Sixth Sunday of Easter Cycle A

Welcome to read homilies for the Sundays of the year. These are sample homilies which you can read with devotion. You may use them in your own homilies without asking my permission. You may also change or edit these to fit them to your audience. A unique quality of these homilies is that they are Christ-filled. From beginning to end they present to us some aspect of Jesus so that beholding his glory we “are being transformed from glory to glory into his very image” (2 Corinthians 3:18 NAB).

The Fastest Processor

Our world today is dominated by the computer industry. Everywhere we see computers, whether at our desk, in our cell phones, in our digital watches and so on. From physically big computers we have gone into very small computers, some as small as a shirt button or even smaller than this.

One of the main characteristics of a computer is its speed. A computer can do mathematical computations faster than any human being can do. It can also process huge data in a matter of seconds or split-second. What is also noticeable is that the smaller the physical size of a computer the faster is its speed of operation.

We now even have systems where several persons can use a centralized computer at the same time. The Facebook is a gigantic computer based system whereby millions can operate at the same time, looking at pictures, writing messages, uploading and downloading pictures, interacting with the rest of the world.

But everyone also notices that when we use a computer there is a time of waiting, even if this time is only a split second, before an operation can be handled. The time of waiting is longer when putting on a computer. In Facebook there is a time of waiting when logging in and out.

There is however a system which is faster than all the computers around the world combined. This system is the one used in our Gospel reading today. And it does not need a time of waiting. The operation is more instant than the fastest computer in the world.

Our Gospel reading today ends with these words: "And whoever loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and reveal myself to him."

How could Jesus love each individual of the millions who love him and reveal himself to each of these? The answer is that Jesus is able to do this because of his resurrected body. This brings us to a fifth quality of the resurrected body of Jesus.

Let us review the first four qualities of the resurrected body of Jesus which we have reflected upon in our Easter Sunday homilies.

The first is that Jesus' resurrected body is the first object in the new creation. The second is that his resurrected body can become visible and invisible at his will. The third is that Jesus' resurrected body is very fruitful, the source of an abundant life. The fourth quality is that Jesus' resurrected body makes it easier for others to do the works that need to be done.

A fifth quality of the resurrected body of Jesus is that it can now interact with as many persons simultaneously as though it interacts with only one person. As God, Jesus can interact with a multitude of persons simultaneously on a personal level, with each of these as though he or she were the only person in the world. But Jesus is also a man like us with all the limitations of a human being. We cannot, for example, listen to one hundred persons at the same time and react to each one individually as though only that person of the one hundred exists. But with Jesus' resurrected body as a human being he can do this now because his body is resurrected.

There have been, of course, human beings who were known to bilocate, that is, to be present in two places at the same time doing different things in both locations. One of the recent ones is Padre Pio.

Here is a story from the catholicwebservices.com about an instance of Fr. Pio’s bilocation. "Mother Speranza, who founded the order of the Handmaids of the Merciful Love, said she had seen Padre Pio every day for one year in Rome. He had bilocated there. We know that Padre Pio had never been to Rome, except once in 1917, in order to take his sister to a convent she had decided to enter." Very remarkable indeed.

I know of a priest who told us that he also bilocated without his knowing that he was seen in two places at the same time.

But Jesus can now be in two or twenty or two billion places at the same time because of his resurrected body. This is because his body has spiritual qualities. And a spirit can be present in many places at the same time. This is something that was not true before his resurrection.

This statement of Jesus in our Gospel reading gives us much comfort. "And whoever loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and reveal myself to him."

When each one of us loves Jesus he says that each one of us will be loved by His

Father and he also will love each of us and reveal himself to us. He will do this in such a way that we feel we are the only person in the world.

I had a similar experience before. In 1975 I went to a doctor of the eyes to have my eyeglasses fitted. When she was measuring the grade of the eyeglasses that fitted my eyes I felt that I was her only patient. She waited for me patiently to show any reaction to the sample glasses that she fitted over my eyes. This struck me as something unique that I shared this experience with my brothers and sisters. The result was that they all went to this doctor to have their eyeglasses fitted and they also felt the same reaction: It is as though they were the only patient that doctor had.

