GOOD FRIDAY - YEAR C

GOOD FRIDAY – YEAR C (Isaiah 52:13 - 53:12; Hebrews 4:14-16, 5:7-9; John 18:1 – 19:42) Theme: Nudity of Christ on the cross: Utter self-emptying for the fullness of the world Reflection He empties himself both of his divinity and humanity – stands naked before his Father - We have reached the Calvary. Our journey of the Lent has come to its final stop. Forty days of fasting, prayer and charity empowered us with the love for Christ and his plans for us. All our Lenten gestures and resolutions have to be finally ‘nailed’ to the cross. It is there that they find their total significance. We have walked all along the roads of our faith. We did not turn back. We did not look back. We have put our hands on the plough and continued our tilling (Luke 9:62 – “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of hand”). We are really blessed we have followed the way of the cross well. We are now at the foot of the cross. We are happy to be there. We are with Jesus. How content we are to complete our journey carrying our daily cross. - The mystery of the cross is already prepared and prefigured in the Eucharistic meal that Jesus has offered to his disciples as his “farewell” party and as his “departing meal”. o The body was already given up for them (“This is my body given up for you”), and the blood was already poured out for all (“This is the blood of everlasting covenant shed for you and for all”). They are already given to the disciples in mind and in heart. The invisible self-donation is already over in mind, in soul: The WILL is Fulfilled. o Only the visible offer is remaining. Only the physical surrender and sacrifice is remaining. Once the ‘will’ is already given, the ‘act’ is only the consequence. The will is the cause and the action is the fruit. The curtain of the action is unveiled. The cross is carried to its fixation. The body is nailed to it. The cross is raised between the heaven and earth. The visible performance of the offering finds its final move in the suffering and death of the flesh of Jesus: the ACT is Accomplished. - The mystery of Christ in its totality is revealed in the cross: o Vertical beam of the cross is first two extremes that Christ, the Word of God, has assumed in his divinity: the ulterior part – the peak point – refers to the eternal readiness of the Son in listening to his Father, and the bottom part – the earthly point – refers to the eternal abasement of the Son in obeying his Father: the divine Son-ship of the Word manifests both his readiness and obedience in eternity. o Horizontal beam of the cross is the other two extremes that Jesus, the Word made Flesh, has assumed in his humanity: at one end is his life (beginning of human life with the incarnation) and at the other end is his mission (accomplishment of God’s design by becoming the life giver in the resurrection). Even in his humanity Jesus has been obedient all through his life and mission. His life and mission is kept open for all to embrace. o Thus, the death of Jesus Christ on the cross is not a stumbling block or foolishness but it is a power and wisdom that God has manifested. Jesus by dying on the cross becomes the meeting point (+) for God and man and also interacting centre for man and man. Jesus on the Cross: Good Shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep (John 10:1-18) - The shepherd’s characteristics: he has to enter by the gate (v. 2) – he is the owner of the sheep; he calls his sheep by the name and leads them out (v.3) – he is the pastor of the sheep; he goes ahead of the sheep (v.4) – he is the leader of the sheep. Jesus first talks about the ordinary shepherd who is very familiar to his audience. He plainly explains to them the relationship between the sheep and its shepherd. In the Old Testament, in the prophetic teachings and preaching, the proclamation that God is a shepherd and the people are his flock is evident in many other parallels. Selection of a shepherd boy David as the king of Israel itself is a great revelation of this relationship between God and people of Antic alliance. Jesus also talks in the language of the people so that they grasp the meaning in fullness. That is the reason why, whenever Jesus uses an analogy there will be deeper and inner significance which he reveals. It happened very often in his discourses. Even the disciples once asked him why does he talks in the parables and Jesus answers them that it is to explain the mysteries of the kingdom of God. All most all the parables contain this kind of inner message about the reality of God and his expression of love to the humanity. So also so here in this particular analogical explanation in which he provides the difference between a true and a false shepherd. False or selfish or hired shepherd, instead, steals, makes use, and specially escape when his sheep in danger. The one who is opposite to it is the good shepherd walks before his sheep, stands for his sheep, and is ready to give up his life for his sheep. - I am the Good Shepherd: the characteristics of the good shepherd are noteworthy: he lays down his life for the sheep (v.11); he knows his sheep and his sheep also knows him (v.14); he has the care for the other sheep too (v.16); he strives for the unity of entire sheep-fold irrespective of their place and belonging (v.16); he is not compelled by any outside force to lay down his life but his inner mission received from the Master (v.18). Jesus enters into the deeper meaning. He claims to the shepherd who is the owner, pastor and the leader of the sheep. He confirms that he is not just any other shepherd but a good shepherd who is ready to do anything/everything for the sheep. He walks before them so that if anything happens to the sheep it happens first to him – he bears our sufferings in the first person. He stands for his sheep so that if anyone has to judge the sheep, the first judgment falls on him – he carries our accusations on himself and goes before us. He is ever-ready to give his life so that if a sheep has to die, he dies for it in the first place – he becomes the life-giver in the first place. - Good Shepherd on the Cross: All that a good shepherd does is very clear from the words of Jesus in his discourse. And it still remains a word. Jesus does not want to remain a preacher alone who speaks in the beautiful expressions. He is more over the fulfiller of all that he says. For this he has come into the world: not only to open the secrets of the kingdom to all, but above all, to open his heart so that the showers of the kingdom bath the humanity and wash it clean, and by that to opens the possibility of participating in the sheep-fold of the Great Shepherd God Himself. In other words, with the pierce in the side Jesus opens his whole person so that the sheep is immersed into flow of the water and blood of his heart and is purified so that it is inserted into the life of the Spirit and thus become a good sheep of the Good shepherd. This is what happens on the cross. His actions – or the event of self-donation – go beyond the mere words. He becomes not a good shepherd of the proclamation but the Good Shepherd of the testimony. Jesus would have remained as any other prophet or a good teacher of any other religion if here were to stop only with the pious proclamations. But it opposes the qualities of the good shepherd. Good shepherd has to be the first one to teach, to lead and to offer himself for the sheep. It is still more in the event of Christ: because His birth itself (His Incarnation) in the view of his dying (Passion and death) for the fulfillment of God’s loving design of the world (Resurrection and Life). This is the unfathomable difference between Jesus and any other religious figure in the various religions: All come to teach and lead the humanity with the beautiful and inspiring teachings, but Jesus is the ONLY ONE who WILLINGLY DIES for it – “no one has the power to take my life, I will give it on my own” – this proves to the world who is the Good Shepherd. Jesus BECOMES the Good Shepherd On the Cross Alone. Jesus on the Cross: Merciful Father who embraces his children (Luke 15:11-32) - Two prodigal sons: We are familiar with the parable of the merciful father in the gospels and in the particular, or in fact only one gospel in which it is found, in the Gospel of Luke. We have different names to call it. We shall keep aside who is the real prodigal son in the gospel: is it the younger son who has gone long distance away from the home and repented and comes back? Or is it the elder son who is being closer to the home, is away from it in the heart failing to accept the repentant brother? Whatever it is, both have gone away from the heart of the father: falling away from reaching to the generous self-donation of the father. The only difference is that the younger one has gone away in the beginning itself and the elder one towards the end: the younger one with the self-desire of having his own life and the elder one with the jealousy and intolerance of his brother’s return. One thing is true: both of them have fallen back and rejected the loving bosom of the father. - The father’s love is immeasurable: He does not want to restrict his sons. He gives them full freedom. He respects their free acts since they are not anymore children but adults. They are now in a position of analyzing and choosing what is good for them. But father is always father and he wants to be a father. A father can be a good father only one his children are with him. The nature of the father is: he gives his children freedom and still desires that they opt to be with him in their free choice. This is what we see in the gospel we are referring to. Father never says ‘no’ to the freedom that the younger one manifests knowing well that he is taking a wrong step. He feels painful for his acts. He suggests him the good way. But he never compels him or forces him to stay back. He could have very well stopped the son from falling into sin at least by ‘not giving’ him the property. But that is not the nature of a father. Father is fully father only when he shares all that he has to his children: total giving. In other words, he has not material possessions but His sons are His True Possession. What a beautiful relationship between the father and a son. - Father with the open and empty arms: Despite the father’s good counsel the younger son leaves home by his freedom taking all that he has to receive from him. The truth that we have to keep in mind here is the question: how a son (being a son of the father) can demand his possession from the father when he is not willing to be his son by being with him? it is here that we understand in fullness the nature of fatherhood: it is father who wants to give anything to his son whether his son is worthy or not. When his son has gone away, it is true that he felt painful and heart-broken. But he never stops being a father to him, although the son has rejected his presence and his love. He keeps looking for him with the long desire of his return. He knows it well that he would one day come back because it is to a strange land that he went and he has to return to his home land. It may take some time but certainly he would come back. Father knows this. Yet he did not keep quite with this. He waits for him. He desires that he would come back before he perishes in his misuse of freedom. There is no single moment in which he left his son to his fate. Each second he kept his empty hands open for his return. His hands are empty because his heart is empty with the loss of possession of the son, not with the loss of possessions of earthly riches. His hands are open because he does not want to see his son escape his embrace when he returns. It happens also in the case of the elder son at the end of the gospel passage where he goes and requests him to be his son: the nature of the elder son is perfect only when he accepts both the father and his brother, otherwise he remains only a son, not a brother. This is the merciful and loving father of the gospel which Jesus talks referring ultimately to the Merciful God who always love his children. - Merciful Father with the Open Arms on the cross: Jesus becomes this merciful father. he opens his arms on the cross. There are many other ways of dying but Jesus willed (or just allowed) this cross-death to happen so that it has its significance for the spiritual understanding of man. He opens his empty arms. He is empty because he has given all that he possessed: his glory, his might, his name, his power and also his son-ship. He opens his arms because this is the only gesture of embrace and from the cross – being in a position above all – he has the possibility of gathering all to himself. In this way, Jesus becomes the merciful father of whom he himself has elaborated in the words. This is because, so that people who did not understand his words, might understand it at least from the actions. Gospel becomes Life. Word becomes Action. Death becomes Gate. What a transformation that the cross brings about in Jesus’ ultimate self-giving. And it happens in everyone who takes up his daily cross, in freedom and in self-denial, and follows him. Jesus on the Cross: New Adam who is the Tree of New Life (Romans 5:12-21) - Old Adam becomes the cause for the fall and death: Paul preaches the great change that Jesus brings about with his death. He compares him with the old Adam and shows how he has fulfilled all that the old one has failed to do. Yes, the first Adam has disobeyed God and has just one what he was not supposed to do: by eating the fruit that was abandoned. Because of this disobedience and rejection of the word of God he has brought it consequences to himself and as