THIRD SUNDAY OF THE EASTER - YEAR C

THIRD SUNDAY OF THE EASTER – C (Acts 5:27b-32, 40b-41; Rev 5:11-14; John 21:1-19) Theme: Let us throw ourselves into the sea of death in order to rise up with Jesus Reflection: Risen Jesus manifests himself to his beloved ones - Risen Jesus continues to manifest himself: We are in the third week of the Easter season. In all these days and the days to come, we continue to be in the joy of risen Jesus. He is risen. We rejoice with the hope because we will be also resurrected one day. Jesus himself appears and testifies his resurrection with his coming to his disciples in the glorious form in order to increase in them the faith. He does not ascend immediately. He has two important things to do before ascension: rising the ground-fallen disciples with the desperation and sending them on the mission of God’s love. It is for this that Jesus visits his disciples often after his resurrection. His visit has a purpose. He manifests himself as truly risen so that the disciples can overcome the darkness of doubt and enter into the light of faith. It is with this purpose that Jesus has come to encourage his twelve dear ones. - To lead his disciples in the mission: Jesus continues to reveal his resurrected glory to lead his followers in the mission. Though he appears to all the twelve, every time he entrusts a particular mission to a particular disciple. Last Sunday we have heard of the example of Thomas. In fact, Jesus appears to him and asks him to be a faithful and thus entrusts to him the mission of faith. With the Thomas we have also learnt to recognize and acknowledge the risen Jesus as “Our Lord and Our God”. Jesus comes to visit his disciples for the third time. Today we have the third visit of Jesus in which he entrusts “the mission of feeding the sheep” to another disciple, Peter. Indeed, every visit of Jesus is a mission-oriented manifestation. Readings: Jesus entrusts to Peter the mission of Feeding the Sheep - Disciples break open the closed doors and come out: The resurrected Jesus comes to meet his disciples for the third time. This time, not in the closed doors of the room but in the open space. By now, the disciples have opened their doors and have come out. By now, their fear did disappear. By now, they have received the grace of the Risen Jesus. By now, they have wide open their eyes of faith. Once they have reached to such a spiritual enrichment with the power of resurrection, they need not sit in the house worried and depressed. They are no more closed people but risen ones. As the risen ones they move out. First among them to go out is Peter and following him the others: “I am going fishing” and others immediately respond, “we will go with you” (Jn 21:3). They have come out and worked hard but that night they have not caught anything. - Human capacity ends and God’s grace begins: The disciples have tried for the whole night. They worked hard. They have put in all their strength. But there is a limit to the human power. There is a confines to the human capacity. Human fatigue may face failures. But the story is not over for the Christians and Christian faith. At the end of all this human abilities, after the night of human failures, certainly there enters the divine presence and power. At the end of the night there is a light. At the end of the struggle there is a success. At the end of human loss, there is a divine intervention. This truth is revealed in the gospel of today: the disciples have failed to catch the fish and there enters Jesus to lead them to the enormous quantity of the fish. Only thing needed is to have faith that there is always one who stands by us and to have confidence in the words of Jesus. Jesus tells his disciples to throw the net on the right side of the boat and “they do it” and their positive and faithful response to his word made the miracle possible. With the miraculous fish, there is also a recognition of the Risen Jesus. - The exclaim of joy – “It is Jesus!”: The one disciple, most loved by Jesus, by name John realizes suddenly after the miracle that it is Jesus and he exclaims it with the joy. The attitude of Peter is quite different: when he heard that it is Jesus, he jumped into the sea. There are two important elements to understand here: o First – Peter’s nakedness in the presence of the Jesus’ Greatness: The similar incident takes place when Jesus calls Peter for the first time (Luke 5:1-11). There also Peter finds himself in the helplessness after the night of a great struggle for the fish and Jesus tells him to put the net on the right and there is a great fish. When seeing this, Peter realizes his sinfulness: “go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!” (Lk 5:8). In front of the wonderful presence of Jesus, Peter knows and accepts his own powerlessness and incapacity. It is only after he has kept open his life before Jesus that he receives the mission of fishing the men. Even the risen Jesus want to make Peter realize once again his mission of fishing the world and feeding the sheep and he does this today once Peter jumped into the waters. He jumps into the water, not because he is afraid of Jesus’ presence this time, but with the hope of reaching his risen Lord as early as possible without waiting for the boat to arrive at the shore. This shows the eagerness and