Divine Mercy Sunday Year C 2025

We have a challenge here. It is having a Novena—an integral element of the Church’s rich devotional practices—inserted into the highest and most important liturgical days of the Church. If one seriously follows the devotion, one enters the Novena on Good Friday and it continues for nine days oblivious of Easter until one reaches Divine Mercy Sunday.

Having this Novena gives a sense that the devotion to the Divine Mercy overshadows the high point of our Liturgical preparation and celebration which are the Easter Vigil and Easter Sunday. It feels as if we have shifted the climax or summit to Divine Mercy Sunday. For some clerics and many informed Catholics, taught since Vatican II to focus on Easter Sunday, this feels odd as if we have slipped and slid back in our liturgical development.

A way to appreciate Divine Mercy and its placement on the 2nd Sunday of Easter is to understand the meaning of Eucharistic Adoration. What is it essentially? You may have noticed that there has been a movement to downplay what had been deemed a devotional practice. What is the point of this sweet saccharine pious religiosity when the world is in such a bad shape. How much better it is for us to change the world than to waste an hour of doing nothing before the Blessed Sacrament. Action is needed, passivity to be avoided.

It is not a waste of time as taught by recent Popes. In fact, Eucharistic Adoration helps deepen one’s relationship with Christ, present in the Blessed Sacrament. Since the Eucharist is the source and summit of the Church’s liturgical life and action, spending time before the Blessed Sacrament allows for the continued worship and adoration of Christ outside of Mass. Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity spend an hour before the Lord in the tabernacle before they enter into active service. Time with Christ truly present in the Blessed Sacrament allows the sisters to transition more naturally and effortlessly to serving Christ present in our brothers and sisters. If one can appreciate Eucharistic Adoration as intimacy with Christ that leads to action, then it is possible to see the link between Easter and Divine Mercy.

In fact, there is a firm connexion between Easter Sunday and the 2nd Sunday of Easter and it is not just the Octave that binds the two Sunday together. During the Easter Triduum, the power of God’s mercy is in full display through the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Jesus. In today’s Gospel, we see the same mercy at work; albeit sacramental in expression but still, it is real and true.

Forgiveness is a merciful breath as Jesus exhaled His Spirit onto the Disciples to give them the power to forgive sins. Power is not might or agency, competence or capability. Rather, it is the compassion to lift up the sinner. Confession is never to put a person down but instead it is mercy lifting a person up to reorient their lives. In this aspect, turn to the Gospel. History seemed to have labelled St Thomas as Doubting Thomas forgetting that in response to St Thomas’ misery and regret for not being present at the first Post-Resurrection appearance, Jesus actually gave St Thomas a chance to deepen his faith.

The Gospel does suggest that Christ berated or castigated St Thomas for his lack of faith. If we were the type who are easily hurt, that would be what we hear, that is, Christ being disappointed by St Thomas’ lack of belief, etc. But, if we are not blinded by or wrapped up in victimhood, we can experience Jesus basically saying “Great would be those who believe despite not having seen but here, my dear Thomas, come! Thread your fingers and put your hands into these wounds because they are powerful proofs of my love”. If St Thomas’ ego were easily bruised, he would have been hurt but instead, he left us an acclamation which we are now grateful for. “My Lord and my God”.

In our liturgical tradition, the Acclamation of Faith is the three we are familiar with—(1) We proclaim your death, O Lord. (2) When we eat this bread and drink this cup, (3) Save us, Saviour of the world. However, the Church IN Ireland, not the Church OF Ireland, has the liberty to reply to the “Mysterium fidei”, with “My Lord and my God”. Not sure if they have changed that after 2011 but St Thomas shows us how uplifting mercy can be and during the Acclamation of Faith, we are supposed to look up for as God’s mercy is lifted up, we are being drawn into Him.

Thus, a pertinent question to ask is if there is too much mercy. The late Pope Francis seemed to think otherwise. Regardless of how some might feel about mercy being too lenient, the truth remains that God’s mercy is limitless and His forgiveness is fathomless. The greater the sinner, the greater the right to Christ’s merciful love. The caveat is that my access to Christ’s merciful love does not stop with me. It does not end with me receiving God’s forgiveness. It is only selfish when I demand mercy but fail to extend it to others. When I ask for God’s mercy, I am meant to share that with others. We can surely recall what happened to the forgiven debtor in Mt 18: 21ff who was unable to forgive his fellow debtor.

