Tag Archives: Jesus Christ

Apr 7 2012

Easter: The Proof that God chooses the best for us

Homily for Easter Sunday 2012

A woman in her mid-50’s boarded a plane. But when she got to her assigned seat, she immediately burst out saying she didn’t like her assigned seat. She didn’t like it because beside her was a ‘black’ man sitting. ‘I can’t seat here beside this ‘vermin’ she said loudly. She immediately summoned for the flight attendant and demanded a new seat. The flight attendant went to talk to the Captain and to see if there’s still any unoccupied seat on the plane. After few minutes, the flight attendant returned and told her: ‘The captain has confirmed that there are no more seats in the economy, but there is one in the first class Cabin. It is our company policy to never move a person from economy to first class. But because it is sort of a great injustice to force a person to sit next to an UNPLEASANT person, the captain agreed to make the switch to first class.” The woman started to move, but the flight attendant gestured to the black man as she said: “Therefore sir, if you would so kindly retrieve your personal items, we would like to move you to the comfort of first class as the captain doesn’t want you to sit next to an unpleasant person.” Passengers in the seats nearby began to applause while some gave a standing ovation.

I don’t know if this story is true or not, but it definitely speaks something for our celebration today. The Captain wants the best for us. God couldn’t give us any better than his own Son who loves us so much to death, and now to life.

Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, couldn’t bear us dying in sin and filthiness  of our souls. He doesn’t want us to remain seated on the ‘unpleasant’ odour of our sins. He doesn’t want us to die in our sins forever, so he took to the burden, he took the penalty of our sins, he embraced death for us to live.  He upgrades us to a better part, in fact, to a new life. He died for all, sinners and saints alike. He  laid down his life for all. He wishes to save all. And today, in his resurrection, we have the assurance that we will share in his resurrection later on (in God’s own time). It is so because He just wants the best for us. And because of this, we are to rejoice, we are to celebrate.

Last night, in our parish we have the beautiful Easter Vigil Ceremonies. We started outside the Church, with the blessing of the fire, then we lit the Easter Candle, then the people lit their own candles from the One Easter candle. Then we process together to the Church. We sang the Exultet, urging us, the Church (together with the angels and saints in heaven) to rejoice, for our salvation has come, for Christ has broken the prison bars of death and rose victorious from the grave. We heard the beautiful readings from the Old Testament recalling the History of our Salvation- telling us of the goodness that God has done unto us since the beginning. We heard the Readings of the New Testament reminding us  of the immense grace that Jesus Christ has poured on us upon his death. We heard the gospel telling us of the empty tomb, and the angel telling those first witnesses of resurrection that Jesus has indeed risen from the dead. We sang the Alleluia together again, after 5 weeks of silence about it. We have the blessing of the Fire and the water. We have ten people, teenagers and young adults, received into the Church through the sacraments of initiation.  What a beautiful ceremony! We may ask: ‘Why make all those ‘fuzz?’ Why do we have to spend at least two hours to celebrate Easter Vigil?

The answer is why not?

Why don’t we celebrate the moment of our salvation? Why don’t we spend so much time recalling the many graces that God has given us since the beginning of our existence? Why don’t we spend some time to ponder on how God loved us? Why don’t we thank God for his great love?  Why don’t we celebrate the fact that Jesus Christ, our God himself has ‘destroyed all record of our ancient debt incurred under the law, in order to lead us to heaven where there is no death but only eternal life and righteousness’ according to St Basil of Seleucia.

Why don’t we celebrate the beauty of our God who is our creator who  breathes all of us of the gift of life as we hear from the Book of Genesis? In Exodus, he is the God who sets us free from slavery of Egypt. In Isaiah, he is the Lord who calls us and takes us back with great love, and quenches all thirst and satisfies our hunger. In Baruch, he is our God like no other. In Ezekiel, he is our God who gives us a new heart and places a new Spirit within us.

And more. In the New Testament, St Paul in his letter to the Romans, He is our God who destroyed all power of sin and  freed us from all slavery to sin. And in our Gospel, we have the Good News of all, that Jesus Christ who suffered, died and was buried, is now risen and alive  again. That is our God…and that’s how much he loved us…Isn’t it worth celebrating?

God has upgraded us, not only to a better part but to a new life in him.

