2 Comments

Jesus is real: Not an Ilusion

Posted by junix28 on April 21, 2012 in Homilies

 Easter III B 2012

The gospel passage we read today is the last we shall read on the Sundays after Easter relating appearances of Our risen Lord. This one occurs near the end of St Luke’s gospel. Again the emphasis is on the joy of the disciples. Their joy was so great that they could not believe it, and they stood dumbfounded. Jesus took the initiative and asked: Have you anything here to eat? The fact that he was able to eat a piece of fish before their eyes satisfied them that he really was there in the flesh; he was not an illusion.

This incident follows the return of the disciples from Emmaus. When Jesus joined them as they walked towards the village, he drew their attention to all the passages in Scripture which spoke about the Messiah – this without revealing that he was speaking of himself. It was only when they were at table that they recognized him in the breaking of bread. Back in Jerusalem he repeated the lesson for the Eleven: Everything written about me in the Law of Moses, in the Prophets and in the Psalms has to be fulfilled. And after explaining everything he concluded: So you see how it is written that the Christ would suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that, in his name, repentance for the forgiveness of sins would be preached to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. And the punch line is: You are witnesses to this.

Once the Holy Spirit came upon them at Pentecost, their fear left them and they did indeed begin to testify to the fact that Jesus, who had been crucified, had risen from the dead. His death won pardon for our sins. He is the Son of God. The Acts of the Apostles is concerned mainly with just two apostles: Peter and – above all – Paul. In the early part we can read several of Peter’s sermons, and today’s first reading was taken from one of them. Addressing a Jewish audience, he tells them bluntly: the same Jesus you handed over and then disowned in the presence of Pilate … It was you who accused the Holy One, the Just One, you who demanded the reprieve of a murderer while you killed the prince of life. Peter recognizes that there were mitigating circumstances. They didn’t know that Jesus was the long-awaited Messiah. And in any case the prophecies had to be fulfilled. When all was accomplished, God raised him from the dead, and to that fact we are the witnesses.

 I expect you remember that last Sunday we read St John’s account of Jesus’ apparition to the disciples on that first Easter Sunday evening. It was then that Jesus gave them the power to forgive sins – the sacrament of reconciliation. St John touches on this matter in the letter from which our second reading was taken. It is concerned not so much with what priests can do for sinners as with what Jesus does for us all: If anyone should sin, we have our advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, who is just; he is the sacrifice that takes our sins away, and not only ours, but the whole world’s. Jesus’ suffering and death have won us pardon, but if we do sin after Baptism he will continue to argue that we should not get our just deserts. He never ceases to implore the Divine Mercy for us.

To recapitulate: in the gospel Jesus told his followers that they were to be witnesses to his death and resurrection. In the Acts we see that they had begun to do that. Bearing witness to the resurrection is expected of every Christian – including ourselves.

A lady who heard me last week suggested that I should tell you something of my experience of missionary work in Africa. It is a form of bearing witness, but there is much more to it than standing up in a market place and shouting “Jesus is alive”. For a dozen years I worked in country parishes in Burkina Faso, a poor, dry, land-locked country in West Africa. Missionary activity began there in 1900 and has made good progress to the extent that there are now 15 dioceses, each headed by an African bishop, with many vocations to the priesthood and religious life. Despite that progress there are still many people who follow the African Traditional Religion, who make sacrifices to the spirits of their ancestors asking them to intercede on their behalf with the Supreme Being. There are many Muslims too. In the cities you find that the great majority are either Christians or Muslims, but in country districts many still follow the traditional religion.

Why does anybody change? The motives are usually mixed. People follow their friends. Or there may be economic reasons such as not being able to hold a stall in the market unless they become Muslims. Or – and this is important – they may be attracted by the mutual support they see in the Christian community, and the hymns they hear the Christians sing as they worship. If somebody wants to become a Muslim, it’s very easy: they just have to raise their finger and say: “There is no God but God, and Muhammad is his prophet”. This can be done without giving the person any instruction at all – which means that there are lots of very ignorant Muslims around. By contrast, someone who wants to become a Christian, must follow instruction for several years; at the end of each year they will be examined on what they have learned and if they don’t answer well enough they’ll have to repeat the year. Meanwhile, they are expected to participate in the life of the Christian community, come to Mass regularly, take part in working bees and live upright virtuous lives.

On the Sundays of the last Lent before their Baptism, the catechumens take a number of steps towards reception of the sacrament. On one Sunday, for instance, the priest formally teaches them the Lord’s Prayer. In fact they will have learned it long before, but on this Sunday it is transmitted to them, phrase by phrase, in the presence of the whole community. When we got to that part of the Mass on that Sunday I would always ask the catechumens alone to lead the community in saying the prayer.

