Tag Archives: Easter

Apr 21 2013

The heart of vocations: the Heart of our Good Shepherd

Homily for 4th Sunday of Easter year C 2013

Good Shepherd Sunday

  1. good shepherdWe are now on the 4th Sunday of Easter, also called Good Shepherd Sunday. Pope Paul VI established this day as a World Day of Prayer for Vocations. So we are hereby invited to spend sometimes praying to God the Father that ‘he would send more workers into his harvest’ [Mt 9:38] may it be priesthood, or religious life, or be a dedicated lay faithful.

  2. We can pray for vocations for two things. First, all of us, and more especially those who are called, that we may have a heart like that of Jesus Christ, the Good Shepherd. To aid us in our prayer for vocations in the pattern of the heart of the Shepherd, first, we need to know how it is to have a heart like that of our Good Shepherd? Jesus in our gospel today assures us, his sheep: ‘I know them…I give them eternal life…they will never be lost and no one will ever steal them from me.’ [Jn 10:28]. Our Good Shepherd knows us intimately and  is willing to sacrifice everything for the sake of his sheep. As our Good Shepherd, Jesus understands our needs, our vulnerabilities, our helplessness, and our tendencies. So he tends and cares for us with utmost care. He even lay down his life for all of us.  He embraced death to provide us, his sheep protection, assurance and security. Pope Francis is one who has impressed me so much since the beginning of his ministry as the Bishop of Rome and as Pope of the Catholic Church. For me, he’s got a heart like that of the Good Shepherd. When he was elected Pope, he said to the Argentinian, not to spend so much money to get to Rome for his inauguration, but rather to give the money to the poor in Argentina. He sees the immediate and the real need of his people over what he might need himself. This was a news then, so on Facebook, I saw a picture of him with a caption telling the Argentinians: ‘Don’t fly for me Argentina.’ The other thing Pope Francis did  was on the news the other day. It is reported that every time  there is a changeover of Pope or if a new Pope is elected, the Vatican employees would receive a bonus. It’s a good one, a good move indeed. But Pope Francis didn’t do it this time. Instead he decided that the money given for the bonus (a good few millions in dollars I heard) is to be given to the Church’s works of Charity. He would know that the Vatican employees want it, but he understands that the poor need it more. Such is an example of a person with a heart that of a Good Shepherd- one who distinguishes wants from needs.

  3. The Second thing that can aid us in our prayer for this World Day of prayer for vocations is to pray that we may have the willingness to hear the voice of God calling us to follow his example in our lives. Willingness is an important clue in here, because this involves our freedom, our decision and our motivation to follow him. To willingly listen to God today is crucial and important because of the many voices and noise we hear everyday. I have noted this challenge in my homily last Sunday too. Let me repeat it. ‘Listening to Jesus today is not easy because of the many voices we hear that tend to drown his voice. There are voices that oftentimes lead us to think more for ourselves and less for others. There are voices that call us to be DOING more and BEING less. There are voices that push us to believe life is more of doing something rather than being who we are and enjoying what we’ve got. There are voices that lead us to hoard and keep rather than give and share.’

  4. It is so true that that not a few so-called ‘shepherds’  who have been entrusted to tend a portion of God’s flock failed, or looked after themselves first while neglecting the others, or have even broken the trust and the promises they’ve made when they took office. It is also very true that there are shepherds whom God called but are not really living out their vocation well and not listening to the voice of Jesus. This is not a new thing. This has always been an experience in our faith journey. The prophet Ezekiel had to remind the King- shepherds of Israel in his time that they had harshly and brutally fattened themselves instead of their sheep, fed off the sheep’s milk, worn their wool, but hadn’t strengthened the weak, healed the sick, bound up the injured, brought back the strayed or sought the lost [Ez 34:1-6]. However, there are also a good number who are in their own little ways doing their bit to follow the lead of our Good Shepherd. Paul and Barnabas in our First Reading today set us an example here. They continually preached the message of Jesus to Jews and Gentiles alike, no matter if they accepted it or rejected it. They continued spreading the gospel despite oppositions from others, and personal obstacles too. The other example I can give is about the two priests I personally know in the Philippines. One time I was assigned into the parish of one of these priests. He wasn’t there. I was told by the parish secretary that he was up there in the mountain, visiting his parishioners with his ute bringing several containers of water to be distributed to the people there. Apparently, there was no access of clean water in that part of this parish. So he went up there to give them water himself. The second priest I know and even worked with before, is another one who really listened to the voice of Jesus and followed him. This priest would go to the little villages in the parish regularly, collect the recyclables from each households, sell them to the junkshops in town. He then used the proceeds to buy medicine or other immediate need for the people in the village and stock them in village community centre for everyone who might need them anytime.

