EASTER VI SUNDAY HOMILY
ACTS 8:5-8, 14-17;1 PETER 3:15-18;Gospel: JOHN 14:15-21
Roald Amundsen, the great Norwegian explorer who discovered the South Pole took a homing pigeon with him on his trip. He told his wife that if he reached the end of the world, he would release the pigeon. His wife sat for hours, all alone in their big house looking up the sky for the promised pigeon. One day she looked out the bedroom window and saw the pigeon circling in the sky above. “He’s alive!” she cried, “My husband is alive!”
As Jesus gets ready to leave his disciples, he promises to send them the Paraclete who is often depicted as a dove. But there are enormous differences between the pigeon that Amundsen sent to his wife and the Paraclete that Jesus sent to his disciples. The pigeon is merely a sign that the traveller has reached his destination. Beyond that the pigeon can do nothing more. The Paraclete that Jesus sent to his disciples when he reached the Father at his ascension, on the other hand, means to them everything that Jesus himself meant for them while he was with them. Jesus was a Paraclete to the disciples, and he promised them “another” Paraclete: “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Paraclete” (John 14:16).
What is a Paraclete? Many words have been used to translate this word into English. They include: Advocate, Comforter, Counsellor, Helper. The Greek Paracletos literally means someone who is called to stand beside a client. In legal terms that would be your attorney. But a Paraclete is much more than an attorney. Probably the English word that we use today that most nearly captures the meaning of Paraclete is the word “coach.” The Paraclete is our coach, always by our side, to instruct and correct us when we make mistakes, to encourage and motivate us when we feel down, to challenge and inspire us to be the best we could, to defend us and fight for our rights when the judges are unfair to us. In short, the Paraclete means for us all that Jesus meant for the disciples.
Why do we need a Paraclete? For the same reason that athletes and sports people need coaches. No matter how good they are, sports people always need coaches. Even Tiger Woods has a coach. Left on our own, we are prone to mistakes and errors. Without God we can do nothing. In the 5th century AD there was a British thinker called Pelagius who taught that human beings have the natural ability to fulfill God’s commands if they so choose. The church condemned his teaching as a heresy, insisting that human beings always need God’s grace in order to please God. Pelagianism is the belief that we can fulfill our human destiny just by being ourselves, and that we do not need the grace of God that comes through faith, prayer or the sacraments. Many people today are Pelagians without even knowing it. Jesus tells us in today’s gospel that we all stand in constant need of divine help. We all need the divine Helper, the Holy Spirit who stands always by our side, the Paraclete.
A young Hindu and a young Christian were attending a seminar on Jesus’ sermon on the mount. Early on they became friends. One day the Hindu said to the Christian, I know how this sermon affected Gandhi and influenced his life, but I fear its teaching is too lofty for ordinary people. Near the end of the course, the Hindu found answer to his dilemma. The ethic was too lofty, but he had overlooked Jesus’ promise to send the Spirit, who would not only guide the people, but also empower them to live by it.
Holy Spirit is a witness to Jesus; he will continue the work of Jesus, mediating the divine presence to the disciples; he will remind them of what Jesus taught them, he will continue to interpret Jesus to them.
Here is a striking sentence from Ignatius of Laodicea about the Holy Spirit. “Without the Holy Spirit God is distant, Christ is merely an historical figure, the Gospel is a dead letter, the Church is just an organization, authority is domination, mission is propaganda, liturgy is only nostalgia, and the work of Christians is slave labor. But with the Holy Spirit, Christ is risen and present, the Gospel is a living force, the Church is a communion in the life of the Trinity, authority is a service that sets people free, mission is Pentecost, the liturgy is memory and anticipation, and the labor of Christians is divinised.” The indwelling Spirit of God nourishes us each time we receive the sacraments, each time we pray, each time we read the Bible.
How then do we receive this all-important Spirit Helper? It is by striving to live according to the law of Christ which is love of God and love of our neighbour. “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Paraclete to be with you forever” (John 14:15-16).
One of the most famous of all the English poets was a woman by the name of Elizabeth Barrett, an invalid for many years, her illness so severe that in the end, she was so weak that she could not even raise her head from her pillow. One day, she was visited by a man by the name of Robert Browning, who had come to meet the author of the poetry that had inspired him so. After his first visit, an amazing thing happened. He left Elizabeth with such joy and happiness that she was able to lift her head. On his second visit, she sat up in bed. And on the third, they eloped and were married. Today she is known as Elizabeth Barrett Browning, the greatest of all of the English love poets. Such is the power of love. Love has the power to heal. It has the power to make well. It has the power to lift drooping heads and fill empty hearts. No wonder people were healed just by coming into the presence of Jesus. Did you ever wonder about that - those stories in the New Testament that tell of someone who came to Jesus and with just a touch or with just a word was made well? There's no secret to that. If we believe that Jesus was God's love incarnate, God's love in the flesh, why shouldn't people be healed by just coming into contact with him? For love has the power to do that. Love has the power to heal, and that's what Christ can do.
The gospel reminds us that the Spirit causes Jesus to be truly present in the Church. The risen Jesus’ continued presence in the Holy Spirit gives meaning and purpose to all we are and all we do in his name.
This indwelling Spirit enables us to manifest our love of God by observing the commandments of Jesus, especially the commandment of love. This commandment includes commands to recognize Jesus in the neediest, in the poor, in the sick, in the marginalized and even in the criminal ("I was in prison..."), and to be agents of healing and reconciliation in a broken and divided world.
The purpose of the indwelling Holy Spirit is to help us grow towards maturity and wholeness. The Holy Spirit comes to our aid and gives us the strength to make difficult and painful decisions. God’s Spirit actually lives in us, and we hear the voice of the Spirit, counseling and guiding us in the way of truth. Let us open our minds to hear Him and to obey His promptings. Let’s prayerfully prepare ourselves for the feast of Pentecost that is coming in two weeks.
Monday, May 30, 2011
Saturday, May 28, 2011
VI- SUNDAY OF EASTER
EASTER VI SUNDAY HOMILY
ACTS 8:5-8, 14-17;1 PETER 3:15-18;Gospel: JOHN 14:15-21
Roald Amundsen, the great Norwegian explorer who discovered the South Pole took a homing pigeon with him on his trip. He told his wife that if he reached the end of the world, he would release the pigeon. His wife sat for hours, all alone in their big house looking up the sky for the promised pigeon. One day she looked out the bedroom window and saw the pigeon circling in the sky above. “He’s alive!” she cried, “My husband is alive!”
As Jesus gets ready to leave his disciples, he promises to send them the Paraclete who is often depicted as a dove. But there are enormous differences between the pigeon that Amundsen sent to his wife and the Paraclete that Jesus sent to his disciples. The pigeon is merely a sign that the traveller has reached his destination. Beyond that the pigeon can do nothing more. The Paraclete that Jesus sent to his disciples when he reached the Father at his ascension, on the other hand, means to them everything that Jesus himself meant for them while he was with them. Jesus was a Paraclete to the disciples, and he promised them “another” Paraclete: “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Paraclete” (John 14:16).
What is a Paraclete? Many words have been used to translate this word into English. They include: Advocate, Comforter, Counsellor, Helper. The Greek Paracletos literally means someone who is called to stand beside a client. In legal terms that would be your attorney. But a Paraclete is much more than an attorney. Probably the English word that we use today that most nearly captures the meaning of Paraclete is the word “coach.” The Paraclete is our coach, always by our side, to instruct and correct us when we make mistakes, to encourage and motivate us when we feel down, to challenge and inspire us to be the best we could, to defend us and fight for our rights when the judges are unfair to us. In short, the Paraclete means for us all that Jesus meant for the disciples.
