jesus, who knows each of them well, gives exactly what they for that time needed: the peace and he says ‘peace be with you’ (v.20).
o The mission of ‘the sent’: Jesus is always conscious of his mission of being sent and mission of sending his disciples because the kingdom of God is a ‘mission in growth’ and ‘mission in process’; it has to continue till the consummation of the creation and it happens with the sending of the Holy Spirit; the mission of the Father and the Son is now being transferred/give to the Spirit and the disciples; The disciples are sent to proclaim not as an ‘isolates/isolation’ but with the ‘consolation’ and here is the mission of ‘the sent’ of the Holy Spirit.
- Breathed on them (v.22)
o God has breathed into the nostrils of the first man whom he has created in his image and likeness; he has to be the image of God in the world.
o Christ has breathed onto the first men who were re-created with newness of image and likeness and they have to be the images of Christ and his salvation to the world;
- Holy Spirit and the Sanctification:
o Receive the Holy Spirit (v.22) and the Forgiveness of the Sins (v.23)
o The presence of the Holy Spirit is always connected to the sanctification of man. He calls man into holiness by creating in him the humility to accept his sins and thus gain the forgiveness and thus to be in the state of purity.
o This shows how the Holy Spirit’s presence is very efficacious not only in the Baptism and the Confirmation but also in the sacrament of the Reconciliation; someone would say that to err is human and to forgive is divine; no one can forgive or receive forgiveness unless there is the action of the Holy Spirit.
o With the sanctification and with blowing of the sins (Spirit as a Wind) and with the burning of the old nature (Spirit as a Fire) the recipient of the grace becomes new creation and new being and thus will have New Life/New breath (the perfect and full presence of the Holy Spirit).

Conclusion:

- Proclamation – Profession – Pardon:
o If we have the Holy Spirit in us – we will PROCLAIM the great and marvelous deeds of God (Acts 2:11 – First Reading);
o If we have the Holy Spirit in us – we will PROFESS with the authentic faith that Jesus is the Lord (1Cor 12:3 – Second Reading);
o If we have the Holy Spirit in us – we will PARDON with the fraternal love and we are chosen and sent into the world for that purpose only (John 20:23 – Gospel);
- Thanking the Lord for the GIFT of the HOLY SPIRIT for our sanctification and salvation we will Listen to his Voice in us and live according to him;
- Now we are full of Joy because we are full of the Holy Spirit.

ASCENSION OF THE LORD - Way towards the GLORY

ASCENSION OF THE LORD – A: (Acts 1:1-11; Eph 1:17-23; Math 28:16-20)
Theme: Let us follow Jesus faithful and we can also climb to the kingdom of God

Reflection:
- After the resurrection from the dead Jesus appeared to the disciples and others for forty days manifesting his risen glory and the mission of the resurrection.
- The Ascension of Jesus is the final manifestation of earthly presence. His descent onto the earth (into the world) started with the Annunciation-Incarnation is now on the way of its ascent today with the Resurrection-Ascension.
- His historical life in the space and time is the ‘design of God’s manifestation of love in him’ so that the man who has ‘come down’ (fate of descent and loss of paradise) from the presence of God by his disobedience and rejection of the communion with God, now has the possibility to ‘go up’ (grace of ascension and regain of Father’s house) or to reach back into the presence of God with his obedience and acceptance of the mission of Christian life.
- Therefore, the Ascension of Jesus is the seed of hope for the man to climb up to the God’s bosom of love. For this we have to follow Jesus faithful and we reach the heavens where we are with Him and see the Father face to face, for which the Christian life is destined.