readiness of Peter to be with the Lord and to witness his great act of love. o Second – The gesture of Baptism: The jumping of Peter into the waters and getting up at the feet of Jesus reminds us of the gesture of baptism. In the baptism we are immersed in the waters of death and rise up with Christ into the new life. This places the truth unveiled: we need to pass through the waters of suffering, passion and death and only then we can enter into the life of divine grace. If we do not immerse ourselves, there is no possibility to rise up. This also gives us the hope of enduring our daily difficulties. We can endure them because at the end of them there awaits for us the joy. Only when Peter does this immersion and thus participates in the life of Christ, he also the possibility of rising with Christ in the glory. This is the hope we need to have in the face of impossibilities we think of. - Jesus entrust his mission to Peter: Jesus has seen the attitude of Peter who is prepared to immerse himself into the faith in Him. Jesus wishes to confirm this still further. For this he asks Peter three times the question: Simon Peter! Do you love me more than these? (vv. 15-17). Prior to his Passion, Peter has rejected to acknowledge Jesus for three times. Jesus must have surely been offended very much with his attitude. Forgetting this, Peter feels offended when Jesus asks him the question for three times. Jesus asks the question, indeed, not to offend him, but to restore Peter in the faith and love. Peter has to overcome his human fragility and fear to witness the truth. Peter has to affirm his ultimate love for the one who calls him, for Jesus. When Jesus has understood that Peter is now ready and only then he transfer his mission to his care by commanding to him: “feed my sheep”. How much love Peter has poured into the mission of Jesus can be observed in the way he has offered his life. He accepts with joy the crucifixion but with the up-side-down. In fact, the first reading narrates the testimony of Peter. He is no more frightened to talk of Jesus in public. Three things are evident in the testimony of Peter. Firstly, he courageously responds to the Sanhedrin: “we must obey God rather than any human authority” (Acts 5:29). Secondly, he bravely revives his mission: “we are witnesses to these things” (Acts 5:32). And thirdly, above the words, their witness is confirmed by bearing the persecutions for Jesus: “they rejoiced that they were considered worthy to suffer dishonor for the sake of the name” (Acts 5:41). The same Peter who has negated the knowledge of Jesus, has become his ardent testimony. This is possible only because he has allowed himself “to be transformed” in the faith of resurrection by throwing himself into the waters of love of Jesus. Conclusion: Only the one who undergoes pain for Jesus is worthy of glory - The risen Jesus is in his perpetual glory, not because he has proclaimed beautiful things of the Kingdom of God, not because he has worked wonders and miracles of healing and restoring the sick, but because and only because he has accepted and endured the suffering that has come on his way. He has lived his passion with utter obedience and with ultimate love. It is this pain borne that brought him the glory. The Book of Revelation, the second reading of today, makes the point clear. “Worthy is the Lamb that was slaughtered to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!” (Rev 5:12). The lamb is glorified, but the glorified lamb is not an ordinary lamb. It is a lamb that is slain. It is lamb that accepts slaughtering. This manifests the truth once again why Jesus has carried with him the wounds even after his resurrection and within his glorious body. They are the sign of entering into glory. The lesson is here for us: we need not worry when we need to face the tribulations, accusations and incomprehension in life. They are only, and the only means that make us worthy of glory. Bearing upon ourselves the wounds of the cross of suffering and living our pains with joy is the only Christian way to reach to the heights of God’s ultimate blessing. Jesus is the greatest of all examples. Following him, the Apostles and number of martyr-saints have entered into the glory by witnessing Jesus even at the cost of their blood and life. The Christian truth remains the same for ever: the pain for Jesus leads us to the glory in the same Jesus. - Seen from the view point of the gospel the lesson can be learnt in this way: we need to immerse ourselves in the ocean of suffering in order to rise up with Jesus. The path we have received with the baptism has to continue until the end. We need not lose heart when we encounter difficult moments. The night will be over and the day will come. The weakness will pass away and the divine power will replace it. The empty boat will be refilled with the great quantity of fish only if we listen to Jesus and throw our life nets in the place where he indicates, in the Church. The joyful word and the rejoicing smile are to be the answers for the senseless comments that are made on us and about us. We lose nothing if only we follow Jesus. Indeed, we will gain more honor and glory, a honor that is authentic and the glory that lasts forever. Therefore, let us throw ourselves into waters of death in order to rise up with Jesus.

