What is the basis of our faith? What is at the heart of Christianity? Is it the obedience of God’s law and the laws of the Church? For many people, religion is seen merely in these terms – as the keepings of laws. A Catholic is one who must come to church every Sunday, must not eat meat on Friday, must go for confession at least once a year etc. When we begin to think of our religion as merely a set of laws, several things happen. When laws become the only consideration, our faith is then based on fear of judgment and punishment from God. If we obey these laws we will be blessed and nothing bad will happen to us, but if we break these laws then we will be punished and cursed.
When religion is based on fear, we become judgmental. We judge others by external appearances and behaviour. We are ready to catch people when they make a mistake and are quick to ostracise them from the community if they are habitual sinners. This was the kind of the mentality that the Pharisees had in today’s gospel. Based on his perception of his religion, the Pharisee who invited Jesus to his house only saw a sinful woman. This woman is described as one who had “a bad name in town.” Perhaps, this is an indication of the kind of lifestyle that she lived. She may have worked as a prostitute. For the Pharisee, this woman’s sin is too great and cannot be forgiven. She will always be remembered for the mistakes that she had made in the past rather than what she can become in the future.
How do we see others? Do we often judge others by appearance? Do we often remember their mistakes and use it against them?
Today’s readings remind us of what it really means to be a Christian. According to St. Paul in the second reading, “what makes a man righteous is not obedience to the law, but faith in Jesus Christ.” What does this mean? It means that religion is not just following a set of rules and laws. Religion and faith is based on relationship with God and Jesus Christ. So, what is at the heart of our faith must not be the laws but love. This is how God relates to us – not as a judge waiting to punish us when we have done wrong but as a God who loves us. St. Paul speaks of his faith: it is “faith in the Son of God who loved me and who sacrificed himself for my sake.”
Since our faith is based on love rather than the law, we are also called to mercy rather than judgment. Today’s gospel gives us the beautiful story of Jesus and the sinful woman. Jesus also tells a parable that highlights the importance of mercy and forgiveness. Jesus saw the woman differently. He knew that she was a sinner but he also knew of what she could become if given the opportunity. Mercy and forgiveness creates the opportunity for change. Mercy and forgiveness allows us to leave the past behind. Mercy and forgiveness is how God relates to us and he challenges us to also show mercy and forgiveness to others.
We have been speaking about our parish as a welcoming parish. In order for this parish to become a welcoming parish, we must first learn how to forgive. In order to welcome others, we must show mercy, not judgment. The sinful woman in today’s gospel showed hospitality to Jesus. In return, Jesus rewarded her with mercy and forgiveness. May we too begin to show mercy, understanding and forgiveness to one another. We recognize that we are all sinners. We acknowledge that we are not perfect. We admit that we have hurt one another by our selfishness and jealousies. But we should not be trap by these failings. The way forward is through forgiveness and mercy.
(This will be the last blog entry from Fr Michael. He continues to blog on his own personal blog, "Your Grace is Sufficient")
Much has been written and spoken about the Eucharist. Can anything else be said about it? I believe that the three readings of today can still give us some new insights.
In the first reading, we have Melchizedek, a foreigner, extending hospitality to Abraham. Melchizedek is not of the same race as Abraham, neither is he a close acquaintance. Melchizedek is in fact a stranger who goes out of his way and shows unusual hospitality to Abraham. Everytime we celebrate the Mass, Jesus extends hospitality to us. He does not only extend hospitality to those who are considered good and holy but also to strangers, luke-warm Christians, and sinners. The Eucharist is not an exclusive meal confined to only a few select people. We must always remember to extend hospitality to all who come to our Church, because in various ways they are hungering and seeking for meaning to their lives.
In the second reading, we read of St. Paul’s harsh words to the Corinthians. The main problem of the Corinthian church was the existence of factions. There were those who were rich and those who were very poor. There were those who thought themselves holier than others. There were those who were followers of Paul and others who were followers of Apollos. But in the Eucharistic community established by Jesus, there can be no room for factions. All are united in the Body of Christ. That is why St. Paul tells us that every time, we eat this bread and drink this cup, we are “proclaiming Christ’s death.” The Eucharist calls us to die to ourselves – to die to our selfishness, our prejudice, our suspicion of others.
Finally, the gospel tells us that the Eucharist calls us to be involved. There is no room for indifference and pushing the responsibility to others in the Eucharistic community. Jesus challenges us at every Mass – “give them something to eat yourselves.” The Mass does not depend on the priest alone. It depends on every one of you – in the way you participate in the Mass. You cannot complain of receiving nothing during the Mass if you do not take the trouble to contribute something. Each of you can contribute something by preparing yourself well before the Mass, by participating in the singing and the responses, and by listening attentively to the Word of God.
Every Mass is an occasion and an opportunity to extend hospitality to others- especially to strangers, the weak, the elderly, little children and those who seem to be alone. Every Mass is an occasion for us to die to ourselves and to our prejudices. Every Mass is an opportunity for us to participate in the mission of Jesus to establish God’s kingdom on earth. Let us pray during the Mass, for the grace to grow in our hospitality, in our self-denial and finally in our participation in the works of Christ.
Whenever some of us talk about the Holy Trinity, we often get a headache? Many of us are often caught up in the problem of numbers and mathematics – how can three be one and how can one be three? We often forget that this isn’t what the doctrine of the Holy Trinity is all about. Today’s readings give us three areas of reflection.
The doctrine of the Trinity highlights the fact that God is mystery. In the old testament, we read about God appearing on mountain tops and speaking from clouds. Mystery here doesn’t mean that God has kept many things secret. On the contrary, God has fully revealed himself in the person of Jesus Christ. When we speak of mystery, we are speaking of the limitations of human knowledge. Man may have advanced in science and medicine and many other fields, but he is still unable to explain everything. This is because man is himself a mystery. Life and death are mysteries. The universe is a mystery. Suffering is a mystery. Love is a mystery. And finally God is a mystery. Learning this truth will make us more humble. Learning this truth will make us understand that we do not have all the answers to all the problems in the world. Learning this truth will allow us to depend wholly on God and allow him to take charge of everything.
The second truth which we can learn from today’s feast is that God is a God of relationships. Mystery does not mean that God keeps at a distance. Although we can never fully know or understand the depth of God’s mind, we can still have an intimate relationship with him. In fact, man was created for relationship with God. This is possible only because God chooses to come close to us. He does not come close to us by descending from the clouds. God comes close to us by becoming one of us. God the Son came into the world in order to save it. God the Son became human, became one of us, so that we might become one with God.
God chooses to come close to us because he is love. This is the third truth that we can learn from today’s feast. If there is any quality which can best describe the nature of God, it is Love. The Trinity is not a thing. It is a relationship of persons. The Father loves the Son and the Son loves the Father and this love is perfected by the bond of the Holy Spirit. That is why St. Paul reminds us that we should “grow perfect; help one another, …be united, live in peace” because we are made in the image and likeness of this God of love and peace.
If we are to be signs of the Trinity in today’s world, then we must be people who are able to live with mystery. In other words, we must remind the world that there is more than meets the eye, that there is a greater truth than that which is revealed by science – it is God. We are also called to be witnesses of the Trinity through our way of life. We must strive to build communities where we can live in unity and peace and in mutual forgiveness. When we are able to express this in our actions and words, the Trinity ceases to be a mere concept but becomes alive in each of our lives.
Today, as we look around this congregation, we can imagine seeing the tongues of fire coming down on the heads of everyone here. After a period of waiting – 50 days of waiting – Jesus finally sends us the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, the one who will teach us everything and remind us of all that Jesus has said.
What is the significance of the coming of the Spirit?