First Reading:
- Ascension of Jesus into heaven is the great glorious epiphany of the Lord which only evangelist Luke mentions about it little more with the details than other Gospel writers. Luke ends his Gospel with the words “while he was blessing them, he withdrew from them and was carried up into heaven” (24:51) and he begins his work of Acts of the Apostles in continuation to his Gospel and says “as they were watching, he was lifted up and a cloud took him out of their sight” (Acts 1:9). Among other gospel writers only Mark just says it in a single line: “after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God” (16:19), but this part comes in the longer ending of Mark which is in reality is only attributed to him and which is doubtfully belongs exclusively to Mark. Therefore, the witness of the recount of Luke, either in his Gospel or in his Acts, is important to come to know the truth of Ascension of Jesus.
- With the proclamation of the Ascension of Jesus Luke presents to us the ancient and traditional symbolism of the man and the world. Man and the world are posted between the ‘heavens’ which is above (high above the skies) and the ‘hell’ which is below (deep into the earth). Therefore, man has the possibility of reaching either to the heights of the glory or to the Hades of death. Jesus life on earth is exactly for making the man to rise up and make a move towards the heavens (to be in the path of ascension). For this reason only Jesus has ‘come down’ in order that the human being and the whole world itself will be ‘raised up’ and he has opened the door of the possibility of ascending (ladder of perfection) which were closed by human disobedience.
- Therefore, we need not and should not connect the ascension of Jesus to the time and space, that is, to the historical facts which were officially accepted and recognized by the historians. It falls into or it is inserted into the manifestations of the divinity of Jesus. One of his revelations, as those of resurrection, ascension reveal to us the glory of Jesus in his return to his Father which he himself has said number of times that he would have to return to the Father from where he has come down. The truth of his words is once again revealed in his ascension. Therefore, we treat this ascension of Jesus as the symbolic manifestation which would encourage humanity to have hope and to strive towards ‘reaching of the heights of heavens’, for which, God has created man and offered the possibility of salvation so that man can be in eternal communion with God.
- It is interesting to go through the discourse between Jesus and his disciples just before his ascension. They ask him whether this is the time when God will restore the kingdom to Israel. “Is this the time” for the apostles is an important point.
o They have seen the power of political authorities by which Jesus, whom they have thought to be the messiah, was arrested, insulted and finally put to death. With this they thought that may be Jesus, who with meekness (like a sheep to the slaughter’s house did not speak a word) accepted the death, is the not the actual messiah for the restoration of Israel’s kingdom. But in three days everything is changed. The story has taken its return journey.
o They have seen Jesus now, apart and above from the power of the political authorities, who has come into life again with the glory of the resurrection. Now they believed Jesus again with little more firmness that he is the messiah who could restore the kingdom to the Israel because they by this time knew that no political powers and not even the death could do any harm to him.
o May be thought also ‘this could be the right time’/time of his glory, for the restoration and so they ask: “Lord, is this the time when YOU will restore the kingdom to Israel?” We can understand two important aspects: the ‘time’ (is this the time) of restoration and the ‘subject’ (you) of the restoration.
o From this we understand that after the three years of his proclamation and wonderful doings, after three days of passion-death-resurrection, and after the forty days of his appearance after his resurrection, the disciples have NOT YET understood what it means the restoration of the kingdom, and how Jesus has already restored it in the way God designed.
- Jesus knows that they have not yet understood the complete design of God for the salvation the humanity. Therefore, he replies them “It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority” and continues with the reception of the power of the Holy Spirit.
o The first part of the answer of Jesus reveals that ‘they do not require to know the times and periods’ because it is not only in times and periods that God acts. His actions and revelation go even beyond the time and history. This is in contrast to the authority of the world (political and historical which act in time and space) that the authority of God (in time and out of time because he is timeless) works and acts. The authority of the world has put Jesus to death and in time and space, but the authority of God has made him raised from the dead and it is in time and space and into eternity.
o Therefore, Jesus tells them not to worry either about the time or about the restoration, because, they did not and they cannot understand the meaning of the restoration and its completion on the cross which has already happened, unless they receive the Holy Spirit who will remind them all the words spoken to them and the meaning of all the action being accomplished before their eyes.
o Even Jesus is not in hurry or worried much because of his disciples’ failure to understand the real meaning of what has been fulfilled because he know that it the work of the Spirit to make them the witnesses (“you will be my witnesses” v.8 and this is possible after the coming of the Holy Spirit). Everything has to be place in the hands of God and everything has to be delivered into his authority because He alone knows the times and periods of manifestation or revelation of his glory.
- Once Jesus has finished telling them the design of the Father for humanity he was lifted up and they were still gazing up toward heaven. Jesus who has come down to restore the humanity to its original and eternal communion with God, has fulfilled it perfectly and completely opening also the doors of the possibility for man to reaching it and now has returned to his Father in ascension.


