Second Sunday of Easter

Also Read: Mass Readings for 27 April 2025 Sunday Reflection by Maryanne – 27 April 2025

His Mercy Endures Forever

This Psalm is an obvious choice for Divine Mercy Sunday because of the exclamation of God’s mercy. What is worth reflecting on further is that it endures forever. While this may not surprise someone who already knows Jesus, imagine someone from the Old Testament. Maybe you are someone who remembers the many years of slavery in Egypt, maybe you remember the many years of wandering in the desert, maybe you remember the many years of division before a king, maybe you remember the years of conflict between Solomon’s sons, maybe you remember the years of exile in Babylon. Not only did these many experiences test ones hope in Gods unending mercy, but they were the response to Israel’s testing of God’s mercy. The reason why this reading, along with today’s Gospel, is perfect for Divine Mercy Sunday is because of the necessary connection mercy has to faith. 

Blessed Are Those Who Believe

Today’s Gospel includes the famous inspiration for the “Doubting Thomas” nickname because of Thomas’s unwillingness to believe what he doesn’t see when the other Apostles tell him about the Resurrection. The Risen Christ is the agent of mercy to humanity and to receive this mercy requires faith in things not yet seen. Just as the Israelites needed faith for the mercy not yet seen during their own difficult moments, Thomas needed faith for the mercy that Jesus offers. Let us remember this need for faith in receiving God’s mercy in our own lives, even if it is not yet seen, because it endures forever. 

Second Sunday of Easter

Also Read: Mass Readings for 27 April 2025 Sunday Reflection by Mike – 27 April 2025

‘We are an Easter People and Alleluia is our song!’

First Reading: Acts 5: 12-16

The Apostles, heal many!

So that they even carried out the sick into the streets, and laid them on cots and mats, in order that Peter’s shadow might fall on some of them as he came by. A great number of people would also gather from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing the sick and those tormented by unclean spirits, and they were all cured. (15-16)

Praise God, Alleluia!

The apostles heal many, with people coming out on to the streets, awaiting even Peter’s shadow. One can only imagine the scenario at that time! They could be crossing the same streets that witnessed the Lord Jesus Christ walk down during his Passion! Those streets were already blessed by Jesus’ very presence there. Now the streets had the blood of Christ on them and the power of the blood of Christ sanctifies the place! We can only marvel at the many miracles performed through St. Peter, In Jesus’ name, Amen!

Responsorial Psalm: Psalms 118: 2-4, 13-15, 22-24

This is the Lord’s Doing!

I was pushed hard, so that I was falling, but the Lord helped me. The Lord is my strength and my might; he has become my salvation. (13-14)

This is the Lord’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. (23-24) 

Alleluia! Praise God!

Second Reading: Revelation 1: 9-11a, 12-13, 17-19

Through the Holy Spirit!

On the Lord’s Day I was in the Spirit, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet, which said: “Write on a scroll what you see and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea.” (10-11)

We look at the attributes attached with the seven churches mentioned here: 1. The Church of Ephesus: Abandoned Its Love for Christ and His Teachings 2. The Church of Smyrna: Remains Faithful Amidst Persecution 3. The Church of Pergamum: Compromises Its Beliefs. 4. The Church of Thyatira: Follows False Prophets. 5. The Church of Sardis: Spiritually Dead 6. The Church of Philadelphia: Patiently Endured Despite Weaknesses 7. The Church of Laodicea: A Lukewarm Faith. 

We examine our attitude and evaluate if we reflect any of those mentioned above! 

In Jesus’ name we pray for the grace to remain steadfast in the faith! Amen!

Alleluia: John 20: 29

Alleluia, Alleluia! Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” Alleluia!

Gospel: John 20:19-31

The Reason for our Alleluia –  Our Saviour God is ALIVE!

Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. (30-31)

Jesus Christ of Nazareth, Son of the Living God, is ALIVE and Lives just like you and me!! He is closer to us, than we realize! Only his body is much more glorious than we can ever imagine! He also lives in us, through our reception of His Body and Blood in the Holy Eucharist. We are blessed to have received the faith to see Him without doubting! 

Let us keep professing our “Alleluia” in our words and actions. In Jesus’ name, Amen!

Easter Sunday, the Resurrection of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ

Also Read: Mass Readings for 20 April 2025 Sunday Reflection by Mike – 20 April 2025

Alleluia, The Lord is Risen!