First, the Spirit allows us to overcome our fears. Does this mean that we would no longer have any fears? No. We will always have fears. The opposite of fear is not courage but love – in fact, it is God’s love that overcomes our fears. It is love that help us to do things even when we are fearful of the consequences. Fear does not disappear, but it can no longer control us. In love, we allow the Spirit to take control of us. This was the experience of the apostles. Fearful, they hid behind closed doors. But when they were filled by the Spirit, they felt compel to go out from that room to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ.
Secondly, the coming of the Spirit breaks down barriers between us and creates unity among people from diverse backgrounds. Today, the Church is not a Chinese Church, it is not an Indian Church, it is not a Malaysian Church. The Church does not belong to any particular group. The Church is the Church of Christ and all people, regardless of race, color or language are part of it. In the words St. Paul in the second reading, we are “children of God”, “heirs of God and coheirs with Christ.” If we were to live according to the Spirit, then we must not allow prejudice to affect the way we live our Christian lives. If language had been a barrier to the early Christians, as in the case of the first reading, the Holy Spirit breaks down even that barrier. Different peoples can still be united in Spirit even if they do not share a common language. What does this tell us about our own parish situation? Each of us must seriously reflect over this.
This is the reason why the Church is different from every other social group. Social groups consists of members who share a common interest, or a common language or a common project. This can never be the case for the Church. The Church is made up of peoples from diverse backgrounds. We must be able to look after the interest of everyone and not only look towards our own interest. The Church is not Barisan Nasional, made up of different racial parties – UMNO, MCA or MIC.
Thirdly, the Spirit comes to “teach you everything and remind you of all (Jesus) has said to you.” We need to be reminded because we forget so easily especially when we encounter problems. We need to be reminded constantly of our identity as children of God. We need to be reminded constantly that we are brothers and sisters in Christ. We need to be reminded that our new life in the Spirit is a life that must be founded on love. Life in the Spirit means that there is no room for hatred, prejudice, unforgiveness, or selfishness.
We give thanks to God for the gift of the Holy Spirit. He is truly our Advocate, our helper. Let us make room for him in our hearts that we will always be ready to listen to his prompting.
“We…” “They …” We often use these words to refer to different groups of people. “We” usually refers to the group which I personally can identify with. I’m a member of this group. This group of mine shares common interest and are like-minded. This group of people are my friends and my loved ones.
“They” is often used to refer to people who do not belong to that special group of ours. These people are outside my group of friends and loved ones. These people are considered different – whether it be a different opinion, a different language, a background or a different religion. Very often the “we” are against “them.” They are not our friends. We distrust them. We don’t like them.
Very often, we tend to think like this. We tend to make distinctions. We tend to see our differences rather than to recognize what is common between us. “Why are we helping the Mandarin or Tamil speaking?” “Why are we taking care of the needs of the migrants?” “We should only take care of our own.”
Today, Jesus reminds us that on this world there are no ‘we’ and ‘they.’ All of us are God’s children. All of us are recipients of the saving grace of Jesus. All of us are called to be that One family of God. There is no room for division and distinction in this one family of God. The poor will not be separated from the rich. The educated will not be separated from the uneducated. People of different languages and different cultures will not be separated and placed in different rooms.
This is the prayer of Jesus during the last supper just before his death. He was concerned not only for his disciples, those that the Heavenly Father had given into his care, but also for the others – the unconverted, those who rejected him and would put him to death, his greatest enemies. And so Jesus prayed: “Holy Father, I pray not only for these, but for those also who through their words will believe in me. May they all be one. Father, may they be one in us as you are in me and I am in you.”
This is the reason why we cannot only be praying for our loved ones and friends. We cannot only be helping people who are close to us. We are also called to pray for the “others” – for our enemies, for people who hurt us, for those speak ill of us, for those who think differently, for those who are of a different skin colour or language. Filled with the Holy Spirit, Stephen did exactly this. As he was being stoned by his enemies, he prayed that God would forgive them their sins.
One day, we will all walk hand in hand into the gates of heaven. We will hear the voice of Jesus inviting us to enter into the new Jerusalem. If we are unable to face our enemies and people whom we dislike now, how can we possibly live with them for eternity after death. In heaven, there can be no division, hatred or unforgiveness. There is only unity and love. While we are still alive in this world, let us begin to work for unity and reconciliation because heaven is only a perfect reflection of the way we have lived here on earth. May our robes be washed clean by the time we stand before Jesus, the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End. May we be one as Jesus, the Father and the Holy Spirit are one.
Making decisions can be very difficult especially when everyone seems to have their own opinion. You and I know that each of us always think that our own opinion is always the most important of all. That is the reason why we have disagreements which may even lead to conflict and later to disunity.
That was also the problem of the early Christians. Some of the early Christians believed that they should still follow the Jewish customs, for example circumcision and prohibitions towards certain foods. For them, Jesus was a Jew and had also followed Jewish ways and rituals. But there was also another group of Christians who were able to recognize the newness brought about by Jesus. Jesus was not merely another Jewish teacher who wanted to reform his religion, but he was the Son of God who came to announce the good news of the kingdom of God. And within this kingdom, customs and rituals which separated one race from the other could no longer be barriers to Christian brotherhood.
And so a problem was presented to the Council of Jerusalem, the assembly of Christian leaders, who came together to decide on this critical matter – whether non-Jewish (Gentiles) converts to Christianity should adopt the practices of the Jews. After long discussion a decision was made – the Gentile converts should “not be saddled with any burden beyond certain essentials.”
Throughout the centuries, the Church has also experienced many crisis that threatened to break its very foundation and unity. In the early centuries, many Church leaders were divided as to whether Jesus was God; and if he was God, was he equal to God the Father. In later centuries, there were also disagreement about many church teachings and practices. In the 15th and 16th century, the Church also faced the crisis of the Reformation where many Protestants broke away from the Catholic Church. In the last century, faced with the rapid development of society and new problems emerging there from, the Church’s bishops came together in Rome to decide on the future of the Church – and so we had the famous Second Vatican Council which has affected the lives of everyone.
Throughout all these centuries, throughout all these years of crisis and trials, the Church has continued to survive and grow, only because of the guidance of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the gift of the Father and the gift of Jesus to the Church and to each of us who are believers. He is sent to as to “teach you everything and remind you of all (Jesus) have said to you.” His presence guarantees that we will experience peace in our decisions even in the midst of chaos and problems. His guidance ensures that in spite of all our personal opinions and ways of thinking, we can still come to a common decision that reflects the will of God. In other words, he is the guarantee of unity within the Church. Without the Holy Spirit, the Church and unity would not be possible.
We must therefore always remember that our decisions must always be made with reference to the Church and the community as a whole. It is that same Spirit which will inspire each of us. There is always the temptation to think that my opinion is the best and the most important of all. But what matters most is not this or that opinion or even the opinion of the majority, but it is the will of God that we must always search for with the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Let us continue to treasure the gift of the Holy Spirit and give thanks to God because the Holy Spirit is the sure hope and promise that God has not and will never abandon us.
“I give you a new commandment: love one another; just as I have loved you, you must also love one another.” For many of us, the commandment of love has become so familiar to us that we may fail to recognize its ‘newness.’ What is so new about this commandment?
The commandment to love found in the Gospel of John is very different from the commandment to love found in the other gospels. In the gospels according to Matthew, Mark and Luke, the gospel writers have Jesus repeat the core teaching of the Old Testament covenant that is to love of God and love our neighbor as ourselves. The standard or comparison made there is that our love for neighbor must correspond to our love for ourselves.
But in the gospel of John, we are commanded by Jesus to love one another as he, Jesus, has loved us. Self-love no longer becomes the criteria but Jesus’ love for us. In the first letter of St. John, where he speaks so much of love and where he names God as Love, we find these beautiful words “In this is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as expiation for our sins.” (1 Jn 4:10) Our weak, limited, imperfect and inadequate ‘love’ for ourselves no longer becomes the standard by which we should love others but rather Jesus’ love for us. Only God loves perfectly because God is LOVE himself! And this is the love of God – that he is prepared to become man, suffer and die for us. This is the love of God, that he is prepared to become one of us, to share our pains and sorrows, to experience our sufferings and give us hope and encouragement in the midst of all these. This is the love of God – that he will “wipe away all tears from (our) eyes”, destroy death and sadness. This is the love of God – that he will make all things new.