the first one of the creation, elder/head of the family, to whole creation: fall from the divine presence and death of the body. Once he loses his divine presence he loses everything else. The only reason for this is: the disobedience. - New Adam becomes the cause of the rise and life: Jesus is the new Adam who has come to restore everything of man by giving back to God what the first one failed to give. His manifestation of obedience to the Father evident both in words and in actions: he never sought for his own glory but the glory of the Father. Even in the uttermost situations of the temptation he did not give priority to his own power to prove his divinity but opted in freedom only to the will of the Father with self-surrender to him: o He has the power to change the stones into the bread and prove that he is the son of God in the first temptation in the desert but he seeks for the will of his Father. o He has the capacity to escape the surrounded soldiers as he has done many other times – “I have been preaching all the time in the synagogue but you did not arrest me but now scriptures have to be fulfilled” (Mark 14:48-49). Many times the soldiers/authority failed to put on him their power. Even in the garden of Gethsemane he has the possibility of running away from them but he did not use his power (Mathew 26:52-53) but opted for the will of the Father. o Last temptation on the cross is another occasion in which he could have easily proved his divine glory when they asked him to come down from the cross so that they would believe him. He had the great chance of arousing in them the faith by coming down from heaven. But it is not his will that he desired but the will of his Father. o All these are the occasion where Jesus has restituted that the first Adam failed to do. Old Adam has given priority for his own freedom, for his own glory and for his own selfish interests. The New Adam, in opposition to him, has made the will of His Father his daily food and drink – his whole personhood is for the glorification of the Father. - Jesus is New Adam – New Tree of Life on the cross: by being such an obedient son from the beginning of his begotten birth from the Father which is manifested in the ultimate manner in his humiliating death on the cross, Jesus becomes the New Adam. He is no more a pointer to the tree of life but He himself becomes the Tree of Life: the cross itself is nothing but a tree – A Tree in the Middle of the earth (and between Heaven of eternal life and Hades of eternal death) so that anyone who eats the fruit becomes the son of God by receiving life: life abundantly. It is on the cross that Jesus becomes this Tree of Life for the whole humanity. Jesus on the Cross: New Moses Two New Covenantal Beams of Love (Mathew 5: 1-12) - Moses of the Old Testament is a law giver: we know well from the Book of Exodus that God has made a covenant with his people Israel under the leadership of his servant Moses. This covenant has its final say in the two tablets of the commandments that God gave to Moses and through him to all his people on the Mount Sinai. The two tablets stand for the relationship between God (first three commandments) and man (the last seven). Yahweh becomes their God and they become His people only when they carry these two tablets in their hearts. - Moses of the New Testament is a law-fulfiller: Jesus public ministry according to the gospel of Mathew starts with His Sermon on the Mount which has as its introduction the beatitudes. In every instance Jesus affirms himself to be the New Moses. “You have heard” (of the Law of Moses) is the often starting point of Jesus. “But now I say to you” (of the new law that he proposes) is the concluding element Jesus always uses. By this he shows the difference between the law of the Old Testament and of the New. And again, by this he indicates to the New Moses that is present already amidst them, that is, of himself. In fact, he has not come to abolish the law and not even a single letter of it will be removed (Mathew 5:17-20) but to fulfill it and to perfect it with the new element: love. - Cross is the ‘two beams of love’: On the cross Jesus becomes the New Moses who gives not any more two tablets of law but ‘two beams of covenantal love’: the vertical beam indicating the love of God and the horizontal beam indicating the love of neighbor and both of them having their crossing or meeting centre in his person himself. What a wonderful offer of love to humanity: Jesus becomes the way, the truth and the life. In fact, Cross is the: o “Gate of Narrow Way” that all have to choose to pass through to enter into heaven, the Way that Leads to the Truth; o “Seed of Absolute Truth” that becomes a power and wisdom of God for all who believe, which is still a stumbling block to the Jews and the foolishness to the gentiles, the Truth that Leads to Life; and o “Source of Eternal Life” that gives the strength to all “to lose life to gain it”. - In this way the Nudity of Christ on the cross becomes his Utter self-emptying for the fullness of the world: so that the world finds in it the way, the truth and the life and so that looking at the One Who Hangs on It learns to empty themselves in order to be ‘refilled’ with the joy and fullness of life.

HOLY THURSDAY - Year C

HOLY THURSDAY – YEAR C (Ex 12:1-8, 11-14; 1Cor 11:23-26; John 13:1-15) Theme: Let us Believe and Live the Eucharist we Celebrate Reflection: At the Table of Eucharist: A Mystery of Love - We have completely our Lenten observance almost. We have come to the end. The only Final Act is remaining. This Final Act of Jesus for humanity – or to his disciples and through them to the entire world – is so mysterious that it seems as a mystery on the one hand and as a fulfilled reality on the other hand: that mystery revealed and remains concealed is the Paschal Mystery. This is the Mystery of Faith: “Christ has died, Christ is risen and Christ will come again”. We repeat these words in the daily celebration of the Mass. - The Paschal Mystery – therefore, the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Jesus is the culminating act of Jesus in the world before he goes back to the Father and sends the Holy Spirit. The total abasement of Jesus for the world’s salvation as the fulfillment of His Father’s loving design finds its total significance. In his passion and death Jesus bends down himself so much that he touches the inner most element of human fragility. This is his utter humiliation and total abasement. In reality, this humiliation and abasement of Jesus started already in the Incarnation, Word made Flesh. - Therefore, the mystery of humility, self-abasement and self-donation, the terms which seems to be strange for the present world, has begun in the Act of Jesus Christ, the Final Act of God in Him for the world. More than victorious and triumphant gesture, even to the contrary to it, Jesus’ attitude is completely different. It goes beyond human comprehension. It surpasses the philosophical logic. It even stands above all the theological speculations. - God becomes humble – “he appeared in the human form” (emptying himself). God becomes a mere being with an ultimate self-abasement – “taking the form of a slave” (assuming human likeness). God donates his life totally and to last breath – “to the point of death, even death on a cross” (being obedient). This is the mystery of Christ that is evident in St. Paul’s theology (Phil 2:6-11). If we go on inquiring HOW and WHY of the mysterious act of Jesus from his incarnation to his resurrection we remain with wonder and awe. The philosophical reasoning will many times hinder us. The theological explorations of the divinity of Jesus of Nazareth may help us a little. The ultimate truth, however, remains still mysterious to our limited knowledge. One only thing we have to do is “to sit before the mystery and ponder over it” as Mary has done. The answer will be crystal clear and the answer was, is and will be: HIS LOVE FOR THE HUMANITY. - Love can lead man to any level. Love takes the man to any form of living. Love allows man to love without boundaries and without confines of whatsoever of worldly measure. Paul reminds us again in his ‘hymn of love’ (1 Corinth 13:1-13) that love only is the ultimate reality which lives long and which is forever. Thus, the meaning of love is this: flesh is taken over by the spirit, mind is taken over by the heart, and knowledge is taken over by the will. In a word, life is grabbed by love. - Even, in humanly speaking love is the divine word. Even for our human logic, love stays in the upper room. By our daily experiences we already know well that what we call and show is not real love but love out of necessity. Only few instances supersede this ‘love of necessity’ and enter into the love which is self-less in which they live without desiring anything from others. Very few, we call them saints and great people, who has genuine love and they give offer their total life for the people and sometimes testify in the time of test. Even this last category refers themselves to the love that comes from strength of divine love and know that God’s Love is still greater. This is our daily experience and we know that we do “not really love” though we use the term ‘love’. Therefore, for us however we use the word, love remains still to the sphere of divine. It is he who has to reveal the mystery of love. The faithful man is on his journey towards This Love that is Eternally Existent and Eternally Real. - Only God has to take the initiative and show what love is and how to love. Otherwise, we fall short of its meaningful usage. And the truth before our naked eyes is that God has already shown this love: God loved the world so much that he sent his only begotten son that the world might be saved through him – John 3:16. God’s love, infinite and eternal, has reached man in its humanity of the Son Jesus. God’s love is immeasurable. It is so high we can’t climb it. It is so deep we can’t go under it. It is so wide we can’t cover it. It is so great we can’t measure it. It is so high because it is eternal and infinite. It is so deep because it touches the bottom of humanity. It is so wide because it covers everything. It is so great because it embraces not only the man but the whole existence of the cosmos. - Such a love is now “amidst us” – God with us and amidst us – and it is very open to us. It is in the person of Jesus Christ that God has ultimately revealed this love. Jesus as the Son of the Father and the Savior of the World pours out this love to the humanity to its “last drop of blood” and to its “last breath of life”. This is the LOVE that Jesus EXPERIENCES AND EXPRESSES in the Act of His Giving Himself: in the Eucharist – in the form of his body and blood. Eucharist: Jesus’ experience and expression of love - Jesus’ experience: He experiences the love of the Father and the Holy Spirit which is fully present in him. He experiences his deepest communion with them. In fact, it is not he who lives but it is the Father who lives in him (words of Paul in reference to Jesus: “it is not I who live but Christ who lives in me” (Gal 2:20). Jesus experiences that His Father is fully at action in His Spirit. He, no longer considers his words and his actions as his but his Father’s. He no longer considers his will but his Father’s will: “It is not my will O Father, let yours be done” is the prayer he makes at the garden of Gethsemane. o He experiences the homesickness. He wants to go back to his Father as soon as possible by completing all that he has to in the world. With this intention Jesus begins his action: “Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world and go to the Father” (John 13:1). He accelerates his action. He reaches to the final act. Now he is ready for the total giving of himself to his Father and for the world: this is the Eucharistic experience of Jesus. o His body and blood, the fruit of the will of his Father for the world, are now ready to be slaughtered and shared. His body and blood, the sanctifying grace of the work of the Spirit for the world in the coming days, are now ready to be “given up and poured out”. In the Last Meal Jesus offering his body and blood, not any more of the bread and wine which are the external symbols of the communion. In the offering of his flesh and blood – which is only an external act – he offers “willing readiness” to the Father’s plan and the Spirit’s work. The experience of Jesus in the Eucharist is, thus, Trinitarian: in the Eucharist there is the Love of the Trinity that Jesus experiences. - Jesus’ expression: He expresses His Love to the disciples and thus, through them, to the entire world. Eucharist is not only an experience of Jesus but his Final Expression to the world of his ultimate self-donation. He gives himself. He offers himself. He donates himself. He pours out himself. What not! We may use all the expressions possible for expressing the expression of Jesus himself. But his expression itself is incomprehensible mystery. Even before giving his body and blood he gives his ‘will’ and ‘readiness’ also to his disciples (as to his Father) in the manifestation of his service: the washing of the feet. o Washing of the feet – the first expression of Jesus’ Eucharistic love:  Gestures of a servant: He gets up from the table and puts takes off his outer cloth, ties a towel around himself, pours water into the basin, begins to wash the feet and wipe them with towel. The gestures of Jesus also have their intimate significance. Jesus gets up from the His seat with the Father, takes off his crown of glory, puts on the human form, sheds the water and blood into the earth, begins the washing of them from the dust of their sins and finally wipes their fear of sin and death.  