The Holy Spirit gives us New Life

My dear brothers and sisters, imagine if our lives were somehow different. Imagine if we had a new life, if we didn't have to always rely on ourselves. Imagine if we had an alternative power source that we could tap into, a power source that slowly transforms us into the person we truly want to be.

Today we celebrate the Pentecost Sunday, through the readings we are reminded that to be a baptized Christian living in friendship with God means that we do have this power source. His name is the Holy Spirit, and he is the third person of the Blessed Trinity. He is the bond of love between God the Father and God the Son.

In the first Pentecost we heard about how the disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in different languages of the mighty acts of God. Then the psalm asked God: "Lord, send out your Spirit, and renew the face of the earth." We can add to that, "Lord, send out your spirit, and renew my life, and the lives of those I love." 

True Love Is Self-Giving, not Self-Getting

My dear brothers and sisters, following Christ is not complicated. In fact, today Jesus reduces the essence of what it means to be his follower into one sentence. This sentence is his New Commandment, a commandment that summarizes everything he has taught: "Love one another as I have loved you." If we do that, we are on Christ's path, and we will experience the joy and meaning that only God can give.

And to make it even simpler (because he knows that we tend to complicate things unnecessarily), Jesus explains exactly what he means by the word "love," a word the Devil is always trying to distort: "A man can have no greater love than to lay down his life for his friends."

In other words, love is self-giving, and so, the greater the self-giving, the greater the love. When we put our lives at the service of others, when we live in order to give and not to take, when we are willing to suffer so that someone else can rejoice, then we may call ourselves his disciples. But Jesus went even further in order to make sure we would understand. He didn't explain the meaning of true love just with words; he also explained it with his deeds, with his own suffering and death.

He accepted mockery, humiliation, torture, rejection, injustice, misunderstanding, betrayal, and finally death, not because he was too weak to resist, but to show us what love really is: self-giving, self-forgetful generosity.

Jesus Christ hanging on the cross; bearing the weight of our sins; thinking not of himself but of the men and women he came to save, even pleading for their forgiveness up until the very end; giving without counting the cost, even without asking for something in return - this is God's idea of love. It is ours?

Aragorn and Arwen

My dear brothers and sisters, if you are fans of Peter Jackson's 2001 movie, The Fellowship of the Ring, you will get a glimpse of an unusual love story. For you who never know that movie, let I breakdown little bit.

Aragorn, the heir to the throne of the great Kingdom of Gondor, is anxious and fearful about his responsibility to defend Middle Earth against the evil menace of Sauron. In the midst of his melancholy and doubt, Arwen, the beautiful Elf-Princess, finds him and comforts him.

They have known each other for a long time, and it is clear that they are in love. But Arwen is an Elf, and elves are immortal. So, if she were to marry Aragorn, a mere human, she would have to give up her immortality.

That has made them hesitate to pledge themselves to each other, even though their love is deep. As she tries to encourage Aragorn, Arwen realizes that only the power of true love can give him the strength he needs to fulfill his mission.

She reaffirms her love for him, but she sees that it is not enough just to tell him that she loves him. She has to show it. In that moment, she overcomes all of their previous hesitations and decides that she will give herself completely to him, sacrificing her immortality out of love, and she says in a passionate whisper: "I choose a mortal life."

In the movies, we always recognize that true love is costly - it's about giving oneself more than indulging oneself. Somehow, that's what makes it beautiful. This is what Jesus meant when he told his parable about the grain of wheat.

If it falls into the ground, gets buried, and dies, it ends up becoming a new plant and producing hundreds of new grains of wheat. But if it refuses to die, to sacrifice, to give of itself, it remains just a single grain of wheat.

Reversing the Angle on Our Relationships

Reversing the angle on our relationships is an idea of true love. This is not pie-in-the-sky; it's practical. For example, it gives us a way to see our relationships from God's perspective. From a merely human perspective, we tend to look at our relationships in terms of what we get out of them.

This person is enjoyable to be around; this person rubs me the wrong way; this person is always asking favours. But when we understand that the path to true wisdom and lasting joy is Christ-like love, self-forgetful, self-giving love, those considerations begin to take a back seat.

When we are self-centred, we tend to be passive and reactive. But when we are Christ-centred, we tend to be proactive. We see relationships in terms of what we can give to them, and that's much more dynamic and energizing. Imagine starting the week by making a list of things you want to do for people.

It would change the whole tone of our week; we would be lighting lights instead of dodging shadows. This week: think of one small thing you can do to ease the burdens of your spouse; think of one small thing you can do to make your boss's or coworker's job just a little bit easier; think of one small thing you can do to bring some encouragement and joy into your parents' lives; think of a friend or relative who is suffering, and think of one small thing you can do to help support them. Is it really so simple? Yes.

This is what self-giving looks like in real life. It is within all of our reach, if we are willing to step out of our comfort zones. Jesus did it for us on the wood of the cross, today, this week, let's promise to do it for him on the pavement of our daily lives.

Month of Mary

In Catholic tradition, the month of May is dedicated to Mary. Mary is chosen by God above all other women. Mary's faith and obedience paved the way for the Incarnation. Her example teaches us faith, obedience, humility, and most of all, how to love. According to St. Thomas of Villanova, "If in this world any creature ever loved God with whole heart, with whole soul, and with whole mind, she was the creature."

The Catechism of the Catholic Church defines Mary's unique role as being honored above all other saints, including the Apostles. At the foot of the cross, her heart broke for Jesus, yet she accepted God's will not only for her Son but for herself in her new role as mother to us all. (John 19:25-27) So, not only is she the mother of Jesus, and thus, the Mother of God, but she is also the Mother of the Church.

The pious practice of honoring Mary during May has been especially promoted by the Popes. Pius XII made frequent reference to it in his great Encyclical on the Sacred Liturgy Mediator Dei. He characterized it as one of "other exercises of piety which although not strictly belonging to the Sacred Liturgy, are nevertheless of special import and dignity, and may be considered in a certain way to be an addition to the liturgical cult: they have been approved and praised over and over again by the Apostolic See and by the Bishops"

In his 1965 encyclical, Pope Paul VI delighted in honoring Mary in May because of the "rich benefits to the Christian people." Why? Because "the person who encounters Mary cannot help but encounter Christ likewise. For what other reason do we continually turn to Mary except to seek Christ in her arms, to seek our Savior in her, through her, and with her?"