Love must therefore be the mark of our discipleship. “By this love you have for one another, everyone will know that you are (Christ’s) disciples.”
But we realize that we will always fall short of this high standard. We will never reach this perfect standard precisely because we are not God. And that is why we must continue to support, encourage and pray for each other. We must follow the examples of Paul and Barnabas, who in the first reading “put fresh hearts into the disciples.”
Fifth Sunday of Easter Year C May 2 "Love one Another"
1. Lectio John 13:31-35 31 After Judas had left, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man’s glory is revealed; now God’s glory is revealed through him. 32 And if God’s glory is revealed through him, then God will reveal the glory of the Son of Man in himself, and he will do so at once. 33 My children, I shall not be with you very much longer. You will look for me; but I tell you now what I told the Jewish authorities, ‘You cannot go where I am going.’ 34 And now I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 If you have love for one another, then everyone will know that you are my disciples.”
Lectio Comments What is so special about this ‘new’ commandment? The requirement to love God and to love our neighbour as ourself would already have been well known to the disciples from the Law of Moses (Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18). In the other three Gospels this teaching is often referred to as ‘The Great Commandment’ (Matthew 22:34-40, Mark 12:28-34, Luke 10:25-28). But the ‘new commandment’ is radically different from the Great Commandment to love God and neighbour. The new challenge Jesus lays before his disciples here is to love each other ‘as I have loved you’. Jesus now makes his love the standard of all love. The starting point is not human love but God’s love. Jesus’ love for his disciples, for us, and for all people reflects the unconditional mutual love that exists between God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Therefore, by obeying the new commandment, Christians make God’s love, the perfect love of the Trinity, present in the world.
2. Meditatio 1. What strikes you most from these verses? Ask the Holy Spirit to speak to you. 2. How do you feel about Jesus’ command to love others as Jesus loves us? 3. Does Jesus ask the impossible? How can we try to obey this command? 4. How does God want you to express his love to another others?
3. Oratio Let us pray Psalm 145:8-13 and reflect on the attributes of God:
The LORD is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in love. The LORD is good to all, compassionate to every creature. All your works give you thanks, O LORD and your faithful bless you. They speak of the glory of your reign and tell of your great works, Making known to all your power, the glorious splendor of your rule. Your reign is a reign for all ages, your dominion for all generations. The LORD is trustworthy in every word, and faithful in every work. Amen.
4. Contemplatio Contemplate the love God.
5. Actio 1. Personal Life – concretely express your love to a member of your family which you have not done so for a long time. 2. Communal Life – Brainstorm ways in which the community can reach out someone in need – a home for the elderly, Orang Asli village, a visit to a sick or elderly person in the BEC, squatters, migrants, refugees.
Being a Christian disciple can be disheartening. How much sorrow, trials and bitterness has life in store for everyone, especially for those who try to live good lives. How many innocent people suffer, are subjected to violence, injustice, betrayal and deceit. It is not easy trying to live Christian values in a world that promotes contrary values. In business, we are told that honest people will never be successful. In order to be rich, one must be prepared to lie, to be dishonest, to cheat and be involved in corruption. Is there a place in such a world for a Christian who is called to live and speak the Truth?
The world tells us that we must be nice to our friends and to those who can help us but we must be wary of our enemies. As a Christian, we know that we are not to make any distinction between friend and enemy. In fact, Christians are called to love their enemies. The world cannot accept this because it would appear that we are allowing our enemies to have the victory and to take advantage of us. Is there a place for a Christian who is called to love and forgive?
Today’s readings give us the reassurance that we need. In the first reading, it may appear that the wicked are victorious. The enemies of Paul and Barnabas spread lies about them and opposed them. Finally, these enemies managed to get Paul and Barnabas expelled from the town. But the reading does not end on a disheartening note. Rather, it ends with a curious remark: “the disciples were filled with joy and the Holy Spirit.” Instead of shedding tears of sorrow, the disciples are filled with joy. This is a sign that joy can go together with tears, as well as with the unfulfilled hopes and sorrow for suffering injustice. The wicked enemies of truth will never be able to experience this kind of joy; they fight the gospel, are proud like winners, but are in fact, so foolish.
In the second reading, we are given a picture of the destiny of those who have suffered or even died for the sake of the gospel. They are those who in this world went through sufferings, persecutions and gave their lives for their brothers like the Lamb. Other people looked on them as losers, but for God they are the winners. As a reward for remaining faithful, they will no longer experience suffering, hunger or thirst because the Lamb will be their shepherd and will lead them to springs of living water. God will wipe away all tears from their eyes.
Christians are not called to make every one happy. It is impossible to make everyone happy. There will always be someone who will disagree with you or with the things you are doing. Therefore the criteria is not whether others are happy or not with our actions but rather that we follow our conscience and do what is right. To follow our conscience in order to do the right and loving thing is what it means to listen to the voice of the Good Shepherd. This is the promise and reassurance given by Jesus the Good Shepherd to each of his disciples: “The sheep that belong to me listen to my voice; I know them and they follow me. I give them eternal life; they will never be lost and no one will ever steal them from me.”
We cannot deny that it is difficult being a Christian. Jesus did not promise us that he will take away all our problems and sufferings in this life. If we want to be his disciple, then, we must be prepared to face the same fate as Jesus did, we must be ready to endure hardships and persecutions. What Jesus has promised, however, is that he will shepherd us with love. He will never allow us to despair. He will give us the courage and strength to bear the cross. And finally he will lead us to “restful waters” where our spirits will be revived.
If we examine the sources of our unhappiness, if we take a closer look at the reasons behind our feelings of anger and impatience, then we will discover a characteristic that is often common to all of us – the need to be control.
From the moment that we are born, each individual human person struggles to take control of his own life, his surrounding circumstances and even the people around him. The baby cries as a way of controlling his parents to feed him or give him security. As the child grows up, it learns new ways of controlling his situation- throwing tantrums, screaming, refusing to do as he is told, or even doing something nice for others so that he can get something in return. We adults are no different. We have developed different ways of controlling others – through our words and actions. We want others to change and when they don’t change, we get frustrated and angry. We can either scream at them or we can choose to give them the silent treatment.
We want to control our own lives, our destiny. We want to control the lives of our children. We want to choose the best jobs and the best spouses for them. We even want to control God through our prayers and penances.
The real truth of the matter is that we are not in control – we were never in control- and we shall never be in control. Only God is in control and we must allow God to take control of our lives and the lives of others.
These were the words of Jesus to Peter: “when you were young, you put on your own belt and walked where you liked” – in other words, Peter thought that he was in control of his own life. When he began to follow Jesus, he thought that he was responsible for this decision all by himself. His sense of independence/ self-reliance was shattered when he saw himself betray Jesus three times after Jesus was arrested. Discouraged and feeling as if he was a failure, Peter decided to go back to that same job which he thought he could do best – fishing. He still thought that he was in control. But even in this job, he fares badly – he fails to catch any fish. Only with the help of Jesus could he manage to catch fish.
It is the same with us. We must not grow to become so egoistic as to think that we can achieve everything all by ourselves. We must not be so proud to think that we are in control of our lives and our future. The fact is that we are not in control. The sooner we learn this, the better. We need the grace and strength of God. All that we do is done only with the grace of God. We must never forget this.
This is the true meaning of discipleship. We must put ourselves at the service of the Master. We must listen to Jesus and be always ready to do God’s will, not ours. We are called to follow him, to place our entire lives into his hands and let him take control of our lives.
During this mass, let us pray for the grace to be able to let go – to let go of the need to be control of our lives, to let go of the need to be in control of others, to let go of the need to control God and our destiny.