SECOND SUNDAY OF THE EASTER - Year C

SECOND SUNDAY OF THE EASTER – YEAR C: (Acts 5:12-16; Rev 1:9-11a, 12-13, 17-19; John 20:19-31) Theme: We Need to Recognize the Risen Jesus as “Our Lord and Our God!” Reflection: Risen Jesus appears and encourages to grow in faith of him - Eight Days are over. The Easter joy is still in our hearts. We carry with us the new life we have received from the Risen Jesus. We have been risen with Christ. We have learnt from him to rise above the material earth and to travel towards the things of the heaven. The Easter message has brought us to this day – the day of recognizing fully the Risen Jesus as our Lord and our God. - Jesus is risen from the dead. He is still on earth. He wishes to reveal the resurrected glory to his disciples. The revelation of the risen life is needed so that the disciples will come back to the knowledge and acceptance of Jesus in the fullest manner. Jesus would have gone into heaven soon after his resurrection but he does not do it immediately. He does not climb into heaven because he has something more to do. His mission is accomplished: the mission of manifestation of God’s salvation to the world through his life, death and resurrection. The accomplished mission needs to be entrusted for its continuous realization in the world until the times. This commission of the mission is not yet over. Jesus has to complete this entrustment before he ascends into heaven. For this he stays back after his resurrection. - He has already chosen the disciples prior to his passion. He has even placed himself in their hands with the Eucharistic Supper. He has given himself to their responsibility while giving them his Body and his Blood and commanding them to do it in his memory. But it was all before the great Action of the Cross and Resurrection. It was all before the disciples come into the fullest understanding of him. Now the things have been transformed. The new life is inaugurated. The doors of the heaven are opened to the fallen man. The eternal glory is manifested in the resurrection of Jesus. The possibility of salvation of the world is made available. Every man is enabled to access to the offer of God’s redemption. All this has taken place not just in the death of the Lord but in the resurrection of the Lord from the dead. It is because of this death is necessary to enter into the glory of resurrected life. Jesus has manifested this truth and unveiled its necessity by his own personal entrance into the experience of death and new life. - This is the mystery of salvation that God realized in Jesus Christ. In turn, Jesus wills that this mystery is extended to the entire world through the continuation of the same mission he has accomplished. For this he needs to entrust the mission to his disciples. Prior to the entrusting of the mission, he needs to call back all the dispersed disciples. With the arrest of Jesus, almost all of his followers have run away from him expect few who have followed him secretly and finally just one remained until the cross and has been entrusted with his mother. They have abandoned Jesus. They have left Jesus alone. More than anything, they have not placed their trust in him by following until the end. They have run for their life with the distrust and unfaithfulness to Jesus. But Jesus knows that they have acted this way only because of their ignorance and incomprehension of the true mission that he has to fulfill. Now is the time. Jesus is risen. He has to bring back those of his hidden disciples. He has to fill in them the courage. He has to put in them an heart of comprehension of the true life and a commitment to it. He has to do it personally. It is for his Jesus did not go to his Father immediately after his resurrection. He remains for few more days to show himself to his disciples. He stays back in order to meet them in their places and to lead them to the true place of Calvary and of the Garden of Life. - The risen Jesus sets out to seek them. The gospel reading of today appears in this context. It is not only the episode of the recognition of Jesus on the part of Thomas but it is the episode of all the disciples who have found again the great Joy of seeing the Lord, dead and risen. They know truly that he is put to death. Now they know certainly that he is alive again and is with them. This is the true faith and authentic testimony of the disciples. Once we enter deeply into the gospel passage we understand that the faith of the disciples empower us to recognize Jesus as Our Lord and Our God. Readings: Faith overwhelms with the Joy of Recognition: “My Lord and My God!” - Risen Jesus Acts and Speaks: The profound entrance into the gospel leave a space for the deeper meaning of the appearance of the risen Jesus to his disciples. Jesus goes out to visit his disciples where they are. On the same day of his resurrection Jesus offers his risen presence to them. The gestures and the words of Jesus have an immense effect on the life of the disciples. We will reflect upon the attitude of Jesus in his action and in his words. o The evening of that day, the first day of the week (v.19): what is “that day”? It is the day of the resurrection. The evening of the same day of his coming back to life, Jesus walks towards his followers. Why the evening? May be in the human logic, evening indicates the hour of darkness, hour of desperation and hour of discouragement. But in the Christian logic, biblical understanding, “the