Manifestation of his humility: God bends down. God leans towards man. God kneels before man. Creator surrenders himself to the service of the creature. God touches the feet of his creatures. God, in Jesus, washes and wipes the dust of the feet of his disciples. Who can understand this? Moreover, who can digest this? Who can still believe with this type of ‘service’ that Jesus is true God? Jesus touches exactly the bottom of human doubt. Exactly from here that Jesus raises up an attitude of love which belongs only to God. Only he can do it because he alone knows what man is and what is in him. Only he can touch man because he only knows where to touch to rouse up in him the divine love. And this is the manifestation of the highest degree of humility: Jesus places himself kneeling before the disciples to show what the divine love is: the humility. Humility is not a power but a service. Humility is not an authority but meekness. Humility knows both standing above man and standing for man. Humility knows giving everything for receiving everything. Thus, washing of the feet is not only a gesture of service but an attitude of humility: humble service is the virtue of love. o Institution of Priesthood – is the second expression of Jesus’ Eucharistic love:  Commandment of action of love: what follow is not just a wonder-struck remaining of the disciples in the amazement of the Jesus service: but it is love given (as gift) and love demanded (as participation). And Jesus asks them not to remain like that in a static wonder but enter into a dynamic action of love: “So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you, also ought to wash one another’s feet” (John 13:14). And if we take the Last Supper of Jesus as a whole we encounter, little further after the washing of the feet, the New Commandment of 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” (John 13:34-35). Jesus commands not before his expression of love but after it. He first does what he wants tell. He first washes and reveals the humble service which is the highest form of love: God is at the service of man just because He loves man. Once he does the action of love, he continues to exhort all the sharers of his love to continue the same. This is what priesthood is: He is not only a celebrant but also servant. He has to be the first one to serve and place himself completely at the service of his disciples (community/parish/any other group).  In the person of Christ: as Jesus considers everything of his as his Father’s, so also a priest. He has nothing of himself. He has nothing to own. He has nothing to gather. He has nothing to possess. He has only one thing to do: TO BE IN THE PERSON OF CHRIST: His property and possession is only Jesus. To make the presence of Jesus come true by his words and actions is the service he has to render. Priest is not more of himself but of Christ’s (Paul’s words apply also to the priest: I am not priest for my sake but it is the High Priest Jesus who is living in me). In other words, priest is a gift of love – an embodiment of love. It is astonishing to see how he is called in Italian: “DON”. The word which derives from the ‘DONO’ meaning ‘the gift’ gives a priest full significance of his life and mission. He is a Gift of God to the world. He is a gift of God’s love to the world. What a dignity and task that a priest carries within him. Jesus is present in the person of a priest in the world. He manifests his total love in his priest. It is for this manifestation of love that Jesus has instituted the priesthood. Thus, priesthood is an expression of Jesus’ Eucharistic love.  Priest is a personification of God’s love: God wills to come down on to the altar only through the priests who are the sharers of his Son, the Eternal and High Priest. God wants to be with the humanity. This desire of God comes into realization with the action of a priest. As Jesus was the mediator between God and the world, Jesus wishes that priest to be the mediator between Him and the world. No more a mediation of domination but a mediation of love which can sacrifice its total self. The one who accepts to be his priest has to be ‘ready’ and ‘obedient’ until the last drop of the blood – “obedient unto death, even unto death on the cross”. By giving a priest to the world Jesus gives everything of his love to the world: He gives his body and blood which is present on the altar through the hands of a priest. He suffers for his people every day in the person of priest who has to drink his “chalice” of life. He dies for his people every day in the person of a priest who has to bear the “burden” of others. He raises again everyday for his people in the same person of priest who is the ‘image of future hope and life’ of his believers. Such a mission is entrusted to the priest. At our daily table of Eucharist: a mission of love - Eucharistic Love of Jesus should not be only at the table or on the altar. We have to become the altars on which the ‘bread and wine’ of Jesus are places. We have to become the priests who really transform the bread and wine into the ‘body and blood’ of Jesus through the power of the Holy Spirit. Finally, we are the “body and blood” of Jesus that has to be ‘broken and poured out’ everyday for the world. - In truth, we are called here ‘not to just celebrate’ and ‘receive’ the love of Eucharist Jesus. It is only a beginning. It is only participation. It is accompanied by the mission. It has with it a ministry to be accomplished. The celebration and the reception of the Eucharistic love have to be transformed into proclamation of love in the ‘humble service’ towards our fellow beings. - What we have to ask ourselves today is: the question that how a the priest realizes this vocation of love: Priests, let us look back and see whether we are still instruments of God’s love, expressed in Jesus’ Eucharist, to the world. And how far every one of Jesus’ followers carries on this vocation of love: O faithful, let us also examine ourselves and see whether we are sowing the seeds of love to the world because we too share in the same priesthood of Jesus in partial manner. o We are here to give our consent of love: to wash the feet our brothers and sisters. o We are here to say our “YES: of love: to offer our body and blood – whole self along with the will and the spirit – for the well being and the salvation of humanity. o We are here to transform our dignity of being God’s children into our task of being God’s love for the world. - Therefore, Let us Believe and Live the Eucharist We Celebrate and thus We Really Become the Instruments of God’s Love in and for the World.

PALM SUNDAY - YEAR C

PALM SUNDAY – YEAR C ( Is 50:4-7; Phil 2:6-11; Luke 22:14 – 23:56) Theme: We Walk Into Jerusalem to Glorify God with the Sacrifice of Our Life Reflection We are at the entrance of God’s glory - The gate is opened for Jesus: We are standing at the gate/door/entrance of Jerusalem. We are waiting for Jesus who is coming. We are waiting with the palms in the hands and with the songs on the lips. We are waiting above all with the hearts that are beating for Jesus. Totally, it is a joyful waiting for the Lord. We are waiting not just to have a glance of Jesus who is about to enter into the city but to walk with him all along his path. This is the whole scenario of the entrance of Jesus into the city of Jerusalem. Today, on the Palm Sunday, we are here to start our Lenten journey with intensity by entering into the Holy Week. Palm Sunday introduces us into the week full of Christ’s mystery of passion, death and resurrection. We are called here to participate to the fullness in this mystery. By participating in the mystery of Christ we also become holy and glorified. For this reason the Church considers these seven culminating days of Lent as “Holy Days”. All days of the earthly life of Jesus have reached their peak point. Until now Jesus’ mission was to preach and to teach the Good News and to manifest the power and efficacy of the Kingdom in his deeds of miracles. The three years of his public ministry has come to an end. Only one final act is remaining: to enter into Jerusalem and to die for the salvation of entire humanity. - One final act to be accomplished: This One Final Act has its beginning today as he decides to enter into Jerusalem – into the hands of the wicked that are planning to kill him. He alone knows why his entry into Jerusalem is so important. The disciples or the people might think that Jesus is coming for the Paschal Feast in the temple of Jerusalem as he was doing also other times and other years. No one would expect anything dramatic in his stay in Jerusalem. He is well known by this time with his preaching and wonderful works. His name was on the lips of both common people and of the authority as well. In fact, people were waiting for his coming. On the one hand, people were planning to welcome him with the joyful songs and embracing gestures like palms. On the other hand, even the religious authority is waiting for him not with the word of welcome but with the ‘accusation against him’ and with the ‘plot to kill him’. Beyond the expectations of these two categories of people, Jesus enters into Jerusalem on himself. He enters with the decision of facing the ‘hour’ that his Father has prepared and has asked him to ‘pass through’ it now. - ‘Hour of Glorification’: this ‘hour’ which will last for few days is, for Jesus, the ‘hour’ of glorifying God by giving himself totally in the fulfillment of His Will. The first moment of his glory was in miracle of Cana where he changed water into wine and his last moment of his glory is at the Last Supper where he changed wine into his blood, poured out for many. In the ordinary banquet water becomes wine and in the eternal banquet wine become the blood of Jesus. Jesus has made his journey from the first moment to the last. His journey was entering into its completion. His passage is from “my hour has not yet come” (John 2:4) to this day of “the hour has come” (Mark 14:41). Since his hour hasn’t come at the wedding of Cana he has only changed water into wine. Now the hour has come – the hour for which we has descended from heaven – to fulfill the act of glorification: the act in which he has to change the wine (earthly banquet) into his blood (eternal banquet). God’s glory is fully manifested in Jesus’ act of transforming this earthly joy into the heavenly joy. Glorification only through the humiliation - The people expected Messiah as the king who fights and enters into the glory with the victories. They considered Jesus as the Messiah when they have seen his wonders and his kind words. They thought that one day he would reject the Roman Empire and declare war and win it and thus establish his kingdom. May be this is thought that must be running in their minds when they sang “Hosanna” or praising the name of “Son of David.” On the contrary, Jesus takes the other way. Another root of entering into glory. He did not prefer the way that the people expected. His preferred way is the way of ‘abasement’ or ‘humiliation’. o He allowed himself to be ‘handed over’ to the authorities who, otherwise, could not do anything (“Day after day I was with you in the temple teaching, and you did not arrest me. But let the scriptures be fulfilled” – Mark 14:49). o He permitted the sinners to take an upper hand for the moment after all he knows well that he is doing it all for them (“the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners” – Mark 14:41). o He has given up himself for the human judgment. They have produced blame against him. They have mocked and insulted him. They have shouted at him with the cries of crufixiction. Even the thief at his left has tested him. He has undergone all this with the tolerance and with the kindness of heart. o Finally, he made people to give testimony for the meaning of all that has happened, meaning for his innocent and humiliating death: “And we indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong” (Luke 23:41), and ultimate acknowledgment little further by Centurion, “Truly this man was God’s Son!” (Mark 15:39). - The two readings of today open for us this truth that the Son of Man has made himself small and helpless in his Final Act. The first reading of today expresses in the manner the servant of God is being put to the test and to the judgment: “I gave my back to those who struck me, and my cheeks to those who pulled out the beard; I did not hide my face from insult and spitting” (Is 50:6). The highest form of his humiliation is proclaimed by Paul in his Christ-Hymn: “but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death – even death on a cross” (Phil 2:7-8). The words that Paul coins express the ultimate humiliation that Jesus allowed himself to undergo. “Emptying oneself” – “making oneself a slave” – “humbling oneself” – and learning to be “obedient” in spite of being God, these are the attitude that Jesus has manifested. - It is through his power of his Father that Jesus has allowed himself to be crucified. Power of Jesus seems to be a slave to the human power or power of the world. In reality, his power is beyond human comprehension and surpasses worldly measure. It is the power which is appeared in humility. It is the power which is manifested in his abasement. It is the power which can offer itself to the powerless. And his power is God’s will and his love for the humanity. Power of love is not to over act or over look but to enter into the being that is in need of it. Man has become blind to know what the true power is. He has immersed in the mistaking the authority or superiority in the world as the power that