We are now called Children of Easter. We can hold our heads high now, telling the world that we have the real reason to hope, to love and to care for each other, because God cares for us to death and to life. We are now new Creation, saved by God and led by him towards eternal union with him forever. Let us just keep on his ways, keep following him all the way. We may still side-track at times, as human as we are but Jesus’ resurrection has given us a challenge here. To keep on the track, obey God’s will, listen to God always, keep the Risen Jesus really alive in us because it is only through this that we can say with St Paul, ‘It is no longer I who lives, but Christ who lives in me. To celebrate Easter then, we are to be reflection of the risen Christ to others as well as to tell others of our risen saviour.

Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!

Happy Easter!

Apr 6 2012

Meditation on the Seven Last Words of Jesus

Seven last words of Jesus on the Cross

 1.”Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.”  Lk. 23: 34.

Pater, dimitte illis, quia nesciunt, quid faciunt.

- Even on the cross, Jesus thinks of others. Not only that, he justifies those who crucified him saying to his Father ‘they do not know what they are doing’.

-We need forgiveness, and Jesus forgives us. Likewise he wills that we do forgive as well.

2.   “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.” Lk.23:43

Hodie mecum eris in Paradiso.

-         What a wonderful promise of his company forever. Like the thief, today we are all invited, in fact expected that we humble ourselves, acknowledge our sinfulness and weaknesses before the Lord,  expressing our faith in him, and growing in hope that there is something greater reserved for us beyond our crosses in life.

3.   “Woman, here is your son; Here is your mother.” Jn. 19: 26-27

Mulier, ecce filius tuus.

-         He doesn’t want to leave us on our own. He left us his mother to whom we can go to if we distance ourselves to him. She is full of grace, and the meeting point between the Divine God and the human face of God in Jesus Christ. In Mary we found a mother, a great mother who always looks after us even if others seem not to care…

4.  “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Mk. 15:34; Mt 27:46

Deus meus, Deus meus, utquid dereliquisti me?

‘Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?’

-         A cry of absolute abandonment, yet it doesn’t mean God has gone away. In the sufferings of Jesus, God has identified himself so completely to his sufferings and angst. Yes God loved us so much, that he took upon himself the death penalty that we deserved due to our sins. He willed to die for us to live. How great a love is that.

5.   “I am thirsty.”  Jn. 19:28

Sitio.

-         A cry pleading for care and concern from those people around him. This words has become the motivation of Mother Teresa, that really changes her life forever by not only listening to this pleading but really trying her best to satisfy God’s thirst in the situations of our needy sisters and brothers around us. How do we respond to this call of Jesus even up to now? When we drive around town today, do we care to wind down our car window and hand in some change to those people who volunteered their time today on the streets to raise funds for the benefit of many children? How about our Project Compassion boxes? Are we willingly putting some amount there to ease the thirst (moral and physical) of many people in the world today?

6. “It is finished.”   Jn 19:30

Consummatum est.

-         A statement of absolute surrender yet not giving up, since it is the fulfilment of his mission here to save us from all sins and eternal damnation. Yes, Lord, you paid the ultimate price of our sinfulness by dying for us on the cross. You accomplished your mission by laying your very life for us, thank you Lord.

7.   “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.” Lk 23: 46

In manus tuas, Domine, commendo  spiritum meum.

-         Even if there seems to be an experience of being abandoned completely, Jesus didn’t despair.  He didn’t lose grip of God, even to the very end of his earthly life. In fact, he offered the last of his breath to his Father, thus he was glorified, because he offered his all to God, no matter what the odds are. So as we continue our reflection on this Day until Easter Sunday Let’s thank God for everything he has done for us. Let’s celebrate these days with joy of the knowledge that God has saved us from eternal death and that he reserved a place for us, in his company forever, so long as we continue walking in his path.

So as we continue our reflection on Easter triduum, let’s thank God for his great love for us that is shown by his dying on the cross for us. Let’s also express this experience of being saved in our faces. There’s no other cause for rejoicing here but our salvation in Christ. It is worth rejoicing and worth celebrating indeed.

 

Jan 1 2012

Mary:Real Mother

Homily for the New Year 2012

Friends,  I wish you a  happy, blessed and a fruitful New Year. We come here today not just because we want to welcome  the New year (2012) joyfully and to celebrate this new year with the Lord through this Eucharist. We come here as a Church that celebrates the Motherhood of Mary. It is just fitting that this solemnity is observed a week after the birth of the Son of God. It must really be so because Mary was the one chosen by God to be the mother of his own Son. It is also proper that we celebrate her motherhood not only because she is the Mother of God but also because she is the Mother of us all.

