What a tremendous sight it is, in today's 1st reading that
even the shadow can cure a sick person. I believe that God's power and might
that was displayed and made known to all during the time of Peter has not
changed since then. God does not change and remain as He is throughout time and
eternity. It is us who needs to change in our perception of God as time goes by
for what we know of God today is never enough for who He really is. We can only
strive to know more of Him and hope to love God better who is Infinite. Holy
God, Holy Mighty One, Holy Immortal One, have mercy on us and on the whole
world. Jesus, King of Divine Mercy, we trust in you. Amen. Hallelujah!
Acts 5:12-16
... they even carried the sick out into the streets and laid
them on cots and mats so that when Peter came by, at least his shadow might
fall on one or another of them. 16 A large number of people from the towns in
the vicinity of Jerusalem also gathered, bringing the sick and those disturbed
by unclean spirits, and they were all cured.
God is the source of all good things. Only Jesus can satisfy
our souls. We should be really careful in setting our priorities. Sometimes we
end up making the wrong choices and decisions in life. We end up rejecting
something that should be valued and treasured more than anything else in this
whole wide world. All we need to do is trust that the Lord will always take
care of all our needs we need not tire ourselves to the point of exhaustion
because it is better to take refuge in the Lord than resort to trusting in or
own strength and others. According
to Fr. Joseph Koterski a Jesuit priest and a professor in Fordham University
Psalm 118:2-4, 13-15,
22-24
R: Give thanks to the Lord for he is good, his love is
everlasting.
...“His mercy endures forever.” ... I was hard pressed and
was falling, but the LORD helped me. 14 My strength and my courage is the LORD,
and he has been my savior.
John in today's 2nd reading gives us a glimpse of God's
awesome and great power that not even words can ever suffice to define His
Divine countenance. According to Aristotle our mind is a mini cosmos or
universe. There are unlimited possibilities to what a mind is able to do. In
the light of this principle, Bishop Fulton Sheen shared his insights on knowing
and loving. He said that in knowing there is a need to use the intellect and
the will in loving. It works in a very interesting way that the intellect and
the will operate in opposite directions. The object we desire to know can only
be known to us depending on the level of our intellect. The object is drawn to
the intellect which alone can know. On the other hand, loving which makes use
of the will which instead of drawing the object to itself as in the intellect,
draws the will to the object it desires to love. The direction of the action is
away from itself and towards the object it loves. The will draws itself to what
it loves while the intellect in order to know draws the object to itself. It
may sound confusing but it simply tells us to always have the right kind of
ideals and heroes which we desire to know and love. The more we know about
something the more we come to love it. St. Thomas Aquinas said, "The least
love of God is the most of all the knowledge of things." Amen. Hallelujah!
Revelation 1:9-11a, 12-13, 17-19
...“Write on a scroll what you see.” 12 Then I turned to see
whose voice it was that spoke to me, and when I turned, I saw seven gold
lamp-stands 13 and in the midst of the lamp-stands an ankle-length robe, with a
gold sash around his chest. 17 When I caught sight of him, I fell down at his
feet as though dead. He touched me with his right hand and said, “Do not be
afraid. I am the first and the last, 18 the one who lives. Once I was dead, but
now I am alive forever and ever. I hold the keys to death and the netherworld.
19 Write down, therefore, what you have seen, and what is happening, and what
will happen afterwards.”
The gospel today is about the story of "Doubting Thomas"
which is also the story of each one of us. One time or another we can not deny
that we've been like Thomas, too. We also doubted God in our own personal lives
sometimes even without knowing it through our words and actions. Our
experiences at times are mostly occasions that lead us to doubt. We all come to
a point in our lives when our faith is greatly tested. But just like those holy
and faithful souls including Father Abraham and the rest of our ancestors in
the Old Testament whom the church said were in limbo before the coming of Jesus
Christ, who waited and were rewarded with Heaven we, too should be hopeful that
our time will come. Instead of dwelling on the negative we should realize that
despite the locked doors in our lives God always stand in our midst and give
His peace. We should be thankful to God for the several occasions in our life
when we encountered difficulties for those were times when we discovered that
God never left us. These experiences that cause fear and pain sometimes make us
turn away from God and doubt Him. This is very common nowadays as we see people
live their lives as if there is no God. Today's gospel is very
appropriate for the kind of generation we have right now, a doubting and unbelieving
race of people who no longer believe anything without first seeing. In the
encyclical of Pope Benedict XVI entitled, "Spe Salvi" we are asked to
nourish our faith, hope and love through prayer, unity of our own
sufferings to that of Jesus Christ and belief in the reality of judgment. We
are so blessed to have Pope Benedict XVI who was a teacher before he became
pope. This present generation definitely benefited from his papacy. We must not
assume that we are already good in our faith rather we must have the humility
to admit that we still have a lot to learn before we can profess the words of
Thomas with the same love and conviction. Amen. Hallelujah!
John 20:19-31
19 On the evening of that first day of the week, when the doors were locked, where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be with you.” 20 When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. 21 Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” 22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.” 24 Thomas, called Didymus, one of the Twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples said to him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger into the nailmarks and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.” 26 Now a week later his disciples were again inside and Thomas was with them. Jesus came, although the doors were locked, and stood in their midst and said, “Peace be with you.” 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands, and bring your hand and put it into my side, and do not be unbelieving, but believe.” 28 Thomas answered and said to him, “My Lord and my God!” 29 Jesus said to him, “Have you come to believe because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.” 30 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples that are not written in this book. 31 But these are written that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that through this belief you may have life in his name
19 On the evening of that first day of the week, when the doors were locked, where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be with you.” 20 When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. 21 Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” 22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.” 24 Thomas, called Didymus, one of the Twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples said to him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger into the nailmarks and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.” 26 Now a week later his disciples were again inside and Thomas was with them. Jesus came, although the doors were locked, and stood in their midst and said, “Peace be with you.” 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands, and bring your hand and put it into my side, and do not be unbelieving, but believe.” 28 Thomas answered and said to him, “My Lord and my God!” 29 Jesus said to him, “Have you come to believe because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.” 30 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples that are not written in this book. 31 But these are written that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that through this belief you may have life in his name
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