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GĦADDEW 53 SENA U DAN GĦADU JGĦODD U QED ISEĦĦ FI ŻMIENNA.

12/3/2018

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Nhar it-3 ta’ April 1965, Paul Harvey, li hu meqjus bħala l-aktar kummentatur ta’ l-aħbarijiet famuż fl-Istati Uniti, għamel diskors li qed narawh iseħħ fi żmienna, 53 sena wara.
Paul Harvey kien qal hekk:


“Li kieku jien kont ix-xitan, li kieku kont il-Prinċep tad-Dlam kont inkun irrid li ngħarraq id-dinja fid-dlam.
Kont nakkwista terz tal-bini tagħha u erbgħa minn kull ħamsa tal-popolazzjoni tagħha, imma ma kontx inkun kuntent qabel ma kont nakkwista l-aktar tuffieħa misjura fis-siġra.
Għalhekk kont nibda nagħmel kulma hu neċessarju biex nirbaħ lill-Istati Uniti (tista’ tgħid “id-dinja” jew “Malta”minflok).
Kont nibda kampanja ta’ tfesfis.
Bl-għaqal ta’ serp, nibda nfesfislek l-istess kif fesfist lil Eva: ‘Agħmel li trid.’
Liż-żgħażagħ infesfsilhom ‘Il-Bibbja hija ħrafa.’ Kont nikkonvinċihom li kien ‘il-bniedem li ħalaq lil Alla’ u mhux bil-kontra. Kont nipperswadihom li ‘dak li hu ħażin hu tajjeb u li t-tajjeb hu barra minn żmienu.’
F’widnejn il-miżżewġin żgħażagħ kont infesfes li x-xogħol ibaxxik, li l-cocktail parties huma tajbin għalihom. Kont niftħilhom għajnejhom biex ma jkunux reliġjużi, jew patrijotti jew moralment tajbin iżżejjed.
U lix-xjuħ kont ngħallimhom jitolbu - jgħidu warajja – ‘Missierna li inti f’Washington’ (Ibdel Washington ma’ liema pajjiż joqgħod fil-każ tiegħek).
Imbagħad nibda norganizza.
Neduka l-awturi kif għandhom jagħmlu li l-letteratura vjolenti tkun eċċitanti tant li li kull ħaġa oħra tidher monotona u bla interess.
Kont nipperikola t-televiżjoni b’films aktar maħmuġin.
Kont ninfiltra lill-unions u nħeġġeġ aktar ħela ta’ ħin, anqas xogħol. Nies fil-għażż jgħoddu għalija.
Inbiegħ id-droga lil kull min nista’, inbiegħ l-alkoħol lil nisa u rġiel ta’ klassi, lill-kumplament nikkalmahom bil-pilloli.
Li kieku kont ix-xitan, kont ninkoraġixxi lill-iskejjel biex jipproduċu intelletwali mill-aqwa, imma jittraskuraw li jiddixiplinaw l-emozzjonijiet; dawk ħalluhom jimirħu.
Nagħżel atejist/a biex jidher minfloki fil-qrati u nipperswadi lill-predikaturi jgħidu: ‘Għandha raġun.’
Bil-ftaħir u wegħdiet ta’ setgħa nġiegħel lill-qrati jivvutaw kontra Alla u favur il-pornografija (tgħodd l-aktar, imma mhux biss, għal pajjiżi bħall-Istati Uniti u l-Kanada fejn il-qrati jimponu fuq il-gvern).
B’hekk nqaċċat ‘il barra lil Alla mill-qrati, imbagħad mill-iskejjel, imbagħad mill-Kungress (Parlament).
Imbagħad fil-knejjes tiegħu nibdel ir-reliġjon mal-psikoloġija u x-xjenza nagħmilha alla.
Li kieku kont Satana, kont nagħmel il-bajda bħala s-simbolu ta’ l-Għid... u l-flixkun bħala s-simbolu tal-Milied.
Li kieku kont ix-xitan kont nieħu mingħand min għandu u nagħtih lil min hu fil-bżonn sakemm neqred kull inċentiv. Imbagħad l-istat poliżjesk li nkun ħloqt, iġiegħel lil kulħadd imur lura għax-xogħol.
Imbagħad nifred il-familji, it-tfal jidħlu fis-servizz, in-nisa fil-minjieri tal-faħam u kull min joġġezzjona fil-kampijiet ta’ xogħol nfurzat.
Li kieku kont Satana, kont nibqa’ nagħmel dak li qiegħed nagħmel u, żgur daqs kemm hu żgur ix-xitan, id-dinja kollha tispiċċa fl-infern.

