Making Friends With The Lord Jesus

Today's gospel is most interesting! It consists of Jesus' revelation of His relationship with His Father. Philip, one of His Apostles, asks Him about showing the Father to them. Jesus replies that the Father and Him are one such that when you see the Father, you see the Son as well. The Father is in the Son, and the Son is in the Father. There exists a mysterious union about the two Persons. Jesus is little by little revealing the reality of the distinct persons in one God. To capture this well, we need to pick up what St. John says in the prologue of his gospel.

Jesus speaks to us about our troubles in today's gospel. We all get troubled, one way or another. It is very proper of creatures because of our limitations that troubles assail us. We fuss about things too. Many times we get ourselves uselessly troubled. Jesus invites us not to be troubled. He assures us of reaching heaven, where He has something prepared for us. That's remarkable! Then, He reveals to us that He is the Way, and the Truth and the Life. He is the way to go, all the time!

We are situated by today's gospel in the sermon on the mount of Jesus. After He taught the Beatitudes, one of the things He was saying referred to two images that He identified Christians or followers of His should be like. Those items are salt and light. Jesus emphasized that, "You are the salt of the earth," and "You are the light of the world." Salt and light! Two realities that affect what is around them. Salt in food gives it taste. Light in a room brightens up the place. Christians need to like them: salt, because our faith should influence the environment so that it grow further in being Christian; light, so that the dark areas and corners of an increasingly paganized world be shown light on to dispel obscurity. Being salt we give flavor to all we do, i.e., things become Christian. Every aspect of life and of our lives should be Christianized (e.g., sex, entertainment, politics, business). We are to be light too, to enlighten the paths of different endeavors in the middle of the world. People talk about doubts, obscure knowledge, error, falsehood, dishonesty, lies, fraud, etc. We are to shine the light of Christ on them. The Catholic Church has been doing this since its inception. Hence, pagan practices like divorce, wife-exchanging, abortion, materialism, etc., have been changed to having a more Christian culture. The struggle is still there since pagan practice is being promoted by the devil, the world and the flesh.

Today, we celebrate the feast of an Apostle. Matthias is his name. He was chosen to replace the slot of the twelve--clearly taken from the number of tribes of Israel, i.e., twelve--vacated by Judas Iscariot. They cast lots and the lot fell on Matthias. This is the wonderful thing. It is God who calls, but the way He calls may be just like that, as casting lots. It is God who chooses always.

Today's gospel continues the Good Shepherd theme of yesterday's liturgy. Our dear Lord cautions us so we learn to discern good from bad, i.e., the good helps us to reach our true and final destiny, namely, heaven; but there are other actors in this theater of operations who are not interested in us getting there, but they exert their influence on us by wiles, deceptions, lies, etc., to get us to another destination, hell. This is the first principle we need to be aware of. In this trip to Heaven, there are obstacles and enemies, namely, the devil, the world, and the flesh. Thus, we should see the importance of God providing us the figure of the good Shepherd who leads and defends His sheepfold. We need to follow His lead. We need His discernment to filter out those who are thieves or robbers.

Who is the Good Shepherd? This is the 4th Sunday of Easter theme. The shepherd leads his sheep to clean waters and healthy grass. He protects them from dangers and predators. But the sheep need to learn to listen to him, and let itself be led by him. We need to learn to listen and then to listen to God.

The Lord's Eucharistic discourse winds up today in the gospel taken from St. John Chapter 6. It all comes to a head because Jesus proposes that we need to eat His Flesh and drink His Blood to have eternal life. Many of His followers found this shocking and unacceptable. Many of His followers left Him. He did not adjust His teachings. He challenged His apostles whether they would like to leave too. They respond in the words of St. Peter, " Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God."

Jesus now goes full mode in revealing His doctrine about His Body and Blood being real Food and Drink. We need this nourishment to enter eternal life. His words indicate that this need is absolutely. Without this Food and Drink we will not have Life in us. The opposition to this doctrine is seen in the beginning of today's gospel. His listeners wonder how He will give His Flesh and Blood as Food and Drink. Sounds ridiculous. Sounds poetic too. But it is not poetic of some veiled language pointing to another reality. Jesus repeats His lines without much change. He tells us we need to eat His Flesh and Drink His Blood.