Why do we need a Paraclete? For the same reason that athletes and sports people need coaches. No matter how good they are, sports people always need coaches. Even Tiger Woods has a coach. Left on our own, we are prone to mistakes and errors. Without God we can do nothing. In the 5th century AD there was a British thinker called Pelagius who taught that human beings have the natural ability to fulfill God’s commands if they so choose. The church condemned his teaching as a heresy, insisting that human beings always need God’s grace in order to please God. Pelagianism is the belief that we can fulfill our human destiny just by being ourselves, and that we do not need the grace of God that comes through faith, prayer or the sacraments. Many people today are Pelagians without even knowing it. Jesus tells us in today’s gospel that we all stand in constant need of divine help. We all need the divine Helper, the Holy Spirit who stands always by our side, the Paraclete.
Holy Spirit is a witness to Jesus; he will continue the work of Jesus, mediating the divine presence to the disciples; he will remind them of what Jesus taught them, he will continue to interpret Jesus to them.
Here is a striking sentence from Ignatius of Laodicea about the Holy Spirit. “Without the Holy Spirit God is distant, Christ is merely an historical figure, the Gospel is a dead letter, the Church is just an organization, authority is domination, mission is propaganda, liturgy is only nostalgia, and the work of Christians is slave labor. But with the Holy Spirit, Christ is risen and present, the Gospel is a living force, the Church is a communion in the life of the Trinity, authority is a service that sets people free, mission is Pentecost, the liturgy is memory and anticipation, and the labor of Christians is divinised.” The indwelling Spirit of God nourishes us each time we receive the sacraments, each time we pray, each time we read the Bible.
How then do we receive this all-important Spirit Helper? It is by striving to live according to the law of Christ which is love of God and love of our neighbour. “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Paraclete to be with you forever” (John 14:15-16).
One of the most famous of all the English poets was a woman by the name of Elizabeth Barrett, an invalid for many years, her illness so severe that in the end, she was so weak that she could not even raise her head from her pillow. One day, she was visited by a man by the name of Robert Browning, who had come to meet the author of the poetry that had inspired him so. After his first visit, an amazing thing happened. He left Elizabeth with such joy and happiness that she was able to lift her head. On his second visit, she sat up in bed. And on the third, they eloped and were married. Today she is known as Elizabeth Barrett Browning, the greatest of all of the English love poets. Such is the power of love. Love has the power to heal. It has the power to make well. It has the power to lift drooping heads and fill empty hearts. No wonder people were healed just by coming into the presence of Jesus. Did you ever wonder about that - those stories in the New Testament that tell of someone who came to Jesus and with just a touch or with just a word was made well? There's no secret to that. If we believe that Jesus was God's love incarnate, God's love in the flesh, why shouldn't people be healed by just coming into contact with him? For love has the power to do that. Love has the power to heal, and that's what Christ can do. But we must come into his presence through prayer, through Bible, through the Eucharist.
The gospel reminds us that the Spirit causes Jesus to be truly present in the Church. The risen Jesus’ continued presence in the Holy Spirit gives meaning and purpose to all we are and all we do in his name.
This indwelling Spirit enables us to manifest our love of God by observing the commandments of Jesus, especially the commandment of love. This commandment includes commands to recognize Jesus in the neediest, in the poor, in the sick, in the marginalized and even in the criminal ("I was in prison..."), and to be agents of healing and reconciliation in a broken and divided world.
The purpose of the indwelling Holy Spirit is to help us grow towards maturity and wholeness. The Holy Spirit comes to our aid and gives us the strength to make difficult and painful decisions. God’s Spirit actually lives in us, and we hear the voice of the Spirit, counseling and guiding us in the way of truth. Let us open our minds to hear Him and to obey His promptings.
ACTS 8:5-8, 14-17;1 PETER 3:15-18;Gospel: JOHN 14:15-21
Roald Amundsen, the great Norwegian explorer who discovered the South Pole took a homing pigeon with him on his trip. He told his wife that if he reached the end of the world, he would release the pigeon. His wife sat for hours, all alone in their big house looking up the sky for the promised pigeon. One day she looked out the bedroom window and saw the pigeon circling in the sky above. “He’s alive!” she cried, “My husband is alive!”
As Jesus gets ready to leave his disciples, he promises to send them the Paraclete who is often depicted as a dove. But there are enormous differences between the pigeon that Amundsen sent to his wife and the Paraclete that Jesus sent to his disciples. The pigeon is merely a sign that the traveller has reached his destination. Beyond that the pigeon can do nothing more. The Paraclete that Jesus sent to his disciples when he reached the Father at his ascension, on the other hand, means to them everything that Jesus himself meant for them while he was with them. Jesus was a Paraclete to the disciples, and he promised them “another” Paraclete: “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Paraclete” (John 14:16).
What is a Paraclete? Many words have been used to translate this word into English. They include: Advocate, Comforter, Counsellor, Helper. The Greek Paracletos literally means someone who is called to stand beside a client. In legal terms that would be your attorney. But a Paraclete is much more than an attorney. Probably the English word that we use today that most nearly captures the meaning of Paraclete is the word “coach.” The Paraclete is our coach, always by our side, to instruct and correct us when we make mistakes, to encourage and motivate us when we feel down, to challenge and inspire us to be the best we could, to defend us and fight for our rights when the judges are unfair to us. In short, the Paraclete means for us all that Jesus meant for the disciples.
Why do we need a Paraclete? For the same reason that athletes and sports people need coaches. No matter how good they are, sports people always need coaches. Even Tiger Woods has a coach. Left on our own, we are prone to mistakes and errors. Without God we can do nothing. In the 5th century AD there was a British thinker called Pelagius who taught that human beings have the natural ability to fulfill God’s commands if they so choose. The church condemned his teaching as a heresy, insisting that human beings always need God’s grace in order to please God. Pelagianism is the belief that we can fulfill our human destiny just by being ourselves, and that we do not need the grace of God that comes through faith, prayer or the sacraments. Many people today are Pelagians without even knowing it. Jesus tells us in today’s gospel that we all stand in constant need of divine help. We all need the divine Helper, the Holy Spirit who stands always by our side, the Paraclete.
Holy Spirit is a witness to Jesus; he will continue the work of Jesus, mediating the divine presence to the disciples; he will remind them of what Jesus taught them, he will continue to interpret Jesus to them.
Here is a striking sentence from Ignatius of Laodicea about the Holy Spirit. “Without the Holy Spirit God is distant, Christ is merely an historical figure, the Gospel is a dead letter, the Church is just an organization, authority is domination, mission is propaganda, liturgy is only nostalgia, and the work of Christians is slave labor. But with the Holy Spirit, Christ is risen and present, the Gospel is a living force, the Church is a communion in the life of the Trinity, authority is a service that sets people free, mission is Pentecost, the liturgy is memory and anticipation, and the labor of Christians is divinised.” The indwelling Spirit of God nourishes us each time we receive the sacraments, each time we pray, each time we read the Bible.
How then do we receive this all-important Spirit Helper? It is by striving to live according to the law of Christ which is love of God and love of our neighbour. “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Paraclete to be with you forever” (John 14:15-16).
