7th Sunday of Easter, Year B

"...Not one of them was lost, none but him who was
destined to be lost"

In the Philippines, this Sunday is designated as Ascension
Sunday instead of the 7th Sunday of Easter. Most Catholic
countries follow the universal calendar of the Church,
which designates the Thursday of the 6th Week of Easter
as, Ascension Sunday. However, in the Philippines, for
pastoral reasons, the 7th Sunday of Easter is designated
as Ascension Sunday.

For the purpose of the universal calendar, we will reflect
on the gospel for the 7th Sunday of Easter, Year B.

In the 4th Sunday of Easter, we commemorated Good Shepherd
Sunday. We saw how much the Lord is a Good Sheperd for
all of us - laying down his very life that we may not
be lost in sin but rather gain life through him. Today's
gospel can be connected to that same theme of Christ our
Good Shepherd. We see in this Sunday's gospel how Jesus
prays much that all his followers may be one in him,
and may not be lost. And he tells us that we will not
be lost, as long as we follow Christ, who calls us to
himself and his kingdom - a kingdom where truth, justice,
love, freedom, and all the gospel values are to be
found. We know that we are of Christ, if we see this
world as one in which we live in temporarily, and that
our home is really in God. Let us be reminded of what
St. Augustine states when he realized the truth of
"how our hearts are restless until they rest in the
Lord".

So, the lesson we gain from reflecting on the gospel
this Sunday is, that Christ must be the truth for us to
know. And when we learn how Christ is the truth for us,
we will not be tempted by the illusions proferred to us
by the many things we see all around us. Sometimes,
these illusions may even be within ourselves too. By
Christ's giving of his life to us, he consecrated us
to the truth, that we may not be lost in error. Let us
therefore always thank the Father, for the gift of His
Son, who showed us the path we must take, and the truth
we must pursue.

Sixth Sunday of Easter, Year B

"There is no greater love than this: to lay down
one's life for one's friends"

This passage from the gospel of John is one of the
popular verses that we know in Scripture. It depicts
the image of Jesus who sacrificed his life on the Cross
so that, we, his friends, may be saved from our sinfulness
and gain eternal life. Perhaps no man in the history
of the world has expressed love to its noblest and
its most sublime form as did our Lord Jesus Christ, when
he sacrificed his very life on the Cross out of love
and obedience to the Father. That is why the Christian life continues up to
this day, despite many things in our
modern world that is undermining its influence.
Christianity has survived the test of two millenium, not because of an ideal
or concept of love, but because of a Person, who showed through a very
concrete example,
what love really is: sacrificial, selfless and
life-giving. And this Person has truly made Christian
love a life-giving love by sending His Spirit on the
apostolic community on the day of Pentecost.

For those of us who have always known our Lord by his
example in the Gospel, let us be more attentive in these
times to base our ideal of love not on what the world
of our times teaches us, but more on what the Church
teaches us through its explanation of the Gospel. Let
us be strong and steadfast in our faith in the traditional
meaning of love that has been taught to all peoples
of all nations for many centuries past. If ever we
hear of something being taught that is not what we have
always known to be as the truth, let us be wary and
very cautious in accepting it, since the truth does not
change radically, or dramatically, when it comes to
the mystery of God's love and how he was incarnated in
Jesus. Rather than being swayed and swept by the
winds of contemporary beliefs, let us focus our eyes
more on the truth of the love of Jesus as we have
always known it to be in our Christian tradition.

5th Sunday of Easter, Year B

"...For apart from me you can do nothing"

Last Sunday was Good Shepherd Sunday. We saw how our Lord
is a good shepherd for all who follow Him. Like Him, we
are also called to be good shepherds to each other -
shepherding people to Christ and His Church.

This Sunday, we see our Lord as the vine, and we as the
branches. And the Father is the vinegrower. For many
in tropical countries, where there is no grapes, they do
not really know how to understand this teaching of Jesus.
However, thanks to education, we learn that in order
for a vinegrower to produce grapes, he has to prune
away every barren branch, and trim clean the ones that
produce fruit, in order for it to bear more fruit. When
we apply this to what Jesus teaches in the gospel, it
really just means that if we continue to commit our
lives to Him, then we shall bear fruit and produce
much abundantly. But the moment we separate ourselves
from Him because of our pride, even if we succeed, we
will realize painfully that all our success means nothing without Christ.

For many of us who live simple and ordinary lives,
all that Christ asks of us is that we never break
our relationship with Him. For we can never really
produce anything or achieve success without relating
to the Lord in prayer and service to others. The more
we give of ourselves to Christ and His gospel, the
more our success will be filled with meaning and
with spiritual benefits that give depth to all
our relationships and material yield.

4th Sunday of Easter, Year B

"...The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep"

<a
href="http://catholic.pcentral-online.net/lectionary/4th-easter-b.html">Lect
ionary Readings for the 4th Sunday of Easter, Year B</a>

We have seen in the Holy Week that has just passed how
Jesus truly lived his mission to be the Good Shepherd.
He called people to listen to His word and be counted
as members of His flock. And the closest to Him in
His inner circle were the apostles. When the time came
for Jesus to lay down His life in obedience to the will
of the Father, the apostles and all disciples who knew
Him, fled and were scattered. This fulfills what is
said in Scripture that when "the Shepherd is struck
down, the flock scatters". But Jesus, with a strength
and faith that is only fit of Him as the Son of God,
truly lived out His role and mission as the Good
Shepherd - laying His life for His sheep.

As Catholics, we have the advantage of a leadership in
the papacy. The late holy father, John Paul II, truly
followed the example of Christ, and suffered a long
illness to show us what the role of leaders in the
Church are called to be: good shepherds in the manner
of Christ. For many of us who lead in simple ways,
shepherding can mean simply to bear the ordinary sufferings
of earning a living, doing liturgical ministry, caring
for members of the family, having a sick or prison
apostolate, or preparing a good homily for the
parishioners. Just the dying to ourselves daily is what
is called of us to be good shepherds in the manner
and example of Christ. And often, just faithfully
living out this call, and suffering the cumulative
pains and aches of doing our responsibilities and
tasks of the day, is gospel enough for us.

So, this Good Shepherd Sunday, let us ask and pray
to Christ, our Good Shepherd, to grant us His Spirit,
that we may obtain the strength to imitate Him in
his mission to shepherd all those in our care and
responsibility. It is not easy but it can be done
with the help and grace of God.