EASTER SUNDAY : DAY OF VICTORY AND LIFE

EASTER SUNDAY (A) – (Acts 10:34a, 37-43; Col 3:1-4; John 20:1-9)

Theme: Day of Victory, Day of Life and the Day of Alleluia

Reflection

- The Resurrection of Jesus is the ‘Central Point’ of the salvation history: CENTRAL POINT BETWEEN REMEMBRANCE AND REALIZATION.
o We move backwards into the past to REMEMBER the Wonderful Acts of God in the history from the first day of creation to this day of ‘new creation’ and ‘new life’ in and through the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, therefore we are always connected to the beautiful experience of past; that’s what we have done in the liturgy of these past few days and in the special manner in immediate preparations for this great event, that is, in the Vigil:
 We have just completed the forty days of preparations with the fasting, prayer and abstinence.
 We have just finished the intense preparation in the Holy Week in order to be with the Risen Jesus.
 We have fruitfully and gracefully celebrated the ‘Holy Triduum’ in which we have immersed ourselves in the mysteries of Christ and in a special way, in His Passion and Death.
 We have also just seen and celebrated with heart-filled rigor, the ‘LIGHT OF GLORY’ and ‘JOY OF RESURRECTION’ in the Vigil of Easter, last night. In this celebration, before re-echoing of Gloria, we have reviewed all the significant events of God’s doing starting from the creation to the Jesus’ passion and death and sepulcher.
 In this way we moved backwards from the central point of Jesus’ Resurrection and thus we have become the Christians of ‘Contemplation’ (remembering) of the God’s Redemptive designs.
o From now on, we move forwards into the future to REALIZE the ‘newness of life’ from today to that day of ‘New Heavens and New Earth’ (the predication of Apocalypse: “I will make everything new”) again with the faith and hope in the Risen Jesus. Therefore we always go with hope that we are not condemned to death but destined for the new life in Christ. We celebrate this ‘Realization’ in the liturgy of coming few days, in this Easter Season.
 Now is the Time to start the ‘Easter Season’. Season of Joy, season of Life and Season of Victory and we walk along with the Risen Christ for these forty days glancing to his own manifestation of his risen glory amidst the people.
 With the celebration of His Ascension and the descent of the Holy Spirit, the possibility of this realization is made very easy to those who heed to the voice of the Holy Spirit, for, He is the One who makes everything new and alive.
 In this way we move forward from the central point of Jesus’ Resurrection and thus we become the Christian of ‘Active Mission’ (realization) of God’s presence in and through us.
- Easter People – Living Witnesses: People who base themselves upon this CENTRE (Jesus’ Resurrection) are both ‘Contemplative’ (prayer) and ‘Missionary’ (testimony).
o People of the Resurrection are not to stop themselves at the ‘beautiful moments of past experience’ (with the life of contemplation and prayer) but actively live and make other live the ‘joyful moments of the future glory’ (with the life of testimony and action).
o Contemplation is certainly necessary to gather the spiritual force and energy but it cannot just be outside of the dispensing of this spirit to others which is possible only in the active life of witnessing the joy of Jesus.
o The contrary is also true that the active witnessing to Jesus is not authentically possible if it is not strengthened by prayer and contemplation.
o Therefore, Easter People move backward into the past to remember the deeds of the Lord accomplished in Christ ‘in contemplation’ and step forward into the future to realize the great things to happen in the Spirit ‘in mission’ and thus they live this present moment throwing themselves completely into the hands of Risen Jesus.
- Proofs of the Resurrection of Jesus possible?
o History and Revelation:
 Historically, in the sphere of mere REASON, the Resurrection of Jesus seems to be dim and unclear for various reasons and we are not sure of historical inscriptions for this event.
 Revelation of God, in the sphere of authentic FAITH, the Resurrection of Jesus is completely true and a great event that changed the face of the world.
o Then, how can we proceed forward without any proof of historical reason: The Person of Jesus Christ himself is the Greatest Proof (self witness):
 He is not only historical but revelatory. His journey is not from the history to revelation but vice-versa. He is revealed in history and made the history complete and perfect. Therefore, in the matter of Jesus Christ depending only on the ‘historical proof/reason’ is not enough. Revelation goes beyond the history. History asking for the reason in the realm of Revelation of God is like, as Augustine holds of the Trinitarian Mystery, trying to put ‘ocean into the small vessel’. Therefore, shall we leave it here and say that it is a Mystery that our eyes don’t understand? We should not fall, in this way, fall into the ‘escapism’.
 Everything about the ‘Historical Jesus’ is FORETOLD: Though it is revelation of God, nothing happened suddenly. God’s deeds are always prophetic. From the moment God decided to save man from the power of sin and death through His Son Jesus Christ, He has foretold everything ahead of its actual happening. The Old Testament is greatest basis for this foretelling of Jesus Christ who is to come. The greatest ‘Christ-Event’, which includes his annunciation, birth, preaching, passion, death and resurrection and coming of the Holy Spirit, itself is foretold. Christ himself said that He has come to fulfilled what the Law, Prophets, the Psalms of the Old Testament told about him.
 He himself foretold about his ‘death and resurrection’, at least three times, long before it actually took place and even though his disciple did not understand it properly. Now, He is (risen) what he has already foretold about himself before.
o Is the personal witness completely valid and are there not any other witnesses? Disciples and His chosen people (witness of near and dear ones):
 His disciples were the eye witnesses of his ‘Risen Life and Glory’.
• Mary Magdalene and Mary worshipping Risen Jesus (Math 28:9);
• Disciples on the road to Emmaus recognize Jesus in the breaking of the bread (Lk 24:31);
• The dialogue between Mary Magdalene and Jesus and finally she, with the joy of seeing her ‘Rabbouni’, announces to the disciples: ‘I have seen the Lord’ (Jn 20:18).
• Disciples, themselves fearful and hiding, receive ‘peace and power to forgive sins’ from the Risen Lord (Jn 20:19-29).
• ‘It is the Lord’ (Jn 21:7) is the joyful testimony of the disciple to Peter and other disciples when the Risen Jesus appeared to the seven disciples.
• Peter receiving the authority of ‘feeding the sheep’ (Jn 21:15-19) after confirming his conditional love for Jesus.
 On the foundation of these Apostles’ faith and experience of Risen Jesus that the Christianity has its construction and it is still alive and active like a double edged sword. Therefore we cannot simply eliminate the witness of his disciples on the ‘fact of resurrection of Jesus’. But with this experience of faith, can we satisfy our mind’s doubts on this event and say that no reason could explain it but only faith?
o By its fruit the status of the tree is measured: We keep reason aside because no one saw Jesus rising from the tomb; we keep the self-witness of Jesus or witness of his disciples aside for time being and now we will try to analyze and rationalize what is the consequence of Jesus’ Resurrection? What happened in the life of disciple who followed him till this moment? What is result of the wonderful words and marvelous deeds he has preached and accomplished? What is the destiny of the Kingdom of God that He established with his passion and death? Is everything gone in vain? The simple answer as we see today, is NO.
 Disciples, who were timid and hiding, went on preaching the good news to the ends of the world, even to the cost of their own lives.
 The primitive Christian community, with the life of sharing and togetherness, has witnessed the life and mission of Jesus.
 The innumerable martyrs who have shed their blood for the ‘vision of Glory of God’ in the next life which Jesus promised.
 The small mustard seed which is being planted (with His death) and sprouted (with His resurrection) is now a big tree (Kingdom of God) which has been spread whole through the earth and all the believers enjoying its fruit. By this fruit of faith we know and taste the tree of life (Risen Jesus).
- Therefore, history will stop somewhere but not the revelation, but history is need for revelation; reason has some limitations but not the experience of faith, still reason help to strengthen the faith;
o Is not unintelligent to search for the one who lives among the dead;
o It is unwise to minimize the ‘mysteries of God’ to the level of human tiny mind.

First Reading

- Only question we can ask while reading this piece from the Acts in which Peter preaches to the family of roman soldier is: who was Peter before the event of resurrection of Jesus and who is Peter now after experiencing the Risen Jesus? Enough we have got the proof.