can rule. The worldly power, in truth, can only dominate, destroy, exercise pride, and finally can only ruin the man and his nature. Alas! Man is not in the condition of understanding this truth. In his arrogance he closes his eyes. He refuses to see the truth. This is what exactly happens in the passion of Jesus. Man’s power seems to be playing with the divine power. But Jesus reveals the power of God’s ultimate love in his prayer from the cross – from his suffering and his pain: “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34). This is the actual power – divine power – that forgives all the limitedness of the human power. - Jesus’ death if viewed from the eyes of common man only teaches that everything is over: Jesus has surrendered everything of what he is to the human power which is ultimately expressed in his death on the cross. But Jesus’ death if viewed from the eyes of faith will put in evidence the truth that: He has done all that his Father has asked him to do and once he has completed his Final Act on the Cross he gives Him also his spirit: “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit” (Luke 23:46). He has accomplished his mission in the world: mission of standing in the place of the accused/sinner (for man), and thus paying all that man is in debt (shedding his blood) and finally leading the powerless (finite man) to the All Powerful and Loving God (act of reconciliation). It is here, in his final commending the spirit to his Father that Jesus glorifies God and receives at the time glorification by the Father as the “Name above all the name of the earth” (Phil 2:11). The only way to enter into the glory of God, according to the Christian faith, is the way of self-surrender, obedience and humility. Jesus proclaims this underlying truth in his message and in his miracles: “The one who exalts himself will be humiliated and the one who humiliates himself will be exalted.” Jesus’ Passion is Our Strength in the Tribulations of Life - Psychological solitude: In the passion of Jesus we find that more than the physical pains of scourging and of thorns, what he had to endure above all is the mental agony of being “left alone” – he is abandoned by all. He finds himself alone in the face of sufferings. None of “his own” was there to stand by him. This is what would have made him more sorrowful and painful. But he had to “carry” these burdens, certainly not for himself, but for others. He decided to endure then until the end without giving up. The psychological solitude created by those who followed him for almost three years is the first “cross” he has to carry on his mind and heart. In fear and in discouragement of being shattered their wimps and fancies, the disciples have isolated him. It is not just abandonment but a betrayal from the part of his partners that he could not digest and that which made him upset in mind: o Judas Iscariot is the first one to betray him with the sweet kiss: a ‘kiss’ which is a gesture of love between the two beloved is now, for the first time, misused for the betrayal. The act of Judas is so painful not much because of his ‘agreement’ with the authorities to hand Jesus over to them. It became so hurting because Judas has betrayed him in the ultimate manner with the kiss of friendship. It is not just breaking the friendship but ‘destroying’ it by a cruel act. The same sign of love – kiss – is utilized to destroy the love. What could be more painful than this? The great Lover of the world is betrayed by the same love sign. o All the disciples who have already celebrated with him the Eucharistic meal have betrayed him:  First by failing to be awake with him in his agony: they could not understand what is going on in the heart of Jesus. They have their own preoccupations. They have their comfortable ways to sleep. Even when Jesus asked them to pray in this moment of ‘anguish’, they could not get what it means for him and for them. They failed in comprehending him and praying for him. They manifested that they are weak both in spirit and in flesh: in spirit because they could not participate in the agony of Jesus and in the flesh because they could not be awake at least for an hour.  Then by leaving him all alone before the soldiers who came to arrest him. They have not taken courage to ask or to question why and what of it. They just escaped the scene immediately and helplessly leaving Jesus to his fate. Jesus must have been little happy that at least this man, Peter, would stay by him when he attacked one of soldiers. But this too lasted only for a moment. o Peter’s denial is terrible: Jesus has already foretold it. Peter has promised that even if he had to die he would not go away from him. But when the actual moment has come to prove his loyalty he just had fallen into the temptation. He has not only denied him but above all, soothed him by saying that he never knew him. This attitude of Peter must have made Jesus more painful in the heart. o Alone to the Calvary: though now and then there are few people who have come to his aid, like his mother Mary, Simon the Cyrene, Veronica and the women who wept for him, all his journey was ‘alone’. So much of physical tiredness is added to the burning psychological solitude. - Spiritual solitude: until now Jesus was all alone from the Gethsemane to the Calvary. All his hope was in His Father who will take side of him. All of a sudden he finds himself deeply immersed in the spiritual solitude too. He experienced the abandonment also by his Father in whom he put his trust. His spirit became painful. He was enduring the pain of the body and of the mind and he had done this with the faith he had in his Father. Now his spirit is too suffering of the solitude. He could not bear this solitude. He cries out: “My God, My God, why have you abandoned me?” This is not a simple repetition or praying of the Psalm or to fulfill it by reciting it. It comes out from the deeper pain that he undergoes in this spiritual solitude. - His faithfulness to the Father is greater than his experience of solitude: Jesus commits himself completely to accomplish his Father’s will without looking for what would happen to him. He had done this at the beginning of his ‘journey of the passion’ in his prayer in Gethsemane: “Abba, Father, for you all things are possible; remove this cup from me; yet, not what I want, but what you want” (Mark 14:36). From the first moment of his commitment towards his Final Act he is very firm in his attitude towards Father’s will. During the whole period of trial – arrest, judgment, scourging, cross, even in the moment of death – his only ‘food’/’nourishment’ was ‘fulfilling’ his Father’s will. And only for this he has come into the world. And for this he has entered into Jerusalem. And for this he has taken up his cross. And for this he breathes his last. And his last word reveals this: “It is finished” (John 19:30). He has accomplished his mission. His physical pain, mental agony, and spiritual solitude could not stop him in his mission. His firm faithfulness and committed obedience as the Son – Sent – into the World finally remained victorious. Conclusion: reflection on the passion – re-living the Christian mission - Hosanna is good but God prefers ‘Amen’: o Palms would help us to sing “Hosanna” to the Son of God and Son of David and to the One who comes in the name of the Lord. But making the Palm Sunday a Sunday of Palms alone is not enough. o We carry the palms. Make the processions. Prepare the crosses. Decorate the houses with the same crosses. And the Palm Sunday is over. Is it enough?  Instead of palms - Psalms should be in our arms: the intimate prayer offered to God.  Instead of procession – profession of faith should be our weapon.  Instead of preparing cross – bearing the trial with cheerfulness should be our commitment.  Instead of decorating the houses with palm crosses – bearing it on our hearts should be our journey of Calvary. - Power is fine but God sides the ‘humility’: o We long to grow and we need to grow. It is part and vocation of human life. We have to keep going and keep growing. In this vocation we also try to be ‘over’ the others. We strive to become powerful, authoritative and commanding. Indeed, it helps the individual and the community to grow well only if it used positively. o But Christian is called to be ‘powerful’ but not in the sense of the world but in the sense of the spirit. Power should be manifested in the meekness and humility. We have to humble ourselves in front of the mystery of God and for the well-being of the society too. In humility we rise to the glory. In meekness we become powerful. This is the Christian mystery and this is what Jesus himself places before our eyes by his character and attitude. The one who wants to be the first should be the last. The one who wants to the master should be the servant of all. if we really understand this we are ready to follow Jesus. - Participants of the Passion: o We are not just listeners of the passion narratives. We have to revive and live them. Each step that Jesus has made is for our walk. We place our step in his steps so that we are secure to reach where he has reached: not just to the cross and death but to the tomb and resurrection. o We have to learn to endure our trials: – be it created solitude by others/friends or family members, or be it physical illness, be it mental agony and also spiritual struggle between the will of doing good on the one hand and failing to do it on the other – we have only one model to follow: Jesus. We have to make God’s will “our daily bread” not only praying ‘thy will be done’ but ‘fulfilling his will’. o To be successful in our Christian mission we have to participate fully in the passion of Jesus. And that’s what the Church is asking us to do by introducing us into the Holy Week. Therefore, with the obedience and firm commitment “Let Us Walk into Jerusalem to Glorify God with the Sacrifice of Our Life.” (For the shorter reflection) - What Is Our Attitude Towards Jesus in His Last Moments? o The group of disciples: They have walked with him for three years. They have heard him and finally they have received his Body and Blood. Yet they all have escaped to the back benches: Judas Iscariot betrayed him, Peter denied him, all other have abandoned him. They have followed Jesus with one intention of inheriting the kingdom he will establish with the sword and war. Instead, things have not gone according to their thinking. They go farther for the worse. Their wishes are shattered. They could not comprehend the true intention and the mission of Jesus. They go back one by one when the moment of death appears before their eyes. Everyone has left Jesus alone. It is both because of their ignorance and their incapacity to understand Jesus. o The group of authorities: There is a group of Pharisees and Sadducees who have acted against Jesus out of jealousy for his knowledge and wisdom and of fear of losing their prominence in the society. They have very often, in fact in every moment of Jesus preaching and wonder working, wanted to trap him. It is with this jealousy and fear that they have caught Jesus and accused him. There is a group of government officials, Pilot and Herod and their soldiers, who have not seriously taken the situation. Instead of searching for the truth and the release of the innocent and thus to safeguard the justice, they have acted only to nourish their friendship and both have failed to be sincerely committed in their responsibility. They have used their power in order to please each other and to please the shouts of the small crowd. The soldiers have not entered really into the life of the accused, instead they have mocked him and tortured him in the bitter mode possible. They are neither ignorant nor incapable of understanding Jesus. They truly know that Jesus is just and blameless, yet they have acted against him with full knowledge and power. It is with the fear of losing their power they have condemned to Jesus to death. o The group of common people: The attitude is often fluctuating. They just go by the emotions of either joy or of misleading. The same people who have shouting with the joy “Hosanna! Hosanna!!!” on the Palm Sunday, on the Good Friday they shout with the wrong emotions “Crucify him!”. It is their ignorance and emotional imbalance that made them to accuse and offer Jesus to Pilot to put him to death. o The group of people of good will: There is a certain Simon the Cyrene who has helped Jesus to carry the cross. There is a certain Veronica who has tried to wipe the face of Jesus. There is a good thief who has realized Jesus to be innocent and ask him for the place in his Kingdom. There is at last the good Centurion who has read the signs that happened and believed Jesus to be the true Son of God. There is also Mary and John and other few people who have accompanied Jesus till the end because they could not leave him alone since he is one of them. There is also Joseph Arimatthia who has offered his tomb to place Jesus. o One final question for our reflection is this: to which of these groups we belong? What is our attitude towards Jesus who is suffering for you and for me? How can we understand him in these last hours of his? Can we really follow him till the end in order to stand under the cross, and if necessary to be with him on the cross? Jesus with lot of love and lot of desire to fulfill his Father’s will, carries his Cross without saying even a single word and how do we consider our daily crosses in life? Jesus with the blood on the body, with the love in his heart, looks at us and asks for our response. What is our answer to his suffering? Let us meditate and give him an authentic answer.