One of the most famous of all the English poets was a woman by the name of Elizabeth Barrett, an invalid for many years, her illness so severe that in the end, she was so weak that she could not even raise her head from her pillow. One day, she was visited by a man by the name of Robert Browning, who had come to meet the author of the poetry that had inspired him so. After his first visit, an amazing thing happened. He left Elizabeth with such joy and happiness that she was able to lift her head. On his second visit, she sat up in bed. And on the third, they eloped and were married. Today she is known as Elizabeth Barrett Browning, the greatest of all of the English love poets. Such is the power of love. Love has the power to heal. It has the power to make well. It has the power to lift drooping heads and fill empty hearts. No wonder people were healed just by coming into the presence of Jesus. Did you ever wonder about that - those stories in the New Testament that tell of someone who came to Jesus and with just a touch or with just a word was made well? There's no secret to that. If we believe that Jesus was God's love incarnate, God's love in the flesh, why shouldn't people be healed by just coming into contact with him? For love has the power to do that. Love has the power to heal, and that's what Christ can do. But we must come into his presence through prayer, through Bible, through the Eucharist.
The gospel reminds us that the Spirit causes Jesus to be truly present in the Church. The risen Jesus’ continued presence in the Holy Spirit gives meaning and purpose to all we are and all we do in his name.
This indwelling Spirit enables us to manifest our love of God by observing the commandments of Jesus, especially the commandment of love. This commandment includes commands to recognize Jesus in the neediest, in the poor, in the sick, in the marginalized and even in the criminal ("I was in prison..."), and to be agents of healing and reconciliation in a broken and divided world.
The purpose of the indwelling Holy Spirit is to help us grow towards maturity and wholeness. The Holy Spirit comes to our aid and gives us the strength to make difficult and painful decisions. God’s Spirit actually lives in us, and we hear the voice of the Spirit, counseling and guiding us in the way of truth. Let us open our minds to hear Him and to obey His promptings.
Monday, May 23, 2011
Vth Sunday of Easter
EASTER V SUNDAY HOMILY
Readings ACTS 6:1-7;1 PETER 2:4-9;JOHN 14:1-12
Five-year old Johnny is in the kitchen with his mother who is preparing supper. She asks him to go to the basement and fetch her a can of tomato soup. “It’s dark in there and I’m scared,” replies Johnny. The mother tries to convince him it is safe to go alone to the basement, but no success. Finally she says “It’s all right, Johnny, Jesus will be in there with you.” Johnny walks hesitantly to the door and slowly opens it. He peeps inside, sees that it is still dark in there, and starts to go back. Then, suddenly he gets an idea. He opens the basement door a little and yells: “Jesus, if you’re in there, would you hand me a can of tomato soup, please?”
Johnny’s fear is similar to the fear of the disciples as the time draws near for Jesus to leave them. They are afraid to face the world alone. In today’s gospel reading, Jesus does pretty much what Johnny’s mother tried to do, namely, convince the disciples that there is no need to be afraid, even when he is not there with them.
It is only because Christ has given us himself, his friendship, his own life, that he can give us true peace of heart. At the Last Supper he commanded his Apostles, "Do not let your hearts be troubled," Jesus can say it - for him it is not empty advice or wishful thinking. Jesus has suffered for us. Jesus has died for us. Jesus has paid the price of our sins. Jesus has gone to prepare us a place in his Father's house, a place that no one can take away or destroy. If we stay close to him, what do we have to fear, what can trouble us? St Paul wrote: "With God on our side, who can be against us? Since God did not spare his own Son... we may be certain, after such a gift, that he will not refuse anything he can give..." (Romans 8:31-33). It is hard for us to accept this wonderful truth. But true it is. The whole universe is ours, because Christ is ours. In the midst of troubles, temptations, sicknesses, failures, and even our sins, Christ is always by our side, loving, guiding, and upholding us. As we accept this truth, we begin to experience true peace of heart, the kind that doesn't depend on moods and circumstances, the kind that gives us the strength and joy of the martyrs, who sang hymns as they were burnt at the stake.
When St. John Chrysostom was summoned before the Roman emperor Arcadius and threatened with banishment, he replied, “You cannot banish me, for the world is my Father’s house.” “Then I will kill you,” exclaimed the emperor angrily. “No, you cannot,” retorted Chrysostom, “because my life is hidden with Christ in God.” “Your treasures shall be confiscated,” the emperor replied grimly. “Sir, you can’t do that because my treasures are in heaven as my heart is there.” “I will drive you from your people and you shall have no friends left,” threatened the emperor. “That you cannot do either, Sir, for I have a Friend in heaven who has said, ‘I will never leave you or forsake you.’
In his suffering and death Jesus showed us the way to the Father. By his resurrection he is able to be with us always and in all circumstances.
'I am the Way' – Christ is the road. A road is a journey. We are never the same at the end of a journey as we were at the beginning. It changes us – it is a pilgrimage.
'I am the Truth' – the Truth that meets us on the road. We Christians have not 'got' the Truth. The Truth has got us. Our encounter with Truth is first of all a journey of change in us.
'I am the Life' – this journey of Truth gives us life. It is never oppressive or destructive. But it is also a journey which lasts all our lives – with the ups and downs that is bound to involve. Encountering the Truth is being changed by it . And it will put us into the journey to freedom. And so Christ is the Truth in whom we can be confident – because we have dared to let him change us.
When a Person is a Way for us to get to the Father and everlasting life, that Way is found only in our relationship with Him, that is, in our union with Him in mind and heart, in will and action. But Jesus’ sure way to God is the narrow way of the cross. It is the least-traveled way of humble, loving, self-giving and committed service to others. To follow the Way of Jesus is to become a special kind of person, a person whose whole being reflects the Truth and the Life that Jesus reveals to us. It is to be a person of Truth and Life who is totally identified with the vision and the values of Jesus.
Truth here is that complete integrity and harmony which Jesus himself revealed, not only in what he said and did, but in the total manifestation of his life and person. Jesus is the truth, the word of God.
Jesus is the Life. As God, Jesus has eternal life in himself. In addition, he is the one who gives us his life-giving Holy Spirit. Jesus is the Life also in the sense that he allows us to share in God’s Life through the sacraments. Christ rose from the dead for two reasons: first, to give us eternal life; second, to make us fully alive now. His Spirit animates every moment of our lives. To be fully alive is to be in God. Thomas a Kempis wrote, "Without the Way, there is no going. Without the Truth, there is no knowing. Without the Life, there is no living."
Jesus asked Philip: “Have I been with you all this time and you still do not know me?” He is asking us the same question: “Have I been with you all this time – in the Mass, in the sacraments, in the Bible in the worshipping community – and you still do not know me?” If we really believe that Jesus is the Way and the Truth and the Life, then we will find fresh and creative ways to keep alive his memory. Jesus asks us to keep alive his memory by reading and praying the Scriptures, by gathering in Jesus’ name and celebrating the Eucharist “in memory” of him, by handing on the great tradition of Christian faith and by living according to his wise teachings. God is always with us. God is always living in us. Find the true way to life, that is Jesus Christ.
Readings ACTS 6:1-7;1 PETER 2:4-9;JOHN 14:1-12
Five-year old Johnny is in the kitchen with his mother who is preparing supper. She asks him to go to the basement and fetch her a can of tomato soup. “It’s dark in there and I’m scared,” replies Johnny. The mother tries to convince him it is safe to go alone to the basement, but no success. Finally she says “It’s all right, Johnny, Jesus will be in there with you.” Johnny walks hesitantly to the door and slowly opens it. He peeps inside, sees that it is still dark in there, and starts to go back. Then, suddenly he gets an idea. He opens the basement door a little and yells: “Jesus, if you’re in there, would you hand me a can of tomato soup, please?”