"In the end, we should realize the great gift we have as Catholics. Honoring Mary seems natural to us. We honor our mother in heaven as easily as we honor our mothers on earth," Bishop Pohlmeier said. "From all mothers, we learn a great deal. From Mary, we learn the greatest thing, how to love God himself." As we honor our earthly mothers in May, let's honor our heavenly mother as well. "During May we pray with our mother that we may love Jesus as she does."

The ways Mary is honored in May are as varied as the people who honor her. It's common for parishes to have a daily recitation of the Rosary during May, and many erect a special May altar with a statue or picture of Mary as a reminder of Mary's month. Additionally, it's a long-standing tradition to crown the statue of Mary in May. Often, the crown is made of beautiful blossoms representing Mary's beauty and virtue. It's also a reminder to the faithful to strive to imitate our Blessed Mother's virtue in our own lives.

We can and should be doing the same in our homes. When we echo the customs and traditions of the Church in our homes – our domestic churches – we participate more fully in the life of the Church.

If you haven't already, I encourage you to erect a prayer corner in your home. No matter how fancy or simple it is. The main point is that it's a place designated for God, and more specifically, for spending time with him. Just as you need a proper atmosphere to sleep, you also need a proper atmosphere to pray.

For May, give Mary a special spot in your prayer corner. It can be a statue or picture, but place there some representation of our Blessed Mother. Make it appealing and a real tribute to her beauty and virtue.

Honor Mary because she is our Mother - your mother, my mother, everyone's mother - and because she cares for all of us day in and day out, interceding for us in even the smallest things. For that, she deserves a whole month in her honor. 

Jesus Transforms Us from the Inside Out

My dear brothers and sisters, history's greatest leaders influence people from the outside in. With their speech, their ideas, their example, and even their presence they move and motivate those around them, drawing others and stirring them to action.

Jesus Christ, however, goes much deeper, influencing us also from the inside out. He not only calls us from the outside, through the voice of the Church, the actions of Providence, and the example of his faithful disciples.

But he also unites himself to us so intimately that his very life flows through our veins. "I am the vine, you are the branches," he explains in today's Gospel. Where does a vine stop, and its branches begin? Their union is too complete to tell.

The same sap gives life to the vine and to its branches. Just so, grace is God's own divine life flowing through Christ and into us. In this way, as in so many other ways, Jesus Christ stands alone among great historical figures. Not only does he excel all others in their own game, but he plays in an entirely different league; he is a leader, but he is also the Lord.

How grateful we should be that he has seen fit to make us branches of his vine! And yet, as human beings we are a unique kind of branch. We are responsible for keeping ourselves united to the vine. And if we don't, Jesus makes it perfectly clear that we will not bear fruit; we will wither, die, and be burned.

So, the question arises, how do we stay united to the vine, so that we can bear fruit and share in eternal life? In this passage, Jesus points out four ways to do just that.

Growing in Prayer (with quotation from Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta)

Staying united to the vine means constantly growing in our life of prayer. Prayer is how we expose our souls to the divine sunlight. Just as plants need exposure to sunlight for energy, so we need to expose ourselves to God's truth and love through reading and reflecting on the sacred scriptures, and through conversing with him in the quiet of our hearts. And so, if our prayer life is the same when we are fifty as it was when we were fifteen, it could be a sign that we are stunting our spiritual growth.

For Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta, listening to God in prayer was the very first link in the sacred chain of interior peace. Here's how she put it: The fruit of silence is prayer; the fruit of prayer is faith; the fruit of faith is love; the fruit of love is service; the fruit of service is peace.

Utilizing the Sacraments (with quotation from St Gaudentius of Brescia)

"Remaining in Christ" means making good use of the sacraments, most especially the sacraments of the Eucharist and confession. If a branch gets damaged in a windstorm, the gardener knows how to tie it up properly so that it will once again attach itself firmly to the trunk.

He binds it or grafts it back on to the vine. That's what happens with confession: Jesus renews the connection with him that our sin has damaged or broken. All the saints and popes recommend that we use this great gift regularly and frequently.

And in the Eucharist, our union with Christ is strengthened more powerfully than at any other time - we receive an influx of grace like no other, because he is truly present there under the appearances of bread and wine. If prayer is sunlight, the Eucharist is a rain shower, refreshing and renewing our souls. Every Holy Communion is like a spiritual springtime in which a new outpouring of divine life surges into our hearts and minds.

St Gaudentius of Brescia put it very clearly when he wrote: "This is the food which sustains and nourishes us on our journey through life, until we depart from this world and are united with Christ."

Loving Obedience to God's Will (with quotation from St Vincent de Paul)

Staying united to the vine requires loving obedience to God's will. This is what St John refers to in today's Second Reading, when he writes: "Children, let us not love one another in word or in speech, but in deeds and truth." It's easy to say pretty words, to talk the talk of being a good Catholic.

But that talk has to translate into actions and the strength of virtues, into honesty, purity, faithfulness, courage, self-sacrifice, and obedience to Church teaching. Otherwise, we are no better than actors on a stage, making a show out of looking like Christ's followers, but not really following Christ.

This loving obedience to God our wise and all-powerful Father, in big things and little things, is the surest sign of humility, and humility the shortcut to holiness, wisdom, and lasting happiness. As St Vincent de Paul put it: "The most powerful weapon to conquer the Devil is humility. For, as he does not know at all how to employ it, neither does he know how to defend himself from it."

Letting God Prune Us (with quotation from St Ignatius of Loyola)

Staying united to the vine means allowing God to prune us. Jesus says that each healthy branch of the vine must be pruned "so that it bears more fruit."

This pruning takes the form of suffering. It may be painful, physical sufferings, like sickness, disease, financial insecurity, or old-age. It may be hidden, interior sufferings, like losing a loved one or watching a dear relative abandon their Catholic faith.

Whenever God permits these kinds of sufferings - the ones that we don't seem to have any control over - we have to let our faith remind us that they are under his control. He is the vine-dresser. He knows how much pruning we can handle (and the amount is different for each branch). And he knows how to use that suffering to unite us more deeply with Christ, who suffered on the cross to redeem the world.

In times of pain and hardship, God is begging us to trust in him more and more, to pray in the depths of our hearts that beautiful prayer that he himself taught us through his revelations to St Faustina of the Divine Mercy: "Jesus, I trust in you." Accepting the Cross, not rebelling when God tries to prune us, is the secret of all the saints.

As St Ignatius of Loyola put it: "If God causes you to suffer much, it is a sign that he has great designs for you, and that he certainly intends to make you a saint. And if you wish to become a great saint, entreat him to give you much opportunity for suffering; for there is no wood better to kindle the fire of holy love than the wood of the Cross, which Christ used for his own sacrifice of boundless charity."

