There are two places in Scripture where the curious detail of a “charcoal fire” is mentioned. One is in today’s Gospel, where the Apostles return from fishing to find bread and fish warming on the fire. The other is in the scene in the High Priest’s courtyard on Holy Thursday, where Peter and some guards and slaves warm themselves while Jesus is being interrogated inside.

At the first fire, Peter denied knowing Jesus three times, as Jesus had predicted. Today’s charcoal fire becomes the scene of Peter’s repentance, as three times Jesus asks him to make a profession of love. Jesus’ thrice repeated command “feed My sheep” shows that Peter is being appointed as the shepherd of the Lord’s entire flock, the head of His Church.

Jesus’ question: “Do you love me more than these?” is a pointed reminder of Peter’s pledge to lay down his life for Jesus, even if the other Apostles might weaken.

Jesus then explains just what Peter’s love and leadership will require, foretelling Peter’s death by crucifixion (“you will stretch out your hands”). Before His own death, Jesus had warned the Apostles that they would be hated as He was hated, that they would suffer as He suffered.

We see the beginnings of that persecution in today’s First Reading. Flogged as Jesus was, the Apostles nonetheless leave “rejoicing that they have been found worthy to suffer.” Their joy is based on their faith that God will change their “mourning into dancing,” as we sing in today’s Psalm. By their sufferings, they know, they will be counted worthy to stand in heaven before “the Lamb that was slain,” a scene glimpsed in today’s Second Reading.

The Lord Jesus calls each one of us, even in our personal struggles, weakness, and sin, to draw near to him as our merciful Healer and Savior. He invites us to choose him as our Lord and to love him above all else. What can hold us back from giving him our undivided love and unqualified loyalty (Romans 8:38-39)? Nothing but our own sinful pride and stubborn will and blind fear can hold us back from receiving his gracious forgiveness, loving kindness, and faithful love. God’s abundant grace (favor and blessing) is a free and unmerited gift, far beyond what we deserve or could possibly hope to obtain through our own means. We can never outmatch God in generosity and goodness. He loved us first and our love for him is a response to his exceeding grace and mercy.

We shall also say YES to His call. In all the situations of life we are for Him and do His will. God Bless us all to be happy and joyful in our “Calls.”

Love and prayers,

Fr. Charley

The prophet Daniel in a vision saw “One like the Son of Man” receive everlasting kingship. John is taken to heaven in today’s Second Reading where he sees Daniel’s prophecy fulfilled in Jesus, who appears as “One like a Son of Man.”

Jesus is clad in the robe of a High Priest and wearing the gold sash of a king. He has been exalted by the right hand of the Lord, as we sing in today’s Psalm. His risen body, which the Apostles touch in today’s Gospel, has been made a lifegiving Spirit.

As the Father anointed Him with the Spirit and power, Jesus pours out that Spirit on the Apostles, sending them into the world “as the Father has sent Me.” Jesus “breathes” the Spirit of His divine life into the Apostles—as God blew the “breath of life” into Adam, as Elijah’s prayer returned “the life breath” to the dead child , and as the Spirit breathed new life into the slain in the valley of bones. His creative breath unites the Apostles—His Church—to His body, and empowers them to breathe His life into a dying world, to make it a new creation.

In today’s Gospel and First Reading, we see the Apostles fulfilling this mission with powers only God possesses—the power to forgive sins and to work “signs and wonders,” a biblical expression only used to describe the mighty works of God.

Jesus did something which only love and trust can do. He commissioned his weak and timid apostles to bring the good news of the Gospel to the ends of the earth. This sending out of the disciples is parallel to the sending out of Jesus by his heavenly Father. Jesus fulfilled his mission through his perfect love and obedience to the will of his Father. He called his first disciples and he now calls each one of us to do the same. Just as he gave his first disciples the gift of the Holy Spirit, so he breathes on each of us the same Holy Spirit who equips us with new life, power, joy, and courage to live each day as followers of the Risen Lord.

When Thomas recognized his Master, he believed and exclaimed that Jesus was truly Lord and truly God! Through the gift of faith, we, too, proclaim that Jesus is our personal Lord and our God. The Lord offers each of us new life in his Holy Spirit that we may know him personally and walk in this new way of life through the power of his resurrection. We do believe in the good news of the Gospel and in the power of the Holy Spirit to bring us new life, hope, and joy. Thomas and the others saw “many other signs” after Jesus was raised from the dead. They saw and they believed. They have been given His life, which continues in the Church’s Word and sacraments, so that we who have not seen might inherit His blessings and “have life in His name.” Amen.

