Gospel Acclamation: Fifth Sunday of Easter

I give you a new commandment, says the Lord: love one another as I have loved you.

Jesus speaks these words at the Last Supper. He is about to go to the Cross, and He has given His disciples His own Body and Blood in the first Eucharist. Now He gives them a new commandment, something that is radical, something that may even seem impossible. We are to love each other as Jesus has loved us.

Think about how Jesus loves us. He sacrifices Himself for us. First, He takes on our human nature, joining it to His divine nature. Then He dies on the Cross for us to save us from our sins and open the way to Heaven. He lays down His life completely, with no hesitation and even with great anticipation. That is how much He loves us.

We might wonder how we, small, selfish, weak people that we are, could ever love like that. Yet that is exactly what Jesus tells us to do, to love as He has loved. Jesus does not command anything impossible, so there must be a way to fulfill this commandment.

St. Therese of Lisieux figured out the way when she asked Jesus to love her sisters, her fellow nuns, in and through her. Only Jesus' own love can fulfill His commandment, so she decided to embrace that love, open herself to it, and let it flow through her freely to everyone around her.

We must do the same if we want to obey Jesus. We must let Him love others in and through us, embracing His love and allowing it to flow, so that we can truly love each other as He has loved us, even to the point of sacrificing ourselves in that love.

Gospel Acclamation: Fourth Sunday of Easter

I am the good shepherd, says the Lord; I know My sheep, and Mine know Me.

Reflect for a few minutes on all the tasks a shepherd performs for his or her sheep. The shepherd feeds and waters the sheep, making sure they get enough to eat and drink and leading them to new pastures that are green and waters that are fresh. The shepherd keeps the sheep clean (and they tend to get very dirty) and cares for their bodies, especially when they are sick. The shepherd rescues the sheep when they get into trouble (and they do that a lot because sheep aren't particularly bright). The shepherd guards the sheep, providing a safe place for them to rest and preventing predators from coming near them.

Now think about what Jesus does for us. He does all of this and more. He feeds us with His own Body and Blood. He keeps us clean, first with Baptism and then through Confession, healing us when we are sick with sin. He rescues us when we get into trouble. He guards us from our enemies, providing a safe place for us in His arms.

So why do we not follow our Good Shepherd? Why do we stray like stupid, selfish sheep?

Gospel Acclamation: Third Sunday of Easter

Christ is risen, creator of all; He has shown pity on all people.

Jesus Christ has risen from the dead. He is our God, the Creator of all. Yet He does not stand apart from us. He loves us more than we can ever imagine, and He has shown great pity on all of us by saving us from our sins and opening the gates of Heaven.

We didn't and don't deserve it. We have sinned, and we continue to sin. Yet Jesus continues to hold out His mercy to us. He wants to forgive us and draw us back to Him, again and again and again. He knows how weak and frail we are.

Now that's pity. And even more, that's love.

Gospel Acclamation: Second Sunday of Easter

You believe in Me, Thomas, because you have seen Me, says the Lord; blessed are those who have not seen Me, but still believe!

Poor Thomas! He has never been able to live down his “doubting Thomas” label. He certainly did doubt, but we should ask ourselves what we might have done in his place. Would we have believed the other apostles as they chattered excitedly about the risen Lord, or would we have wondered if they had been drinking a little too freely of the wine?

Thomas, of course, declared that he would not believe unless he put his finger in the nail marks in Jesus' hands and his hand into His opened side.

Then, a week later, Jesus appears. This time Thomas is with the others in that upper room. Jesus tells him to go ahead and put his finger in the nail marks and his hand in His side, but most of all to leave off his unbelief and believe.

We do not even know if Thomas took Jesus up on His offer to touch His glorified wounds. But Thomas certainly begins to believe at that very moment. In fact, he does not just stop at believing that Jesus has risen from the dead. Rather, he says, probably with great awe and wonder, “My Lord and my God!” Thomas has faith indeed. He quickly understands and embraces the fact that if Jesus has risen from the dead, then He can only be God Himself.

Jesus responds to Thomas in the words of our acclamation, inviting us to share Thomas' faith. We have not seen Jesus standing before us, but we do believe. Let us proclaim more confidently than ever in this Easter season, “My Lord and my God!”

Gospel Acclamation: Easter Sunday

Christ, our paschal lamb, has been sacrificed; let us then feast with joy in the Lord.

Christ, the Lamb of God, has indeed been sacrificed. He has died for our sins, going to the cross out of unimaginable love for us. He willingly suffered and laid down His life for us, sinners that we are, that we might receive sanctifying grace, the indwelling presence of God in our souls, and eternal life in Heaven with Him.

Like the blood of original Paschal lamb, Christ's blood has been poured out for us that we might live. Only we do not just escape physical death like the Israelites of old. We escape spiritual death, eternal death, separation from God. The Paschal lamb is a type, a foreshadowing, of Christ, but Christ is the fulfillment beyond our wildest dreams, God-made-Man Who dies for us.

Unlike the little white, fluffy animals the Israelites sacrificed, though, Jesus Christ, God-made-Man rises from the dead, conquering death. Death cannot hold Him, and this is what we celebrate at Easter, the Resurrection of Jesus, our Lamb Who lives again to intercede for us eternally.

The Passover of the Israelites was not complete unless the people ate the lamb. This was symbolic of receiving life and entering into communion. We, too, must eat our Lamb, Jesus Christ, and we do so in the Eucharist. Jesus gives Himself to us Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity. We eat our Lamb, coming into communion with Him and through Him with each other and receiving an outpouring of divine life, not symbolically but really and truly.

So let us feast with joy in the Lord, for our Paschal Lamb has been sacrificed for us and has risen again to bring us to new life with Him.

Gospel Acclamation: Palm Sunday

Christ became obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Because of this, God greatly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name.

On this Palm Sunday, take some time and re-read the Passion Narrative. Mediate on Jesus' obedient suffering. He endured it for you. Express your gratitude and your repentance for sin. Unite your sufferings to those of Jesus, and recognize that His suffering gives meaning to yours. His death and resurrection give you eternal life.

As we enter into Holy Week, keep Jesus' Passion firmly before your eyes, and ask Him to fill you with His love and His life.

Gospel Acclamation: Fifth Sunday of Lent

Even now, says the Lord, return to Me with your whole heart; for I am gracious and merciful.

Today's Gospel Acclamation provides us with a comforting message from our Lord. If we return to Him with our whole heart, if we repent of our sins and confess and fall into God's embrace, He will accept us. He will not turn us away.

Why? God answers that question for us. He is gracious and merciful. God wants to save us. He wants to forgive us. He wants to shower us with His grace.

However, God does not force Himself on us. We have free will. That is one of God's gifts to us, one of the ways we have been made in His image and likeness, and He does not violate it. So God waits for us to return to Him in humility and love.

Will we take God up on His offer?