God Wants Us to Bear Fruit

Prayer, the sacraments, loving obedience, and suffering in union with Christ are what keep the Christian sap flowing in our lives. They yield the fruit we yearn for most:

• a life that resounds with meaning and energy,
• a life that positively impacts others and exudes joy and enthusiasm,
• a life that changes this world for the better in as profound a way as Christ's own life did,
• and a life whose meaning and impact overflow into eternity.

This is what God wants for us; this is why Jesus came to earth: "By this is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples." Bearing such fruit makes life worth living; without it we are dry, dead branches good for nothing except the fire.

As we continue with this Mass, let's thank God from the depths of our hearts for uniting us to the vine of Christ. And when we receive our Lord in Holy Communion, let's promise him that this week we will make a decent effort to do our part to protect and strengthen that union. 

The Liturgy of the Hours, also known as the Divine Office or the Work of God (Opus Dei), is the daily prayer of the Church, marking the hours of each day and sanctifying the day with prayer.The Hours are a meditative dialogue on the mystery of Christ, using scripture and prayer.At times the dialogue is between the Church or individual soul and God; at times it is a dialogue among the members of the Church; and at times it is even between the Church and the world.The Divine Office "is truly the voice of the Bride herself addressed to her Bridegroom. It is the very prayer which Christ himself together with his Body addresses to the Father." (SC 84)The dialogue is always held, however, in the presence of God and using the words and wisdom of God.Each of the five canonical Hours includes selections from the Psalms that culminate in a scriptural proclamation.The two most important or hinge Hours are Morning and Evening Prayer. These each include a Gospel canticle:the Canticle of Zechariah from Luke 1:68-79 for Morning Prayer (known as the Benedictus), and the Canticle of Mary from Luke 1:46-55 for Evening Prayer (known as the Magnificat). The Gospel canticle acts as a kind of meditative extension of the scriptural proclamation in light of the Christ event.Morning and Evening Prayer also include intercessions that flow from the scriptural proclamation just as the Psalms prepare for it.

"The hymns and litanies of the Liturgy of the Hours integrate the prayer of the psalms into the age of the Church, expressing the symbolism of the time of day, the liturgical season, or the feast being celebrated. Moreover, the reading from the Word of God at each Hour (with the subsequent responses or troparia) and readings from the Fathers and spiritual masters at certain Hours, reveal more deeply the meaning of the mystery being celebrated, assist in understanding the psalms, and prepare for silent prayer." (CCC 1177)

The five Hours of the Divine Office are:

Office of Readings

"The office of readings seeks to provide God's people, and in particular those consecrated to God in a special way, with a wider selection of passages from sacred Scripture for meditation, together with the finest excerpts from spiritual writers. Even though the cycle of scriptural readings at daily Mass is now richer, the treasures of revelation and tradition to be found in the office of readings will also contribute greatly to the spiritual life" (General Instruction of the Liturgy of the Hours [GILH], no. 55).

Morning Prayer

"As is clear from many of the elements that make it up, morning prayer is intended and arranged to sanctify the morning. St. Basil the Great gives an excellent description of this character in these words: "It is said in the morning in order that the first stirrings of our mind and will may be consecrated to God and that we may take nothing in hand until we have been gladdened by the thought of God, as it is written: 'I was mindful of God and was glad' (Ps 77:4 [Jerome's translation from Hebrew]), or set our bodies to any task before we do what has been said: 'I will pray to you, Lord, you will hear my voice in the morning; I will stand before you in the morning and gaze on you' (Ps 5:4-5)."

"Celebrated as it is as the light of a new day is dawning, this hour also recalls the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, the true light enlightening all people (see Jn 1:9) and "the sun of justice" (Mal 4:2), "rising from on high" (Lk 1:78). Hence, we can well understand the advice of St. Cyprian: "There should be prayer in the morning so that the resurrection of the Lord may thus be celebrated" (GILH, no. 38).

Daytime Prayer (can be prayed at Midmorning, Midday, or Midafternoon)

"Following a very ancient tradition Christians have made a practice of praying out of private devotion at various times of the day, even in the course of their work, in imitation of the Church in apostolic times. In different ways with the passage of time this tradition has taken the form of a liturgical celebration.

"Liturgical custom in both East and West has retained midmorning, midday, and midafternoon prayer, mainly because these hours were linked to a commemoration of the events of the Lord's passion and of the first preaching of the Gospel" (GILH, no. 74-75).

Evening Prayer

"When evening approaches and the day is already far spent, evening prayer is celebrated in order that 'we may give thanks for what has been given us, or what we have done well, during the day.' We also recall the redemption through the prayer we send up 'like incense in the Lord's sight,' and in which 'the raising up of our hands' becomes 'an evening sacrifice' (see Ps 141:2). This sacrifice 'may also be interpreted more spiritually as the true evening sacrifice that our Savior the Lord entrusted to the apostles at supper on the evening when he instituted the sacred mysteries of the Church or of the evening sacrifice of the next day, the sacrifice, that is, which, raising his hands, he offered to the Father at the end of the ages for the salvation of the whole world.' Again, in order to fix our hope on the light that knows no setting, 'we pray and make petition for the light to come down on us anew; we implore the coming of Christ who will bring the grace of eternal light.' Finally, at this hour we join with the Churches of the East in calling upon the 'joy-giving light of that holy glory, born of the immortal, heavenly Father, the holy and blessed Jesus Christ; now that we have come to the setting of the sun and have seen the evening star, we sing in praise of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit…'" (GILH, no. 39).

https://www.usccb.org/prayer-and-worship/liturgy-of-the-hours

Jesus Is Our Model for Living Life to the Full

My dear brothers and sister, today we celebrate the fourth Sunday of Easter called a Good Sheperd Sunday. Because in the Gospel Jesus called himself as a Good Sheperd. Jesus is the good shepherd for two reasons.

First, because he laid down his life in order to save us, his sheep, from the devil. After original sin, the human race was under a curse. As the Catechism (#407) puts it, "By our first parents' sin, the devil has acquired certain domination over man, even though man remains free.

Ignorance of the fact that man has a wounded nature inclined to evil gives rise to serious errors in the areas of education, politics, social action, and morals."

Jesus came to break that domination, to reclaim us for himself, and through his grace, to lead us gradually out of our inherited, sinful self-centeredness to the everlasting happiness of self-forgetful love. He didn't have to do this; he chose to, because he cares - he is the good shepherd.

