7th Sunday of Easter Year A 2026

In some parts of the world, this weekend is basically Ascension. And yet it is also designated as the 60th World Communication Sunday. Thankfully, it is not an issue for us because we marked Ascension on Thursday which leaves us free to think about communication and how to foster it.

The Readings lend themselves to the theme for World Communication Sunday. The 1st Reading described the post-Ascension scenario in the Cenacle. The Apostles prayed while waiting for the fulfilment of Christ’s promise of the Spirit. The Gospel also took place in the same Upper Room but this was before Calvary, and Jesus was praying for those whom He had to leave behind. He prayed for His follower to be united based on the unity between the Father and the Son.

Unity is the goal of communication or put in another way, to communicate is to aim for a union of minds and hearts. How do we achieve this unity? The theme for this year’s World Communication Sunday is “Preserving Human Voices and Faces”. The backdrop to this theme is the inevitable encroachment of Artificial Intelligence in our interactions. The Church’s position is that the progress made in AI should aim to promote human dignity or preserve it rather than itreplacing genuine human interaction or worse still utilise it to fabricate reality.

All we need is to scroll through YouTube. How often have you come across a short movie or some snippets of talent shows and after watching it for a while, you realise that the movie or snippet is no more than click bait and the story is nothing more than an AI-generated production. What the President, the Prime Minister or the Pope purportedly said depends on the political persuasion of the content creators because AI can generate videos and speeches which support their positions. There is a possibility that elections can be won with the assistance of AI. Papers or theses are already written by AI. Everything now is AI-aided. Even the Jesus we worship can be AI-moulded. Depending on which side of the aisle one sits or stands, Jesus can be shaped to fit into that narrative.

All the more the prayer of Jesus is important.

He prayed for our unity to reflect the unity between Him and His Father. That unity is cemented by truth. And here is where AI must show its true colour by serving this purpose of upholding truth and protecting human dignity which means that augmented communication must always preserve genuine human faces and authentic voices

The first goal of communication is to reflect truth. But we know how often when we communicate, what we think to be the truth can simply be gossip or slander or an outright lie. How often have we presented the so-called truth from the perspective of making ourselves look good and those who are our enemies,look bad? And even if we do not intend to bolster ourselves, how often have we painted another person in unsavoury light. As witnesses to Christ, what we declare to be true must be done with integrity and charity and always ensuring that our words are aligned with our actions.

The second goal of communication as mentioned earlier is to forge unity. Families, communities or societies can be divided because people want different things and have different goals. More so when we emphasise individual autonomy and the freedom to choose. But buried within us is also an innate desire for union as exemplified by the attempt to build the Tower of Babel. However, that attempt to unify sprang from pride. In a way, one can say that Babel represented human pride endeavouring to stand on par with God. It was as if man could offer unity as a gift to God.

Notice that during the era of communism, the same desired for unity was forged by the imposition of a certain truths. However, truth does not impose itself. Rather it is a proposition in which people are, by virtue of their reasoning power, able to come to an understanding and acceptance of what it is. The bonum or the good of unity, be it of a family, society, community and a country, can foster prosperity and development. However, that goal cannot be purchase with the currency of coercion. The good we intend must always respect the freedom of those who are served.

Babel is a symbol of the temptation towards megalomania—the dream of dictators or fascists or socialists who believe that they are owners of truth who have been granted the divine right to impose their particular vision of reality on others.

In a way, the 2nd Reading makes sense. To bear the truth that unites will entail suffering because we are but servants and not the lords, let alone, the owners of truth. We can only serve Him which when translated it usually means having to suffer because we are on the right side of what is true, good or beautiful. It is not easy as the temptation is always to believe that one has truth on one’s side rather than seek in humility to know if one has been on side of truth.