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The Body and Blood of the Lord

5/29/2016

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An Augustinian nun, Juliana of Liège had a vision. She saw a glistening full moon which appeared to be perfectly round, but it had a few hollow black spots. In the vision she realized that those black spots meant the absence of a feast of the Eucharist. This led to the feast of the Body and Blood of the Lord in 1264, a feast which we refer to with the Latin name of Corpus Christi.

Why do we need such a feast? A feast of the Eucharist gives us the opportunity, that as the family of Christ we render thanks to God for the abiding presence of Christ in the Eucharist. It gives us also the opportunity to try to arrive at a better understanding of this wonderful Sacrament and appreciate more the Body and Blood of Christ.

For this purpose we need to ask why Jesus gave us this sacrament. The Holy Scripture provides us with the answers.
We could say that Jesus gave us the Sacrament of His Body and Blood for two reasons:
  • Jesus promised that He will be with us till the end of time. In the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist he provides us with a sign and means of Him being present to us and we to Him. He himself told us: “Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them.”
  • Jesus told us that he came that we may have life and have it in abundance. He communicates this life to us in the Eucharist so that we can be fully alive now and in the world to come. He told us: “Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day.”


When Jesus was saying these words, he was addressing his Jewish listeners. They were following him to ask him for more bread... material bread. Instead, Jesus promised them the sacramental food of His Body and Blood. In their materialistic frame they could not understand or appreciate this Sacrament.

They were scandalized and started complaining among themselves: “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” But Jesus kept insisting: “My flesh is true food and my blood is true drink.” This sacramental language did not make any sense in a world of materialism and therefore they started leaving and distancing themselves from the Eucharist.

If we want to be honest we have to admit that we still have the same problem that these would-be followers of Jesus had. We cannot understand what the Eucharist is all about if we approach it with a materialistic mentality. And if we fail to understand it we will lose the great benefits of such a marvellous gift of God’s love.

The Holy Eucharist is true food and drink but with a difference. This difference lies in the words of the Lord that St. Augustine heard in a moment of prayer: “You will not change me into yourself as you would food into your flesh; but you will be changed into me.” Whereas ordinary food is transformed into our bodies, the food of the Eucharist transforms us into the body of Jesus. In other words, when we receive the Holy Eucharist we are transformed into what we receive.

Here one may ask: Then, why do many of us who receive the Holy Eucharist do not experience this radical transformation? This story might help us understand why.

A group of Russians and Americans were on an expedition together. Once, while they were eating, an American took some Russian black bread. It was tasty but hard to eat and while the American was eating, he bit on some of this bread and snapped a tooth. He became upset, threw away the bread, saying: “Lousy Communist bread!” One of the Russians pointed out: “It is not the lousy Communist bread that is the problem, but a rotten capitalist tooth.”

If we do not go through the transforming power of the Eucharist, it is not because of a louse Eucharist but because of our rotten faith. Therefore let us approach the sacrament of the Body and Blood of the Lord with a stronger faith in the real presence of Jesus Christ in this Sacrament and the we shall experience God’s saving power and his transforming love.



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HOLY TRINITY

5/21/2016

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Let us start with three questions for our reflection:
  • If no one would have ever taught you to pray “in the name of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit”, would you have prayed in this way because you have experienced the Holy Trinity in your life?
  • What is the Holy Trinity for you? Is it part of the catechism you have learnt or is it a revelation about Someone?
  • Do you feel drawn to the Holy trinity because it is Love?
Today we will be letting the Holy Spirit to guide us to all truth, even the truth about the Three Persons in One God: the Holy Trinity.