Second Reading

- In as much as we believe in the Risen Jesus we have to search for the things above. We are no more in the sepulcher but risen. No more looking down with desperation but looking high. We are not to be immersed in the life of the earth but with the hope of rising again to our Life and our Life is Risen Christ (v. 4).

Gospel Reading: ‘come and see’ – ‘see and believe’

- John starts the mission of Jesus with the call to his disciples to ‘come and see’ (Jn 1:39) and now he ends the mission of Jesus with disciples’ “seeing and believing” (Jn 20:8).
- According to John’s theology, this is the process of knowing and acknowledging the Truth that has come into the earth: COME – SEE – BELIEVE.
- Once you believe, which goes beyond the reason and historical proofs, THIS EVENT OF RESURRECTION becomes the Day of Victory, Day of Life and the Day of Alleluia because, as the Psalmist says, this is the day that the LORD HAS MADE, let us rejoice and be glad in it. Alleluia.

EASTER VIGIL: AWAIT FOR THE RISING OF THE SON OF GOD

EASTER VIGIL – A - (Rom 6:3-11; Math 28:1-10)

Theme: Alleluia is our Song and Alleluia is our Life

Reflection:
- The only greatest feast of Christianity is ‘the Resurrection of Jesus Christ’. Although we celebrate Christmas with the equal importance, as for the knowledge and life of the Church goes, it is this feast ‘the culmination of the salvation of humanity with the passion, death and Resurrection of Jesus’ which has the prominence and priority. It is because, Jesus has entered into the world (Christmas) with the plan of fulfilling the salvific design of God by dying and rising from the dead (Paschal mystery – Easter). If the latter was not to be there, there is no full significance for his arrival into the world.
- Moreover, this ‘Resurrection of Jesus from the dead’ is that which distinguishes Christian religion from that of others. We may not compare our priority and our faith with that of other religions but we can always, with the rigorous zeal, give the testimony of the joy of resurrection of our Lord with our lives. We are not here to prove our faith but to live our faith. By living we already give a biggest testimony of our faith. People have to see our life and confirm themselves that we live this joy of the resurrection of Jesus in our day-to-day life. That would be the biggest proof that Jesus has truly risen from the dead.
- Very aptly the Christians are called ‘the People of Easter’ and ‘Alleluia People’. And in one word, ‘Joyful People’. This joy is not a mere joy of Christ’s coming into the world but the joy of the mission of Salvation He has accomplished (from the cross) through which He has manifested the Love of God for humanity and finally Joy of ‘Resurrection’ through which He has proved that the power of the evil or death cannot do any harm or any damage with the life that God offers in Christ. Therefore, this ‘Easter Joy’ has no end.
- In the vigil mass of Easter, we make immediate preparations for meeting the Risen Christ. As the part of these preparations we have whole salvation history reviewed and re-lived. Not even for Christmas we do so much of revision of God’s marvelous and wonderful acts for the humanity. Therefore, we see again how the Church considers the resurrection of Jesus as the basis and foundation of Christian life.
- The FIRST part of today’s liturgy is: New Fire – the Light of the First Day.
o This new fire signifies the Light that God has created in the First Day of Creation and thus dispels the darkness that was dominating till that time. It reminds us that God is Light and He gives this light whenever his people are in the darkness of fear and perplexity and we see the clear example of God standing amidst his people as the Poll of Fire at the great redemptive work.
o The procession we make into the Church with the new fire signifies the ‘entrance of light’ into the world (John chapter one). It reminds us that Jesus is the Light of the world who shows the clear way to the people to walk in the right path. ‘The First Day of the Week’ (Mt 28:1 – today’s Gospel), like that of the first day of creation, is the great moment of completion of the salvation history in which Christ shines out (stands out) as the ‘Rising Sun’ dispelling the dark power of the world.
o The candle that each one of us enkindles with the new fire signifies the ‘descent of the Holy Spirit’ upon the Apostles. The fiftieth day (after seven weeks), Pentecost, is again the ‘first day’ of the new creation in the Holy Spirit. It reminds us that the Spirit is the Fire (light) of every heart that is open to the truth of salvation as the work of God the Father in His Son Jesus Christ.
o Therefore, the light of creation was on the first day, ‘the rising of Sun’, the Resurrection of Jesus ‘the light of the world’ is on the first day and finally, the light of the Holy Spirit that descended upon the Apostles is again the first day. And so, this is the ‘First Day of Salvation’. And this is the reason why the Church celebrates this feast as the primordial feast of Christian life in, for and around which everything revolves. And this is the reason why again Church proposes the liturgy of the light as the starting point of today’s celebration.
o In the ‘hymn of the Easter Candle’, the Church sings and praises the incomparable and wondrous deeds of God the Trinity in the plan and history of Salvation. We partake and live these moments of joy in the vigil of Easter.
- The SECOND part of today’s liturgy is: the Word of God: the Church very meaningfully celebrates the Word of God today in particular way by recalling how through the various stages of salvific design God has extended his tremendous love to his people. We see how the ‘powerful presence and immense love’ of God is revealed and fulfilled in and through Christ and this theme runs through all these readings:
o In the first reading that speaks of ‘creation’, we observe, how God has called everything into existence through His Word (Christ who exists from the beginning with God) and He saw ‘everything is good’. In Christ everything is made perfect and good.
o In the second reading that speaks of ‘Abraham’s sacrifice of his only son Isaac’, we observe, how God has sacrificed His Only Begotten Son for the salvation of humanity. Christ has offered himself as the sacrifice of expiation for the sins of humanity.
o In the third reading that speaks of ‘crossing the red sea’ we observe, how God has opened the way of salvation to the people of Israel and now Christ has become the ‘Way’ for all who believe in him. Christ is the way amidst the waters of the world which swallows the man into the depths of destruction.
o In the fourth reading that speaks of ‘intimate union between God and his people’, we observe, how God has make this new alliance with his people in Christ, the new bridegroom. Christ has given his life for his people and thus showed his ultimate bond of love between God and his people renovated in the blood of Christ.
o In the fifth reading that speaks of ‘providence of God’, we observe, how God calls to himself all the people who are in search of truth. As the rain that goes deep into the earth and makes it fruitful so also, Christ who is grace (rain) of God came on to the earth and has gone into (death and burial) earth makes the earth fruitful with the seekers of Truth.
o In the sixth reading that speaks of ‘living in the knowledge of God’, we observe, how the whole mystery of God and His designs are manifested in Christ who is the ‘Wisdom’ of God.
o In the seventh reading that speaks of ‘purification by the holy water of God’, we observe, how God has fulfilled his promise in Christ from whose side ‘flowed’ the water to cleanse the humanity and to purify it.
- The THIRD part of today’s liturgy is: Re-living of Baptism
o Baptism is the participation in the life of Christ. It is the door to enter into the life that God offers to man through Christ in the Holy Spirit. The life of Jesus Christ on earth is fully realized in his Paschal Mystery, that is, in His Passion, death and Resurrection. One who desires to embrace this life of grace has to partake in the same mystery of Christ. We re-live this truth in the liturgy we celebrate today. In this we have three great moments:
o In the first moment we have the ‘litany of all saints’: Saints are the ones who have participated in the mystery of Christ in the extraordinary way to follow Him. They have lived for him and offered their lives for him until their last breathe in spite all the hardships they have come across. By singing the praise of all saints we recall to our minds that the Baptism sanctifies us and makes us the children of God and partakers of God’s glory as saints, now, living the same Glory for which they have strived by living their Baptismal virtue.
o In the second moment we have the ‘blessing of water’ by recalling the merciful deeds of God through the life of his people and this water is blessed with the Easter Candle signifying the presence and effect of Risen Jesus in those who are being baptized. St. Paul says that if we die with Christ we also rise up with Him.
o In the third moment we have the ‘renewing of the baptismal vows’: in the baptismal vows we renounce all that is evil and take up/accept all that is God’s. This recalls to our mind the call of Jesus “If you want to follow me you renounce yourself and all that you have and take up your cross and follow me”. We make the promise that we renounce the Evil and its inclinations to sin and we promise to accept and to believe in God the Trinity, the Church and Eternal life that is to come.
- The FOURTH part of today’s liturgy is: the Eucharist
o Eucharist we celebrate today reminds us of God’s ultimate action in Christ for the salvation of humanity. It’s is the thanksgiving sacrifice of Christ and as we commemorate this Eucharist we give thanks to God for the wonderful life He has given to us in Jesus Christ.
o We receive new life and new strength. That’s why we have new hosts consecrated. All the old ones have to be consumed before. There is not used any of the previous hosts. This signifies that we have started new life with the new energy received through the New Sacrifice of Easter.