We continue with John Chapter 6 today in the gospel. We have our dear Lord reveal to us for the first time that the bread of life He was offering to the Jews was His very own Flesh. What that means remains to be seen in the next installments of this text from chapter 6 of St. John's gospel. The initial point of the text of today's gospel, however, lets us know the dynamics involved in this matter. Jesus affirms the first step in getting us involved with God in any way. That step is always taken by His Father in Heaven. This is so such that God is the first act on us for this relationship with Him to happen. Our task is simply to foster a good disposition for that to happen. And even that effort requires God's involvement already.

Today, Jesus reveals that Will of His Father and His role in getting that Will to be done. We pray quite often the Lord's Prayer, where we beseech our Heavenly Father to grant that His Will be done on earth as it is in Heaven. That Will's contents will be revealed to us by the Lord. It will be through the taking in of the Bread of Life that that Will shall be done. Listen to the homily for today.

The gospel today prods us to want this food from Heaven. Jesus invites us to this. If we want to enjoy Heaven, we need this kind of food He is offering. Jesus identifies Himself to be this Food from Heaven. If we eat this food, then Heaven will ours. Let us aspire to get this Food!

We continue reading today about Jesus and His Eucharistic Discourse. He had performed the miracle of multiplying the bread and fish. Now, He changed the setting to help us realize that He wanted to set the stage for the next step in His plan. In the end, He is going to reveal the promise of the Holy Eucharist, the Bread of Life, which is Himself. But He wanted to prepare the people for this doctrine. He began by getting their attention by feeding so many with so little. Then, He moved to another place. They looked for Him. They find Him and Our Lord introduces them to wanting to be prepared for what was coming. These individuals need to perform the work of God, and that is to believe in Him as sent by God.

The Church presents to us the third appearance of the risen Lord to some of His disciples when they went fishing. He is only the fellow who happens to be standing by the sea shore near where they are fishing. He asks them about their catch. To their negative reply, He suggests they throw their nets to starboard. They catch a lot of big fish. Then, they realize that it is the Lord. It so happens that the Lord may look like He is not present. But He actually is--all the time!

When the Lord resurrected from the dead, He instructed His apostles to spread out and reach all places in the known world to preach the Good News. The Greek term employed in this instruction is evangelion. The Romans used this word to refer to the announcement of a victory or huge development for the Roman Empire to the villages where the conqueror or hero would pass. It was the good news! But the Christians adopted the word to designate the Gospel, or the Good News, of Christ's definitive victory over sin and death. We are instructed by Jesus, the risen Lord, to announce to the others this good News of His Resurrection. He is ALIVE! Thus, the way of life of a Christian is still valid and made more powerful by the Lord's rising from the dead.

What would you do if you're invited to have breakfast with the newly resurrected Jesus Christ, who was crucified and confirmed dead a couple of days before? The risen Lord appears to His disciples while they were fishing. They did not recognize Him. They had caught nothing and were again at their wits end about catching some fish. A certain individual at the shore shouted His suggestion to throw their nets at the precise moment and to the starboard side of the vessel they were in . Then, they realized they had caught lots of fish, that this all seemed familiar to them, bringing back memories of that other miraculous catch of fish. That was when the Lord called them to catch men. They got to shore and had a difficult time hauling in that great amount of fish. Jesus invited them to breakfast. He had the coals alight with fish and bread cooking. Breakfast with the Risen Lord! We have this opportunity to be with the Lord in any noble and honest activity in the world.

We today about the recipe of our Lord for our lives. He lived this recipe first, since He is our Leader in Life. He went ahead of us to suffer, die and resurrect from the dead. This is the paschal process we need to undergo also. Without the suffering, we cannot reach the resurrection. This is the ironclad lesson of Holy Week and our Jesus' life. Hence, we need to understand that God will send us the cross in many forms and in varied degrees depending on his infinite and wise Providence. Are we ready for this?