FIFTH SUNDAY OF THE LENT - YEAR C

FIFTH SUNDAY OF THE LENT – YEAR C: (Is 43:16-21; Phil 3:8-14; John 8:1-11) Theme: Let Us Transform the Stones of Accusation Into the Construction of Christian Life Reflection: We Are Running Towards Our Destiny of Easter - Only Few More Days: We are in the fifth Sunday of the Lent. We are coming closer to the great joy of the Easter. Not a long way to go. Only few days more. We will be in the bosom of that Joy that will last forever. We have been making this Lenten journey: the pilgrimage of spiritual renewal. We must have seen lot of difficulty and great amount of fatigue in the four-week Lenten walk we have done. Apart from this, there must have been also moment of sincere sacrifice and constant prayer which have been our companions on our path. This is the great courage and consolation we have: we are not all alone in our journey, for we have a Great Companion Jesus Christ himself, our Lord and Master. Though we are faced with the few hindrances on our way, it is He who helps us to get along the road. In fact, he never promised a road full of roses but full of stones and thorns. He himself walks before us, paving and preparing the way for us, because he is the Way and the way he places us on is the Way Of the Cross. This is the reason why the Way of the Cross does not belong only to the Lenten Season, but to each and every second of our life, both human and Christian. The only promise he assures us is this: Once we walk through this way, we are certain to participate in the destiny of it, and the destiny is the Eternal Joy. Eternal joy is not just a joy which comes after this life. Joy can be eternal if we learn to tread the difficult path, which is normal and common to the fragile human nature, with faith, hope and charity. When we learn to walk in the way of the cross, we will be empowered, not with the joy of escaping the passion, but with the strength of facing it without fear, always bearing in mind the fruit that will be ours afterwards. The fruit is the Joy. Our forty day Lenten journey is only an initiation which can become or which actually becomes Our Life’s Journey. It may become a journey of three hundred and sixty five days. But we do not fear because we have learnt to walk the path without any difficulty with our companion, Jesus, as our guide. - A Run Towards The Destiny: Our Lenten journey is a course of running towards the Joy of the Resurrection. In fact, St. Paul reminds us that we are running towards the end where a prize is prepared for us. His words are the exhortation for us: ‘I do not think that I have already won the prize or I have already arrived to the perfection; I force myself to run to win it, because I have been conquered by Jesus Christ. Brothers, I do not think that I have already reached it. I know only this: I will forget the past and proceed towards the future; I will run towards the end to arrive at the prize that God calls us to receive there, in Jesus Christ’ (Phil 3:12-14). Let us remember that Paul is writing to the Philippians from the prison. His letter contains the message of joy of being a Christian even in the greatest sufferings of our life. We do not worry of the past, because we have already learnt from it and we have crossed it. Our Christian hope leads us towards the future because a room is prepared for us by our Lord. Between the past and the future we need to lead the life in the faith which makes us go all along without any discouragement and preoccupation: it is a journey towards a destiny and we need to run. We need to run with the joy of conquering the premium that Jesus preserves for us. We should not miss the possibility. We should not lose the prize. Above all, we should not refuse the gift of life that Jesus wants to share with us. Therefore, our Christian life is “a running towards the prize of eternal life”. It is within our reach. We need to open the eyes to see it. We need to extend our hands to touch it. We need to open the heart to reach it and to embrace it. Let us remember again that in our running there is always Jesus who feeds us with the word of encouragement and with the food of will power and commitment. Let us fix our heart on the prize. Let us run towards it with the joy. Readings: God’s Mercy Invites the Fallen Heart to the Renewal - Confrontation – The Context: The gospel passage is the central message for today. The first thing that needs attention is its context. The context is the similar to that of the last Sunday. The context appears as the confrontation between Jesus and the Pharisees and Sadducees. Jesus is spreading the good news of salvation. His words are kind and merciful. His invitation of God’s love is extended to all without any barriers. His miracles of healing have drawn the attention of the people. The number of the people who put their confidence in Jesus is increasing. They flock to Jesus both for listening to his message and for getting some favor in one way or the other. The name of Jesus is becoming famous. People start preferring to follow Jesus and to stay with him, and to take his words. The gospel passages of both Sundays, last Sunday and today, reveal the truth that crowds of people come to listen to him. Meanwhile the condition of the religious leaders, or the doctors of the law, is becoming pathetic. Their laws and their words are becoming meaningless and senseless in the light of Jesus new law of love. They develop a kind of jealousy towards Jesus. They are frightened also losing their place in the society and power in the leadership. With the jealousy and with the fear they want to trap Jesus and make him quit from the predication. They have tried many a time before with their words and with their gestures. But every time Jesus has either won the argument they put forward or escape from them because of their incredulity. This time they come with the living case through which they intend to trap him. The case they bring is the woman caught in adultery. - The Trap of the Law: The Pharisees and Sadducees are very confident this time that they can trap Jesus with the law given by God Himself through Moses. For them the law is more precious than anything else. They place the woman sinner in front of Jesus and throw their arrow to him. They call him “Master!”. Already with their referring Jesus as the Master, they want to put Jesus between the Law of Moses and the law of love he is proclaiming. They think that their question is sharper and that Jesus will be in the dilemma to answer it and they can accuse him. Their well prepared question is this: ‘Master! this woman is caught in adultery. Moses has commanded us to stone a woman of such kind. And, you, what do you say about this?’ Jesus would have very well answered: ‘you are the doctors of the law; you know better about the situation; you know also what has to be done in this conditions; so why do you bring her to me; just apply the law also to her.’ Jesus would have said like this and escaped the situation. They would have respected Jesus for obeying the law of Moses and they would have gone back with joy of winning over him. BUT NO. The intention and the mission of Jesus is not to escape the situation but to preserve and perfect the situation. - Jesus preserves and perfects the Law: They wanted to trap Jesus with the law of Moses. Yet, Jesus does not allow himself to be trapped. No, he does not bend to their question and to their sharp arrow. In fact, he is aware of two things. First, he is aware of the Law given by God through Moses. The law is always to create an order in the society and to correct and to elevate man in his human dignity. He respect such law and he does not want that such law is misinterpreted. Second, he also knows that these so called doctors of the law have neglected the essence of the law and changed it to their advantage and favor. Knowing what they talking about and knowing why they are talking like this, Jesus does not speak a word. He just bends down and writes on the ground. What he writes on the ground is not known well. But already the gesture of bending and writing on the ground signify two characteristics: the one who writes on the ground is the master of the situation and he is not interested at all of what is happening around him for that moment. It shows that Jesus takes the situation into his hands. He is not interested in their question and in their attitude. He just bypasses by doing what he likes without answering them even a word. They get annoyed with the behavior of Jesus. Their intention is different: they want to make Jesus talk against the law of Moses and want to fool him in front of the people. They insist him to respond. Jesus is aware that they are trying all the possible means to make him speak something. He gets up, looks at them and asks them only one thing: ‘who among you is without sin, let him throw the first stone on her’. Jesus does not add a word or remove a word. He says this and again he holds the situation in his hand by writing on the ground. They become silent. They did not expect an answer like this. They are confused. They do not know what to respond. Jesus do not insist them. He knows that his arrow is more sharper than theirs. Their arrow is one edged but his is doubled edged. With lot of discouragement they leave the place one by one. Jesus does not allow them to misuse the law given by God. The law is needed not for condemning but to correct the person. He preserves the law from their misuse. Further, he perfects the law of Moses with the ingredients of love and mercy. Love for the person must surpass the law. This is the new teaching the Jesus brings to the world. - Interaction – The Content: The Pharisees and Sadducees have tried to make the woman caught in adultery as the central part of the entire scene. But for Jesus, the sinner woman is not the point of focus. His changes the focal point. He makes the law perfected with love as the central message. When Jesus has changed the whole scene taking it into his hands as the master, no one remained. All those who have come to trap him disappear. Now there remain only Jesus and the accused woman and of course the crowds that have come to listen to him. The attitude of Jesus is very particular. He does not deliver long discourses in the situations of this kind. He speaks just a single word. His interaction is more of mercy than of mere words. Already with his loving presence he wins the situation and purifies the sinner. Jesus asks the woman: ‘where are they? No one has condemned you?”. The woman already enters into the sphere of Jesus’ love. She recognizes him as the Master and the Lord. In fact, she calls him: ‘Lord’. She says: ‘No one, Lord’. The words that come from Jesus’ mouth are very sweet and at the same time very admonishing: ‘I will not condemn you either; go and do not sin anymore’. His words are sweet because they contain the message of pardon and love; they purify her from inside and make her acceptable person in the society. He does not encourage either the sin. He condemns the sin but he pardons the sinner. He admonishes the woman not to get into the same kind of situation by sinning again. In other words, he invites her to live a new life in God’s love and mercy. He reminds her of her dignity of being God’s loving child. The interaction between Jesus and the sinner woman is the content of the gospel passage. In the presence of Jesus, in the context of salvation he brings, the sin has no more power and the sinner becomes transformed and renewed creature. This is the message of the first reading of today: God promises to make everything new and renewal of human beings takes its realization in the person and in the mission of Jesus Christ. Conclusion: Stones Thrown At Us – A Corner Stone For The Construction Of Christian life - Let Us Not Throw A Stone At Others: The message that is offered to us by the reflection of today is very simple, yet profound. We need to learn not to throw a stone at anyone. Jesus invites us not to accuse anyone who wrongs against us. We need to change this kind of attitude. If we start throwing stones at the fault of others, our bags will be full of stones rather than other things. We need to remember the truth that “the measure we measure with is the same measure we will be measured” and further, “if we judge others, we will also be judged by others”. Message of Jesus is clear: Do not accuse and you will not accused; do not throw a stone and you will not be thrown a stone; you give and the same way you receive. The same content is expressed elsewhere: ‘the one who has a big log in his eye is not in the position of removing a small thing that is in the eyes of the other’. Jesus says: You, Hypocrite! First Remove the log from your eyes and you will be able to see clearly the eye of your neighbor. Therefore, let us not throw any stone at others. - Let Us Transform The Stones Into The Construction: As Christians we do not accuse anyone and we do not throw any stone at others. This does not mean that we do not receive any stones at all. The insults, the accuses and the abusive attitudes will be thrown at us. We need to face lot of incomprehension and will be condemned. But we have also an answer: an answer of mercy and love. We need to become the masters of the situation: not that we need to become indifferent but we need to act differently. We need to demonstrate an attitude of care and concern towards our enemies or towards those who throw stones at us. Not easy. Yet it is not impossible. Jesus is Our Master and Model for us in this. He has answered all the insults and accusations with the humility and mercy. The same Jesus is inviting us to transform the stones that the others thrown at us in ignorance and in jealousy into the foundation stone for the construction of Christian life. It is a great task of our faith. We are capable of doing this because we are immersed in the love of Jesus. It is not impossible. We only need to apply what we learn from the faith to our personal and Christian attitude. Instead of hills of stone, we will have a beautiful castle of Christian life.