As such World Communication Sunday is a modern response. Given that our capacity for communication has progressed by leaps and bounds, with greater speed and outreach, we are challenged to use the different media to promote the Gospel message. Sometimes it is not easy to make out which the voice of the Gospel is. The cacophony of competing certainties highlights that both to communicate and to remain silent are part and parcel of the effort to allowChrist’s message come to the fore. Given that the landscape for proclamation is noisier today because of jostling media and a shorter attention span, silence is also necessary so that the message of Christ can be heard. The advancement of artificial intelligence has rendered the ability to sift through what is true or notso much more fraught. The moral dilemma we face as a civilisation highly dependent on artificial intelligence is how we can preserve genuine human encounters free from the abuse or misuse of algorithms and the possibilities of deepfakes.

Finally, when God created Man, He made us in His image and likeness. Despite the fall, all throughout salvation history, God has kept His communication channel open. And in the last days, God has spoken and revealed Himselfthrough His Son. The primary task of communication for the Church is to manifest both the face and the voice of Christ. Our desire for authentic communication will inevitably bring us back to Jesus Christ for without a personal encounter with Him or an experience of His voice, we will be, at best, a sounding brass or a clanging cymbal that distorts His message. Without Jesus, we will struggle to preserve the human face and protect the human voice. In the end, truth is never what we possess but He whom we serve which means to communicate carries with it the possibility of suffering on account of His name and His truth. If you are on His side, He will give you the courage.

Ascension Thursday Year A 2026

Whenever we snap a photo, we want it to be picture-perfect. Today is Ascension Thursday and the most perfect of all pictorial representations would be to see an unfinished portrait. What do I mean? Some artists have drawn, painted or visualised the Ascension with feet. Yes, the disciples are all looking up and at the upper edge of the picture, painting or sculpture we can only see the dangling feet of Jesus as He ascends into heaven. It portrays the Disciples almost like catching the last bit of Jesus as He disappears from their sight.

That is the fitting depiction of what the Ascension is about. Jesus, unlike His Blessed Mother, with His own power, ascended into heaven. The feet are a powerful reminder of who He is and the future that we will have. In Christ, we have a person who is fully human, who at the same time, is fully divine, who has ascended and is seated at the right hand of God the Father in heaven to intercede for us.

Where He goes, we hope to follow.

The human and divine natures of Christ are our template. Each one of us has a celestial destiny and yet here we are in this world where the work of salvation continues. For as long as the world endures and humanity exists, redemption is ongoing and there is work to be done.

Matthew 28 provides us with the final instruction given by Jesus. The Great Commission enjoined upon the Apostles and the Church to, “Go and baptise all the nations in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit”. The promise that accompanies this sending is to know that through the Holy Spirit, He will be with us till the end of time.

However, the action “to baptise” is graphic or explicit and reminiscent of a watery grave or ritual. Either via immersion or pouring, one is initiated into a community of believers. Given that this is a sacramental act, it can be rather threateningly forbidding or exclusive especially in the context of diversity. The dogma of “pluralism” is currently ascendant especially in a multi-cultural context. In fact, plurality is accepted or even celebrated to the point that differences in doctrines are smoothed over in favour of ethics. The truths of doctrines, which are what we believe in, are not easy topics for dialogues or conversations but all are agreed that every religion teaches its adherents to be good and to do good. For example, Buddhism seeks enlightenment through the extirpation of desires. Therefore the goal of Nirvana is nothingness. Whereas Christianity seeks salvation because of the reality of sin and separation from God. Hence heaven is not nothing for Christians. Instead heaven is our completereconciliation with God.

These two examples tell us that even though all religions teach goodness, they do not share the same goals. Like it or not, religion ultimately cannot be reduced to ethics. This is where we might relook at the Great Commission and how to be faithful to Christ’s command. If we reword it perhaps it can allow us to work around the difficulties associated with rituals and religious doctrines. If we say, “Go and make all creation more and more like Christ”, it still sounds Christian. Perhaps “Go and make all creation more god-like, more divine”. That might sound a lot more ethical than religious.

It might make cross-religious encounter less threatening and more approachable. Speaking of the divinisation of creation or humanity makes it easier for us to reach out to others. Talk less about religion and more about what we can accomplish or achieve as a whole. Still that is not our goal. The Great Commission aims to bring creation into the knowledge of who God is and what His desires are for humanity. The Church has a sworn duty, ultimately, in obedience to Christ, to bring all creation into or incorporate humanity into the Body of Christ. Translated, it means that we must bear in mind that the Sacrament of Baptism, according to the teaching of the Church, is the ordinary means through which one is brought into the fold.