Johnny’s fear is similar to the fear of the disciples as the time draws near for Jesus to leave them. They are afraid to face the world alone. In today’s gospel reading, Jesus does pretty much what Johnny’s mother tried to do, namely, convince the disciples that there is no need to be afraid, even when he is not there with them.
It is only because Christ has given us himself, his friendship, his own life, that he can give us true peace of heart. At the Last Supper he commanded his Apostles, "Do not let your hearts be troubled," Jesus can say it - for him it is not empty advice or wishful thinking. Jesus has suffered for us. Jesus has died for us. Jesus has paid the price of our sins. Jesus has gone to prepare us a place in his Father's house, a place that no one can take away or destroy. If we stay close to him, what do we have to fear, what can trouble us? St Paul wrote: "With God on our side, who can be against us? Since God did not spare his own Son... we may be certain, after such a gift, that he will not refuse anything he can give..." (Romans 8:31-33). It is hard for us to accept this wonderful truth. But true it is. The whole universe is ours, because Christ is ours. In the midst of troubles, temptations, sicknesses, failures, and even our sins, Christ is always by our side, loving, guiding, and upholding us. As we accept this truth, we begin to experience true peace of heart, the kind that doesn't depend on moods and circumstances, the kind that gives us the strength and joy of the martyrs, who sang hymns as they were burnt at the stake.
When St. John Chrysostom was summoned before the Roman emperor Arcadius and threatened with banishment, he replied, “You cannot banish me, for the world is my Father’s house.” “Then I will kill you,” exclaimed the emperor angrily. “No, you cannot,” retorted Chrysostom, “because my life is hidden with Christ in God.” “Your treasures shall be confiscated,” the emperor replied grimly. “Sir, you can’t do that because my treasures are in heaven as my heart is there.” “I will drive you from your people and you shall have no friends left,” threatened the emperor. “That you cannot do either, Sir, for I have a Friend in heaven who has said, ‘I will never leave you or forsake you.’
In his suffering and death Jesus showed us the way to the Father. By his resurrection he is able to be with us always and in all circumstances.
'I am the Way' – Christ is the road. A road is a journey. We are never the same at the end of a journey as we were at the beginning. It changes us – it is a pilgrimage.
'I am the Truth' – the Truth that meets us on the road. We Christians have not 'got' the Truth. The Truth has got us. Our encounter with Truth is first of all a journey of change in us.
'I am the Life' – this journey of Truth gives us life. It is never oppressive or destructive. But it is also a journey which lasts all our lives – with the ups and downs that is bound to involve. Encountering the Truth is being changed by it . And it will put us into the journey to freedom. And so Christ is the Truth in whom we can be confident – because we have dared to let him change us.
When a Person is a Way for us to get to the Father and everlasting life, that Way is found only in our relationship with Him, that is, in our union with Him in mind and heart, in will and action. But Jesus’ sure way to God is the narrow way of the cross. It is the least-traveled way of humble, loving, self-giving and committed service to others. To follow the Way of Jesus is to become a special kind of person, a person whose whole being reflects the Truth and the Life that Jesus reveals to us. It is to be a person of Truth and Life who is totally identified with the vision and the values of Jesus.
Truth here is that complete integrity and harmony which Jesus himself revealed, not only in what he said and did, but in the total manifestation of his life and person. Jesus is the truth, the word of God.
Jesus is the Life. As God, Jesus has eternal life in himself. In addition, he is the one who gives us his life-giving Holy Spirit. Jesus is the Life also in the sense that he allows us to share in God’s Life through the sacraments. Christ rose from the dead for two reasons: first, to give us eternal life; second, to make us fully alive now. His Spirit animates every moment of our lives. To be fully alive is to be in God. Thomas a Kempis wrote, "Without the Way, there is no going. Without the Truth, there is no knowing. Without the Life, there is no living."
Jesus asked Philip: “Have I been with you all this time and you still do not know me?” He is asking us the same question: “Have I been with you all this time – in the Mass, in the sacraments, in the Bible in the worshipping community – and you still do not know me?” If we really believe that Jesus is the Way and the Truth and the Life, then we will find fresh and creative ways to keep alive his memory. Jesus asks us to keep alive his memory by reading and praying the Scriptures, by gathering in Jesus’ name and celebrating the Eucharist “in memory” of him, by handing on the great tradition of Christian faith and by living according to his wise teachings. God is always with us. God is always living in us. Find the true way to life, that is Jesus Christ.
Friday, April 29, 2011
DIVINE MERCY SUNDAY
DIVINE MERCY SUNDAY : ACTS 5:12-16;: REV: 1:9-11, 12-13,17-19;: JN 20:19-31
A TIME magazine issue in 1984 presented a startling cover. It pictured a prison cell where two men sat on metal folding chairs, facing each other, up close and personal. They spoke quietly so as to keep others from hearing the conversation. The young man was Mehmet Ali Agca, the pope’s attempted assassin; the other man was Pope John Paul II, the intended victim. The pope held the hand that had held the gun and shot the bullet which tore into the pope’s body. John Paul wanted this scene to be shown around a world filled with nuclear arsenals and unforgiving hatreds. This was a living icon of mercy. The pope had been preaching forgiveness and reconciliation constantly. His deed with Ali Agca spoke a thousand words. He embraced his enemy and pardoned him. At the end of their 20-minute meeting, Ali Agca raised the pope’s hand to his forehead as a sign of respect. John Paul shook Ali Agca’s hand tenderly. When the pope left the cell he said, "I spoke to him as a brother whom I have pardoned and who has my complete trust." This is an example of God’s divine mercy, the same divine mercy to which St. Faustina bore obedient witness.
Today is divine mercy Sunday. And Pope John Paul II, the second-longest reigning pontiff in the history of the Catholic church after Pius IX, and a staunch promoter of Divine Mercy has been beatified; called Blessed today.
The readings for this Sunday are about mercy, trust and the forgiveness of sins. The opening prayer addresses the Father as "God of Mercy." In the Psalm we repeat several times, "His mercy endures forever." "Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; for His mercy endures forever!" (Ps 118).
Besides mentioning the word, our readings illustrate mercy in action. How does God reveal His mercy? He does so, first and foremost, by sending His only-begotten Son to become our Savior and Lord by his suffering, death and resurrection. Divine mercy is given to us in the celebration of the sacraments. In today’s gospel, as we recall Jesus’ appearance to the disciples on that first Easter evening, we are vividly reminded of the Sacrament of Reconciliation – the power to forgive sins which Our Lord gave to his apostles. "Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained" (Jn 20-23).
On April 30, 2000, Pope John Paul II canonized the Polish nun who had received from Christ the amazing revelations of the Divine Mercy in the early years of the twentieth century, Saint Mary Faustina Kowalska. During that ceremony, the pope fulfilled one of the requests that Christ had made through those revelations: that the entire Church reserve the Second Sunday of the Easter Season to honor and commemorate God's infinite mercy.
Where do we see this mercy revealed in today's Readings?
First of all, we see it in the reaction Christ shows to those men, his chosen Apostles, who had abandoned him just two nights before. They had abandoned Jesus in his most difficult hour, but Jesus wasn't going to abandon them. He passes through the locked doors, passes through their fears, regret, and guilt, and appears to them. He hasn't given up on them. He brings them his peace. And he reaffirms his confidence in them by reaffirming their mission: "As the Father has sent me, so I send you." We also see God's mercy in Christ's reaction to the men who had crucified him. Does he crush them in revenge? No. Instead, he sends out his Apostles to tell them - and to tell the whole sinful world, the world that had crucified its God - that they can be redeemed, that God has not condemned them: "As the Father has sent me, so I send you." And then, just to make sure that the Church is fully armed to communicate this message, Jesus gives the ultimate revelation of God's mercy - he delegates to his Apostles his divine power to forgive sins: "Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained."