FOURTH SUNDAY OF THE LENT - YEAR C

THE FOURTH SUNDAY OF LENT – YEAR C (Joshua 5:9a, 10-12; 2 Cor 5:17-21; Luke 15: 1-3, 11-32) Theme: Let Us Be In The House of God With Faith and With Joy Reflection: God is always merciful towards his children - A walk towards the mercy of God: We are entering into the fourth Sunday of the Lent. Our journey comes a little bit closer to the destiny. The point of arrival is nearing. We are preparing to participate in the great joy of the Easter. We are on the way and we need to continue until the end without turning back and without losing hope. We are not alone in this walk. Jesus is our companion. He walks with us. He enriches us with his own experience. In fact, it is he who has guided us until now and guides us through until the end. In the first week, he has called us to undergo the desert experience of prayer, fasting and solitude to know what we are and to know what God wants from and through us. In the second week, he has taken us up to the mountain and has given us the glimpse of glory that we will be having after completion of the way of passion and cross. In the third week, last Sunday, he has pruned us, nourished us and helped us to become beautiful and fruitful tree in the vineyard of the Lord. Today, he leads us one step further. He guides us “to meet” the merciful face of God. The wonderful story of “the prodigal son” is the spiritual nourishment that he provides for us both for reflection and for living. It is the story which reveals the mercy of the Father towards his children in the ultimate mode. - Luke – The Evangelist of Merciful God: In this liturgical year we have the gospel reading from Luke. Luke presents the essence of God as kind, merciful, forgiving and embracing the sinners and eliminated of the society. Mercy of God towards his children who have gone astray from him is present in every word of his Gospel. Jesus is the presence of God’s mercy in the world. Each evangelist has his own way of presenting the gospel to his audience. For Mathew, Jesus is the perfection and accomplishment of the Old Covenant and Law. For Mark, Jesus is the Messiah and Savior of the world. For John, Jesus is the ultimate revelation of God’s love. For Luke, as it was already indicated, Jesus is the incarnation of God’s mercy in the world, especially to the poor, oppressed and marginalized. Jesus presents to the world a God who waits with love for the return of dispersed children and a God who embraces them with forgiving mercy. - God of the Old Testament is God of Mercy: The theme that “God is kind and full of mercy” runs throughout the Old Testament also. From the beginning of his entrance into the history of Israel, God made known himself as the Father who is merciful. It is his mercy that made him to go in search of his people who were unfaithful to him and thus were in the condition of “lost sons”. He did not leave them to their fall and fate. He searches for them. He goes out to meet them. He interacts with them. He calls them back to his bosom. Finally, he organizes a feast and a banquet for all his returned children. It is his mercy that delivered them from the slavery of Egypt and lead them to the land of milk and honey. His mercy is manifested in every word he utters through his prophets. His kindness is revealed in every action he accomplishes for the restoration of his people. It is only the Jewish authorities who have interpreted the law for their advantage that have changed the image of God. They have demonstrated the Old Testament God to be a God who punishes and who condemns his children. However, the entire truth of God’s nature of mercy and kindness is manifested to the fullness in the person and work of Jesus. His mercy does not have any borders. He meets even those who are considered “cursed” by his religious society. He sits with the sinners and tax-collectors. He eats with them. He shares their bread. God is present in the person of Jesus. His mercy is manifested in the action of Jesus. Entire gospel of Luke presents Jesus as the one who always loves to stay with the poor, small and simple. The three stories of pardon and mercy present in the fifteenth chapter of Luke are the perfect examples for this. The mercy of the Father will be profoundly understood once we enter into the reflection of Gospel passage today. Readings: Return of the Son and Embrace of the Father - A Feast of Reconciliation - Difference of Attitude – The Context: Jesus reveals the mercy of God through his words and actions. By preferring to stay with the least ones of the society he becomes a man for others. His entire life is a testimony of God’s salvation to these little ones who are rejected and neglected. Jesus expresses in his words how the merciful God takes side of them. Jesus proclaims this truth in his proclamation of the kingdom of God. The highlighting chapter in Luke is the present chapter in which Jesus manifests God’s mercy for the lost ones in three different parables. The last one is presented to us in today’s gospel reading. However, before entering into the significance of the story, it is obligatory to understand and enter into the context in which Jesus narrates the story. Jesus wants to make a difference of attitude between two groups of people. One group consists of Pharisees and Sadducees. Another group consists of the Publicans and Sinners. The context is that Jesus is preaching. The sinners and tax-collectors come to stay with him and to listen to him (Luke 15:1). The Pharisees and Sadducees also come, not to listen to his words, but to criticize and blame him because of his presence with the cursed ones (Luke 15:2). Observing this attitude of both groups, Jesus starts telling a story (Luke 15:3). One group, though e - Story of the Younger Son – An attitude of Repentance: The younger son of the story demands the share of his property, takes it and goes far away from home, spends all that he has and finally finds himself in the utter condition of hunger and humility. In his helpless condition he comes to his senses, he realizes his grave mistake and he does not feel shy to accept his condition in the presence of his father. He returns. He shows an attitude of repentance. His repentance is both inwards and outwards: he comes to himself and he comes to his Father. o Returning to himself: The first thing in the repentance is to realize one’s condition and correct himself with the sincere and committed sorrowfulness for what he has done. The younger son realizes that it is he himself who has rejected his father. He acknowledges that it is he himself who have developed a kind of distrust towards his father. Distrust is the cause for the rejection. But once he comes to know that he has created such a horrible condition of the slavery for himself, he remembers the days of his stay at home and with his father. He says to himself: there are many workers who have abundance of bread at home and whereas he is suffering here with the dejection. He gets up with confidence that he would be received by his father. He accumulates his trust in his Father’s merciful acceptance. It is this act of getting up that shows that he has returned to himself. o Returning to the Father: Personal realization of proper error committed is not enough. It needs to be acknowledged with the one against whom it is directed. The younger son does it. He does not come back to his Father’s house merely because he is starving with the hunger or because he can have abundance of food. He comes back with the contrite heart and purified intention. He knows the consequence of his act: he cannot be anymore his son. He is aware that he has no more place in his father’s house. He wants to be at least a servant. His act of contrition is expressed in his words: “Father, I have sinned against the heaven and against you. I am not worthy to be called your son. Take me as one of your servants.” With the renewed confidence in the father he returns to his house. - Story of the Elder Son – An attitude of Reluctance: In the second part of the story that Jesus narrates, there is another son whose attitude to be observed well in order to make the different between the two sons. He is the elder son. He is always with his father. He never disobeys his father. His attachment to his father’s house and his work according to his father’s will, show that he is the true heir of the family. His attitude of obedience and observance of the law is praiseworthy because he is “just and righteous” in the eyes of his father. He has good record of personal conduct. His life goes well smoothly with the rapport between him and his father. He is happy with his father. He does not bother about his brother who has gone away. He feels safe in the presence of his father and he stays there. Later, the story takes an “U” turn. The problem starts with the return of his brother. He comes to know that his father is celebrating a feast on this occasion. His attitude changes. His conduct certificate is torn apart. He becomes arrogant and reluctant in mind and in act. He stays himself away from all these festival moments. o Unwilling to Enter into the House: First thing he does is to be reluctant to enter into the house. He accuses his father and murmurs against him for treatment he has given to his returned brother. He expresses it with the heavy words: “I am here serving you all my life. I have never disobeyed your command. But you never gave me a single goat to feast with my friends. Now you are celebrating the return of YOUR son who has wasted all your properties.” o Jealousy for His Brother: The change of attitude of the elder son is not directly towards his father but towards his brother. Until now he is happy that he is the only heir because his brother has gone away from house. Now a shade of fear falls on him. He becomes jealous of his brother. He never wished the return of his brother. With his righteous works, he thought he also is worthy of the father’s house. He becomes unwilling to step inside. He becomes reluctant to accept his brother. He becomes arrogant with the fear of losing his importance. - Story of the Father – An attitude of kindness: The younger son has rejected his father and has returned to him with the attitude of repentance. The elder son has refused to enter into the house because of his brother and has preferred to stay away from his father with the attitude of arrogance and jealousy. The bad has turned into good. The good has become bad. The only unchanging attitude is that of the father. For him both are same because both are his children, no difference of bigger or smaller, righteous or sinner. He shows his care equally to two of them. This is the attitude of kindness on the part of the father. o Goes out to embrace the younger: The Father is so kind and merciful that he does not will that his son being lost. He allows his son to take a decision in the freedom. He experiences an interior agony when his son moves out of his house. He bears the pain in silence. His love for the son does not disappear however. He wills that he returns. He expects for his coming. He waits for it with lot of sorrow in the heart. He watches for him day and night. When he sees his returning son already in the distance, he does not wait for his stepping in. He goes out to meet him. When he reaches him he does not waste a moment. He does not wait for the “words of sorry” from his son. He could not control his joy of re-finding him. He embraces him with love. He makes him again his son. The words of repentance of the son seem to be only in the air. Even before those words reach the father’s ears, his heart already bursts with joy. He orders for the feasting. o Goes out to plead the elder: The life of the younger son has reaching to a happy end. He is back again at home, with his father, but this time with full of confidence. The elder returns from the fields. He inquires the motive for the feasting. When he comes to know the true cause for the father’s joy, he becomes impatient with his father and starts grudging against his brother. He stay outside of the house. Again it is the father who goes out to meet him. He pleads him to enter in. He does not want that the house loses anyone more. His house is full with the two. He will for the fullness of the family. He convinces the elder. He makes it clear that it is an occasion of joy and feasting because the one who has returned is not someone foreigner but his own brother. The kindness of the father is manifested again even his love for the elder one. o A Feast of Reconciliation - A Feast of Life: The fullness of life takes place only when all live in unity and in mutual self-offering. All that is divided has to be united again to be perfect and complete. Here in this story too, the family is complete with the father and the two sons. As long as there remain only two – the father and one son – the family is incomplete and imperfect. The fullness is missing. There needs to be a gathering of all in the same bond of love. Only then there will be a feast. It is father who creates again the unity of his children and the fullness of his family. All have come together. The past is forgotten. The distance is erased. The guilt is pardoned. The mercy of the father, the fraternity of the brothers reign there. In a word, all are reconciled one to other. Therefore, it is not a just any feast. It is above all a feast of reconciliation. It is father who reconciles both of his sons to himself and reconciles one to the other. Two things take place: Joy Re-found and Joy Extended. The joy is because of the meeting of the son and the father. But that joy is extended to all. The entire family, household and the village partake in the joy. The joy is the result of repentance and return. Conclusion: A Lesson – “To Be” in the Father’s House and “To Be” Merciful Towards Others - An Ever-Living Story: The story that Jesus narrates today is the story which still its effect in every family. It is ever living because of it touches every relationship. We need to learn understand this truth. From our reflection we can carry to our homes for today and for the days to come two essential elements: we are invited to be always in the Father’s House and we are commissioned to be merciful towards the others. - We have life only in God’s House: Many a time, we act in our freedom. Often we tend to miss the way choosing what we want rather than giving priority to what God wants from us. We want to show our autonomy and independence. It is fine. We are created to be a free and knowledgeable beings. It does not mean that we forget our Creation and neglect our house or overlook our brothers and sisters. In freedom we need to grow. The true freedom makes one become closer to his creator. Often, we find ourselves accumulating all that we think we deserve and go away from the house of God. But, certainly there will be one day in which we come to our senses. We realize our mistake. We think we are lost. In that moment, as Christians, we need not worry. We have the way out. We have a return path made ready. We need to return to ourselves and to our home. There is always a possibility because when we put one step ahead, God puts four steps towards us. He makes our interaction possible. When we are outside, when all our forces and capabilities are devoured, we lose our life. We have no more in us. All that is in us and around us is the hunger of selfishness and the thirst of depression. On the other hand, in God’s bosom everything is abundant and overflowing. All that we lost will be regained. We will be nourished by the Spirit of courage. We have life and we have life only in God’s presence. Let us learn to stay with confidence and with joy in the Father’s house so that we can participate in the feast that he organizes for each one of us. - We have to be merciful to others: God embraces us in mercy when we get up from our fallen life and return to him. He is merciful to us. In turn, we are called to show mercy towards those who have done something wrong against us. Mercy is to be contagious. It is received and when it is received it is passed and extended to others. What is mercy. It contains two intertwined aspects: to look who is in need and to extend the hand to elevate him from his pathetic condition. God is merciful, because, he has seen our human fragile condition and furthermore, he has extended his hand to rise us up to the level of his children. We have to learn to be merciful in this sense. What we receive from God, we share it with others. The more we share what we have, we will be given more. It is the love formula of our Christian faith. Therefore, let us learn to show mercy to those who wrong against us. Only then our Lenten observation will be fruitful.