Third Sunday of Easter Year C April 18 “From Darkness to Light”
1. Lectio John 21:1-19 Later on, Jesus revealed himself again to the disciples. It was by the Sea of Tiberias, and it happened like this: 2 Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin, Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee and two more of his disciples were together. 3 Simon Peter said, 'I'm going fishing.' They replied, 'We'll come with you.' They went out and got into the boat but caught nothing that night. 4 When it was already light, there stood Jesus on the shore, though the disciples did not realise that it was Jesus. 5 Jesus called out, 'Haven't you caught anything, friends?' And when they answered, 'No,' 6 he said, 'Throw the net out to starboard and you'll find something.' So they threw the net out and could not haul it in because of the quantity of fish. 7 The disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, 'It is the Lord.' At these words, 'It is the Lord,' Simon Peter tied his outer garment round him (for he had nothing on) and jumped into the water. 8 The other disciples came on in the boat, towing the net with the fish; they were only about a hundred yards from land. 9 As soon as they came ashore they saw that there was some bread there and a charcoal fire with fish cooking on it. 10 Jesus said, 'Bring some of the fish you have just caught.' 11 Simon Peter went aboard and dragged the net ashore, full of big fish, one hundred and fifty-three of them; and in spite of there being so many the net was not broken. 12 Jesus said to them, 'Come and have breakfast.' None of the disciples was bold enough to ask, 'Who are you?'. They knew quite well it was the Lord. 13 Jesus then stepped forward, took the bread and gave it to them, and the same with the fish. 14 This was the third time that Jesus revealed himself to the disciples after rising from the dead. 15 When they had eaten, Jesus said to Simon Peter, 'Simon son of John, do you love me more than these others do?' He answered, 'Yes, Lord, you know I love you.' Jesus said to him, 'Feed my lambs.' 16 A second time he said to him, 'Simon son of John, do you love me?' He replied, 'Yes, Lord, you know I love you.' Jesus said to him, 'Look after my sheep.' 17 Then he said to him a third time, 'Simon son of John, do you love me?' Peter was hurt that he asked him a third time, 'Do you love me?' and said, 'Lord, you know everything; you know I love you.' Jesus said to him, 'Feed my sheep. 18 In all truth I tell you, when you were young you put on your own belt and walked where you liked; but when you grow old you will stretch out your hands, and somebody else will put a belt round you and take you where you would rather not go.' 19 In these words he indicated the kind of death by which Peter would give glory to God. After this he said, 'Follow me.'
Comments At Easter, we celebrated the resurrection of Jesus from the tomb. Today, we celebrate the resurrection of Peter from his own prison, the prison built on the foundations of his failures and unfaithfulness. The story tells how Jesus leads Peter from darkness to light. Peter, like many of us, lived with the shame of having denied Jesus, his greatest failure. But Jesus, by calling Peter again, point towards the light of resurrection. Failures do not mean that the world has ended. Failures should not prevent us from taking future risks. Jesus chooses Peter to carry on his mission, in spite of Peter’s failure and denial. By doing so, Jesus reminds Peter and us that when God calls us, God will never fail us. He never gives up on us. This is our hope of resurrection too. That we may rise from the ashes of our mistakes, our failures, our shame to continue Christ’s mission of ‘feeding his sheep.’
2. Meditatio 1. Picture the scene at the Sea of Tiberias. Picture the sound and the smell of the sea and the waves. Now picture the disciples gathering at the lakeside. What is happening? (Pause for 3 minutes) 2. Now imagine that you one of the disciples going out to fish. You may even imagine yourself as Peter. What are your feelings? Why have you lost hope in yourself? Why do you feel like giving up the mission of Christ to go back to your old way of life? (Pause for 3 minutes) 3. Imagine that you have caught nothing during the night. Imagine the frustration and sense of failure again. Now picture Jesus appearing on the seashore and waving to you. He is speaking to you but you do not yet recognise him as Jesus. But then someone shouts, “It is the Lord!” and all of a sudden you do recognise him. Imagine your feeling at having found Jesus. What do you do? (Pause for 3 minutes) 4. Picture yourself now on the shore and having a meal with Jesus. Jesus asks you to feed his sheep 3 times. What is your answer? How do you feel? Do you feel you that you would betray him or disappoint him again? Are you afraid to take up the challenge? (Pause 3 minutes)
3. Oratio O Risen Lord, you revealed yourself anew to Peter, John and the other apostles as they struggled in the waters of Lake Tiberias, disheartened by another experience of failure. We too have failed you many times and have been tempted to give up and return to our old ways. Yet, we thank you for not giving up on us. Unworthy as we may be, we now commit ourselves again to the mission which you have entrusted to us, a mission to feed your sheep, care for the little ones and give witness to your resurrection. We adore you, we love you, and we commit ourselves to serve and give witness to you, now and forever. Amen.
4. Contemplatio Contemplate by listening to God say to you “Do you love me? Then feed my sheep”.
5. Actio 1. Personal Life: Pray for missionaries, priests, religious and lay leaders who are committed to sharing the good news with others. 2. Communal Life: Discern a way in which your community can help the work of the Integral Human Development Ministry, e.g. care of migrants, poor, Orang Asli etc.
The Divine Mercy is a Roman Catholic devotion focused on the mercy of God and its power, particularly as a form of thanksgiving and entrusting of oneself to God's mercy.
The devotion as known today can be traced to Polish nun and canonized saint, Sister Faustyna Kowalska, known as the "Apostle of Mercy", who lived from 1905-1938. It is based upon the biblical verse: Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you in that anyone who seeks God's mercy will not be turned away. According to Kowalska, Jesus, in inner speakings to her, requested her to commission a picture of him with the words Jezu Ufam Tobie (Jesus I Trust In You) inscribed on the bottom.
In 2000, Pope John Paul II officially instituted the Feast of the Divine Mercy universally for the Catholic Church on the same day that he also canonized St. Faustina. THE FEAST OF MERCY
Among all of the elements of devotion to The Divine Mercy requested by our Lord through Sr. Faustina, the Feast of Mercy holds first place. The Lord's will with regard to its establishment was already made known in His first revelation to the saint. In all, there were 14 revelations concerning the desired feast.
In fact, Jesus Himself dictated the intentions for each day of the novena which he desired to be celebrated as a preparation for the solemn observance of this feast. Once after insisting, "Do all you possibly can for this work of mercy," Jesus added: "My Heart rejoices on account of this feast." Sister Faustina concluded: "After these words, I understood that nothing can dispense me from the obligation which the Lord demands of me" (Diary, 998).
Our Lord's explicit desire is that this feast be celebrated on the first Sunday after Easter. He joins the feast to the designated Sunday in eight revelations: Diary, 49, 88, 280, 299, 341, 570, 699, and 742. He also implies a connection between the feast and that Sunday on some other occasions recorded in the saint's Diary (see Diary, 420, 89).
The "First Sunday after Easter" ‑ which is designated in "The Liturgy of the Hours and the Celebration of the Eucharist" as the "Octave Day of Easter" ‑ was officially called the Second Sunday of Easter after the liturgical reform of Vatican II. Now, by the Decree of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, the name of this liturgical day has been changed to: "Second Sunday of Easter, or of Divine Mercy."
Pope John Paul II made the surprise announcement of this change in his homily at the canonization of Sr. Faustina on April 30, 2000. There, he declared: "It is important then that we accept the whole message that comes to us from the word of God on this Second Sunday of Easter, which from now on throughout the Church, will be called 'Divine Mercy Sunday.' "
By the words "the whole message," the Holy Father was referring to the strict connection between the "Easter Mystery of the Redemption" ‑ the suffering, death, burial, resurrection, and ascension of Christ, followed by the sending of the Holy Spirit ‑ and this Feast of Divine Mercy, the Octave Day of Easter.