This is the feeling we have when Jesus loves us. We feel that we are the only person in the world he cares about. In this case it is not only our eyes that he cares about but our whole personhood, our body and all its parts, our soul and all its faculties or abilities and our spirit and all its activities.

St. John of the Cross advised us to love God in such a way as though only God and we exist. This is the situation of lovers. They have all the time to themselves.

He said, "Live as though only God and yourself were in this world, so that your heart may not be detained by anything human."

Now in his resurrected body Jesus keeps on revealing the wonders of his love to each one of us as though we are the only person in the world. This he does instantaneously with each one of us, even if there are millions of us loving him. His reaction is faster than the fastest computer in the world. As Jesus reveals more and more of himself to each of us he becomes more and more beautiful to us. We exult and say, You are the fairest of ten thousand to my soul!

There is a hymn entitled "Beautiful Savior". The author of this is unknown. It is also called the Crusaders' Hymn because it was supposedly sung by German soldiers as they entered the Holy Land during the time of the Crusades. But some doubt this origin of the hymn. It was translated by Joseph A. Seiss. With this hymn we end our reflection for today.

Beautiful Savior,

King of Creation,

Son of God and Son of Man!

Truly I'd love Thee,

Truly I'd serve Thee,

Light of my soul, my Joy, my Crown.

Fair are the meadows,

Fair are the woodlands,

Robed in flowers of blooming spring;

Jesus is fairer,

Jesus is purer;

He makes our sorrowing spirit sing.

Fair is the sunshine,

Fair is the moonlight,

Bright the sparkling stars on high;

Jesus shines brighter,

Jesus shines purer,

Than all the angels in the sky.

Beautiful Savior,

Lord of the nations,

Son of God and Son of Man!

Glory and honor,

Praise, adoration,

Now and forevermore be Thine!

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Note for the readers:

The Mass readings are from the New American Bible Revised Edition (NABRE). This is where our Lectionary gets the readings.

NAB stands for New American Bible (before it was revised). This is the translation I use. Unless otherwise stated the text I use is from this translation.

AV stands for Authorized Version of the Bible. It is more commonly referred to as the King James Bible. It is the version most used in English literature, therefore it is the one known more by the English speaking world.

Fifth Sunday of Easter Cycle A

Welcome to read homilies for the Sundays of the year. These are sample homilies which you can read with devotion. You may use them in your own homilies without asking my permission. You may also change or edit these to fit them to your audience. A unique quality of these homilies is that they are Christ-filled. From beginning to end they present to us some aspect of Jesus so that beholding his glory we “are being transformed from glory to glory into his very image” (2 Corinthians 3:18 NAB).

Beyond Facilitating

One of the "in" words today in meetings, seminars, workshops and even retreats and recollections is "facilitating”. The one facilitating is called a facilitator.

According to the dictionary.com “to facilitate” is “to make easier or less difficult; help forward (an action, a process, etc.)”. Although the word “facilitate” was first used in the seventeenth century it is only in the past 20 years or so that this word has been used to refer to conducting meetings, seminars, workshops, retreats and recollections. Expressions such as “he facilitated the meeting”, “he facilitated the class” have become common.

In some colleges and universities the teacher is looked upon as a facilitator and is called so by that term. Before we had retreat masters, referring to priests or trained lay persons who conduct the process of a retreat. Today we now call these retreat facilitators.

I started this reflection with this idea of facilitating because that is what Jesus promises to do in our Gospel reading today although he did not use the precise term facilitate in Greek or Aramaic.

Our Gospel reading ends with these words: "Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes in me will do the works that I do, and will do greater ones than these, because I am going to the Father."

This means that Jesus will make those who believe in him to do the works he did and greater works than these. He will help them do an action or work. That is the meaning of facilitating, Jesus makes it easier for believers to do his work and greater works than those done by him.