Love and Prayers,

Fr. Charley

Jesus is nowhere visible. Yet today’s Gospel tells us that Peter and John “saw and believed.” What did they see? Burial shrouds lying on the floor of an empty tomb. Maybe that convinced them that He hadn’t been carted off by grave robbers, who usually stole the expensive burial linens and left the corpses behind. But notice the repetition of the word “tomb”—seven times in nine verses. They saw the empty tomb and they believed what He had promised: that God would raise Him on the third day.

Chosen to be His “witnesses,” today’s First Reading tells us, the Apostles were “commissioned . . . to preach . . . and testify” to all that they had seen—from His anointing with the Holy Spirit at the Jordan to the empty tomb. More than their own experience, they were instructed in the mysteries of the divine economy, God’s saving plan—to know how “all the prophets bear witness” to Him. Now they could “understand the Scripture,” could teach us what He had told them—that He was “the Stone which the builders rejected,” that today’s Psalm prophesies His Resurrection and exaltation.

St. Isidore of Seville commented on the significance of the women being the first to hear the good news of the resurrection: “As a woman (Eve) was first to taste death, so a woman (Mary Magdalene) was first to taste life. As a woman was present in the fall, so a woman was present in beholding the dawning of redemption, thus reversing the curse upon Eve.” The first to testify to the risen Lord was a woman from whom Jesus had cast out seven demons.

We are the children of the apostolic witnesses. That is why we still gather early in the morning on the first day of every week to celebrate this feast of the empty tomb, give thanks for “Christ our life,” as today’s Epistle calls Him. Baptized into His death and Resurrection, we live the heavenly life of the risen Christ, our lives “hidden with Christ in God.” We are now His witnesses, too. But we testify to things we cannot see but believe.

The reality of the resurrection is the central fact of the Christian faith. Through the gift of the Holy Spirit, the Lord gives us “eyes of faith” to know him and the power of his resurrection. The greatest joy we can have is to encounter the living Lord and to know him personally. So therefore, we can celebrate the feast of Easter with joy and thanksgiving for the victory which Jesus has won for us over sin and death.

I would like to Thank every one of you who participated in the 40 days of Lent—praying together and asking God’s Mercy for us. Together we shall always pray for each other. Please keep me in your prayers while I travel to India for my vacation, and be assured of my prayers for you. May the Risen Lord bless us and keep us always in His care.

Love and Prayers,

Fr. Charley

Does the King of Glory find a welcome entry into your home and heart? Jesus went to Jerusalem knowing full well what awaited him—betrayal, rejection, and crucifixion. The people of Jerusalem, however, were ready to hail him as their Messianic King! Little did they know what it would cost this king to usher in his kingdom. Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem astride a colt was a direct fulfillment of the Messianic prophecy of Zechariah.

The colt was a sign of peace. Jesus enters Jerusalem in meekness and humility as the Messianic King who offers victory and peace to his people. That victory and peace would be secured in the cross and resurrection which would soon take place at the time of Passover.

St. Augustine comments on the significance of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem:

“The master of humility is Christ who humbled himself and became obedient to death, even the death of the cross. Thus, he does not lose his divinity when he teaches us humility…. What great thing was it to the king of the ages to become the king of humanity? For Christ was not the king of Israel so that he might exact a tax or equip an army with weaponry and visibly vanquish an enemy. He was the king of Israel in that he rules minds, in that he gives counsel for eternity, in that he leads into the kingdom of heaven those who believe, hope, and love. It is a condescension, not an advancement for one who is the Son of God, equal to the Father, the Word through whom all things were made, to become king of Israel. It is an indication of pity, not an increase in power.”

If you go to the Holy Land, you will never miss the garden of Gethsemane where we see a lot of olive trees. Yes, olive trees are fascinating. They are virtually immortal. You can burn them, cut them down, destroy them. But if the roots remain in the ground, they will regrow. They always do. And it was in that moment that the truth of what we commemorate today and this coming week struck home. See, each of us has had our garden moments in this Holy Week. Those moments when we have felt utterly crushed by the weight of our anxieties, our fears, our struggles, our losses. We all look down the mountain and see the hills of Calvary that loom. But as believers, this garden is not the final word.