This is the explicit institution of the sacrament of Confession, the sacrament in which the limitless ocean of God's mercy overwhelms the puny ocean of our misery. It was the ultimate revelation of the Divine Mercy. In the revelations of his Divine Mercy, Jesus asked St Faustina to commission a painting. The painting would show Jesus standing, dressed in a white alb, with his right hand raised in blessing and his left hand opening his heart.
Out of his heart there were to be streaming two beams of light - one white and the other red. He explained what those rays symbolized:
The two rays denote Blood and Water. The pale ray stands for the Water which makes souls righteous [baptism]. The red ray stands for the Blood which is the life of souls [the Eucharist]. These two rays issued forth from the depths of My tender mercy when My agonized Heart was opened by a lance on the Cross ... Happy is the one who will dwell in their shelter, for the just hand of God shall not lay hold of him (Diary, 299).
Today Jesus is reminding us of the power and abundance of his mercy.
If our King and God has treated us with such overwhelming goodness, giving us much more than we deserve, we should strive to do the same for those around us. There are three simple ways we can do this, three ways we activate God's grace and be Christ's true followers by making ourselves into messengers of God's mercy. First, we can forgive people who offend, insult, or harm us, even when we think they don't deserve to be forgiven - just as Christ does every time we come to confession. Second, we can give others a gift, an opportunity, or a kindness, even when we think they have done nothing to deserve one - just as Christ will do for us today with Holy Communion. Third, we can patiently bear with the nerve-wracking foibles of those around us - just as Christ does with each one of us every single moment of every single day.
One way the Church celebrates God’s mercy throughout the year is through the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Finding time for Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament is another good way to receive Divine Mercy. The gospel command, "Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful," demands that we show mercy to our fellow human beings always and everywhere.
A priest was forced, by a traffic police, to pull over for speeding. As the cop was about to write the ticket, the priest said to him, "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy." The cop handed the priest the ticket, and said, "Go, and sin no more."
We radiate God's mercy to others by our actions, our words, and our prayers. It is mainly through the corporal and spiritual works of mercy that we practice mercy in our daily lives and become eligible for God’s merciful judgment.
The more we become like Christ in his mercy, through the power of his grace, the more we will experience the "indescribable and glorious joy" that he died to win for us. Today, as Christ feeds us once again from the very fountain of mercy, Holy Communion, let's ask him for the grace to be living images, living paintings, of his mercy in this world so wounded by sin.
A TIME magazine issue in 1984 presented a startling cover. It pictured a prison cell where two men sat on metal folding chairs, facing each other, up close and personal. They spoke quietly so as to keep others from hearing the conversation. The young man was Mehmet Ali Agca, the pope’s attempted assassin; the other man was Pope John Paul II, the intended victim. The pope held the hand that had held the gun and shot the bullet which tore into the pope’s body. John Paul wanted this scene to be shown around a world filled with nuclear arsenals and unforgiving hatreds. This was a living icon of mercy. The pope had been preaching forgiveness and reconciliation constantly. His deed with Ali Agca spoke a thousand words. He embraced his enemy and pardoned him. At the end of their 20-minute meeting, Ali Agca raised the pope’s hand to his forehead as a sign of respect. John Paul shook Ali Agca’s hand tenderly. When the pope left the cell he said, "I spoke to him as a brother whom I have pardoned and who has my complete trust." This is an example of God’s divine mercy, the same divine mercy to which St. Faustina bore obedient witness.
Today is divine mercy Sunday. And Pope John Paul II, the second-longest reigning pontiff in the history of the Catholic church after Pius IX, and a staunch promoter of Divine Mercy has been beatified; called Blessed today.
The readings for this Sunday are about mercy, trust and the forgiveness of sins. The opening prayer addresses the Father as "God of Mercy." In the Psalm we repeat several times, "His mercy endures forever." "Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; for His mercy endures forever!" (Ps 118).
Besides mentioning the word, our readings illustrate mercy in action. How does God reveal His mercy? He does so, first and foremost, by sending His only-begotten Son to become our Savior and Lord by his suffering, death and resurrection. Divine mercy is given to us in the celebration of the sacraments. In today’s gospel, as we recall Jesus’ appearance to the disciples on that first Easter evening, we are vividly reminded of the Sacrament of Reconciliation – the power to forgive sins which Our Lord gave to his apostles. "Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained" (Jn 20-23).
On April 30, 2000, Pope John Paul II canonized the Polish nun who had received from Christ the amazing revelations of the Divine Mercy in the early years of the twentieth century, Saint Mary Faustina Kowalska. During that ceremony, the pope fulfilled one of the requests that Christ had made through those revelations: that the entire Church reserve the Second Sunday of the Easter Season to honor and commemorate God's infinite mercy.
Where do we see this mercy revealed in today's Readings?
First of all, we see it in the reaction Christ shows to those men, his chosen Apostles, who had abandoned him just two nights before. They had abandoned Jesus in his most difficult hour, but Jesus wasn't going to abandon them. He passes through the locked doors, passes through their fears, regret, and guilt, and appears to them. He hasn't given up on them. He brings them his peace. And he reaffirms his confidence in them by reaffirming their mission: "As the Father has sent me, so I send you." We also see God's mercy in Christ's reaction to the men who had crucified him. Does he crush them in revenge? No. Instead, he sends out his Apostles to tell them - and to tell the whole sinful world, the world that had crucified its God - that they can be redeemed, that God has not condemned them: "As the Father has sent me, so I send you." And then, just to make sure that the Church is fully armed to communicate this message, Jesus gives the ultimate revelation of God's mercy - he delegates to his Apostles his divine power to forgive sins: "Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained."
This is the explicit institution of the sacrament of Confession, the sacrament in which the limitless ocean of God's mercy overwhelms the puny ocean of our misery. It was the ultimate revelation of the Divine Mercy. In the revelations of his Divine Mercy, Jesus asked St Faustina to commission a painting. The painting would show Jesus standing, dressed in a white alb, with his right hand raised in blessing and his left hand opening his heart.
Out of his heart there were to be streaming two beams of light - one white and the other red. He explained what those rays symbolized:
The two rays denote Blood and Water. The pale ray stands for the Water which makes souls righteous [baptism]. The red ray stands for the Blood which is the life of souls [the Eucharist]. These two rays issued forth from the depths of My tender mercy when My agonized Heart was opened by a lance on the Cross ... Happy is the one who will dwell in their shelter, for the just hand of God shall not lay hold of him (Diary, 299).
Today Jesus is reminding us of the power and abundance of his mercy.
If our King and God has treated us with such overwhelming goodness, giving us much more than we deserve, we should strive to do the same for those around us. There are three simple ways we can do this, three ways we activate God's grace and be Christ's true followers by making ourselves into messengers of God's mercy. First, we can forgive people who offend, insult, or harm us, even when we think they don't deserve to be forgiven - just as Christ does every time we come to confession. Second, we can give others a gift, an opportunity, or a kindness, even when we think they have done nothing to deserve one - just as Christ will do for us today with Holy Communion. Third, we can patiently bear with the nerve-wracking foibles of those around us - just as Christ does with each one of us every single moment of every single day.
One way the Church celebrates God’s mercy throughout the year is through the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Finding time for Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament is another good way to receive Divine Mercy. The gospel command, "Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful," demands that we show mercy to our fellow human beings always and everywhere.