How do we propose this to the world? The challenge for us is not to look at other religions from the perspective of what is lacking or what is imperfect in them. Rather, it is to propose to humanity what is better in the proposals of Christ. Informing people that their life’s choices are no good does them no good. Rather, people are more willing to give up something good for something which is better. Is that not the marketing strategy of so many of our health products?

Finally, the feet sticking out of a ceiling is really quite literal. The Ascension marks a closing and a beginning. Christ’s earthly ministry has drawn to a close while His heavenly ministry is taking off. The authority given to the Disciples as He commissions them, signals that His heavenly ministry will continue with His presence in a Church that is empowered by His Spirit. Christianity is not meant to be a parochial religion. It has a universal mission to bring the world into the Body of Christ.

Right now, we are in a conundrum because we have walked ourselves into the corner of ethical collaboration. We need to move from ethics to being. We should stop peddling the narrative that Asia is other religions. Going against this statement is not denigrating the other great traditions of Asia. Christianity IS Asian. Look at the Philippines. Look a Timor Leste. Look at Korea. Slowly but surely, only if we believe that Christ gave us a commission to universalise His teaching and way of life. The Ascension should give us more confidence and perhaps we should have faith in ourselves first and be confident in what we believe in before we can tell the world that Jesus is the Lord of all creation and Saviour of all humanity.

6th Sunday of Easter Year A 2026

We are closing in on the Ascension. Last week’s conversation took place aroundthe Last Supper. As the Lord prepared for the Passion, He centred His exhortation on the after-life and also on the path that leads to the fullness of life with God. In making sure that the Disciples know of the place pledged to them and in giving the roadmap there, Jesus promised them a Helper who will be on hand to guide them.

He has kept His promise and we read that in Philip the Evangelist’s experience in Samaria. That man, not St Philip the Apostle, was amongst the first few deacons. Subsequently, the community was scattered by persecution and despite the believers being displaced, he managed to convert the local population in Samaria. That occasioned an apostolic visit by Peter and John. Like Bishops at Confirmation, they prayed over those baptised and confirmed them with the gift of the Holy Spirit.

The season of the Spirit is upon us. In preparing for the Spirit’s descent, Christ will withdraw and later this Thursday, we shall celebrate His Ascension. The role of the coming Spirit is to accompany us. Christ had already done so by being with us until His death and even after the Resurrection. Just before the Ascension, He promised another Advocate to speak for Him and to continue His mission.

As such we are already living in the “end times”. The words themselves are evocative. They suggest that the world is coming to an end soon. But that is not the meaning of the words “end times”. Rather, ever since AD33, presumably, the year when Christ was crucified, died and rose again, we have officially entered into and still are in the end times. In other words, we have been living in the “end times” for the last 2000 years.

It is in this context that the post-Resurrection Christ made a promise to send the Spirit. But what need do we have for the Spirit? The end times is characterised by the “already” and “not yet”. We are still on the way to final consummation when Christ returns again. In this journey, we need to keep in mind the four realities which we must face and they are death, judgement, heaven and hell. We need the Spirit to guide us because Christ desires that we keep His commandments and He gives the Spirit to guide our path to heaven rather than to hell.

Our pilgrimage to heaven means that we still have to work out our salvation in the world and not in a vacuum. There is no doubt that evil exists in the world. This sounds like a statement which places evil out there, when in reality, evil runs through our hearts. Take a look around us. We all sin in many different ways. There is corruption. Scamming is on the rise. There are wars and we seem to be tethering on the edge of further destruction. What we encounter every day is that the good we desire is not always a matter of effort. That is, it is not a case where one puts in a bit more resolve and then things will be alright. St Paul describes this conundrum as “the good that I should do, I find myself not doing it and the evil I should avoid, I find myself committing it”.

Despite our struggles where evil exists, there are two things we can be sure of.

