Liars and Hypocrites

“Those who say, ‘I know him,’ but do not keep his commandments
are liars, and the truth is not in them.
But whoever keeps his word,
the love of God is truly perfected in him.”

1 John 2:4-5a

On the Third Sunday of Easter we are once again presented with the account of Jesus appearing to the Apostles (Lukan account). Last Sunday we heard John’s account of Jesus appearing to the Apostles and saying, “Peace be with you.” It seems as if John’s account has a more sacramental touch to it, whereas Luke presents this encounter between Jesus and the Apostles from a more pastoral approach. John speaks of Jesus breathing on them, sending them forth as He has been sent, and forgiving and retaining sins, reminiscent of the sacraments. In Luke’s account, Jesus appears to the Apostles and He tries so hard to convince the Apostles that it is truly Him, not a ghost or a mirage. Perhaps Luke wants to convey to the reader (predominantly Gentiles) that Jesus is who He says He is and we have every reason to believe so.

In Luke’s account, we hear Jesus ask the Apostles why they are troubled and why they are raising questions in their hearts. To prove that He is not a ghost, Jesus asks the Apostles for some food so that they can see it does not go through Him! In some ways, Jesus is saying, “It is me! I’m not lying to you!” Before His passion, Jesus predicted His passion three times and shared with the Apostles that He must suffer and die, but will rise. And, He did. Jesus reminds them, “You are witnesses of these things” so they ought to bear witness to this truth, knowing that sin and death have no power of Jesus and those who follow Him. St. John also similarly reminds the followers of Christ that to follow Him, we must follow His commands. Otherwise, we’d be liars.

St. John encourages us to keep Jesus’s word. Jesus is the Word made flesh, so it makes complete sense that to say we know Him is to know His word. If we profess to know Jesus and to be a Christian, and we do not follow His word or His commandments, then we are being hypocrites and liars. Yet, even if we find ourselves being duplicitous or hypocritical, like with the Apostles, Jesus still comes to us and offers us His peace and mercy. Even when we find ourselves lying and being untruthful and unfaithful to the Lord, He seeks to not shame but to love and forgive. We only need to want to seek it and receive it.

Click below to watch this week’s reflection.

Overshadowing You

“The Holy Spirit will come upon you,
and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.
Therefore the child to be born
will be called holy, the Son of God.”

Luke 1:35

It is quite weird celebrating the Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord on April 8th this year instead of the March 25th, exactly 9 months before Christmas. It is so this year because March 25th landed during Holy Week and so the celebration is transferred to the Monday after the Octave of Easter (today). How interesting it is that on the day we celebrate the Annunciation, the day our Lord was conceived by the Holy Spirit in Mary’s womb, a total solar eclipse will move across North America. On the day of the Annunciation the “power of the Most High” overshadowed Mary, and today the moon will overshadow the sun (or the earth depending on how you want to see it). The overshadowing of Mary revealed the Son of God to man and the overshadowing of the moon will hide the sun.

On the day of the Annunciation, Mary was living her ordinary day, doing chores and praying when behold an Angel appeared before her, addressing her as full of grace, and telling her that she will bear the Son of God. She was troubled because she did not understand how that would be possible since she was not yet married to Joseph. Then the Angel told her that the Holy Spirit will come upon her and that the “power of the Most High” will overshadow her, pointing to the Child as “holy, the Son of God.” This overshadowing reminds us of the mountaintop where there was a cloud overshadowing the place where God encountered Moses and of the Holy of Holies in the Temple where the Shekhinah or the “presence of God” is made known by a cloud.

When the power of the Most High overshadows, holiness enters. As baptized Christians, we have received the gift of the Holy Spirit and have been overshadowed by the power of the Most High, setting us apart, being made holy. By virtue of our baptism, we have been brought into the very presence of God. Do we realize this? Do we live our lives knowing this reality? Perhaps we have allowed other powers to overshadow us.

What are the things we have allowed into our lives that overshadow us, that keep us from experiencing the power of the Holy Spirit and receiving the gift of God’s grace and mercy? Let us find the courage to ask the power of the Most High to overshadow us, dispelling the clouds that darken our spirits so that like Mary, we too may say “yes” to God and live in His presence, always mindful that we are indeed His beloved sons and daughters.

As those of us who are in North America gaze upon the sky this afternoon to see the wonder of the solar eclipse, let us never cease to be amazed by God’s creation. Yes, the moon may try to obstruct the sun so that we here on earth will see a shadow over the sun, but even at its totality, a ring of light remains. Brothers and sisters, no matter how much darkness we may have allowed to penetrate our hearts or how much power we have allowed other things to overshadow us, the Son can never be totally obscured — His light will always shine through.

Blessed Annunciation and Happy Solar Eclipse to you!

Becoming a New Creation

“With great power the apostles bore witness
to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus,
and great favor was accorded them all.”

Acts 4:33

Pope St. John Paul II proclaimed in the year 2000 that the Second Sunday of Easter would be known as “Divine Mercy Sunday,” highlighting the profound mercy with which God looks upon us and the deep love in which He holds us. This great mercy can be seen in the lives of the Apostles and their encounters with the Lord. Peter, the right hand man of Jesus, vowed to stay with Him, fled and denied of ever even knowing Him. Judas, one of the Twelve, betrayed Him for 30 pieces of silver. The other Apostles fled when the guards arrested Jesus. Only John remained with Mary at the foot of the Cross. Yet, despite all this, the Lord returns to them, not to scold but to say, “Peace be with you.”

Instead of finding new disciples who might prove to be more faithful, after His Resurrection, Jesus went right to the ones whom He called, the very ones who abandoned Him in His hour of need. Why? Jesus does not express regret in choosing those men. He knew them — their faults, weaknesses, and strengths — and yet He still called them. Jesus did not call them because they had a special skill set or were particularly holy, but because He knew He would work great things through them and other might come to faith through them. Before the Resurrection, the Apostles were scared and weak and did not fully have faith in Jesus, but after the Resurrection and upon the descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, they bore witness to Jesus like never before, unafraid of chains or persecution. With great power, they bore witness.

When Jesus appeared to the Apostles in the upper room, they were scared an afraid of what the Jewish leaders may do to them. Knowing this, Jesus said to them, “Peace be with you.” And to further affirm them in their “chosenness,” Jesus breathed on them and invoked the Holy Spirit to come upon them, extending to them His mercy and commanding them to do the same towards others. This breathing ought to remind us of the very beginning when man was created. We are told God breathed into the nostrils of man the very breath of life, His very own life, and so “the man became a living being” (Genesis 2:7). Jesus breathed on the Apostles, making them a new creation in Him, in His death and Resurrection, and sent them in the same way the Father sent Him. The Apostles have been created as “another Christ,” whom Jesus have sent into the world to do as He has done. In our baptism we have been made a new creation, and have been given a similar mission: to bear witness to Christ and to be Christ to others.

This mission is not an easy one, but one that we do not carry out alone. Jesus says to us, “Peace be with you” and He breathes on us, putting our minds at ease, calming our anxious hearts, making us know of His presence so that we might have the strength to keep on going. Brothers and sisters, having been made a new creation, will we, like the Apostles, bear witness to Christ with great power in our daily lives? And like the Apostles, we need not be perfect or have super powers because as long as we remain open to God, He will equip us with all that we need — His peace, His mercy, His breath, His very own life. What else would we need?

Click below to watch this week’s reflection.