A priest was forced, by a traffic police, to pull over for speeding. As the cop was about to write the ticket, the priest said to him, "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy." The cop handed the priest the ticket, and said, "Go, and sin no more."
We radiate God's mercy to others by our actions, our words, and our prayers. It is mainly through the corporal and spiritual works of mercy that we practice mercy in our daily lives and become eligible for God’s merciful judgment.
The more we become like Christ in his mercy, through the power of his grace, the more we will experience the "indescribable and glorious joy" that he died to win for us. Today, as Christ feeds us once again from the very fountain of mercy, Holy Communion, let's ask him for the grace to be living images, living paintings, of his mercy in this world so wounded by sin.
Sunday, April 24, 2011
EASTER -2011
The boys and girls in Mrs. Stephens’ fourth grade Sunday school class entered the room and quickly found their seats on Easter Sunday. Mrs. Stephens wanted to help her students understand that there is so much more to the Easter holiday than new clothes, chocolate bunnies and egg hunts. It is more than family gatherings and tables filled with luscious food. Easter is about life. Easter celebrates the certainty of Jesus’ death on the cross, the fact that He was buried, and the reality that He came out of that burial tomb to conquer death – so that we can have life - eternal life with Jesus in Heaven and abundant life with Him here and now.
Mrs. Stephens came up with a plan. After sharing the Bible story of Jesus’ resurrection, she gave each one of her students an empty plastic egg and said, “We are going to take a walk outside and I want each one of you to find one sign of life and put it in your plastic egg.” As the children filed out of the room, Mrs. Stephens noticed Danny, a little Down syndrome boy who had been coming to her class for some time. His bright smile and sunny disposition had immediately won her heart. In fact, when it came to Danny, she often thought he had taught her so much more about the unconditional love of God and the joy of simply being a child of God than she could ever teach him. When she heard the other children make fun of him, it broke her heart. She always corrected the children and tried to help them see just how special Danny was, but Danny seemed oblivious to their hurtful words and thought of each child as his “buddy.”
The children soon returned from their walk, depositing their eggs on the teacher’s desk as they made their way to their seats. Inside one student's egg was a butterfly. In another was an ant. Others had collected flowers, twigs, blades of grass and leaves to fill their eggs. But one egg had nothing in it. Everyone knew whose egg it was. Mrs. Stephens silenced the giggles with a look of warning. When she asked Danny why he had not put anything inside his egg to show signs of life, his face broke into a huge grin as he responded, "Because the tomb was empty." Danny understood the profound truth of Easter. The empty tomb is the ultimate sign of life and a miracle like none other.
Jesus Christ had risen from the dead. The women knew Jesus was dead. Some of them had seen Him die. And they were sure His body was in the tomb; it had been there since Friday. But when they went to anoint the body on that Sunday morning, the tomb was empty!
When Mary of Magdela sees the empty tomb she thinks the natural thing. She makes up a reasonable story which makes it somehow understandable. Jesus’ body has been stolen. Looking at the supposed gardener she asks “If you have taken him away tell me where you put him.” It is the quite natural theory any one would make up. Where else could a dead body go if not found in the tomb ? Even the apostles did think in the same line. What would you or me would think if we were in Mary’s place ? The enemies of Jesus too spread the same story around: when the soldiers were asleep the disciples stole the body away. Now the next question is: Is it hard to search for a dead body missing in a small area like Jerusalem ? How can some one carry it to any distant place without any one noticing it ? Is it too small a thing that any one can tuck it in the pocket and sneak away ? Would the Chief priests leave any stone unturned to disprove the claim of the Christians that Jesus is risen by searching out the purported stolen body of Jesus ? Would you think that they allow their Jewish religion salvaged by the same person they tried to eliminate for the sake of protecting their religion ? No way.
Mary Magdelene kept looking further away than Jesus was. She kept looking for a dead body, an object; but Jesus was alive and standing beside her. The Risen Christ is nearer to us than any object could ever be. "Why are you seeking the living among the dead?" (Luke 24:5) asks the angel ? If you look for only a historical Jesus, you are lost. He is alive and present everywhere. SO look for him with a new kind of eyes. So the resurrection is seeing our world in a new way.
Christians through the centuries have focused a lot of reflection on that large stone laid to the mouth of the tomb. Its removal was a sign of the resurrection, not a condition for it. Bede the Venerable wrote, “The angel rolled back the stone not to throw open a way for our Lord to come forth, but to provide evidence to people that he had already come forth.” He could present himself to the disciples in the locked house. And so, that stone could not have held him prisoner in the tomb. But we should not imagine that material stones are the hardest and heaviest things in the world. Thoughts, which are made of nothing at all, could be heavier and harder than any stone. We are able to seal our minds and hearts with impenetrable stones of prejudice, hatred and fear. "To behold the resurrection, the stone must first be rolled away from our hearts," said Peter Chrysologus.
What makes Christianity absolutely unique is the resurrection. In the Resurrection, reality becomes more wonderful than myth. Only the reality of the Resurrection can explain the reality of the history of the Church: A few weak, non-influential, and uneducated fishermen from Galilee, frightened out of their wits when Jesus was arrested and executed, suddenly become world travelers, phenomenally successful preachers, and valiant martyrs Would you think some one would make a sacrifice of their own lives for something that they knew was patently untrue ? Of course not. And the Church they spread continues to spread after they die, holding fast to the exact same doctrine they preached, century after century, in nation after nation. Only the abiding presence of the Lord can explain this, and only the resurrection explains the abiding presence of the Lord. This is what makes us, as Christians different.
As Christians, we must be prepared to demonstrate that Christ's resurrection was an event that occurred in time and space - that it was, in reality, historical and not mythological ( 2 Peter 1:16). The importance of this event cannot be minimized, for Jesus Himself proclaimed that His resurrection would prove His power over death (John 2:18-22). Destroy this temple and I will raise it up in three days. Not only that, but Christ's resurrection is the very heart of the gospel. St. Paul writes: “If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain; and your faith is in vain” (I Cor 15: 14). “Jesus is Lord, he is risen” (Rom 10: 9) was the central theme of the kerygma (or 'preaching'), of the apostles. The founder of no other religion has an empty tomb as Jesus has. Easter is the guarantee of our own resurrection. Jesus assured Martha at the tomb of Lazarus: “I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me will live even though he dies” (Jn 11:25-26). 3) Easter is a feast which gives us hope and encouragement in this world of pain, sorrows and tears. It reminds us that life is worth living. It is our belief in the real presence of the risen Jesus that gives meaning to our personal as well as our communal prayer, strength to fight against temptations and freedom from unnecessary worries and fears.
Christ's resurrection is not just a nice idea; it is the power of eternal life at work in us. The Easter Message means that God can turn prostitutes like Magdalene into disciples and broken reeds like Simon Peter into rocks. (Fulton Sheen). Let’s not preach a Christianity without the resurrection. Let’s prove to others that we are risen with Christ.
Let us remember that each time we try to practice Christian charity, mercy and forgiveness and each time we fight against temptations we are sharing in the resurrection of Jesus.
Mrs. Stephens came up with a plan. After sharing the Bible story of Jesus’ resurrection, she gave each one of her students an empty plastic egg and said, “We are going to take a walk outside and I want each one of you to find one sign of life and put it in your plastic egg.” As the children filed out of the room, Mrs. Stephens noticed Danny, a little Down syndrome boy who had been coming to her class for some time. His bright smile and sunny disposition had immediately won her heart. In fact, when it came to Danny, she often thought he had taught her so much more about the unconditional love of God and the joy of simply being a child of God than she could ever teach him. When she heard the other children make fun of him, it broke her heart. She always corrected the children and tried to help them see just how special Danny was, but Danny seemed oblivious to their hurtful words and thought of each child as his “buddy.”
