GOOD FRIDAY OF THE LORD'S PASSION

                                            "GOOD FRIDAY"

In today's liturgy we re- live an experience of the suffering and death of Jesus who brought us salvation. We follow Jesus on the way of the cross and witnessed the tragic moments of his life. We realized how Jesus identified himself with all human experiences including suffering and death. He did not spare himself from the mental agonies of a person who cries out at the moment of rejection and alienation.

Jesus' passion must have shocked us to see how wretched and ugly human life can be at its lowest level. Prophet Isaiah graphically presents us the picture of the man of sorrows in the hymn of the suffering Servant( Is 52-53). In this context the suffering servant can be nobody but the suffering of Jesus in all details. Seeing his wounded, deformed face people looked away from him. He was despised and rejected by all, and the prophet reminds us that he was carrying our sorrows. He was punished for our sins. He was wounded for our transgressions. Let us remember that it is by his wounds that we were healed.

Dear brothers and sisters it may perhaps sound strange that the day on which Jesus suffered crucifixion  is being commemorated as, " Good Friday." If it is " good" day, it must be also a" beautiful day, because goodness and beauty go hand in hand. In some languages other than English " Good Friday" is known as "sorrowful Friday" emphasizing the tragic aspect of the day. The challenge to each one of us is that how can a tragic and sorrowful day be at the same time a good and beautiful day? It can only be explained by showing  the paradoxical nature of this particular day.

A paradox has always two contrasting faces. It is one and same reality with two different experiences. Both these experience are true and they cannot separate from each other like the two sides of the coin.

The Friday which is unique to our salvation has two faces: one looking backward and the other looking forward. One looks at the suffering and humiliation of death and the other looks at the joy and glorification of resurrection. Both these aspects together constitute the Paschal mystery. Thus in order to understand this mystery in its full depth, height and breath of the Church celebrates it in three days of the Paschal Triduum ( Three days).

The Pascal mystery is unfolded as a " passage"from death to resurrection, beginning in the evening  of the Holy Thursday and ending in the evening of the Easter Sunday. On " Good Friday we are the crucial moment of our Pascal experience, at the peak of an awareness, where death and life meet and part at the same moment. It is like the midnight which marks, on the one hand, the end of the night and on the other, the beginning  of the dawn. It is at this moment that the fullest meaning of the cross of Jesus Christ is revealed.

The cross of Christ enables us to see suffering  and death and all our struggles of day to day life in the light of resurrection. It enlightens the darkness surrounding us with the light of hope. It reminds us that we are the inheritors of the kingdom of God, even though we are still on the pilgrimage towards our final goal. 

The meaning of the cross in our daily life can be compared with the following analogy. By applying this analogy Pope John Paul has once said that our life on earth is in the process of continuous transformation as an artwork in the hands of the artist. He said that Christian life is creative life in which every Christian is to be turned to an artwork.

In the creation of an artwork the artist works with materials like marble, wood, or paints. The artist seeks to attain the final image in the formless materials by working on them and transforming  them according to the given design. In the case of human life, the raw and hard experiences of day to day life, the struggles  and problems, sins and failures are the materials to be transformed. The design to be realized in these life- materials is the image of Christ. The cross is the way or the method we have to adopt in sculpting our lives into beautiful art works.

As Christians we are motivated by the vision of the hidden image of Christ in all our human experience and proceed to realize it like an artist  with an imaginative mind. The artist can see the possibility of a beautiful image even in a rugged marble piece.

In the Christian tradition the cross is known as the Tree of life. As the symbol of resurrection and life, it is not a static object but a dynamic experience. To carry the cross means to move with Christ, following him in discipleship and to share his destiny. Jesus has explicitly said: If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow me(Mk 8:34).

Pope Francis had emphasized in his first sermon in Vatican on 14 March the nature of Christian  faith as the movement. He said, we have to move with the cross in following Jesus: " When we journey without the cross, when we build without the cross and when we confess Christ without the cross, we are not disciples of the Lord: We are worldly, we are bishops, priests, cardinals, popes, but not disciples of the Lord."