First Reading: Acts 10: 34a, 37-43

“We are witnesses of everything he did in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They killed him by hanging him on a cross, but God raised him from the dead on the third day and caused him to be seen. He was not seen by all the people, but by witnesses whom God had already chosen—by us who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. (39 – 41)

Alleluia! St. Peter proclaims his testimony of the Risen Lord Jesus Christ of Nazareth! Alleluia!

He ate and drank with them after His Resurrection in His Glorious Body! God Lives! Amen! Alleluia!

Responsorial Psalm: Psalms 118: 1-2, 16-17, 22-23

Shouts of joy and victory resound in the tents of the righteous: “The Lord’s right hand has done mighty things! “The Lord’s right hand is lifted high; the Lord’s right hand has done mighty things!” I will not die but live, and will proclaim what the Lord has done. (16 – 17)

These words of King David could well be echoed by St. Peter and we too can resound them today! Alleluia!

Second Reading: First Corinthians 5: 6b-8

Get rid of the old yeast, so that you may be a new unleavened batch—as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Therefore, let us keep the Festival, not with the old bread leavened with malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. (7 – 8)

Help us, O Lord, to celebrate your Feast with the bread of sincerity and truth. Permit us, O Lord, to cast away the yeast of malice and wickedness!

In Jesus’ name, Amen!

Alleluia: First Corinthians 5: 7b-8a

Alleluia, Alleluia!

Get rid of the old yeast, so that you may be a new unleavened batch—as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Therefore, let us keep the Festival, not with the old bread leavened with malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. 

Alleluia!

Gospel: John 20: 1-9

‘We are an Easter People and Alleluia is our song!’

Then Simon Peter came along behind him and went straight into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, as well as the cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus’ head. The cloth was still lying in its place, separate from the linen. (6 – 7)

“We live in the light of his Paschal Mystery — the mystery of his Death and Resurrection. ‘We are an Easter People and Alleluia is our song!’ We are not looking for a shallow joy but rather a joy that comes from faith, that grows through unselfish love, that respects the ‘fundamental duty of love of neighbour, without which it would be unbecoming to speak of Joy.’” – St. Pope John Paul II, Sunday Angelus, Nov 30th1986

We can have joy in our hearts only when we have unselfish love for our neighbour! We ask the Risen Lord to grant us the grace to walk in the Light of His Love!

In Jesus’ name, Amen!

Happy Easter to Everyone!

Easter Sunday, the Resurrection of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ

Also Read: Mass Readings for 20 April 2025 Sunday Reflection by Maryanne – 20 April 2025

We Have No Other Option for Hope but the Resurrection

There is a danger when a Christian talks confidently about the Resurrection because it can come off as triumphalistic. Like, somehow just the Christians are the smart ones and everyone else is dumb because have a story about Jesus. Though I would not want to take away any Christians confidence in the Resurrection, nor do I lack any myself, I want to reorient the way that Christians think about and talk about it in the often cynical, hopeless world in which we live. 

A World Without the Resurrection

One could argue that there is a hopeless, cynical narrative that is pushed by much of the popular stories that are told today, or that it is the cynical attitude that garners more attention on social media among the younger generations. Either way, even if one only accepts these realities, it does reflect a small truth of what ignorance of the Resurrection of Jesus creates in someone. Without Jesus, where truly does one place one’s hope beyond this world? Few even try to give an adequate answer, much less have even put something forward to contend with what Christ shows us in his Resurrection. 

Every other religion and ideology is an attempted answer to the sobering reality of death. Even the increasingly popular modern answer of death being the answer (yikes!), is still some attempt at an answer, though a bleak one. With the Resurrection of Jesus, the actual, real, physical Resurrection of Jesus, there is an answer. This is not just my opinion, but was first explicitly resounded by St. Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:14. This is it. The Resurrection holds everything else together. 

The Resurrection Changes Everything

This is the attitude that Christians must have. Not that we are better than our non-Christian friends and family members, but we must identify with the hopelessness that a world without Christ’s Resurrection looks like. Think of how world-changing a life with nothing after life would look like. On the surface, Christ’s death appeared to change nothing, but Christ’s Resurrection, must, change everything.

Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion

Also Read: Mass Readings for 13 April 2025 Sunday Reflection by Maryanne – 13 April 2025

Jesus is Both Goats

In this set of readings this weekend, we get the famous triumphant entry into Jerusalem by Jesus, where he is cheered as the Davidic Messiah. This is contracted soon later by the rejection of Jesus at his trial, whereupon he is given his Cross and chased out of that very same Jerusalem in order to be executed on Golgotha. In another ironic twist, Jesus, the true son of the Father, is rejected for a man called Bar-abbas, which translates to “son of the father,” who was the actual rebel to the political power at the time.

Later, St. Paul will describe in Hebrews how Jesus is continually presenting himself to God the Father as an offering, where he has been from the foundation of the world. Despite being driven away from the presence of God, which the Israelites would have recognized as in the Temple of Jerusalem, Jesus would also be recognized as always in God’s presence because of his relationship as God the Son. 

Old Testament Origins

This simultaneous presence and rejection in the face of the Holy parallels interestingly a practice by the Jewish people going at least all the way back to Leviticus, though one can see even earlier beginnings in the life of Abraham. Leviticus 16 describes the ritual of the scapegoat on the day of Atonement, where the Jewish priest would place the sins of the people over the shoulders of a chosen goat, who would be driven out of the community (they were not in Jerusalem yet) and into the desert to die. 

This symbolized the driving off of sin from the community. This would contrast the sacrificial lamb, who would be offered up to God on the altar of the tabernacle (and later the Temple). There is a contrast between that which is accepted and that which is rejected, but both goats played an essential role in the liturgical life of the Israelites. 

Passover Lamb and Scapegoat

Jesus, as we see, is the Passover Lamb as recognized by John the Baptist in John 1:29 and is paralleled multiple times later in John’s Gospel at his trial. Interestingly, he also parallels the scapegoat in his taking up of the Cross and execution outside of Jerusalem. Jesus’s representation of both goats is important for Christians as we are called to seek out lost sheep. Jesus enters into the experience of sin without having sinned himself. He identifies with those the community rejected, and even those who rejected God, so that he can reconcile them. We need to see Jesus not only as the Passover Lamb but also as the Scapegoat. 

Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion

Also Read: Mass Readings for 13 April 2025 Sunday Reflection by Mike – 13 April 2025

Procession: Luke 19: 28-40

As he approached Bethphage and Bethany at the hill called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples, saying to them, “Go to the village ahead of you, and as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ say, ‘The Lord needs it.’” (29 – 31)

As we begin the Holy Week, let us examine our roles in the passion of Jesus Christ! Are we being called to go to a certain “village”? Or untie certain things?

Amen!

First Reading: Isaiah 50: 4-7

Because the Sovereign Lord helps me, I will not be disgraced. Therefore, have I set my face like flint, and I know I will not be put to shame. (7)

Isaiah prophesied about our Lord Jesus Christ a few centuries before He was born on earth! Christ bore our sins to the Cross, and through Him we are saved.

In Jesus’ name, Amen!

Responsorial Psalm: Psalms 22: 8-9, 17-20, 23-24

All my bones are on display; people stare and gloat over me. They divide my clothes among them and cast lots for my garment.

The Lord God suffered unimaginable torture for our sins! What can we offer him in return?

Second Reading: Philippians 2: 6-11

Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage. (6)

Jesus Christ, being God, took on our nature to redeem us! We praise and thank God for this great solution to our fall! In sending His Son in our likeness, God reunited to himself the communion of all his people! Jesus Christ obeyed his Heavenly Father and united himself to the love of the Father for us! In Jesus we found the means to salvation!

What was meant to be evil, God turned into good by providing us the means to salvation!

In Jesus’ name, Amen!

Verse Before the Gospel: Philippians 2: 8-9

And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!

Amen!

Gospel: Luke 22: 14 – 23: 56

The Lord turned and looked straight at Peter. Then Peter remembered the word the Lord had spoken to him: “Before the rooster crows today, you will disown me three times.”(61)

How would we have reacted in place of Peter? Have we not denied our Lord on many occasions before? By refusing to walk in His precepts, we refuse His sovereignty over our lives! The Lord turns and looks straight at us now! Can we hold his gaze or feel shame for our weaknesses? Even in our weakness, Christ raises us and gives us His strength. He calls us back into his embrace, wiping away our sins as we stand beneath his cross. He consoles us and redeems us.

Let us be prepared like Peter to run into the empty tomb on the Glorious Sunday Morn! Let us repent and return to the Lord.

In Jesus’ name, Amen!