While reflecting on the motherhood of Mary as the Mother of God and our mother, I remember this Jewish proverb that speaks so much on the importance and the dignity of mothers. It says: ‘God could not be everywhere, and therefore, He made mothers.’

‘When God created mothers’, so the story goes, ‘it was well overtime on the sixth day. An angel dropped by and commented, ‘Lord, you are taking your time over this creature!’

God replied, ‘You should see the special requirements in the specification! She has to be easy to maintain, but not made of plastic or have any artificial components. She has one hundred and sixty movable parts, and nerves of steel, with a lap big enough for ten children to sit on it at once, but she herself has to be able to fit into a kiddie’s chair. She has to have a back that can carry everything that is loaded onto it. She has to be able to mend everything, from a grazed knee to a broken heart. And she’s supposed to have six pairs of hands…and three pairs of eyes.’

‘I think you should go to bed now, Lord, and get some sleep,’ said the angel.

‘I can’t do that,’ said God. ‘I’m almost there. I have nearly created a being who heals herself when she’s ill, who can delight thirty children with one little birthday cake, who can persuade a three-year-old not to eat clay, a six-year –old to wash his hands before meals and a nine-year-old to use his feet to walk and not to kick.’

‘Can she think?’ asked the angel.

‘Not only think, but reach wise judgments and essential compromises,’ said God. ‘And she can do more than that. She can forget!’

Friends, this might just be an anecdote but it speaks a grain of truth – that  being a mother demands she be a jack of all trades so to speak.

I have to admit I have never been acting like a mother nor I’m wishing to be. But I understood that being a mother requires she would go beyond herself most of the time if not all the time.

As the mother of God, Mary is no exception.  She also had to go beyond herself. She also had to take the huge and irreplaceable responsibility of a mother to her child. Even before her child was born, Mary had to get out of her comfort zones in order to become that amazing meeting point between the Human and the Divine. ‘How can this be, since I am a virgin?’ she asked the angel when he told her she’s going to be pregnant. Though confused, she kept trusting and believing. So she said in the end: ‘I am the handmaid of the Lord, let it be done to me according to your word.’ She remained faithful even if she really didn’t understand everything that’s been happening in her. Heavy with child, she took the long trip with Joseph to Bethlehem to follow the order of the Emperor to register. Without prior bookings, she had to give birth in the stable of animals. Without proper clothes for the newly-born child, she had to wrap him with a swaddling clothes. Without proper bed, she had to lay him on the manger. And our gospel today tells us of Mary’s reaction to all that have happened to her: ‘She treasured all these things and pondered them in her heart.’

As the baby grows, she had to look after Jesus with Joseph. They would present him to the temple. They would look for him when he was left in Jerusalem. Later on she would tell the servants in the wedding at Cana to do everything that Jesus, her son would tell them to do. Then towards the end of Jesus’ earthly life, she would accompany him on the way of the cross.

As a mother, she walked with Jesus from her womb to the tomb.  She went out of herself to allow God to fulfil his will not only for her but for the salvation of all.

In this she became our mother. She is our mother because through her  our saviour was born. Through her we are able to see in person the face of God. Through her we are able to see what God is like. Through her, we have experienced the graciousness and the unconditional love of God. In Mary, the 3 thousand year old prayer of blessing as we have heard in our first reading today, was definitely answered. In and through  Mary, we have encountered our Lord who let his face shine on us and who is  gracious to us. And through Mary, God has sent his Son, to be born a subject of the law according to St Paul in our Second Reading today, to redeem us as the subjects of the law and to enable us adopted sons of and daughters of God.

We have received abundant graces from God through the intercession of Mary, who went out of herself by saying her ‘yes’ to the will of God, thus making her the Mother of His Son and also the mother of us all.

So as we continue our celebration of the Eucharist today as well as to welcome this New Year, let’s thank Mary for accepting the will of God even if it meant for her going out of herself and to walk an extra mile. Pondering on Mary’s motherhood, let us also pray that God’s graciousness and blessings would be poured upon us all for this New year and that we may learn to listen well and reflect more on the will of God for each and everyone of us. Lastly, let’s ask Mary’s intercession that we may grow in love and we get closer to her son everyday- since Jesus Christ is the only way to salvation.

And my prayer for you this New Year:

May the Lord bless you and keep you.

May the Lord let his face shine on you and be gracious to you.

May the Lord uncover his face to you and bring you peace. Amen.

Happy New Year everyone.