In the "New Covenant" made by our Creator God with humanity, as reported in Jeremiah 31:31-34, every human being can know God from within - because the Holy Spirit is revealing our Creator to all who are willing to know the Lord and trust in Him. We can still help each other along the way; so please feel free to share with others these homilies and your own personal faith in God through Jesus Christ. G.S.
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3rd Sunday of Easter
VOCATION: Jesus calls us - He calls you to follow Him, to be filled with the Holy Spirit, and become a missionary disciple....
Homily MP3 version - PDF version
What are the offerings that we bring to God? What is the meaning of "HOSANNAH!" We acclaim God for his greatness and praise Him, while at the same time calling upon Him to rescue us in our distress.... "HOSANNAH!" MP3 version
“Lord, you will show me the path of life. Alleluia!”
Since the days when Jesus walked our Earth, He has raised up witnesses to establish the reality of his resurrection and ascension into Heaven at the right hand of the Father. We heard the Apostle Saint Peter speak and testify with assurance and boldness to the resurrection of Jesus. He went so far as to say to the crowd about Jesus: “you crucified and killed him by the hands of those outside the law.” Peter was unafraid of the crowd’s anger because he did not come to accuse them, but to proclaim the good news that this same Jesus rose from the dead.
However, we know full well that Peter himself, along with all the apostles and disciples of Jesus, did not believe the good news when they first heard it. They all needed to see and hear with their own eyes and ears that Jesus, in spite of his atrocious death on the cross, was now forever alive following his resurrection from the dead. What Jesus said to Cleopas and his companion, He could very well say to all of them and also to us: “Oh, how foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the Prophets have declared!”
“Lord, you will show me the path of life. Alleluia!”
Last Sunday, it was the Apostle Thomas’ turn to hear this reproach from Jesus. After this, Jesus said to him: “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” What a gift the Lord leaves us by referring in this way to all of us who have succeeded his apostles and disciples since the beginning of his Church. We who are alive today, we are all among “those who believe without having seen.”
Nonetheless, without necessarily seeing with our own eyes Jesus risen from the dead, we still need to taste for ourselves the great joy of Easter. We need to know for certain that the tomb in which the body of Jesus had been laid down for burial is now empty. We desire to feel upon ourselves the warm loving look of Jesus risen from the dead. It is necessary for us to know that Jesus remains at every momentby our side until the end of our journey on this Earth. God the Father Himself wants to come and dwell within us with his risen Son Jesus in the power of his divine love which is the Holy Spirit.
“Lord, you will show me the path of life. Alleluia!”
Well, that’s all very nice, but how exactly do we acquire the conviction that Jesus is risen and alive? We don’t dare to ask Him for signs and miracles the way King Herod tried to do or like the crowd who later taunted and mocked Jesus during his agony on the cross. After all, we are nothing more than creatures, and the Father, in communion with Jesus his Son, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, is God, our Creator. We must do as Mary and the apostles and disciples did, and set about earnestly listening to the Most Holy Trinity in prayer.
“Lord, you will show me the path of life. Alleluia!”
Like Cleopas and his companion, we must all walk together and share our sorrows, our worries, our challenges, and our hope with one another. The Holy Spirit wants to help married couples to open up to one another their thoughts, their hearts, and their souls. Parents with their children can also open themselves up to each other. Just as importantly, we all need to join in with the assembly to hear the Word of God, to adore the Lord our God, and to eat the Body and drink the Blood of Christ. As the baby suckles and is nourished at its mother’s breast, so too must we drink deeply from Jesus’ Sacred Heart. It is his own divine life with the Father in the Holy Spirit that Jesus causes to spring up within us as a fountain of living water.
The new life which Jesus gives us through our Baptism is a sharing in his paschal mystery. As we accept to die with Jesus, we die to our old life of selfishness in order to rise from this death to the new life of love for our neighbour; loving even our enemies. Jesus drew his disciples into two movements. In the first movement, Jesus said to them, as He says to us: “Come to me all you who are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Then, nourished and strengthened by Him, in the second movement, Jesus sends them out, as he also sends us: “Go and proclaim the good news, and make disciples. You have received freely; now, give freely.”
“Lord, you will show me the path of life. Alleluia!”
“Lord Jesus, we are sinners, but we cannot wait to be perfect before proclaiming to our world the good news that You are the Son of God and the one and only Saviour of the human race. In your great and divine mercy, forgive our sins, repair our defects, heal our wounds, strengthen our weaknesses, and fill us with your Holy Spirit. Send us out and accompany us as we go to the people of our time; help us to share with them the Good News that You rose from the dead; You are the Son of God; You love them and You offer them a new life which will lead them and us into eternal life. Come, Lord Jesus. O my Jesus, I trust in You.”
“Lord, you will show me the path of life. Alleluia!”
“Mary Mother of God, St. Joseph, walk with us in the steps of Jesus. O my Jesus, I trust in You! Thank You; You who are God, the Father, + the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.”
In silence now, the Holy Spirit helps us to lay down our offering together with that of Jesus….
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In the "New Covenant" made by our Creator God with humanity, as reported in Jeremiah 31:31-34, every human being can know God from within - because the Holy Spirit is revealing our Creator to all who are willing to know the Lord and trust in Him. We can still help each other along the way; so please feel free to share with others these homilies and your own personal faith in God through Jesus Christ. G.S.
© 2006-2023 All rights reserved Fr. Gilles Surprenant, Associate Priest of Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montreal QC
© 2006-2023 Tous droits réservés Abbé Gilles Surprenant, Prêtre Associé de Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montréal QC
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