Easter Sunday, Year B

Acts 10:34, 37-43; Col 3:1-4; Mk 16: 1-7

Rejoice and be glad

This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad (Ps 118:24). Easter Sunday is indeed a day for all Christians to rejoice and be glad-this the day on which our Lord broke the chains of death and restored life.  This resurrection event remains the source and inspiration of all Christian activities; our Sunday celebrations, and in fact the daily celebration of mass are all rooted in the resurrection experience. Without the resurrection, our preaching will be baseless as reiterated by St Paul: “And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is our faith” (1 Cor 15:14) 

We have every reason to rejoice and be glad today; for making us to see this day, for the gift of salvation, for calling us to be his children, for the gift of faith, for our priests, for our church, choir, altar sodality, knights of Columbus, for the newly baptized and the new converts, for liberation from the bondage of sin.

Today, death has been swallowed up in victory. O Death where is your victory, death where is your sting? Thanks be to God, he gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Cor 15;55ff) . The gates of heaven have been opened, so death has no power over us anymore. Oh, if the Son of man sets you free, you are free indeed! For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, after that those who are Christ's at His coming ( 1Cor 15:22-23).   It is certain, as Paul says, “if we die with him we shall also live with him, if we endure with him we shall reign with him”( 2 Tim 2:11)

Because of the resurrection, we have nothing to fear. At his birth, the angels told the shepherds ‘Do not be afraid’, and at the resurrection the angels repeated the same message ‘Do not be afraid’. Yet the women went away with fear and when they encountered the Lord, his first words to them again was “Do not be afraid”(Mtt 28:10)

True love of, and faith in Christ casts out all fears. But many, many Christians today live in fear. We fear almost everything around us. Fear is so ingrained in our minds that we sometimes fear our own shadow. It is impossible to live life to the full when we are fearful. Fear can paralyze people, and it diminishes our ability to think right.  Fear of death, fear of failure, fear of the future, fear of examinations, and sickness are some of our common fears. We don’t have to live in fear anymore because his final words after his resurrection abide in us: “I am with you always, until the end of time.”(Mtt 28:20) And “even if I should walk in the valley of death, no evil would I fear, you are there with your crook and your staff, with these you give me comfort.”( Ps.23:4) "Don't be afraid, for I am with you. Do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you. I will help you. I will uphold you with my victorious right hand (Pr. 29:25)St Teresa of Avila says, “let nothing trouble you, let nothing frighten you, all things are  passing away: God never changes, patience obtains all things, whoever has God lacks nothing, God alone suffices.”

The resurrection gives us hope. It is rightly said where there is life, there is hope. Sad to say people easily get discouraged because of seeming difficult circumstances here below. Do we not realize that every trial, cares and troubles are passing away? The 9/11 terrorist attack instilled anger and fear in many of us, yet families came together to pray. This is hope! The recent plane crash in the French Alps was gruesome, no doubt, but the families took part in prayer services offered on behalf of their loved ones-this is hope. We have all suffered the loss of loved ones, sometimes tragically, leaving us with a shattered experience. All these experiences can either make us hopeful or hopeless. The virtue of hope makes us look beyond the present circumstances, to live on even with terrible loss. Hope is not a virtue until one is able to hope even when all seems hopeless. Hope means hoping when things are hopeless, or it is no virtue at all. St Paul tells us our tribulations bring about perseverance, and perseverance proven character, and proven character hope, and our hope cannot disappoint us because of the love of Christ which has been poured into our hearts( Rom 5:4).

Hope in the resurrection reminds us that there is no lasting dwelling place here. That’s why our second reading from Paul’s letter to the Colossians challenges us to think of what is above, not of what is of earth, so that when Christ appears in glory, we may rise with him( Col 3:1-4).  Our real home then is in heaven, where Christ is. Life on earth can be likened to a heavenly race in which winning doesn’t depend on how successful you are but on how faithful we have been (Mother Teresa).

Many of us live in this world as if our final destination is here. We devote an immeasurable portion of our time to worldly concerns, pursuit of pleasure, attachment to wealth and property. Sometimes we fight tooth and nail over these things. We make enemies, nurture hate feelings over things that we shall all leave behind someday.

New life in the resurrection requires that we detach ourselves from all material things, die to our old ways, that we may lead simple lifestyles, with a generous heart, bearing in mind that only the things we give away will count for us at the end of this race.

