This Gospel reading challenges us to remember that being busy for the Lord is not the same as being with him, to sit at his feet and hear him in our hearts. Truly that is the “better part.”

Jesus is not asking us to choose between being a Martha or a Mary. He challenges us that in order to be a reliable service-oriented Martha, we should be authentic praying Mary. Our service to our neighbor and our prayer to God are bridges where Jesus can walk from our hearts to those in need. To reach the soul, we have to begin with the body.

Jesus parable of the Good Samaritan is well-known and often quoted. Yet we often miss how Jesus uses the question “Who is my neighbor?” to upend a rigid and impersonal view of the “Law” of the Jewish people. Through an unlikely her--a member of the Samaritans, who were disdained by the Jews--we see an exemplary and sacrificial love.

If you’re asked today by Jesus, “Who is a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?” and if your answer is, “The one who treated him with mercy,” Jesus is telling you right now, “Go and do likewise!” That’s our mission this week: be a good Samaritan! Remember, LOVE creates good neighbors! So, just LOVE!

Evangelization is not a job assigned only to bishops, priests, and religious brothers and sisters. Pope Paul VI insisted that the “task of evangelizing all people constitutes the essential mission of the Church.” And by “the Church,” he meant the Church as a whole—everyone, including the laity. Today’s Gospel reminds us of God’s calling for us to participate in His Work throughout the world, no matter what we do or where we are.

In this Gospel reading, we see Jesus embarking on the most difficult journey of his life. For ten chapters in Luke’s Gospel, beginning with chapter 9, Jesus and his disciples are on the road, making their way to the climactic moment in Salvation History. Knowing what He would suffer, Jesus still kept his “eyes fixed on Jerusalem." Do we have that same courage and dedication to God’s will?

The miracle of multiplying five loaves of bread and two pieces of fish to feed five thousand men (and as many as fifteen to twenty thousand people) is one of the most famous in the Gospels. Apart from providing for the physical needs of those present, Jesus also foreshadows the Holy Eucharist. He “multiplies” Himself miraculously by turning bread and wine into His body and blood so that we will be spiritually fed. That is what today’s Feast of Corpus Christi, which is Latin for “Body of Christ,” calls us to remember.

If we hate and discriminate other people, are we ready to receive Jesus as the bread of LOVE and wine of MERCY? If we support abortion and death penalty, are we ready to receive Jesus as the bread of LIFE and wine of SALVATION? If we are a violent, bitter and vindictive person, are we ready to receive Jesus as the bread of PEACE and wine of FRIENDSHIP?

In today’s Gospel reading, we see that God’s very life is one of communion. In the Trinity, we see a relationship of giving and receiving, a communion of life and love. God exists as a relationship of Persons. He is Three, and yet the “Lord God is One.” How are we to bring this kind of Oneness — of love and communion — to our lives now?

HOLY TRINITY SUNDAY! The TRINITY is a mystery. Its mystery is this: “One GOD in three persons… God is ONE but not solitary… One GOD but distinct from one another in their relations of origin: the FATHER who generates, the SON who is begotten, and the Holy Spirit who proceeds. The divine unity is TRIUNE.” (CCC #253-254)

In the last night of his life, Jesus prayed specifically for his followers to have unity. He said that, through unity, the disciples would bear a powerful witness to his name. Why, on the darkest night of his life, was he thinking about that? The answer is seen in his example: in unity, there is love, a sacrificial love between the Father and Son, and between all who believe in him. Christianity has survived, not because of its cleverness or power, but because of its unified love.

Today is PENTECOST SUNDAY! And Jesus greets us “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you… Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them...” (JN 20:21-23

Few of us welcome the departure of a loved one from our lives, even more so if we can’t know when we’ll see him or her again. The pain of separation is great, even unbearable. We can imagine how difficult it was for the disciples to Jesus, wondering how the future would play out as they would take on the mission He’d given them. It’s no surprise they had to be nudged into action (as is often true for us).

So, as we celebrate the ASCENSION of our Lord, three things I wish for you to do as your gift to our God of promises: be a repentant person – make your heart the font of life; be a forgiving person – make your heart the home of love; and be a praying person – make your heart the source of healing.

The readings for the Easter season harken to the first days of Christianity, allowing us to walk in the footsteps of the first Christians as they attempted to follow Christ as part of the young Church.

When God’s love is welcomed into our lives, Jesus will put this sign in your heart: “Home Sweet Home!” And you will not be “Home Alone”, the Blessed Trinity will be with you, as Jesus assured you: “We [Father and Son] will come to him and make our dwelling in him”; and the “Holy Spirit... [my] Father will send in my name.”

Today’s readings focuses on embracing the crosses that God allows into our lives, even while our human nature resists that kind of suffering. We avoid it and anxiously try to change situations that are unpleasant. Yet Jesus Himself modeled for us the transformation and redemption that comes from hardship and pain.

Jesus’ love has a defining distinctiveness: It’s a gift! It’s a precious gift that generates joy, peace, patience, faithfulness and gentleness; and it produces kindness, tenderness, compassion and understanding.

Have you ever watched a herd of animals as they journey toward a destination? It’s remarkable that their every move seems to be in sync with the entire group. Nature itself shows us that uniting together in community – as one body – is the way God intended us to behave.

The 4th SUNDAY of EASTER is designated as “WORLD DAY of PRAYER for VOCATIONS” or “GOOD SHEPHERD SUNDAY.” In our gospel today, Jesus reveals to us the rootedness of our vocation, he said: “My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I gave them eternal life, and they shall never perish. No one can take them out of my hand.”