5th Sunday of Easter (C)

 Acts 14:21b-27; Rev. 21:1-5a; Jn. 13:1, 31-33a, 34-35

During the supper, after Judas had left to carry out his betrayal, Jesus turned to his remaining disciples and spoke words both heavy with grief and radiant with divine purpose: "Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him... I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another." (John 13:31-35). These words are not a mere farewell or ethical maxim. They represent the heartbeat of Christian discipleship. In the context of betrayal, impending suffering, and parting, Jesus emphasizes love as the identifying mark of His followers.

The passage begins with Jesus' declaration of glory: "Now the Son of Man has been glorified." It is important to understand that in John's Gospel, glory is intimately connected with the cross. The cross, a symbol of shame, becomes for Jesus the very throne of glory. The Old Testament offers glimpses of this paradox. The suffering servant of Isaiah (Isaiah 53) bears our infirmities and

4th Sunday of Easter (C)

 Acts 13:14, 43-52; Rev. 7:9, 14b-17; Jn. 10:27-30

The passage from John 10:27-30 encapsulates the heart of Jesus’ message: a relationship of intimacy and security between the Good Shepherd and His sheep. Jesus’ voice calls us to follow Him, offering eternal life and the assurance that no one can take us out of His hand. This message resonates deeply across ages.

The imagery of the shepherd is deeply rooted in the Old Testament. God is depicted as the Shepherd of Israel in Psalm 23: “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.” David, the shepherd-king, foreshadows Christ as the ultimate Shepherd who knows His flock intimately and leads them to safety. Ezekiel 34 speaks of God’s promise to search for His sheep and care for them, an echo of Jesus’ mission.

Consider the calling of Samuel (1 Samuel 3). As a young boy, Samuel heard the voice of God calling him by name. Initially mistaking it for Eli’s voice, Samuel eventually responded with the words, “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.” This readiness to hear and obey mirrors the call Jesus extends to His sheep.

3rd Sunday of Easter (C)

Acts 5:28-32, 40b-41; Rev. 5:11-14; Jn. 21:1-19

In Japan during the 1920s, a professor named Hidesaburō Ueno of the University of Tokyo had a pet Akita dog named Hachiko. Every day, Hachiko would accompany his master to the Shibuya train station and wait there until the professor returned from work in the evening. This routine went on for years and became a familiar sight to commuters.

However, one day in May 1925, tragedy struck—Professor Ueno suffered a fatal brain hemorrhage while at work and never returned home.

But Hachiko didn’t know that. Every day for the next nine years, until his own death in 1935, Hachiko returned to the station at the exact time the train was due, waiting faithfully for his master who would never come back.

Hachiko’s loyalty moved the hearts of people across Japan. A bronze statue was erected at Shibuya Station in his honor, and it remains a symbol of unwavering loyalty and love to this day.

This story of Hachiko teaches about commitment, loyalty, and love—values that transcend even the boundaries of species. It’s a simple yet profound reminder of what it means to stand by someone, even when the world moves on.