In the cross we find salvation,life and hope. The fruit of the cross is eternal life. Let this Good Friday imprint in our hearts  the sign of the cross which may always remind us of the challenges of our life in following  Jesus Christ faithfully.

9th JUNE, THURSDAY OF THE 10th WEEK, WEEKDAYS REFLECTIONS AND MEDITATIONS

1. Kings 18:41-46     2. Gospel: Mt 5:20-26

                    "Do we benefit from anger?"

Why Jesus got angry in the temple? He got angry because people were turning the temple into a market place. Furthermore he got angry with the scribes because they valued the law more than the hunger of the disciples. He got angry with the pharisees because they valued the law more than the crippled man who could not walk. He got angry with the scribes and the pharisees and called them brood of vipers.

What is Jesus saying here? Does he mean that we must not get angry? The anger of the Lord referred to in the gospel is not the same as anger in the temple or the anger at the Pharisees or the anger at Scribes because they were heart-hearted. The anger that the Lord refers to in the Gospel is anger that is nourished, anger that is nurtured, anger that is enlarged which is resentment, which is developed throughout the years. Anger that we don't like let go.

In advanced psychological studies, modern psychologists call such kind of anger a resentment which turn to resistance, and then builds up towards revenge. We all know that, quietly from a distance, when we see misfortune on the one who did us wrong, we say, " sweet revenge."

How Jesus calls us to respond to such kind of resentment, resistance and revenge?

First, is communication. It is advised that if you feel resentment and resistance in your heart, you must talk. Talk about your feelings/share your feelings with those concerned. Communicate, build bridges and not walls.

Second is compromise. This is not all about compromise with evil. It is rather to look for meeting points, to look for halfway points where one party can give a way and the other can give way and people can meet halfway, without compromising morality without compromising commandments. To bring reconciliation, there are somethings that we must keep absolutely but we must learn to give way.

Last, is about Contemplation. When we have met halfway, let us look at the same direction and pray.

            

8 WEDNESDAY, 10th WEEK OF THE YEAR II ORDINARY TIME

                       1. 1Kings 18:20-39,  II. Gospel: Mt 5:17-19

                                        "TEACHING ABOUT THE LAW"

We are told about a story of a young priest who felt guilt simply because he failed to give anointing of the sick to a bedridden woman in a mission hospital. He was the one in fact who made it possible for the woman to get confined in the hospital, visited her frequently and even brought her food since her relatives lived far away. However, she died without anointing- the most important thing on earth a young priest failed to deliver to the woman." That is what you think?" Said the nun in charge, " God's mercy and forgiveness is far greater than our sacraments." Comforting words, indeed. The priest felt not only comforted but also challenged to become a better instrument of God's mercy and forgiveness especially in the administration of sacraments, they being God's gifts to believers. Sincere human failure in the fulfillment of sacramental duties should not be a cause of guilt but rather an occasion for faith in the workings of God in people's lives.

The aim of the law is to facilitate order and keeps the peace. But it is the spirit of the  law that makes it life-giving. The letter should  point to the Divine lawgiver who dispenses justice tempered by love, understanding and mercy." ..... I did not come to abolish the law or the prophets....until all things have taken place," says Jesus in today's gospel. St. Paul proclaims that with Christ, believers are enabled "to be ministers of new covenant no longer depending on a written law but on the Spirit."

7th TUESDAY WEEK 10 YEAR II

1. I kings 17: 7-16

2. Gospel ;Mt 5: 13-16

                        " You are the salt of the earth"

There was a preacher who was called suddenly out of his parish, thus he asked the new youth minister to conduct services on Sunday. When he returned, he asked his wife how the young man had done. " Not so well," she reported. " It was the poorest sermon I had ever heard, nothing to it at all." Meeting the youth minister later, the preacher asked him how he had managed. " Pretty good, I guess,"replied the young man. " As I did not have time to prepare anything myself, I just used one of your sermons."

