Martin Jumbam

Catholic Meditation - Fifth Sunday of Easter – Year B

Martin Jumbam 

The Universal Church celebrates Sunday, May 03, 2015, as the Fifth Sunday of Easter – Year B. In the entrance antiphon, we pray:  “Sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvelous deeds; he has revealed to the nations his saving power. Alleluia.” The theme of this day’s Mass is union with Christ. This is especially seen in the Gospel passage where Saint John presents Christ telling his disciples and us that he is the true vine. In OT literature, the vine was always Israel. By referring to himself as the new vine, Christ takes on himself the whole of his people, and forms them anew with his own glorified life. His disciples receive this life and thus begin the new community of God. In the first reading from Acts of the Apostles, Saint Luke presents the figure of Paul, until quite recently an unforgiving persecutor of the young faith.  For the others to accept him, Barnabas, who is well known and respected by all, has to intervene to reassure them that Paul has indeed become an apostle of the Risen Lord, whom he has met on his way to persecute Christians. In the second reading, we continue to read from the First Letter of John in which the author gives a list conditions for us to become God’s children. We must refrain from sin, remain unattached to the world, shun false doctrines and keep God’s commandments. As we listen to these readings, brothers and sisters, let us pray for the grace to remain in Christ so as to continue his mission in bearing fruit, which is the privilege of all who share Christ’s life. 

Catholic Meditation: Fourth Sunday of Easter: Year B.

By Martin Jumbam 

The Universal Church celebrates Sunday, April 26, 2015 as the Fourth Sunday of Easter – Year B. It is called the Good Shepherd Sunday. This name derives from the gospel reading of this day, taken from the 10th chapter of John. In it, Christ is described as the Good Shepherd who, by dying on the Cross, lays down his life for his sheep. This Sunday is also called Vocations Sunday. Fifty two years ago, when the Vatican Two Council was still in session, the Servant of God, Blessed Paul VI, instituted this Sunday as a day on which Christians are urged to pray for vocations to the priesthood and religious life. “The problem of having sufficient priests,” the Holy Father said, “has an immediate impact on all the faithful: not simply because they depend on it for the religious future of Christian society, but also because this problem is the precise and inescapable indicator of the vitality of faith and love of individual parish and diocesan communities, and the evidence of the moral health of Christian families. Wherever numerous vocations to the priesthood and consecrated life are to be found,” continues the Servant of God, “that is where people are living the Gospel with generosity” (Paul VI, Radio Message, 11 April 1964).

In this year’s message, his successor Pope Francis, urges us to pray so that “the Lord of the harvest may send laborers into his harvest” (Lk 10:2). Christian vocations, he says, are born of the experience of mission. “Hearing and following the voice of Christ the Good Shepherd, means letting ourselves be attracted and guided by him, in consecration to him; it means allowing the Holy Spirit to draw us into this missionary dynamism, awakening within us the desire, the joy and the courage to offer our own lives in the service of the Kingdom of God.”

 

Catholic Meditation – Third Sunday of Easter – Year B

Martin Jumbam

The Universal Church celebrates Sunday, April 19, 2015, as the third Sunday of Easter – Year B. In the entrance antiphon, we pray:  “Let all the earth cry out to God with joy; praise the glory of his name; proclaim his glorious praise, Alleluia.”  In the first reading from Acts of the Apostles, Saint Peter has just healed a cripple and now uses that opportunity to explain to the astonished people that the miracle has been performed in the name of Jesus of Nazareth to whom he applies the Old Testament names of Holy One, the Just One, the Prince of Life. He then exhorts them to repent and turn to God so that their sins can be forgiven. In the Second Reading, the subject of Saint John’s letter is the Word of Life – to live this life is to believe in God’s Son, Christ Jesus. In last Sunday’s Gospel, we listened to Saint John’s account of the missionary mandate Christ gave his Apostles when he breathed on them and gave them the Holy Spirit to guide them in their mission. Today’s Gospel gives us Saint Luke’s version of the same scene. Christ appears to his disciples for the last time after his resurrection to dispel their doubts and empower them for their mission.

Catholic Meditation - Second Sunday of Easter – Year B.

Martin Jumbam 

The Universal Church celebrates Sunday, April 12, 2015, as the second Sunday of Easter, Year B. “We are an Easter people and Alleluia is our song,” says Saint Augustine, African Saint and Bishop of Hippo in North Africa. Nearly 1800 years after Saint Augustine made that statement, we still carry his words in our hearts, minds and souls as we celebrate the joy of the Risen Lord. In the entrance antiphon of this day’s Mass we pray: “Rejoice to the full in the glory that is yours, and give thanks to God who called you to his kingdom, alleluia.” In the first reading, Saint Luke relates in Acts of the Apostles the witness of the early Church as directed by the Holy Spirit. Through the great witnesses, Peter and Paul, the word goes from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth. In the second reading, First John tells us that faith is the victory over the power of darkness. The water and blood from the cross flow through the Spirit into the hearts of all men and women of faith, giving them a share in Jesus through baptism and the holy Eucharist. In John’s Gospel, we see Jesus breathing the Spirit onto his disciples and giving them strength and courage for their new divine mission, that of taking Christ’s word to the ends of the earth. The doubting Thomas brings the Gospel to its most explicit profession of faith in the Risen Lord when he says: “My Lord and my God.” That is what Jesus is for successive generations of Christians, expressed with the solemnity that describes the one true God in the Old Testament. In the course of this Eucharist, let us pray for the grace to believe that our Lord is truly risen and is alive. Alleluia. 

Catholic Meditation – Easter Sunday – Year B.

 Martin Jumbam

The Universal Church celebrates Sunday, April 5, 2015, as Easter Sunday – Year B. In the entrance antiphon we pray: “I have risen: I am with you once more; you placed your hand on me to keep me safe. How great is the depth of your wisdom, alleluia!”  “This day was made by the Lord; we rejoice and are glad. Alleluia!” This refrain gives us the true spirit of Easter. It is a spirit of hope and abiding joy, as the Church continues to give witness to the central fact of the early preaching of the Apostles: “Jesus is risen. He is the Lord.” For our part we must lift up our minds and our hearts to the Lord in thanksgiving. As Paul says, “You must look for the things that are in heaven where Christ is.”