The children soon returned from their walk, depositing their eggs on the teacher’s desk as they made their way to their seats. Inside one student's egg was a butterfly. In another was an ant. Others had collected flowers, twigs, blades of grass and leaves to fill their eggs. But one egg had nothing in it. Everyone knew whose egg it was. Mrs. Stephens silenced the giggles with a look of warning. When she asked Danny why he had not put anything inside his egg to show signs of life, his face broke into a huge grin as he responded, "Because the tomb was empty." Danny understood the profound truth of Easter. The empty tomb is the ultimate sign of life and a miracle like none other.
Jesus Christ had risen from the dead. The women knew Jesus was dead. Some of them had seen Him die. And they were sure His body was in the tomb; it had been there since Friday. But when they went to anoint the body on that Sunday morning, the tomb was empty!
When Mary of Magdela sees the empty tomb she thinks the natural thing. She makes up a reasonable story which makes it somehow understandable. Jesus’ body has been stolen. Looking at the supposed gardener she asks “If you have taken him away tell me where you put him.” It is the quite natural theory any one would make up. Where else could a dead body go if not found in the tomb ? Even the apostles did think in the same line. What would you or me would think if we were in Mary’s place ? The enemies of Jesus too spread the same story around: when the soldiers were asleep the disciples stole the body away. Now the next question is: Is it hard to search for a dead body missing in a small area like Jerusalem ? How can some one carry it to any distant place without any one noticing it ? Is it too small a thing that any one can tuck it in the pocket and sneak away ? Would the Chief priests leave any stone unturned to disprove the claim of the Christians that Jesus is risen by searching out the purported stolen body of Jesus ? Would you think that they allow their Jewish religion salvaged by the same person they tried to eliminate for the sake of protecting their religion ? No way.
Mary Magdelene kept looking further away than Jesus was. She kept looking for a dead body, an object; but Jesus was alive and standing beside her. The Risen Christ is nearer to us than any object could ever be. "Why are you seeking the living among the dead?" (Luke 24:5) asks the angel ? If you look for only a historical Jesus, you are lost. He is alive and present everywhere. SO look for him with a new kind of eyes. So the resurrection is seeing our world in a new way.
Christians through the centuries have focused a lot of reflection on that large stone laid to the mouth of the tomb. Its removal was a sign of the resurrection, not a condition for it. Bede the Venerable wrote, “The angel rolled back the stone not to throw open a way for our Lord to come forth, but to provide evidence to people that he had already come forth.” He could present himself to the disciples in the locked house. And so, that stone could not have held him prisoner in the tomb. But we should not imagine that material stones are the hardest and heaviest things in the world. Thoughts, which are made of nothing at all, could be heavier and harder than any stone. We are able to seal our minds and hearts with impenetrable stones of prejudice, hatred and fear. "To behold the resurrection, the stone must first be rolled away from our hearts," said Peter Chrysologus.
What makes Christianity absolutely unique is the resurrection. In the Resurrection, reality becomes more wonderful than myth. Only the reality of the Resurrection can explain the reality of the history of the Church: A few weak, non-influential, and uneducated fishermen from Galilee, frightened out of their wits when Jesus was arrested and executed, suddenly become world travelers, phenomenally successful preachers, and valiant martyrs Would you think some one would make a sacrifice of their own lives for something that they knew was patently untrue ? Of course not. And the Church they spread continues to spread after they die, holding fast to the exact same doctrine they preached, century after century, in nation after nation. Only the abiding presence of the Lord can explain this, and only the resurrection explains the abiding presence of the Lord. This is what makes us, as Christians different.
As Christians, we must be prepared to demonstrate that Christ's resurrection was an event that occurred in time and space - that it was, in reality, historical and not mythological ( 2 Peter 1:16). The importance of this event cannot be minimized, for Jesus Himself proclaimed that His resurrection would prove His power over death (John 2:18-22). Destroy this temple and I will raise it up in three days. Not only that, but Christ's resurrection is the very heart of the gospel. St. Paul writes: “If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain; and your faith is in vain” (I Cor 15: 14). “Jesus is Lord, he is risen” (Rom 10: 9) was the central theme of the kerygma (or 'preaching'), of the apostles. The founder of no other religion has an empty tomb as Jesus has. Easter is the guarantee of our own resurrection. Jesus assured Martha at the tomb of Lazarus: “I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me will live even though he dies” (Jn 11:25-26). 3) Easter is a feast which gives us hope and encouragement in this world of pain, sorrows and tears. It reminds us that life is worth living. It is our belief in the real presence of the risen Jesus that gives meaning to our personal as well as our communal prayer, strength to fight against temptations and freedom from unnecessary worries and fears.
Christ's resurrection is not just a nice idea; it is the power of eternal life at work in us. The Easter Message means that God can turn prostitutes like Magdalene into disciples and broken reeds like Simon Peter into rocks. (Fulton Sheen). Let’s not preach a Christianity without the resurrection. Let’s prove to others that we are risen with Christ.
Let us remember that each time we try to practice Christian charity, mercy and forgiveness and each time we fight against temptations we are sharing in the resurrection of Jesus.
Friday, April 22, 2011
GOOD FRIDAY
A man was suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. His family watched in pain as he lost different aspects of his memory. First, he began forgetting ordinary things like how to turn on the shower or to use a toaster. Soon he could no longer remember people who were his old friends or close work associates. Then he began to forget even who his children were and finally his wife. As the man’s life was drawing to an end, his family gathered around the sick bed. He knew none of them. His wife placed a small crucifix in his hand. At first he seemed puzzled, then looked intently and said, “Jesus.” The man was Ronald Regan the former president of the Unites States.
“We proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling-block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God” (1 Cor 1:23-24).
The crucifix and the cross are the symbols of the loving and sacrificial offering of self for others. It is only in the cross that we see the face of God. We look at the sun and see the energy of God. We look at the stars and see the infinity of God. We look at the atom and see the complexity of God. But it is only in the cross that we see the face of God’s love. It is only in the cross that we see a love so great that God was willing to die for me. It is only in the cross that we hear the statement, “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (John 15: 13), and the cross states all this.
Whenever we see the cross, we should realize that he was bruised, was crushed and died for our iniquities. Is 53:5, “But he was pierced for our offenses, crushed for our sins; upon him was the chastisement that makes us whole; by his stripes we were healed.”
The cross is the symbol of the risen Christ who promises us a crown of glory as a reward for our patient bearing of our daily crosses.
The Monk Thomas Merton talks about the Cross and Suffering:
“The Christian must not only accept suffering: the Christian must make it holy. Nothing so easily becomes unholy as suffering. Merely accepted, suffering does nothing for our souls except perhaps to harden them. Endurance alone is no consecration. We can deny ourselves rigorously for the wrong reason and end up by pleasing ourselves mightily with our self-denial…..Suffering, therefore, can only be consecrated to God by one who believes that Jesus is not dead. And it is of the very essence of Christianity to face suffering and death not because they are good, not because they have meaning, but because the resurrection of Jesus has robbed them of their meaning.”
Because Christ's cross is the price of our redemption, we must treasure this gift unceasingly throughout life. Joy and gratitude to God for the work of the cross must be the bedrock of any Christian spirituality. At the same time, Christ calls us to apply the power of the cross in our lives so that we may truly "take up our cross and follow him." As St. Paul teaches so clearly in Romans 6, taking up the cross in our lives can only happen if we daily reckon ourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ.