Reflection of the Readings
St. Paul’s letter to the Romans
- St. Paul constructs a parallelism between the death-burial of Jesus and the Baptism. The common element in both of these is: sepulcher. As Jesus is gone into the sepulcher (entering into the tomb by his burial) and risen into new life, so also the believer who goes into the sepulcher (entering into the font of baptism by his participation) and thus rises as a new creature. With the Christ’s entering into the tomb and rising from it again to the life of Glory, the death is given new meaning and death appears no more than a door to enter into new life of glory.
- He also reminds us the fact that the old man (the man before believing Christ) is dead, dead to the desires of the world and to the sin and new man (after the baptism) is born, born with the desires of the Spirit and with the grace to be a new creature.
- Therefore, the Paschal Vigil reminds us that we are no more of the old nature but new creatures who are confirmed with the mind and will of Christ so that it is not we who live but Christ who lives in us.

Gospel of Mathew
- The mystery of Resurrection of Jesus is no more a mystery but a revelation of God’s blessing to the one who obeys and follows Him to the last moment of his life.
- Good News of an Angel: In every great event of salvation history there is the presence/announcement of angel. We see this at the very first moment of Jesus’ birth in the womb of Virgin Mary and now at the very last moment of Jesus’ Resurrection there is angel’s good news with the similar words: ‘do not fear’, and announcing the joyful news that He is Risen and He is not there.
- Empty Tomb: Another important proof of Jesus being not there. It’s not impossible for God to raise Jesus from the dead. It did not happen in a sudden way. It was indicated and predicated by Jesus long before his death. Indeed, He has foretold his disciples that He would be handed over to Jewish authority and they would put him to death but He would rise again on the third day. The ‘author of life’ cannot be in the tomb.
- Women’s Testimony: It’s unbelievable and unacceptable in the Jewish community that women speak out something like this. Women are considered to be out of public appearance and are not eligible to talk in the public. That is reason why people, especially Jewish authority, did not believe the resurrection of Jesus just because it is first told by the women. But Jesus has chosen the women to be the first witnesses of His Risen Glory. Jesus has always given the prominence for the women. We see how the women were following Jesus from the beginning of his ministry (Lk 8:1-3). God always chooses ‘strange, unknown and incomprehensible ways’ to reveal his mysteries. In the mystery of Resurrection, it is the role of women, which served as the proof. Those who did not believe in the ‘role of women in the society’ cannot believe also in their testimony and thus they have buried the mystery of resurrection.
- The only force that keep the story of salvation alive and active and the only power that keeps the faith still moving forward till the ends of the earth and till the end of time is: THE FORCE AND POWER OF RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST, THE SON OF GOD. ALLELUIA. ALLELUIA.

GOOD FRIDAY - THE DAY OF SALVATION FOR HUMANITY

GOOD FRIDAY (A) – (Is 52:13-53:12; Heb 4:14-16, 5:7-9; John 18:1-19:42)

Theme: Cross is the Tree and Love is the Fruit

First Reading: He is pierced for our crimes

- Fourth song of the Servant of the Lord (chapter 53)
o It sings of the birth, life, passion, death, burial and the glorification of mysterious messiah.
o A man who is disfigured and macerated: even his pain, sorrow and grief are not for his own sake but for others (vv.2-3 and 6-7)
o A deep suffering which strangely and paradoxically destined for the healing of others (vv. 4-5)
o His life is immersed in the martyrdom and in the tomb and on the tomb with the stone inscribed with the words: “he has not committed any violence and there is no evil on his lips” and this reveals ‘the Innocent’ death of the Servant of God (v.9)
o No one can put him to death but he offers himself (v.10).
o Death is not the eternal home of the Servant but vision of God (v.11).
o His just and innocent death becomes the Cause of Expiation for all and all will receive the reward (the fruit of the Tree of life: the light and the knowledge of God as seen in v.11).
- This song is accomplished in the passion and death of the Servant of God (“emptying himself, taking the form of a slave” Phi 2:7), that is,
o Jesus, who was forsaken and abandoned by his own disciples in the garden of Gethsemane;
o Jesus, who was dejected and disfigured in the hands of the authority;
o Jesus, who has offered himself up for the sacrifice, for He said “No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have the power to lay it down and I have the power to take it up again” (John 10:18).
o Jesus, for whom death is only a passage to the glory of God because, death has no power over him (Acts 2:24) and his own foretelling and promise that “the Son of Man will rise again on the third day” (Mk 10:34).
o Jesus, who was the innocent lamb and “the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world” (Jn 1:29) and He is Cause of our Salvation for He has carried our sins and accomplished at the act of redemption on the Cross saying “It is Accomplished” and the Cross became the Tree of Life and its fruit is His Unconditional Love for humanity.

Second Reading: He is the Priest and He himself is the Victim of sacrifice

- We see this theme running whole through the letter to the Hebrews and in particular way in today’s part: “we have one great High Priest” (4:14) and “He became the cause of eternal salvation for all who obey him”. He is the priest who, being the Son of God, knows, in perfect obedience, to suffer for our iniquities and thus becomes ‘our sacrifice and our salvation’.
- From the beginning of the Christianity, this is how the letter to Hebrews is considered by the Fathers of the Church: All the rites and sacrifices of the Old Covenant are re-read in the light of ‘the ONLY Sacrifice of Christ’.
- The fullness of humanity of Jesus is manifested in being sacrifice for all: Jesus is no more a mere God who is very far away as was thought by the authority of His time but He has become truly human in the person of this man, so human, that He has become our ‘brother’ who is capable of ‘sympathize with our weaknesses’ (4:15).
- We see how human Jesus offers his prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears and not in vain or not to any god who is deaf but to the one who is ‘able to save him from death’ (5:7). In this way He has shown the way for us to ‘commit ourselves to the One God whom Christ has obeyed and thus entered into the glory as the fruit of that perfect obedience’.
- Therefore, in and through Christ, we can move from the Cross of sacrifice to the Glory of sons of God and finally we know by now that ‘Cross is the Tree and Glory is the Fruit’.

Gospel Reading: ‘Death of Jesus on the Cross is the Seed of Salvation of the World’