In this regard, the Holy Father also said, citing the Responsorial Psalm of the Liturgy, "The Church sings ... , as if receiving from Christ's lips these words of the Psalm" [that is, Give thanks to the Lord for He is good; His steadfast love (=mercy) endures forever, Ps 118:1]. And then, the Holy Father developed the connection further: "[This comes] from the lips of the risen Christ, who bears the great message of Divine Mercy and entrusts its ministry to the Apostles in the Upper Room: 'Peace be with you. As the Father has sent Me, even so I send you. ... Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained' " (Jn 20:21‑23).
By what the Holy Father continued to say, it becomes clear why Jesus insisted that the sacred image of Himself as The Divine Mercy is to be venerated throughout the world in connection with the observance of this Sunday (see Diary, 49, 88, 299, 341, 570, 742). The Holy Father said: "Before speaking these words, Jesus shows His hands and His side. He points, that is, to the wounds of the Passion, especially the wound in His Heart, the source from which flows the great wave of mercy poured out on humanity.
"From that Heart, Sr. Faustina Kowalska, the blessed whom from now on we will call a saint, will see two rays of light shining from that Heart and illuminating the world: 'The two rays,' Jesus Himself explained to her one day, 'represent blood and water' (Diary, 299).
"Blood and water! We immediately think of the testimony given by the Evangelist John, who, when a soldier on Calvary pierced Christ's side with his spear, sees blood and water flowing from it (cf. Jn 19:34). Moreover, if the blood recalls the sacrifice of the Cross and the gift of the Eucharist, the water, in Johannine symbolism, represents not only Baptism but also the gift of the Holy Spirit (cf. Jn 3:5; 4:14; 7:37‑39).
"Divine Mercy reaches human beings through the Heart of Christ crucified: 'Tell, My daughter, [all people] that I am Love and Mercy itself [personified]' Jesus will ask of Sr. Faustina (Diary, 1074). Christ pours out this mercy on humanity through the sending of the Spirit who, in the Trinity, is the Person‑Love. And is not mercy love's 'second name' (cf. Rich in Mercy, n.7), understood in its deepest and most tender aspect, in its ability to take upon itself the burden of any need and, especially, in its most immense capacity for forgiveness?"
From this teaching of the Holy Father on that most solemn occasion of his "presenting the life and witness of Sr. Faustina Kowalska. to the whole Church as a gift of God to our time," it can be deduced that the most opportune time, the most proper one, for the solemn honoring of The Divine Mercy falls immediately after the Paschal Feast of Easter, recalling the attaining of our Redemption.
St. Augustine called the eight days of Easter (which the Church liturgically considers as constituting a single day ‑ the day of the new creation) "days of mercy and pardon." He calls the Sunday of this Paschal Octave (which our Lord insisted with St. Faustina is the Feast of Mercy [Diary, 88]) "the summary of the days of mercy" (Sermon 156, Dom. In Albis). It is no wonder, then, that already during his pilgrimage to Blessed Faustina's tomb on June 7, 1997, Pope John Paul 11 declared: "I give thanks to Divine Providence that I have been enabled to contribute personally to the fulfillment of Christ's will through the institution of the Feast of Divine Mercy."
Veneration of the Image
The image of Jesus, The Divine Mercy, is to have a special place of honor on the Feast of Mercy, a visual reminder of all that Jesus did for us through His Passion, Death, and Resurrection ... and a reminder, too, of what He asks of us in return ‑ to trust Him and be merciful to others:
"I want the image to be solemnly blessed on the first Sunday after Easter, and I want it to be venerated publicly so that every soul may know about it" (341).
A Special Promise of Mercy
Our Lord's promise to grant complete forgiveness of sins and punishment on the Feast of Mercy is recorded three times in the Diary of Saint Faustina, each time in a slightly different way:
"I want to grant a complete pardon to the souls that will go to Confession and receive Holy Communion on the Feast of My mercy" (1109).
"Whoever approaches the Fountain of Life on this day will be granted complete forgiveness of sins and punishment" (300).
"The soul that will go to Confession and receive Holy Communion will obtain complete forgiveness of sins and punishment" (699). Extraordinary Graces
Our Lord is emphasizing, through this promise, the infinite value of Confession and Communion as miracles of mercy. He wants us to realize that since the Eucharist is His own Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity, it is the "Fountain of Life" (300). The Eucharist is Jesus, Himself, the Living God, longing to pour Himself as Mercy into our hearts.
Why would Our Lord feel the need to emphasize this? Because so many people do not really understand it. They either see no need to receive Holy Communion, or they receive it simply out of habit. As St. Paul explains in his letter to the Corinthians, they eat the bread or drink the cup of the Lord unworthily, "without recognizing the body of the Lord" (I Cor 11:27‑29).
In His revelations to Saint Faustina Our Lord makes it very clear what He is offering us in Holy Communion and how much it hurts Him when we treat His presence with indifference:
"My great delight is to unite Myself with souls ... When I come to a human heart in Holy Communion, My hands are full of all kinds of graces which I want to give to the soul. But souls do not even pay any attention to Me; they leave Me to Myself and busy themselves with other things. Oh, how sad I am that souls do not recognize Love! They treat Me as a dead object" (1385) ...
"It pains Me very much when religious souls receive the Sacrament of Love merely out of habit, as if they did not distinguish this food. I rind neither faith nor love in their hearts. I go to such souls with great reluctance. It would be better if they did not receive Me" (1288) ...
"How painful it is to Me that souls so seldom unite themselves to Me in Holy Communion. I wait for souls, and they are indifferent toward Me. I want to lavish My graces on them, and they do not want to accept them. They treat me as a dead object, whereas My Heart is full of love and mercy. In order that you may know at least some of My pain imagine the most tender of mothers who has great love for her children, while those children spurn her love. Consider her pain. No one is in a position to console her. This is but a feeble image and likeness of My love" (1447).
So, Our Lord's promise of complete forgiveness is both a reminder and a call. It is a reminder that He is truly present and truly alive in the Eucharist, filled with love for us and waiting for us to turn to Him with trust. And it is a call for us all to be washed clean in His Love through Confession and Holy Communion ‑ no matter how terrible our sins ‑ and begin our lives again. He is offering us a new start.
Prepare Yourself Properly
Going to Confession is not the only way we should prepare ourselves for Divine Mercy Sunday. As Cardinal Francis Macharski, Archbishop of Krakow, Poland explains in a 1985 pastoral letter, we are not simply called to ask for God's mercy with trust. We are also called to be merciful:
"Our own merciful attitude is likewise a preparation. Without deeds of mercy our devotion would not be real. For Christ does not only reveal the mercy of God, but at the same time He places before people the demand that they conduct themselves in life with love and mercy. The Holy Father states that this requirement constitutes the very heart of the Gospel ethos (Rich in Mercy, 3) ‑ it is the commandment of love and the promise: "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy' (Mt 5:7). Let it be a mercy that is forgiving and true, and universal, with good words, deeds, and prayer for others!"
Our Lord's words to Saint Faustina about this requirement to be merciful are very strong and leave no room for misinterpretation:
"Yes, the first Sunday after Easter is the Feast of Mercy, but there must also be acts of mercy ... I demand from you deeds of mercy, which are to arise out of love for Me. You are to show mercy to your neighbors always and everywhere. You must not shrink from this or try to excuse or absolve yourself from it" (742).
Thus, to fittingly observe the Feast of Mercy, we should:
1. Celebrate the Feast on the Sunday after Easter;
2. Sincerely repent of all our sins;
3. Place our complete trust in Jesus;
4. Go to Confession, preferably before that Sunday;
5. Receive Holy Communion on the day of the Feast;
6. Venerate* the Image of The Divine Mercy;
7. Be merciful to others, through our actions, words, and prayers on their behalf.
How to say the Chaplet of Divine Mercy
Rosary beads are used to say the prayer, which is said in the following manner:
1. Begin with the Sign of the Cross, 1 Our Father, 1 Hail Mary and The Apostles Creed.
2. Then on the Our Father Beads say the following: Eternal Father, I offer You the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Your dearly beloved Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, in atonement for our sins and those of the whole world.