Second, Jesus is the good shepherd because he is faithful to the mission he received from the Father. This mission of carrying out the Father's plan, of obeying the Father's will, consumes Jesus and constitutes in his mind the entire meaning of his life: "This is why the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again... This command I have received from my Father."

Jesus Christ was perfect man; he lived his human life perfectly, and that perfection consisted in focusing wholly on the Father's will, in being passionately faithful to his sonship. To discover and fulfill our own identity as children of God, and so experience life as he created us to live it, both now and in eternity, Jesus invites us to imitate him: "The sheep follow, because they know his voice" (John 10:4).

The voice of Christ, our good shepherd, is his example of fulfilling his life-mission, no matter the cost. We follow him by doing the same.

Christ's Two Advantages

What is our life-mission? For Jesus, it was clear: save the world by fulfilling the Old Testament prophecies and obeying his Father's will up to death on a cross. But Jesus, because he was true God and true man, had two advantages that we don't have.

First, in every situation, he knew with perfect clarity what the Father wanted him to do. He never really had to ask, as we often do, "What is God's will for me right now?" Second, he had more strength than we do to fulfill that will. Because of original sin, we have leaks in our spiritual batteries.

We are attracted by evil, selfishness, laziness, lust, greed, self-indulgence. Our fallen nature has a strong tendency to disobey what God wants us to do, or to rebel against what God sends our way. But Jesus had no leaks in his spiritual batteries.

He did not have a spiritual default setting on self-centeredness, as we do. This doesn't mean that it was always easy for Jesus to do his Father's will - his agony in the Garden of Gethsemane was proof enough of that. But it does mean that his human nature was in better shape than ours. Spiritually speaking, he was like an Olympic athlete, and we are like couch potatoes.

So, Jesus had some advantages over us in the fulfillment of his life mission of saving the world, which makes perfect sense, considering that his mission was much bigger than ours. But because he is our good shepherd, he has given us two supernatural resources to help us overcome our disadvantages.

To the extent that we make good use of these resources, we will be able to experience the meaning and fulfillment that comes from living our life-mission to the full. To the extent that we don't, we won't.

The First Supernatural Resource

The first supernatural resource our good shepherd gives us is the teaching authority of his Church, the Catholic Church. This authority is a light showing the Father's will for our lives, making up for the ignorance we inherited from original sin.

Jesus made a solemn promise that "when the Spirit of truth [i.e., the Holy Spirit] comes he will lead you to the complete truth." He also commanded his Apostles, and in them the Church of all ages, to teach all nations.

This teaching authority is often called the "magisterium," coming from the Latin word for teacher: "magister". It belongs to the pope and the bishops who are in communion with him. And it is the reason why Catholics today believe the same doctrines that Catholics believed five hundred years and a thousand years ago.

Our faith has not been corrupted or lost, even though the Church and the world have suffered so much turmoil through the ups and downs of history. Of course, we need to remember that this teaching authority doesn't apply to everything.

The teaching authority of the Church is guaranteed to be trustworthy only when dealing with the doctrines of our faith: the truths we profess in the Creed, the Ten Commandments, and implications these have for our lives in today's world.

Being Good Sheep

Our good shepherd wants us to experience the meaning and joy that comes from discovering and striving to fulfill our life-mission. That's why he came to earth!

He leads us to the cool waters of Church teaching, a clear, refreshing stream that never stops flowing and is never polluted. He leads us to the rich, grassy meadows of the sacraments, where we can feed on his grace for free, without ever having to worry about famines or droughts.

He truly is our good shepherd. But are we good sheep? Most of us want to be; that's why we are here today. But even if we already are good sheep, without a doubt we can become better sheep, if we make a more responsible and active use of these two supernatural resources that Christ came all the way down from heaven to give us.

Today, as he renews his commitment to us, let's renew our commitment to him, and promise him that this week, we will be better sheep than ever. 

Dear brothers and sisters!

Each year, the World Day of Prayer for Vocations invites us to reflect on the precious gift of the Lord's call to each of us, as members of his faithful pilgrim people, to participate in his loving plan and to embody the beauty of the Gospel in different states of life. Hearing that divine call, which is far from being an imposed duty – even in the name of a religious ideal – is the surest way for us to fulfil our deepest desire for happiness. Our life finds fulfilment when we discover who we are, what our gifts are, where we can make them bear fruit, and what path we can follow in order to become signs and instruments of love, generous acceptance, beauty and peace, wherever we find ourselves.

This Day, then, is always a good occasion to recall with gratitude to the Lord the faithful, persevering and frequently hidden efforts of all those who have responded to a call that embraces their entire existence. I think of mothers and fathers who do not think first of themselves or follow fleeting fads of the moment, but shape their lives through relationships marked by love and graciousness, openness to the gift of life and commitment to their children and their growth in maturity. I think of all those who carry out their work in a spirit of cooperation with others, and those who strive in various ways to build a more just world, a more solidary economy, a more equitable social policy and a more humane society. In a word, of all those men and women of good will who devote their lives to working for the common good. I think too of all those consecrated men and women who offer their lives to the Lord in the silence of prayer and in apostolic activity, sometimes on the fringes of society, tirelessly and creatively exercising their charism by serving those around them. And I think of all those who have accepted God's call to the ordained priesthood, devoting themselves to the preaching of the Gospel, breaking open their own lives, together with the bread of the Eucharist, for their brothers and sisters, sowing seeds of hope and revealing to all the beauty of God's kingdom.

To young people, and especially those who feel distant or uncertain about the Church, I want to say this: Let Jesus draw you to himself; bring him your important questions by reading the Gospels; let him challenge you by his presence, which always provokes in us a healthy crisis. More than anyone else, Jesus respects our freedom. He does not impose, but proposes. Make room for him and you will find the way to happiness by following him. And, should he ask it of you, by giving yourself completely to him.

A people on the move

The polyphony of diverse charisms and vocations that the Christian community recognizes and accompanies helps us to appreciate more fully what it means to be Christians. As God's people in this world, guided by his Holy Spirit, and as living stones in the Body of Christ, we come to realize that we are members of a great family, children of the Father and brothers and sisters of one another. We are not self-enclosed islands but parts of a greater whole. In this sense, the World Day of Prayer for Vocations has a synodal character: amid the variety of our charisms, we are called to listen to one another and to journey together in order to acknowledge them and to discern where the Spirit is leading us for the benefit of all.