This brings us to a fourth quality of the resurrected body of Jesus. We briefly recall the first three qualities of Jesus' resurrected body we reflected upon in our previous homilies.

The first is that Jesus' resurrected body is the first object in the new creation. The second is that his resurrected body can become visible and invisible at his will. The third is that Jesus' resurrected body is very fruitful, the source of an abundant life. Now we go to the fourth quality. Jesus' resurrected body makes it easier for others to do the works that need to be done.

The reason why the resurrected body of Jesus is able to facilitate the actions of other bodies is because it can send its Spirit to empower the other bodies to perform those works.

Notice the reason Jesus gives why those who believe in him will do his works and greater works than those done by him. He said, "because I am going to the Father."

He goes back to his Father. And what does he do there? He will be given all power and authority in heaven and on earth. In corporate or management language he will become the CEO or Chief Executive Officer of this whole universe. And being a resurrected CEO he can now send his Spirit from his resurrected body to facilitate the work of those who believe in him.

Did you ever wonder why Jesus could not send his Spirit before his resurrection? The reason is simple. It was because that Spirit was not yet the spirit of a resurrected body. It was still the spirit of a weak, material body. But now that his body is resurrected it can send its Spirit, the Spirit of a resurrected body to empower other people to do what he wants them to do.

That is why the first time Jesus appeared to his disciples as a group he breathed on them and told them to receive his Spirit, because this Spirit is now able to facilitate their work. By breathing on them and saying, “Receive ye the Holy Spirit he was saying that this Spirit was from him, a resurrected person.

And truly this Spirit facilitated the work of those who believe in Jesus to do works greater that those done by Jesus. These works are greater because they now transfer people from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light. It was not just miracles of healing or even raising people from the dead, but giving people a completely new life. But this happened only through the Spirit of Jesus' resurrected body.

But Jesus does not only facilitate. He empowers and makes his believers do these works without violating their free will. God prophesied in the Old Testament through Ezekiel, "I will put my spirit within you and make you live by my statutes, careful to observe my decrees" (36:27). This promise means that God will make it easier for us to obey his commandments through that Spirit of Jesus whom he puts within us.

Do we have a problem with sin or sins? Jesus' resurrected body empowers us through this his Spirit to get rid of sin first by forgiveness and then by doing the opposite of sin which is living by his statures and carefulness to observe God’s decrees, as Ezekiel prophesied.

That is why after Jesus told his disciple to receive the Holy Spirit he gave them power to forgive sins, which only God can do. This is a work greater than the miracles Jesus did during his lifetime.

This Spirit of Jesus is ours now making it easier for us to do what God wants us to do. This Spirit was given to us in baptism and made sure and permanent in our confirmation.

If we believe in Jesus it is easier for us now to do good than to do evil, thanks to the Spirit of the resurrected body of Jesus.

The first reading tells us that indeed the disciples were now able to do greater works that those done by Jesus in his physical body. They were now able to provide for the sustenance of widows through the ministry of the deacons. The word of God continued to spread, and the number of the disciples in Jerusalem increased greatly; even a large group of priests were becoming obedient to the faith. In the first recorded public sermon of Peter three thousand believers joined the disciples. There was later an additional of five thousand men.

In the second reading we are told also what this greater works are. The believers are now become living stones, built into a spiritual house. A new kind of people is raised up by God through these believers, a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of his own, so that they may announce the praises of him who called them out of darkness into his wonderful light. These believers are us. We are this chosen race, this royal priesthood, a holy nation, set apart in the service of the God of this universe.

All these are made possible by the spirit of the resurrected body of Jesus. He is now all powerful, this lowly carpenter from Nazareth,

And this Spirit of Jesus is with us now, making it easier for us to live lives pleasing to God.

We pray as we bow our heads.

Almighty Father, you raised Jesus from the dead and gave him authority and power to make it easy for us to obey you. He is the greatest facilitator through the Spirit from his resurrected body. Thank you. With this Spirit we can truly call you, Abba, Father. Amen.