In conclusion, Divine Mercy Sunday, logically follows the Easter Resurrection. It was the Lord who instructed St Faustina that He desired the 2nd Sunday of Easter be designated as Divine Mercy. It was up to St John Paul II to establish it. Pope Francis' focus on mercy has taught our generation that not only does God’s mercy lift us up but it also draws us into a communion of partaking and sharing of God’s benevolence. As we celebrate God’s love for us, shown through the Sacrament of Reconciliation, His Divine Mercy is an invitation to reach out to others with compassion. The less aware we are of those who are in need, the greater the absence of mercy. If we are comfortable, which is not a bad place to be, then mercy is the balm we pour onto others who find themselves caught in conflict, who are not at peace or are in trouble. The forgiveness of God that we partake invites us to be merciful to others as a gratitude to the Lord who has been merciful to us.

Easter Vigil/Sunday Year C 2025

From Good Friday’s long Gospel narrative that should allow us to enter first-hand into the drama of Christ’s Passion, Easter Vigil takes us into another journey. Easter Vigil is where we grasp the full breath of the history of salvation. We began with creation, followed quickly by the Fall. But we heard, reading after reading, how despite our treachery God has kept close to us and He promised to save us. This covenant was sealed through the supreme sacrifice of His Son.

Both the Vigil and Sunday are celebrations of the Son’s victory. Through these three sacred days, we have come to appreciate that the price of sin is eternal death but we also acknowledge that Jesus, the Son of the Father, managed to conquer death. Not only has Jesus Christ saved us but He has also pledged the Eucharist, that is, the Sacrament of His Body and Blood, as the food and strength for the journey to eternity.

Let us rejoice because He has risen. As the Exultet commands, “Earth, shake off your lethargy”. Even if life were unfair and nothing seems to work for us, still we dare to enjoy because He has risen. If He had not, then our hope would be pointless and we would be condemned to an existence which is characterised by the “here and now”. Such a dreadful vision traps individuals in a miserable existence and since there is no Resurrection, we are doomed to live it up and are driven to extract as much as we can from this life. Without the Resurrection, we are lost and winning means being ahead of everyone. It is a kiasu (fear of missing out) and kiasi (fear of death) existence. [Have you ever felt so dissatisfied that you just need to have the last say or justify yourself because you have been misunderstood? Or you feel that only revenge can satisfy your rage. These are tell-tale signs of a life “condemned” to get the most of life].

This is why we need the assurance that Christ has truly Risen so that we do not need to fear losing out. How can we be sure? If we could, take some time to slow down and to contemplate the first place that He should go after Histriumphant resurrection. Sacred Scripture is mute in this respect but we can imagine the first person to whom He would appear—Mary, His Mother.

Visualise a woman who has pondered things in her heart. She does not have all the answers in the world and yet she may have had an instinct that Calvary was not the final chapter. It was just a matter of time and at the most unexpected moment, a powerful presence was felt. We know this because of His subsequent appearance to the 11, to the 500 and to Paul. He appeared when they least expected Him to. So, He came into Mary’s presence and the first words that greeted her were “I have conquered”.

An unrecorded scenario such as this is not alien to us. During those times when we are most lost and feel that God is absent, those are moments when He is most present. We will never lose out no matter how defeated we feel. Christ conquest over eternal death gives every soul hope and a chance at life eternal. Tonight, today, the behold the wood of the Cross on Friday has become Christ the Light. Thanks be to God that Sister Death has loosened her grip as the Crucified Christ rose victorious through the Resurrection.

It is an invitation to behold the empty tomb—a commanding image of death’s inability to hold onto us forever. Christ’s conquest over death not only gives us hope but more than that, the empty tomb is a symbol of Christ’s presence amongst the living. From utter and condemned sinners, we are now sinners who have been saved.

