Two more weeks and we reach one of the most important events in our lives, Pentecost. Jesus continues to say: “This much have I told you while I was still with you; the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit Whom the Father will send in My name, will instruct you in everything, and remind you of all that I told you” (Jn 14:25-26).

We need the Holy Spirit. Otherwise, what Jesus has told us will not become real in our lives. We will then become “distressed or fearful” (Jn 14:27). Without the Spirit, we will “make a pretense of religion but negate its power” (2 Tm 3:5), foster doubt rather than faith, and promote disunity in the Body of Christ. We receive the Spirit or stay locked by fear in the upper room (Jn 20:19, 26). We receive the Spirit or see our life’s work amount to nothing, for “flesh begets flesh, Spirit begets spirit” (Jn 3:6).

The word “spirit” also means “breath.” We need the Holy Spirit as much or even more than we need our life’s breath. Begin to wait and pray (Acts 1:4), to pray and thirst (Lk 11:13), to thirst and believe (Jn 7:37), to believe and obey (Acts 5:32). Jesus “breathed on them and said: ‘Receive the Holy Spirit’ ” (Jn 20:22).

We’re in the midst of a fifty-day Sunday, the Easter season. If we can’t rejoice in the Resurrection of Jesus from the dead, we must be dead ourselves. Because His tomb is empty, we have life to the full (Jn 10:10). “Because He lives, we can face tomorrow.” For He shall wipe every tear from our eyes, “and there shall be no more death or mourning, crying out or pain, for the former world has passed away” (Rv 21:4). “This means that if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old order has passed away; now all is new!” (2 Cor 5:17; Rv 21:5)

“Life is worth the living just because He lives.” Yet, “we must undergo many trials if we are to enter into the reign of God” (Acts 14:22). Calvary is still ahead for each of us as we begin to walk the way of the cross. We are afraid and repelled by the pain and sufferings. But because Jesus lives, we “consider the sufferings of the present to be as nothing compared with the glory to be revealed in us” (Rm 8:18).

Because Jesus lives, the devil can no longer manipulate us and keep us slaves our whole lives long through the fear of death (Heb 2:15). “Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” (1 Cor 15:54-55) Because He lives, “we are more than conquerors” (Rm 8:37).

What if the only thing you knew how to do was “to be filled with joy and the Holy Spirit”? After Sts. Paul and Barnabas were violently abused and thrown out of town, the disciples knew how to react in only one way — not with violence, fear, unforgiveness, or bitterness but “with joy and the Holy Spirit.”

What if we were rejected, insulted, or falsely accused? We would probably know how to react with something other than joy. However, Jesus’ early disciples could be filled with joy even in terrible circumstances (Acts 5:41) because they were also filled with the Holy Spirit.

The Spirit crucifies our flesh with its passions and desires (Gal 5:24). We no longer know how to react in our old carnal ways. The Spirit cries out “Abba” in our hearts (Rm 8:15; Gal 4:6), proclaims “Jesus is Lord” (1 Cor 12:3), and fills us with love (Rm 5:5). Under these circumstances, we forgive and love our enemies and know only how to be filled with joy. Only those filled with the Spirit can react to persecution this way. Therefore, “happy are you when you are insulted for the sake of Christ, for then God’s Spirit in Its glory has come to rest on you” (1 Pt 4:14).

If we love Jesus, we will feed His sheep. We will feed Jesus’ followers with physical food (see Mt 25:35) and with the Bread of Life, that is, Jesus (Jn 6:35). If we love Jesus, we will feed Christians with Jesus. We do this by sharing God’s Word (see Mt 4:4) and by inviting others to come to Jesus, join His Church, and receive the Body and Blood of Jesus (see Jn 6:55).

The night before Jesus died, He fed His sheep at the Last Supper by giving them His Body and Blood (see Mt 26:26ff). On the afternoon of the day Jesus rose, He fed His sheep by interpreting “for them every passage of Scripture which referred to Him” (Lk 24:27). Then He broke bread for them (Lk 24:30). Later, Jesus fed Peter and six other apostles with a breakfast of bread and fish (Jn 21:9). The risen Jesus revealed Himself to those “who ate and drank with Him after He rose from the dead” (Acts 10:41).

Before Jesus commanded us to feed His sheep, He showed us how to do this in several multi-dimensional ways. Ultimately, to love Jesus and to feed His sheep requires that we no longer do what we please but do what is against our wills (Jn 21:18). To love is to feed, and to feed is to follow Jesus even to death (Jn 21:19). Will you die to feed His sheep?

The story of Doubting Thomas is always read on the second Sunday of Easter. This is the day (the first day of the week) Jesus appeared again to the apostles and Thomas. Thomas was absent the first time when Jesus breathed his gift of peace upon them and stubbornly refused to believe their testimony. He wants to see and touch Jesus for himself! He wants to touch Jesus’ wounded body before he believes! The story focuses our attention on what happens when Thomas’s desire is answered! He asked for the impossible and was granted it! He abandons his doubt and proclaims Jesus as his Lord and God! The same invitation is offered to us today: Do not be faithless but believing. How will we respond? Just as Jesus recognised Thomas in all his doubt and need, he recognises us as we too stand in need of his understanding and mercy. Will we recognise Jesus just as he recognises us? Will we, like Thomas, open ourselves to the gifts of the Risen Lord—peace, joy, the Spirit and forgiveness? Will we remember that the Risen One is the Crucified One? Will we remember that the Risen One is real? Are we open to becoming a new creation in the Risen Lord?