  5. So as we continue this day, this World day of prayer for Vocations let us pray that all of us who are called to be shepherds in our own little way, to our little flock (may it be a home, a school, workplace, or community) may love to listen to the voice of our Good Shepherd, may have a heart like his, and may follow his lead and example in our lives. Amen.

 

 

Apr 13 2013

Experiencing the presence of the Risen Lord

Homily  for 3rd Sunday of Easter year C 2013

feed my sheepWow! Time is really moving fast. It seems like Easter Sunday was only last Sunday, but we are now on the third Sunday of Easter. I hope that we are still in the Easter mood. I mean I hope we are taking each Sunday or each week during this Easter Season as a journey to meet and experience the risen Lord ourselves. If not then it’s never too late. The person standing beside you or behind you or in front of you is an image of the risen Lord. Look at each other in the eyes of faith and of hope and you see Christ- the risen one. We can see in each other the reason why Christ has died and has risen from the dead. Because we are worth dying for. The fact that we are here this time on this third week of Easter, when we could have done something else or have gone somewhere, attests to the fact that we are people of hope, people of faith, people who are taking Easter seriously. Thanks be to God.

Last Sunday we heard of Thomas who came to believe in the resurrection because he has seen the wounds of Jesus himself. He has experienced the real presence of the risen Lord. In our gospel today we have just heard Peter and 6 other disciples who have experienced the presence of the risen Lord again. And this is also what we are invited to see today. We who are here celebrating our faith together are called to experience the risen Lord. But in what way can we experience the presence of the risen Lord today?

Our gospel today points to us three ways in which we can experience the presence of the resurrected Christ.  

First, is by listening to Jesus and doing whatever he tells us. This calls for humility, courage and decision for our part. Peter and his fellow fishermen would have some discomfort when they heard Jesus (though they haven’t recognise him at first) telling them to cast their nets on the right. They were experienced fishermen and here someone who is not even a fisherman, but only a carpenter, telling them to do something differently, when they had just spent all night there catching nothing. But no, they didn’t protest against Jesus. Instead, they listened to his voice and acted on it and the catch was great. When they listened to Jesus they realized that their former way of life (i.e. fishing) couldn’t assure them of a life in abundance and contentment.

Listening to Jesus today is not easy though because of the many voices we hear that tend to drown his voice. There are voices that oftentimes lead us to think more for ourselves and less for others. There are voices that call us to be DOING more and BEING less. There are voices that push us to believe life is more of doing something rather than being who we are and enjoying what we’ve got. There are voices that lead us to hoard and keep rather than give and share. Thanks for the example of Peter and the other disciples. They listened to Jesus. And they did what Jesus told them to do and because of this they caught plenty. By listening to Jesus, Peter had the chance to reverse his three-fold denial of the Lord by making a three-fold profession of his love for the Lord.

So today, Jesus is challenging us as he would have challenged his disciples. We are Easter people, people of hope. So we must live out this noble identity by not going back to our former way of life in sinning and selfishness and by listening to Jesus telling us to do the right thing, to take another way, or to get out of our comfort zones.

The second way we experience the risen Lord is through this Sacred Liturgy, in this Eucharistic celebration.

When the disciples got to the shore with all their catch, Jesus was already there. Apparently he has prepared breakfast for his disciples. This is what the Eucharist is about. Every celebration of the Eucharist is not our doing. Every celebration of the Eucharist is a miracle unfolding before us. Isn’t it an amazing thing to reflect on, that  every time we attend Mass we are witnessing a great miracle. And what is this miracle? The miracle that God becomes present in all of us together, in His Word being read, and in the changing of the bread and wine into his own body and blood (Sacrosanctum Concilium, Vatican II # 7-8). The disciples recognised the risen Lord in the breaking of the bread. Therefore, we can really experience the risen Lord in our participation in the Eucharist. Vatican II taught:

Christ is always present to his Church, especially in the actions of the liturgy. He is present in the sacrifice of the Mass, in the person of the minister (it is the same Christ who formerly offered himself on the cross that now offers by the ministry of priests) and most of all under the eucharistic species. He is present in the sacraments by his power, in such a way that when someone baptises, Christ himself baptises. He is present in his word, for it is he himself who speaks when the holy Scriptures are read in the Church. Finally, he is present when the Church prays and sings, for he himself promised: Where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there in their midst. (SC 7)

