Blog Page Placeholder

The first reading and the gospel have a common theme, the scarcity of resources at hand to satisfy the hunger of a large crowd. In the first reading, a man came bringing to Elisha, twenty barley loaves of bread made from first fruit and fresh grain and Elisha commanded the man to give it to the people to eat. The servant objected saying “how can I set this before a hundred people”. Elisha insisted, “Give it to the people to eat. For thus says he Lord, they shall eat and there shall be left over's. When they had eaten, there was left over's as the Lord had said.” In the Gospel, Jesus asked the disciple, “Where can we buy enough food for the people to eat”. Philip replied, just like the servant in the first reading responded with negative attitude, “Two hundred days wages worth of food would not be enough for each of them to have a little”. John in this passage tells us that Jesus said this to test him, because He Himself knew what he was going to do.

In today’s first reading Prophet Jeremiah was very hard on the leaders, who led his people astray, during his prophecy. Thus, these leaders instead of caring and looking after the people, they exploited and scatter them especially with their actions and inactions. They were more about themselves than the flock that has been entrusted to them. This is why the prophet cries “Woe to the shepherd who mislead and scattered the flock of My pasture” says the Lord. Therefore, thus says the Lord, “the God of Israel, against the shepherds who shepherd My people; you have scattered and driven them away. You have not cared for them, but I will take care to punish your evil deeds.”

In the first reading, God invites Amos to go and prophesy to His chosen people. Amos was never a prophet or known to belong to the lineage of prophets. He was only a shepherd tending his sheep and a wood cutter, but from this humble job God called him to serve His people as a prophet. In the same way, God can call any of us from whatever our duty may be to serve as a prophet or in any other capacity among the people of God. It may also happen, that in our Christian journey, we might be called upon to accept challenges that we feel ill-equipped to take on. In whichever situation, God is always there to support us in any responsibility He calls us to do.

According to the Living Liturgy 2021 “Each reading this Sunday is about those who were singed by failure and vulnerability, but who continue to be a guiding light to their communities. Ezekiel is sent by God to the people named as rebels, who are obstinate, defiant and deaf to God’s word. Paul in the second reading finds himself facing opposition both from those who regard themselves as super apostles and who tout around the word of God for their own reputation, and from the members of the Corinthian church who have fallen under their influence. And Jesus in the Gospel is found to be unacceptable in his own hometown of Nazareth.” In the first reading from the Prophecy of Ezekiel, the Lord sent him to go and deliver His message to His people whether they accept it or not, but let that word be spoken to them. The Lord knows they are hard and obstinate of heart, but still He wants His words to be spoken to them by His prophet Ezekiel. This is a responsibility to every guardian, teacher and parents who have been entrusted with people to look after. The truth must be spoken whether accepted or not by those you look after.

The first reading tells us that death is not God’s plan for us because we are created for life and death is of Satan. Death came as a result of Satan’s envy and if we live truly and in God’s love even if we die physical we will have abundant life in Jesus spiritually. In the second reading, Paul encourages the Corinthians to imitate the generosity of Jesus in their own way of life.

In the first reading we see God speaking through the storm as a way to point to us that He is the Lord of all creation including the storms of the sea and storms of life that threaten our peace. Thus, the book of Job says, “The Lord addressed Job out of the storm and said, who shut within doors the sea, when it burst forth from the womb” “when I made the clouds its garment and thick darkness its swaddling bands, when I set limits for it.” In most parts of the book of Job, there was dialogue between Job and his friends on why innocent and good people like Job suffer and God keeps silent at such situations. Today’s passage presents us with the response of God to Job and his friends and questions where they were when He created the world. God’s response is a direct way of telling us that whatever is in the world is in His hands and the works of His hands which explains why He could speak through the clouds.

