The Vineyard Laborer

This is My Body Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ Mk 14: 12- 16, 22 – 26 Today is the feast of Corpus Christi. This is the Latin word for the Body of Christ. On this day we remember Jesus but particularly his body and blood which he gave up for the sake of us all.   This Sunday’s Gospel is Mark’s account about the Last Supper. Mark situates this last meal of Jesus with his disciples during the Passover. The Passover is the great annual feast of the Jews where they remember their liberation from slavery in Egypt. On this day, they remember how the Lord commanded each household to slaughter a lamb and take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the house in which they were to eat the lamb. The blood on the doorposts and lintel will save them as the Lord will pass over those doors and no one inside that house would die. It was during the Passover when “the Lord passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt,...

I am with You Always Until the End of the Age Trinity Sunday Mt 28: 16 – 20 Today is Trinity Sunday. On this day we celebrate the feast of the Blessed Trinity. It is the feast of God who has revealed himself as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. God who is one has made himself known to us in a way that we can understand him. The one triune God revealed himself to us so we can have fellowship with him and live our lives with him. Today’s Gospel is taken from Matthew’s version of the Ascension. Here, Jesus tells the eleven disciples to go up a mountain in Galilee where he would meet them. When the disciples met Jesus on the mountain, they worshiped him. In writing this, Matthew somehow indicates that the disciples saw the risen Jesus as someone who was worthy of their worship, an apparent acknowledgement of his divinity. Nonetheless, despite their act of worship, Matthew also notes the doubt that continued to linger among them. Matthew writes: “ but they doubted.” This...

Receive the Holy Spirit Pentecost Sunday Jn 20: 19-23 Today is Pentecost Sunday. On Pentecost Sunday, the Church celebrates the descent of the Holy Spirit. It is a day when Jesus, having ascended into heaven and is seated at the Father’s right hand, sends his Spirit, the Holy Spirit to his disciples. The descent of the Holy Spirit is normally associated with Luke’s account in the book of the Acts of the Apostles in Chapter 2. However, this Sunday’s Gospel reading is taken from John’s Gospel. John has a different take on how the Holy Spirit came. His account is in contrast to Luke’s own version of the Spirit’s coming written in the book of Acts.   In John’s Gospel, the Spirit is given to the disciples by Jesus himself who has just risen from the dead saying: “ Receive the Holy Spirit.” It is interesting to know how John portrays the risen Jesus as the one from whom the Holy Spirit proceeds. More interesting is his use of the phrase: ...

Go Into the Whole World Feast of the Ascension of the Lord Mk 16:15-20 This Sunday’s reading is about the Ascension of the Lord into heaven. Having spent sometime with his disciples after his resurrection, Jesus now ascends into heaven to return to the Father. But before he is taken up to heaven, he tells his disciples: “ Go into the whole world and proclaim the Gospel to every creature. “ This exhortation to proclaim the Gospel to every creature is also called by some commentators as the great commission. It is called so not simply because of the task that they were commanded to do but because of the corresponding authority that went with it.   And where did this authority come from? This authority comes from Jesus who has conquered death and who is now taking his rightful place, sitting at the right hand of the Father ( Mark 16: 19). To “sit at the right hand of the Father” is a phrase used by the early Christians to describe Jesus as the...

Love One Another Jn 15: 9 – 17 Sixth Sunday of Easter In today’s reading, Jesus tells his disciples that the way to remain in him is by keeping his commandments: “If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and remain in his love.” Jesus remained in the Father’s love because he has kept the Father’s commandments. In a similar way, we will remain in Jesus because we keep his commandments. Then Jesus says something quite new.   He gives them a commandment that is both unique and challenging, saying: “This is my commandment: love one another as I love you.” He commands them to love one another, not just with any kind of love but with the kind of love that he has shown them. The love that they must have for one another should not be any less than the love that Jesus had for them. This is quite an extraordinary commandment. To love in the way Jesus loved them was an initiation to a whole new ...