The third way we experience the risen Lord today is through discipleship, through following Jesus Christ. Peter in our gospel today shows us a way to follow Jesus, in fact this should be the first step: to profess our love in Jesus and decide to live out this love by loving one another, by tending or by looking after the sheep of God. It is a big call, but our faith would tell us that if we just keep listening to Jesus and act on his words something great and wonderful happens. The Apostles in our First Reading today could attest that by following Jesus and proclaiming his gospel, they are given power and courage to go on proclaiming the good news to all people despite oppositions, indifference or persecutions. Because they realized they are following the real Christ, they stood on their ground no matter what awaited them. They remained firm in their principle: ‘that obedience to God comes before obedience to men.’ This is then a reminder for us. Discipleship doesn’t mean that everything would be always right or perfect or to our advantage. It doesn’t mean walking on a red carpet all the time, or sleeping in a bed of roses. Discipleship is following Jesus even to the Cross. But if we do persevere, we can be assured of the promise of a full sharing in the glory of Christ in the kingdom of his Father.

 

 

Mar 30 2013

Resurrection of Jesus- a call to be Easter People

Homily for Easter Vigil year C 2013

Tonight is the night of all nights. Tonight we celebrate our salvation. Tonight we remember and re-live that momentous event in our salvation history when our God  has shown us that there is an end to sin and to death through the resurrection of his Son Jesus Christ from the dead. This calls for our celebration because this shows us that God has given us not only another chance to live but really he has given us a new life. So to celebrate this, we have taken parts in all the rituals for this Easter vigil.  We have done this by making ourselves available to become symbols and concrete expressions of being saved by Christ. We lit the Easter candle, the light of Christ, which points out to us that through Christ the darkness (of our sins and of our world) has come to an end. From that light of Christ we also lit our own candles and that tells us that we allow Christ to be our  source of light and nothing or no one else. We would express this in a more concrete way later when we renew our baptismal promises. We have also heard the series of readings (both from Old and New Testaments) which are particularly organized for this Easter Night, recalling the history of our salvation, and our journey with God from creation to our redemption. We have also with us tonight, people who are going to be baptised, confirmed and receive the Holy Eucharist for the first time. These new members of our Church  tell us that indeed tonight we are celebrating a new chapter in our life, a life with Christ. So we have all this fuzz if you like, because Christ, our Saviour, our Messiah, our God has risen from the dead. It is worth celebrating and rejoicing because Christ’s rising from the dead gives us strength and gives us hope that Good Friday is not the end of it all, but only a necessary component for the day of Resurrection. The resurrection of Jesus tells us that suffering is not and should not be what characterizes our being a Christian, but our being an Easter people.

We therefore are called Easter people. And we are called to live this out in our lives. We have to take the challenge to show it in our faces that we are worth dying for as to what Jesus has done for us.

Being Easter people, we need to put an end to our search for the living among the dead. This means that we stop looking for Jesus Christ among the dead. He is not there anymore, he is risen. He can now be found among the living, in each one of us. And to see the risen and  the living Jesus we need to stop searching him from among the dead and/or deadly things such as atheism, materialism, greed, envy, pride, self-righteousness, selfishness, etc. This means we need to see Christ in others by looking at one another through the eyes of Christ whose eyes looked beyond the physical features, who sees the sinner over the sins, who looks at the person over what he/she has done or has failed to do, and loves the person no matter how much it cost him and no matter what it takes, even death.

Being Easter people also means we need to bring the good news to others, like the women in our  gospel for tonight. How can we do this? We need only look at how Jesus Christ did it. He stood on his principle of love, forgiveness, justice, compassion, and mercy. He came to serve, not to be served. He taught and spoke of the truth even if it was a big risk to take for him. He was constantly in touch with his Father in prayer and in solitude thus making him for firm and strong in obeying the will of his Father. He dined with sinners and didn’t discriminate. He loved the unlovable. He touched the untouchables. Lastly, he lay down his life for his friends.  

So tonight as we receive the Lord in the Eucharist, let us thank him in the silence of our hearts for loving us, for making us feel special and worth dying for, for allowing us to experience a new life again, and for showing us that if we persevere till the end even if we have to suffer for the sake of truth, justice, love and peace, there is resurrection awaiting for us after all.

May this Easter season be a happy, holy and a wonderful celebration for each one of us. May Christ be truly alive in our hearts.  

Happy Easter.