evening” has a special significance. It is an hour of recompense for the work done: it is in the evening that the workers are paid their wages (Math 20:8). It is an hour of healing: it is in the evening that Jesus has cured many sick people (Mark 1:32). It is an hour of nutrition: it is in the evening that Jesus has multiplied the five loaves of bread and two fish and fed them (Math 14:15). It is an hour of interaction with Jesus: it is in the evening that the risen Jesus meets the discouraged disciples of Emmaus and gives them the gift of his sight (Luke 24:29ff). And now again, it is in the evening that Jesus comes to reveal his risen life to his disciples. Thus, evening is an hour of visitation of the Lord. o Jesus enters even if the doors are closed (v.19): The doors are closed. Indeed, the hearts of the disciples are closed with the fear of giving their life for the Lord. But their closing of the doors of their house or their hearts is not an impediment for the Jesus’ entrance. Jesus can still enter and Jesus enters. Often, our life is closed to the arrival of Jesus. Our conscience is closed to the voice of the Lord. However, Jesus speaks and enters. It is his wish to enter and be with us. o He stands amidst them (v.19): Jesus is the centre of our life. He has come into world only for this: to be with us (Emmanuel) and to pitch his tent among us (John 1:14). Jesus participates in our conditions and situations and takes them upon himself as the centre. o “Peace be with you!” (v.19): This seems to be the first word of Jesus to his disciples after his resurrection. The disciples indeed need peace. They were frightened. They were hidden. They closed themselves. They lost peace and they lost life itself. Jesus knows their condition and that is the reason why he utters his first words: peace be with you! In the same passage the phrase appears three times. It shows how much they are in need of peace of mind and heart. He does not pacify them just with the words but he gives them a proof of his resurrection: the wounded body. o He shows them his hands and his side (v.20): Jesus carries the wounds of the cross in his body even after his resurrection and even after taking the new life. It has a great significance. The suffering, the passion, the death and therefore, the cross, is an element we need to carry always. It is the treasure of our Christian life and it is the richness of salvation. For this, we, the Christians need not fear of bearing within us the wounds. It is only after the cross that there is a resurrection. It is only after the death that there is life. o Disciples experienced a great Joy in seeing the Lord (v.20): The fear has disappeared. They remained wonderstruck. Their joy was immense. Although, they have heard Jesus speaking of his rising on the third day, they truly did not understand those words. Now they have personally seen the Lord. Their joy is doubled when they confirmed him to be Jesus by looking at the signs of the nails in his hands. o He breaths his Spirit and entrusts the mission (vv. 21-23): Breathing the spirit means giving the life. It happened in the beginning of the creation when God breathed into the nostrils of the first man his spirit and made him live. It happens now in the beginning of the new creation when Jesus breathes his spirit to his first testimonies and makes them live. It is the Spirit of the Risen Jesus that the disciples receive. They do not fear anymore to share in his mission – mission of giving their life for the Lord and for the world. - Faith means Recognizing the Lord (vv. 26-29): The first visit of the risen Jesus takes place when Thomas is not present. He is not there. He has gone out. He has missed the possibility of seeing the Jesus. He returns to the place. The disciples express their great joy: “we have seen the Lord.” He does not will to listen to them and believe them. He has his own mode of confirming the reality. He wants to have a personal experience. He wants to touch Jesus. He wants to put his fingers in the wounds that the nails have made and put his hand in his side. Only then he is ready to believe. Until then he places himself outside of the true joy of risen Jesus. Jesus does not want to lose even single one of his disciples. He comes to meet them again after eight days. The doors are still closed. Jesus enters and utters the words of peace. Immediately he calls Thomas: “Come my dear Thomas. You want to do something. You want to test and attest. Come! Look at the wounds in my hands. Put your hand here in the side is pierced.” Thomas realizes the amount of his distrust in him. He recognizes and exclaims with the faith: “My Lord and My God!” (v.28). This the true recognition that emerges from the true faith. The other disciples have only experienced great joy but not a great faith and that’s why they are still in the closed doors and they are still incapable of coming out to testify him. On the other hand, Thomas is different. He did not believe in the beginning because he wanted personal experience. Once he has got that experience his faith is firm, not only in the overwhelming joy but also in the recognition of the risen Jesus as His Lord and his God. Once the recognition of the Lord takes place, the doors have to be open and the barriers between Jesus and us have to be broken. That is the true Easter we can celebrate and live. Conclusion: Let Us Open Our Doors – to the Lord and to our neighbors - Open the Heart to