We remain hopeful for no matter what, we cannot be lost forever. But more than not being lost, the Resurrection belongs to Christ’s desire to shape creation according to His Sacred and Saving Heart. Coming as man, He identified with us but as God, He saved us and now invites us to be part of His mission. Baptised into this mission, we reshape the world by becoming His salt and His light.

What does that mean?

It is rather simple. We are not speaking here of ending racism or terrorism, solving world hunger or chronic poverty, reversing climate change or abolishing mass migration. These are righteous intentions. Right from the beginning and even before embarking and embracing these noble quests, we should become salt and light simply by expanding “human consideration”. How so? Our parking and our driving can be a good place to start. I am not criticising anyone who comes late for Mass, you have your reasons. However, a suggestion is to leave a bit earlier from home and that might help in avoiding bad driving and indiscriminate parking. If everyone here does it, imagine what sort of experience this Taman where we are planted would have of us who regularly jam up this place? The car-wash owner has repeatedly complained to me about some of us who park where they do business. And because they are Banglas, their request is shrugged off because they are supposedly less human than we are. What sort of messaging are we giving them?

The point is that the life of the Resurrection begins with me. Not with big projects out there. Modifying my behaviour will come a long way to affecting others. People are turned off not by Christ’s message but they are turned off by me, by me personally not living Christ’s message. No matter how great the message of the Resurrection, people will find its validation in the messengers.

We are the messengers of Christ and His Resurrection. Are we convincing to others? We are going to celebrate the Malaysian Pastoral Convention next year. It is a big event. What could be bigger is not the assembly in Majodi but rather here in the Cathedral. Can we have 50 baptisms next year? Is it logistically challenging? Yes. But it would be a fruit of our messaging and most of all, our witnessing. It would be great also to have more adults who had missed their Confirmation, coming to complete their initiation into the Church. Inviting couples adrift in the limbo of irregular unions who willingly come forward toseek regularisation of their marital status would be good progress. Finally, to welcome Catholics who have ventured away from the practice of the faith to return to their true and spiritual fold, the Church.

He is Risen, without a doubt. The empty tomb is proof and yet there is a disbelieving world that challenges us, His messengers, by asking where the fruits of Christ’s Resurrection are to be found. For that, we need to look into ourselves. As we exit the Cathedral later, ask this question. Am I ready to be His salt of the earth and His light of the world? Will the face of the Risen Christ greet those who encounter me?

Good Friday 2025 Year C

We are better than we think we are. There are some of us who suffer from poor self-esteem. Those with low-esteem can be filled with such self-loathing or self-deprecation that they are unable to see themselves for who they truly are. They tend to paint themselves in rather unattractive light. However, there is another side to our poor self-esteem. We are more sinful than we think we are. Some may feel that we are not that sinful or rather our sins are just nothing compared to someone who murders or rapes or steals millions. Either perspective of ourselves is myopic.

This short-sightedness is the reason for our inability to appreciate what Christ had done for us. But then, why do we lack the capacity to acknowledge our sinfulness or even appreciate that our soul could be in danger of eternal damnation?

Firstly, the notion of sin is that it resides in others and not in ourselves. Take the case of the Woman caught Adultery and was nearly stoned to death. The crowd that gathered around her definitely felt that sin was in her until Christ challenged them. It is possible that for some of us, sin is the other person and not me. The way we look at ourselves is “I am sinful but not really”. A good example is “my spouse makes me very angry”. We justify our anger because somebody else did not behave better. We this on the roads or the government offices or services. We justify our racism because someone does subscribe to our work ethics.

Secondly, we are traumatised by pain. Thus, many lament why there should be pain, sorrow and suffering? Perhaps this is coming from our logical and rational side which considers suffering as incompatible with the idea of a good God. How can a good God allow suffering? Or we have simply forgotten that this is a fallen world. We are affected by concupiscence and are always in need of conversion. However, when we feel unjustly done to, the attendant feeling is victimhood. In a therapeutic society, one whose goal is to feel good, we have been taught that poor self-esteem is detrimental to our mental well-being. We must never be guilt-ridden.