Many people believe that there is a God. Some of them have experienced the presence of God in their lives, have experienced his love and his personal care. The people, who are aware of God as a Person, know that they can deny God by committing sins. Sometimes they feel that they need to reconcile themselves with God. Just a few people experience more about God, but there is still much more to experience about God. In the gospel Jesus tells us: “...I still have many things to say to you...”

God created the human person and the Holy Trinity “was delighted in us”. However, the human person sinned against God and denied himself of a loving relationship with the Three Persons in One God. Notwithstanding this, God did something unconceivable, something without any precedent, but what He did give us, provided us with the possibility of re-establishing our lost friendship and of entering into an intimate relationship with God. Who would have told us what God had in store for us!

God the Father loved humanity so much that He sent His Only Son into the world, so that He could lay down his life for us and whoever believes in him won’t be lost but might inherit eternal life. When we accept Jesus by believing in him, we who were lost, through Christ we might be at peace with God, as Saint Paul teaches us. God the Father and the Son were so eager to fill our renewed hearts with their love that they poured this love into our hearts.

We are like the Prodigal Son! This child could not open his heart enough to receive the love which his father wanted to fill his heart with. Also we could not handle such tremendous love. Therefore the Father sent his Holy Spirit in our hearts, because although our friendship had been renewed, our hearts were not able to receive God’s love. But through the Holy Spirit, the Father and the Son could pour Their love into our renewed hearts.

The Holy Trinity is so important in our spiritual lives, because we are in the Trinity and the Trinity is in us. Mind you, we are not saying that we are gods, but that we are in God and God is in us. Saint Peter tells us that we share in the divine nature. In the Holy Trinity “we live and move and have our being”. We could easily say that for us the Holy Trinity should be more important than the air we breathe.

Saint Paul reminds us that God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit which we had received. In our life we need to have a new experience of God’s love. We need to invest all our energies in order to develop as deep and personal relationship with the Holy Trinity as possible.

May we allow the Holy Spirit lead us to all truth about the Holy Trinity.


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PENTECOST SUNDAY

5/15/2016

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One fine Sunday morning, Stephen’s mother hurried into her son’s room to wake him up.

“Stephen, Stephen, it is Sunday! Hurry up, get out of that bed. It is time to go to church! Hurry up! Hurry up!” And Stephen, still under the covers, mumbled: “I do not want to go!”

“What do you mean you do not want to go to church?” answered his mother. “That is pure nonsense. Now, hurry up, get up, get dressed and go to church!”

Stephen answered: “No! I do not want to go and I will give you two good reasons why I do not want to go.” He sat up in bed and continued: “First, I do not like them and second, they do not like me.”

“Now do not be silly. You have to get up and go to church, and I will give you two valid reasons why you must go. First of all, you are now forty two years old and, secondly you are their pastor!”

It seems that the apostles, once that Jesus had been raised to heaven, were very much like Stephen. Like Stephen they chose to hide: Stephen from his congregation and the apostles from the Jews and the crowd. Stephen was afraid to face his congregation while the apostles were scared to death because of the Jewish leaders. The apostles could have said what Stephen said: “We do not like them and they do not like us.”

Perhaps also we try to do likewise. We choose to do whatever we need to do quietly and then we retire to “our home”, to the place where we feel safe.

The apostles stayed locked up in hiding till they received the Holy Spirit, because then, empowered and spurned by the Holy Spirit they left their hiding place and went out to fulfil the mission given to them by their Master before being raised into heaven. They went out and started announcing and witnessing to one and all that Jesus Christ is the Messiah of God... and they made a difference. The Acts of the Apostles tell us that on that day more than three thousand were baptized.

We were also given the same commission of the apostles and also we are supposed to be witnessing to the Risen Lord with our lives to one and all. What are we doing about this mission Jesus gave us?

Are we scared to speak about Jesus because we are afraid of being told off? Are we afraid of being side-lined or else labelled as out of touch with reality? We do not like them and they do not like us?

Perhaps we are not aware that we have received the same Holy Spirit that the apostles had received. We received him in our Baptism and then with greater power in our Confirmation. Then, why are we afraid of being Christ’s witnesses with our lives? Why aren’t we making a difference in society?