the Lord: The Faith of Thomas is given as a model for us in the Gospel of today. We miss the possibility of meeting Jesus. But Jesus does not miss us. He does not want to lose us. Though we close our hearts Jesus is capable enough to enter and affect our life. Closed doors do not matter to him. They cannot in anyway block his coming. We need to recognize the Lord who stands by us and amidst us. His presence is to be accepted. Thomas recognizes and accepts Jesus as his Lord and God. Immediately he opens his heart to the Lord not only to acclaim him as his Lord and God but also to go out and proclaim it with the testimony of his life. The faith does not remain personal always but it reaches to the other to affect him in the spiritual life. We need to learn such an attitude of recognizing Jesus. We need to break the sealed tombs of our life. We need to break the chained jails of our closed life style. It is faith that makes us open our hearts to the Lord. Do we have such faith in the Risen Jesus? If we say “yes”, we need to break open our heart to the Lord. As a consequence, we open also the door of our house to those who knock them. - Open the House to the Neighbor: We receive the Joy of Life in this Easter celebrations. What we receive is not certainly for ourselves only. It is for sharing with others. We receive the life to extend it to our neighbors. Christian life is to be elevated with the confidence in the other. The trust in the other is what is lacking in the present world. We live as though we do not have any neighbor at all. We are not interested in the other and often we become indifferent to the needs of the others. It is not certainly a Christian attitude. Christ is never for himself: his entire life is for the Father and for the world. So also our Christian life: to be for the Lord in whom we believe and to be for the neighbor with whom we live. Therefore, we need to keep the door of our life open to those who wish to enter. Our true recognition of the Lord makes us move to the other with the doors of our hearts open. This is the true Easter testimony that the risen Jesus expects from us.

EASTER SUNDAY - YEAR C

EASTER SUNDAY – Resurrection of Jesus Christ – Year C (Acts 10:34a, 37-43; Col 3:1-4; John 20:1-9) Theme: Alleluia! We are called to rise up from the earthly powers Reflection Resurrection of Jesus – centrality of Christian faith - The Resurrection of Jesus is the ‘Central Point’ of the salvation history: CENTRAL POINT BETWEEN REMEMBRANCE AND REALIZATION. o We move backwards into the past to REMEMBER the Wonderful Acts of God in the history from the first day of creation to this day of ‘new creation’ and ‘new life’ in and through the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, therefore we are always connected to the beautiful experience of past; that’s what we have done in the liturgy of these past few days and in the special manner in the immediate preparations for this great event, that is, in the Vigil:  We have just completed the forty days of preparations with the fasting, prayer and abstinence.  We have just finished the intense preparation in the Holy Week in order to be with the Risen Jesus.  We have fruitfully and gracefully celebrated the ‘Holy Triduum’ in which we have immersed ourselves in the mysteries of Christ and in a special way, in His Passion and Death.  We have also just seen and celebrated with heart-filled rigor, the ‘LIGHT OF GLORY’ and ‘JOY OF RESURRECTION’ in the Vigil of Easter, last night. In this celebration, before re-echoing of Gloria, we have reviewed all the significant events of God’s doing starting from the creation to the Jesus’ passion and death and sepulcher.  In this way we moved backwards from the central point of Jesus’ Resurrection and thus we have become the Christians of ‘Contemplation’ (remembering) of the God’s Redemptive designs. o From now on, we move forwards into the future to REALIZE the ‘newness of life’ from today to that day of ‘New Heavens and New Earth’ (the predication of Apocalypse: “I will make everything new”) again with the faith and hope in the Risen Jesus. Therefore we always go with hope that we are not condemned to death but destined for the new life in Christ. We celebrate this ‘Realization’ in the liturgy of coming few days, in this Easter Season. o Now is the Time to start the ‘Easter Season’. Season of Joy, season of Life and Season of Victory and we walk along with the Risen Christ for these forty days glancing to his own manifestation of his risen glory amidst the people. o With the celebration of His Ascension and the descent of the Holy Spirit, the possibility of this realization is made very easy to those who heed to the voice of the Holy Spirit, for He is the One who makes everything new and alive. o In this way we move forward from the central point of Jesus’ Resurrection and thus we become the Christian of ‘Active Mission’ (realization) of God’s presence in and through us. - Easter People – Living Witnesses: People who base themselves upon this CENTRE (Jesus’ Resurrection) are both ‘Contemplative’ (prayer) and ‘Missionary’ (testimony). o People of the Resurrection are not to stop themselves at the ‘beautiful moments of past experience’ (with the life of contemplation and prayer) but actively live and make other live the ‘joyful moments of the future glory’ (with the life of testimony and action). o Contemplation is certainly necessary to gather the spiritual force and energy but it