As we come forward to kiss the cross of Christ, we are proclaiming that we love the cross of Christ, because on this cross he saved us and we also proclaim that we love our own crosses because our daily crosses are also made holy by the cross of Christ.
Let’s thank Jesus, our crucified God for being crucified outside the walls, for being expelled and excluded like the sinners and outcasts, so that he can meet us where we feel that we are, always outside the walls of worthiness.
“We proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling-block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God” (1 Cor 1:23-24).
The crucifix and the cross are the symbols of the loving and sacrificial offering of self for others. It is only in the cross that we see the face of God. We look at the sun and see the energy of God. We look at the stars and see the infinity of God. We look at the atom and see the complexity of God. But it is only in the cross that we see the face of God’s love. It is only in the cross that we see a love so great that God was willing to die for me. It is only in the cross that we hear the statement, “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (John 15: 13), and the cross states all this.
Whenever we see the cross, we should realize that he was bruised, was crushed and died for our iniquities. Is 53:5, “But he was pierced for our offenses, crushed for our sins; upon him was the chastisement that makes us whole; by his stripes we were healed.”
The cross is the symbol of the risen Christ who promises us a crown of glory as a reward for our patient bearing of our daily crosses.
The Monk Thomas Merton talks about the Cross and Suffering:
“The Christian must not only accept suffering: the Christian must make it holy. Nothing so easily becomes unholy as suffering. Merely accepted, suffering does nothing for our souls except perhaps to harden them. Endurance alone is no consecration. We can deny ourselves rigorously for the wrong reason and end up by pleasing ourselves mightily with our self-denial…..Suffering, therefore, can only be consecrated to God by one who believes that Jesus is not dead. And it is of the very essence of Christianity to face suffering and death not because they are good, not because they have meaning, but because the resurrection of Jesus has robbed them of their meaning.”
Because Christ's cross is the price of our redemption, we must treasure this gift unceasingly throughout life. Joy and gratitude to God for the work of the cross must be the bedrock of any Christian spirituality. At the same time, Christ calls us to apply the power of the cross in our lives so that we may truly "take up our cross and follow him." As St. Paul teaches so clearly in Romans 6, taking up the cross in our lives can only happen if we daily reckon ourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ.
As we come forward to kiss the cross of Christ, we are proclaiming that we love the cross of Christ, because on this cross he saved us and we also proclaim that we love our own crosses because our daily crosses are also made holy by the cross of Christ.
Let’s thank Jesus, our crucified God for being crucified outside the walls, for being expelled and excluded like the sinners and outcasts, so that he can meet us where we feel that we are, always outside the walls of worthiness.
Saturday, April 16, 2011
PASSION SUNDAY
PASSION SUNDAY.
A Jewish boy named David who was failing all his exams in the public school until his parents decided to send him to a Catholic school. At the end of the year David came out on top of the class. When his parents asked him what made him change so dramatically David replied, “You see, the moment I walked into that new school and saw that guy hanging on the cross, I knew that the people here were damn serious; so I decided not to take any chances.”
The crucifix might have helped David to improve his score but it is easy to see that David has misread the crucifix. The man on the cross is not there to scare little boys but to show them how much he loves them. He is not there to show them what would happen to them if they misbehaved; he is there to show them that he has already paid the penalty for their sins. He is not dying on the cross for what he has done but for what you and me have done; because he loves us. He died for us.
Two brothers lived together in the same apartment. The elder brother was an honest, hard-working and God-fearing man and the younger a dishonest, gun-totting, substance-abusing rogue. Many a night the younger man would come back into the apartment late, drunk and with a lot of cash and the elder brother would spend hours pleading with him to mend his ways and live a decent life. But the young man would have none of it. One night the junior brother runs into the house with a smoking gun and blood-stained clothes. “I killed a man,” he announced. In a few minutes the house was surrounded by police and the two brothers knew there was no escape. “I did not mean to kill him,” stammered the young brother, “I don’t want to die.” By now the police were knocking at the door. The senior brother had an idea. He exchanged his clothes with the blood-stained clothes of his killer brother. The police arrested him, tried him and condemned him to death for murder. He was killed and his junior brother lived. He died for his brother.
Can we see that this story of crime and death is basically a story of love? Similarly the story of the suffering and death of Jesus which we heard in the Passion is basically a story of love – God’s love for us. How should we respond to it? Well, how would you expect the junior brother to respond to the death of the senior brother? We would expect him to respond with GRATITUDE. Gratitude to his generous brother should make him turn a new leaf and never go back to a life of crime. He would be a most ungrateful idiot if he should continue living the sort of life that made his brother die. Gratitude should make him keep the memory of his brother alive. No day should pass that he should not remember his brother who died for him. Finally, if the dead brother has got a wife and children we should expect the saved brother, out of gratitude, to love and care for them. What God expects from us today is gratitude – gratitude strong enough to make us hate sin of every shade and color; strong enough to make us translate our love of God into love of all God’s people.
Let this holy week for us to be a time of being grateful to God for his unfathomable gift of salvation brought to us in Jesus Christ.
A Jewish boy named David who was failing all his exams in the public school until his parents decided to send him to a Catholic school. At the end of the year David came out on top of the class. When his parents asked him what made him change so dramatically David replied, “You see, the moment I walked into that new school and saw that guy hanging on the cross, I knew that the people here were damn serious; so I decided not to take any chances.”
The crucifix might have helped David to improve his score but it is easy to see that David has misread the crucifix. The man on the cross is not there to scare little boys but to show them how much he loves them. He is not there to show them what would happen to them if they misbehaved; he is there to show them that he has already paid the penalty for their sins. He is not dying on the cross for what he has done but for what you and me have done; because he loves us. He died for us.
Two brothers lived together in the same apartment. The elder brother was an honest, hard-working and God-fearing man and the younger a dishonest, gun-totting, substance-abusing rogue. Many a night the younger man would come back into the apartment late, drunk and with a lot of cash and the elder brother would spend hours pleading with him to mend his ways and live a decent life. But the young man would have none of it. One night the junior brother runs into the house with a smoking gun and blood-stained clothes. “I killed a man,” he announced. In a few minutes the house was surrounded by police and the two brothers knew there was no escape. “I did not mean to kill him,” stammered the young brother, “I don’t want to die.” By now the police were knocking at the door. The senior brother had an idea. He exchanged his clothes with the blood-stained clothes of his killer brother. The police arrested him, tried him and condemned him to death for murder. He was killed and his junior brother lived. He died for his brother.
Can we see that this story of crime and death is basically a story of love? Similarly the story of the suffering and death of Jesus which we heard in the Passion is basically a story of love – God’s love for us. How should we respond to it? Well, how would you expect the junior brother to respond to the death of the senior brother? We would expect him to respond with GRATITUDE. Gratitude to his generous brother should make him turn a new leaf and never go back to a life of crime. He would be a most ungrateful idiot if he should continue living the sort of life that made his brother die. Gratitude should make him keep the memory of his brother alive. No day should pass that he should not remember his brother who died for him. Finally, if the dead brother has got a wife and children we should expect the saved brother, out of gratitude, to love and care for them. What God expects from us today is gratitude – gratitude strong enough to make us hate sin of every shade and color; strong enough to make us translate our love of God into love of all God’s people.
Let this holy week for us to be a time of being grateful to God for his unfathomable gift of salvation brought to us in Jesus Christ.
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