Alleluia! Jesus is risen! His tomb is empty! “Death has no more power over Him.”(Rm 6:9). Alleluia!

Because we’ve been baptized into Christ, we have died with him. “If we have been united with Him though likeness to His death, so shall we be through alike resurrection” (Rm 6:5). This very day we have already “been raised up” with Jesus to share in His glorious, heavenly, risen life (Col 3:1).

For many in the United States, the joy of Easter mean returning to the things we gave up for Lent. It’s back to chocolate, sweets, soft drinks, ice cream, etc. Yes, we do have to “celebrate and rejoice” on Easter (Lk 15:32), and these treats help us to celebrate, but if we find our joy simply returning to the old life we lived before Lent, we will have missed Easter.

Jesus is the reason for the season. He is risen! We are invited to a risen life with Him that is so new, powerful, and exciting that we can’t sufficiently celebrate it with the “old yeast,” that is, our old joys and old lifestyle (1 Cor 5:7). Let us “be intent on thing above rather than on things of earth” (Col 3:2). Let’s celebrate the fifty-day Easter season by immersing ourselves in God’s Word, which is sweeter than the tastiest candy (PS 119:103), and in the Eucharist, the “bread of sincerity and truth” (1 Cor 5:8).

“When they came to Skull Place, as it was called, they crucified Him there and the criminals as well, one on His right and the other on His left.” ––Luke 23:33

“One of the criminals hanging in crucifixion blasphemed [Jesus]: ‘Aren’t You the Messiah? Then save Yourself and us.’ But the other one rebuked him: ‘Have you no fear of God, seeing you are under the same sentence?’ ” (Lk 23:39-40) Today’s Gospel passage from St. Luke confirms that every action has a consequence. Are we living for the world like the bad thief? Or do we have the eternal perspective of the good thief?

Set in the context of a conversation with some Gentile people who wanted to meet Jesus, today’s gospel focuses our attention on two themes. First, a grain of wheat must die if it is to bring forth fruit. Second, only by being lifted up will Jesus draw all to himself. Can you see the implications? The cross lies hidden at the heart of today’s gospel. So does the Father’s infinite love. The cross means that the gates of divine mercy have been thrown open to the whole world, not just to the chosen people. Here is Jeremiah’s new covenant. Here is the mercy David sought. Here is the making of our High Priest. Here is the Father’s love. The challenge? To open our hearts and lives to God’s loving mercy. We are also invited to join Jesus in his prayer: Father, glorify your name! How can we make that prayer real in our country today?

Three pairs of words resonate throughout our gospel today: lost and found, rebellion and repentance, return and rejoice. The awesome image of our loving God, the radiantly compassionate image of Jesus, the healing music of the Spirit which are implicit in today’s gospel, are most encouraging. Isn’t it wonderful that God in Christ welcomes outcasts and eats with them! Isn’t it fascinating that the Spirit is found in unexpected places, among outsiders, the homeless and the undesirable? Isn’t it delightful that God sees us a long way off and runs to greet us on our return? Then there is the rich symbolism of the family ring and the robe. Rejoice and be glad. Our God is truly prodigal! When Jesus welcomes sinners, when he eats with them, when he sits with the outcasts, he is demonstrating God’s love reaching out to heal and save the world. Jesus is the living proof and demonstration of the parable of the Prodigal. His prodigal compassion is clearly visible in every aspect of his own ministry. Have we the courage to turn and return to him with repentant hearts in these days of holy Lent? Are we coming home to Christ? Are we sitting beside Jesus as we listen to his story?

After the stark reading about the temptations of Jesus in last Sunday’s gospel we hear the gospel of the Transfiguration on the second Sunday of Lent. The story, found in the gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke, is an extraordinary one, narrating a mysterious event which deeply struck the disciples. Jesus is seen transformed by three of his disciples.

His face is changed and he wears brilliant clothing, which suggests the life of the resurrection. Moses and Elijah are with him. These two great figures from the Scriptures were believed, after many trials, to have been taken to the presence of God. No burial-place of Moses was ever found. Elijah, it was believed, had been taken up to heaven in a chariot. Luke says that they speak with Jesus of his ‘passing’ or ‘exodus’, his leaving this world to return to the Father, that journey through suffering and death which they too have known. It is as if they provide encouragement as Jesus begins his journey to Jerusalem and to death.

The story of the Transfiguration is very elaborate. We read it in Lent both to focus on the triumph of Jesus beyond the cross, and to hear again the words: This is my Son, the Chosen One. Listen to him! Above all it invites us to accompany Jesus as he journeys through death to the life of the resurrection, a life which God prepares for us too, a life we can scarcely imagine.