cannot just be outside of the dispensing of this spirit to others which is possible only in the active life of witnessing the joy of Jesus. o The contrary is also true that the active witnessing to Jesus is not authentically possible if it is not strengthened by prayer and contemplation. o Therefore, Easter People move backward into the past to remember the deeds of the Lord accomplished in Christ ‘in contemplation’ and step forward into the future to realize the great things to happen in the Spirit ‘in mission’ and thus they live this present moment throwing themselves completely into the hands of Risen Jesus. Resurrection of Jesus: proofs of its attestation possible? A divine truth of faith! - History and Revelation: o Historically, in the sphere of mere REASON, the Resurrection of Jesus seems to be dim and unclear for various reasons and we are not sure of historical inscriptions for this event. o Revelation of God, in the sphere of authentic FAITH, the Resurrection of Jesus is completely true and a great event that changed the face of the world. o Then, how can we proceed forward without any proof of historical reason: The Person of Jesus Christ himself is the Greatest Proof (self witness): o He is not only historical but revelatory. His journey is not from the history to revelation but vice-versa. He is revealed in history and made the history complete and perfect. Therefore, in the matter of Jesus Christ depending only on the ‘historical proof/reason’ is not enough. Revelation goes beyond the history. History asking for the reason in the realm of Revelation of God is like, as Augustine holds of the Trinitarian Mystery, trying to put ‘ocean into the small vessel’. Therefore, shall we leave it here and say that it is a Mystery that our eyes don’t understand? We should not fall, in this way, fall into the ‘escapism’. o Everything about the ‘Historical Jesus’ is FORETOLD: Though it is revelation of God, nothing happened suddenly. God’s deeds are always prophetic. From the moment God decided to save man from the power of sin and death through His Son Jesus Christ, He has foretold everything ahead of its actual happening. The Old Testament is greatest basis for this foretelling of Jesus Christ who is to come. The greatest ‘Christ-Event’, which includes his annunciation, birth, preaching, passion, death and resurrection and coming of the Holy Spirit, itself is foretold. Christ himself said that He has come to fulfilled what the Law, Prophets, the Psalms of the Old Testament told about him. o He himself foretold about his ‘death and resurrection’, at least three times, long before it actually took place and even though his disciples did not understand it properly. Now, He is (risen) what he has already foretold about himself before. - Is the personal witness completely valid and are there not any other witnesses? Disciples and His chosen people (witness of near and dear ones): o His disciples were the eye witnesses of his ‘Risen Life and Glory’. o Mary Magdalene and Mary worshipping Risen Jesus (Math 28:9); o Disciples on the road to Emmaus recognize Jesus in the breaking of the bread (Lk 24:31); o The dialogue between Mary Magdalene and Jesus and finally she, with the joy of seeing her ‘Rabbouni’, announces to the disciples: ‘I have seen the Lord’ (Jn 20:18). o Disciples, themselves fearful and hiding, receive ‘peace and power to forgive sins’ from the Risen Lord (Jn 20:19-29). o ‘It is the Lord’ (Jn 21:7) is the joyful testimony of the disciple to Peter and other disciples when the Risen Jesus appeared to the seven disciples. o Peter receiving the authority of ‘feeding the sheep’ (Jn 21:15-19) after confirming his conditional love for Jesus. - On the foundation of these Apostles’ faith and experience of Risen Jesus that the Christianity has its construction and it is still alive and active like a double edged sword. Therefore we cannot simply eliminate the witness of his disciples on the ‘fact of resurrection of Jesus’. But with this experience of faith, can we satisfy our mind’s doubts on this event and say that no reason could explain it but only faith? - By its fruit the status of the tree is measured: We keep reason aside because no one saw Jesus rising from the tomb; we keep the self-witness of Jesus or witness of his disciples aside for time being and now we will try to analyze and rationalize what is the consequence of Jesus’ Resurrection? What happened in the life of disciple who followed him till this moment? What is result of the wonderful words and marvelous deeds he has preached and accomplished? What is the destiny of the Kingdom of God that He established with his passion and death? Is everything gone in vain? The simple answer as we see today, is NO. - Disciples, who were timid and hiding, went on preaching the good news to the ends of the world, even to the cost of their own lives. - The primitive Christian community, with the life of sharing and togetherness, has witnessed the life and mission of Jesus. - The innumerable martyrs who have shed their blood for the ‘vision of Glory of God’ in the next life which Jesus promised. - The small mustard seed which is being planted (with His death) and sprouted (with His resurrection) is now a big tree (Kingdom of God) which has been spread whole through the earth and all the believers enjoying its fruit. By this fruit of faith we know and taste the tree of life (Risen Jesus). - Therefore, history will stop somewhere but not the