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

1st Reading                 Exodus 19: 2-6a Psalm                            100:1-2, 3, 5 (R. 3c) R:// "We are his people, the sheep of his flock"  2nd Reading              Romans 5: 6-11 Gospel                         Matthew 9:36-10:8 ALWAYS DISPENSE GRACE Friends, Peace and Goodness! Today is the 11th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A). As usual, we have three sets of readings. We shall focus on all three readings with one detail each from the three readings. The first reading is from Exodus 19:2-6a, the second reading is from Romans 5:6-11 and the Gospel passage is from Matthew 9:36-10:8. Let us dive quickly into them. The first reading, from Exodus 19: 2-6a situates Israel within the desert. Israel just left Egypt two months earlier. After the Red Sea incident, they entered th...

1st Reading               Deuteronomy 8:2–3, 14b–16a Psalm                          147:12–15, 19–20 (R. v.12) R:// "Praise the Lord, Jerusalem" 2nd Reading             1 Corinthians 10:16–17 Gospel                         John 6:51–58 THE FOOD THAT BECOMES A HOME Friends, Pax et Bonum! Today is the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, Corpus Christi. Today is also the very first month of June. June, traditionally, is dedicated to devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.  Let us focus on the readings. We might expect the readings on this day to be full of rubrics about bread and wine, explicit instructions about the Eucharist, and clear explanations of what is happening on the Altar. However, the readings give us a hunger test in the desert in the first reading, a one-sentence argu...

  1st Reading             Exodus 34:4-6, 8-9 Psalm                        Daniel 3:52, 53, 54, 55, 56 (R. 52b)   R:// "Glory and praise for ever!" 2nd Reading            2 Corinthians 13:11-13 Gospel                       John 3:16-18 TRUE GOD Friends, Pax et Bonum! Today is Holy Trinity Sunday. Today, we celebrate the Divine Community. However, when we open the Scriptures, the first reading, from Exodus 34: 4-6, 8-9, takes us back to Mount Sinai. There is a difficulty because the text of the first reading contains no formal language about the Three Persons in One God. It explicitly speaks about God's oneness. I want to suggest that there is a key to unlocking what is Trinitarian about today's first reading.  The text of the first reading looks relatively short but dense. Let us attempt to unpack...

1st Reading      Acts 2:1-11 Psalm               104:1ab and 24ac, 29bc-30, 31 & 34 (R. cf. 30) R:// "Lord, send forth your Spirit, and renew the face of the earth" 2nd Reading     1 Corinthians 12: 3b-7, 12-13 Gospel               John 20:19-23 CARRY THE FIRE OF THE SPIRIT Dear friends, Peace and Goodness!  Today is 50 days after Easter. This day is called Pentecost, as it is derived from the Greek word "Pentecote", which means "fiftieth". Today also marks the official end of the Season of Easter. Let us look at the readings for today. We shall dwell on two details each from the first reading, Acts 2:1-11, and the Gospel from John 20:19-23.  The first reading from Acts 2:1-11 is the popular event of the descent of the Holy Spirit on the day of PENTECOST . The first detail follows from this and the opening of the reading, thus, "When the day of PENTECOST had come..." (Acts 11:1)...

1st Reading               1:12-14 Psalm                         27: 1, 4, 7-8a (R. 13 R:// "I believe I shall see the Lord's goodness in the land of the living" 2nd Reading           1 Peter 4: 13-16 Gospel                       John 17:1-11a THE HOUR HAS COME Friends, Peace and Goodness! Today is the 7th Sunday of Easter (Year A), the final Sunday before Pentecost, and we find ourselves in that peculiar in-between space of the liturgical calendar. Jesus has departed. The Spirit has not yet come. The community is left waiting. The Ascension is only days behind us and Pentecost is days ahead. This Sunday makes us stand suspended between departure and arrival. Finding ourselves within this space of seeming neglect because of the Ascension and hopeful anticipation of the Pente...

1st Reading                 Acts 8:5-8, 14-17 Psalm                            66:1-3a, 4-5, 6-7a, 16 and 20 (R. 1) R:// "Cry out with joy to God, all the earth" 2nd Reading             1 Peter 3:15-18 Gospel                          John 14:15-21 I WILL NOT LEAVE YOU ORPHANS Friends, Peace and Goodness. Today is the 6th Sunday of Easter (Year A). We are getting closer to the end of the Season of Easter. The Season of Easter ends on Pentecost Sunday. With this in mind, we should be orienting and preparing ourselves towards knowledge about the Holy Spirit. The Gospel of today focuses on the Holy Spirit and we shall focus on the Holy Spirit under the designation, Paraclete. We should also remember that today is Mothers' Day. We wish and pray for them. Today's Gospel passage is from...