Firstly, evil, whilst ubiquitous is not triumphant. Christ is. He is victorious but the nature of the end times is that our journey in life must take us through the valley of the tears. The second thing we can be sure of is that Christ’s victory gives us hope. St Peter wrote this: “Reverence the Lord Christ in your hearts and always have your answer ready for people who ask you the reason for the hope that you all have. But give it with courtesy and respect and with a clear conscience, so that those who slander you when you are living a good life in Christ may be proved wrong in the accusations that they bring. And if it is the will of God that you should suffer, it is better to suffer for doing right than for doing wrong”.

Remember the year 1999? When we were approaching the turn of the millennium, we were technologically nervous for fear that 00 will not be interpreted by computers as 2000 but instead we may be set us back to 1900. On top of that, religious dread interpreted the turn of the century under the light of the Last Judgement whereby all disasters were considered to be portents of the final apocalypse. Many of our movies reflected the fear focussing on the same trope of a dystopian future marked by the undead or the collapse of civilisation.

The turn of the Millennium did feel like the world was coming to the end but the Church was unafraid because we have with the promise of the Holy Spirit. John Paul II told the Church to “put out into the deep” or in Latin, “duc in altum…”. Do not be afraid for out in the deep, the Lord is there. Sadly, when we think of evil and how children have to face them, we can be gripped by a certain paralysis. There are couples who do not want to bring children into such a world. The point to remember is this: we cannot shield our children or our loved one from the evil of the world. They will be touched by it or even sorely tested by it. Yet what is certain is that Christ has triumphed. He is victorious. In that way, St Paul is a model for the firmness of faith.

What more with the gift of the Holy Spirit?

Those who went for the pilgrimage especially when destructive drones were flying around were witnesses not only to the power of prayer but also the ultimate truth of our faith. It was not that we were gung-ho and unafraid of death. Rather, we acknowledge that Christ has defeated death. Thus, if we lived through the bombings in it would be because God has a purpose for our lives in this present world. And if we had perished, sadly due to the conflict, then the moment of our salvation had arrived. I dare to say this because the Holy Spirit gave us the strength to trust that everything we were and had, was always in God’s hands.

We dare to stand tall, hold our heads up and even when all around seemed defeated for we know that ultimately Christ will be victorious. He guarantees that through the Holy Spirit that will descend at Pentecost. We can become the warriors that the Sacrament of Confirmation is meant for… to make us walk confidently and to face the world without fear that we will be destroyed.

5th Sunday of Easter Year A 2026

I cannot imagine driving around without Waze or for others Google map. We have become that dependent on GPS navigation to guide our way. This dependence might help us to appreciate the Gospel theme today.

From the readings, we hear how the community of believers was shaping up. There appeared to be a process of specialisation as more were added to their number. The Apostles were now to focus more on the spiritual welfare of the newly baptised. A class of servants, the “diakonoi”, now formed the beginning of the ministry of service (diakonia) to the community. They are our deacons today.

The separation of duties did not and does not diminish in anyway the vocation of ALL believers. Everyone has been called to participate in the priesthood of Christ. Not the ministerial or cultic priesthood but the priesthood in which each member offers to God, from where they are, with all they have for the glory of God and the service of the people.

According to the Principle and Foundation of the Spiritual Exercises of St Ignatius, humanity is created to praise, revere and serve God. Perhaps one can understand the vice of “selfishness” from this perspective. Everything we have is a gift from God. So to speak, every talent we have is on loan to us by God. Thus the offering of ourselves, in whatever capacity we have, to God is right and just. This is the spiritual sacrifice of the common priesthood which is to consecrate the world to God and to participate in Christ’s mission on earth.

In the Gospel we see these sacrifices from the perspective of Christ and who He is as we are brought back to a time before the Passion. He was talking to them to prepare them for His Calvary that they would soon experience. In order to assure them that His eventual loss of life would not be a defeat, the exchange between Jesus and Philip and Thomas, gave us two certainties.