The first reading from the prophet Ezekiel tells of the promise of God to restore His chosen people Israel after the Babylonia exile. He says, “I too, will take from the crest of cedar, from its topmost branches tear off a tender shoot, and plant it on a high and lofty mountain on a mountain heights of Israel I will plant it.” The Babylonian exiles are like tender shoot after their exiles experience, God promised that He Himself would place them on a height where birds of every kind shall dwell beneath it. God is saying even though they had disobeyed Me by their actions and lack of faithfulness He would still restore them to a better position and not just bring them back but put them up to a higher level. In the same way, we may lose our way due to our unfaithfulness to God’s love but the moment we finally find our way back to God He restores us and places us in a high place beyond our own imagination. It is equally a way of encouraging us never to give up even when we feel we have lost our bearing. God would always restore us to a high mountain.

The feast of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ called the Corpus Christi was introduced into the Church’s calendar in 1264 following the vision of an Augustinian nun Juliana of Liège.

Today the Church celebrates the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity. The Solemnity simply means that there are three persons in One God. That is to say, God is One and Three at the same time. It is a mystery and that is why it is called the mystery of the Trinity. A mystery does not mean something we cannot understand or does not have any clue about it, but something we cannot fully grasp completely with our own limited human mind. Mystery is part of our religion and in fact, every authentic religion has elements of mystery in it. Jesus revealed to His disciples the great mystery of our faith; the triune nature of God in three person and the inseparable union of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Jesus’ mission is to reveal the glory of God to us, God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit and to unite us with God in a community of unbreakable unity and everlasting love. The ultimate end, the purpose for which God created us, is the entry of God’s sons and daughters into perfect unity of the blessed Trinity.

Today 50 days after Easter Sunday the Church celebrates the great feast of Pentecost the day the Apostles received power from above and were filled with the grace of the Holy Spirit. It is on this day that the church came into existence. Before the coming of the Holy Spirit on the apostles they were all in one room for fear of the Jews, not knowing what would befall them and thus they could not go out. However, with the coming of the Holy Spirit upon them they were empowered and they went out with courage and started proclaiming the great news of salvation. That is why my dear friends that the Holy Spirit is the wonder worker. When we become aware of His power in us, we are empowered to work wonders.

Peter in the first reading of today addresses the crowd on the need to find a replacement for Judas who according to Peter “was a guide for those who arrested Jesus”. He was among us and was allotted a share in this ministry, for it is written in the book of Psalms ‘may another take his office.’ Judas was one of the chosen, but betrayed his master by selling Him to the Jews. It is important for us to ask some personal question, what can make us betray our master? One of the weak points of Judas that the Jews exploited was his greed and his excessive love for money. When that was offered to him it became easy for him to fall. What can be a bait that can make us betray ourselves, and betray our faith in Jesus and our Lord. Just like Judas was called and chosen so are we also called and chosen to be an apostle. When we pay less attention to our Master we may lose our position and betray Jesus as Judas did.

In the first reading from the Acts of the Apostles Peter proclaims that God shows no partiality “Rather in every nation whoever fears Him and acts uprightly is acceptable to Him.” This is because God is love and shows His love to everyone no matter your circumstance or state of life. He shows His love to everyone no matter where you are or where you come from. Thus, anyone who opens himself or herself to Him will experience the depth of His love. The only obstacle to witnessing God’s love in our lives is when we close ourselves to His love. This can happen when we fail to believe in Him, obey Him or keep His commandments, but even at that He still loves each one of us in an amazing way. The theme of God’s love also is seen in the second reading, “everyone who loves is begotten by God for God is love”. Then, in the Gospel Jesus says, “As the Father has loved Me, so I have loved you, and remain in My love; abide in My love. If you keep my commandments you will abide in My love. Just as I have kept my Father’s commandment and abide in His love.”

The first reading of today presents us with the personality of Paul who, in spite of all the difficulties, challenges, misunderstanding and suspicion preserved the union with Christ and with the community of his disciples. It is a call to each and every one of us to preserve the unity of our Christian faith despite the challenges we may face in bearing the name of Christ. St John in his first letter underscores a very important point that our faith in Christ is shown by works of love. This ensures the possession of the life of God’s Spirit in us. In the Gospel, John tells us that we can produce works that are the fruit of the Spirit only if we remain and abide in Jesus.