For we are like olive trees, constantly being renewed and reborn, no matter what we endure. We will rise again. The sun will break through the clouds, and we will find ourselves basking in its warmth, standing beside the one who left the garden, mounted the cross, and then shattered the gates of death. For you. For me. For us all. So please come and join with me in the Holy Week Services—especially Holy Thursday at 7 p.m., Good Friday at 3 p.m. for Stations of the Cross and at 7 p.m. for Veneration of the Cross, Holy Saturday at 8 p.m., and Easter Sunday Masses at 8 a.m. and 10 a.m.

Have a Blessed Holy Week.

May God bless us all,

Fr. Charley

The Liturgy this Lent has shown us the God of the Exodus. He is a mighty and gracious God, Who, out of faithfulness to His covenant, has done “great things” for His people, as today’s Psalm puts it. But the “things of long ago,” Isaiah tells us in today’s First Reading, are nothing compared to the “something new” that He will do in the future.

Today’s First Reading and Psalm look back to the marvelous deeds of the Exodus. Both see in the Exodus a pattern and prophecy of the future, when God will restore the fortunes of His people fallen in sin. The readings today look forward to a still greater Exodus, when God will gather in the exiled tribes of Israel that had been scattered to the four winds, the ends of the earth.

The new Exodus that Israel waited and hoped for has come in the death and resurrection of Jesus. Like the adulterous woman in today’s Gospel, all have been spared by the Lord’s compassion. All have heard His words of forgiveness, His urging to repentance, to be sinners no more. Like Paul in today’s Epistle, Christ has taken possession of every one, claimed each as a child of our heavenly Father. But our God is ever a God of the future, not of the past. We are to live with hopeful hearts, “forgetting what lies behind but straining forward to what lies ahead,” as Paul tells us.

Jewish law treated adultery as a serious crime since it violated God’s ordinance and the stability of marriage and family life. It was one of the three gravest sins punishable by death for the Jews. If Jesus said the woman must be pardoned, he would be accused of breaking the law of Moses. If he said the woman must be stoned, he would lose his reputation for being the merciful friend of sinners.

Jesus then does something quite unexpected—he begins to write in the sand. The word for “writing” which is used here in the Gospel text has a literal meaning “to write down a record against someone.” Perhaps Jesus was writing down a list of the sins of the accusers standing before him. Jesus now turns the challenge towards his accusers. In effect he says: Go ahead and stone her, but let the man who is without sin be the first to cast a stone. The Lord leaves the matter to their own consciences. When we are ready to be changed and transformed in Christ-like holiness, God never withholds his grace from us. His steadfast love and mercy are new every day. Through the gift and grace of the Holy Spirit we can be changed and made new in Christ. We pray that Jesus can set us free from our unruly desires and passions.

We shall prepare well for this coming Holy Week to receive His grace more and more in our daily lives by cleaning our Hearts and souls for him. Receive him with purity of heart so Easter will be a really joyful one for you this year.

Love and prayers,

Fr. Charley

In today’s First Reading, God forgives “the reproach” of the generations who grumbled against Him after the Exodus. On the threshold of the promised land, Israel can, with a clean heart, celebrate the Passover, the feast of God’s firstborn son. Reconciliation is also at the heart of the story Jesus tells in today’s Gospel. The story of the Prodigal Son is the story of Israel and of the human race. But it is also the story of every believer.

In Baptism, we’re given a divine birthright, made “a new creation,” as Paul puts it in today’s Epistle. But when we sin, we’re like the Prodigal Son, quitting our Father’s house, squandering our inheritance in trying to live without Him. Lost in sin, we cut ourselves off from the grace of sonship lavished upon us in Baptism. It is still possible for us to come to our senses and make our way back to the Father as the prodigal does, but only He can remove the reproach and restore the divine sonship we have spurned. Only He can free us from our slavery to sin. God wants not slaves but children. Like the father in today’s Gospel, He longs to call each of us “My son,” to share His life with us, to tell us: “Everything I have is yours.”

The Father’s words of longing and compassion still come to His prodigal children in the Sacrament of Penance. This is part of what Paul today calls “the ministry of reconciliation” entrusted by Jesus to the Apostles and the Church.

The pain of separation can only be surpassed by the joy of the homecoming and reunion. When God commanded his people to celebrate the Passover annually, he wanted them never to forget what he did for them when he freed them from oppression and slavery in the land of Egypt and brought them back to their promised homeland, which he gave as a sign of his immense love and favor. At the end of their wandering in the wilderness for 40 years, Joshua, the successor to Moses, led the people in celebrating the Passover meal after they had safely passed over the River Jordan to their promised homeland.