Second reading:
- Glorification of Christ: Paul speaks of the glory that Jesus Christ is endowed with by his Father for his obedient fulfillment of the plan of salvation for humanity. This glory is given to Jesus Christ, not as the gift of nothing, but as the gift for what he has accomplished. In his each and every word and action he has glorified his Father. Even in his passion and death he has completely thrown himself to the will of his Father. This is the reason why God has glorified him in the resurrection from the dead and now with the ascension and by making him to sit at his right hand (v.20); now the Father who is pleased with his son and his doing has crowned him with the power over everything and for every time, not only in this age but also in the age to come (v.21); and the same Father who has created everything in heaven and under the earth in him and for him, now makes him the head of all the things (v.22). All this was possible only because he has given himself fully for the eternal plan of God’s salvation for the humanity.
- Transformation of Man: Paul speaks also of the glory that each and every disciple can receive in and through Christ. In fact, man is called for this glory of resurrection and the ascension and he can hope for this and Paul confirms it by his proclamation saying: “what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe” (vv.18-19). The transformation of the believer is in his hope because he is called not lose the heart and not to lose the life for the authority of the world or the powers of evil. As Jesus, his head and leader (v.22), he has to commit himself for the will of God so that like him, he will also receive the glorious inheritance (resurrection of the body and ascension into the Father’s house) and the immeasurable greatness of his power (to be witnesses unto the ends of the earth).

Gospel Reading:
- The reality of the ascension of Jesus is an invitation for us to climb up into heavens; this climbing up is a process upwards;
o Ascetics, who pave the way of perfection through their endurance of earthly desires, are the models for the journey of Christian life towards the heights of glory. They have the ‘ladder of perfection’; the ladder which is grounded to the earth and raised to the heavens; the ascetic, who practices the life of perfects has to first of all, detach himself from what is earthly and start climbing the different stages of the ladder of perfection and finally reach the peak stage which is the communion with God. The ascension has the symbolism of the asceticism in the Christian life. It’s a process upwards or a journey towards reaching to the oneness into God. That’s what the ascension of Jesus symbolizes for the Christian life. On the one hand, it is a reality that Jesus after his descent into the world and accomplishing the plan of salvation, has ascended into heaven to sit at the right hand of the Father and to be the head (second reading) of everything; on the other hand, it a symbolism of ‘ladder of perfection’ by which man/believer has the possibility to journey always upwards to reach into full communion with God.
o Also the symbolism of mountain during the ascension of Jesus help the Christian believer to be always in the heights of glory; Jesus has indicated a mountain to reach and the disciples have come to that mountain as Jesus has directed them (v.16); this symbolism of mountain is not an exception here. It is very common in the revelation or manifestation of God: in the Old Testament, the great example of this is the mountain of Sinai on which God has given Moses the commandments so that the people of Israel reach the mountain of perfection; while in the New Testament, Christ himself has utilized this symbolism and made use of some mountains for the manifestation of God’s designs for humanity: it was on the mountain (called as the mountain of beatitudes), that Jesus has given the new law (it was said… now I tell you – 5-7 chapters of Mathew); it was on the mountain that Jesus personally/individually or with the company of his disciples, prayed very often; it was on the mountain that Jesus has been transfigured to manifest his glory; it was on the mountain of olives that Jesus has undergone his agony; it was again on the mountain of Calvary that Jesus has offered his life for the will of God for the humanity; and now it is again on the mountain, which is in Galilee, that Jesus has called all his twelve once again, to manifest his final glory of ascension.
o Symbolism of mountain is: that the world is like a mountain on which every disciple has to reach to contact his master, Jesus. The disciple/ascetic has to stand ON the mountain of the world/or ABOVE the world (which includes that renouncing of immersion into the worldly desires and bodily pleasures, that means, every follower of Christ has to rise above the world and its challenges) in order to BE with the Lord; the mountain of sanctity is the basement for the ascending towards the communion with the Lord; and now the mountain of ascension is the symbol/model and culmination of all other mountains of revelation.
- When the disciples have come to the mountain they have worshipped him and some have doubted (v. 17):
o on the one hand, the adoration of the disciples show their complete commitment of life and their complete surrender to God in front of the King of the Universe who has Risen from the dead and who has made them the heirs of this inheritance (second reading), on the other hand, the doubt of the some disciples show their journey towards full knowledge and acknowledgement of him as the true Lord and Savior.
o Though adoration and doubt seem to be an opposite poles in the thought of the world, in the way of Christian perfection, they can seem to be complimenting each other because one completes the other: there is an adoration because all the doubts are cleared and there is doubt because the way is paved towards full acknowledgment which leads to adoration.
o In the Christian sense, doubt is not a negative aspect but it connotes the positive character of knowing the truth. The doubt is not the negation of the truth but the will to know the truth: after the doubt that Joseph has accepted Mary as his wife; after the doubt that Jesus leads Peter into the acknowledgement of him; after the doubt that Thomas has exclaimed Jesus as ‘my Lord and my God’. Through the process of doubt one can reach the certainty of truth.
o Therefore, here the disciples even in the doubt they have worshipped him; this means that their doubt is not to negate but to confirm and to affirm the real person of Jesus who is about to ascend to his Father.
- Commission of Jesus to the disciples to baptize and to teach them:
o Baptism not in his name alone but in the name of the Trinity – because – the one who receives symbolic baptism shares in the reality of the Trinitarian life.
o Teaching not the commandments but teaching the obedience to the commands of Jesus – because all the commandments are intrinsically linked in the command of the Lord Jesus which is the very life of Jesus: the command of Jesus is the life of Jesus itself. Teaching to obey is teaching to obey Jesus; This obedience to the authority/headship of Jesus (in eternity – second reading) is always in contrast to the obedience to the powers of the world (in time and periods – first reading).
o Another important aspect is the commission of Jesus ‘first to baptize them and then, to teach them to obey’ (vv.19-20): these words are marked only by Mathew because he is writing to the Jews. They already know the commandments therefore, what they have to know is ‘to be baptized’ in the Trinity which Jesus himself showed in his words and actions and ‘to obey’ the command of the Lord (in which all the commandments they have received from the YHWH are comprised).
- The promise of eternal presence with his disciples:
o Remember that I am with you always (v.20): Jesus’ assurance of his presence is always there but it is we who have to remember this presence without forgetting or neglecting it in our daily trails and worries; his promise is of his presence, not of his removal of our daily and day to day sufferings. Many a time we forget this truth and blame that if he is really with us whey these difficulties and inconveniences for us. He did not promise that these situations will not exist but he promised that even in these times of difficulty he is there with us and we have to REMEMBER his presence so that we can easily endure them.
o Remember is also the presence of the Holy Spirit; according to John, the remembrance is the Holy Spirit: when the Holy Spirit comes he will make you remember all that I have told you (John 14:25-26). Therefore, there is also the eternal presence of the Holy Spirit when we remember that Jesus is with us.