revelation, but history is needed for revelation; reason has some limitations but not the experience of faith, still reason help to strengthen the faith; Is not unintelligent to search for the one who lives among the dead? It is unwise to minimize the ‘mysteries of God’ to the level of human tiny mind. Resurrection of Jesus – A passage to the true life made possible and easy - True Easter is a Passage from the slavery to the freedom – old paschal mystery o The passing through is the meaning of paschal mystery: in the Old Testament this passage is designed and guided by God himself through Moses. The passage was from Egypt to the Cana: o from the slavery to the liberty; o from the hunger to the feeding with milk and honey; o from the desperation of perdition to the hope of life; o from the darkness of suffering to the light of joy; and o from the death of fear and sin to the life of children of God. - The passage through the desert and through the red sea: The journey was not at all easy. They had to undergo many trial and temptations. Their paschal journey was from their Last Meal in Egypt to the First Meal in the land of Cana. They had to step out of their house in which they ate together and set out for the travel. In this journey the two greatest hurdles they had to pass through with the complete trust in their liberator are: the desert and the red sea: o Desert is the time of helplessness and a time of test for the total dependency of the people on the providence of God alone. They should not give up faith and hope. They have to manifest their total confidence in God. They would find themselves in the abandonment but they have to preserve their utter obedience and fidelity to the God’s word. And many of the Israel have reached the Promised Land because of their regain of hope, by getting up from the falls of their despair and disbelief. o Red Sea is another hurdle they have to pass through. They have to believe in the power and handiwork of God. The important gesture is to get down (because it is deep) into the sea (because the waters stood like the walls) and pass through it and reach the other side. In other words, it is a time to pass through the danger/valley of death (its profound deepness) and come back to the life which will not turn back (life on the other side of the sea), the life which will never be taken away from anybody because who follow them to destroy them are destroyed with the waters of the sea. What a significance we have from this: it is not the waters that saved them but the power of God. Waters has the capacity to give life (our daily experience reveals to us) and to lead to death (the calamities that are created by the floods and storms). But God alone knows how to use them for saving his people. It is through this experience of moments of death in the passing through of the red sea that God opened them the way into the Life of Promised Land. - True Easter is a Passage from the Eucharist to the Actual Life – new paschal mystery o This is the same experience that Jesus manifests in his journey towards his Father. His paschal journey starts not just from the arrest in Gethsemane but the Last Supper itself. Jesus comes out the room in which he had the Last Meal with his disciples and sets out to the Father with whom he will have the First Meal of glory. Even here Jesus had to undergo two main hurdles: abandonment (the desert experience of the Old Testament) and death (the Red Sea experience of the Antic Journey). o He is abandoned by his disciples and even feels the total abandonment by his Father too: “Eli Eli lama sabactani” – O God, O God why have you abandoned me. o He has also undergone the red sea experience: he gone down to the earth in the tomb which signifies the passage from one side to the other, one stage to the other, transformation from one image to the other; it is only through this he is asked to enter into the bosom of the Father. Even being God’s Son he had accepted – out of free will – to pass through this experience. It is because he knows well that this is the ONLY WAY that God has PREPARED for the SALVATION OF THE WORLD. Passing through the desert/abandonment and death/waters of red sea. - The Vigil Liturgy of Easter re-lives this experience: o We participate in the liturgy of the baptism in which the waters are blessed and sprinkled as the manifestation our spiritual immersion into the divine life. We renovate the baptismal promising of renouncing the evil and dying for the sin so that we profess our faith with vigorous freedom. o Even prior to that many readings of the Old Testament that the Church proposes prepares us to take part in the promises of God which are fulfilled in the New Testament: it is a true passage from the Old to the New Covenant, a passage from the promise to the fulfillment, a passage from the Proclaimed Word to the Celebrated Eucharist. o We are called to celebrate this feast not only to ‘remember’ what has happened in the past but also to ‘participate’ in them with the task of faith and mission: to proclaim and to live the Easter – real passage from our present life of the world to the future life of God’s glory. - Readings becomes our spiritual nourishment: o First Reading: Only question we can ask while reading this piece from the Acts in which Peter preaches to the family of roman soldier is: who was Peter before the event of resurrection of Jesus and who is Peter now after experiencing the Risen Jesus? Enough we have got enough of the proof. o Second Reading: In as much as we believe in the Risen Jesus we have to search for the things above. We are no more in the sepulcher but risen. No more looking down with desperation but looking high. We are not to be immersed in the life of the earth but with the hope of rising again to our Life and our Life is Risen Christ (v. 4). o Gospel Reading: ‘come and see’ – ‘see and believe’: John starts the mission of Jesus with the call to his disciples to ‘come and see’ (Jn 1:39) and now he ends the mission of Jesus with disciples’ “seeing and believing” (Jn 20:8).  