Our mission is to proclaim to one and all the Good News that God is your Father and my Father: the Father of all. We have to proclaim the Good News that notwithstanding everything, God loves us and is going to keep loving us even if choose not to.
We have the mission to strive so that all people will be one family and we live as brothers and sisters in spite of the differences due to culture, beliefs, language and status.

We have the mission to pull down the walls that separate us in “us” and “them”, males and females, rich and poor, white and black, and strive we all end up speaking the same language: the language of love.

We need the Holy Spirit! The Holy Spirit is like the battery in the torch-light which is our life. If we slide the switch to ON the battery will be activated and the lamp will light up. If we keep the switch on the OFF position, the battery will not be allowed to do its job and the lamp will stay unlit. The battery is there, but with the switch in the OFF position, we are hindering it in doing its job.

It is the same with the Holy Spirit! We have already received Him with the same power as when it was outpoured on the apostles, but are we letting Him work in our life?

Come Holy Spirit, fill our hearts and kindle in them the fire of your love.


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THE ASCENSION OF THE LORD

5/8/2016

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A student was about to finish his secondary education and someone asked him some questions.
“At the end of school what do you intend to do?” “I will sit for the Matsec Certificate.” *
“And after the Matsec Certifcate?” “I will attend the sixth form.”
“And after the sixth form?” “I will start university to graduate and get a degree.”
“And after graduation?” “Then I will get a job and make big money.”
“And then?” “Then I will get married.”
“And after you get married?” “I will raise a family.”
“And after raising a family?” “Then I will retire.”
“And what would you do after retiring?” “I will take a rest.”
“And after taking your rest?” “Then I do not know!”
“Will you die?” “Oh yes, I will die too.”
 
In our life we are so busy that we tend to forget all about what life is all about. We tend to forget that our life is a preparation to meet God in heaven.
 
The Ascension of the Lord reminds us that our life is a journey. We are pilgrims on a journey, and just as Jesus’ life on earth was temporary, and He ascended into heaven where He is seated at the right hand of God the Father, so also our life is temporary. It will, one day, come to an end and then, in the next life, we will meet our God.
 
The Ascension of the Lord reminds us that, notwithstanding our busyness, we must not neglect what life is all about. We must not be like that student who had an answer for everything, but never thought of dying and what would happen afterwards.
 
In his Letter to the Ephesians, St. Paul writes this beautiful prayer: “May the God of Christ Jesus our Lord, the Father of Glory... enlighten your inner vision, that uou may appreciate the things we hope for, since we are called by God. May you know how great is the inheritance, the glory, God sets apart for his saints; may you understand with what extraordinary power he acts in favour of us who believe...” (Eph 1: 17-23)
 
The Ascension of the Lord and this prayer remind us that God has great plans for us, plans that go beyond our dreams and imagination.
 
Looking at yourself, you can see yourself in three ways: what you think of yourself; what others think of you; what God thinks of you, with the most important being the latter. What does God think of you? In the same Letter to the Ephesians, we understand that once we are baptized, God looks at us as his sons and daughters: “May God of Christ Jesus our Lord, the Father of Glory... enlighten your inner vision, that you may appreciate the things we hope for, since we are called by God.” (Eph 1:17-18)
 
Perhaps we yearn for a perfect house, a poshy car, in fact we yearn for the best of things. But the best things await us in the next life. God has planned the very best for us.
 
Those who love God are promised, that in the next life, they will receive the glory. Whatever riches we might have, are worth nothing compared to the glory that God has prepared for us. Nothing could be compared to the riches that God has prepared for us in the next life.
 
God wants the best for us. He offers this to us through his Son Jesus Christ and God the Father, put all enemies under his feet when Christ rose from the dead. Our spiritual enemies were conquered so that we could enjoy the new life that God offers us as his children, the new life Jesus Christ has obtained for us through his death and resurrection.
 