3. On the 10 Hail Mary Beads say the following: For the sake of His sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world.
(Repeat step 2 and 3 for all five decades).
4. Conclude with (three times): Holy God, Holy Mighty One, Holy Immortal One, have mercy on us and on the whole world.
What does the resurrection mean for each of us? For many of us, it means coming to Church on Sundays, because it is the day Jesus rose from the dead. For others, it means not having to fear death any more, because Jesus has now promised us that we will rise with him.
But today’s readings, give us another meaning and understanding of Easter. Easter is not only experienced personally by each of us but is something which must be experienced and lived out in the community.
Today’s gospel gives us the story of Thomas, one of the twelve apostles. When Jesus first appears to the apostles, Thomas isn’t there. We are not told the real reason for his absence. The death of Jesus has effected each of the apostles in a different way. Perhaps in the case of Thomas, the death of Jesus brought about his disillusionment with the community. There was no point hanging around with the others any more. Thomas has begun to doubt others, the community, the church, even perhaps God. He can only trust his own senses.
And so when Thomas insisted on seeing proofs of Jesus’ resurrection and return, he did not doubt Jesus nor the fact that he may have risen. He doubted the words of his brothers, the Christian community. Jesus appeared to the other apostles that very first day of his resurrection. He could have appeared to Thomas at any time throughout the week, but he chose not to. Jesus waited till Thomas had returned to the community. Jesus waited till Thomas was ready to accept his brothers in faith and to begin to listen to each of them. And so, it was only one week later when Thomas was with the others in that same room, that Jesus appeared and revealed himself to Thomas and to others.
For many of us, believing in God and in Jesus isn’t that difficult. But believing in the community is another matter. We often see the sinfulness, the hypocrisy and the weaknesses of others in the community. We may question whether God is really present in such a community. And so, for many us, we stay away from Church activities and from our BECs because we feel scandalized by the presence of persons living contrary lifestyles.
But, the truth of the matter is this – we can only find Jesus when we are able to see him in that community of ours. Its not a perfect community. No community is perfect. The Church is made up of sinners, just like you and I. But it is only in this broken and sinful community, that Jesus continues to be present. He is present to heal us in our sickness, to console us in our sadness, to strengthen us in our failures.
How can we see Jesus in this community? How can we recognize his presence in the Church? Our physical eyes will often deceive us as they only focus our attention on the weaknesses and sinfulness of others. We must see with the eyes of faith. This is the only way to see. Jesus tells us: “Happy are those who have not seen and yet believe.” Like the people in the first reading, many of them saw the wonders worked by the apostles and the early Christians, but it was only those who “believed” that came to join them.
As we share this Eucharistic meal, may our eyes of faith be opened too. Let us begin to see Jesus not only in the bread and wine of the sacrifice but also in our brothers and sisters. “Happy are those who have not seen and yet believe.”
Second Sunday of Easter Year C April 10 “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe”
1. Lectio John 20:19-31 19 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. Jesus came and stood among them. He said to them, 'Peace be with you,' 20 and, after saying this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples were filled with joy at seeing the Lord, 21 and he said to them again, 'Peace be with you. 'As the Father sent me, so am I sending you.' 22 After saying this he breathed on them and said: Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive anyone's sins, they are forgiven; if you retain anyone's sins, they are retained. 24 Thomas, called the Twin, who was one of the Twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples said to him, 'We have seen the Lord,' but he answered, 'Unless I can 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.' 26 Eight days later the disciples were in the house again and Thomas was with them. The doors were closed, but Jesus came in and stood among them. 'Peace be with you,' he said. 27 Then he spoke to Thomas, 'Put your finger here; look, here are my hands. Give me your hand; put it into my side. Do not be unbelieving any more but believe.' 28 Thomas replied, 'My Lord and my God!' 29 Jesus said to him: ‘You believe because you can see me. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe. ‘ 30 There were many other signs that Jesus worked in the sight of the disciples, but they are not recorded in this book. 31 These are recorded so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing this you may have life through his name.
Comments This week’s reading continues the theme of “Seeing” with the “eyes of faith”. Here, the reader is not confronted with an empty tomb as on the First Sunday of Easter but with a broken community. Thomas was not expressing his doubt of the risen Lord. Thomas was expressing his doubt of his community. He did not believe their word that they had seen the Risen Lord. He had lost trust in them. Trust is lost when relationships are broken. That is the reason why Jesus breathes his Spirit upon them so that they may have the power to forgive one another and be reconciled. At the end of the story we are reminded that it is easy to believe that Christ is present in a community when it is perfect. But far more blessed are those who are able to recognise Christ’s presence in a community that that is weak, broken and far from perfection. “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.”
2. Meditatio 1. Are there times you doubt the sincerity of your brothers and sisters in your family, your BEC and community? What has brought about these doubts? Betrayal? Disappointment? 2. Try to picture the faces of every member of your BEC present here. Can you see Christ present in this person? How does Christ appear to you? What are the qualities of Christ that you see in this person?
3. Oratio Leader: With faith that Christ has risen and is present in our midst, we cry out:
(R.) WITHOUT SEEING YOU, WE LOVE YOU. WITHOUT SEEING YOU, WE BELIEVE.
1. Christ our Savior, when you rose again you brought to the holy women and the apostles the joyful news of a world redeemed. Make us witnesses to your risen life. (R.)
2. You promised to all people that we should rise up again to newness of life. Make us heralds of your Gospel. (R.)
3. You showed yourself to your apostles and breathed the Holy Spirit on them. Through the gift of the Spirit, help us to recognise You in one another. (R.)
4. You invited Thomas to put his finger on the mark of the nails in your hands and to put his hand into your side. Strengthen our feeble faith that we may believe even “without seeing”. (R.)
Leader: Father, by this Easter mystery you touch our lives with the healing power of your love. You have given us the freedom of the children of God. May we who now celebrate your gift find joy in it forever in heaven. Grant this through Christ our Lord. Amen.
4. Contemplatio Memorise and use the following verse in your contemplation: ““Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.”
5. Actio 1. Personal Life: Spend time before the Blessed Sacrament during the week or before mass. Speak to Jesus in your prayer. Address him like this: “My Lord and my God.” 2. Communal Life: Organise an Easter party and gathering. Spend time enjoying each other’s company and recognizing the Christ is in your midst.
It was very early on that first Easter morning and still dark. We see the first of the three characters in today’s gospel story. Mary of Magdala comes in the dark, which does not only refer to the physical darkness surrounding her but also the darkness of her faith. Mary loved Jesus while he was still alive. If she had no great love for him, she would not be the first to arrive at the tomb. She has come not only to see the body of Jesus but she has come to prepare the body properly for burial. The burial on Good Friday was too rushed. The followers of Jesus had no time to prepare his body for a proper burial because the Sabbath was starting. As you all know, no Jew would be seen working on the Sabbath day. But now on the first day of the week, as soon as the Sabbath was over, Mary arrives. But her faith is clouded by the darkness of fear. She sees the stone which covered the tomb has been moved away. She does not enter. Perhaps, she cannot bear to see the body of her beloved Jesus missing, stolen or desecrated.
At times, many of us are like Mary. We love Jesus and God but we are not prepared to go any further. We are not prepared to go deeper because we fear that we may not find what we were expecting. But unless, we take the risk and enter the tomb, we will always be standing outside speculating. Many people go through life without making important decisions. Many people stay clear of commitment. Many people fear going deeper into any relationship because they actually fear the changes that may take place. But unless, we are prepared to take the risk, unless we are prepared to make the commitment, unless we are prepared to make a deeper commitment, we will always remain outside fearful and uncertain. This question would constantly plague us: “What if …?”
