3rd Sunday of Easter (Cycle A, Year II)
Community Word: The Risen Lord strengthens our hope for eternal life.
Theme: Our hope of eternal life is strengthened when we allow the presence of Jesus to reign in our daily life.
Promise: “You will show me the path to life…abounding joy in your presence…” (Ps 16:11)
Reflection:
These are hard and scary times with the corona virus pandemic, an invisible and pervasive menace spreading panic and eroding social trust in every part of the globe. However, there is an opportunity in every crisis. God will bring out good from this for those who love Him! As we are forced to stay home by a government decree or by our own choice, we are presented with more time to spare for ourselves. As one man said with a good nature humour, “Now I will have to spend time with my wife.” But perhaps this is the best time to reflect on our relationship with the Lord, Jesus Christ.
The theme for the 3rd Sunday of Easter invites us to deeply contemplate on said relationship and where it could lead us – Our hope for eternal life is strengthened when we allow the presence of Jesus to reign in our daily life.
Living as a Christian calls us to meet the Lord in our daily life. He is already there, walking before us and beckoning us to follow after Him. The Lord has broken into our ordinary time and transforms it from within. For those who have eyes to see His work, ears to hear His voice and hearts open to receive his gifts of grace, ordinary time can become extraordinary. All who bear the name Christian are called to ongoing conversion in Him. We are all called to holiness of life. We are invited to cooperate with grace and give our whole lives over to the Lord who takes up His residence within us and continues His mission through us. This happens in the stuff of our ordinary time.
The Apostle Paul wrote to the early Christians in Galatia, “No longer do I live but Christ lives in me and the life I now live I live by faith in the Son of God,” (Gal 2:20). That can become our experience as we give ourselves over to Him and seek to live by the power of the Holy Spirit. Christians can live differently precisely because we live in Jesus Christ. We can love differently because we love in Jesus Christ. We can become different, at the deepest level, when we cooperate with grace and allow the character of Christ to be formed in us. Jesus Christ continues His life through His Body, His Church, of which we are members.
God does not call us or any believer to a marginal Christian life characterized by chores and rituals. He desires to have a daily relationship with us where we experience His presence and trust Him for wisdom, courage, and strength in all situations. With every step we take, decision we make and thought we entertain, the Lord wants to glorify Himself through us. He desires to shine in our life with His love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control, illuminating us as we walk in obedience to Him.
In other words, to live the Christian life is to allow the presence of Christ to reign in our daily life. This does not only strengthen our hope for eternal life but we are rewarded even here in our life on earth as promised in Psalm16:11 – “You will show me the path to life…abounding joy in your presence…” This is not an empty promise. How do we allow Jesus to reign in our daily life? In what way does He live in and through us? Many believe that the key to living the Christian life starts with pious acts, when it really begins with a deep, intimate relationship with Him. To answer the first question, we must realize the answer comes by working on our relationship with Christ. We do this through Bible study, prayer, worship, and fellowship with other believers. We not only learn about Him, but we must also listen to Him, because He will teach us how to love Him, live for Him, and walk in His ways.
The answer to the second question is as unique as each believer who follows Him. This is because He has a special purpose for our life, and the most important thing we can ever do is simply obey Him, no matter what He tells us to do. God will allow situations and troubles in our life that only He can solve, so that He can demonstrate His glory, power, love, and wisdom through us.
Prayer:
Lord Jesus, I pray that I will be taken into a deeper, more meaningful relationship with You where I will grow in faith and love. Help me to be attentive to Your call, that will cause me to walk in Your righteousness. Open the eyes of my heart that I may see the many blessings and protection you bestow on me. Amen
Reflection Guide Questions:
Examine your heart and ask these questions:
a) Is Jesus reigning in my life? What are and where lies my priorities?
b) What is the motivation behind every action I take?
c) What are the hindrances that stand in the way, if any, of letting the Lord reign in my daily life? How do I overcome them?
This Week’s Daily Mass Reading Guide:
April 26, 2020 (Sun) – Acts 2:14, 22, 23/ Ps 16:1, 2, 5, 7-111/ 1Pt 1:17-21/Lk 24:13-35
April 27, 2020 (Mon) – Acts 6:8-12/ Ps 119:23-24, 26, 27, 29, 30/ Jn 6:22-29
April 28, 2020 (Tues) – Acts 7:51-8:1/ Ps 31:3-8, 17-21/ Jan 6:30-35
April 29, 2020 (Wed) – Acts 8:1b-8/ Ps 66:1-3A, 4-5, 6-7A/ Jan 6:35-40
April 30, 2020 (Thur) – Acts 8:26-40/ Ps 66:8, 9, 16, 17, 20/ Jn 6:44-51
May 01, 2020 (Fri) – Acts 9:1-20/ Ps 117:1BC-2/ Jn 6:52-59
May 02, 2020 (Sat) – Acts 9:31-42/ Ps 116:12-17/ Jn 6:60-69
“Ignorance of the Bible is ignorance of Christ. Read your Bible daily!”
Supplemental Personal Sharing:
In the midst of the corona virus pandemic, a couple serving in a Community for about 25 years while prudently observing all the protocols for their safety and good health, find peace and joy together with their four adult daughters. Due to the present extraordinary circumstance, the four have been forced to stay and work at home on-line instead of going to their office, one of whom is working out-of-town. This is a once in a life time opportunity for the family not only to be together and bond for a long period of time, but above all, to pray and hear mass together.