How lucky are we, that once we were baptized, we were adopted as God’s children! How beautiful is our calling! How awesome are the riches of heaven that God has planned for us! How worth it, it is to strive after these riches! When St. Paul, in his First Letter to the Corinthians, writes about these riches that God has planned for us, he writes: “Eye has not seen, ear has not heard, nor has it dawned on the mind what God has prepared for those who love him.” (1Cor 2:9)
 
Do you want to be one of them?
 
___________
  • According to the Maltese Education System.

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6th Sunday of Easter

5/1/2016

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Once there was a family of tortoises who decided to go on a picnic. It took them six whole years to prepare for this picnic and finally they were on their way to search for a proper place where to hold this picnic. During their second year of searching they found a good place and then spent about six months to clear it, unpack their picnic-basket and lay out everything. It was then that they realized that they had forgotten to take with them the salt and picnic without salt is a disaster.

After a long discussion who is to return home to bring the salt, the tortoises decided that the youngest should go. Of course the youngest tortoise was pleased at all. She started complaining and whining and crying. At last she accepted on one condition: no one should start eating before she returns. Everyone accepted and the youngest tortoise left.

Three years passed and the youngest tortoise did not return. Then five years, six years and nothing happened. Then in the seventh year the eldest tortoise could not endure the hunger any longer. She declared that she was going to eat and started unwrapping a sandwich. All of a sudden the youngest tortoise comes out from behind a tree yelling: “I knew it! I knew that she won’t last. Now I do not want to go and get the salt. Someone else has to do it!”

Seven years! Seven years of anger, selfishness, suspicion, worry, lack of trust, pretension and anxiety for the tortoises.
Are you one of these tortoises living a frustrated life because there is no peace around you or within you?

True peace comes to us from God and in order to obtain it should not be like the tortoises. I mean to say that we should be people who are ready to accept others, be not detached from the world around us, be ready to surrender in the arms of Jesus, be people of sacrifice, full of compassion, forgiveness, and trust in the Lord.

When the apostles got to know that Jesus was going away, they got distressed and anxious. Jesus, knowing their situation, comforted them by offering them his peace: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give it to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid.” Jesus hastens to assure us that his peace is “not as the world gives...”
How does the world give us its peace? It gives it through enforcing its laws, using its power, offering its riches and pleasures. For the world peace means lack of conflict, tension and suffering. Do we enjoy peace in our world?

God gives us his peace by coming to us, loving us and abiding in us. And we can obtain Christ’s peace through humility, surrendering before God, healing, forgiveness, compassion and love. Peace is God’s presence with us.

And in order to enjoy this peace God gives us His Spirit: the Holy Spirit, who will teach us everything, will remind us all that Jesus had taught us, will guide us, will intercede for us and will give us knowledge and wisdom. The Holy Spirit and Peace will become one and the same thing. Where there is God’s Spirit there is also peace. Even if we are passing through suffering and pain, or poverty, hardship and conflict or grieving the loss of a loved one, we still could have Christ’s peace.

Jesus tells us that God gives his peace to those who love him and keep his words, that is obey his commandments. All of us want peace. We want peace in our homes, our relationships, our communities, our world and more than that in our hearts. But are we trying to obtain the peace through the teachings of Jesus? Or do we feel frustrated and disappointed because He demands a lot from us in exchange for his peace?

Jesus tells us: “Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him.” In other words, if we are reconciled to God and in a loving relationship with Him, then we will have his peace, and his joy will stay with us forever. When our actions, thoughts and words are in conformity with his will, and when we are loyal to Him, then we will have the peace.

Dear friends, what is bothering you today? Is it your health, your family, your finances, your friends or lack of them, your job or your sins? Do we feel like tortoises? No matter what is bothering us, Jesus offers words of comfort. He gave us his Holy Spirit to help us in our efforts so that we would not be tortoises. We do not have to fear anything? Whenever we are in the midst of darkness or the storms of life, let us turn to Him, and He will offer to us his peace that overcomes all fear and anxiety.

Dear friends, full of love towards God and trusting fully his promises, let us surrender our lives to Him, and He who is always faithful to his promises will fill us with his peace.

