Martin Jumbam

Catholic Meditation: Holy Trinity Sunday - Year B

 

Martin Jumbam

On Sunday, May 31, 2015, the Universal Church returns to Sundays of the Ordinary Time of the liturgical year, Year B. The Ordinary Time of the year had been interrupted by the Easter Season, which ended last Sunday with Pentecost. Our celebration today is a song of praise to God who has taken us up to share in the very life of the Trinity. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit is with us all. On this day, therefore, MotherChurch invites us to celebrate the Feast of the Holy Trinity: God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit, three persons in one. The doctrine of three persons in one God, equal in divinity yet distinct in personality cannot be understood by the human mind. It is a mystery.

Catholic Meditation - Pentecost Sunday - Year B.

Martin Jumbam 

The Universal Church celebrates Sunday, May 24, 2015 as Pentecost Sunday in the liturgical year B.   In the entrance antiphon, we pray: “The Spirit of the Lord has filled the whole world and that which contains all things understands what is said. Alleluia.”  Pentecost comes from the Greek word for fiftieth day. It is fifty days since our Lord rose from the dead. Ten days ago, we celebrated His ascension into heaven. Before going up to his Father, Christ asked his disciples, as we hear in Acts 1: 4, not to leave Jerusalem but to wait there until he sent them his Advocate, the Holy Spirit, to strengthen their faith and send them preaching his word to the four corners of the world. 

Catholic Meditation - Seventh Sunday after Easter – Year B.

Martin Jumbam

The Universal Church celebrates Sunday, May 17, 2015 as the Seventh Sunday of Easter – Year B. In the entrance antiphon, we pray: “O Lord, hear my voice, for I have called to you; my heart has spoken: Seek his face; hide not your face from me, alleluia.” The themes of unity and love are predominant in the passages of this day’s reflection in anticipation of the founding of the Church at Pentecost. In the first reading, the Apostles are determined to fulfill our Lord’s wish to have a group of twelve men to form the nucleus of his new community, on the model of the twelve tribes of Israel. That is why Peter is so anxious to replace Judas, the traitor, and restore the number of twelve. With the election of Matthias, the College of Twelve is now complete. The second reading, from First John, is the final reading from the Epistle of the Love of God which takes us into the heart of the Trinity itself. In it, Saint John tells us that to live the life of love means that we have a share in God’s Spirit. The Priestly Prayer, in Saint John’s Gospel message, shows Christ asking his Father to bless and consolidate especially the ministry of his disciples who will be taking his message of salvation, with all that it entails, to the entire universe. This prayer also tells the whole meaning of Christ’s life and consecrates him for the sacrifice of his Hour.  In the course of this Eucharist, let us pray for the grace to love God and to love our neighbor so that we too will be consecrated and fortified in our faith as we, in turn, carry Christ’s message of salvation, first of all, into our individual families, then into the society we live in.  

Catholic Meditation - Ascension Thursday – Year B

Martin Jumbam

Mother Church celebrates Thursday, May 14, 2015 as the Solemnity of the Ascension of our Lord to heaven. It is one of the great solemnities in the Christian liturgical calendar and commemorates the bodily Ascension of Jesus into heaven. Ascension Day is traditionally celebrated on a Thursday, the fortieth day of Easter. The Latin term used for the feast, ascensio, signifies that Christ was raised up by his own powers, and it is from these terms that the holy day gets its name. The observance of this feast is of great antiquity. Although no documentary evidence of it exists prior to the beginning of the 5^th century, St. Augustine says that it is of apostolic origin, and he speaks of it in a way that shows it was the universal observance of the Church long before his time. It is observed as a public holiday in some countries, notably Austria, Belgium, Colombia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany and Cameroon. In the Eastern Church, this feast is known in Greek as Analepsis, that is, the "taking up", the "salvation from on high", denoting that by ascending into his glory Christ completed the work of our redemption. Ascension is one of the Twelve Great Feasts of the Orthodox liturgical year.

Catholic Meditation - Sixth Sunday of Easter - Year B

 Martin Jumbam

The Universal Church celebrates Sunday, May 10, 2015, as the Sixth Sunday of Easter – Year B. The entrance antiphon of this day’s Mass says, “Speak out with a voice of joy; let it be heard to the end of the earth: The Lord has set his people free, alleluia.”