A Jesuit Adventure

  My dear friends today we celebrate the Solemnity of The Most Holy Trinity and the readings today help us to better understand this mystery. In the first reading taken from the book of Deuteronomy, we have an extract from the speech of Moses exhorting the Israelites to obey Yahweh. Moses invites the Israelites to reflect on their experiences of hearing Yahweh speaking out of a fire and being rescued from Egypt to emphasize Israel's unique experiences and special status. The people in those areas worshipped other pagan deities, however, those deities were believed to operate out of self-interest, attacking other nations merely to expand their territory, not for the interest of their worshippers. But Yahweh is different. He is the only true God; there are no others. He invaded Egypt, the superpower of the day, demanding His people be set free from their slavery to worship Him, and humbling Egypt when Pharaoh refused, and bringing Israel out to Himself to be a special people. Moses ...

  The Venerable Fulton J. Sheen once said about the Church, "Even though we are God's chosen people, we often behave more like God's frozen people--frozen in our prayer life, frozen in the way we relate with one another, frozen in the way we celebrate our Faith." My dear friends today we celebrate the Solemnity of Pentecost also called Pentecost Sunday. Pentecost marks the end and the goal of the Easter season.  The Paschal mystery i.e. the Passion, the Death, the Resurrection, and the Ascension of Jesus -- culminates in the sending of the Holy Spirit to the disciples. The feast also celebrates the beginning of the Church through the apostolic preaching of St. Peter, which resulted in the conversion of 3000 Jews to the Christian Faith therefore we won't be wrong to term it as the birthday of the Church. Today’s first reading taken from the Acts of the Apostles must be interpreted in light of last Sunday's reading of the Ascension ...

  My dear friends today we celebrate the Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord. The first reading is the opening passage of the Acts of the Apostles, which is the second part of a two-part work- The gospel according to Luke and the Acts of the Apostles. To grasp today's text therefore it is essential to read it in tandem with the last part of the Gospel of Luke. In the Acts of the Apostles, Luke aimed to show how the work of Jesus continued in the early church and to help his community understand their role in salvation history. It was especially important for the Gentile Christians to understand that God’s plan was still unfolding in the life of the church. The reading today begins where the Gospel of Luke ends – with Jesus’ death, resurrection and post-resurrection appearances which gave the disciples a completely new understanding of the Scriptures (Luke 24:25-27, 45). The Old Testament had not only predicted the Messiah and his suffering, but it also predicted t...

  My dear friends today we celebrate the sixth Sunday of Easter year B. I have chosen the readings for my reflection as per the ordo of the Archdiocese of Bombay which could differ from the readings in other regions. The first reading taken from the Acts of the Apostles contains extracts from the encounter between Peter and Cornelius who both saw visions given by God. The important theme of this narrative is that God doesn’t show favouritism or partiality. The standard for righteousness in the past had been adherence to Jewish law. However, Peter says that he now understands that fearing God i.e. having reverence for God and doing what is right are now the criteria by which God will judge. As Peter was speaking God chose that moment to bestow the Holy Spirit on all including the Gentiles. God gives the gift of the Spirit as confirmation of his intention to accept Gentiles into the church without prior conversion to the Jewish faith. The speaking in tongues is a certain sign that th...

  My dear friends today we celebrate the fifth Sunday of Easter year B. In the first reading taken from the Acts of the Apostles, we hear about the life of St. Paul soon after his conversion on the road to Damascus. After preaching there, he was forced to flee due to the danger to his life from the Jews. The interesting thing, however, is that instead of escaping into a safe unknown place, he goes to the one place we probably wouldn't expect him to go -Jerusalem. Jerusalem was a place where neither the Church nor the Jews would accept him. After the stoning of Stephen, Paul was returning to Jerusalem and essentially continuing the very work that Stephen had done in the promotion of the gospel. Just when things were beginning to go out of hand, God sent Barnabas, whose name means "Encourager" to convince the disciples in Jerusalem that Saul indeed had a genuine conversion and was now one of them. He however continued to face opposition from the Hellenists. The Greek Hellen...

  On December 14, 2012, Victoria Leigh Soto was teaching her first-grade class at Sandy Hook Elementary School, when a gunman named Lanza made his way into the school, and began to shoot staff and students. After killing fifteen students and two teachers in the first classroom, Lanza entered Soto's classroom. Once the bullets started flying, she tried to shield the youngsters from the bullets by jumping in front of them and that is how she was found later - Huddled with her children. Stories like this make us wonder- how are people able to lay down their lives for others? My dear friends today we celebrate the Fourth Sunday of Easter. The first reading taken from Acts of the Apostles is part of Peter’s speech to the council following the arrest of Peter and John. The religious authorities ask Peter by what power or by what name did he heal the crippled beggar. We need to keep in mind that this is the same Peter who had just a few days ago abandoned Jesus in the garden of Gethsema...

  My dear friends today we celebrate the Third Sunday of Easter Year B and the readings take us deeper into the mystery of the resurrection. In the first reading taken from the Acts of the Apostles, we have excerpts from the speech of Peter after a crippled beggar is healed. Peter insists that it is God who has performed the miracle and not himself. By recalling the names of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, he reminds the people of the long relationship that Israel enjoyed with Yahweh and how it was God who was faithful even when the people were not. Peter points out that the people were responsible for handing Jesus over to death despite Pilate’s verdict that Jesus was not guilty. Instead of the Messiah, the people demanded the release of Barabbas, a murderer. Though the early Christians saw the suffering and death of Jesus indicated in Old Testament prophecies, the Jews did not expect a suffering and dying Messiah. In the latter part of the reading, Peter calls the people ‘friends’ and ...