As we become more and more entitled victims, we may find it hard to process personal responsibility let alone contemplate our sinfulness or even the possibility of damnation. Sin makes one feel guilty and since we are taught to reject guilt-feelings, it is hard to have remorse for one’s multitude of sins. Furthermore, we have reduced sins and our responsibility for them, to sicknesses or pathologies in which case we consider ourselves less culpable since we are suffering from some forms of mental illness. I have a condition that causes me to do something bad. Therefore I cannot be held fully responsible.

Thirdly, there is a sense that we also feel useless. How many of us have gone confession after confession and come out only to commit the same sin. The inability to modify our behaviour leaves one with a horrible sense of helplessness and nobody wants to be reminded of that. Uselessness or even low self-esteem besides, the point of confession is to take ownership or personal responsibility for one’s sinful behaviour. It is not on account of big sins that I go to hell. Instead it is because of the small sins I ignore that imperil my soul.

It is not a form of self-loathing to think of sin. In fact, there are three graves underneath the main aisle. Graves in the Church or Cathedral, apart from giving prominence to ecclesiastical figures—like Sovereigns or Bishops—are basically memento mori. They are reminders of death, not macabre because their presence is to encourage reflection on one’s sinfulness and also to invite one to repentance. For without contrition, it is not easy to appreciate what Christ has done for us.

The recognition of sin should lead to the awareness that we need a Saviour. But if we have no sin, then He has died for nothing which makes this rather long service a total waste of time and also confirms that we may be suffering from the disorder of self-hatred or masochism. Do we need to subject ourselves to this self-torture if that is not self-loathing? Perhaps the greatest obstacle to our conversion is found in the remark made by Pope Pius XII in 1946. The greatest sin is the loss of the sense of sin. While modern man may suffer from the lack of self-esteem, he suffers even more by the lack of conscientious acknowledgement that he is a sinner.

The Passion Gospel today is read in its entirety for a good reason. It is a form of contemplation because it basically to carry us into the scenes of what He had to undergo. We are transported to the Via Dolorosa so that we can feel for ourselves that He died to free us from the shackles of sin. “He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By His wounds you have been healed” (1 Peter 2:24). Good Friday is the celebration of the ultimate act of love by God for the redemption and salvation of humankind.

Thus, the fact that we are here reveals that whether we know it or not, we desire to be saved. Unless one were self-loathing, a masochist or a pain-addict, everyone is searching for the Saviour. It is by His grace that we are not in hell. Such an expression may sound rather condemnatory but if it should help one to recognise and change, then one soul is saved.

Holy Thursday 2025

To say that death takes some by surprise is not really a remarkable statement to make. Why? I realise and I am sure some of you may have an inkling of what I am talking about. This comment about death is actually played out in our lives daily because as we age, we catch a glimpse of death every now and then. To state categorically that we will all die is a statement that sounds ordinary and factual. In reality we are terrified by death.

How is death a part of the Triduum? Firstly, we are entering into the most sacred days of Lent—the Easter Triduum. And death must be spoken off in relation to the Resurrection. But here I want to speak about a kind death and its impact on us and our future.

The Chrism Mass is over. We have brought back the three sacred oils and the bottles stands proudly in our ambry. Shortly after the homily, there are supposed to be two priests who will be washing the feet of twelve parishioners. But we only have one.

If we follow Tradition, we should have had the Chrism Mass this morning and tonight, the Mass of the Last Supper. Maundy Thursday, derived from the Mandatum of Christ—is His mandate or instruction for the Church whereby He institutes the Eucharist and also the Priesthood, the two Sacraments which are necessary for the Church to carry out His mission.

In order to appreciate His mandate and the repercussion that dying and death has on the viability of His instruction, we turn to John’s Gospel, Chapter 6. The long conversation is centred on food but Jesus tried to draw the crowd’s attention to a craving for the supernatural food that allows one to live for ever. To satisfy one’s supernatural hunger, Christ told the crowd that eternal life is premised upon the eating of His Flesh and the drinking His Blood. The crowd reacted to the cannibalism implicit in Christ’s commands and even when everyone deserted Him, He did not chase after them. He did not mitigate nor soften His insistence, proving that He was firm in this requirement.

This necessary condition for eternal life poses a challenge to ensure the availability of His Body and Blood. This therefore raises the issue of how Jesus must provide for His Church, His Body and Blood necessary for eternal life.