According to John’s theology, this is the process of knowing and acknowledging the Truth that has come into the earth: COME – SEE – BELIEVE.  Once we believe, which goes beyond the reason and historical proofs, THIS EVENT OF RESURRECTION becomes the Day of Victory, Day of Life and the Day of Alleluia because, as the Psalmist says, this is the day that the LORD HAS MADE, let us rejoice and be glad in it. Alleluia. We are enabled to break and rise up from the material tombs - Jesus is risen! Let us sing with the joy the acclamation we have missed for the forty days of lent and acclamation is Alleluia! Alleluia! Jesus has won the powers of evil and death, Alleluia! Jesus has broken down the chains of darkness, Alleluia! Jesus has divided the earth into two sides like that of the partition of the red sea, Alleluia! Jesus has opened the closed tomb, Alleluia! The acclamation of the joy and glory of the resurrection can continue further. We truly become the people of Alleluia by this. But the acclamations of Alleluia are not enough. The carry the fact in mind and live it in concretely in life is what is needed. The fact is that Jesus is risen and made us capable of rising from our closed tombs of material life. - Let us rise up! Let us get up. We are not made to be attached to the earth. We are not called to be immersed in the material ground. We have to break its inclinations and rise up. This is the impact of Jesus’ resurrection in our life: we are no more buried but risen up. Two little examples can help us to understand better this fact. o The seed: The seed is sown in the ground. Indeed, the ground is necessary for the sprouting. The ground helps the seed to transform. But once the seed is transformed it does not remain buried in the ground. The very nature of the seed is not be buried always. Further, it breaks the earth and comes up. It breaks the hard ground and rises above. So also our Christian life. We do not belong to this ground or the earth. We need the material world indeed. But we need it only till we sprout up and transform. Once we are transformed in faith and Christian charity, the ground remains always under our feet. We do not anymore become slaves to the ground. Though we are rooted in the ground, our ultimate nature is to stand over it and above it and grow higher and higher. Jesus is buried but he does not remain there forever because it is not his place of living. He breaks open the ground and comes out victorious. We need to understand that by his resurrection Jesus has made us capable of leaving behind the material ground and transcend in our spiritual life. o The egg: The egg is the transforming ground for the chick. Once the essence of the egg changes its form and becomes chick, it does not remain in it any longer. It break the egg and comes out. The tomb is like the egg. It may look dark and desperate place but it helps the insider to take his true form. Jesus comes out of the tomb like chick comes out of egg. The Easter teaching for us lies here. Let us come out our closed lives. How long can we stay there without seeing the light and without interacting with the world around. Easter Jesus asks us to open the doors of our life to allow the fresh air of hope, faith and charity to enter in. Jesus comes out and never closes his life but manifests himself to his disciples and to the world. So also. Once we come out in faith we should not turn back but to witness our life with an authentic openness to the other. We need to understand that Jesus by coming out of the tomb has give us the capacity to break open our secured, prejudiced and closed lives so that we can see the face of the other and meet him in the concrete situation of reciprocal affection. - Only when we begin to see the fact of resurrection and take from it the strength to live it in our daily situation we really celebrate the Easter. Otherwise, Easter comes and goes as every year without touching us in any way. Jesus is risen not because he wants to show to the world that God is great and nothing is impossible to him and thus to manifest his glory. Jesus is risen because he wants to re-bring man to his lost capacity of Christian elevation. Man is primarily and originally created to live and to share his life with the creation offered to him. He lost his capacity because he desired to stay only in the ground and thus buried in the material pleasures. Jesus is risen so that human being can get back his power to break the chains of evil and death and come out resurrected and transformed. It is possible for Christ and it will always be possible also to those who follow him in profundity. Let us not stop ourselves with the celebration but live the fact in our everyday life. Let us Live and Act as the Risen Christians. Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!

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.