Their initiation reached its climax during the Easter Vigil when, after years of preparation, whole crowds of catechumens were baptized. At the beginning of Mass they were dressed in their ordinary clothes, but once the waters had been poured they went out into the night with their godfather or godmother and put on new white clothes, then processed back into the church while the choir – and congregation – sang this joyous hymn “Tônd fâa soob daare” (= “The day of our Baptism”). And the festivities continue on Easter Sunday.

Missionaries do much more than teach the faith and administer the sacraments. We work at promoting development, sinking wells and bores, trying to improve agriculture, maternal and child welfare, responsible citizenship. The tasks never end. All are aspects of bearing witness to God’s love for humanity. And we have vacancies! (Quentin Howard)

22-04-2012

Tags: , , , , , , , Permalink
Leave a comment

Touching the wounds of Jesus: touching the vulnerable today

Posted by junix28 on April 15, 2012 in Homilies

Homily for Second Sunday of Easter  2012

  1. There is a TV program in the Philippines that grants people’s wishes, more particularly to help the poor people get out of a miserable and poor situation. This particular episode just got me. They were helping out this extraordinary couple who earned their living as ambulant vendors. They would knock at people’s doors and offer their products. But the amazing thing of this couple is that the husband is blind and the wife is deaf. If somebody rang the blind husband would take the call. If they need to send a text message to their customers the deaf wife would do it. It just worked out well between them. They  seemed to be compatible, because they used each other’s woundedness to make life worth living. They touched each other’s vulnerability to get on with life.

  2. It is the  same thing, more or less that has happened to Thomas in our gospel today. He refused to believe the words of his fellow apostles that Jesus has risen. He wants proof. He wants to see in order to believe.  This might be his weakness ‘to see is to believe.’ Jesus today, meets Thomas and used his weakness as opportunity to touch his wounds. Thomas did and he believed. What a life!

  3. Friends,  homas believed in  Jesus because he not only saw the wounds but he really touched it. As followers of Christ, as Children of Easter so to say, as people called ‘Christian’ because of our faith in Christ, we are also called to touch the wounds of Jesus. Like Thomas, we may doubt our faith, but if we get in touch with our Lord, ponder on his wounds, and touch his wounds, our faith would be purified and intensified.

  4.  What does it mean to touch the wounds of Jesus today?

    1. Our gospel tells us that Jesus sent us for a mission, as he has been sent  by the Father. We are sent for a mission, empowered by his Holy Spirit to promote peace, to forgive sins and wrongs others may have done unto us. Violence, loss of sense of sins are just few of the many wounds in our world today.

    2. Our First Reading also offers us another meaning of touching the wounds of Jesus by looking beyond our immediate surroundings, facing the woundedness of our time and society, and offer our means and resources to help those people who are in need in many ways: Moral, Spiritual, emotional, etc.

    3. Our Second Reading would remind us to keep up our Christian faith alive, because it is this faith that makes us victorious over the world. We may suffer persecutions, or intolerance, being stereotyped, or frowned upon, but if we keep up our faith in Christ today,  we are winners because we have hope that our sufferings are not all there is as Jesus showed. With hope and faith, we can be sure that behind the thick and dark clouds of life, is the clear and blue sky  of eternal union with God. After Good Friday, comes Easter Sunday.

 5.  As we continue rejoicing the event of the Risen Christ, let’s heed the words of Jesus today to receive his Holy Spirit, to proclaim peace, and to forgive sins. And like Thomas, we look around us, acknowledge our own woundedness and touch the woundedness of others. Let us the Risen Jesus to transform our woundedness into opportunity to live a more meaningful  Christian life.

Tags: , , , , , , , , Permalink
2 Comments

Easter II B 2012 Homily

Posted by junix28 on April 14, 2012 in Homilies

Doubting Thomas

In the evening of that same day, the first day of the week, the doors were closed in the room where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews. These men had run away when Jesus was arrested and they were still frightened, even if no one was looking for them. It looks as if Thomas was not so scared as the others, because he had gone out – we know not where. Perhaps he wanted to hear what people were saying, to find out what was going on.

During his absence, Jesus appeared to the other disciples. He greeted them in the oriental manner: Shalom / peace be with you! – and they were filled with joy. Now this wasn’t a simple courtesy call, nor a desire to see and reassure his friends. He had come to give them a mission. From this time onwards, Jesus was going to behave differently from the way he had done previously. Time was short; soon he would ascend to the Father; he needed to get everyone and everything ready for his departure. As the Father sent me, so am I sending you.