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Note for the readers:

The Mass readings are from the New American Bible Revised Edition (NABRE). This is where our Lectionary gets the readings.

NAB stands for New American Bible (before it was revised). This is the translation I use. Unless otherwise stated the text I use is from this translation.

AV stands for Authorized Version of the Bible. It is more commonly referred to as the King James Bible. It is the version most used in English literature, therefore it is the one known more by the English speaking world.

Fourth Sunday of Easter (Good Shepherd Sunday) Cycle A

Welcome to read homilies for the Sundays of the year. These are sample homilies which you can read with devotion. You may use them in your own homilies without asking my permission. You may also change or edit these to fit them to your audience. A unique quality of these homilies is that they are Christ-filled. From beginning to end they present to us some aspect of Jesus so that beholding his glory we “are being transformed from glory to glory into his very image” (2 Corinthians 3:18 NAB).

Abundance Beyond Our Wildest Dreams

Some details are so minor that we almost do not notice them or we are not fully aware of what they are. Like the period or dot at the end of a sentence. In 1980 a Filipino singing group called ASIN or Salt of the Earth produced a song entitled Ang Tuldok, which in English, is The Period. It is a song about the period at the end of a sentence. Here are some lines translated into English from that song: The period has a story and meaning. . . . All things came from a period and if you observe are returning to it.

Yes, the period is important. Without the period we would not be able to get the proper meaning of a passage. It is an important and essential detail in writing.

In our Gospel reading today there is a detail that is most important for our Christian life. It is a detail that is greater than the punctuation mark period and it makes a greater impact on our life if we understand its meaning. This detail will make us understand better a third quality of the resurrected body of Jesus.

To make a very brief review of the first two qualities of the resurrected body which we saw in our past homilies during Easter Sundays, the first is that the resurrected body of Jesus is the first object in the new creation of God. The second is that the resurrected body of Jesus can become visible and invisible as Jesus wished it to be. And now we go to the third quality of Jesus' resurrected body.

The detail I am referring to is the last word in our Gospel reading, the word "abundantly". The full sentence reads, "A thief comes only to steal and slaughter and destroy; I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly."

In our English version the last two words are in the comparative degree of the adverb "abundantly". It is comparative because of the word "more". In the original Greek it is not in a comparative degree. It is not even an adverb. It is a simple adjective. That word in the original Greek is "perisson". Its meaning is "more than sufficient", "over and above", "abundant", "out of the common", "pre-eminent", "superior". The clause has this literal translation: "I came that they might have life and they might have  abundant." The context gives us the meaning of this sentence, Jesus came that we, his sheep, might have life and might have an abundance of it.

Now the question we can ask is, Why is this word “perisson” or “abundant” important for us? It is important because it tells us what kind of life Jesus was referring to. He said that he came that we might have life. Well, we as human beings have already our human life when he came. Certainly therefore Jesus did not mean that he came in order to give us human life because we have this kind of life already. The kind of life Jesus was referring to was a life of abundance, a life "more than sufficient", "over and above" our human life, "abundant", "out of the common" life, a "pre-eminent" life, "superior" to our human life.

And this is the life that Jesus had after his resurrection. His life was no longer a mere human life, it was a life superior to his life before his resurrection.

There is an axiom in philosophy which is common sense. In Latin it sounds, Nemo dat quid non habet. Literally translated it sounds, No one gives what he does not have. Or a better translation is, You cannot give what you do not have.

Jesus cannot give this superior kind of life to us if he does not have it. He obtained this superior kind of life by his resurrection. His body now was superior to his former non-resurrected body.

Why was the resurrected body of Jesus superior to his former non-resurrected body? It was superior because now it was no longer subject to pain and decay. It was a glorified body. It fully possessed the abundant life that Jesus promised for us.

And having obtained this superior kind of life he gives it to us. It is the life of a resurrected body. This is the life Jesus gives us. And he is giving it to us now, while we are still on this earth.