At this point in time, then, our common journey is bringing us to the Jubilee Year of 2025. Let us travel as pilgrims of hope towards the Holy Year, for by discovering our own vocation and its place amid the different gifts bestowed by the Spirit, we can become for our world messengers and witnesses of Jesus' dream of a single human family, united in God's love and in the bond of charity, cooperation and fraternity.

This Day is dedicated in a particular way to imploring from the Father the gift of holy vocations for the building up of his Kingdom: "Ask the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest" (Lk 10:2). Prayer – as we all know – is more about listening to God than about talking to him. The Lord speaks to our heart, and he wants to find it open, sincere and generous. His Word became flesh in Jesus Christ, who reveals to us the entire will of the Father. In this present year, devoted to prayer and preparation for the Jubilee, all of us are called to rediscover the inestimable blessing of our ability to enter into heartfelt dialogue with the Lord and thus become pilgrims of hope. For "prayer is the first strength of hope. You pray and hope grows, it moves forward. I would say that prayer opens the door to hope. Hope is there, but by my prayer I open the door" (Catechesis, 20 May 2020).

Pilgrims of hope and builders of peace

Yet what does it mean to be pilgrims? Those who go on pilgrimage seek above all to keep their eyes fixed on the goal, to keep it always in their mind and heart. To achieve that goal, however, they need to concentrate on every step, which means travelling light, getting rid of what weighs them down, carrying only the essentials and striving daily to set aside all weariness, fear, uncertainty and hesitation. Being a pilgrim means setting out each day, beginning ever anew, rediscovering the enthusiasm and strength needed to pursue the various stages of a journey that, however tiring and difficult, always opens before our eyes new horizons and previously unknown vistas.

This is the ultimate meaning of our Christian pilgrimage: we set out on a journey to discover the love of God and at the same time to discover ourselves, thanks to an interior journey nourished by our relationships with others. We are pilgrims because we have been called: called to love God and to love one another. Our pilgrimage on this earth is far from a pointless journey or aimless wandering; on the contrary, each day, by responding to God's call, we try to take every step needed to advance towards a new world where people can live in peace, justice and love. We are pilgrims of hope because we are pressing forward towards a better future, committed at every step to bringing it about.

This is, in the end, the goal of every vocation: to become men and women of hope. As individuals and as communities, amid the variety of charisms and ministries, all of us are called to embody and communicate the Gospel message of hope in a world marked by epochal challenges. These include the baneful spectre of a third world war fought piecemeal; the flood of migrants fleeing their homelands in search of a better future; the burgeoning numbers of the poor; the threat of irreversibly compromising the health of our planet. To say nothing of all the difficulties we encounter each day, which at times risk plunging us into resignation or defeatism.

In our day, then, it is decisive that we Christians cultivate a gaze full of hope and work fruitfully in response to the vocation we have received, in service to God's kingdom of love, justice and peace. This hope – Saint Paul tells us – "does not disappoint" (Rom 5:5), since it is born of the Lord's promise that he will remain always with us and include us in the work of redemption that he wants to accomplish in the heart of each individual and in the "heart" of all creation. This hope finds its propulsive force in Christ's resurrection, which "contains a vital power which has permeated this world. Where all seems to be dead, signs of the resurrection suddenly spring up. It is an irresistible force. Often it seems that God does not exist: all around us, we see persistent injustice, evil, indifference and cruelty. But it is also true that in the midst of darkness something new always springs to life and sooner or later produces fruit" (Evangelii Gaudium, 276). Again, the Apostle Paul tells us that, "in hope we were saved" (Rom 8:24). The redemption accomplished in the paschal mystery is a source of hope, a sure and trustworthy hope, thanks to which we can face the challenges of the present.

To be pilgrims of hope and builders of peace, then, means to base our lives on the rock of Christ's resurrection, knowing that every effort made in the vocation that we have embraced and seek to live out, will never be in vain. Failures and obstacles may arise along the way, but the seeds of goodness we sow are quietly growing and nothing can separate us from the final goal: our encounter with Christ and the joy of living for eternity in fraternal love. This ultimate calling is one that we must anticipate daily: even now our loving relationship with God and our brothers and sisters is beginning to bring about God's dream of unity, peace and fraternity. May no one feel excluded from this calling! Each of us in our own small way, in our particular state of life, can, with the help of the Spirit, be a sower of seeds of hope and peace.

The courage to commit

In this light, I would say once more, as I did at World Youth Day in Lisbon: "Rise up!" Let us awaken from sleep, let us leave indifference behind, let us open the doors of the prison in which we so often enclose ourselves, so that each of us can discover his or her proper vocation in the Church and in the world, and become a pilgrim of hope and a builder of peace! Let us be passionate about life, and commit ourselves to caring lovingly for those around us, in every place where we live. Let me say it again: "Have the courage to commit!" Father Oreste Benzi, a tireless apostle of charity, ever on the side of the poor and the defenseless, used to say that no one is so poor as to have nothing to give, and no one is so rich as not to need something to receive.

Let us rise up, then, and set out as pilgrims of hope, so that, as Mary was for Elizabeth, we too can be messengers of joy, sources of new life and artisans of fraternity and peace.

Rome, Saint John Lateran, 21 April 2024, Fourth Sunday of Easter.

 We Need Jesus to Be Our Advocate

My dear brothers and sisters, the lesson of the third Sunday of Easter I took from the second reading of today reading. St John said: "My children I am writing this to you so that you may not commit sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous one." Before I explain why we need an advocate, I will talk first about St. John who wrote this letter.

When St John wrote his First Letter, he was an old man. Of the twelve Apostles, he had been the youngest. Most biblical scholars estimate that he was about 16 years old when he met Jesus. And he didn't die until he was over 100 years old, after the year 100 AD.

At the end of the Creed of the Apostles the Church proclaims 'I believe in the resurrection of the body and life everlasting.' This formula contains in brief the fundamental elements of the Church's hope about the last things.

The Church has frequently proclaimed her faith in the resurrection of the dead at the end of time. It forms, as it were, the "continuation" of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, the firstborn of many brethren (Rom 8:29), extended to all men and women, living and dead, just and sinners, that will take place when He comes at the end of time. At death the soul is separated from the body; with the resurrection, body and soul are reunited again for ever (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 997). The dogma of the resurrection of the dead refers to the fullness of immortality to which mankind is destined, but at the same time it is a vivid reminder of our dignity, and in particular of the dignity of the body. It speaks to us of the goodness of the world, of the body, of the value of a life lived out day by day, of the eternal vocation of matter. That is why in the second century when writing against the Gnostics, the phrase resurrection "of the flesh" was used—that is to say, human life in its most material aspect, temporal, changeable, apparently fleeting.