Conclusion:
- In the conclusion I want to sum up everything into four words:
- The MOUNT: as we have seen, the mountain is the place of ‘gathering of the people around the Lord’. It is on the mountain the Jesus and his disciples are gathered together. This mountain is not any mountain in the world but a mountain that Jesus himself has ‘DIRECTED’ (Mathew 28:16):
o Individually this mountain could mean – the FAITH: the faith by which we come to the Lord and Lord comes to us; in the faith we reach into communion with God;
o Collectively this mountain could mean – the CHURCH: the church in and through which the interaction of God and his people can be made easy; this could be the local church as the Christian community of believers and this could be also the UNIVERSAL CHURCH as the community of all the believers in Christ;
o Finally we have to note that this is not any church/any mountain that we have to gather upon but the mountain/the Church which CHRIST HAS DIRECTED.
- The POWER: the indication of power is previously known in Jesus’ “knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands” (John 13:3) and with all the power which he had he sets himself up to wash the feet of the disciples as the mission of love to be accomplished as the part of the plan of his Father; now we see Jesus himself saying that “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me” (Mathew 28:18) and with all the power he sends his disciples to the mission of love (through baptism and teaching).
o The important and enriching point here is not that Jesus has power over all the earth and heavens but his utilization of the power;
o He has the power to do whatever he wants but he has utilized his power not for his own will but the will of his Father; in this way he becomes a model for every man in power and to how to use this power for the love of God and for the love of the neighbor (the mission of the Gospel);
o We all have the power/we are given the power (to choose whatever we want in freedom) but the ultimate meaning of its use is always in the accomplishing the will of God for the humanity (the well being and glory of every being).
- The GAZING upwards: the disciples were still watching upwards when Jesus was being ascended into heavens (Acts 1:10)
o This is the hope with which we have to carry on our lives fixing our eyes on the Lord; even in the difficulties we need not look on to earth with the desperation but with the courage and confidence that our Jesus was raised up from among all these situations and we also have the hope that these are not permanent situations and that one day we will be liberated from all these.
o In fact, we are not the people of the earth or of the world but people called to be above; we are called to make our journey always upwards into the communion with the Lord than to be entangled with the wants of this world.
- The ‘ASCENT’ into heavens: the invitation of Jesus to us all to ascend into the kingdom of God
o This ascension is not a simple word to listen or a simple reality to admire at; but it is a Christian task to strive at;
o We need to ‘step by step’ (ladder of perfection as we have meditated little while ago) have to climb up with faith, hope and charity (all are united in one word: love).
o With our daily acceptance and living of life’s joys and sorrows we can climb up or we can ascend into the life of perfection;
- Therefore, let us follow Christ faithfully and we can also participate in the ascension of the Lord.