Firstly Jesus promised them a future after the Resurrection. If there were doubts about life after death, this conversation provide powerful proof there that is an after-life. Otherwise, why would Jesus speak of going to prepare a place for the disciples to follow. Furthermore that going away presumes that one needs to die. Under the glorious glow of Easter, we are assured that death will no longer be the final chapter. It will not be the end of the story and it will certainly not be a closed door.

Under the triumph of the Cross, we dare and should in fact speak of (a) life after life because the victorious and risen Lord has tamed death and transformed it from a trap to a doorway that leads into the other life. The Canticle of the Sun composed by St Francis of Assisi has a stanza which reflects the attenuation or the weakening of death rendering it less frightening and affectionally more friendly. “Be praised through Brother Death of Flesh, from whom no living man can flee”. Death is no longer a chokehold but the welcome embrace of a friend who has been waiting to journey with us to the next life.

However there is a difference between life before the curtain of death and life after. The stanza continues “Woe to those that he finds in sin but those in grace he sets free”. This is a maxim which many may have heard before. "I shall pass this way but once; any good, therefore, that I can do or any kindness that I can show to any human being, let me do it now”. Note a sense of urgency here. We are alerted and notified not to be complacent because the crossing once made is irreversible. Once we have passed the curtain, there is no returning.

As such Thomas’ query provides the second certainty found in the Gospel. Thomas wanted to know how he or anyone else could enter into the resurrection to which Jesus replied. “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life”. There are two side to this certainty. From the perspective of evangelisation, it is for us to proclaim Jesus. We need to tell the world that He is the Way and not just a way amongst many other ways. He is the Truth and not just a truth amongst many other truths. He is the Life and not just a life amongst many others lives. Such a proclamation can be structured and methodical. In fact, it is easier to announce to the world that Jesus is the way which can make it feel less threatening personally. What do I mean? Wear a Sacred Heart tee-shirt, hang a cross or a rosary in the car or tattoo a Jesus on the Cross on your chest etc.

There are many ways to express our faith but these can also be less personal in the sense that we can follow a programme without personal investment. We tell others about Him and if more embrace Him, we would consider that our efforts have borne fruits. For example, increased in baptism, more confirmation of those who have not been confirmed or greater attendance of the Landings programme etc.

What is more difficult to be and to do is to personally follow Jesus as the Way, to speak Jesus as the Truth and to live Jesus as the Life. That requires working on ourselves, which involves a lot of effort. Everyone knows that self-reflexion is already difficult to do let alone self-change. Often enough in our spiritual life, we take one step forward and we fall back two. To change our personal behaviour to conform to Christ is much harder than wearing a tee-shirt or tattooing His Cross on our forearm.

In a way, Protestants may have got it right when they ask us if one has accepted Jesus as the personal Saviour. Social religion, in which people practise their faith because everyone else does so can be empty. One goes to Church as expected. When a child is born, he or she is baptised because it is customary to do so. Marriage must be officiated in the Church because of parents’ wish etc. Personal profession is different because it requires my conscious investment of time and space.

Time to pray and time to let God into our lives. It is hard to live Jesus as the Way and the Truth because the path is long and arduous. It requires sacrifice etc. St Therese of Lisieux who never left the Carmelite monastery conceived of a life where Jesus became the centre of everything she did. It was not easy for her. But she showed that it is possible.

In conclusion, Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life but more than merely proclaiming Him for others to accept etc, we will be more convincing if we follow His path letting His Truth guide us to the life we are supposed to have which is to be with God the Father. Perhaps it is time to go beyond Waze or Google Map. Let us take the whole Way of Jesus.

4th Sunday of Easter Year A 2026. Vocation Sunday

Christ chooses to be with us and He does that through the gift of the Eucharist. At least that was the message of last Sunday’s Gospel. He inserted Himself into the despair of the Disciples who were fleeing from what they thought was the failure of Jesus’ political programme.

The means to ensure His Presence is the Eucharist. And the human instrument to make present the Eucharist is the priesthood. Today it is a good time to speak about being called to the sacrament of Holy Orders.

The word order suggests hierarchy, rank, arrangements etc. In terms of arrangements, both the Responsorial Psalm and the Gospel outline the pastoral pattern of what it is to be a priest. God is the Good Shepherd and Jesus calls Himself the Gate of the sheepfold. He is the one who watches over the flock and is prepared to lay down His life for the sheep. Pope Francis echoed this when he said that the shepherds must smell like their sheep.