Finally, the resurrection of Jesus is good news! Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Salome go about spreading the good news to the rest of the brethren. Christianity is always good news. In fact, no amount of tragedies as we have it today on the media can change the content of the Easter message. This good news is an event of universal significance. Let all Christians make a difference as bearers of good news. Let your presence bring joy in your community, your family and your co-workers.

Here is what we can consider the content of good news today. It is about thinking before you speak, summed up in the acronym: THINK: T=True, H=Helpful,  I=Inspiring,  N=Necessary, and K=Kind. Without these ingredients in our speech, we would be spreading bad news.

Palm Sunday year B

The Price of true love

Once upon a time, some children were asked, “what is love?” one little girl answered, “Love is when your mommy reads you a bedtime story. True love is when she doesn’t skip any pages.”

Palm Sunday, otherwise known as Passion Sunday is a true love story in which Christ deliberately undertakes the journey to Jerusalem where he will suffer and die for love of sinful humanity.  The price for this  unfathomable love is so evident in the prayer and agony in the garden of Gethsemane where  sweat fell off Jesus’ face like great drops of blood(Mtt 26:37) He is literally crushed like grapes from which wine is produced.   Gardens are supposed to be meeting places for lovers in the Scriptures. Unfortunately, in this case, all his supposed ‘lovers’ rejected him just when he needed them most. What a betrayal! Here in the garden he foresees how Judas would betray him for love of money; here in the garden he sees how the crowd would prefer a thief to him, an innocent man; there in the garden he foresees how Peter would deny him three times; there in the garden he sees how the crowd jeers at him; there in the garden he sees how Peter, James and John fall asleep when they were supposed to be awake in prayer.  Alas, a bitter pill to swallow! No doubt he cries out in prayer, “Father if it is possible, take this cup away from me, but not my will, but your will be done”(lk 22:42).

The suffering is intense because it comes from his own friends and kinsmen, the same people for whom he is offering his life. The psalmist rightly says, if it were an enemy, I could bear the insult, but it is you, my own friend, the one who shared my bread, and now you turned against me(Ps 55:12)  How else in the world can a man show proof of his love? There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends (Jn 15:13)

  

Whenever I reflect on God’s love, my elementary school song comes to mind: “Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so, little ones to him belong, they are weak, but he is strong. Yes Jesus loves me.” The love of God has not changed one bit after the passion story. He still loves us with an everlasting love.   He loves you, he loves me, to the point of shedding his blood for you and for me. Nobody loves you more than Jesus. He is telling you, John, Mary, Christine, I love you and I am going to die for love of  you. Once, a pastor approached an elderly lady and asked why she always prayed for long hours after mass on Sundays.  “Because God’s attention is divided when the church is full” she replied. She is gravely mistaken! God loves you as if you are the only one who matters.  His love is unconditional, it doesn’t fade away with age, with familiarity, with infirmities. No, it is a heart to heart love that is not based on some kind of physical attraction or make- up, but on who we are, humans!  He loves you just as you are; it doesn't really matter whether you are tall, short, fat, slim, long hair, short air- he loves you so.

If he loves us so much, what should be our response?  First we owe him a deep gratitude for loving us despite the ugly things we do, and second, we should love him back because love should be reciprocal. This is where we often fall short-we don’t love our Savior as much as we should.  Sometimes our love is seasonal, as in Christmas and Easter.

How painful, when true love meets with betrayal! Imagine how hurting it is when a spouse or a friend you love so much, betrays you. It is not different between Jesus, his disciples and his fellow Jews. But this is  not time to apportion blame on  those who  crucified him, it is rather time to reflect on  how you and me still fall short of true love for him.

Let's look at Pilate. He knew that Jesus was sinless, yet in order to protect his job, he condemned him to die. He claimed to have washed his hands, but his hands were not clean at all!  How often do we trade our conscience for job security? Sometimes we bear false witness against our neighbor, remain silent in the face of evil or even encourage anti-life campaigns; all in a bid to secure our job or position.  

Peter was ashamed of himself not only because he broke an important promise, but the manner in which it happened. It was a little girl who frightened him. Peter, who, ordinarily would spank that little girl, became a coward in front of her. We make similar promises to God at baptism, in marriage, yet we broke them in the face of ‘little girls’. Every time we broke such promises, seen or unseen, we are betraying Jesus.  

Judas betrayed his master in the most shameful manner- with a kiss! A kiss is supposed to be a sign of love, but in Judas’ case, it was outright betrayal. So notorious that any form of dishonesty, cheating, pretense in a relationship is epitomized as Judas’ kiss. There are still people today who indulge not only in Judas’ kisses but also in casual kisses for very selfish motives. Judas has taught us that not everyone who kisses you loves you.   Let us not allow ourselves to be fooled.