The second character that we see is Peter. He is the elder of the two disciples who run to the tomb upon hearing the news from Mary of Magdala. He is slower than the other disciple. Perhaps it is his age or perhaps he is also afraid of what he may find at the tomb. Some of us are like him – we hesitate, we postpone, we procrastinate. We do this because we are afraid of the truth which may challenge our present lives. We are afraid of the pain it may bring because truth often reveals our faults and our limitations. We are afraid to face our weaknesses. Peter may have been thinking about that. What if Jesus had actually risen? Would Jesus then punish Peter for his infidelity? Would Jesus confront Peter with his betrayal? It is better to pretend that nothing had happened. Sometimes, when we are faced with the truth, we too choose to be blind to it. But unless we admit our faults and face up to our failures, there can never be growth.
The third and final character in the story is the disciple whom Jesus loved. He has no name because he represents the ideal disciple – the disciple who is prepared to take risks, the disciple who is willing to make a commitment, the disciple who is ready to face the truth about himself, even about his own weaknesses. We are told in the gospel that when he entered the empty tomb, “he saw and he believed.”
Today, we celebrate Easter Sunday. Jesus has risen. Yet many do not know this. Many are afraid to find out. Many are afraid to tell. How about you? Are you still crippled by your fears? Are you still afraid to enter the tomb? Or are you prepared to take the risks, make a commitment to follow Jesus and face the truth about yourself? Only then, can you become a real witness of the Easter story.
1. Lectio Jn 20:1-9 1 It was very early on the first day of the week and still dark, when Mary of Magdala came to the tomb. She saw that the stone had been moved away from the tomb 2 and came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved. 'They have taken the Lord out of the tomb,' she said, 'and we don't know where they have put him.' 3 So Peter set out with the other disciple to go to the tomb. 4 They ran together, but the other disciple, running faster than Peter, reached the tomb first; 5 he bent down and saw the linen cloths lying on the ground, but did not go in. 6 Simon Peter, following him, also came up, went into the tomb, saw the linen cloths lying on the ground 7 and also the cloth that had been over his head; this was not with the linen cloths but rolled up in a place by itself. 8 Then the other disciple who had reached the tomb first also went in; he saw and he believed. 9 Till this moment they had still not understood the scripture, that he must rise from the dead.
Lectio Comments “To see is to believe”, places considerable trust in our sense of sight as the guarantor of truth. But today’s gospel reading reminds us that Truth is beyond the grasp of senses. We are invited to see with the eyes of faith. Our physical eyes can only see what is there and what is not there. But the eyes of faith help us to see God even when we do not feel his presence. Faith helps us to recognise that God is present and continues working in our moments of pain, emptiness, loneliness, failure, and disappointment. Our physical eyes can only see an empty tomb on Easter morning. But our eyes of faith sees the risen Christ present in our homes, our families, our BECs, our parish, our society and the world.
2. Meditatio 1. Taking the position of Peter in the above story, what are some of the occasions where I feel that God is absent or far away from me? Why couldn’t I recognise His presence? Was it because I was blinded by my pain, selfishness, sinfulness or laziness to pray? 2. Taking the position of the beloved disciple, and asking the help of the Holy Spirit to make us ‘see’, try now to recognise the presence of God and Jesus in those same occasions where I felt that he was absent and far away from me. Use your imagination to try and see Jesus present on those occasions. Listen to what he is saying to you.
3. Oratio God our Father, by raising Christ your Son you conquered the power of death and opened for us the way to eternal life. Let our celebration today raise us up and renew our lives by the Spirit that is within us. Help us to rely not on our physical sight and senses But on faith. Help us to recognise your risen presence in our daily lives Especially in moments of pain, loneliness and despair. Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever. Amen
4. Contemplatio Picture the empty tomb and use this mantra, if its helpful, “He has risen from the dead!”.
5. Actio 1. Personal Life –Participate in Easter Triduum and pay special attention to the liturgy. 2. Communal Life – Write an Easter Card to a member of your family, BEC or neighbourhood.
Many people measure their own worth and that of others by what they can do. If you are talented and able to do many things, you are considered a very special and worthy person. If you are not able to do many things, people often consider you as useless. We all value our autonomy and ability to do things on our own. Only young children and old people need to have things done for them. We feel extremely helpless and vulnerable when we are not able to do things for ourselves. That is why many people become very angry and frustrated and sometimes depress whenever they become sick. Others go through a crisis when they grow old, because they feel that they are not wanted anymore. Other elderly people also feel that they have loss control over their lives. When they were younger, they use to take care of the needs of their children. Many find it hard to accept that their children have now to take care of them.
In conclusion, we value action and activities over no action or a lack of it. We must always be doing something. If not, we feel useless and helpless. We feel totally unworthy. Today’s liturgy and the liturgy of this entire Holy Week gives us an entirely different picture. Jesus does not move from a set of activities to more activities. In fact, Jesus moves from being active to being passive. Jesus shows through the last week of his life that the value of life is not dependent on what we can do but rather on what God can do for us. When we are active and able to do things for ourselves, there is no room for God’s help. We don’t need God if we can solve our own problems. We don’t need God’s help if we can do things on our own. On the other hand, when we are helpless, financially, spirituality, emotionally, physically, we come to realize how much we need God in our lives. In fact, it is when we are powerless and helpless that we come to realize that life is meaningless without God.
Palm Sunday is also called Passion Sunday. Passion comes from the same root word for ‘passive.’ Jesus undergoes a change in his ministry. Before this week, we read of how Jesus performed miracles and taught the thousands that came to him. He was extremely active in his ministry. Somehow, he was not very successful in his active ministry. Many people came to him for miracles and healing. But very few actually decided to follow him. Even his closest friends and disciples will abandon him at the end of his life. His life of action will end in failure. But today, being the first day of Holy Week, a great change will take place. From active ministry, he is now going to become passive. He will be arrested, persecuted, nailed to the cross and finally left to die. He will become powerless and helpless. But it is in his powerlessness that he will accomplish our salvation. In other words, a life of failure will end in victory because God is victorious over sin and death.
When we look around us, we also see this same process happening – from being active to being passive. It is frightening process because no one likes to be helpless or powerless. No one likes to grow old and become useless. No one likes become sick and needing to be cared for. No one likes loosing their securities. But, we also realize that unless we move from the active to the passive, we will never allow God to be in control. If we continue attempting to control our lives and the lives of others, we will meet with failure. Victory and success is only guaranteed when we are prepared to let go and let God take control.
Let us enter Holy Week while keeping all of these in mind. Let us journey with Jesus from being active to being passive. Let us journey with Jesus as we slowly die to ourselves and to our false securities. Let us journey with Jesus to the cross and everlasting life thereafter.
Palm Sunday March 28 “The Road to Glory … The Way of the Cross”
1.Lectio Luke 19:28-40 28 … (Jesus) went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. 29 Now it happened that when he was near Bethphage and Bethany, close by the Mount of Olives as it is called, he sent two of the disciples, saying, 30 'Go to the village opposite, and as you enter it you will find a tethered colt that no one has ever yet ridden. Untie it and bring it here. 31 If anyone asks you, "Why are you untying it?" you are to say this, "The Master needs it." ' 32 The messengers went off and found everything just as he had told them. 33 As they were untying the colt, its owners said, 'Why are you untying it?' 34 and they answered, 'The Master needs it.' 35 So they took the colt to Jesus and, throwing their cloaks on its back, they lifted Jesus on to it. 36 As he moved off, they spread their cloaks in the road, 37 and now, as he was approaching the downward slope of the Mount of Olives, the whole group of disciples joyfully began to praise God at the top of their voices for all the miracles they had seen. 38 They cried out: Blessed is he who is coming as King in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest heavens! 39 Some Pharisees in the crowd said to him, 'Master, reprove your disciples,' 40 but he answered, 'I tell you, if these keep silence, the stones will cry out.'