St Thomas Aquinas considered the doctrine of the resurrection to be natural in respect to its final cause (because the soul is made to be united to the body and vice versa), but supernatural in respect to its efficient cause (that is, God). [1]

The risen body will be real and material, but not earthly or mortal. St Paul rejected the idea of resurrection as a transformation happening within human history, and spoke of the resurrected body as "glorious" (cf. Phil 3:21) and "spiritual" (cf. Col 15:44). The resurrection of every man and woman, as happened with Christ, will take place after death.

The Church in the name of Christian faith does not promise us a successful life on this earth. She does not talk of a "utopia," since our earthly life will always be marked by the Cross. However, through the reception of Baptism and the Eucharist, the process of resurrection has is some way already begun (cf. CCC, 1000). According to St Thomas, at the resurrection the soul will inform the body so deeply that it will reflect the soul's moral and spiritual qualities. [2] Thus the final resurrection, which will take place when Christ comes in glory, will make possible the definitive judgement of the living and the dead.

With respect to the doctrine of the resurrection three points can be made:

—the veneration of relics of the saints is a clear manifestation of the Church's faith in the resurrection of the body;

—although cremation of the human body is not illicit, unless it has been chosen for reasons that go against faith (cf. CCC, 1176), the Church strongly advises maintaining the pious custom of burying the dead. "The bodies of the dead must be treated with respect and charity, in the faith and hope of the resurrection. The burial of the dead is a corporal work of mercy: it honours the children of God, who are temples of the Holy Spirit." (CCC, 2300);

— the resurrection of the dead accords with what Holy Scripture calls the coming of "the new heavens and the new earth" (cf. CCC, 1042; 2 Pet 3:13; Rev 21:1) Not only will mankind attain glory, but the entire cosmos in which we live and move will be transformed. "The Church to which all have been called in Christ Jesus and in which, by the grace of God, we achieve sanctity," we read in Lumen Gentium (no. 48), "will not achieve its full perfection until 'the time comes for the restoration of all things' (Acts 3:21), and when along with human kind the whole universe, so intimately united with man and through him achieving its end, will be perfectly renewed." There will certainly be continuity between this world and the new world, but also an important discontinuity. The hope of the definitive installation of Christ's kingdom shouldn't weaken but rather strengthen, with the theological virtue of hope, our effort to achieve progress on earth (CCC 1049).

Footnotes:

[1] Cf. St Thomas, Summa Contra Gentiles , IV,81

[2] Cf. St Thomas, Summa Theologiae , III. Suppl., qq 78-86

https://opusdei.org/en/article/topic-16-i-believe-in-the-resurrection-of-the-body-and-life-everlasting/

The world is not just something "out there"; a spirit of worldliness often tests us. As much as the world tries to claim otherwise, the teachings of Our Lord bring peace to a troubled world and troubled consciences.

This process is not easy. Saint John insists that Our Lord did not just have to pass through water, but blood as well. He was baptized, but he also had to take up his cross and struggle all the way to Calvary. So do we. Saint John also reminds us that the Holy Spirit helps us identify and check the worldliness that always tries to afflict us.

The Risen Lord shows his wounds today in the Gospels to the disciples and says, "Peace be with you." They'd all abandoned him when he needed them. Showing those wounds could have been to shame them, but Jesus wanted to communicate a message of mercy, not condemnation.

Sometimes we forget that we've been forgiven. Jesus in showing his wounds today says, in a sense, "what happened, happened, but be at peace; I forgive you." Every sin we commit wounds Our Lord, and if we don't realize that, obviously we're not going to be asking mercy from anyone, and not showing much mercy when others hurt us.

Conversion means realizing we've gone off-track and hurt people along the way, including the people we love. Our Lord is always waiting for us to turn back to him and accept his peace to get back on track. In every sacrament of Confession, we acknowledge that we've hurt Christ and hurt others: we recognize the wounds we've inflicted and Christ tells us to be at peace because all is forgiven.

Our Lord gives the Apostles a special gift of the Holy Spirit today to become his ministers of peace, reconciliation, and communion. It's the Risen Lord who makes this possible. If Our Lord were merely dead and gone or ascended straight away without appearing to his disciples, we'd never truly know if he'd have forgiven us. He returned, Risen, and his first words were words of peace and a desire to share that peace with others. He sent the Holy Spirit among us for the forgiveness of sins, forgiveness that brings peace. 

The Divine Mercy Devotion

Devotion to the Divine Mercy involves a total commitment to God as Mercy. It is a decision to trust completely in him, to accept his mercy with thanksgiving, and to be merciful as he is merciful. The devotional practices proposed in the diary of Saint Faustina and set forth in here are completely in accordance with the teachings of the Church and are firmly rooted in the Gospel message of our Merciful Saviour. Properly understood and implemented, they will help us grow as genuine followers of Christ.

The Divine Mercy Message:

The message of mercy is that God loves us "all of us" no matter how great our sins. He wants us to recognise that his mercy is greater than our sins, so that we will call upon him with trust, receive his mercy, and let it flow through us to others. Thus, all will come to share his joy. It is a message we can call to mind simply by remembering ABC.

A. Ask for his Mercy. God wants us to approach him in prayer constantly, repenting of our sins and asking him to pour his mercy out upon us and upon the whole world.

B. Be merciful. God wants us to receive his mercy and let it flow through us to others. He wants us to extend love and forgiveness to others just as he does to us.

C. Completely trust in Jesus. God wants us to know the graces of his mercy are dependent upon our trust. The more we trust in Jesus, the more we will receive.

Dear St. Anne's Parishioners, on behalf of St. Anne's Parish, I wish you and your family a

Happy Easter 2024

This is the day which was made by the Lord: let us rejoice and be glad, Alleluia.

Fr. Paulus Waris SANTOSO, O.Carm
Parish Priest 

My dear brothers and sisters, on the first day of the week, the third day of his Passion, Jesus Christ rose from the dead. Today is his day. Happy Easter. Many great historical figures have led exemplary lives, taught wise doctrines, and even died for the truth. But only one has risen again.

The Crucifix Reveals the Heart of God

My dear brothers and sisters, in today's Gospel there are some Greek-speaking visitors who had come to Jerusalem on pilgrimage to celebrate the Passover, the most important Jewish holy day. And when they hear about Jesus, they give us one of the most beautiful prayers in the whole Bible. So simple, and so powerful. They come up to St Philip and say, "Sir, we would like to see Jesus."

