"STAY WITH US, LORD" (Luke 24:29)

  1st Reading           Acts 9: 26-31 Psalm                      22. 26b-27. 28 and 30. 31-32 (R. 26a) 2nd Reading        1 John 3: 18-24 Gospel                    John 15: 1-8 GROWTH MUST BE GUIDED Dear friends, today is the 5th Sunday of Easter (Year B). Today is also the last Sunday of April, and we should give thanks to God for his providence. The Gospel passage for this Sunday is replete with images that draw our attention to growth in the spiritual life, a kind of growth that affects other aspects of life, recognizing that we have been redeemed from sin and death. We should not forget that we are still in the season of Easter.  Let us zoom in on the Gospel and say a few words about it. The Gospel is from John 15: 1-8. Reading this passage, we come across words like vine, vine master (or vine dresser), fruit, branch, prune, ...

1st Reading     Acts 4: 8-12 Psalm               118: 1 & 8 -9. 21 -23. 26 & 28-29 (R. 22) 2nd Reading    1 John 3: 1-2 Gospel              John 10: 11-18 BEYOND HIRED LABOUR, BEING PROTECTIVE SHEPHERDS Dear friends, today, the 4th Sunday of Easter, has been designed to be called Good Shepherd Sunday or Vocations Sunday . The Gospel passage for this Sunday, from which we shall look at a few details, throws more light on the theme of the Good Shepherd.  Before that, let us look at how Good Shepherd Sunday relates to Vocations Sunday. We have to recall that in Israel, there are three groups of shepherds (in terms of leadership); Priests, Prophets, and Kings . What is clear is that for these three groups, it is God who appoints. If God is appointing, then he is the one calling people to work. Technically and in reality, it is God who is the priest, the king, and the prophet. Ho...

1st Reading           Acts 3: 13-15, 17-19 Psalm                     5: 2, 4, 7, 9 2nd Reading         1 John 2:1-5 Gospel                    Luke 24: 35-48 LET DOUBT BE PURPOSEFUL AND BE OPENED TO CLARIFICATION AND FAITH  Dear friends, we welcome ourselves to the 3rd Sunday of Easter. We are still in the Easter season, and we continue to reflect on the events revolving around Christ's resurrection. The Word of God for this Sunday brings this to our focus. The first reading narrates Peter's declarations and affirmations about the Resurrection, and the Gospel brings one of Jesus' post-resurrection appearances to the fore.  Let us look briefly at the Gospel passage. The Gospel is taken from Luke 24: 35-48. Let us put this Gospel within a larger context. The whole of Luke 24 talks about Jesus' Resurrection. From vv. 1-12, we hear that so...