- Again we are entering into the Gospel of John which is characteristically very different from the other Gospels and especially in its theological significance. Seems to be almost all similar events from the arrest of Jesus to his final breath on the Cross. But every incident/event is specific in its own bearing and out-pouring of the ‘Revelation of Son of God’.
o There are dialogues between Jesus and his hostiles:
 In the garden of Gethsemane we see Jesus himself initiates by asking the soldiers “whom are you searching” and when they said “Jesus of Nazareth”, without any hesitation he replied them “I am He”. And the consequence is the fall of them to the ground. Very signifying in its meaning:
• Jesus hands over himself to them and thus proving that no one can touch him unless he permits it;
• In front of the Divine Manifestation all have to surrender and fall to ground in fear.
 In his conversation with the high priest: Jesus testifies his ‘public mission’ telling that He had spoken everything in the synagogues and in the temple and His question to the soldier who bet him to show what is wrong and where is wrong. Here Jesus asks them to review their accusation and search for the right reason.
 In the dramatic appearance and dialogue with Pilate in his courtyard Jesus asks him to know two things:
• To know the Truth, which has come into the world and which is standing in front of him;
• To recognize his own mission in the redemptive designs of God: If the power is not given from the above, you have no authority over me (Jn 19:10);
- We will see ultimate conversation of Jesus, leaving apart all others for now, on the Cross in which He gives his mother to John and disciple to his Mother (Jn 19:26-27) and it is very particular to John only because other Gospels did not write it.
o Jesus does not leave his chosen ones and his people without the Mother.
o Significance of Mary as the woman, at the beginning of his mission with the wedding of Cana (Jn 2) and now at the completion of his mission on the cross (Jn 19) stands out as the contrary to the first woman who had denied the design of God. The second Eve always stands at the redemptive work of God completed in her Son, first at the beginning of salvation history with the annunciation with the great ‘yes’ and now at its culmination on the cross with great ‘pondering’ of the works of God.
- His tunic, which signifies the Church, is the undivided unity of Christians:
o When the soldiers have seen his clothes they have divided them into four parts and each one had taken one; but the tunic is seamless, woven in one piece from the top: the indication of the unity of the Church as the one tunic of Jesus, everyone is woven into his Body and therefore there are not to be divisions in the Church.
o The cloths, the outer part of vestment, are divided: when people see the only peripheral aspect of faith in Jesus, like the seed on the rocky ground, it only disappears very quick.
o The Tunic, the inner part of vestment, is one and undivided: when the people enter into the deep and profound faith and relationship with Jesus, they are all united. Nothing and no one can break the unity. Those who enter into the Church that Jesus has established on the rocky faith of Peter and passed on to the generations, they are all intrinsically united and no one can destroy this unity and shatter the faithful.
- Finally from the cross gush out the life of Christians:
o Water and Blood which has come out at once from the side pierced stands for the birth of the Church from the side of Christ as the Eve has come out of the side of Adam;
o Water and Blood which Christ has poured out from the Cross are the ‘signs of Baptism and Eucharist’ with which the believer can have the life;
o This is the mission of every Christian that he has to ‘shed the sweat’ (daily and continuous mission without fatigue) and ‘pour out blood’ (daily and continuous testimony of life and actions till the last drop of blood).

Conclusion
- Christ’s death on the Cross is the ‘gain of life’ of humanity
- Cross is no more of humiliation which means, the suffering, the hunger, the war and even the death are no more blocking stones of faith because ‘no one can separate us from the love of Christ’ (Rom 8:31-39).
- Cross is now the Tree of Life and its Fruit is Love: who takes it, accepts it and likes to follow it has to bear the fruit of love: Christian life is Love and Love is Christian Life and Love is God.

HOLY THURSDAY - SELF-DONATION OF JESUS

HOLY THURSDAY (A): (Ex 12:1-8, 11-14; 1 Cor 11:23-26; John 13:1-15).
Theme: The gift of ultimate love of Jesus to the humanity

General Reflection
Entering into the Paschal Mystery

- We enter into Paschal Triduum with the Last Supper Mass of Thursday
- The Three principle days of preparation for the great feast of the Resurrection
- These are NOT three days of separate celebration of various mysteries as: Thursday as the celebration of Jesus’ Eucharist; Friday as the celebration of Jesus’ passion and death; Saturday as the celebration of silence and hope of waiting for the Jesus’ Resurrection.
- BUT these three days the CHURCH CELEBRATES WHOLE MYSTERY OF CHRIST’S PASSION, DEATH AND RESURRECTION, NOT AS A DEVIDED MYSTERIES BUT AS THE ONE MYSTERY OF CHRIST’S PASCHAL EVENT.
- Each of the days is the fullness of celebration of Christ’s salvation mystery.
- Holy Thursday is the ‘door’ through which we enter into (we are introduced into) the immediate Pascal mystery of Christ.
- Holy Friday is the ‘commemoration of Christ’s passion and death’ in which we make ‘fast’ and ‘abstinence’ and participate in the same mystery of Christ’s work of salvation.
- Holy Saturday is the ‘commemoration of Christ’s descent into the dead not to be as a dead man but to bring out those who are sleeping there with the hope of resurrection. Therefore this is the day of silence contemplation and holy waiting, for the resurrection.
- Holy Friday and Holy Saturday are the days ‘a-liturgical’ which means, outside the liturgy and therefore we do not have the mass and great liturgy but silent and prayerful participation in the passion and death of Jesus.

Reflection
Holy Thursday as the day of self-donation of Christ in the Institution of the Eucharist

- The three gestures of Jesus:
o the washing of the Feet of the disciples;
o the Last Supper of Jesus;
o the commission of Jesus to the apostles to do the same in his memory; are
- The three mysteries of Christianity:
o The Baptism: The fathers of the Church always considered the words and actions of Jesus during washing of the feet of disciples as the elements of institution of Baptism and Penance. Participation of the disciples in the very life of Christ (if I do not wash your feet you have no share with me); Specially St. Augustine says that Jesus when He talked about the ‘bathing’ he thought of the Baptism and when He talked about the ‘washing of the feet’ he talked about the Penance. They all mean that through the washing of the feet the disciples were made to enter into the life of Christ and so we enter intot he life of God in the Bapstism.
o The Eucharist: when Jesus has taken the bread and wine and gave it to the disciples with the words ‘this is my body’ which is ‘given to you’ (Mt 26:26), and ‘this is my blood’ which is ‘shed for you’ (Mt 26:28), He gave his own body and blood in anticipation which he is going to fulfill in few hours. Therefore this is the GIFT OF SELF-GIVING of Jesus so that He remains with them forever. And
o The Priesthood: Jesus did not stop his words and actions (gestures) with giving them his body and blood in the form of bread and wine, BUT He asked them to DO IT IN HIS MEMORY. Not to everyone but to whom he has chosen and to whom he has given the participation in his act of sacrifice ‘Eucharist’, He has given the commission of CONTINUING THIS MYSTERY IN HIS MEMORY. Here Jesus makes them his partakers of his mystery and his ministry, and specially, of ‘celebration of the Eucharist’ in his memory since he is not doing it by himself anymore till he come again (Mt 26:29). This ‘doing in his memory’ is the continual celebration of Christ’s Mystery which has to be carried upon by his Apostles and those who are elected in their place for the ‘offering of sacrifice’ and therefore Jesus makes them sharers of his priesthood.
- The three virtues of Christian life:
o Service: “So If I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet” (Jn 13:14ff);
o Love: “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (Jn 13:34-35). And thus follows the third virtue of
o Mission of continuation and Participation Lord’s mystery ‘doing in His memory’. Therefore participation in Christ’s Mystery and continuing it in one’s life is also the responsibility of Christian virtue.

First Reading

- Explains the way that the paschal dinner has to be consumed.
- This is the exodus dinner, dinner which serves as the nutrition for the paschal journey from the bondage of Egypt to the liberation of being God’s chosen race.
- The principle elements of the rite of First exodus Pascua:
o Innocent lamb to be sacrificed (Ex 12:5-6)
o Blood to be sprinkled, that is, shed and applied to the doors (Ex 12:7)
o Bread has to be that of unleavened, that is, not yet fully baked (Ex 12:8)
o Along with the Bitter herbs (Ex 12:8).
o To be eaten: with the loins girded, sandals on the feet, staff in the hand and with hurry (Ex 12:11).
- These elements usually belong to the nomads (who do not have their fixed tents and those who do not have their permanent houses). They move around or always in the move and thus eat such kind of food (all raw and on the foot).
- This is to remind the people of Israel that God’s doing is not of that normality but that of a special intention with the special nutriment.
- Meaning of this insertion of rite of nomads in the liberation action of God in the life of Israel is:
o Historically: The Pasqua of the Old Testament, in this way, signifies the Presence of God in the story, of his redemptive action and of his love. This presence is seen in the ‘passing over’ (passing through the doors of Israel) of God that night to save them and to destroy the Egyptians (Ex 12:27).
o Spiritually: Through the elements prescribed and used in the rite of Passover of the Israelites signify that ‘they have nothing of this world, they do not belong to the word and they would not cling on to the temporal goods but they have to be always on the move (with the girds to the waist) towards their promised land’. In one word it means that ‘they are only the pilgrims and they have to pass over from this land (Egypt and bondage of the world) to the promised (Cana and freedom of God’s children in heaven).