Comments Holy Week begins with Palm or Passion Sunday. We find two differing scenarios, the first is found in gospel reading above which is read at the beginning of the procession into the Church and the second is found in the gospel reading of the passion during the Liturgy of the Word. The sharp contrast is highlighted by these 2 gospel readings. At the beginning of the week as Jesus enters Jerusalem, he is greeted by the crowds with excitement and enthusiasm for they believe that he would be the leader or the new king that would liberate them from the Roman conquerors. At the end of the week, the same crowd will shout and demand for his crucifixion because Jesus has disappointed them as his kingdom is unlike the kingdoms of the earth. Ultimately, we are reminded that the true road to glory for Christians must take the way of the cross. Without the cross, there can be no glory. It is better to be glorified by God than to be honoured by men.
2. Meditatio 1. Remember the times you received honour and praises from people. How did you feel? (Pause) 2. Now remember the times you were humiliated and embarrassed in front of others. How did you feel? (Pause) 3. Now, imagine that you are at a junction and there are two roads in front of you. The road on the left leads to human glory. Picture people standing and lining that road praising you, they are applauding and carrying banners with your name on it. 4. The road on the right leads to the cross. On this road, you would see people condemning, criticizing and accusing you. Which road will you take?
3. Oratio Jesus Lord, You have shown us that the glory of God far outweighs the honour we receive from men. May we always follow you on the road to the cross, The cross which is our redemption, The cross of humiliation, The cross of your divine love, And the cross of your glory. Amen.
4. Contemplatio Hold the image of the cross in your mind. Gaze at the cross with love.
5. Actio 1. Personal Life – Participate in the liturgy of Holy Week. Take time to reflect on the readings and rich symbolic actions which you will witness during the liturgy. 2. Communal Life – Pray for each member of your family during this Holy Week. Try to spend time together as a family, especially in attending the services of Holy Week.
Fifth Sunday of Lent March 21 “Mercy shown to sinners”
1. Lectio John 8:1-11 1 Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. 2 At daybreak he appeared in the Temple again; and as all the people came to him, he sat down and began to teach them. 3 The scribes and Pharisees brought a woman along who had been caught committing adultery; and making her stand there in the middle 4 they said to Jesus, 'Master, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery, 5 and in the Law Moses has ordered us to stone women of this kind. What have you got to say?' 6 They asked him this as a test, looking for an accusation to use against him. But Jesus bent down and started writing on the ground with his finger. 7 As they persisted with their question, he straightened up and said, 'Let the one among you who is guiltless be the first to throw a stone at her.' 8 Then he bent down and continued writing on the ground. 9 When they heard this they went away one by one, beginning with the eldest, until the last one had gone and Jesus was left alone with the woman, who remained in the middle. 10 Jesus again straightened up and said, 'Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?' 11 'No one, sir,' she replied. 'Neither do I condemn you,' said Jesus. 'Go away, and from this moment sin no more.'
Comments It is interesting to note that only the woman is caught and brought before Jesus for judgment but not the men who had committed adultery with her. Very often, our sense of justice is distorted. It is very easy for us to discover the faults of others but are unable to recognise our own. Perhaps, some of the men who had been guilty of committing adultery with this woman are standing there in the crowd, joining in the cry for justice and punishment. Jesus gives the great lesson of compassion. He teaches us that it is only when we come to recognise our own weaknesses and limitations can we then come to accept the weaknesses and limitations of others. Jesus teaches us to make an important distinction – to hate sin but to love the sinner.
2. Meditatio 1. Imagine yourself as that woman. Feel her shame and her remorse. Also imagine the love and forgiveness she must have felt from Jesus who chose not to condemn her. (Pause for 5 minutes) 2. Imagine yourself as one of the crowd. Remember the many times you have accused others of wrongdoing. Remember the many times you demanded for justice but had been motivated by your own self-righteousness. See Jesus looking straight at you and speaking these words, 'Let the one among you who is guiltless be the first to throw a stone.' (Pause for 5 minutes)
3. Oratio Lord, You have liberated us from slavery to sin And have made us sons and daughters of God. Teach us the new way of forgiveness that you have shown to the woman caught in adultery, help us to hate sin but to love the sinner. May we always be conscious that we are sinners So that we may not be blinded by our own self-righteousness. Amen.
4. Contemplatio Contemplate by using 2 themes – contemplate by reflecting on your own sinfulness in relation to God’s forgiving love.
5. Actio 1. Personal Life: Make a list a people whom we have judged harshly. Try to make a list of their strengths, qualities and values. 2. Communal Life: Make a commitment as a community to do some penance and make time to pray for souls in purgatory.
(To make the teaching of Christ as the basis of our lives)
JANUARY: “I am the Way, I am the Truth and Life. No one can come to the Father except through Me.” JN 14: 6
FEBRUARY:“Treat others the way you would like them to treat you.” LK 6: 31
MARCH:“When you give alms, your left hand must not know what your right is doing.” MT 6: 3
APRIL:“... Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.” JN 20: 29
MAY: PARISH FEAST DAY – “The Visitation”
“My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour.” LK 1: 46
JUNE:“As the Father sent me, so am I sending you.” JN 20: 21
JULY:“I am the bread of life; No one who comes to Me will ever hunger, no one who believes in Me will ever thirst.” JN 6: 35
AUGUST:“For wherever your treasure is, there is where your heart will be too.” LK 12: 34
SEPTEMBER:“Many who are first will be last, and the last, first.” MT 19:30
OCTOBER:“I am the light of the world; anyone who follows Me will not be walking in the dark, but will have the light of life.” JN 8:12
NOVEMBER:“I am the resurrection. Anyone who believes in Me, even though that person dies, will live.” JN 11:25
DECEMBER:“The Word became flesh, He lived among us...” JN 1: 14
Church of the Visitation, Seremban
Church of Visitation, Seremban
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Kuala Lumpur
We, the members of the Visitation Parish Family, aspire to become a Communion of Communities where ALL, whether poor or rich, young or old, migrant or citizen, irrespective of language, race or culture, are welcomed, valued and cared for. We strive to achieve this as disciples of Jesus Christ through a renewal of our faith, dialogue and cooperation with peoples of other faiths and genuine collaborative ministry among laity, religious and clergy
Mass Times
Saturday Sunset: 6.00 pm (English)
Sunday: 7.30 am (Tamil)
9.00 am (English/ B.M.)
10.30 am (Mandarin)
5th Sunday: 12.00 pm (B.M.)
Chapels:
Belihoi: Second Sunday, 10.30 am (BM)
Tekir: Fourth Sunday, 4.00 pm (BM)
St. Augustine, Titi, Jelebu
Our Lady of Lourdes, Sagga Estate
Our Lady of Vellangkanni, Gadong Jaya
Sacred Heart, Marjorie Estate
Carmelite Monastery, Jalan Rasah
Other Chapels, please enquire with Parish Office, Tel : 06-762 4468
Visitation Emmaus Centre for Counselling
If you wish to speak to our counsellor helpers, please contact us for appointments: Tel: 016-9132913 emmausvis@yahoo.com
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What's going on in your life, your BEC or ministry? We would also like to hear from all visitors to this blog. Tell us how you feel about it? We sincerely hope that this blog will serve you by providing regular news and photo updates of happenings and events in the parish and also be a resource for reflections, catechesis, trivia etc. Email Us Email the Parish Priest
What is the basis of our faith? What is at the heart of Christianity? Is it the obedience of God’s law and the laws of the Church? For many people, religion is seen merely in these terms – as the keepings of laws. A Catholic is one who must come to church every Sunday, must not eat meat on Friday, must go for confession at least once a year etc. When we begin to think of our religion as merely a set of laws, several things happen. When laws become the only consideration, our faith is then based on fear of judgment and punishment from God. If we obey these laws we will be blessed and nothing bad will happen to us, but if we break these laws then we will be punished and cursed.
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