We cannot simply parrot the words of God. They have to be backed by good works. Just like salt that is tasteless, the words of God remain meaningless when one cannot show good deeds as testimonies. Christian participation is essential to show God's words as operative and effective. Without active participation, we also invite disaster because we do not fulfill our role as the ' salt of the earth' which bring purity to life and as well as an ' antiseptic power' to life's excesses

Jesus in our today's gospel tells his disciples that they are the salt of the earth. What does Jesus'statement to his disciples imply? He does not tell his disciples that they may easily melt when water comes. The message of Jesus to his disciples and to us all Christians is that as salt preserves food from corruption, likewise Christians are meant by God to preserve this world from corruption.

Let us also understand that salt also gives taste to food and improves our appetite. Without salt food is tasteless. Christians are to give flavor to the world, make it desirable to live in ( make it the best place to live) by their way of life, as described in the beatitudes. Salt heals wounds. Christians are meant to be a healing force for people's wounds brought about by sin.

6 JUNE ,MONDAY IN WEEK 10 ORDINARY TIME DAILY MEDITATIONS AND REFLECTIONS

                        DAILY  MEDITATIONS AND REFLECTIONS

1Kings 17:1-6

2.Gospel:Mt 5:1-12

                                              " What do we value most?"

A certain Biblical scholar once said, " The beatitudes take the accepted worldly standards a and turn them upside down: It is indeed very surprising that the people Jesus calls happy, the world would call them wretched and the people Jesus calls wretched, the world would call them happy." When Jesus says, " woe to you who are rich," He is saying if you set your hearts and expend all your energies to obtain the things which the world values, you will get them, surely, but that is all you get, no more no less.

Nevertheless, in striving to be loyal to God and true to Christ, you will run into all kinds of trouble and ridicule, persecuted even because of Him; you may, by the world's  standards, look unhappy and unfortunate, but much of your payment/reward will be joy and happiness with God for all eternity.

Let us have a glance on these eight beatitudes

In our gospel today, the first beatitude is addressed both to the poor and the rich. To be poor in spirit means that life has to be lived in a radical dependence on the goodness and providence of God who is really the source of all good things. This beatitude does not leave out the rich people, in fact it encourages them to share their abundance with those who have so little to live a decent human existence for after all God is the true source of security and wealth.

The second beatitudes touches the core of our wounded human condition. The capacity to mourn does not bring only healing to those who are suffering but also it heals and comforts us as well.

The third beatitude is all about tranquility and gentles of spirit in a person united with God, who is filled not only with the passion to right the wrong but also the compassion to offer renewal to the wrongdoer. 

The fourth beatitude  is all about deepest thirsty and hunger of the human heart, which really is the thirst and hunger for the righteousness of God realized in justice. When justice flourishes, God's righteousness reigns.

The fifth beatitude gives a clarification concerning mercy as something more than pity. It is a movement of the heart and will for the suffering of others in a true and genuine caring. Moreover, only those who have known God's mercy and compassion can truly be merciful and compassionate to those who suffer.

The six beatitude speaks of a purity of heart that centers on God through one's concern and compassion for others. Let us understand that centering all our plans,attention, relationship and other commitment to God brings transformation to our world steeped in suffering and despair.

The seventh beatitudes tells us the triumph of peace in men and women who toil and labor for peace. True peace is found on love, justice and truth. When one of these human values is violated, peace is not attained. Peace is a total and integral human reality.

The eight and last beatitudes exalts persecution for the sake of righteousness. Suffering born of love and commitment is a suffering which is truly united with the suffering of the crucified Christ.

    

May the passion of our Lord Jesus Christ be always in our hearts!

