God is Love and the Trinity exist in Love and Unity

05-30-2021Weekly ReflectionFr. Anthony Okolo, C.S.Sp

Today the Church celebrates the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity. The Solemnity simply means that there are three persons in One God. That is to say, God is One and Three at the same time. It is a mystery and that is why it is called the mystery of the Trinity. A mystery does not mean something we cannot understand or does not have any clue about it, but something we cannot fully grasp completely with our own limited human mind. Mystery is part of our religion and in fact, every authentic religion has elements of mystery in it. Jesus revealed to His disciples the great mystery of our faith; the triune nature of God in three person and the inseparable union of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Jesus’ mission is to reveal the glory of God to us, God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit and to unite us with God in a community of unbreakable unity and everlasting love. The ultimate end, the purpose for which God created us, is the entry of God’s sons and daughters into perfect unity of the blessed Trinity.

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The Holy Spirit is the Wonder Worker

05-23-2021Weekly ReflectionFr. Anthony Okolo, C.S.Sp

Today 50 days after Easter Sunday the Church celebrates the great feast of Pentecost the day the Apostles received power from above and were filled with the grace of the Holy Spirit. It is on this day that the church came into existence. Before the coming of the Holy Spirit on the apostles they were all in one room for fear of the Jews, not knowing what would befall them and thus they could not go out. However, with the coming of the Holy Spirit upon them they were empowered and they went out with courage and started proclaiming the great news of salvation. That is why my dear friends that the Holy Spirit is the wonder worker. When we become aware of His power in us, we are empowered to work wonders.

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Unity in Christ Jesus

05-16-2021Weekly ReflectionFr. Anthony Okolo, C.S.Sp

Peter in the first reading of today addresses the crowd on the need to find a replacement for Judas who according to Peter “was a guide for those who arrested Jesus”. He was among us and was allotted a share in this ministry, for it is written in the book of Psalms ‘may another take his office.’ Judas was one of the chosen, but betrayed his master by selling Him to the Jews. It is important for us to ask some personal question, what can make us betray our master? One of the weak points of Judas that the Jews exploited was his greed and his excessive love for money. When that was offered to him it became easy for him to fall. What can be a bait that can make us betray ourselves, and betray our faith in Jesus and our Lord. Just like Judas was called and chosen so are we also called and chosen to be an apostle. When we pay less attention to our Master we may lose our position and betray Jesus as Judas did.

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God Is Love

05-09-2021Weekly ReflectionFr. Anthony Okolo, C.S.Sp

In the first reading from the Acts of the Apostles Peter proclaims that God shows no partiality “Rather in every nation whoever fears Him and acts uprightly is acceptable to Him.” This is because God is love and shows His love to everyone no matter your circumstance or state of life. He shows His love to everyone no matter where you are or where you come from. Thus, anyone who opens himself or herself to Him will experience the depth of His love. The only obstacle to witnessing God’s love in our lives is when we close ourselves to His love. This can happen when we fail to believe in Him, obey Him or keep His commandments, but even at that He still loves each one of us in an amazing way. The theme of God’s love also is seen in the second reading, “everyone who loves is begotten by God for God is love”. Then, in the Gospel Jesus says, “As the Father has loved Me, so I have loved you, and remain in My love; abide in My love. If you keep my commandments you will abide in My love. Just as I have kept my Father’s commandment and abide in His love.”

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That we May Remain in Jesus the True Vine

05-02-2021Weekly ReflectionFr. Anthony Okolo, C.S.Sp

The first reading of today presents us with the personality of Paul who, in spite of all the difficulties, challenges, misunderstanding and suspicion preserved the union with Christ and with the community of his disciples. It is a call to each and every one of us to preserve the unity of our Christian faith despite the challenges we may face in bearing the name of Christ. St John in his first letter underscores a very important point that our faith in Christ is shown by works of love. This ensures the possession of the life of God’s Spirit in us. In the Gospel, John tells us that we can produce works that are the fruit of the Spirit only if we remain and abide in Jesus.

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