JOYFULWORD

Today, the readings bring to us the 'centre' of Christian life. It is so true that the Lord is King, with majesty enrobed; the Lord has robed himself with might, he has girded himself with power. The world, he made firm, not to be moved; His throne has stood firm from of old and from all eternity. Truly His decrees are to be trusted! There are many certain things about our God that should excite us. His promises and faithfulness through all ages. When at last he came and opened wide 'The Way' to the Father, He showed his profound  love and mercy to us, and brought us salvation. When Jesus speaks about Salvation, it is first and foremost salvation from sin -the sin of our first parents. He came to save us from the inherited concupicence that had condemned us 'death'. Jesus came to give us a new life. Hence Jesus speaks of being reborn of the spirit. That is, of being baptised and redeemed. And just like in the days of Moses, who lifted up the serpent in

"And the angel said to her, do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favour with God. And behold you shall conceive in your womb and bear a son and you shall call his name Jesus" Luke 1:30-31 Today we celebrate the Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord. It is the feast that shows us how the Good News of the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ was brought to Mary by the Angel Gabriel and this news turned out to be the greatest news of all time. We also see in the story that our Blessed Mother after receiving the News simply said submitted herself as an instrument to be used by God for the singular purpose of bring salvation to sinful humanity. The prophecy that was made in the old dispensation through Isaiah came to fulfilment in the new testament as we have in the gospel when our Blessed Mother the Virgin Mary said yes to the message of the Angel Gabriel. She accepted that God's will be done in her life and her obedience to God made our Lord Jesus Christ to be b

" On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being shut where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them. Peace be with you" John 20:19 Today is Divine Mercy Sunday. It is a day we celebrate the gift of mercy that the Father gave to the world in His Son our Lord Jesus Christ. We celebrate this day, because we were all redeemed by the mercy and love of the Father. We are all sinners in need of God's mercy and we find the mercy we need in Jesus Christ. The readings of today shows us who Jesus is and what His mission was all about. In the first reading we see how the apostles after the resurrection were of one heart and one mind and shared all they have in common. They lived a new life inspired by the death and resurrection of Jesus. They learnt from Jesus who had shown them mercy to be merciful and considerate to one another. They also witnessed about Jesus' resurrection with great power and au

In the Gospel reading of today, we read the evangelist listing some persons to whom Jesus had  appeared to after his ressurection. We hear Jesus chastise his apostles for not believing even by the testimonies of those who had seen Him. Now in the Gospel reading we hear the two apostles refusing to stop witnessing. They too had experienced the resurrected Christ and his first gift of the Holy Spirit and now have become witnesses themselves. Today, the reading brings before our minds the call to believe and to be witnesses of the resurrection. It is not proper that those who are witnesses of the living Christ, in he Church, the sacraments and  the word of God alive in our hearts, refuse to bear witness to the risen Jesus by the way we live ourlives. It is very sad that many times ourlives show that we do not believe Jesus is alive and is watching our every action and thought. We need to brace up and live the new life which we share in he ressurection through baptism. Let the

Today we see the Apostle Peter and the others return to their 'normal' life. A life devoid of their call as apostles. Remember that it was recorded that Jesus had called them from fishing to be fishers of men -to be preachers and carry on his mission when He would nolonger be with them physically. They did this because they felt the dryness brought by the death of their master Jesus. They were greatly distressed because they saw Jesus as the Messiah and their expectations had been dashed by his 'mysterious' death. They went fishing, that is, back to their previous careers and it so happend that through the night they caught nothing. Suddenly there stood "Jesus on the shore, though the disciples did not realise that it was Jesus. Jesus called out, ‘Have you caught anything, friends?’ And when they answered, ‘No’, he said, ‘Throw the net out to starboard and you’ll find something.’" So they dropped the net, and there were so many fish that they could no

"In those days: Peter opened his mouth and said, You know the word which was proclaimed throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee after Baptism which John preached: how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power and he went about doing good and healing all that were possessed by the devil,  for God was with Him" Acts 10:34,37-38 Today, is the Sunday of the Resurrection and there is joy everywhere, because Jesus is risen and was not held bound by the force of the grave and death. We have been waiting for this day as we practiced our lenten observances and today Joy has taken over the atmosphere because He who was killed and buried has risen as He said He will do. we see that by the power of the resurrection the apostles became witnesses to the events about the life of Christ. They proclaimed His name to all those who were listening to them. This is simply our responsibility as we rejoice and give praise to God for letting His only begotten