This crossing over from a land of slavery and oppression to a land of promise and freedom foreshadows the true freedom and homecoming which the Lord Jesus has won for us in his kingdom. Through his victory on the cross the Lord Jesus has delivered us from the dominion of sin and darkness and transferred us to his kingdom of light, truth, and forgiveness. God offers this freedom to all who believe in his Son. God does not desire the death of anyone. That is why he sent us his only begotten Son to set us free from slavery to sin, Satan, and death, and to restore us to everlasting peace, joy, and abundant life with our Father in heaven. In this parable Jesus gives a vivid picture of God and what God is like. God is truly kinder than any of us. He does not lose hope or give up when we stray from him. He is always on the lookout for those who have a change of heart and want to return. He rejoices in finding the lost and in welcoming them home. Therefore, we shall come back to Jesus as “alive.” He loves us more than anybody else in the entire universe. Thank you, Jesus for loving us this much.

Love and Prayers.

Fr. Charley

In the Church, we are made children of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—the God who makes known His name and His ways to Moses in today’s First Reading. Mindful of His covenant with Abraham, God came down to rescue His people from the slave drivers of Egypt. Faithful to that same covenant, He sent Jesus to redeem all lives from destruction, as today’s Psalm tells us.

Paul says in today’s Epistle that God’s saving deeds in the Exodus were written down for the Church, intended as a prelude and foreshadowing of our own Baptism by water, our liberation from sin, our feeding with spiritual food and drink. Yet the events of the Exodus were also given as a “warning”—that being children of Abraham is no guarantee that we will reach the promised land of our salvation.

At any moment, Jesus warns in today’s Gospel, we could perish, not as God’s punishment for being “greater sinners” but because, like the Israelites in the wilderness, we stumble into evil desires, fall into grumbling, forget all His benefits. Jesus calls us today to “repentance”—not a one-time change of heart, but an ongoing, daily transformation of our lives. We’re called to live the life we sing about in today’s Psalm, blessing His holy name, giving thanks for His kindness and mercy.

The fig tree in His parable is a familiar Old Testament symbol for Israel. As the fig tree is given one last season to produce fruit before it is cut down, so too Jesus is giving Israel one final opportunity to bear good fruit as evidence of its repentance. Lent should be for us like the season of reprieve given to the fig tree, a grace period in which we let “the gardener,” Christ, cultivate our hearts, uprooting what chokes the divine life in us, strengthening us to bear fruit that will last into eternity.

Jesus’ parable of the barren fig tree illustrates his warning about the consequences of allowing sin and corruption to take root in our hearts and minds. Fig trees were a common and important source of food for the people of Palestine. A fig tree normally matured within three years, producing plentiful fruit. If it failed, it was cut down to make room for more healthy trees. A decaying fig tree and its bad fruit came to symbolize for the Jews the consequence of spiritual corruption caused by evil deeds and unrepentant sin.

Jesus’ parable depicts the patience of God, but it also contains a warning that we should not presume upon God’s patience and mercy. God’s judgment will come in due course—sooner or later. Jesus warns us that we must be ready at all times. Tolerating sinful habits and excusing unrepentant sin and wrongdoing will result in bad fruit, painful discipline, and spiritual disease that leads to death and destruction. The Lord in his mercy gives us both grace and time to turn away from sin, but that time is right now. If we delay, even for a day, we may discover that grace has passed us by and our time is up. We shall always ask for God’s Grace to repent and go back to God.

God Bless you all.

Fr. Charley

In today’s Gospel, we go up to the mountain with Peter, John, and James. There we see Jesus “transfigured,” speaking with Moses and Elijah about His “exodus.”

The Greek word “exodus” means “departure.” But the word is chosen deliberately here to stir our remembrance of the Israelites’ flight from Egypt.

By His death and resurrection, Jesus will lead a new Exodus, liberating not only Israel but every race and people—not from bondage to Pharaoh, but from slavery to sin and death. He will lead all mankind, not to the territory promised to Abraham in today’s First Reading, but to the heavenly commonwealth that Paul describes in today’s Epistle.

Moses, the giver of God’s law, and the great prophet Elijah, were the only Old Testament figures to hear the voice and see the glory of God atop a mountain.

