One of the greatest dramas written by Shakespeare was Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. It tells us the story of a young man who is struggling with his life, with the world he lives in, with his family,  with himself and with the ghost of his father.  At one time he uses the famous line “To be or not to be, that is the question”.  Like Hamlet, we all go through life with a question,  and everything we do, everything we decide, our desires, our emotions, are our answer  to this question. In the gospels, many people come to Jesus with a question;  we have the woman at the well,  we have Martha and Mary at Bethany, and we have the first disciples. Jesus always gives an answer; he always gives an invitation,  he always gives a new vision on life. In our gospel today, we have a man called Nicodemus, he was a good man, higly respected, one of the Pharisees.  He comes to Jesus by night.  He calls him teacher.  It is a meeting with Jesus that will change his life forever.  He asks Jesus how he can be born again. Jesus invites him to go where he has never gone before.  He offers him a new life, a life in the spirit.  He tells him, that God so loved the world that he sent his only begotton son;  and he opens the door for Nicodemus to enter a life he could never have dreamed of.  We hear of Nicodemus twice again; at a certain point,  they are plotting against Jesus, and Nicodemus is there to defend him.  And finally at the burial, his mother and a few friends are left; Nicodemus is there with Joseph of Arimathea,  to make sure that Jesus has a worthy burial – Pope Benedict would say a royal burial.  Nicodemus understands what the kingdom of God means.  The man who was afraid to be seen with Jesus by daylight is now ready to risk everything for him.  The same Jesus who listened to Nicodemus’ question, listens to my question and to your question.  What do we want to ask him?  Jesus is waiting, and he will give the answer. Let us listen to Him

Mother’s Day: Today is very appropriate that we speak about self-giving love, because if there is one person in our lives who consistently fits this description, that person is our mothers.  Our mothers have made us laugh and made us cry, wiped out tears hugged us tight, watched us succeed seen us fail, cheered us on and kept us going strong, she was our housekeeper, our best friend, our teacher, our cook and bank manager. Today we say to all our mothers whether here on in heaven. Thank you for being there, thank you for caring and listening and helping us to find that peace and happiness we all yearn for.