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.”

Just as Peter denied Jesus three times, now the risen Lord asks Peter three times, “Do you love me?”

Our gospel today brings out the faith-driven and decisive question of Jesus to Peter: “DO YOU LOVE ME?” When Peter answered with an animated and spirited “YES,” Jesus articulated the spirit of a loving mission, he said: “FEED MY LAMBS, TEND MY SHEEP!” Jesus is conveying to Peter that his love should be unconditional, and his service must be immeasurable.

There are two sides to Christ’s love. On one side He mercifully loves us wherever he finds us, even in our sin. On the other side, we see that he loves us too much to leave us in that condition, but draws us out to be transformed.

This Easter Season, embrace that Divine Gift of PEACE, because it is a PEACE that is “not constructed by tough competition, hard thinking, and individual stardom, but rooted in simply being present to each other and working together in harmony.” Likewise, “it is often hidden from the wise and the wealthy, and revealed to those who feel empty, inarticulate and poor.

Today we celebrate the greatest of all Christian feasts: Easter Sunday. We come together rejoicing in the goodness of God, knowing that Christ’s resurrection from the dead gives us the hope that we too will rise someday with him.

During the EASTER SEASON, may the elect’s prayer be our prayer as God’s holy people and say with renewed faith: “Risen Lord, now I’m 101% available. How can I help?” “With Jesus, we’re loved! With Christ, we’re alive!”

The readings for Palm, or Passion, Sunday are the most dramatic of the whole year. They recount the entire story of Christ’s death from Holy Thursday through Good Friday. One of the unusual aspects of this week’s Gospel reading is that it is the one time during the year when all of us take part in proclaiming the Word of God by participating in the Gospel reading.

Let’s begin this Holy Week at the foot of the CROSS, and consider it the most sacred week for God and us by proactively following the three spiritual prescriptions of Holy Week: PRAYING everyday; FORGIVING each person and LOVING each other with a love that never dies! BE A SAINT... even just for one week!

Today’s reading from the Gospel of John tells of a woman who was caught in the sin of adultery, and then caught again--but this time in God’s mercy and love. The account provides not only a striking example of Jesus’ mercy, but also his call to conversion. He offers forgiveness and healing and a call to a new life as he tells her: “Go and sin no more.”

We are God’s masterpiece of love: his image and likeness. This is the reason why Jesus tells us a million times: “I love you. Remain in my love...” (JN 15:9) We are truly the reflection of God’s glory and beauty.

The story of the Prodigal Son is one of the most familiar of all of Jesus’ parables. However, when we look more closely at the historical setting for this story we see that, for Jesus’ original audience in the first century, it would have been a shocking story. Do you know why?

Like the “prodigal son,” let’s “return to God with all our heart.” Then the father will gift us the robe, ring, shoes and fatted calf. So, in today’s Eucharistic Meal, feel at home! No place like home! And let us CELEBRATE!

At this midway point in our Lenten journey, today’s readings show us the Exodus, the great journey of the Jewish people out of Egypt. What are we to think of this amazing drama as Moses defied the King of Egypt, risking everything to obey God and lead His people out of their slavery?

Today, as people of repentance, let us become the “gardeners” of the world. Let us cultivate in our hearts the core values of peace, hope, faith and generosity; then let us fertilize them with the virtues of love, compassion and mercy. That perhaps, the single honorable and desirable fruit is what we can become – the “visible signs of God’s love!”