Jesus' response to this request is kind of confusing. Instead of just saying, "OK, show them in," he gives a long explanation of "his hour," his coming sacrifice on the cross.

At first glance, this seems like a denial. But his last statement shows that actually, he is granting their request. "And when I am lifted up from the earth," he explains, "I will draw everyone to myself."

By his crucifixion, Jesus reveals himself to everyone, including these Greek visitors included.Christ wants everyone to find him, to see him, to learn to know and love him - that's why he became man in the first place. And so he allows himself to be crucified, which showing us both his outer self, and his inner self.

The crucifixion exposes his heart for all to see - a heart blazing with so much love that it is willing to die for our sake, to suffer unspeakable pain and humiliation in order to reopen to us the gates of heaven. The crucifix is the great revelation of the heart of God.

If we want to "see Christ," to see and know God, we have only to raise our eyes to behold him dying on the cross to give us true life. There Christ is most attractive to us - and we should always remember that we are no less attractive to him when we bend under the weight of our own cross and weakness.

St Marguerite Bourgeoys Saves the Day

God also reveals this dynamic, energetic love through his saints. In fact, every one of us is called to be a mirror of God's goodness and God's love. When we live that calling faithfully, we become saints. Sometimes we think that saints are pious and passive - but since God's love is dynamic, authentic saints are also dynamic.

St Marguerite Bourgeoys is a good example of this. She was born in France in 1630, but her heart to serve God and his people brought her to the newfound French colony of Montreal, Canada in 1652.

She came in response to an invitation issued by the colony's governor, who was looking for teachers. She came to the rough settlement and immediately began her work of teaching and training young colonial and Native American girls.

Soon she saw that the progress of the settlement depended on a morally sound and capable class of women who could form and maintain solid home lives. So, she returned to France to gather some fellow workers, and then expanded her efforts back in Montreal by starting a new kind of religious order. And that's where she reflected so brilliantly the passionate, tireless, dynamic love of the heart of the crucified Christ.

At that time, religious congregations of women were all cloistered. But St Marguerite recognized that the specific characteristics of colonial life needed the help of sisters who were allowed to work outside the convent: promoting Christian charity, education, and everything else a new settlement required.

She insisted on moving forward with this radical new vision, even though it entailed an endless round of arguments and discussions to win official approval from civil and Church authorities. She spent her whole lifetime pioneering this new form of religious consecration against all odds - because that's the kind of thing true, Christ-like love does.

Giving His Heart a Chance to Show Its Love

We only have a couple more weeks of Lent. Nothing would please the heart of Christ more than if we made a real effort to spend more time with him in prayer during these weeks, to give him a chance to show us how much he loves us.

True prayer is much more than just saying prayers. It is a heart-to-heart conversation with God, with the God who loves us so much that even while we were still sinners, he climbed up onto a cross and suffered in his own body and soul the consequences and penalty of our sins.

There are special graces in the air during Lent, but we will miss them unless we take time to sit close to the Lord and talk with him. We are all busy, and it may not be easy to make time to spend in prayer.

God understands that. But if we try, I am sure we can find ways. Maybe it is just a matter of saying an extra decade of the Rosary while you're driving to the store or to work.

Maybe it's just a matter of going to bed fifteen minutes earlier than usual, so that you can get up fifteen minutes earlier and spend that time reading a chapter of the Bible or of a good spiritual book and speaking to the Lord about what you read.

Maybe it could be skipping your favorite TV show or Drama series for the next two or three weeks and coming to the parish to do a Holy Hour (or a Holy Half-Hour) in front of the Eucharist instead - praying for yourself and for all your loved ones.

God will never let himself be outdone in generosity. If we give him a bit more time, he will shower us with a lot more grace - that's just how he is: his heart never gets tired of giving. We just need to give his heart a chance. As he comes to us again in this Holy Mass, let's promise him that we will. 

During Lent, the Church asks us to prepare for Christ's passion and resurrection by making small sacrifices, traditionally in the form of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. But why do we sacrifice? What is a sacrifice, anyway?

St. Thomas Aquinas observes that "sacrifice" comes from the Latin word: Sacrificium.Sacrificium comes from sacer (holy) and facere (do or make). A sacrifice is a making-holy. Not only that, but St. Thomas' discussion of sacrifice reveals so much about our nature and our relationship to God. He describes a sacrifice as a bodily act of offering to God a gift that is broken or transformed so that we might return to God.

A bodily act

Sacrifice is fundamentally a religious act of offering a gift to God. But isn't this a bit strange? If God is all spirit, how could he possibly need our physical offerings?

St. Thomas explains that our physical offerings are not really for God's benefit, but for us. As a unity of body and soul, the human person experiences reality through the physical senses. Even God presents himself to us through the sensible things of creation. It is fitting, then, that we present ourselves to God through sensible things as well. Think of the Sacraments: all are visible signs of invisible grace. Lenten fasting and sacrifices are tiny sacramental signs of the true gift we give God: ourselves, body, and soul.

A gift is broken or transformed

However, a sacrifice is not just any gift. St. Thomas explains that an offering only becomes a sacrifice when it is changed: the goat is slaughtered, the bread is broken, and the grain is consumed by fire. In being transformed, the offering is set apart and made holy. Christ himself, the consummate sacrifice, was mutilated, pierced, and subjected to death.

But for these to be real sacrifices, something must be broken and transformed. Lenten practices of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving break little cracks in the brittle illusion of our self-sufficiency. They invite us to acknowledge our brokenness, susceptible as we all are to the corrupting effects of sin. And they invite God's grace to transform us and make us holy. "The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise" (Psalm 51:17).

Return to God

Why, then, do we sacrifice? We do it to return to God, and this return happens in two distinct ways. First, through sacrifice, we "return to God" in the sense of giving back what we owe him. Of course, we can't possibly repay God for his gifts with an equal return—he is the source of our very existence! We owe him everything. Nevertheless, we can do our part: our small personal sacrifices signify our return to God. And thankfully, Christ lovingly repaid our dues in full through his perfect self-sacrifice, which we too can offer to God every time we participate in the Mass.

Second, through sacrifice, we "return to God" in the sense of turning back towards him over and over again. Like the Israelites, we are constantly turning away from God and towards sin. As God called Israel to repentance through the prophets, he still calls us: "Return to me with all your heart" (Joel 2:12).

Lenten practices help us shed bad habits and self-love. St. Thomas says these religious acts purify us to orient ourselves more single-mindedly toward God. When we respond thus to the divine call—when we offer ourselves up, body and soul, to be broken and transformed by his merciful love—we are made holy. 

