Indeed, our hearts are still filled with Easter joy as we continue to celebrate the victory of the Cross and Resurrection. The victory of life over death, of good over evil, of the Father of mercies over the father of lies.

The tradition of celebrating the Sunday after Easter as Divine Mercy Sunday was started by St. John Paul II, who was inspired by the visions of St. Faustina. We are all familiar with the image of Jesus that St. Faustina had painted. The painting shows Jesus with the rays of light flowing from out of His wounded side, like the blood and water that flowed from His heart on the Cross. This is what calls for our celebration today. Little wonder the readings for the feast are carefully selected to tell us more about God’s mercy, the necessity for trusting Faith and the need for the forgiveness of sins.

Dear brethren, we are all happy to come together once again to celebrate the Glory of the Son of Man-Jesus. We are back here to celebrate the fact of His Resurrection.

This is a celebration that calls for a deeper reflection on the Great statements presented in the readings today:

1. That Jesus is Risen
2. That All prophetic scripture must be fulfilled
3. That preaching repentance and forgiveness of sin has become imperative- a command by all witnesses (Christians).
4. That Power is to come upon you through the Holy Spirit, by staying and praying together.

Dear Parish Family,

Today, we celebrate not only an empty tomb, but the One who opened the tomb and left it empty. Jesus the Christ destroyed death; His death and our death. Fear of death may once have had power over us. But, for Jesus’ disciples, then and now, faith in Jesus Christ conquers that fear. It is His gift of faith that brought us here today to celebrate His victory and worship Him as Lord of the world.

Jesus conquered death, but he didn’t give us a way around it. Instead, He confronted death and won. We also, with faith in Him, must confront death. Let Jesus roll away the stone that you cannot move (sorrow, sickness, addiction, etc.). Let Him fill that space with His light and the fresh wind of His Holy Spirit.

Dearly beloved, today is Passion Sunday, also known as Palm Sunday which marks the beginning of HolyWeek. It is a special Week deep into Lent which recounts a complex and meaningful series of eventswhich lead to the Resurrection on Easter Day. By this understanding we can say Palm Sunday representsa preparation, a setting up, for the Resurrection to occur.

All the readings today seem to say to us: "Forget the past and push on into the future.” God's words to the Israelites in captivity through the Prophet seem to resonate all through the readings: "Remember not the events of the past; the things of long ago consider not. See I am doing something new! Now it springs forth. Do you not perceive it?" What is happening is that a way is being prepared for us all to return to our homeland and to a happier future.

Paul writes to the Philippians from prison, facing his own death, and he tells them, “I give no thought to what lies behind but push on to what is ahead.” This is apt and encouraging!

I came across this piece while researching for this homily. It's about Mahatma Gandhi the father of the Indian nation. In his memoirs he humbly and frankly acknowledged that, when he was fifteen, he stole a little piece of gold from his brother. However a few days later, he felt very guilty and decided to come clean by confessing to his father. So, he took a paper, wrote down his fault, sincerely asked his father for forgiveness and promised never to repeat the offense. Taking that note to the bedroom of his father, the young Gandhi found him ill in bed. Very timidly he handed the note to his father without saying a word. His father sat up in bed and began reading the note. As he read it, the senior Gandhi was so deeply moved by the honesty, sincerity and courage of his son that tears began to stream from his eyes.

St. Francis of Assisi once invited a young friar to go with him into town to preach. Francis and the young friar spent all day walking through the streets and then came home. When the day’s journey was done, the young friar was disappointed and asked “Weren’t we supposed to preach today?” Francis replied, “Son, we have preached. We were preaching while we were walking. We were seen by many and our behavior was noted. It is of no use walking anywhere to preach unless we preach wherever as we walk!” He summed up his idea in these words “Preach the Gospel everywhere, and if necessary, use words.” To him witnessing to Jesus wasn’t merely quoting some words out of the Bible from time to time but one who lives by the word of God each day.

The readings of today give us a glimpse of how the power of God can transform the most ordinary life and lead a person into ways he never dreamt of.

The first reading describes the transformation of a pagan into a believer in the one God. God called Abraham, a childless wanderer and promised he will make him become Father of many nations and have a wonderful land of his own.

Abraham took God’s providence seriously and trusted confidently that he will fulfill His promise. His faith was strong and sustained. And all he did was to obey God’s commands.

Beloved in Christ, there is need to remind you here that throughout Scripture God has given man a multitude of promises: love, forgiveness, salvation, Holy Spirit, Everlasting life, peace, joy, freedom, growth, encouragement, excellence and strength.

Last Wednesday we began the 40days program of Lent. A spiritual exercise organized by the church to bring us closer to God, to heal our broken relationships with Him and our fellow brothers and sisters. It is a special spiritual discipline also to strengthen our faith in the Lord Jesus, for Lent will mean nothing if we do not believe in Christ.

Indeed, Lent is a time to become more deeply aware of our faith and to deepen that faith by practical actions. The Book of Deuteronomy reminds us that our faith is in response to God’s action in our lives. And that means that once again we must face this question: Do I see that God has acted in my life? Our Jewish ancestors in the faith had no doubts that God had acted in their lives and in their history as a people.

As we get set this week to commence the discipline of LENT, l feel it's important we ask ourselves how we have been growing in the faith, and we do this by checking whether Jesus’ teaching is taking root in our hearts. A sincere self-examination of oneself l believe will help one to have a fruitful Lenten season. We always set aside this season to declare spiritual war against all our sinful inclinations. Today's readings have given us a lot to think and pray about.

I cannot but totally agree with Fr. Teilhard de Chardin, A Jesuit Priest who maintains that human beings like other animals and plant species are also endangered. He revealed that what is threatening the survival of the human species in today's world is not nuclear and atomic bombs; it is the absence ofsomething more basic: love. That the unwillingness to love one another as God wants endangers the entire human civilization and existence on this planet earth.

One of the most difficult things to do in this present dispensation is to relinquish our control to someone else and depend totally on that person to lead and guide us. This is difficult in our age to do because education and learning have become idols to which people increasingly bow to. We live in a time of exceeding pride in human knowledge and accomplishment. We are also surrounded by a culture where the desires and rights of the individual are considered the greatest good—where I can have whatever I want or be whatever I want, as long as it doesn’t harm others or keep them from their own desires. Many see this as a perfect argument against the existence of God and hence cannot accept to surrender to Him the control of one's life.

It's the prerogative of God to choose whosoever He desires to work for Him. Sometimes it doesn't matter the personality of the person, his background, age, status or even his abilities. The Bible is full of stories of how God has called people in different ways and times and even some with evident disabilities like Moses and questionable characters to carry out his task.

We all like to be affirmed and lifted up. We all want to be told how good we are and that we don’t have problems in life at all. Often times we prefer to listen to a message that makes us feel secure and contented and not that which will expose our weaknesses or challenge us to a task.