THE SECOND SUNDAY OF EASTER: MEETING THE RISEN LORD.

Have you ever wondered why we observe Sunday as a holy day rather than the Sabbath (Saturday) even though the Ten Commandment says, "Remember the Sabbath day, and keep it holy" (Exodus 20:8)? The gospel readings of the Sundays after Easter give us the answer.

The gospel writers were not particularly interested in telling us the precise day of the week in which many of the events they recorded took place. With one exception. In the public ministry of Jesus they often told us that many of the healing miracles of Jesus took place on the Sabbath day. And this got Jesus into a lot of trouble with the religious leaders of his day. But as soon as Jesus dies and rises from the dead we do not hear about the Sabbath any more. Instead we begin to hear about the first day of the week which is Sunday.

It all began on Easter Sunday. Jesus rose from the dead on the first day of the week, Sunday, and appeared on the same day to Mary Magdalene and the other women, to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, and to the gathering of the apostles. He did not appear to them again until "a week after" (John 20:26), that is, the following Sunday. Without exception, all the recorded appearances of the risen Lord to his followers took place on no other day of the week than Sunday. This made the group of believers set Sunday apart as the day when the risen Lord comes to be with his people gathered in worship to share with them the word of life and to break bread with them. This is how they came to recognize Sunday as the dies Dominica, "the day of the Lord" (Revelation 1:10). After the Lord's ascension into heaven, the disciples continued to gather together in worship on Sundays, in expectation that the Lord Jesus would come to be in their midst and fellowship with them as he had promised.

 

In today's gospel we read about the appearance of the risen Lord in the assembly of the apostles on the day of resurrection and a second appearance a week later. The second appearance focuses on Thomas who was not present with the rest of the apostles when Jesus appeared among them. Where could he have gone? We do not know exactly but as soon as he comes back the other disciples tell him that they have seen the Lord. Could it be that when they heard that Jesus had risen from the dead, that he, Thomas, went out on his own to seek him out? Perhaps he went to the houses of Jesus' friends, to the house of Lazarus, Martha and Mary in Bethany, or to the village where they ate the last supper. He was seeking Jesus alone while Jesus was with the assembly of his followers. Could that be the evangelist's way of telling the reader that encounter with the risen Lord is something that happens not so much in the privacy of the individual's religious initiative and practice as much as in fellowship with the community of believers?

So the following Sunday Thomas is there fellowshipping with the rest of the community. Jesus appears as usual and Thomas experiences the desire of his heart and exclaims, "My Lord and my God (v. 28)." Next time around he would not lightly absent himself from the community Sunday assembly.

Do we have to look far to see such Thomases in our society today, men and women who deep down in their hearts seek the risen Lord, but who seek him outside the worshipping and believing community? They try to draw near to God by engaging in all sorts of self-imposed devotional exercises. Religion, they say, is personal, and they are right. But religion is also communitarian,and that is why one person cannot make a Church, so we need to learn just as Thomas did.

Jesus in today's gospel commissions the apostles to forgive sins. This is a function that can be exercised only where there is a believing community, or else each one would be absolving their own personal sins. Today's Thomases often do not appreciate nor have recourse to this avenue of reconciliation with God and with the community that is affected by our sins. May the success story of Thomas help us all to appreciate the important role of the church and the sacraments in our spiritual journey to meet the risen Lord. May the peace the Rise Christ wished his friends reing in our hearts, our homes and in our countries.

A JOKE: WHAT IS EASTER?

Three blondes died and are at the pearly gates of Heaven. St. Peter tells them
that they can enter the gates if they can answer one simple question. St. Peter
asks the first blonde, "What is Easter?"

The first blonde replies, "Oh, that's easy! It's the holiday in November when
everyone gets together, eats turkey, and are thankful."

"Wrong!," replies St. Peter, and proceeds to ask the second blonde the same
question, "What is Easter?"

The second blonde replies, "Easter is the holiday in December when we put up a
nice tree, exchange presents, and celebrate the birth of Jesus."

St. Peter looks at the second blonde, shakes his head in disgust,tells her she's
wrong, and then peers over his glasses at the thirdblonde. He asks, "What is
Easter?"

The third blonde smiles confidently and looks St. Peter in the eyes,"I know what
Easter is."

"Oh?" says St. Peter, incredulously.

"Easter is the Christian holiday that coincides with the Jewish celebration of
Passover. Jesus and his disciples were eating at the last supper and Jesus was
later deceived and turned over to the Romans by one of his disciples. The Romans
took him to be crucified and he was stabbed in the side, made to wear a crown of
thorns, and was hung on a cross with nails through his hands. He was buried in a
nearby cave which was sealed off by a large boulder."