In the course of the three years he’d spent with these men, he had taught them many things, but now he was about to give them a very special gift. He breathed on them and said: ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. For those whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven; for those whose sins you retain, they are retained’.

Maybe we should pause for a moment to consider the breath of God. You will recall that the opening words of the Book of Genesis are: In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was a formless void, there was darkness over the deep, and God’s spirit hovered over the water. God’s spirit, or breath, is going to bring about the creation. A little further on, in the second chapter of Genesis, we read: God fashioned man of dust, from the soil. Then he breathed into his nostrils a breath of life, and thus man became a living being. Just one last example from the Old Testament, which we find in Ezekiel’s vision of the valley of bones: The Lord God says this to these bones: ‘I am now going to make the breath enter you, and you will live’ – which is exactly what happened. So you see that in each of these cases, God’s breath is life-giving. And that is the effect of Jesus’ gift to the disciples on Easter evening: henceforth they will be able to give new life to those bound by sin; the disciples will be able to pardon sins as only Jesus had done until that time.

Despite having received this precious gift, the disciples stayed where they were. When Thomas returned, they naturally told him what had happened, but he couldn’t believe them, thought they were hallucinating. Unless I see the holes that the nails made in his hands and can put my finger into the holes they made, and unless I can put my hand into his side, I refuse to believe. We all know about the doubts of Thomas and maybe we share them at times. The gospels don’t tell us a lot about Thomas, but it’s interesting to recall two incidents mentioned in St John’s gospel. The first was when they learned of the death of Lazarus. Jesus wanted to go to Bethany but the disciples tried to talk him out of it because they knew that the Jewish authorities were scheming to kill him. Nevertheless, Jesus insisted, so Thomas said to the others: Well let’s all go, and die with him. You can see he was courageous, and devoted to his Master. Later, at the Last Supper, when Jesus started speaking of his ‘departure’ in terms which are clear to us but not to the disciples, it was Thomas who expressed the incomprehension of the others when he said: Lord we don’t even know where you are going, so how can we possibly know the way? That gives Jesus the opportunity to announce: I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one can go to the Father except through me. They probably found the answer enigmatic; let’s just keep in mind that it was Thomas who asked the question; he wanted to understand.

Anyway, today’s gospel tells us that Jesus made another apparition a week later, and this time Thomas was present, so Jesus spoke directly to him: Put your finger here; look, here are my hands. Give me your hand; put it into my side. Doubt no longer but believe. You can imagine his emotion! Now that he can see Jesus with his own eyes he thinks no more about hallucinations or illusions; the man in front of him is most definitely a man of flesh. And he knows what Thomas had said the other day. Thomas doesn’t want to touch his Master’s wounds. They’re still swollen, tender; he doesn’t want to revive the pain. There’s a pause; Jesus keeps looking at him; very slowly Thomas puts out his hand; he touches the wounds – and exclaims: My Lord and my God.

Remember that Jesus had only ever spoken of himself as the Son of Man. He never introduced himself as Son of God, or Messiah. He wanted people to listen to his teaching, to observe his behaviour and to draw their own conclusions. We do know that quite a few people thought of him as a prophet, but none had any idea of his divine sonship. True, there were a couple of occasions where he used the words I AM in a way that evoked God’s self-manifestation on Sinai – and that didn’t win him any friends. So it was Thomas, ‘doubting’ Thomas, who was the first of those who were destined to be called ‘Christians’ to greet him as God.

Jesus had a word of encouragement for the rest of us when he said to Thomas: You believe because you can see me. Happy are those who have not seen and yet believe. Yes, you and I accept the witness of the Apostles and their witness is the kernel of our faith: Jesus Christ is the Son of God; he was put to death – and now he lives!

Today’s passage concludes with these words: There were many other signs that Jesus worked and the disciples saw, but they are not recorded in this book. These are recorded so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life through his name. That sounds like a conclusion – which it is – but there is in fact one more chapter to St John’s gospel, and another conclusion which does not in any way invalidate what I have said about this one.

Let me make just one observation about this morning’s first reading. It presents a beautiful picture: The whole group of believers was united, heart and soul … everything they owned was held in common. The apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus with great power … None of their members was ever in want … I think it’s an idealized picture. But I will add that we should never lose sight of our ideals. So the primitive Christian community is presented as a place of sharing. It is healthy to think of all that we have as a gift from God; it is something to share with others for the building up of community. I would stress that sharing is not concerned only with material possessions. We can and should share our faith, the breath of God which brings life into the world! (Quentin Howard)

15-04-2012 

Tags: , , , , , , , , , Permalink
2 Comments

Easter: The Proof that God chooses the best for us

Posted by junix28 on April 7, 2012 in Homilies

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!

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Permalink