Second Reading

- Even this handing over of the rite of the celebration and its meaning is still maintained by Paul and we see more clearly in his first letter to the Corinthians and in particular way, we may observe in today’s passage: “I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you” (v.23) and he concludes exalting them to continue the same until the Lord comes: “For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes” (v.26).
- We clearly understand from this that the command of Jesus ‘do this in memory of me’ is observed in the ultimate manner in the primitive Christian community and thus it is something to be continued until the Lord returns and drinks again the cup.
- To continue this ‘doing in the memory of the Lord’, there are two most important aspects: ‘what to do’ and ‘who to do’. For the first the answer is ‘to do the sacrifice of the Lord in the same way and in the same manner He has done it’ and it is “EUCHARIST”. For the second the answer is ‘to be done by the one who participates in his priesthood’ which means not everyone who knows him and who believes him (there were many who knew and believed him in his mission of preaching and doing miracles), that means, not all Christians but those who share in his priesthood, which means, those who are called and consecrated for the special faculty of continuing his mystery of Eucharist, that means, the disciples and now the successors of Apostles, the bishops and priests. And it is “PRIESTHOOD”.
- Therefore, these two mysteries (sacraments) INTERTWINED in and during the Last Supper of Jesus.
- For Paul who has taken this recount of ‘last supper’ of Jesus from that of Luke, holds that Jesus takes this rite of Judaic Sacrifice but gives it a different and new meaning, for he takes the bread and wine and says ‘this is my body’ and ‘this is my blood’. It is not any more Judaic rite of alliance but it is that of ‘the New Alliance’ (Jer 31:31-34) in the Spirit of God which Christ fulfills in his Last supper.
- The spiritual meaning that Paul gives to the faithful of Corinth is that “the Eucharist is originated from the ‘love of Christ’ and it has to be celebrated in love and it has to regenerate love for others.”

Gospel

- The placement and significance of today’s Gospel:
o It may seem strange for us to see the account of ‘washing of the feet’ on the day of “Institution of Eucharist”. We have the idea of contemplating the ‘Body and Blood of Christ’ on this Holy Thursday and also little idea of reflecting on the ‘Institution of the Priesthood’ also. But this practice of ‘washing of feet’ and its narration properly today is still little confusing although we know well it’s meaning of ‘doing service to others’.
o In his Gospel John do not mention the institution of the Eucharist same as have done other Evangelists Matthew, Mark and Luke. In its place, John writes of ‘washing of feet’. We know that John is always conscious of Christ being the ‘Word of God’ made ‘man’ out of love and this love is manifested by his ultimate gestures of his service to the humanity. His main concern is not only how he has fulfilled the Old Testament but more than that of, how he has revealed his Father’s love to the world. Therefore John gives more theological importance than to mere historical elements, which of course, are necessary.
o Even the actual narration of the Last Supper of Jesus itself is different in John. We see it as the mission of Jesus to manifest the ultimate love of God:
 It’s his time to leave this world and go back to His Father (Jn 13:1): thus the pass-over of the Old Testament.
 He has loved his own until the end of time (Jn 13:1): already to continue the love of God till the end as the ‘Eucharistic love’ to be continued until he comes back.
 Knowing that God has given all things into his hands (Jn 13:3): not just to repeat what is said and done in the Old covenant but power and authority to create everything new with the ALLIANCE OF LOVE. And now he gets up from the table of supper (the only instance of Jesus’ last supper in the Gospel of John) and with the towel tied around him (as of the girdle around the waist of first reading) sets out for the journey of service.
 John do not speak of the participation in the ‘body and blood’ of Jesus in the last supper but speaks of the ‘participation in this soul/mind/will’ by cleansing of oneself (by repentance and conversion) and by availing oneself to the service of others.
- The dialogue between Jesus and Peter:
o Reveals that John does not reject the institution of Eucharist and the participation of his disciples in it and in that of eating of his body and drinking of his blood in his memory as narrated by the other Gospels. He only gives higher significance to the gestures of service which his disciples have to ‘continue’ as He had done (in his memory) – Jn 13:15.
o Washing of the feet, not of head and body as Peter asked Jesus, signifies that, one who has received the baptism (bathing – washing of head and body) needs only to do act of penance, that is, confession (washing of sins – washing the dust of the feet) in order to participate in his Eucharist (banquet of love and service).
o Manifests that those who participate in his Supper to be NEW CREATURES who have modified the old commandments and enter into the NEW COVENANT with the new command of LOVE (not loving others as we love ourselves but loving others as Christ has loved us).
- Eucharist of the Soul:
o John’s concern is that we are made partakers not only of the body and blood of Christ (which is material celebration of Eucharist) but of the soul of Christ (the spiritual celebration of Eucharist) with love and service and that way confirming ourselves to the ‘mind’ and ‘will’ of Christ who always does ‘His Father’s Will’.
o This spiritual celebration of Eucharist is always possible with the purification of one’s will, which includes, leaving of the world he has created for himself (If you want to follow me renounce your own self and all that you have) and entering into the world of Christ (If I don’t wash your feet you have no part in me) and thus the purification of the head and body (Baptism), of the feet (Confession) in order to participate in his ‘body and blood’ (Eucharist) and to be part of him with the command of love in the Spirit (Sign of the Spirit: Confirmation).
o Partaking in the Eucharist of the Soul means participating in the self-donation of Jesus (LOVE) and in his self-sacrifice (SERVICE).

Conclusion
- The day of LOVE in the gift of himself of Christ
- The day of SERICE in the abasing attitude of Christ
- The day of MYSTERY of the Eucharist, of the Holy Orders (and also of the Baptism and Confession).
- The day of MISSION and Commission to continue everything he has done ‘in his memory’ until he comes.

PALM SUNDAY

Palm Sunday: A (Isaiah 50:4-7; Phil 2:6-11; Matthew 26:14-27:66)

Theme
Hosanna is the song of joy for the one who came in the Name of God

Reflection
- We enter into the Holy Week with the Palm Sunday
- Palm Sunday which the Church calls and indicates as the Passion Sunday also, makes us to enter not only into the glories of God through the David’s Son (Jesus, who came in the name of the God) but also into the very life and mission of Him who came to do His Father’s Will (let me accept the suffering not because my will but yours be done: the prayer of Jesus culminated in the garden of Gethsemane).
- This particular Sunday which exalts us to observe the marvelous revelation of God in the person and passion of Jesus, also, asks us to participate in this mystery with unconditional love and undivided obedience which in turn leads us from the temporal joy to the permanent bliss.

First Reading
- The song of the Servant of the Lord which is expressed in the insults and anxiety of and for the infidels and of those who are ignorant and reluctant of the Word of God (the promise of the Messiah).
- Here the Servant of the Lord is the Man of the word of God and spokesman for God and messenger of God’s plans.
- Strangely, and it’s always the design of God, the reality of this messenger-servant of God is not of peaceful and smooth-going one but the path (way of the cross in the case of Jesus, the True and Ultimate Servant-Son of God) of difficulties and sufferings and even at the cost of death.

Second Reading
- Paul speaks of this Servant of God in his “Hymn of Christ”, song in which the perfect abasement and perfect exaltation of the Son of God is revealed:
o It is the ‘hymn of perfect renunciation of the self’ without holding anything for himself (though in form of God, Christ did not hold on to his eternal state but accorded with the God’s will of manifestation of love).
o It is the ‘hymn of eternal obedience of the Son’ who always listens to His Father and does everything that He commands, not out of compulsion or force, but out of his filial love which he always enjoys with his Father.
o It is the ‘hymn of ultimate offering of the self’ for the completion of God’s plan of salvation for the humanity. He has not hidden anything from the humanity which is treating him so badly and we see how the servant of God of the Promise (Old Testament) is present in the suffering servant of God of the Fulfillment (New Testament) without reserve. He offered every part of his body and every drop of his blood.
o Finally, it is the ‘hymn of eternal exaltation of the Son’ by His Father. The abasement in renouncing oneself, the endurance of sufferings in obedience, the manifestation of love in offering oneself until the last breath have not gone in vain. Everything is resulted in the exaltation. Joy follows the pain. Glory follows the death. This is what we are going to reflect in the passion narrative of Jesus in the Gospels.

