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Category: Easter Season

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Easter Season / Feasts and Solemnities / Fifth Week

“PEACE I LEAVE WITH YOU; MY PEACE I GIVE TO YOU” (John 14:27)

⏰Tuesday of the Fifth Week of Easter (1 May 2018 – Memorial of St. Joseph the Worker) 📖Acts 14:19-28; Ps 145:10-11, 12-13ab, 21 (R.v.12a); John 14:27-31a Today is a day of many beginnings and celebrations. It is the first day of the month and in the Church, this is one of the two months of special devotion to our Mother Mary, our great intercessor. It is also the memorial of St. Joseph the Worker and the Workers Day. Over the time, our workers are not well treated all over the world. Considered from the Nigerian perspective, one could view the...

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Easter Season / Fifth Week / Sunday / Year B

HE IS THE VINE, WE ARE THE BRANCHES (cf. John 15:5)

⏰FIFTH SUNDAY OF EASTER (YEAR B) 📕Acts 9:26-31; Ps 22:26b-27, 28 and 30, 31-32 (R.v.26b); 1 John 3:18-24; John 15:1-8 Last Sunday, we reflected on Jesus the Good Shepherd who lays down his life for his sheep. Today, we reflect of Jesus, the vine that gives life and provides strength to his disciples, the branches. Without the vine, the branches are nothing. After all these lessons that show us how much God loves and cares for us, next Sunday, which would be the last Sunday before the Ascension of Jesus into heaven, Jesus would now send forth his disciples to...

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Easter Season / Fourth Week

“FOR THIS IS ETERNAL LIFE, TO KNOW YOU THE ONLY TRUE GOD, AND THE ONE YOU SENT, JESUS CHRIST” (John 17:3)

⏰Saturday of the Fourth Week of Easter (09 May 2020) 📖Acts 13:44-52; Ps 98:1, 2-3ab, 3cd-4 (R.v.3cd); John 14:7-14 The Gospel of John cannot get tired of calling us into faith in Jesus as that is its primary project. Believing in Jesus is more important than our comfort since that is what guarantees eternal life for us (cf. John 20:31). You can then see that, in John’s Gospel, most of the works that Jesus did among the people are called SIGNS and not MIRACLES. They are signs that should point out the divinity of Jesus to us (see John 14:11)....

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Easter Season / Fourth Week

“I CAME THAT THEY MAY HAVE LIFE” (John 10:10)

⏰Monday of the Fourth Week of Easter (13 May 2019) 📕Acts 11:1-18; Ps 42:2-3, 43:3, 4,(R. Mark 42:3ab); John 10:1-10 As we enter yet another working week and continue our pilgrimage of faith here on earth, the message of Jesus as the good shepherd is continued today in order to remind us that with him by our side, we shall lack nothing. The picture that is painted in John 10:1-10 is one that presents the Good Shepherd as one who provides and protects. The sheepfold is a place of safety for the sheep. The Israelites normally make use of a...

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Easter Season / Fourth Week / Sunday / Year B

“THE GOOD SHEPHERD LAYS DOWN HIS LIFE FOR THE SHEEP (John 10:11)

⏰FOURTH SUNDAY OF EASTER (YEAR B – GOOD SHEPHERD SUNDAY) 📕Acts 4:8-12; Ps 118:1 and 8-9, 21-23, 26 and 28-29 (R.v.22); 1 John 3:1-2; John 10:11-18 Take a short trip back to the Old Testament. Most of the people that God appointed as leaders of Israel were professional shepherds: Jacob, Moses, David, etc. Apart from the fact that sometimes, sheep are stubborn and so need a man of patience, they are equally fragile and so need devoted protection. A good shepherd is always ready to lay down his life for the sake of his sheep (see 1 Sam 17:34-36). See...

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Easter Season / Sunday / Third Week

IN THE PRESENCE OF GOD, THERE IS JOY AND PEACE (CF. PS. 16:11)

⏰THIRD SUNDAY OF EASTER 📕Acts 3:13-15, 17-19ab; Ps 4:2, 4, 7 and 9 (R.v.7b); 1 John 2:1-5a; Luke 24:35-48 Imagine the pains that the disciples had to bear at the death of Jesus. The experience must have been like that of the chicks that were separated from the mother hen. They were now exposed to persecution and so, they started hiding away for safety. That explains the setting of todays Gospel where Jesus came to meet them behind closed doors. That was also the reason why some of them were running away to Emmaus. So after calming the fears of...

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Easter Season / Second Week

“HOLY SPIRIT, ENLIGHTEN AND SANCTIFY US”

⏰Tuesday of the Second Week of Easter (10 April 2018) 📕Acts 4:32-37; Ps 93:1abc, 1c-2, 5 (R.v.1a); John 3:7b-15 Do you really understand this drama between Jesus and Nicodemus? Consider what Jesus said to him, “Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand this?” (John 3:10). Notice that Jesus did not call Nicodemus a teacher of the Jews but Israel. Israel is the identity of the chosen people of God whereas Jews refer to a race. The Pharisees claim to uphold the Laws of Moses and save it from adulteration. The Laws and the Prophets are...

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Easter Season / Second Week / Sunday

THE DOUBTING THOMAS, COMMUNITY LIFE AND THE DIVINE MERCY

⏰Second Sunday of Easter (Year B) 📕Acts 4:32-35; Ps 118:2-4, 15c-16b, and 17-18m, 22-24 (R.v.1); 1 John 5:1-7; John 20:19-31 THE DOUBTING THOMAS, COMMUNITY LIFE AND THE DIVINE MERCYLast year, the liturgy of this very day brought to our view the role of faith in the life of every Christian. This year, while that role is still kept in view, the role of love in Christian life is also made more explicit. The First Reading and the Second point out how that love is lived and harnessed in the Christian community. In the First Reading, which is a summary statement,...

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Easter Season / Octave

“THE LIGHT SHINES IN THE DARKNESS, AND DARKNESS COULD NOT OVERPOWER IT” (John 1:5)

⏰Easter Vigil (31 March 2018) 📖Gen 1:1 – 2:2; Ps 104:1-2a, 5-6, 10 and 12, 13-14 and 35c (R.v.30); Exod 14:15 – 15:1; Exod 15:1b-2, 3-4, 5-6, 17-18 (R.v.1b); Ezek 36:16-17a, 18-25; Ps 42:3, 5bcd, 43:3, 4 (R. 42:2); Rom 6:3-11; Ps 118:1-2, 15c-17, 22-23; Mark 16:1-7 My dear fellow pilgrim! I welcome you joyfully to this most sacred night, the mother of all nights, the night that gave way to our freedom. On this night, we celebrate symbolically, the victory of light over darkness. In our lives as believers, darkness means a lot. But in summary, we can summarize...

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Easter Season / Feasts and Solemnities / Sundays / Year A

THE SPIRIT OF EMPOWERMENT

Pentecost Sunday (Year A) Acts 2:1-11; Psalm 104:1ab and 24ac, 29bc-30, 31 and 34 (R.v.30); 1Cor 12:3b-7, 12-13; John 20:19-23 Happy birthday to all of us, sons and daughters of the Church. This is the day when we celebrate the birth of the Church. On this day of Pentecost, we celebrate the special outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples of Jesus and those gathered with them (cf. Acts 2:1-11), a fulfillment of Jesus promise to them. This outpouring serves one important purpose – empowerment. Remember that towards the end of his earthly life, Jesus was constantly telling them...