St. Peter smiles broadly with delight.

The third blonde continues, "Every year the boulder is moved aside so that Jesus
can come out... and, if he sees his shadow, there will be six more weeks of
winter.

<*}}}<>(+)><{{{*>

May the risen Lord abundantly shower his blessings on you.
May he bless you with peace, joy and health of mind and body.
May the glory of his resurrection illumine your faces and your lives.
May you be richly blessed this Eastertide and forevermore. Amen.

HOLY THURSDAY

Today begins what the Church calls the TRIDUUM, and this signifies the Three Holy Days (Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday) that precedes the Easter Day. In the Mass today, we would notice the the Priest would wash the feet of some twelve men and in some places women too, let us now look at the origin of that gesture. Life in Palestine in the time of Jesus was hard. The popular means of transport was your feet. People walked long distances on rough, dusty roads to go from Galilee to Jerusalem, for example. Travellers often arrived their destinations with sore and aching feet. As a sign of hospitality, the host would see to it that his guests were given a warm foot bath and massage as a way of relieving their aches and pains. This was usually done by the house servants or slaves.

This service of bathing and soothing the tired feet was also provided by the rest houses or inns found at strategic locations along the major roads and highways. Travellers worn out along the way could go into these rest houses and have food and foot bath. Their energy thus restored they would then be able to continue and complete their long journey. That is how such rest houses along the way got the name "restaurants" -- they restored strength to tired and exhausted travellers on the way. The disciples would have understand Jesus washing their feet in light of this cultural background. And for us it is a pointer to the meaning of the Eucharist we celebrate.

Understood in light of the washing of feet, the Eucharist is a place of restoration for people on the way. The life of a Christian in the world is a pilgrimage, a long, hard journey. Along the way we get tired and worn out and we are tempted to give up and turn back. But Jesus has provided us with the Eucharist as a place where we can go in to bathe our aching feet and to be refreshed in body and soul for the journey that is still ahead. When we give communion to a sick person we call it viaticum which means "provisions for a journey." The Eucharist is always a viaticum: in the Eucharist we derive strength to continue our upward journey toward God.

In the story we find that Peter was uncomfortable with having Jesus wash his feet. Peter, who was somewhat of an activist, would have preferred to see himself doing the washing, washing the feet of Jesus and even of the other disciples. Sometimes it is harder to remain passive and allow someone else to bathe us than it is to bathe someone else, as every toddler can tell you. But having our feet washed and washing the feet of others are two sides of the coin we call the Christian life.

The first and most essential part is to let the Lord wash us. As Jesus said to Peter, "Unless I wash you, you have no share with me (John 13:8). First, the Lord washes us clean so that we belong to the Lord. Only then are we qualified and empowered to wash the feet of our sisters and brothers in the Lord. When this truth dawned on Peter, he overcame his reluctance and cried out, "Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!" (v. 9). For this to happen all that the Lord needs from us is simply for us to be there, to present ourselves to him and to let him wash us.

The other side of the coin, which is equally important, is that after our feet have been washed by the Lord, we must go and wash the feet of others. After Jesus had washed his disciples' feet, he said to them:

Do you know what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord -- and you are right, for that is what I am. So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you (John 13:12-15).

Jesus establishes a close link between him washing the disciples' feet and the disciples washing the feet of others. If the Eucharist is the place where the Lord washes our feet, daily life is the place where we ought to wash the feet of others. Eucharist leads to life leads to Eucharist. True Eucharist piety must lead to service of others. Jesus who broke the bread of the Eucharist also washed the feet of his disciples. We must follow his example both at the altar of the Eucharist and at the altar of life.

IT IS FINISHED! (GOOD FRIDAY)

In the passion narrative according to John which we would hear on (Good) Friday, the last words that Jesus said on the cross before he bowed his head and gave up the spirit is "It is finished" (John 19:30). Three words in English but in the original Greek it is just one word, tetelestai. What does tetelestai "it is finished" mean?

Scholars got more insight into the meaning of this expression a few years ago after some archaeologists dug up in the Holy Land a tax collector's office that was almost intact, with all the tax records and everything. There were two stacks of tax records and one of them had the word, tetelestai, on the top. In other words, "paid in full." These people don't owe anything anymore. So, when Jesus said "It is finished," what is finished? It is the debt we owe God by our sins. It has been paid in full?