SIXTH SUNDAY OF EASTER: LOVE BY KEEPING COMMANDMENTS

Sixth Sunday of Easter – A: (Acts 8:5-8,14-17; 1Pet 3:15-18; John 14:15-21)
Theme: LOVING THE LORD IS IN KEEPING HIS COMMANDMENTS

Reflections:
- In this sixth Sunday of Easter we are reminded, once again, of the joy of resurrection; to reach this joy, today’s readings provide for us, the way of living and leading Christian life; loving the Lord is the first step and that, automatically, leads us to the second step of keeping his commandments.
- Last week in the discourse of the Father’s house we have learnt that Christ has gone ahead of us to prepare rooms for us so that we would be with him where he is; God’s will is, that we are with Him and we are with Him where He is; only the immense love makes us to be with the other; only when we love God we desire to stay with Him. He loves us very much and we know it in the mystery of His Son (Jn 3:16); It is because of this love for the humanity He came down ‘TO BE’ with the humanity and he promised this loving and eternal presence with men (Mt 28).
- That is from the part of God’s immense love for humanity and what has to be from our part is also the same love; Love for God makes us always strive ‘to be’ with Him. We do not hate the presence of the one whom we love, although, this presence demands our attention, observance and at times also demands our ‘renouncing of our desires and our personal necessities’. It is same when we love God.
- And Jesus’ words today affirm this: if you love me, keep my commandments; this means going out of ourselves and out of our way in order to reaching the way of God (love for God) and the way of others (love for the neighbors).

First Reading:
- There was great joy in that city (v.8): Joy is the fruit of eager listening of the Word of God and seeing of His wonderful deeds.
o When deacon Philip was preaching and doing the wonderful miracles in Samaria, the people received him and his message with one accord (v.6) and we will again remember that Samaria is the place which was rejected by the Jews and even the disciples were wonderstruck when Jesus was talking to the Samaritan woman at the well (Jn 4) because it was prohibited even to talk with them. Now these people show much interest and desire in listening to the preaching of Philip and seeing the signs he did (v.6). And there was a great joy in that city (v.8).
o There was a joy indeed but this joy is the result of the ‘Word of God’ proclaimed, heard and accepted and the result of the ‘Deed of God’ done, seen and received;
o Not only the proclamation of the ‘Word of God’ is necessary but also its acceptance into one’s life;
o Not only the fulfillment of the ‘wonders of God’ is necessary but also its reception into one’s being;
o Only then there will be joy, not mere joy, but great joy in the life of the receiver;
o If our community has to have this Joy we have to listen to the word of God eagerly and observe the deeds of God keenly.
- Philip as a deacon has preached the word of God and baptized all those who believed in the Gospel; but he did not give the confirmation, or, the gift of the Holy Spirit, because it was reserved only to the Apostles; and so they sent for the Apostles because they wanted to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit after their baptism.
- ‘Laying of hands’ for the reception of the Holy Spirit:
o Apostles have already received the Holy Spirit and therefore, now they have the power to transmit this gift to those who believe.
o Peter and John have come to Samaria to give them the gift of the Holy Spirit;
o They have ‘laid upon them their hands’ and they have received the Holy Spirit;
o This laying of hands and praying for the Holy Spirit and His descent upon the people is the ‘ancient’ practice and even till today it is being continued in the sacrament of Confirmation.
- There was a joy because they have listened to the word of God and seen His wonders and this joy will remain because they have received the Holy Spirit.