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Fifth Sunday of Easter

4/24/2016

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The renowned artist Paul Gustave Dore’ once lost his passport while travelling in Europe. When he came to a border crossing (at that time there was no Shengen Agreement) he explained his predicament to one of the guards. Giving his name to the official, Dore’ hoped he would be recognized and allowed to pass. The guard, however, said that many people attempted to cross the border by claiming to be persons they were not. Dore’ insisted that he was the man he claimed to be. "All right," said the official, "we'll give you a test, and if you pass it we'll allow you to go through." Handing him a pencil and a sheet of paper, he told the artist to sketch several peasants standing nearby. Dore’ did it so quickly and skillfully that the guard was convinced he was indeed who he claimed to be. His action confirmed his identity.

We tend to use uniforms, badges and other things to tell others who we are. Students, especially in certain private schools put on a uniform to show which school they belong to – to be distinguished from other students of other schools.  Soldiers and cops wear uniforms to show who they are and somehow one understands what their role is. We wear badges that show to which clubs we belong to and so on.

We Christians have our own distinctive mark, but we tend to have a problem in showing who we are and what we stand for. We ignore Jesus’ prescription because it is more than putting on a uniform or attaching a badge. It demands a lot because it is not in the way we dress but in the way we live. During his Last Supper with his disciples Jesus told them: “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another... By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Love is the Christian identity. Love is the Christian uniform. Love is the Christian distinctive mark. If you wear the uniform of love, you are fine, but if not, you have a problem.

We do not show our love simply by telling others: “I love you.” That phrase has been used and abused quite a lot. If you do not mean what you say, why say it? We show love to others:
  • By how we behave towards them;
  • By our sensitivity to their needs;
  • By acknowledging and appreciating their talents;
  • By being there for their needs, no matter what;
  • By treating them as equal to us if not better;
  • By never saying anything that might tarnish their reputation, even if it is true;
  • By seeing Jesus in them, even in those we might consider them as enemies.

We are to be Christ’s witnesses to the people around us and our witnessing being effective is not based so much on how eloquent we are, but on how loving we are. In his First Letter to the Corinthians, St. Paul tells us that no matter what we do, if we do not have love, we are nothing... it would be of no value to us.

We tend to place love and whatever challenges us at a distance. We are always willing to postpone good things, but we do bad things right away. We would like to postpone love, faith and hope, whereas we attend to fear, greed, envy and anger at once. The best thing that we have, St. Paul tells us, is love. We cannot keep postponing it. Deep down in our hearts we know that love is now or never.

What a world would it be if our love were to be as quick and as warm and as long-lasting as our hate!

Where love is concerned, many a time we look towards the future, but the future exists in our head and nowhere else. So do not tell me that you are going to start loving in the future. Tell me what you are doing now.

Who are we? What are we? We are what we are doing now. If we do not love others now, we are not loving persons and we have nothing to say about love. And if we have nothing to say about love... how can we love God? If we do not love now, we know nothing about God, as St. John tells us that if we do not love we do not know God because God is love.

Do you really know God?
 


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Third Sunday of Easter

4/9/2016

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When you, applying for a job, present a CV, it is better to be an impressive one if you want to stand a chance of being interviewed, let alone of getting the job.

What if there were a call for applications to become a Pope, what CV would one present? What questions would they ask during the interview?
In the Gospel, Jesus asks Peter three questions: “Do you love me?” Now let’s face it: Peter’s CV was far from being an impressive one, at least for the good reason: By the fire, on Thursday before the crucifixion, for three times denied to know Jesus.

Peter found it hard to forgive himself or to accept that he had denied for three times his friend and Master. And when the cock crew, Peter wept bitterly. He realized what he had done: he has failed his Master... he has denied his friend. Peter could not accept it, he could not live with it and he wept. He could not stoop lower than that.

Now with this record, who would have thought that, Jesus would even think to consider Peter to be the shepherd of his flock? But Jesus’ criteria are not our criteria. He looks at the heart of man and looking at Peter’s heart, Jesus knew that Peter was fit for purpose. Why? Didn’t also Judas betray Jesus? But Peter was different than Judas. Peter learnt from his mistake and grew through it whereas Judas let himself to be conquered by his sin. After his shortcoming, Peter reformed himself whereas Judas closed himself from God’s love and mercy. Peter moved from his sinfulness, Judas did not.