Gospel Reading

- The big question is why on the day of palms (Palm Sunday) suddenly the Church gives us the passion narrative and focusing very little on the palms and songs of hosanna?
o The answer is that the palms and glory of Jerusalem streets is only temporary and it’s only a door for the entrance of Jesus into his final completion of his presence in the world. Already before entering into Jerusalem Jesus foretells of his entry and death.
o Aptly the Church calls it Holy Week because whole of seven days the Church to the full extent contemplates and celebrates the Paschal Event of Christ which starts from his last supper to his resurrection from the dead.
o This is the gift of a week from the Church to live and make our own this week and find out the true and ultimate meaning of human life, death and life after death.
- Each episode of the passion narrative is very precious and full of meaning and it could serve as the mirror in which we can see our own selves and lives. Each word and each sentence is a seed of salvation:
o In the Last Supper we see the desire of Jesus to pitch his eternal presence amidst us in the form of bread and wine.
o In the garden of Gethsemane we observe the conflict of Jesus within himself between the two will (his will and his father’s) and his agony to overcome his own will and his passion to accept the will of God.
o In the arrest of Jesus we notice how Jesus wills to be at peace and as a lamb going to the slaughter’s house keeps quite without a word and offers himself and finally not gives any room for the violence.
o His appearance before the authority and people (Mt 26:57-75) is his final revelation of his presence and mission among and for his people because “from now on you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of God and coming in clouds of heaven”.
o In his journey towards the Calvary and his death on the cross we reflect the tremendous love of God for humanity in spite of latter’s blindness to recognize it.
- All the paradoxical moments of human life resound in the passion and death of Christ and God himself allows the truth of co-existence of Joy and Sorrow, Power and Helplessness, Conversion and guilt, good and bad, acceptance and rejection, compassion and cruelty, and whatever that could be found in the complexity of human life:
o First paradox is : the Upper Room and Garden Gethsemane:
 The Upper Room is the private and very personal place which Jesus wanted to spend with his disciples. It’s here that Jesus expressed whole of his being and his doing in the ultimate manner. It is this place which Jesus uses for his intimate communion and communication with his disciples. In one word, this is the occasion where Jesus has given himself completely (what he is going to offer on the cross, that is, the body and blood) to his own (his chosen ones for his mission) and commissioned them to do the same in his memory (the continual presence of Jesus in the Eucharist). And it was a joyful feasting of togetherness.
 The Garden of Gethsemane is the just opposite of what just happened in the upper room. It’s here that Jesus feel completely betrayed and abandoned by his own with whom he has just shared all this life. It’s here that Jesus was filled with bitter agony of his choices of life and completion of his coming into the world. In one word, this is the occasion where Jesus has given himself completely (the cup he is going to drink) to his Father who has designed his plan of salvation through his self denial once again on the cross (as he has done for the first time in the incarnation). And it was painful experience of abandonment.
o Second paradox is: Repentance of Peter and Regret of Judas
 Peter stands for the total self commitment to Jesus after having betrayed him and completely neglected his testimony in front of those who seek the truth. He doesn’t feel shy to come back to his master. He is always quick to rise up after falling down. And it was a joyful return of the prodigal disciple.
 Judas stands for the total self assassination after having betrayed Jesus and completely forgotten the way to come back. He has closed his doors and he has neglected that there is way for coming back. He felt shy of standing before his master. He is not ready to remember and beg for divine mercy which in fact is waiting for his return. And it was a painful loss of the disciple.
o Third paradox is: Innocence of Herod’s wife and Arrogance of authority
 Herod’s wife stands for the one who searches for the goodness and well being of the condemned. She is ready to read the ways of God’s doing and the truth of God’s will. In her striving for the seeking of Truth (Jesus) she is blessed with God’s own help and she is open enough to understand it and testimony it. And it was a joyful search for the God’s will.
 Authority (the Pharisees and Scribes) stands for the one who suppress the truth and pave the way for self growth. It is not ready to understand and accept the way of God. In its arrogance it has become blindfolded and it is closed itself for the truth. And it was a painful negligence of God’s will.
o Fourth paradox is: Power of the Palace and the Helplessness of Golgotha
 Power which was always thought to be in the Palace and which supposed to be at the service of Justice and now exercises full capacity to suppress and oppress what is right. What a painful misuse of God’s decrees.
 Calvary which was always considered as a place of condemnation and which is supposed to be having negative shades now turns out to be the place of forgiveness and salvation. What a joyful fulfillment of God’s designs.
o Fifth paradox is: Thief at the Right and Thief at the Left
 Thief at the right side stands for the possibility of return to Father’s Paradise even at the last moment of life. What a joyful grace of God.
 Thief at the left side stands for the rejection of the acknowledgement of God’s merciful deeds. What a painful loss of God’s life.
- Paradoxes of life of this kind we can see many more in the passion narratives. They only make us realize that life is full of paradoxical moments and we have the every possibility to choose what is good and be at the side of God.


Conclusion

- It’s only the beginning of walking in the way of the Lord (passion of Christ).
- This has to go on till we come into full participation in the life of God.
- Passion and sufferings are, therefore, not the hindrances but the stepping stones to enter into grace of God.
- God never abandons the one who obeys him perfectly till the end of the day (till the last breath).
- May the passion of Christ be Hope of our life.

SUNDAY OF LAZAR

5th Sunday of Lent – A: (Ezek 37:12-14; Rom 8:8-11; John 11:1-45)
Theme: We will also go and die with Him.

Reflection:
- We will remember that we are still in the journey towards Him, who is the source of life and grace.
- We will go back little to realize clearly where we stand and what is the point of our departure in our pilgrimage towards the Calvary.
- Last Sunday we mediated that we have to walk towards the ‘lake of Siloam’ to wash ourselves to be healed and to be purified.
- Every day and every week of the lent teach us to intensify our journey towards the Paschal Glory of the Resurrection with the imitation of the Christian virtues like that of renunciation (first Sunday), of transformation (second Sunday), of immersion in the Living Water (third Sunday), and of the washing in the One who is ‘sent’ (fourth Sunday).
- In the same manner, this week, the fifth Sunday of Lent, the Sunday of Lazar, we are to move towards the suffering and death (Christ moves towards the Jerusalem) and in this way we have the consequence/the fruit that follows: the glory of resurrection and life.

First reading

- The prophecy of Ezekiel: If the prophecy of Isaiah rotates itself around the Hope of Israel in the promise of God, the prophecy of Ezekiel is around the Spirit which will be poured out.
- The promise of God to the people of Israel who are in the tombs of suffering, of slavery and of perdition of proper life: “You shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves, and bring you up from your graves, O my people. I will put my spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you on your own soil” (Ezek 37:13-14). Thus, the promise of God after calling into life the dry bones (37th Chapter) is comprised of his four actions in which He would:
o Open the tombs : opening the life that is like a grave closed with all the disbelief, with all the malice, with all the pride and with all the disobedience but seem to be ‘the whitewashed tombs’ which appear to be beautiful outside because of its colors but inside is full of rotten and useless material.
o Bring up from the grave: grave is the not the permanent house/residence of the people of God. Grave is only the place to keep the dead. Who believes in God is no more dead but already alive in Christ through the Spirit (Jesus’ words in the Gospel of today can be recalled). Grave is the requirement to bury the dead in the thinking of the world. But, God does not will that his faithful is in the grave. And so He breaks open the tomb (destroys the sting of death in the thought of St. Paul) and brings UP (and thus, we can rise in faith, hope and love also from the daily falling and failings in life) those who sleep in grave (the continual pain of death in the thought of St. Paul).
o Put His Spirit within: Once one is raised up from the death, there is no loss but only gain (I lose everything in order to gain my life in Christ: the words of St. Paul). Once the grave is open the dead is brought back from it, there is no more the perdition but re-breathing of the life. Thus the passage from the grave to grace, from the loss to gain, from the death to life and finally from the powers of evil to the powers of the Spirit. God’s promise of pouring out the Spirit in his people is always present in the full manner in the prophecy of Ezekiel. The fruit of the Spirit is life: “I will put my spirit within you and you shall live” (37:14).
o Place you on your own soil: Opening the tomb, bringing up from the grave and finally pouring the spirit within are not the end in themselves. It is a process. Process from one condition to the other; from one state of life to the other; from one situation to another. And this process has a purpose. The purpose is TO BE IN THE OWN SOIL. To be in one’s own place is an unending joy that one can have. For the people of God the true soil is not this world and they are absolutely aware of this. God at the end of the process of redeeming plan, places everyone who has heard Him and lived for Him in the place/in the soil of His bosom (I am going to prepare a place for you so that you would be where I am: the word of Jesus). This is the final end of the journey the people of God has to reach: being in the bosom/house of God.