Two issues which I would like to raise here because there are so many of you this evening.

Firstly, you may be aware that in the past, the practice was that Catholics were encouraged to marry Catholics. Why? So that we do not have the conundrum that is quite prevalent today. What faith should the children be brought up in? In the name of diversity and respect, it is not uncommon for the Catholic spouse to defer the baptism of the child or children.

However, if the Catholic spouse receives Holy Communion based on a firm belief that it is truly the food of eternal life but denies his or her child the possibility of eating the Bread of eternal life, the very act of Holy Communion would be either be (a) illogical or (b) selfish.

Why would it be illogical? It is the bread of eternal life. Parents instinctively give their children the best education, medical attention, nutrition etc. Thus, to deny an offspring the possibility of receiving Holy Communion could be that one does not really know “Whom” one is receiving. But if that were not the case then the other conclusion to draw would be selfishness.

Why would it be selfish? A parent who believes that Holy Communion is truly the Body of Christ and not feed it to the child would be plainly selfish based on the same instinct of providing the best for one’s child or children. A parent would not give scorpion to a child who ask for bread.

The Eucharist is our food of salvation. We all know this. We value it but here is the challenge. There is another side of the equation which we have taken for granted. How can we be certain that there is an assured and adequate supply of the Bread of Life.

Unless we change the rule, meaning, that it is not necessary for eternal life, then the situation would be different. However, the requirement remains. We have not changed. There is a supply chain disruption if we were to use a post-pandemic description. The question point-blank is this: Where are all the vocations needed for this mission? The reason why the Assistant PP is not here is because he is helping out in another parish whose PP is sick. Where are the young men who dare to stand up and be counted? All we need is a priest to drop dead and the whole diocese is thrown into a disarray. The journey to the priesthood is not easy and if one seminarian falls along the way, the diocese isset back by the shortage of one future priest. The next ordination will be threeyears from now.

In many countries, parishes are being closed down or amalgamated. We may not face their problem yet but we will get there soon if no one answers the call to serve as a priest. The Mandarin community regularly laments the lack of a proper Mandarin-speaking priest. Where are your sons?

As we enter the holiest days of the liturgical year, let our silence be deepened so that we can sense the sadness of Holy Mother Church, deepen our love for the Eucharist and pray for more vocation to the Priesthood. We need the Eucharist because the Eucharist makes the Church and we need the Church because the Church makes the Eucharist. Without the Priesthood, there is no Eucharist. As we accompany Jesus, it is also a moment for our young men to ponder if they would like to rise to the challenge because Christ’s Church also needs your response.

Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord Year C 2025

Today we enter the holiest week of the Liturgical Calendar. To mark this period, we begin with the triumphant entry of Christ into Jerusalem. It is the Gospel of the Mass read either before the Procession or at the Entrance. We cannot miss the irony at play here. Christ enters as a victor into His own city. However, His victory culminates in His Passion and Death on the Cross. And yet that is not the final story.

The whole panoply of human reactions is on display this Sunday. The landscape of popularity is simply treacherous. Human loyalty is as fickle as the shifting sand in the desert. The Gospel read at the beginning projects victory. The Passion heard just only is wrapped in pain and sorrow. From hero to zero, Christ was acclaimed only to be condemned.

What then should our response be?

In the face of human treachery, the natural tendency is to react with outrage but the only proper response to it is silence. Holy Week marks the beginning of a powerful silence to allow us to embrace and enter the depth of what Christ would undergo for the salvation of our souls.

The week is heavy and is ordinarily filled with frenetic activities. Flowers to be arranged, statues and images to be veiled, then come Maundy Thursday—the washing of feet and adoration until midnight. Good Friday—Veneration of the Cross and the Easter Vigil—all 9 Readings and baptisms by immersion. There are many things to consider and to be done. Yet this is the week of Mary of Bethany. She sits to contemplate the Lord in His Passion. And the one path that can lead to a profound and prayerful contemplation is silence.

Silence is the language of God’s presence. It is almost like Jesus peeled back the curtain of His divinity so that we can peer behind the scenes to savour His humility at work. He speaks but mostly in silent recesses of our hearts.