The Jews of Jesus' time saw sin as a debt that we owe God, a debt that must somehow be repaid. Jesus used that kind of language and often spoke of sin as debt and forgiveness as a cancellation of debt. He told the parable of the unforgiving servant whom his master forgave the debt that he had no way of repaying but who went out and insisted on getting back the small debt that his fellow servant owed him. This was a way of teaching us that when we are forgiven by God we must in turn forgive our neighbour. He taught us to pray "Forgive us our debts as we forgive those who are indebted to us" which simply means "Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us." Jesus clearly used the language of commerce to speak of the spiritual relationship between God and us and between us and our neighbour. So on the cross he says tetelestai "It is paid in full." Our sins have been completely forgiven. It is finished.

So, how do we respond to this last testament of Jesus? Remember, it is not a promise, "Your sins will be forgiven," and it is not a conditional statement, "Your sins are forgiven if...." How do we respond to it? What do we do? All you have to do is to say "Amen ... So be it." All you have to do is to believe that these words apply to you personally, no matter the gravity of the sin that you have been involved in. Your debt has been paid to the full and cancelled no matter how huge the amount you owe. All you have to do is to say "Thank you, Jesus" and learn to be grateful to Jesus all your life. That is why we go to church every Sunday. We go to church to perform the Eucharist which means "thanksgiving". That is why we try to be loving and kind to others. If Jesus has been so loving and kind to me in such a big way, why can't I try to be loving and kind to others in the little things of everyday life. That is why we try to avoid sin. If Jesus has paid all the debt that I owe to God, I must see to it that I do not go about accumulating more debt.

As we look up to the cross today and contemplate Jesus dying to make the full payment for our sins, let us thank him, and let us promise him that our whole lives will be one unbroken song of thanksgiving to him who gave his life to make full payment for the immeasurable debt we owe to God.

HE IS RISEN ALLELUIA! (EASTER SUNDAY)

 

                Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! 

               The strife is o'er, the battle done;

               The victory of life is won;

               The song of triumph has begun:

               Alleluia!

This is one of the many songs we have in the Catholic Hymnal which I like listening to during the Easter season, and the hymn in all its solemnity hymn puts me into a deeper thinking. Once certain kindergarten teacher was telling her students the story of Jesus. In her class was a little boy who came from a non-Christian family. He was paying very close attention to the story because it was all new to him. As the teacher told how Jesus was condemned and nailed to the cross to die the boy's countenance fell and he murmured, "No! That's too bad!" The teacher then went on to tell how on the third day Jesus rose from the dead and came back to life. The boy's eyes lit up with delight and he exclaimed, "Totally awesome!" On Good Friday we heard the story of the suffering and death of Jesus. Like the little boy many of us felt like "No! That's too bad!" Today we hear the rest of the story and again with the little boy we can now exclaim "Yes! Totally awesome!" Today we can again sing "Halleluiah" that we have not sung all through Lent. This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad (Psalm 118:24).

Why do we rejoice today? We rejoice because our faith in Christ has been vindicated, truth has triumphed over falsity, justice over injustice and tragedy has turned into comedy. It is like watching one of the episodes of Batman. First you see an innocent and helpless victim being attacked, robbed, kidnapped, assaulted and tortured by a wicked assailant. And we feel so bad seeing the triumph of the bad guy. Then, almost at the point where the victim has given up hope and is at the point of death, down from the skies comes Batman to the rescue. He battles and defeats the bad guy and rescues the innocent victim. And we feel happy inside at the triumph of justice.

The story of the suffering and death of Jesus on Good Friday is the story of the triumph of falsity over truth, of injustice over justice, of evil over goodness. Jesus was falsely charged of crimes he did not commit, and unjustly sentenced to a death he did not deserve. His good friend betrayed him, his trusted companions deserted him and his number one man denied him. The people he loved demanded his crucifixion and chose to have the bandit Barabbas released in his place. It is a story of betrayal and lies, dishonesty and meanness, unfaithfulness and wicked violence directed against an innocent and apparently helpless victim. All this comes to a head on Good Friday when we see Jesus scourged, mocked, led on the death march, nailed to the cross where he dies after a few hours and hastily buried in a tomb. If that were the end of the story that would be a bad story, a tragedy. But glory be to God it is not.

Death is not the end of the story. There is one more chapter. This is the most important chapter because, as the saying goes, they who laugh last laugh best. And in the last chapter of the story of Jesus we see him rise from the dead in all glory and majesty. He is vindicated. His enemies are shamed and confused. Jesus regains his eternal glory with the Father. He is the Lord who will prevail over all humankind, his enemies included. For us his embattled followers this is good news.