We read again about Judas Iscariot. But this time from the gospel of St. Matthew Chapter 26. We find him approaching the chief priests of the Jews asking how much they'd pay him if he handed Jesus to them. Wow! This shocks me. Imagine an intimate friend of Jesus, personally chosen by Jesus to be among the first twelve apostles, someone who enjoyed the teachings of Jesus and His special attention and care because these apostles would carry His words across the entire known world. He wanted to betray Jesus, his Master. He was interested in the money. The amount they agreed on was thirty pieces of silver. That is another terrible discovery we make here. In Judas' eyes and to the eyes of the enemies of Jesus, the Son of Man was only worth the price tag of an ordinary slave. Oh my gosh! Shall we treat Jesus also in that condescending and belittling way?

Our dear Lord's Way of the Cross is very like our own journey in this Life.

We read in the gospel today about that Mary who "wasted" an expensive perfume used also for anointing corpses in Jewish culture, on the feet of Jesus. This gesture was evidently one of love and affection. Mary was the sister of Martha and Lazarus. Jesus frequented their home in the town of Bethany. Jesus praised her for that gesture, hence, the title of this homily. But He did that after Judas Iscariot emitted a complaint and criticism of that gesture. He feigned concern for the poor in letting out the comment that that perfume should have not been wasted on Jesus, but sold to the poor to raise some money for them. It was nothing of that actually, St. John tells us in the same gospel text. Anyhow, Jesus praised Mary's gesture and He continued to prophesy about His own demise and that His body would need that perfume.

Today, we join the entire Church with Jesus Christ to begin Holy Week. Today is referred to at the day of the triumphal entry into the ancient city of Jerusalem, where Jesus would triumph over sin and death. For Him to triumph over death, He needed to die. Only then, would He resurrect. Let us join Him with the entire Church in this swing of His Passion, usually referred to as His Paschal Mystery. This is about His undergoing His passion, death and resurrection, from Holy Thursday to Saturday's Easter Vigil.

Our dear Lord is at the doorstep of Holy Week, i.e., the commencement of His Passion and death on the Cross. His sentiments and thoughts center on His mission to accomplish, and that is to save mankind, all men and women, from the beginning of time to the end of time. So many souls to save! So many also who would reject His plea to conversion! So much pain, sorrow, sadness, etc. Anyhow, He proceeds. He knows and wills that everyone become part of His Family, the family of the Blessed Trinity. He wants to gather everyone together as His children. But first He needs to face His Passion. We accompany Him, with our own Calvary of sorts, because only by passing through death can we resurrect with our Savior!

We continue to follow Jesus in His growing tense confrontations with the Jews. They challenged His claims. They continue to be irrational in not seeing any connection between the evidence of His power to do what only God can do, and His open declaration that He is divine. Let us not separate Jesus' being divine and His being fully human. This is the miracle of the hypostatic union. Hypostatic comes from the Greek hypostasis, that means person. In the one Person of Jesus Christ, there are united two natures, namely, human and divine. The Jews were insisting He was only human, claiming to be divine. Hence, they accused Him of blasphemy. We make that connection when we obey Jesus in His Will and Commandments. He is God for me. Or is it that we cut Him down in size, by disobeying Him or by delaying in obeying Him, etc?

Jesus continues in the gospel today to equate Himself with God. The Jews continue to resist Him and are adamant with their short-sighted views of Him.

The truth will set you free. If Jesus identifies Himself with the Truth--since He declared that He is the Way, the Truth and the Life--then, He is inviting us to be united to Him.

Today's gospel teaches us the parallel drawn by the Lord between what happened to the chosen people on their long journey to the promised land and what Jesus would do for them also centuries later. To save those bitten by the poisonous serpents during their long journey to the promised land, God instructed Moses to craft a serpent on a standard so that anyone bitten who looked at it would be saved from death. Then, at present Jesus was saying that when He is lifted, we would know that He is the God who saves them from the definitive death. Find out more about it in the homily.