THIRD SUNDAY OF THE LENT - YEAR C

THE THIRD SUNDAY OF THE LENT – YEAR C: (Ex 3:1-8a, 13-15; 1 Cor 10: 1-6, 10-12; Luke 13:1-9) Theme: We Are Invited to Produce Good Fruits In Our Daily Life Reflection: We are the Trees Planted and Nourished by the Eternal Gardner - Christian life is a tree: Today, we enter into the third Sunday of the Lent. We are coming closer to the great feast of Easter. In the preparations we make and in the spiritual journey we continue to make, we are nourished and sustained by the Word of God and the Sacramental Grace. Our Lenten journey started with the desert experience – an experience of inner journey into ourselves with the prayer and fasting. It has taken its course towards the mountain Tabor – an experience of being transfigured in the glory of the Lord. The Lenten walk takes another step ahead with this week. Today, we are invited to experience the care taking of the Eternal Gardener Jesus Christ. We are the seeds planted in the vineyard of the Lord: the seed is the baptismal profession of faith and rebirth into Christian life. We are destined to sprout up and grow: the seed is not destined to remain in the ground but to break the ground and come out. Our life is like a growing tree nourished and cured with the water and manure: the water is the Word and the manure is the Eucharist. The sustainment of the growth is enriched by the rays of the sun: the light is the Spirit. Our Christian growth is protected with the fence: the fence is the Church. - The tree is given all that it needs for growing: All the necessary requirements are supplied. We have no reason to keep indifferent. We have no excuse to escape the growth. No other way. We have to grow. Insofar we receive and accept the ground to stay, the spirit to breath, the nutriment to live, the walls to keep us safe, we keep growing. The failure of growth and incapacity to bear fruit happens only when we consciously reject what we are given. If we reject the ground on which we stand – we will not have any place to stay and the consequence will be this: we are uprooted and thrown away from the garden. If we neglect the breath and the nourishment we are provided with – we will not have any chance to live and he consequence will be this: we become unfruitful and barren. If we walk out of the fencing walls in which we are protected – we will not have any possibility for the redemption and the consequence is this: we are out of our proper place and we become pry to the enemies. Above all, if we throw all the providence of grace to the dust, we offend the Gardner who has planted us, taken care of us and finally protected us with the power of his presence. The Gardner is the origin of our life. He is the sustainer of our being. He is the goal of our moving. If we do not acknowledge our entrance, living and destiny, as the gracious gift of the Gardener, then we become wanderers and finally perished. - Gardener continues his loving care for his trees: The gardener who gives life to the tree and thus extend his garden does not want that any tree loses its life. He gives more attention to the fading tree. He enhances it with love and mercy. He stays with it and each second he safeguards its growth. He gives another possibility to bear fruit. He wants his garden not only beautiful with the colors of look but also meaningful with the calories of life. Each seed, each plant, and each tree is very dear to him. Each single fruit, be it small or big, gives him lot of joy. He wants that each single tree takes into itself and makes use well of the ingredients offered. He will that each single tree, extending its rams, produces the desired fruit. Until the tree grows to the level of bearing good fruit, he does not take rest. He keeps awake. He guards well. He makes the necessary amendments. He cuts what is growing wrong and provides what is lacking. He continues his care with love. His presence and his mission is only to take care of the trees entrusted to him. He puts his heart and soul for giving them growth and making them fruitful. He gives his own life to make them complete and perfect in their life. It is the love of the gardener “to be” for the trees. The trees that “receive his life” have to become not only fruit-giving-trees but also “care-taking-gardeners” to the other trees. Readings: Conversion – A Burning Within and A Bearing Witness - Conversion – A Burning Within (First Reading): We have an astonishing scene in the first reading. Moses sees a bush burning but not consummated. He wonders and wants to know what it could be. He goes ahead. As he comes closer to the bush, the voice of God stops him. The voice admonishes him: “Moses, Moses, do not come near. Remove your sandals because the place you stand is the holy soil.” From the burning bush, God calls Moses to be his weapon of liberation for the people of Israel. The burning bush and God’s call have been interlinked. Burning bush is the interior conversion and the God’s voice is the call. Moses is enkindled with the desire to see and experience the nature of burning bush. He is invited not only with external removal of the sandals, but also internal burning for God. This burning is not natural burning in which one becomes ashes. This burning is the supernatural or spiritual burning. It is the purification of the Spirit. One is just purified, not consummated utterly. Moses is called to undergo such kind of burning – interior purification, a conversion within. It is the first requirement to be worthy of participating in the design of God. Only after this God makes him clear his will of redeeming his people from the slavery of the Egypt. When we allow ourselves for the authentic conversion to the working of the Spirit, he will burn us from within, without making us condemned to the ashes. True conversion is always from within. It may appear externally as the burning bush but what really happens is an internal purification: the Spirit prepares us for the acceptance of God and his will. A burning within, the true conversion, thus means also “having a burning desire for God”. - Conversion – A Bearing Witness (Gospel): The conversion, a burning within, is only the first step. It is only the sowing of the seed. It needs to sprout up. It needs to grow into the tree. The interior conversion must bear the fruit. It has to be externally witnessed. Conversion does not remain hidden. It may happen within the closed door, in hidden and in secret. But the consequences of it do not remain locked up. Gospel proposes that the true conversion is a bearing an external witness for the internal change. The fruits of conversion have to be converted into the life-giving nourishment to the other. Jesus explains in the mode of a parable of the one who has planted a fig tree. The master of the vineyard expects a fruit from the tree. He has a right to look for the fruit, because it is with this destiny that he has planted and has sustained it with the proper nourishment. His plan is carried out only when the called tree bears the desired results. The master of the vineyard, in the Gospel, comes to the tree with lot of expectation and desire to taste the fruit of his creation. Three years pass by. No result. No fruit. No conversion. No change. The one who planted with the purpose has the right to cut it off if it does not grow well. The passage suggests once again that the nature of the tree is to grow and bear fruit of its kind. If it truly grows interiorly, the results of it will be seen externally. The conversion within cannot hide its essence. It will sprout into and it will bear the witness. In a word, the burning within (first reading) has to be transformed and elevated into the testimony of life (gospel). - Jesus Is Our Invitation To The Conversion: Through the readings of today, Jesus is inviting us to that conversion which has two equal directions: internal burning and external witness. The total and radical conversion of life – of mind, heart and soul – begins within and extends to the life-giving testimony of Christian growth. To put it in other words, the seed of faith sown deep within our hearts with the baptism, has to transform into the act of love as the opening and giving up of our life. The Lenten invitation to each one of us is the same invitation that Jesus offers to us: be converted in faith and bear fruit in love. - Jesus Is Our Intercessor With God: Though, we are planted and cured, as the fruit bearing trees, many times we fail to be so and to do so. It is because of our indifference towards Jesus invitation. It is because of our negligence of the nourishment he provides us with. Our creator asks from us the fruit. It is his right because it is only because of him we have our existence in the world. As the existing human beings, called and sanctified by the Creator, we grow and grow, not only physically but above all spiritually. It is our given responsibility. As being of knowledge and freedom, we need to be responsible. If we violate the right of God and if we forget our responsibility, the result will be our failure of bearing any fruit. In that condition, the Creator has the right to pluck us out and plant something/someone else. This is the situation we find ourselves often because of our cold attitude towards God and towards our own selves. But we have something more to be consoled. The end is not here. When we are faced with this situation, and when we have lost our possibilities to regain our life, there is Someone who stands-by us. It is Jesus Christ. He comes to our aid. He takes our word and our cry. He pleads for us. He becomes our intercessor with God. He opens the space for another chance. He calls upon the patience of God. He prays on our behalf: “Master, let us leave it for another year. I will dig it around. Put manure. Let us see whether it will bear fruit for the coming year.” Jesus is our prayer. Jesus is our hope. He is our Gardener. He will ask God for some more time. He will take care of us with little more attention. He will provide little more water of faith and little more manure of Eucharistic and spiritual strength. Let us not, thus, worry because we have failed. We have an opportunity to get up. We can still rise up. We can return to the fertile and fruitful state. In our helpless condition of barrenness, we have only one hope: Jesus Christ. He is not only our Eternal Intercessor but also our Eternal Gardener. In his presence and with his hands we can be re-formed into the life-giving trees. Conclusion: Conversion Is Our Only Answer To God through Christ and in the Spirit - To Be Christians Means To Be Exposed: The true conversion, as we have already examined, is the internal transformation extended to external testimony of life. It is, indeed, the nature of Christian life. Christians are not the hidden people. They are not the people who live in secret. Their life is to be open. To be Christians mean to be exposed to the world. Jesus did not hide himself. He comes to the public. He enters into the life of the people. He stays with the people and he touches them to the profound. Our Christian life is anchored in the faith, the roots are in the ground. It is true. Yet, it is testified in the love, the fruits are open and available for others. Our life is open and extended. Our foundation – the root – is God. Our destiny – the fruit – is the Spirit. Our life – the stem – is Jesus Christ. Love cannot be hidden. Hidden love is not ultimate love. Love needs to be open and extended. Christ, extends his love even to the point of death and resurrection. To be Christians means to be like him. as the Christians, our task is not only being the fruit-bearing trees, but also to be gardeners of the world. We are selected and sent to cultivate the garden of the world and provide it with the ingredients of our life so that it become both beautiful and fruitful garden of Eden where God is present with his people. In other words, the Lenten message invites us: To Be Fruitful and to Make Others Fruitful. - Conversion is our answer to God: God waits for us. He demands that we become fertile. He desires that we bear fruit. Moreover, when we fail, we shows his patience. He gives us another possibility through the intercession of Jesus, our gardener. The only answer we can give him, during this Lenten season, is the true conversion of the heart. It is the only answer that be elevated as the sincere sacrifice to him. In turn, it happens if we allow ourselves to the action of the Spirit. The Spirit burns us from within, without doing any harm. The conversion, according to the readings of today, is both becoming a burning bush and a fruit bearing tree. Let us ask the Spirit to sanctify us. Let us ask Jesus to strengthen us. Let us ask God, the Father, to safe-guard us in his love. Only then we can realize the theme we have taken up for today: we are invited to produce good fruits in our daily life.