John tells us in his letter, "See what love the Father has bestowed on us in letting us be called children of God! Yet that is what we are. The reason the world does not recognize us is that it never recognized the Son. Dearly beloved, we are God's children now; what we shall later be has not yet come to light. We know that when it comes to light we shall be like him" (1 John 3:1-2). We are God’s children now, as divine as God is, but we do not appear as such.

Yes, we are God's children now, with the resurrected life of Jesus but it does not appear that we are so. When we shall appear as God's children we shall be like Jesus with his resurrected life.

This is the gift of the Holy Spirit referred to in our first reading. And Peter says that this gift is for all those far off whomever the Lord our God will call. This is the gift of the new life, a resurrected life, a life superior to our natural life now, a truly abundant, superior kind of life.

Our Responsorial Psalm is appropriately the Psalm about the Good Shepherd since today is Good Shepherd Sunday. Here is described what Jesus does for us in this new life we have with him.

The LORD is our shepherd; we shall not want, because we have Jesus’ own resurrected abundant life.

In verdant pastures he gives us repose;

beside restful waters he leads us;

he refreshes our souls with his ever abiding Spirit.

He guides us in right paths for his name's sake.

Even though we walk in the dark valley

we fear no evil; for Jesus is at our side.

With his rod and staff that give us courage.

He spreads the table before us in the sight of our foes, supplying us with abundant heavenly food;

He anoints our head with oil;

our cup overflows.

Only goodness and kindness follow us all the days of our life;

and we shall dwell in the house of the LORD for years to come.

What a beautiful assurance this Psalm gives us. It describes what Jesus in his resurrected, exalted life does for us.

Our second reading tells us the sad reality of our present life. We suffer now for doing what is good. But Peter tells us in his letter to be patient. Because Christ also suffered for us. leaving us an example that we should follow in his footsteps. He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth. When he was insulted, he returned no insult; when he suffered, he did not threaten; instead, he handed himself over to the one who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body upon the cross, so that, free from sin, we might live for righteousness. By his wounds we have been healed. For we had gone astray like sheep, but we have now returned to the shepherd and guardian of our souls. And now that we have returned Jesus gives us the best, a foretaste of the resurrected life through his own resurrected life in us.

What a comforting thought! In the midst of our suffering, of our pains, of our discomfort, of our lack of many things, Jesus is there as our shepherd and guardian. And because he is already risen he is giving us his own risen life so that we are filled with joy.

This is the reality of our Christian life. As Psalm 23 tells us, Only goodness and kindness follow us all the days of our life; and we shall dwell in the house of the LORD for years to come.

Paul the Apostle has a statement which provides us a glimpse of the abundance in stored for us. He said, quoting some words from Isaiah the Prophet,

“Eye has not seen, ear has not heard,

nor has it so much as dawned on man

what God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Corinthians 2:9).

What God has prepared for us is a body like the resurrected body of Jesus which has wondrous capabilities, abundant in all possibilities which we cannot even imagine now. We like to look at circuses which display the wonderful movements of the human body, we gaze with wonder at the beautiful bodies displayed in magazines, we are enthralled at the sight of bodies flying in space or diving into the ocean depths. All these bodies we see will sooner or later die and be decayed. But the resurrected body God gives us which has the same qualities as the resurrected body of Jesus will never die, never decay. It will go on forever with abundant capabilities beyond our wildest dreams.

Let us pray. We bow our heads.

Father God, by raising Jesus our Good Shepherd from the grave you gave him a new body resplendent with possibilities which only you know. And the same kind of body Jesus is giving us. Thank you for this wonderful gift of your Spirit. We glorify you now and forever. Amen.

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Note for the readers:

The Mass readings are from the New American Bible Revised Edition (NABRE). This is where our Lectionary gets the readings.

NAB stands for New American Bible (before it was revised). This is the translation I use. Unless otherwise stated the text I use is from this translation.

AV stands for Authorized Version of the Bible. It is more commonly referred to as the King James Bible. It is the version most used in English literature, therefore it is the one known more by the English speaking world.