Jesus is the Light of the World. That assumes that there is darkness first. We need God to shed light on the world, events, natural mysteries, etc. Otherwise, it is so easy to get lost nowadays. There are other creatures peddling their own stuff on the Internet, for example. All of them selling to us their wares for us to buy into them, to imitate them, etc. so we can get a sense or hold of our lives. Jesus proposes to us Himself as the Light we need.

Truly, this gospel of today is one of the most moving in the life of Jesus. Are we to condemn the adulteress caught in the act of adultery? Off the cuff, we might say we would. It is so easy to condemn the others, to write them off, to focus on their weaknesses and faults, etc. Are we to be self-righteous in judging them, while we let ourselves off the hook so easily? The enemies of Jesus brought this poor adulteress to His presence: Big sinner in front of Purity Itself! They posed this problem to Him. Are we to stone this woman for having committed the crime of adultery? They only wanted to catch Jesus contradicting Himself or the Mosaic Law. Either way, they sought to discredit Him. He was becoming a solid celebrity among the people. Thus, they were losing credibility. Out of envy, they wanted to bring Him down. But Jesus challenges them and their righteous sensitivities: those without sin are to cast a stone at her. No one satisfied that criterion. They, and any one of us, are sinners. Only Jesus is without sin, right? He was the only one who could cast a stone at her. But He did not! He did not condemn her. He asked her not to sin again. Wow! God's infinite mercy for us to see! Pure mercy!

A division was forming among the crowd surrounding Jesus. On one hand, were those who opined that Jesus was the long-awaited Messiah for the usual obvious reasons like His miracles and His teachings. On the other hand, we those who opined otherwise, principally based on the fact that scriptures declared that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem. This Jesus was from Nazareth. They took this to mean that He was born there. No prophet is born in Nazareth, they said. That dilemma could have been resolved quickly and easily if they only investigated more objectively. The problem was that the religious leaders of Israel had something else in mind. Find out more in the homily.

It is clear in the gospel of today's mass that His enemies were on the lookout for Him to arrest Him and bring Him to "justice." At least, that was what they had in mind. The text narrates His attending a big feast among the Israelites--the feast of the Tabernacles--. He went to Jerusalem to attend the festivities, but in a surreptitious manner. He did not want to push His luck, so to speak. Although He was spotted, and they wanted to arrest Him, they could not do it. No one could touch Him. The gospel simply states that the reason for that was that His hour had not yet arrived. Find out more about this in the homily.

Jesus speaks to us in the gospel about His credibility. In the end, we need to believe Him and His teachings because He provides us with motives of credibility. He does not demand from us belief or faith, with no incentives or reinforcements to believe Him. He is worthy of our faith and trust because of these motives of credibility, such as the miracles He performs and the sublimity of His teachings. Find out more about these motives of credibility.

God is the Supreme Being, and therefore, He is One. Inside God, there are three divine Persons, who are One God. Only one divine nature, but three divine Persons, possessing this one divine nature. In the gospel today, Jesus impresses on us His oneness with His Father. In their being, they are one. But more than that, Jesus teaches us, His followers, that we need to imitate this oneness with God. We achieve this by doing His Will, or by being united to His Will, like when Jesus prayed in Gethsemane, "...not my Will but Thy will done..." We pray, in fact, in the Lord's Prayer, "...Thy Will be done on Earth, as it is in Heaven..."

We read in the gospel of today, Tuesday 01 April 2025, about one of the miracles of Jesus performed in the pool of Bethesda, near the Temple and the Sheep Gate. He pitied a man who has been ill for 38 years already and was there together with many other people with their respective maladies, waiting for the water of the pool to stir. The first one who is able to get to the pool would be cured. Jesus cured him instantaneously. But the Jews took issue with this because Jesus told the man to take up his mat and go home. The taking up of the mat constituted in their view some work. Work was prohibited on the Sabbath. Violators of the Sabbath rest were stoned to death according to the Law. Check out the homily how this issue is resolved by the Lord.

