ACTS 2: 1-11

PSALM 103: 1, 24, 29-31, 34

1 CORINTHIANS 12: 3-7, 12-13

JOHN 20: 19-23

 

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Pentecost marks the beginning of the Church.

A new relationship is forged between God and us.

The Holy Spirit living in us makes real the glory of Jesus’ Resurrection in our lives.

The Holy Spirit gives us a deeper way of following God.

The Holy Spirit has come to transform our lives.

Jesus is the example for us in His own relationship with the Father. This is a time then to reflect on our relationship with God.

How real is Jesus alive in us?

Are we lukewarm in faith or do we feel a deep desire for God in our lives?

Are we more concern with laws rather than the love behind the laws?

The former would be reflected in our efforts in avoiding sin which is good but the latter will lead us to become life giving which is greater.

The law will tells us not to steal but love invites us to be compassionate in being generous.

Do we get caught up with our own opinions and expectations or are we respecting of each other, listening and respecting their needs and ideas?

Do we justify our hatred or dislike for others or do we seek healing and forgiveness?

And so we need to ask ourselves, is our faith just a profession of words or a lived out reality in our lives?

How real is Jesus alive in us?

The Holy Spirit has come to bring us to the loving relationship with God. 

Let us believe from the heart that we may gain all that God is offering to us.

 

 

ACTS 1:1-11
PSALM 46:2-3, 6-9
EPHESIANS 1:17-23
MATTHEW 28:16-20

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The Ascension marks Jesus’ physical separation from the human story. But it is not a departure of Jesus from us. The Ascension celebrates Jesus’ unity with the Father.
It also celebrates the new relationship we are called to with God.

In the Gospel, Jesus tells the disciples that he will be with us till the end of time. We know that the Holy Spirit comes to live in us. But how real is this in our lives? Or is this just something we just simply believe but do not give it much thought?

In John’s Gospel, in praying for us, Jesus asks the Father that we may be one in them as he and the Father are one. Jesus now goes to the Father that we may come to know God as he knew the Father. This is Jesus’ invitation given to us: that we may be one with God.

Jesus taught his disciples about God. Jesus revealed God to them through his teachings, his ministry, and his life. But we will never know the meaning of this unless we live it out ourselves.

There is a difference between reading about a country and living in that country. God is not in some far-away place. Through his death and resurrection, Jesus has brought us to God.
Jesus has not gone to some far-away place. He said: “I will be with you always to the end of time.”

So where is God? God is there in every moment in our lives. It is whenever we see with the eyes of faith; hear with the ears of compassion; and touch with the hands of prayer that we will find God.

There was a religious Brother Lawrence who once lived in a monastic life. He worked in the kitchen in the monastery and was the happiest person in the monastery. When asked his reason, he replied because I meet God in everything that I do.

A lady once told me that she was always distracted by children when praying at Mass. I told her to embrace those children and love them and you will have a greater prayer in your heart than all the words you can find. Finding God begins with a desire for God’s love in our hearts.

The most difficult thing we do, can be turned into the happiest moment when we recognize God is there.

God is here: listen and see and touch and we will find God. Make everything we do a spiritual encounter with God and we will come to know his presence
and it will transform what we do
and it will transform who we are.

ACTS 6: 1-7
PSALM 32: 1-2, 4-5, 18-19 R. v.22
1 PETER 2: 4-9
JOHN 14: 1-12

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As we come to the climax of Jesus’ mission in John’s Gospel, he calls his disciples to trust in God and trust in him. He then tells them to follow him for he is, the Way, the Truth and the Life. People will only follow those they trust, and trust those they love and love those they know.

There is a prayer of St Richard of Chichester that precisely reflects this call to us.
It goes like this:
O most merciful redeemer, friend and brother, may I know you more clearly, love you more dearly and follow you more nearly, day by day.
O most merciful redeemer, friend and brother, may I know you more clearly, love you more dearly and follow you more nearly, day by day.

The first question for us then is how well do we know Christ? A relationship with Christ can only be real through an openness to Christ as he was open to the Father’s will. It is through prayer and the Sacraments, the scriptures and living in God’s love. When these become part of our daily life, we will come to know Christ.

But all this won’t happen unless there is a desire in us for Christ in our lives. This is what St Peter is saying in the second reading: Jesus is our foundation stone. What we must ask ourselves is how does our desire for Christ compare with our other desires in life.

We believe that Jesus rose again and through his resurrection has won for us eternal life.
And because we believe, let us remember that only Christ can give what no other can give, eternal life. That is the reason we follow him.

There are many people who are converting to Christ when they come to know him, his teachings and his love for us by his death and resurrection. But there are many more who do not know Christ. And they will not know Christ except through us.

In the Gospel reading, Philip asked Jesus, “Let us see the Father and we will be satisfied.”
Jesus’s answered Philip, “To have seen me is to have seen the Father. You must believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; believe it on evidence of this work, if for no other reason.”

People will see and know Christ when we become the face and love of Christ to them. May Christ be a deep part of our lives, part of who we are; for after all this is what it means to be a Christian. As the Father lived in Christ, may Christ live in us and others come to know God through us.

May there be a great desire in our hearts to know Christ that we may love him and follow him even to the cross.