The Meaning of the Love of God

My dear brother and sisters in Christ. In today's first reading we heard that God allow the ancient Jews to return to Jerusalem after their exile. Why did God allow that happened?

They were the ones who had been unfaithful to his friendship. They had started worshipping other gods, breaking the commandments, and disobeying God's prophets. They "mocked the messengers of God, despised his warnings, and scoffed at his prophets."

That's ungrateful. And because of their sin, they suffered the consequences - they were conquered and exiled by the Babylonians; sin always does damage, both to us and to those around us. And while they were in exile, many of them completely forgot about God and his promises - as today's Psalm implies.

But even in the face of this colossal ingratitude, God still didn't give up on them. He sent them more prophets to give them hope. He promised to restore them. And when the time was right, he did restore them. He brought his unworthy people back to Jerusalem and allowed them to rebuild the Temple, a sign of lasting peace and prosperity.

Why? Why would he be so unreasonable? Because God's love, God's fidelity, God's mercy doesn't depend on our worthiness. He doesn't love us because we are perfect; he perfects us because he loves us.

This is the Good News of today's Gospel: "God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life." St Paul gets even more explicit in today's Second Reading.

He points out that our salvation is a "grace" - the Greek word refers to a lovely gift, not something we earn or deserve. He writes: "God ... because of the great love he had for us ... even when we were dead in our transgressions, brought us to life with Christ." We are too used to this word, "love." Today, let's refresh our appreciation for what it really means.

The First Two Loves: Natural Affection and Eros

The New Testament was written in Greek, not English. And Greek has at least four different words for the single English word "love." They all imply some kind of bond, connection, attraction, and appreciation between someone who loves and something or someone that is loved, but each one has a different shade of meaning.

The first and most basic word for love in ancient Greek is "storge" [STORE-gay]. It means natural affection, the bond that we feel because of some natural connection.

This affection can be sweet and superficial, as in the affection we feel for a favourite ice cream or for a favourite pet. Or it can go very deep, as in the bond we feel naturally with members of our family. Even when siblings, for example, are estranged from each other for many years, there is still a unique bond between them, a natural connection or affection. This type of natural affection doesn't really come up very much in the Bible.

The second Ancient Greek word for love is "eros" [AIR-ohss]. This is the kind of love we talk about when we say that someone has "fallen in love." This is the kind of passionate feeling that carries us away and fills us with intense and seemingly uncontrollable emotions. It can refer to the passion that leads two people to become romantically involved. Or it can refer to the passion that artists feel for their art or even that diehard sportsmen feel for their sport.

The common denominator here is that the passionate feeling tends to carry us away, even leading us to become unreasonable and imprudent. It doesn't have to, but in a fallen world it tends to. We need God's grace to help us channel and govern these passions in a fruitful, beautiful way. This word only appears twice in the Bible, both times in the Old Testament.

Love #3 - Friendship

The third ancient Greek word for love is "philia" [FEEL-ee-yuh]. This word was used to describe a bond formed when two people share a common interest or ideal. It was used most often to refer to friendship.

Instead of being based on instinctual affection or passionate intoxication, it was based on a conscious awareness and decision to share one's interests with another person. The key characteristic here is that the two friends who share this kind of love are equals.

"Philia" was not usually used to describe the relationship between a father and son, for example, or between a master and a beloved slave - they were not equals. This word does appear in the New Testament. It is used when Jesus says to his disciples at the Last Supper: "I shall no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know the master's business; I call you friends, because I have made known to you everything I have learnt from my Father" (John 15:15).

God's grace not only forgives our sins, but it elevates us; it makes us like him. Imagine if we could give our favorite pet the ability to talk, laugh, and interact with us on a human level.

Well, God has done that with us. Dog nature is inferior to human nature, and human nature is inferior to divine nature. But God in his goodness and through his grace has elevated our human nature and made us partakers in the divine nature. We are friends of Christ.

And so, the infused theological virtues (faith, hope, and love), when we develop them, enable us to see ourselves, the world, and others as Christ does, to think of them as he does.

Love #4: Self-forgetfulness

The fourth word for love in ancient Greek is used far more frequently in the Bible than all the others combined. It is "agape" [ah-GAH-pay], sometimes translated as "charity." Perhaps a better translation is "Christ-like love," since he revealed its meaning to us by his life, death, and resurrection. This is the word used in today's Readings: "God so loved the world... because of the great love he had for us." This is also the word used when Jesus gives his New Commandment at the Last Supper: "love one another as I have loved you."

What is the core meaning of Self-forgetfulness? This is the love that focuses on doing good to others, serving them, helping them in their needs, regardless of how I feel about them or what I might get in return.

This is generous love, sacrificial love, self-giving love. This is the love of Jesus in the manger at Bethlehem, in the desert, and on the cross.... pouring out his life not because doing so filled him with ecstasy, but because we needed him to do it, because he wanted to restore hope to our sinful hearts and lead us back from our sinful exile into the Father's house.

When St John in his First Letter writes, "God is love," this is the word he uses. God is completely self-forgetful, completely focused on our good, happiness, and fulfillment. That's why he created us: not for his happiness, but for ours.

That's why he forgives us as often as we need to be forgiven. That's why he feeds us with the Body and Blood of Christ in the Eucharist. That's why he carries our crosses with us, never leaving us to suffer alone. And since we were created in God's image, this God who is love, we will find the fulfillment we yearn for as we gradually learn to love in this same self-forgetful, Christ-like way.

Conclusion: Spreading the Sunrise

God's love for each of us is personal, active, unconditional and unlimited, and the crucifix proves it. And today the Church is reminding us of that. After three weeks of Lenten penance, when we have been reminded of our sins and selfishness (the bad news), it is time to remember that it is precisely because of those sins and selfishness that Christ came to earth to save us (the Good News).

That's the reason this Sunday is called "Laetare Sunday," the Sunday of Rejoicing ["Laetare" is the first word of the entrance antiphon in Latin]. That's the reason we wear rose-coloured vestments today. Just as the horizon begins to brighten and turn a pale pink as the sun starts to rise after a long, dark night, so the love of God in Christ pierces the darkness of sin and sends the shadows of evil fleeing the bright light of eternal day.

Today as Christ renews his unconditional love for us in this holy Mass, and especially as we receive him in Holy Communion, let's thank him for these gifts. And let's ask him for the grace not only to experience his love, but to share that experience with others, especially those who are still living in darkness.

This week, may our active, Christ-like love be like a sunrise in their hearts, giving them hope and drawing them towards the saving fountain God's grace.