SECOND SUNDAY OF THE LENT - YEAR C

SECOND SUNDAY OF THE LENT – C (Gen 15:5-12, 17-18; Phil 3:17- 4:1; Luke 9:28b-36) Theme: We are invited to follow the Way of Jesus to participate in His Transfiguration Reflection: A Pilgrimage towards the Future Glory - We are in the second Sunday of the Lent. We are in the preparation period for the Great Feast of the Resurrection of the Lord. It is a period of Spiritual Renewal. Every Sunday/ every week, the Church offers the scriptural nourishment for our spiritual pilgrimage. Last week we have been reflecting on the desert experience of Jesus. Jesus is with his Father in prayer and fasting, in order to gather all the strength to initiate his mission. The first hurdle has come already in the beginning of his mission in the form of the famous three temptations – hunger, power and success. It is with the power of the desert experience – with the power of being with his Father and with the presence of the Spirit – that Jesus has thrown out the evil and its inclinations. We have carried with us the possibility of the desert experience of life in which we will finally win all the hurdles with the power of the Word (scriptures) and with the strength of the Spiritual Food (sacraments). We have also learnt that it is through our being with the Lord in prayer and fasting that we transform of our life of desert into the life of joy. - With the same intention of the enabling us to move forward in our spiritual walk, the Church offers us today, in the second week of Lent, the episode of Transfiguration. The main theme to which we need to turn our attention is this: Jesus is transfigured in glory and all those who follow him will also participate in the splendor of his transfiguration. The theme of the transfiguration is important in this period of spiritual renewal because it arouses in us the hope of becoming like the Lord. It provides courage to encounter the daily difficulties with the hope of receiving the crown of glory. It opens the space to realize the original dignity and splendor with and for which we are created. It also pushes us forward in our daily struggle with the hearts raised with the faith in the Lord. We are well acquainted with the details of the episode of transfiguration because we have been reading it and listening to it often. In order to enter into the spiritual significance it offers us for this Lent, we need to look at it from its contextual reading with which Luke places it. In other words, we need to understand the context of the episode of the Transfiguration. - The context – Jesus is in the mental and spiritual crisis: If we analyze what has happened in the chapters prior to the ninth chapter in which there is the story of transfiguration we can understand the context better. There are two things that disturb and agitate Jesus: the first is the tension between the Old and New Testaments and the second is the incomprehension of his identity. o The tension between the Old and New Testaments: Jesus preaches about the Kingdom of God which embraces the entire world. He reaches out to the needy and sick with the miraculous healing. He proclaims the preference of the Lord to the poor and dejected ones of the society. He invites all, even sinners and outcastes, into the salvation that God is about to bring. This is the novelty of the message of Jesus. In fact, the whole gospel of Luke has the characteristic of God’s preference for the poor. The chapters that preceded the present episode indicate the Good News that Jesus brings to each and everyone. His discourse on the Beatitudes shows the crystal clear distinction that Jesus makes preferring the poor and rejecting the rich and further he preaches love for the enemies (Luke – sixth chapter: the poor are blessed and the rich are cursed, further the love for the enemies). His acts of healing and forgiveness makes his intention evident that God wants to embrace all (Luke – seventh chapter: he heals the servant of the roman officer, brings into life the son of the widow, and above all, forgiving the woman). He proclaims belongingness to the family of God all those who accomplish his will (Luke – eight chapter: the true family of Jesus in the verses 19-21). What Jesus speaks and does is in the contradiction to the belief that the religious and political authority of his time have. They consider Jesus’ message as directed to question their power and authority. They grow in hatred towards him because of his message of salvation. The belief they have preserved until now seems to be shattered. They believe that the salvation is only for them. They feel that they are the only preferred ones by the God of their fathers in the Old Testament. With the coming of Jesus and with the arrival of his Gospel there is a tension between the Old Testament and the New. The tension arises because former speaks of God’s intervention only in the history of the people of Israel and latter invites all into the possibility of salvation without any barriers. The tension is only created with the human logic because they have failed to understand that Jesus is, in reality, not abolishing the Law and the Prophets but giving them the new meaning. Jesus is tired of the attitude of the authority, both political and religious, which is creating unnecessary tension. o The incomprehension of the identity of Jesus: Apart from the tension that has come about with the novelty of Jesus’ preaching, there is also a misunderstanding of his person and mission. It is seen as an immediate context to the episode of transfiguration. Both the people and the disciples do not understand him properly. Jesus asks the disciples about the public opinion about him (Luke 9:18ff.). The public has different opinions of him: some consider him to be John the Baptist, some Elijah and others one of the prophets. Jesus turns towards his disciples to know what they think of him. Even they have misunderstood his identity. Indeed, they consider Jesus to be the Messiah but their idea of Messiah is different. They have the idea of Glorious Messiah who will come to fight and thus establish his kingdom on earth. The disciples have only partly and partially understood his presence and his person. Jesus is tired of the incomprehension on the part of both people and his own disciples. - With the tension and with the incomprehension Jesus is undergoing a mental agony and spiritual crisis. He is tired of the attitude of all the people towards him – be it religious, political, be it common public and be it his own chosen ones. He desires to offer this critical situation to his Father. He wants to regenerate the strength amidst the discouragement and the crisis that surround him. The only way he prefers to regain the spiritual energy is the prayer. All these conditions lead him to the prayer. Jesus goes on the high mountain to pray. The prayer and all the preceding incidents that lead him to it, is the context of the episode of transfiguration. Reading: Glory and Splendor are only the Fruits of the Passion and Death - Jesus goes to pray: Gospel is clear in indicating that Jesus climbs the mountain with the three preferred disciples – Peter, John and James – to pray. His only occupation for now is to pray, not to be transfigured. With all the mental burdens and spiritual agony Jesus wants to be with his Father. It is his prayer. Prayer for Jesus is to be in the presence of his Father. Prayer for Jesus is to listen and follow the will of his Father. In prayer he pours out all the conditions of tension and incomprehension to the Father and asks for the energy of the Spirit. - He is transfigured: While he prays, he is being transfigured. The transfiguration appears here as the fruit of the prayer. When one is united with God and he allows himself to be immersed in spirit of the Lord, he becomes transfigured. He receives splendor and glory. His face shines like the sun and his garments become candid. Jesus experiences this transfiguration. He shines with the heavenly glory. The transfiguration on the Mount Tabor is only the anticipation of the ultimate glory he receives in the Resurrection, after his being disfigured on the Mount Calvary. It is revealed by the two men that stand by him in the next scene. - Law and the Prophets accompany him: Moses and Elijah appear with the glory in the transfiguration. Moses represents the Law and Elijah represents the Prophecy. By their presence and conversation with Jesus they indicate two things. First, they respond to the tension between the Old and New Testament and reveal that Jesus is the One who is proclaimed and promised in the Old Testament. Second, they respond to the novelty the Jesus brings by offering himself in the passion and in the cross for the accomplishment of the salvation. Thus, they reveal both Jesus’ person and his mission. They unveil the true significance of the transfiguration. - The reaction of the Peter: The disciples are astonished with the amazing appearance of Jesus. They are also wonderstruck with the presence of the great personalities of the Old Testament. The Messiah appears in Glory. Indeed, they want and they expect for this glorious Messiah. When he finally appears to them on this mountain they could not but react to it. Peter, taking the word of all, tells Jesus: “Master, it is beautiful for us to be here”. Immediately the gospel makes it clear that he does not know what he says. It is not the first time. Peter is often inspired to speak out without knowing exactly the meaning of the words he utters. In the Gospel of Mathew 16:13-23, the unawareness of Peter of what he speaks is made clear. He receives appreciation from Jesus and immediately after a little while he receives also admonition from him. Even here in this context of transfiguration, the disciples are content with the glory. The want to be always with that glory. They do not want to come down from the mountain. They ignore the life that has to be faced down the mountain. They forget that this glory is only a momentary anticipation and soon they have to go back to the normal life. They want only glorious Jesus, not the suffering servant of the Lord. Their eyes become blind with the wrong idea of Jesus. At the same time, the reaction of Peter represent every ones overwhelming joy in the presence of the Lord. - The presence and testimony of the Father: As soon as the Old Testament figures have disappeared, now enters the Father. He gives his testimony to his Son. He reveals to the world the identity of his Son. He appears in the form of cloud. The cloud in the life of Israel signifies the presence of God. God accompanies them and guides them in the form of the pillar of cloud. Not only with his presence in the form of cloud, but also with his voice he manifests the person and the mission of his Son. The Old Testimony is over and it disappears and gives the space for the New Testimony. The New witness is the Father himself. Conclusion: Let us confront the crisis – it is the only way to the Transfiguration - We are already transfigured in Baptism: The context and the content of the episode of the Transfiguration is the spiritual nourishment for us for this Lent. We learn one important aspect from this. We are given the glance of the glory. As it is given to the disciples on the mount Tabor, it is given to us every day in the Word proclaimed and in the Sacraments celebrated. We know who Jesus is and what he has done for us through the liturgical activities. We enter into the very person and mission of Jesus for us. We become partakers of his glory. Indeed, by the Baptism we are already transfigured and given the face of Jesus. We already carry within us this identity and these sparks of glory. Yet, all this is only temporary. They only give the taste of that eternal glory for which we are waiting. - The ever-lasting glory will appear “afterwards”: We are only in the journey. We need to arrive at the point of destiny. Our Christian destiny is to participate in the fullest manner in the celestial splendor. It happens, as the Christian faith teaches, not now. We need to complete the exile of this world and only “afterwards” we receive the crown of glory. Meanwhile we can experience this glory through the prayer and through the commitment to our Christian vocation. We need to wait for this future glory. Here enters the virtue of hope. We carry on our life with the hope of final transfiguration. Until then we move forward with the faith and confidence, following the foot prints of Jesus. His way is only the way of the Cross which leads us to the grotto of the life of Resurrection. - Let us confront the crisis with the Christian Hope: The transfiguration gives us the courage to face the crisis in which we find ourselves. Our life is full of complexes: fears, mental and spiritual crisis, and every existential tension. One thing that we are still under the mountain. We need to climb the mountain for the experience of the glory. We have every possibility to confront the difficulties. We need not fear. Jesus never promises the way of roses but the way of thorns and stones. He promises the spiritual nourishment of the Christian faith to confront them with joy and hope. He has done it before us. He has paved the way for us. With him and through him we can carry our cross and travel towards the Calvary. First we need to be disfigured with the renouncement of the worldly passions and inclinations. Only then we have the possibility for the transfiguration. This is what we are invited to do in this pilgrimage of spiritual renewal: let us follow Jesus, confront our life’s conditions and climb along with him on the mountain of life to be transfigured.