Second reading

- While the first reading talks about the promise of the Spirit, Paul carefully observes and admonishes the presence of the Spirit. Between the pouring out of the Spirit (the promise of the first reading) and the presence of the Spirit (the actual action of the Spirit of the second reading) there is the total commitment and perfect obedience of Jesus Christ who is the cause of this realization of the Spirit in the believer.
- Paul’s preaching of the Spirit is always in reference and in contrast to the flesh. The best example of this statement is same as in the reading of today. He says that for the one who believes Christ is in him (v.10), when Christ is there, there is also His Spirit (v.11). Being in the desires of the flesh (and being dominated by them: v.8) is not the will of God (cannot please God: v.8). On the contrary, the one who allows himself to be dominated and dwelt by the Spirit is always with the life and though dead because of sin, he will be brought back to the life in the Spirit (v.11).
- God, whose spirit was staying on the waters in the beginning, wills that this dwelling of the His Spirit always happens in the life of the believer. For this reason when the presence of the spirit was rejected by man and thus he lost his life of grace, God sent his Son, Jesus Christ, the giver of the Spirit, into the world so that this presence of the Spirit will be effected once again.

Gospel

The love of Jesus for the family of Martha, Mary and Lazar
- First of all, the love of Jesus is for all without any conditions:
o This is the main theme that flows in each and every word of the Gospel of John.
o God so loved the world that He sent His only Son to save the world (Jn 3:16): the salvation of Jesus, according to John, is ‘to bring back man fallen in sin (therefore into the grave: the first reading) to the bond of love of God’.
o The Son, who has come into the world to seek and save man, in reality, has called all those around him ‘friends’. We shall remember the bond of friendship that Jesus establishes between Him and his disciples: “I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father” (John 15:15).
o The Spirit, the fruit of the love between the Father and the Son, is also given as the Helper to search into the truth of love.
o This love of the Trinity always abides in those who listen and keep his commandments because love leads to the knowledge and the embracing of the Word of God, that is, Jesus Christ: “Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home (and thus here we can remember the promise of the first reading: keeping on OWN SOIL) with them” (John 14:23).

- Love of Jesus for the family of love
o Exactly this is fulfilled in the situation of Bethany and in the family of Martha, Mary and Lazar.
 They have listened to the word of God (Luke 10)
 They have learnt from Jesus the one and same experience and thus both of them are able to express their hope in the words more similar: “Lord if you had been here, my brother would not have died” (frist Martha in v.21 and then Mary in v.32). They could bear the same experience because they have so intimately followed Jesus.
o And finally they have received the fruit of love: the life and the resurrection (I will open the grave and bring you up from the grave: the first reading).
o The visible testimony is: the return of Lazar to life; his journey from the grave to the glory.

The attitude of Jesus towards the sickness is not that of negative but of positive
- Illness non for the death but for the revelation of the glory of God:
o This is also underlining theme of John’s Jesus. Jesus is not just the fulfillment of the Old Testament but He is the Final Revelation of God to man.
o We have another occasion that of last week’s, in which, Jesus views differently at the born blind man. He is not here to judge who is at sin and who is in judgment. He is here on earth to manifest God’s unconditional love and His eternal glory to the humanity.
o Therefore, in every condition of man, whether physical sickness or spiritual astray, Jesus likes to see only how the love and glory of God can be recognized in those various situations.
o As humans and as the ones who choose their life in freedom they have these unavoidable conditions and these become part of their daily life; so also as the believers and as those who hope in the will of God in faith they have also the unavoidable grace and these moments of grace (prayer and liturgy) have to become part of their daily life.
o In this way, the believer can change his mode of viewing the daily happenings in a normal way and can learn to view them differently as the occasions for the manifestation of God’s glory.
o If this happens, there will be less murmur, less blame, less curse, less grudge. Instead there will be more reflection, more introspection, more examination of conscience and more praise. In every situation God can be glorified. After all it is the play of God’s love as Padre Pio says: “when God listens to your prayer give him glory, even if he doesn’t, give him glory all the same; because it’s only the play of his love.”
- Jesus makes use of this occasion as time for the revelation of truth
o Last week, in the miracle of born blind man, Jesus turns the occasion into the time of teaching and thus from the story he reveals himself as the Light of the world (John 9:5) and that the darkness/night (the time of devil and his operations) is over and the light/day (the time of Jesus and his message) has come.
o Even today, in the miracle of calling Lazar to life, Jesus makes it a time of teaching and thus from the story he reveals himself once again as Light and says ‘as long as one is in the light he will not stumble’ (John 11:9-10).
o Thus for John, Jesus is not just a miracle worker or just a preacher of the kingdom of God but more over and above all, He is the revelation of God in the midst of humanity (John 1:14).

The manifestation of Jesus’ fullness of humanity and divinity is very clear in this context
- We shall remember that this is not the only occasion for this manifestation because we see this throughout the gospel of John
- But in this particular context:
o The humanity of Jesus is manifested in its fullness: in the cry for his friend Lazar and for his family. Jesus is truly human. He has experienced and lived all the moments of humanity (as St. Paul reminds us that He is like us in all things except sin).
o The divinity of Jesus is manifested in its fullness: in the rapport and in the communion that he has with His Father and which is seen in his prayer at the grave of Lazar.
o Even our divinity can be manifested in our personal communion with God in prayer and our humanity can be manifested in our personal communication with the others in charity. This is the love of God and love of neighbor that we need to cherish.

Let us also go, that we may die with him:
- The strange words of Thomas is our central part of our reflection today
o Jesus and his disciples know well that the Jews are planning to kill Jesus because of various confrontations that he has with them and we see them very obviously in the preceding chapters.
o Jesus who remained silent for two days after hearing that Lazar was sick, finally, decides to go to Judea. We can positively see the silence of Jesus towards the bad news the illness of his friend, Lazar.
 His delay is not because he doesn’t want to go and heal him immediately; His delay is not also for the reasons of fear of Jews who plot to gnash him; His silence is not a pleasing act for himself also.
 He always waits for his hour of manifestation of the glory of God (the time and moment of his Father’s will and action). This hour is more important for all his events because it is the will of God which for him is the food and water. We can have reference to this hour in the wedding of Cana.
 All other things fall in the sphere this hour for their final glorification: in the case of man born blind, in offering the sight; in the case of Lazar, more than just illness, in offering the life from the death.
o His hour has come to Judea and He tells them that it’s a time to go to glorify the Lord in raising the Lazar from the death in front of all the people. The revelation of God’s glory in Christ takes its high point once again as it was preceded by the miracle of sight to the born blind man. This is the will of God and Jesus does this with full knowledge and obedience.
o But on the part of the disciple they still have in mind the fearfulness of their travel towards Judea and yet, John inserts the words of Thomas in the meaningful manner which signifies that:
 Even if they do not understand fully the ways and words of Jesus they want to follow him because for them at that moment he is the messiah.
 They know that they have to make difficult confrontations with the Jews but they are confident because Jesus can make them very easily and they had past experience of this.
 Particularly Thomas who will one day deny, to believe him unless he sees the living proofs of his death, the wounds, now, shows the radical acceptance Jesus’ ways. Though he is not clear of what he says he certainly makes the decisive movement of his obedience and love for him.

Conclusion

- We also travel towards the partaking of Jesus’ suffering and death so that we will be again raised with him.
o Our Lenten journey should always towards the acceptance of this suffering with the love for God and neighbor and thus glorifying Him alone.
o It also tests our attitude in enduring the daily hurdles in life and how we treat them and how we live them.
o It also teaches us how to meditate on the silence of God or delay of God in the needful situations of our life.
o It also exalts us to be in the family of Jesus and to be intimately related to him so that his love is manifested to us in the ways pleasing to God alone.
- We journey towards the hope that God will
o Break open our daily burdens
o Bring us up from our daily cries
o Put in us his spirit of love and obedience and finally
o Lead us to our real soil, the bosom of the Father.
- There we will see him face to face and partake perfectly in his love and share the glory of sons of God where we always sing his glory, his power and his praises, Amen.

