Jesus said: “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine grower. He takes away every branch in me that does not bear fruit, and every one that does he prunes so that it bears more fruit.”

Thanks to our Deacons for preaching last weekend, Good Shepherd Sunday. We heard that in our Catholic faith we must be “all-in.”

The Fifth Sunday of Easter refers to the role of Jesus Christ in our lives in relation to the Church. The Gospel of John Chapter 15 tells of Jesus as the True Vine and is really and truly the day of Evangelization Awareness.

Every Fourth Sunday of Easter is called Good Shepherd Sunday and is one of the traditional days of Vocations awareness. This classic image of Jesus Christ as The Good Shepherd is the enduring and shows God’s care and love for all of us. Not surprisingly, no one wants to be called a sheep. 1t has some strange connotations. However, in the eyes of God, we are these most profoundly gentle and pastoral creatures. The idea of the good shepherd is as ancient as the Bible. Yet we see how little has changed over thousands of years: we still need good leadership in our world and in our Church. Indeed it was St. John the Baptist who pointed Jesus out as “the Lamb of God Who takes away the sins of the World.”

Why Did They Recognize Jesus Just Then?

I think it was because they saw His hands... That is, when they saw the marks of the nails on the hands of the Risen Lord. That was the final proof they needed. Last week, it was St. Thomas who He told “Bring your hand and put it INTO my side.” In other words: “Thomas, Touch My Heart.” Imagine how Thomas felt as he touched Jesus’ Sacred Heart, and the wound that lance made. Thomas’ heart must have burned with joy as he declared: “My Lord and My God.” This week, we recall how, then and now, our hearts burn within us as we wish the Lord to stay with us and as we reflect on how we can stay with the Lord in the prayerful intimacy of Eucharistic Adoration.

On Divine Mercy Sunday of 2016, I was in prayer in the small chapel in Williams, AZ, very early in the morning, quietly preparing for Divine Mercy Sunday Masses.

It is such a special day in the Easter season. I wished to give the people something special. Praying at the tabernacle, I asked Jesus: “Could You help me out a little here, Lord? I’d like to have something different to tell the people today, Divine Mercy Sunday. Please, Lord, could you let a thought, a word, a scrap fall from your table for me to meditate on?” I immediately heard an inner voice say to me:

“Just Read The Words....”

We Are Also Coming Back To Life.

We are God’s people, the people of life, through Jesus coming back to Life. Easter is the Feast of Life: It is the Victory of Life, the Pro-Life Day.

As the late, famous Italian catechist and author Sofia Cavalletti most profoundly wrote back in 1993:

“The Christian faith is an obstinate faith; each time confronted by death, it proclaims that death does not have the last word. And this is what we believe, what we affirm, and what we want to announce to the world, because we know that there has already been a first, great victory of life over death in the resurrection of Jesus Christ.”

Today on Palm Sunday Jesus enters into the Holy City of Jerusalem on a donkey’s colt. The people wave branches as He enters the city, and they proclaim, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the kingdom of our father David that is to come! Hosanna in the highest!”

Today’s Gospel of Mark gives a panoramic view of the Sacred Easter Triduum: Holy Thursday, Good Friday & the Easter Vigil. On Holy Thursday we celebrate The Mass of the Lord’s Supper in the evening of the Thursday in Holy Week, as the Church begins the sacred Easter Triduum and devotes herself to the remembrance of the Jesus’ Last Supper. On the night he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus, loving those who were his own in the world even to the end, offered his Body and Blood to the Father under the appearance of bread and wine, gave them to the apostles to eat and drink, then enjoined the apostles and their successors in the priesthood to offer them in turn.

Today is the Fifth Week of Lent, and this means that next Sunday we will celebrate Palm Sunday. Lent has passed so quickly.

Jesus answered His disciples, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.”

In the Gospel of John, Jesus speaks of the hour that has come. Why is this ‘hour’ and why is it so important to you and me?

Grace is simply the Love of God overflowing into the world. It is Jesus Who Is This Love.

“You must pay for everything in this world one way and another. There is nothing free except the Grace of God. You cannot earn that or deserve it.”

So wrote Charles Portis in his book, True Grit, twice made into very famous movies. This also sums up our readings for this Fourth Sunday in Lent, which is traditionally called Laetare Sunday and Rose is the color.

Today we hear that Jesus visited the Temple in Jerusalem for the first of the three Passovers that are referenced in St. John’s Gospel. Shocked by what He saw, He made a whip of cords and indignantly drove out the animals for sacrifice and the money-changers:

“‘Take these out of here, and stop making my Father’s house a marketplace.’ His disciples recalled the words of Scripture:

‘Zeal for your house will consume me.’”

The Transfiguration was the most astounding, amazing and mind-blowing experience for Peter, James and John. It again reveals Jesus as truly the Son of God. What glorious Light shines from the face of Christ as He gave a foretaste of Heaven and a vision of His hidden glory.

“After six days, Jesus took Peter, James and John and led them up a high mountain apart by themselves. And He was transfigured be-fore them and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no fuller on earth could bleach them.”

“This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.”

If today’s readings make us feel a bit uneasy and uncomfortable, this is a good thing! I say ‘good’ because it means that the readings touched on some fundamental truths about us and about our world. The world we live in is not perfect because of sin. Original Sin.

“I do will it. Be made clean.”

Moved with pity, Jesus stretched out His hand and touched the man. The leprosy left the man... and he was made clean.”

This famous passage tells us in very few words the entire History of Salvation: Jesus Christ’s hands are the hands of God reaching out to all humanity so that we may come out of the leprosy of sin, and come back to our place of peace and holiness near God. Leprosy was and still is a serious skin ailment, not necessarily leprosy of Hansen’s disease. What Moses prescribed is found the Old Testament Book of Leviticus (Lev. 14:17-20ff). When a person became afflicted, he or she first had to be presented to the priest, and then be declared unclean by the priest.

We warmly welcome Bishop Eduardo Nevares who will celebrate the Croatian Mass at 11:30am Sunday Mass. All are welcome to attend.

Jesus said, “I stand at the door and knock.” There is a famous painting that depicts Jesus knocking on a door. The door has no handle on the outside, because the door can only be opened from the inside, by the one who lives behind the door.