Today’s scene closely resembles God’s revelation to Moses, who also brought along three companions and whose face also shone brilliantly. But when the divine cloud departs in today’s Gospel, Moses and Elijah are gone. Only Jesus remains. He has revealed the glory of the Trinity—the voice of the Father, the glorified Son, and the Spirit in the shining cloud. Jesus fulfills all that Moses and the prophets had come to teach and show us about God. He is the “chosen One” promised by Isaiah, the “prophet like me” that Moses had promised. Far and above that, He is the Son of God. “Listen to Him,” the Voice tells us from the cloud. If, like Abraham, we put our faith in His words, one day we too will be delivered into “the land of the living” that we sing of in today’s Psalm.

When Moses met with God on Mount Sinai, the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God. Paul says that the Israelites could not look at Moses’ face because of its brightness. In the Gospel account Jesus appeared in glory with Moses, the great lawgiver of Israel, and with Elijah, the greatest of the prophets, in the presence of three of his beloved apostles. The significance of this mysterious appearance is that Jesus went to the mountain knowing full well what awaited him in Jerusalem—his betrayal, rejection and crucifixion. Jesus very likely discussed with Moses and Elijah this momentous decision to go to the cross. God the Father also spoke with Jesus and gave his approval: This is my beloved Son; listen to him. The Father glorified his Son because he obeyed. The cloud which overshadowed Jesus and his apostles fulfilled the dream of the Jews that when the Messiah came the cloud of God’s presence would fill the temple again. The Lord Jesus not only wants us to see his glory—he wants to share this glory with us. And Jesus shows us the way to the Father’s glory: follow me—obey my words—take the path I have chosen for you and you will receive the blessings of my Father’s kingdom—your name will be written in heaven. We shall look forward to seeing his glory with Him one day in Heaven.

Love and Prayers,

Fr. Charley

In today’s epic Gospel scene, Jesus relives in His flesh the history of Israel. We’ve already seen that, like Israel, Jesus has passed through water and been called God’s beloved Son. Now, as Israel was tested for forty years in the wilderness, Jesus is led into the desert to be tested for forty days and nights.

He faces the temptations put to Israel: Hunger—He’s tempted to grumble against God for food. As Israel quarreled at Massah, He’s tempted to doubt God’s care. When the Devil asks for His homage, He’s tempted to do what Israel did in creating the golden calf.

Jesus fights the Devil with the Word of God, three times quoting from Moses’ lecture about the lessons Israel was supposed to learn from its wilderness wanderings.

Why do we read this story on the first Sunday of Lent? Because like the biblical sign of forty, the forty days of Lent are a time of trial and purification.

Lent is to teach us what we hear over and over in today’s readings. “Call upon me, and I will answer,” the Lord promises in today’s Psalm. Paul promises the same thing in today’s Epistle.

This was Israel’s experience, as Moses reminds his people in today’s First Reading: “We cried to the Lord . . . and He heard.” But each of us is tempted, as Israel was, to forget the great deeds He works in our lives, to neglect our birthright as His beloved sons and daughters.

When Jesus went out into the wilderness to fight temptation by the devil, he was led by the Holy Spirit. Jesus did not rely on his own human strength and willpower for overcoming temptation. He relied on the Holy Spirit to give him strength, wisdom, courage, and self-control. The Lord Jesus knows that we cannot fight temptation on our own. We need the strength and guidance of the Holy Spirit to help us. The Lord Jesus gives us his Holy Spirit to help us in our weakness and to be our guide and strength in times of testing. The Lord gives grace to those who humbly acknowledge their dependence on him and he helps us to stand firm against the attacks of Satan who seeks to destroy us. The Lord Jesus is ever ready to pour out his Spirit upon us that we may have the courage we need to repent of our sins and to turn away from them, and to reject the lies and deceits of Satan. God wants us to “fight the good fight of the faith” with the strength and help which comes from the Holy Spirit. We shall seek God’s wisdom and guidance for overcoming sin and avoiding the near occasions of sin in our day-to-day life. We are called to journey with the Lord in a special season of prayer, fasting, almsgiving, repentance, and renewal as we prepare to celebrate the feast of Easter, the Christian Passover. As we begin this holy season of preparation and renewal, let’s ask the Lord for a fresh outpouring of his Holy Spirit that we may grow in faith, hope, and love, and embrace his will more fully in our lives.

God Bless us all,

Fr. Charley