When we visit a place of pilgrimage, such as a shrine, a church, or an Adoration chapel, we often find ourselves praying with unusual intensity. It is not the place that gives the grace of the SPIRIT to pray more intensely. The prayer intensity is also due to our identification with those places as being in the presence of God. Thus, we feel a certain closeness to the divine.

The Gospel presents two sisters, Martha and Mary, depicting two individuals who are different in their disposition, which affects their beliefs and relationship with God. The contrasting images of the two sisters also make us reflect on our disposition and attitude toward people and the Lord.

The Gospel this Sunday is famously known as the Parable of the Good Samaritan. The Samaritan saw the wounded stranger and treated him with mercy and compassion. The action of the Samaritan should be a way of life for every disciple, where everyone, especially those in need, is treated with kindness. “If we want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion.” Once we overcome our indifference to our neighbor, we come up against another challenge: doing something to help those in need.

Today, the Gospel gives us a peek at the life of the earliest Christian disciples. From the twelve intimate disciples, Jesus expanded by choosing 72 others and sending them in pairs. The large number represents a wide circle of collaboration and scope of operation, eventually throughout the world. The sending in twos is consistent with the Jewish practice that only upon the word of two witnesses is a truth established. Disciples are sent not in their name or about themselves, but in God and His Kingdom.

Coming back from a successful mission, Jesus asked the Apostles this question: Who do people say that the Son of Man is? Then, Jesus followed it with another question: But who do you say that I am? Peter answered with his famous confession of faith: You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. Everybody was stunned. Where did Peter get this answer? Before they could process everything that was happening, Jesus enlightened them and said, Blessed are you, Simon, son of Jonah. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly FATHER.

For more than three years, a missionary found himself imprisoned in China. So that, for one thousand and nineteen days, he was unable to receive the Eucharist. But through God’s blessings forty-one times, he was able to celebrate Mass and receive Jesus in the Holy Eucharist. How did this happen? One day during his captivity, he received a package from his mother, a bottle of Alka-Seltzer and a medicine bottle marked “pabulum vitae” (food of life). It took a little while before the missionary realized that his mother sent him a real treasure: between the Alka-Seltzer tablets were forty-one hosts, while the medicine was wine.

Christians are baptized using the formula: In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. And before receiving the sacrament, they respond to a three-part question when asked to confess the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit with the firm: I do. The faith of all Christians rests on the Trinity (CCC. 232). Today, we celebrate the most central mystery of our faith: God’s mystery, the Holy Trinity.

Pentecost is the coming of the Holy Spirit that sets our spirits free. It is the Holy Spirit that removes the costumes and the masks we wear, and brings out the real goodness and freedom in each one.

In His Farewell Address, right after the last supper, Jesus promised to send the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in His name. At this time, the Apostles did not understand everything that Jesus revealed to them. However, the events of the Last Supper, His Resurrection, and the various Easter moments or appearances of Jesus slowly reveal the many facets of His divine nature as the awaited Messiah. After appearing to them the last time at His Ascension, they now await the Paraklétos, the Holy Spirit.

Today is Ascension Sunday. At the first Ascension Moment, Jesus ascended into heaven and lifted the spirit of the disciples, their hopes, and dreams. He drew them to Himself and led them to a new level of life and discipleship with purpose and mission. He empowers them to become His witnesses and blesses and fills them with joy, praise, and courage. Along with the mission from the Lord are the power and protection of the Holy Spirit. Because, to be on a mission is learning to rely more on God’s power and less on our own.

At the second post-resurrection appearance of Jesus, He blesses the Apostles with the blessing of PEACE. The PEACE he gives is vastly different from the peace the world gives. At the Eucharist, we offer each other a sign of peace, using the same formula of Jesus' blessing just before receiving the Holy Communion. Knowing the frightened state of the Apostle, Jesus confers on them the gift of peace: Peace be with you. In giving them the gift of His peace, He assures them that He knows their fears and the troubled condition of their hearts, so He tells them: Do not be distressed or fearful.

Last week, I was with tens of thousands of people at the Vatican Square to witness firsthand when the white smoke came out of the Sistine Chapel. I would have wanted to live stream this momentous event, but suddenly, all networks stopped working just before the white smoke came out. At first, I said, Oh man! Was I the only one who got disconnected? But it worked well for me, because now I can focus on the events on the balcony where the new pope would appear.

My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me. One of the good qualities of sheep or lambs is their obedience and docility. Qualities that are slowly becoming rare in the present society, and instead advocate disobedience, defiance, and stubbornness. We ask ourselves: Are we sheep or lambs, obedient and meek, or are we wolves - uncaring, disobedient, and selfish?

Jesus appeared to His disciples, who had gone back to fishing. Still preoccupied with his guilt, Peter instigated everything. He probably thought that after three times denying Jesus, he had nothing to offer to Him. Together with the others, they felt that everything was gone, and they had to work and make a living. They are unsure if they need to return to being fishermen until the Lord makes them remember who they were and their mission.