Second Reading:
- Peter exhorts the first Christians to be attentive to the sufferings and persecutions which they have to accept:
o With the ‘hope’ (v.15) that our Christ is alive and so we will also be alive; and for the ‘good’ (v.17) because God’s will is that we always do what is good and worthy of living; and for the ‘reaching to God’ and for the ‘life in the Spirit’ (v.18) because it is the destiny of Christian life, the followers of Christ have to face the hardships and persecutors.
o The attitude that the Christians have to display with the persecutors is: with the ‘non-violence’ (gentleness v.15) and with the ‘openness and tolerance’ (reverence v.16) and with the sincerity (clear conscience v.16) and finally with the ‘unlimited generosity’ (even if they abuse the good conduct v.16 and even to suffer for good v.18).
- This is the exact attitude that Peter asks us today to cultivate in our daily testimony of Christian life:
o Not an eye for eye or tooth for tooth but loving enemies, praying for them (Lk 6:27): this should be our behavior with those who laugh at us for our faith.
o Leaving what we have to others than quarrelling with them for the goods that pass away because a man can achieve everything and finally loses his soul and what would be his end: this should be our consideration towards what blocks us from being witness for God’s Word.

Gospel Reading:
- The mystery of the Trinity and their intimacy of love:
o John’s theology is known as theology of love; He, both in his Gospel and in his three letters, speaks mostly and primarily only of ‘love’ of God. Love of God made manifested in the Incarnated Word Jesus Christ; Christ is the fullness of revelation of God’s loving face to humanity; John pens down all the ‘mystery of the Trinity and their love for humanity’ in this chapter 14; we remember that this discourse of Jesus falls in the context of final and precious words of Jesus (from chapters 13-17) during the Last Supper and before his arrest. Once he has revealed his love for his friends by washing of their feet and admonishing them to do the same (chapter 13), now He leads them slowly into the mystery of God, who is Triune and one in three in the bond of love; this chapter serves as the introduction also for the coming chapters in which he will speak of intimacy that has to exist between God and his disciple (united as the branches to the vine and therefore the commandment of love – chapter 15), of the gift of the Holy Spirit who will reveal the Truth and keep all who believe stay firm in the truth revealed and the how the Spirit turns all the sorrow into joy (chapter 16) and finally ‘interpersonal love between the Three Persons of God’ and the prayer of Jesus that all those who believe in him are united and ‘be firm’ in Him (chapter 17).
o Just before today’s passage of Gospel, Jesus already spoke (as we have meditated last week) the way that leads us to this intimacy of love of the Trinity and the way is, ‘He Himself’. We need to just follow the way that Jesus has prepared and walked himself; the way, not of roses as we would like but, of the cross, that is, the insults, sufferings and even the death; Only through this way we reach to the House of God and to see Him face to face and to remain with Him and in Him (intimacy of love). Thus, we partake in the life of the Trinity for which we embraced this faith and sustaining our faith with our daily endurances. That’s what, as we have heard, Peter exhorts us to do in the second reading.
- Love game between God and Man:
o Jesus’ words are very clear but all rotate around the point of love: “I am in the Father, you in me and I am in you” (v.20): Love game started between God and Man and it is Jesus who has started and in the movement of the Holy Spirit.
o The words of assurance: “if you love me” (v.15), “I will pray to the Father” (v.16), “Holy Spirit stays with you forever” (v.16), “My Father loves him and I also will love him” (v.21); they reveal the fruit of reciprocal love between God and his faithful. The words are different and expressions are various but the effect is the same: Remaining in the Love (God in Man and Man in God).
- Love and observance of commandments:
o Love has to lead to the keeping of commandments and observance of the commandments will result in the love of God;
 ‘If you love me’: we have to note the words of Jesus; Jesus do not say if you love (this could be love in general) but he says ‘if you love ME’ and this signifies the personal will to love Jesus and it is comes from the free choice, not of obligation/or out of force and therefore there is no curtailing of freedom of the person. ‘If you love Me’ can also have the opposite ‘if you don’t love me’; So it is purely ‘personal and free will’ on the part of the one who wants to have this love; love never forces anybody;