By the fire, on Thursday before the crucifixion, Peter, three times denied to know Jesus. By the fire, on this Easter day, Jesus asks Peter to shepherd his sheep. Jesus, not only did He forgive Peter’s sin but also showed enough trust in him and chose him to be the first Pope.

Like Peter and Judas and the rest of the apostles we have our own sins and shortcomings, and Jesus, as He did with Peter is always ready to forgive our sins and to trust us. Jesus does not leave us enslaved by our past sins. Jesus gives us the possibility to be freed from our past sins. As St. Paul wrote to the Corinthians: “The one who is in Christ is a new creature. For him the old things have passed away; a new world has come.” (2Cor 5:17)

Peter’s experience could also be our experience if only we have the courage to accept God’s forgiveness and love. Through the Sacrament of Reconciliation we can obtain the forgiveness from Jesus. He forgives us and loves us inspite of the fact that we have denied him, we have disbelieved in him, we have given up on him, we have sinned against him. It takes courage to believe in God, to believe that God is ready to forgive us when we repent, to believe that notwithstanding everything God keeps on loving us. We need the courage to accept God’s love and mercy and to accept ourselves.

After his despair, Peter recovered his faith and was able to say: “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you!” Peter has to be our role-model for our repentance and reforming ourselves. We should not allow our past to overcome us as in the case of Judas, but we should allow Jesus to work in us and lead us to our repentance and reform and we should let him to put us to work for him again.
 
 


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SECOND SUNDAY OF EASTER

4/3/2016

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I imagine that whenever the Second Sunday of Easter is near, St Thomas might get a little uneasy. He might be saying: “Here we go again! Who knows how many people will make fun of me because I did not believe!” And to add insult to injury we call “Doubting Thomas” whoever does not believe. But we do this because we focus on just a detail in the whole picture. If we were to look at the picture in its totality we would be seeing Thomas in a different light.

We would realize that a big change happened in Thomas – from an apostle who doubted in Christ’s resurrection, he went on to declare not only his belief in his Master’s resurrection but he also acknowledged Him to be God. His declaration: “My Lord and my God!” is a loaded expression.

What had happened? An encounter between Thomas and Jesus’ love had taken place. He encountered the loving Heart of Jesus when he put his hand on Christ’s wounded side.

When the soldier on calvary pierced Christ’s side, blood and water came out of the wound. In it the Church always saw the Sacraments which give her its vitality especially the Sacraments of Baptism and the Eucharist. Besides Jesus himself told us that out of the believer’s heart shall flow rivers of living water which is the Holy Spirit. Therefore when Thomas came face to face with the wounded side of Christ he realized that he has come face to face with the love of the Heart of Jesus for him.

He has encountered the wounded Heart of Jesus, wounded out of its love for humanity. It is the heart that has burdened itself with the sin of man. Because this is what love does: it suffers for others, and Thomas was in the presence of the wounded love. He understood that the suffering of this Sacred Heart is the result of man’s ingratitude. Thomas understood also that, in Jesus, he was in the presence of the Divine Mercy who became man.

It is this Divine Mercy that has taken upon itself the sin of humanity instead of punishing humanity for its transgressions. Because that is what the Divine Mercy does: it forgives, heals and renews man. This is what Thomas experienced in its presence and his heart became a heart full of love because he had experienced forgiveness, healing and renewal.

When Jesus appeared to the apostles the week before, he gave them his Holy Spirit, not as in Pentecost, but in a new way and for a specific reason: so that their heart will be like his: a forgiving and loving heart. He gave them the mission of changing man’s heart and make it a heart like the Heart of Jesus: an understanding heart, a heart full of mercy and love for all.


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March 27th, 2016

3/27/2016

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    Fr. Karm S. Borg MSSP is a Maltese Catholic priest within the Missionary Society of St. Paul until recently ministering at St.Paul the Apostle Parish,
    Toronto, ON, Canada.
    Now he resides in Malta at St. Agatha's Motherhouse, Rabat.

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