1st Reading           Acts 6:1-7 Psalm                      33:1-2, 4-5, 18-19 (R. 22) R://" May your merciful love be upon us, as we hope in you, O Lord " 2nd Reading         1 Peter 2:4-9 Gospel                     John 14:1-12 DO NOT LET YOUR HEARTS BE TROUBLED Friends, Peace and Goodness! Today is the 5th Sunday of Easter (Year A) and the 1st Sunday of May, Mary's Month. We plead her maternal intercession. Let us go straight to the Word of God for this Sunday, focusing on the Gospel passage from John 14:1–12.  John 14:1-12 belongs to what scholars call the Upper Room Discourse. It is the longest recorded farewell speech of Jesus, spanning chapters 14 through 17. It is spoken on the most charged night of his earthly life. Judas has gone out into the dark. Peter has just been warned he will deny his Lord before the cock crows. The r...

1st Reading                  Acts 2:14a, 36-41 Psalm                            23:1-3a, 3b-4, 5, 6 (R. 1) R:// "The Lord is my Shepherd; there is nothing I shall want" 2nd Reading               1 Peter 2: 20b-25 Gospel                          John 10: 1-10 YOU ARE CALLED BY NAME Friends, Peace and Goodness! Today is the 4th Sunday of Easter (Year A), and the last Sunday of the month of April. More interesting is the fact that the 4th Sunday of Easter has been earmarked as Good Shepherd Sunday. Talking about Shepherd, this Sunday is also called Vocations Sunday. We pray that the Lord of the vineyard will call men and women to work. May these people also respond generously to God's call. Let us quickly begin with the Gospel passage from John 10:1-10. We should remind ourselve...

1st Reading             Acts 2:14,22-33 Psalm                        16:1-2, 5, 7-8, 9-10, 11 (R. 11a) R:// "Lord, you will show us the path of life." 2nd Reading           1 Peter 1:17-21 Gospel                      Luke 24: 13-35 STAY WITH US, LORD (MANE NOBISCUM, DOMINE) Friends, Peace and Goodness! Today is the 3rd Sunday of Easter (Year A). As a reminder, we shall be journeying through Easter in 7 weeks. Let us also remind ourselves that, traditionally, in the Catholic Church, April is dedicated to the Blessed Sacrament (Holy Eucharist) and the Holy Spirit. Let us dive then into the readings.  Our first reading is from Acts 2:14, 22-33 and the Gospel is from Luke 24: 13-35. Let us focus on the Gospel and pay attention to a few details.  By way of preliminary words, the Gospel passage under consideration i...

  1st Reading              Acts 2:42-47 Psalm                          118: 2-4, 22-24, 25-27a (R. 1) R:// "Give praise to the Lord, for he is good; his mercy endures forever" 2nd Reading            1 Peter 1:3-9 Gospel                        John 20: 19-31 LET THERE BE PEACE Beloved, today we celebrate the 2nd Sunday of Easter (Year C), also known as Divine Mercy Sunday. This was established by Pope John Paul II on April 30th, 2000, during the canonization of Sr. Faustina Kowalska. Divine Mercy Sunday is a beautiful occasion that celebrates God's love and mercy. Upon examining today’s readings, we observe that the Gospel is the same across all three liturgical years. The Gospel passage for today is from John 20:19-31, while the other readings differ. The Gospel narrative tells us about two...

1st Reading                  Genesis 1:1-2:2 (Ps. 104; R. cf. 30) 2nd Reading                Genesis 22:1-18 (Ps. 16; R. 1) 3rd Reading                 Exodus 14:15-15:1 (Ps. Exod. 15; R.1b) 4th Reading                 Isaiah 54:5-14 (Ps. 30; R. 2a) 5th Reading                 Isaiah 55:1-11 (Isa. 12; R. 3) 6th Reading          Baruch 3:9-15, 32-4:4 (Ps. 19; R. Jn. 6:68c) 7th Reading          Ezekiel 36:16-17a, 18-28 (Ps. 42; R. 42:2) Epistle                            Romans 6:3-11 Gospel                            Matthew 28:1-10 COME AND SEE THE PLACE HE LAY Friends, Pax et Bonum! We welcome ours...