There are many lessons in the gospel today. We read from St. John's Gospel about a court official who son needed to be healed so he would not die. He had gone to where Jesus was. Jesus was in Cana in Galilee, while the child was in Capernaum. Jesus performs this miracle from a distance, when He assured the official that his son was cured. In the versions of Matthew and Luke, they speak of a centurion, who had the circumstances as the one mentioned by St. John in his version of the event. Listen to the homily.

This is what is important. It is a pity how some people want and insist to want to live in the past. They do not want to think of the future and of what they could do. And in this matter, we need to because Jesus wants it. He lived it. He went through it. What is important is to live and to live again, if we have died, literally or figuratively. The end of the story is not that we have died. Christianity is all about living again. The Resurrection is the end of the story.

To cure us of our most basic problem, Jesus came to teach us about by example. He always teaches in this manner. He does demand so much from us. He demands from Himself the same thing and He carries the brunt of it all. He treats our deepest wounds this way. In the gospel, He tells a story of two individuals who go to pray in the temple. Their prayers differ from each other. Find out who prays better.

The principle delineated by the gospel today is the most assaulted teaching in the Church and the world today. It has been attacked since the dawn of history. Hence, the Lord underscores it. We should repeat it often in our hearts and minds. It is the fortress that needs reinforcement and armor to withstand all the onslaughts from the world, the flesh and the devil. What is that principle?

This principle we read in the Gospel today is one we need to read and meditate one regularly, especially because we are exposed in the middle of the world to different points of view and examples and lifestyles and doctrines. So, if we are not careful we imbibe these alien and foreign thoughts, systems, attitudes, outlooks, etc little by little and we water down our belief in the one God.

The gospel today encourages us to pick the side of the truth so that we can find ourselves able to reach Heaven. That is the goal, i.e., to be with the Light. Light is symbolic of Jesus Christ. The gospel tells us of the people accusing Jesus of calling on the prince of devils to exorcise possessed people. Jesus merely points out the absurdity of their claim. The devil possesses us in a manner of speaking by deceiving us to buy a falsehood under the guise of some truth. Deception is essential for sin to happen. Oh! Another thing is necessary. The one tempted should let himself be deceived so that he commit the sin.

Today's gospel underlines the fundamental importance of studying the teachings of the Catholic Church in faith and morals.

We celebrate today the first Joyful Mystery of the Holy Rosary, namely, the Annunciation. We celebrate God's work of Redemption that went on to high gear because God became flesh today. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit in the most pure womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary. In nine months, He, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, would be born in Bethlehem. Thus, Mary is the Mother of God. Praise the Lord, all my soul!

The entire creation was waiting for Mary's reply to God's proposal. What happened?

The gospel today tells us of what God is going to do when the initial destination of His Salvific mission, who were the Israelites, would reject Jesus. Our blessed Lord would then go to the Gentiles! God respects our freedom. And we should respect also His freedom. The gospel tells us of Our Lord's town mates who rejected Him. They resented Him for not having revealed to them when He grew up in Nazareth about what He was up to. During the time He left Nazareth to pass to the next stage of His life here with us. That stage is called His Public Life. They were shocked that Jesus could perform miracles and teach such sublime doctrines. God had not gifted them with this revelation as the first ones who would find out. God planned it like that. Apparently, they did not like that. They wanted to be first in the line to benefit from His true mission. So, since they rejected Him, Jesus decided to go to the Gentiles. He gave two examples of past prophets who were also rejected by Israel, and they were sent to gentiles to enjoy their protection and favor.

We know very well the experience of comparing ourselves with the others, especially in qualities and achievements. Sometimes we are comforted by the fact that others are worse than us morally speaking. Hence, we like gossip and immerse ourselves in the immoral details of our neighbors or national figures and stories. Of course, in all this, we tend to be blind to our own situation. We sway to complacency because we are not that bad at all because there are worse people than us. Listen to check how our Lord thinks about this.

We focus today in this homily on the older son who did not run away, who did not make off with his inheritance only to waste it on himself badly, who what not loyal to his dad, etc. Those were done by his younger brother, who is usually the focus of this parable of the prodigal son. But the older son, although he did not do any of those horrible things, also had his problems of sinning. Find out why.