The crowd was just being emotional. People easily act out of emotion in the crowd, and do things that don’t reflect their values. Social pressure has taken a better part of us as we get involved in this or that activity just because everyone does it. Is what I am doing right or do I just want to conform to the crowd? Or am I simply looking for human approval?  Is the additional stuff I am buying necessary, or I feel emotionally sick because I seem out of tune with fashion?

It was a jealous crowd; they praised him with their lips, but their hearts were full of jealousy and evil thoughts. The same people who hailed him, would shout ‘crucify him, crucify him.’ How often do we pretend to acclaim people when we don’t really mean it? Jealousy has a destructive force in our lives and among families and friends. When we back stab people, or wish them evil, because of jealousy, we are doing it to Jesus.

Let us seriously reflect on God’s goodness to us, and on how far away we have wondered from him because of lack of true love for God, our friends, our spouses, our church and our country. Let us then  resolve to journey with him during these few days with an open heart, that we may rise with him in newness of life at Easter.

5^th Sunday of Lent, Year B

Jer 31:31-35; Heb 5:7-9:Jn 12:20-33

Salvation Economy of Loss and Gain

Ours is a profit-driven society. It is an economy in which business people and employers seriously consider what profit they would make before they can ever delve into any business venture. Similarly, employees do not only care about their income, but also look at how much profit they can make at a particular job. Rightfully, it is a worthy fore thought because we are expected to pay taxes, utility bills, insurance and so on.

However, when life becomes one mad chase for wealth, we would become profiteers; people who take advantage of every situation in the market or at the job to make profit, even to the detriment of the poor. This can affect our social and mental stability. Too much of a thing is always a disease. For example, we would not be able to have a restful vacation because our minds will constantly be working at one more gain. Because of this profit-driven mentality, it is hard to tell a genuine charitable act. A little girl asked her mum the sum of 10cents to give to an old lady at the Park. Her mom was very touched at the kindness of the girl and gave her the requested sum. Then she asked, “Does that lady not work anymore?” “Oh yes” came her reply, “she sells sweets”

The salvation economy of loss and gain is completely contrary to the capitalist system of profit and loss. In the former, gain is loss and loss is gain. It is about eternal rewards, not temporary gain. This is what we read in the gospel: “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will preserve it for eternal life.”

Christ’s death on the cross seemed like a loss, but it won for us the resurrection. The sufferings of Christ seemed like a loss, but all will eventually turn into joy. St Paul expresses this beautifully: “I consider everything a loss because of the supreme advantage of knowing Christ my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them as garbage, that I may know Christ (Phil 3:8).

It is only within this economy that Christians are able to make sacrifices. The church offers several opportunities for us to make sacrifices that will yield eternal reward: works of charity, participation in apostolic and action groups in the church such as Knights of Columbus, Choir Altar Sodality. Sacrificing our time, comfort, and convenience are all fine means of building our eternal credit score.

 Many people today are egocentric; it is all about ‘myself,’ ‘my time,’ ‘my convenience.’ A school boy was asked what parts of speech me and mine were. He said aggressive pronouns.  To this end, we have become victims of the I-technology-iPod, Ipad, Iphone, Myspace, selfie. Some of these have  created a gulf between us and “others”

The story of the rich fool in Luke 12 is worth reflecting upon: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest.  He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops. Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.” But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’

Though parable is an admonition against greed, its root lies in the desire for excessive gain. What then shall it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his soul (Mk 8:36). Meagher Patrick said “some people are so poor, the only thing they have is money.”

Let us always say the prayer: From earthy gain, which is heavenly loss deliver me O Lord.

When excessive pursuit of gain becomes the rule of life, we easily fall into the temptation of its unjust acquisition. “Whoever increases wealth by taking interest or profit form the poor, amasses it for another who will be kind to the poor” (Prov. 28:8) And, “To build your house with other people’s money is like collecting stones for your own tomb.

The story is told of an Attorney who died and went to heaven. As he approached the Pearly gates, he noticed an orchestra playing and all the angels cheering. “You are very special,” St Peter said, “We have never had anyone live to be 130 years before.” The Attorney was puzzled. “But I am only 65.” St Peter thought for a moment and said, “Oh we must have added up your billing hours.”

Billing hours are often exaggerated for want of excessive profit. Some billing hours can cost the lives of an entire family.

From earthly gain, which is heavenly loss, deliver me O Lord.