It is not a silence of inaction or inactivity. Rather it is a silence which is intentionally slow. One of the foci we should have is our need. Indeed we have so many wants that we can be distracted by them. We eat, entertain, shop and travel believing that all these will make us happy. Or that these activities will complete us. However what we may fail to recognise is that they may hide our real need.

Our need to be saved. There is ugliness and there is a lot of that during this week. Even as we get first-hand experience of treachery at work, still we can be distracted because whatever Christ had to undergo and endure, it was to save us.

The challenge is if we need salvation. Nothing of the treachery makes sense if we do not require salvation. If we have no need of a Saviour, then what Jesus went through was plainly stupid and unnecessary. Perhaps Pope Francis’ primary concern with God’s mercy stems from this truth. God wants so much to save us and mercy is how He reaches out to us. The foremost image for God’s mercy, according to the Pope, is the “Field Hospital”. The Church is the place where wounded and traumatised souls are treated.

Right now, the earthquake in Myanmar is fresh in our memory and the urgency for charitable outreach is also vital. People want to help but as in many disasters today, it has also spawned a modern-day phenomenon for some have developed a taste for what is called “disaster tourism”. Have you watched videos of people who stand around filming a tragedy so that they can have the thrill of being the first to post it on social media? There are some who visit sites of calamities even with the noble intention of helping the victims but nevertheless, they are still driven by a curiosity or a fascination with disasters.

Translate that to a hospital setting. A hospital is meant for those who are sick and need treatment. Any salutary or sanitary setting which is targeted towards those who are not sick is merely cathartic or simply therapeutic. On Friday Bishop came to launch the Perjalanan Salib and I happened to sit next to him and with the new renovation, I can see outside across the street. The crawl sign flashing massage, massage, massage. A massage is therapeutic because it helps to relieve aches and tension. Feeling good is a good feeling but feeling good is not necessarily what we need. In fact, to be good is miles apart from feeling good. To be good is our goal and quite regularly one actually feels bad even as one tries to be good. A good example is to apologise. How often is it that one refuses to apologise (to be good) because it feels lousy for one feels like a loser having to be the first to say, “I am sorry”? Hence, religion or our religious observance is meant to deepen our need for salvation. Our rituals are targeted at highlighting this need. While therapy is good for our mental health and personal growth, it does not guarantee our salvation.

If we have no need of Christ’s salvation, it does not take much for our rituals to become therapeutic treatments which do not really save the soul. A spatreatment only makes us feel good about ourselves and no more.

Silence is therefore unnerving because it penetrates the darkness of our heartsthat are eclipsed by self-will and sin. It is there in our restless hearts that Christ fights to save our souls. The only way we can appreciate His salvation is when we allow the silence to challenge us, challenge our sin and challenge our apathy toward His salvation. Silence is for us to say, “I need you, my Saviour. I need you more than I need air to breathe”.

5th Sunday of Lent Year C

In this viral age of hyper-connectivity, jokes become old very fast. For this Sunday’s Gospel, Christ is presented with a woman caught in adultery. The theme of God’s mercy seems to be a continuation from last weekend’s parable of the Prodigal Son.

The Pharisees and the Scribes wanted to trap Jesus. So they brought Him an adulteress. It echoes the same dilemma they posed to Jesus with respect to taxation—to pay or not to pay taxes to Caesar. They wanted Jesus to choose between going against Moses or going against Rome. But Jesus out-manoeuvred them by returning the ball into their court. “Let him who has no sins cast the first stone”. At this point a stone landed on Jesus’ head. He had to call out, “Not you, Mother, not you”.

It is an old joke but imagine right at the beginning, Jesus Himself confirmed the dogma of the Immaculate Conception. Since the rest of humanity is not immaculately conceived, it is time to savourGod’s mercy even as we recognise and acknowledge our sins. As we heard earlier, the story ended well for thankfully the Pharisees and Scribes were not as self-righteous as they have been painted to be. One by one, they slinked or slipped away, aware that they were not as pure as they had judged the woman to be impure. It is a lesson on being judgemental. We necessarily judge but we should avoid that kind of condescension as if we were the standard.