It is good news to know that truth is immortal. We can suppress Truth, accuse it of being a lie, condemn it, torture it, kill it, bury it in the grave but on the third day Truth will rise again. Remember this and do not give up on Truth even when everybody seems to give up on it. Do not give up on Truth; do not give up on Justice. Do not give up on doing what is right. True will always be true. Just will always be just. Right will always be right even when the world around us would have it otherwise. We must learn to believe in the sun even when it is not shining, knowing that by and by it will shine again. It is the end of the story that counts. That is why the church asks us today to rejoice and be glad. Even when we are going through very difficult times: through betrayal, unjust discrimination, lies, misrepresentations; even when the enemy seems to be winning the battle in our lives. Today Christ has won. And we know that in Christ we shall overcome. Halleluiah, Praise the Lord!

Beware of the crowd with palms

 A soccer fanatic was once watching a match on the Television in his living room with his only child, a boy of four years. When his team scored the winning goal, he went wild with excitement. He forgot that his ceiling fan was on and on high speed; he lifted his boy up as a way of expressing his overwhelming joy with him, and the ceiling fan slit the throat of the little boy. The passion that sparked off overwhelming joy ended in tragic death. This is what passion is all about. Our passion is the thing in our lives that we are madly in love with. For some people it is one sport or another; and there are others who are crazy about cars, clothes, movies, dancing and singing, politics, plants, flower, animals, etc. What is your passion?

We call today The Passion Sunday because Jesus Christ shows us what his passion is; it is to complete the Will of God by offering his life for the salvation of all; he is madly in love with us otherwise he will not take this route.

Like the soccer fanatic, we begin today’s liturgy singing “Hosanna to the Son of David, blessed is he who come in the name of the Lord…” and celebrating the triumphant entry of Jesus into Jerusalem, which means triumphant entrance of the Prince of Peace, God who is love, The Way, The Truth and The Life into our lives. Maybe our initial response is joy and peace; we hope that these will not soon meet their tragic death as the joy sparked by the entrance of Jesus in Jerusalem will soon meet tragic death of an innocent man. It will be violence done against truth, life and way of peace. It becomes more ridiculous because this violence happens in a place whose name means “City, Foundation, Possession or Rain of Peace.”

Jesus knows what he is up against, and that there is no way out of it, and his thoughts and sentiments are summarized in the prophecy of Isaiah, “I did not cover my face against insult…, I gave my back to those who beat me…The Lord God is my help, therefore I am not disgraced; I have set my face like flint, knowing that I shall not be put to shame.” At the Gethsemane, he prayed that the suffering be removed from his mission but this did not happen. We too have our share of heavy sacrifices and suffering to make in other to demonstrate the depth of our passion or love for someone or something. Some of us may become sick, collapse and die or faint because our sports team lost important gain; people cry because their pet animals die or are seriously injured; we can also kill because of our dream car; and may be prepared to die for someone we truly love. We endure a lot of sufferings and difficulties because of our children, and people offer their lives to protect their country and families. Some times we may feel as if God has abandoned us and we make such prayers like “My God, My God why have you abandoned me!” But at this point, we should remember what Paul writes in the second reading “…Because of this, God highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name above every other name…” The sufferings of the just people shall never be in vain. Hence Jesus teaches us that the glory that lasts takes a lot of sacrifices to achieve.

So today is the day to link the passions of our lives with the reason for the suffering of Jesus, the Christ. It is not the day to mourn in agony because of our difficulties and sufferings in life but a day to ask ourselves this question, ‘Why am I suffering like this?’ So it is not how much we suffer but the reason for the suffering that matters more. We should beware of the crowd with palms, which are people who may offer us cheap praises or benefits that may distract us for our main target in life. There are passions that may offer us momentary joy but only for us to see sorrow build high afterward. Meanwhile, suffering to make our children have better life is a good passion. When we deny ourselves some comforts in order to help people is dire needs, we have the spirit of Jesus. If we have to accept insults, calumnies and persecutions because we identify with the less privileged, the social outcasts, the homeless, the sick, the orphans and suffering widows; and when we welcome and associate with those considered morally dirty, we become other Christs. Whatever we can offer to make the entrance of Jesus Christ into other people’s lives smooth and dignifying; and to make people feel the love and mercy of God, is our own little donkey; and Jesus needs it.