4th SATURDAY IMMACULATE HEART OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY, DAILY REFLECTIONS AND MEDITATIONS YEAR II

1. Is 6:1-9  

2. Gospel: Lk 2:41-51

            " THE HEART THAT LOVED GOD"

Dear brothers and sisters, today we are celebrating the memorial of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. The feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary follows the Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus which was yesterday. Looking at the two devotions, they seem to be closely linked with each other simply because " Mary's role in the Church is inseparable from her union with Christ and flows directly from it... this union of the mother and with the Son in the work of salvation is made manifest from the time of Christ's virginal conception up to his death," ( CCC nos.964, 1172).

Tracing from history we can understand that this devotion to Immaculate Heart of Mary grew up in parallel, but at a lesser intensity than that of devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus only starting to become more prominent during the time of St. John Eudes. John Eudes was born in 1601 in Normandy, France. He died on August 19,1680 and was canonized by Pope Pius XI on May 31, 1925.

There is a difference between the devotions to the two Hearts, that is the heart of Jesus and the heart of Mary. The difference is that the sacred heart of Jesus emphasizes His divine heart as being full of love for humankind, while devotion to Mary's Immaculate Heart is essentially concerned with the love that her heart has for Jesus, our God and Savior. Therefore, Mary's heart is meant to be a model for the way we should love God. She is really a human person who is able to fully and really love God in the way that He should be loved since her heart is Immaculate which means sinless. It is because if Mary did not respond generously with a loving " yes" to God's proposal of being the Mother of his Son, then we would not have had a Savior and we would not be saved. For us, our daily response to God should also:  " Thy will be done."

Mary's Immaculate heart is honored simply because she was chosen  to be the Mother of God. Recognizing her extra ordinary holiness called to share in and cooperate in His redemptive sufferings, and the immense love she bestowed on Jesus as His mother.

Dear brothers and sisters, the feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary invites us to have contemplative heart. It is only with a contemplative heart, that we can recall our past in retrospection and see the hand of God in our personal history. It is with contemplative heart that we become more aware of the presence of God in the present, and that will deepen our hope and confidence in God to journey into the future.

You may put this question before yourself that, what kind of heart do you have? Do you have a stony heart, a wooden heart, or perhaps a plastic heart? Another question is: What are the sins in your heart? There is no real peace in your heart as long as you hold in it the following sins of the heart:

 H- Hatred; E- Envy; A- Anger; R- Resentment; T- Timidity.

THURSDAY OF THE 9th WEEK OF THE YEAR II ORDINARY TIME, DAILY REFLECTIONS AND MEDITATIONS

1. 2Tm 2:8-15

2. Gospel: Mk 12:28-34

" OUR GREATEST COMMANDMENT"

In the course of reading many books including stories, I came a cross this story about a puppy that for the first time ventured out in the farm. Each animal the puppy met boasted of its usefulness and the great position each occupied in the heart of their master. Feeling useless and humbled the little dog found a secluded place and began to cry. However, that night when the master came home, the little puppy ran to him, licked his feet and jumped into his arms. Falling to the ground, the master and puppy romped in the grass. Finally holding him close to his chest the master said, " No matter how tired I am when I get home, I feel better when you greet me. I wouldn't trade you for all the animals in the farm."

In our today's gospel we are reminded about the commandment of Love.  Loving God requires humility and playfulness of a child. No matter how much I have learned in the philosophy, theology and other secular studies and what position I occupy, if I do not approach God and love Him with total abandon and surrender of everything, my love for Him will always remain wanting. Not that  I shall reach perfection in my loving; and yet, the desire and the decision to be perfect must burn in heart all the days of my life. It is what God wants; it is the reason for my existence; it is the source of my happiness that only God can provide.

The next step is loving my neighbor. When I begin to love neighbor because I love God, then I can be sure that my love is genuine. It won't be self seeking, it will not be selfish, instead it will be godlike, because loving one's neighbor now becomes integrated in my love for God. Then what does Jesus mean when he says love of neighbor? love of neighbor means radical love;  love that does not seek interest or any benefit for itself;  a love that sees the image of God in each one of us.