Christ was not looking for a fight with the Pharisees and Scribes. It was not as if He needed to be one up on them. It was not a victory as it was a compassionateresponse. It was clear that she was an adulteress. Did she warrant punishment? She did under Mosaic Law. But in sentencing one ought to measure the degree of punishment according to the value of what one is protecting. In the case of adultery. Why is it so wrong? It breaks one’s promise made before God and spouse. It is a form of betrayal which in the end will hurt the family. The severity of the punishment is meant to protect the bedrock of society and that is the family unit for without the family, society crumbles.

However, Christ chose another way of fulfilling the intent of the Mosaic Law. He did not condemn the woman, nor did He let her go scot-free. “Since no one has condemn you, neither have I, but go and sin no more”.

Go and sin no more is what many of us fail to appreciate.

Lenten conversion requires a turning away from sin. This brings us to the Gospel which for the Elect is taken from John. The 5th Sunday of Year A is the Raising of Lazarus. Here, there is a clear connexion between Lazarus and the Resurrection. Christ raised Lazarus as a way to illustrate the profound truth of the Resurrection. Even though Lazarus was raised in a most spectacular manner, the reality is that his return to life was not the main focus. The answer is found in the question that Jesus posed to Martha, “I am the resurrection and the life. If anyone believes in me, even though he dies he will live, and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”.

The focus for the Elect is faith in the Resurrection. But notice what happened at the tomb of Lazarus. Christ called out to him and the dead man emerged from the tomb with “his feet and hands bound with bands of stuff and a cloth round his face”. Close your eyes and appreciate what this scene represents? It is a powerful portrait of the bondage of sin. Christ said, “Unbind him, let him go free”.

Many of us are caught in the bondage of sin that it is not easy to escape. The image of Jesus with the condemned woman is helpful. He judges truthfully as He calls out to us who can be living a life of sin. Yet, His judgement is compassionate. In His mercy, He invites us to shake off whatever might impede our path towards the Resurrection.

Thus, St Paul provides the perfect picture of this desire. What I want is Christ and Him alone. Today our Elect are presented with the view of life after death, that is, what happens to us after we die. We are freaked out by death. We witnessed that during the Pandemic. In no way is this a judgement about the fear of death nor does it mean that those who are fearful should be looked down upon. Rather what this fear may have revealed is an unsettling reality. We believe in the Resurrection but not really. Our struggle mirrors St Augustine’s, “Lord make me pure but not yet”.

Why our hesitancy? We have never had it so good to the point that we cannot really fathom a life better than this. Instead of life as a preparation for the Resurrection, what has happened is that we acknowledge that the Resurrection is our goal but we have no strong desire for it. For if the Resurrection were more than we can imagine, so many more would look at death as a doorway rather than fear it as annihilation and an end to who we are.

Belief in the Resurrection is the basis for a change in the direction of our lives. We live for Christ which means we turn away from sin or more likely the case, we resolve at all times to sin no more and to avoid the near occasions of sin. Secondly, belief in the Resurrection means that we have to find a way to perceive reality for what it is. The Prayer after Holy Communion of the 1st Sunday of Advent expresses this truth very succinctly. “May these mysteries, O Lord, in which we have participated profit us, we pray, for even now, as we walk amid passing things, you teach us by them to love the things of heaven and hold fast to what endures. Through Christ our Lord”.

In conclusion, this rhymes with the movement of the season. Our earthly senses are curbed in order to heighten their celestial awareness. If we follow the older tradition, today we cover our statues and images. This liturgical action follows the traditional Gospel used for this Sunday. It is the first of a season within the season—Passiontide which stretches from the 5th Sunday until Lazarus Saturday on Holy Week. In the said Gospel of John chapter 8, verse 59, after the heated exchange with the authorities, Jesus left the Temple and went into hiding. The veiling or covering thus signifies the concealment of Christ’s divinity. In a way, His humanity is also diminished because He would be beaten to a pulp to a point of being unrecognisable. The point is not the graphic and gory detail of torture but rather a possibility of entering into a first-hand experience of Christ’s humility and humiliation for that is the price He was willing to pay for our salvation.