SUNDAY OF BLIND MAN FROM THE BIRTH

4th Sunday of Lent – A : (1Sam 16:1b.4,6-7,10-13; Eph 5:8-14; John 9:1-41)
Theme
Today we make our Lenten journey from ‘our being’ to the pool of ‘Siloam’, that is Sent and wash ourselves.

Reflection
Just we go back to remember where we are in our journey and how we are making our Lenten walk towards the joy of Resurrection.
- In the first week we made our journey to the ‘Desert of fasting and prayer’ and thus we leant to renounce everything to make ourselves united to Christ.
- In the second week we made our journey to the ‘Mount Tabor of the vision of Transfiguration’ and thus we leant to imprint this vision of future glory in the hearts and strive to fulfill the mission entrusted to us and thus building the bridge between Vision of Transfiguration and Mission of Disfiguration for the sake of salvation.
- In the third week, the Samaritan week, we made the journey to the ‘Fountain of Living Water’ and thus leant to break the hardness of heart (pride and disobedience) like the people of Israel in the desert and accept the Fountain of Life, that is, the Spirit who makes us be humble and obey his commands and thus be nourished by the fruit of his word and thus making the ladder grounded in the Rock of Hope (the first reading: water from the Rock in the desert) and moving higher with the steps to the Spring of Life (the Gospel: Living Fountain as Jesus Himself).
- In this week, we make our journey from the ‘outward appearance’ to the ‘inward being’ (first reading); from the ‘time of darkness’ to the ‘hour of the day’ (second reading); and from the ‘what we are’ to ‘what we are sent’ (gospel).

First reading
- God prefers and chooses what is small and unnoticed by the people:
o Even the prophets, the spokesmen of God, can behave in this way: looking the external appearance and judge accordingly. Here we can notice how the prophet Samuel has mistaken the elder and the first seven sons of Jesse to be the one that God elects. He thinks this way by looking at the form and structure of the person, his height and his beauty and so on.
o Even the parents and elders do not expect and accept, even worse, do not invite this way of neglecting the ‘big ones’ and preferring the ‘small/little ones’: we can notice how Jesse responds to the prophet telling that ‘there remains yet the youngest, but he is keeping the sheep’. He never thought that he would ever be noticed by anybody because he is very small and least of all. And the small one, David, is called in, the totally reversed moment takes place: God tells the prophet to hurry up and anoint him.
- God wills to be glorified in the small and in the little ones:
o Being little/being small is not a humiliation (may be in the sight of human mind) but a glorification (in the sight and will of God who made himself little by being born among men).
o We do not hesitate to be the least ones/ last ones/ small ones in the community or in the society, because, after all, it is the ‘means’/the only means to be the greater ones/counted ones/written ones in the kingdom of God.
o We can, by this example of scriptural passage, accept and invite happily (in the Christian charity) the misunderstandings, the murmurings, the misbehaviors and even the stones of humiliation into our life. We need not be preoccupied with them or upset our life because of them, because, we have an answer that God’s ways are beyond the apprehension of mere man.
- We shall be ‘these little one’ in this lent:
o In that way, we open the door of being chosen
o In that way, we broaden the possibility of being saved
o In that way, we have the opportunity to be anointed by God.

Gospel reading
- Initiative of salvation is God’s:
o We see in many other miracles worked by Jesus that either, others bring the sick to Jesus for the healing (like the paralyzed man dropped down from the house top by the four people); or, the sick himself cries out to Jesus for the healing (like that of blind man who shouts ‘Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me); but here in this particular passage (as that of last week’s, the Samaritan women) Jesus himself goes in search of the sick (either, physically blind from the birth as in today’s Gospel, or, spiritually/morally sick as in the account of Samaritan woman).
o Jesus who “walked along” saw a man blind from birth: this ‘walking along’ can be also interpreted as ‘being with/among/for the people’, as God who ‘has visited his people and redeemed them’ (Lk 1:68, Zacchariah’s prophecy). He came on to the earth to visit (son of man came to search and save the lost) and offer healing (salvation).
o He himself has taken the first step to contact him and to offer him the grace of sight. He cures him and sends him to be ‘as the one who is sent’ (Siloam). The one who is sent is always ‘full of light’ and ‘full of knowledge of God’ and that is ‘Jesus’ himself.
- The curing of the born blind man takes us back to the origin of man’s creation:
o Jesus gives him completely another life. The blind man who is unable to see from his birth, who is in the ‘absence of light’ from the beginning, is now able to see. This is the new sight (new life), not the sight lost (not the repaired life).
o This carries us back to the creation of man in the beginning. There was no human being. God has created man (new being).
o Even the gestures of healing of Jesus such as, taking the mud, spreading on the eyes, command of washing in the water, reminds us the gestures of first creation. Even God takes the mud, forming from it a being, filling it with the spirit (water and life).
o Jesus who came to make everything new (new heavens and new earth as says St. Paul) has to re-start/ re-initiate everything from the beginning; and this aspect of re-forming of man is seen in this account of man born blind.
o We see always this main stream of theology in the writing of John (Gospel, letters and Apocalypse). He show Jesus Christ as the Word in the beginning, in whom all have the new beginning (like the blind man who has the new beginning of light/sight).
- Being blind (born blind) is not a deed of God but God can make it as an instrument for his glory:
o Jesus gives new dimension of viewing the events: “not his sin or his parents’ sin that made him born blind” (this was the view of Jews that the sickness is the consequence of sin / consequence of God’s wrathfulness);
o Jesus makes every event (good or bad in the sight of men) as an occasion to glorify God (this is the view of Jesus that more than counting the sins/sinfulness of man, we do give glory to God in and through the condition in which man is).
o We can develop this positive attitude of viewing the daily incidents of our life: we can consider them the occasions to sing the mystery of God’s doing, (which is not so easy to understand as in the first reading).
o Taken in this way, the difficulties/the problems can appear to us not as the blocks of disappointment but as the bricks of anointing of God (as in the summery of the first reading).
- The scene of the gospel account – and – the context of today
o Jesus, the donor of the light of seeing : the giver of salvation (God)
o Blind man, the recipient of the sight : the receiver of the grace (Man)
o The way (the medium) is ‘washing in the Siloam’: the sacraments (Church)
o Disciples, the seekers of the truth : the community (Followers of Christ)
o People around: who knows the man well: who needs the proof (testimony)
o Pharisees: who refuse to accept the truth and suppress it (disbelief and pride)
o Parents: who know the truth but do not take risk (fear and preoccupation)
o Sin: around which whole miracle runs (absence of faith of the believer)
- Now we can ask ourselves few questions:
o To which group I belong to?
o What blocks us to be the authentic recipient of the grace of God?
o How far do we go to the Church “Siloam” to wash ourselves?
o How do we consider our failures and our problems and even our joys and our faith?
o Do we fear to bear the testimony of God’s goodness in our life like the parents of today’s gospel?
o Like this we can have numerous questions: it is difficult to pose them all here. But we can make use of this time of lent to take pains of reflecting and deep meditation of our life. This could be our task of this Lenten week.

Conclusion
- It’s not so easy to summarize and make the reflection of this gospel miracle
- It’s very hard to put it in simple words and leave it because it is very rich in its theological significance
- Simple facts are very clear:
o Entering into the interior being of the person to understand him better (first reading)
o To be able to accept and life the ‘littleness’ and ‘smallness’ in the society and in the church because we have the promise of Jesus “let the small ones come to me for theirs is the kingdom of God”.
o We are the ‘people of the light and people of the day’ (second reading) and so we have the mission to see clearly and walk properly (in word and deed).
o Jesus and his mercy always passes us by and we have to recognize and make ourselves near to him so that we receive his grace and light (gospel).
o Testimony, even in the situations of fear and occupation, has to be given by the word of faith and deed of love.
- Therefore: in this week we shall walk (make our journey) towards the Siloam ‘who is sent’ and so towards the Christ ‘who is sent’ by God and towards the Church ‘who is sent’ by Jesus Christ.
- To him be the glory forever and ever.