 ‘keep my commandments’: we again observe carefully the words of Jesus; he does not speak of any commandments which include the ‘law of Moses’ and ‘the commandments of the Old Covenant’; but he speaks of ‘MY’ commandments and some time back he spoke of his commandment: “love one another as I have loved you” (Jn 13:34-35); It implies that Christ is the fulfillment of the Old Law, Prophets and Psalms as he himself told: “I have not come to abolish what was said but to fulfill it and make it perfect” (Mt 5:17). He has become the ‘ONLY LAW/ONLY COMMANDMENT’ that has to be followed/or observed. Once we follow Him we do everything that is in him and for him (In Him: we love God the Father and strive to be at his House; and For Him: we love our neighbor as He has loved us and gave us himself for us).
o Be in love or be out of love and there is no way of pretension;
 The words ‘ME’ and ‘MY’ of Jesus are to be meditated carefully to become mature in the love of God. There exists only one way: either we love him we keep his commandments or we don’t love and do not observe his commandments; either BE IN LOVE or BE OUT OF LOVE. There is no other way;
 We cannot pretend to love him without listening to him (the content of the first reading) and without enduring and taking risk of hardships (the content of the second reading) and without keeping the commandment of loving (the Gospel).
 It all depends on the free choice we make and personal decision we take; afterwards, no use of blaming God for the consequences; Jesus did not promise a soft life for those who follow him in this world; he promised a life in God in the future and in another world; If we remain in this world and still want to love him, there is no other way than the way of the cross that will lead us to the glory of resurrection;
- Holy Spirit – the Advocate:
o He reveals the truth and the truth will set us free from all these bondages of fear of the world and attractions of the world;
o The world (that is immersed in its own pride and power) cannot love God and keep his commandments because it does not know the Holy Spirit and thus does not know the Truth and the only Truth is: God and His love for Humanity;
o He is with us always; He is sent to us not as a temporary advocate (who defends us against the worldly and fleshy desires) but a permanent advocate who remains and guards us if only we heed to him.
o The Holy Spirit is ‘another Advocate’: The first advocate is Jesus Himself who intercedes for us with the Father; now once the first advocate Jesus has accomplished his mission of bringing the people into the love of God (the house of the Father), in the history and in time, now comes the Holy Spirit, another advocate, to be with us and to be for us who love and keep the commandments of Jesus.
o We are not orphans: we are not left alone; once we are called into the communion and fellowship of love with God the Father through the merits of Christ’s mystery, we are no more in the power of the world but in the power of the Holy Spirit.
- Love for keeping the commandments and keep the commandments for loving:
o Today’s Gospel passage starts and ends (v.15 and v.21) with this commandment of love and in the centre (v.18) there is the ‘presence and power of the Holy Spirit’.
o Therefore, loving and keeping the commandments is the action of the Holy Spirit in the believer; we have to just give in ourselves to the presence of the Spirit that is already in us and which has come to us with the Baptism and Confirmation and in the particular and perfect manner in the Holy Eucharist;
o We just offer ourselves for the prompting and power of the Spirit with docility and dedication and the rest will be done him because he is our Advocate.
- Love gives love and love receives love (v.21):
o If we love God, God also loves us; in the better words, it is with the love that God has for us that we love God; He loved us first and thus even our love takes its root and base from the same love that God has for us.
o In this way, there are no two loves: God’s love for us and our love for God; but there is only ONE LOVE, that is, GOD HIMSELF. In him we live, move and have our being.
o Everything is evolving around the ‘BOND OF LOVE’.

Conclusion:
- We are nearing the Ascension of Jesus and thus Jesus brings his promises of Resurrection to the perfect end: Everything is Love and In Love ‘united both God and humanity’.
- In the season of Easter we are blessed with the joy of hope and eternal happiness which will be brought into completion by the presence and power of the Holy Spirit.
- In fact, Holy Spirit is the gift of Risen Jesus to the Christian Community that is ‘in the way of becoming one with the Father’ (Father is in me and I am in you and you are in me, v.20).
- To reach this we have to accept the way of love: if we love him, let us, with sincerity and honest and commitment, keep his commandments.
- Let us remain in His Love by keeping his commandments of loving God and our neighbors as He has loved us.
- Therefore, let us come out of our pretension and ‘BE in His Love’ because we are called to participate in the love play.

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.