Our Lord Jesus Christ prophesizes His own demise in the gospel of today. He does this via parable. The story is about a vineyard entrusted to certain tenants. After that, he goes on a journey. At the proper time, he sends some servants to collect the produce corresponding to him. But the tenants rebelled against him and did not recognize him as their master. They abused his servants. They did the same to another group sent with the same purpose as the first group. Although they were more in number, they were dealt in the same way. Then, the owner sends his own son, thinking those tenants would become more compliant. However, they kill him. What will the owner do? Find out!

The gospel assures us of the coming final reckoning. Recall perhaps those times when we saw evil sort of triumph in this life. There are those to be pitied because their just cause fell flat to the ground. Frustration and disappointment! Scandalous government and judiciary officials who do not perform them duties well. They all can be bought. As they say, everybody has a price! But the Good News of Jesus Christ assures us that there will be accountability that nobody can escape from. Alleluiah!

Top of the morning! Howdi! Today we celebrate St. Joseph, the Husband of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary and the Foster Father of Jesus Christ. He is the Universal Patron of the Catholic Church. I address him as my Father and Lord because he directed the Holy Family of Nazareth. Being the putative dad of Jesus he headed that home where God deigned to be the entry point of His only begotten Son, the Second Person of the Most Blessed Trinity, i.e., within a family, the holy Family of Jesus and Mary. Being the head of the home where the Creator of the entire universe was born, grew and matured to be ready for His Public Life when He began with earnest His Mission on earth, he is properly called Father and Lord. Oh, how must have been that man! We can only imagine it all, based somehow on the few texts about him in the New Testament. How does an ordinary artisan like him make it to be chosen by God, chosen by Mary as her boyfriend and eventually her true husband, chosen by Jesus to be His putative but true earthly father for all intents and purposes? Amazing! It can only be understood somehow by looking it all as a series of gifts from the infinite generosity and love of God. Oh, my gosh! I can imagine the great joy and gratitude of Joseph for all these privileges and honors. I join him with our Blessed Mother in thanking and praising God in aeternum for what we commemorate today!

One of the funniest things in the Sacred Scriptures is Jesus calling out those who preach, but they do not practice what they preach. They impose on the others the burden of obeying the law that they themselves do not obey. That is funny, right? We need to be consistent with ourselves. We need to keep that unity in our lives--otherwise, it will be farce and, if we are teachers or in some kind of authority, we lose that authority and moral authority,--what we say, we do; what we do is consistent with what we think and say. All three need to agree with each other. If there is a part of us that is discordant with the others, our being will seek unity among them, such that if even we teach what is right, but we do not practice that, there develops in us a certain tension that clamors for resolution and unification. So, what can happen is that, although we teach what is right, we reach a point when we change that too, since we practice otherwise.

The gospel emphasizes this demand of Jesus. He promises us that the way we treat others will be the way He will treat us. It is another formulation of the Golden Rule!

The Second Sunday of Lent provides us the gospel of what happened at the summit of Mount Tabor. Our Lord is famously transfigured. This happens in the presence of His three favorite apostles: Peter, James and his brother John. Our dear Jesus sought to enkindle their faith and strengthen their hope. This is so kind of Him to give them assurances that despite His coming suffering and death on the cross, He will be glorified and triumphant in the end. Although He will be practically unrecognizable because His sacred Humanity will be destroyed, behind it all is His glory, His victory, His divinity, and power above anything that the Devil, the World and the Flesh can hurl against Him. Be of stout heart, He would be telling them. I will undergo this but rest assured I am in control. This is our unshakable hope!

This is the ultimate challenge of Jesus to. How could we possible top God Himself? Jesus assured Peter in a previous gospel found in Matthew, that with God everything is possible. Jesus speaks to us about charity and love of neighbor in today's gospel. As we did in previous gospels, He elevates the demands of God's Law. Not only do actions against a commandment make us liable, we also need to include our thoughts, desires and as always, our actions and omissions. What He asks today is that we imitate God in His love for those who are difficult to love.