There have been reports of the increase in the number of baptisms this year at Easter. But the statistics of priestly vocation show stagnation or in some places, the number seems to be dwindling. How shall we approach this sacramental crisis?

There is an inseparable link between the priesthood and the Eucharist. One is unable to exist without the other. In celebrating the Eucharist, the priest is ordained to act “in persona Christi”. The Eucharist, as the source and summit of Christian life, is the purpose of a priest’s ministry. Given by Christ to His Church, the priesthood is for the purpose of confecting the Eucharist to provide the faithful with the means of salvation brought about by Christ.

Very central to the salvation of humanity is the Eucharist that Christ offered us before He returned to the Father. That means He intended the Mass as a way for us to be present at the sacrifice of Calvary. Each one can take part in Christ’s sacrifice and gain inexhaustible fruits from that. For centuries, we have lived this faith.

The crisis caused by scandals notwithstanding, we need to address the issue of the shortage of priests in the local Church. Time flies and passes us by quickly and often without our realising it, we wake up and suddenly we are already in our 60s with the shadow of our past years stretching behind and the prospect of a future that is rather dim. The median age of priests falls in the territory of heart problems or diabetes or any of the debilitating diseases.

Still, the parishes need to be staffed. The solutions of the Anglican communion, of married priesthood or a female clergy have not in any way worked. Their numbers continue to drop. We have increased lay participation as a solution butstill it remains that our theology does not or cannot support the confection of the Eucharist without Holy Orders. We may want to change the theology but that is the topic of a conversation for another day.

What can be done in the meantime?

Firstly, recognise the connexion. If Christ intended the Eucharist as the ordinary means of salvation and the priesthood as the instrument that makes thatpossible, then the lack of instruments cannot be a case of the absence of calling. Christ has not stopped inviting young men to join Him in this sacrifice of praise and worship. It is we who have stopped listening and responding. The vocation crisis is symptomatic of a generation that has not responded to God—ours is an era deaf to God’s calling.

I say this with a kind of apathy. It is not that I do not care. Rather, I am way past the sell-by-date and I am increasingly irrelevant. When I am dead, it is not that I do not care. Rather I cannot care because the dead has no say in this world. And the shortage of vocation is not my problem but it is definitely your problem or the problem of the living.

Second, a vocation is not death. The idea that one sacrifices and loses everything is not true. It is a sacrifice, yes and, it makes a lot more sense for the word “sacrifice” means that we trade our life for the life of others. However, the less we believe in the Resurrection, the less appealing will the idea of sacrifice be because the priesthood is truly an oblation. One must believe that there is more to this life that makes it possible to embrace the loneliness attendant with giving up one’s autonomy.

Thirdly, the model for our economic life is basically driven by production and manufacturing. The metrics of success for us are work and wealth accumulation. Poverty is simply having nothing to shout about. It is not difficult to translate such a model into the priesthood. The same standard for the measurement of success easily seeps into the Church. With wealth inequality, our idea of justice is equitable distribution of wealth etc. Priests are drawn into this endeavour and are supposed to be at the forefront of fighting for justice. It is surely a noble enterprise. But behind this utilitarian mentality, we easily reduce a person’s worth to his or her ability to produce. So what happens when a person has finally outlived his or her usefulness?

The proliferation of homes for the aged is witness to this kind of thinking that a person is valued only when he or she can produce. Thus, our elderly priests are shunted to homes and there, like other elderly, are left to slowly fade away. The point here is that the priesthood is fundamentally a call “in persona Christi”.

Ultimately, he does not need to do anything except to celebrate Mass and make present Christ’s Body and Blood. Sadly, we value people for what they can doand not who they are. A priest is a priest by virtue of his ordination; not by virtue of what he does or can accomplish.

Finally, Christ chose 12 fallible men to shepherd His people. The first amongst them was the first to deny Him. The one trusted with money was the one who sold Him. Without a doubt Christ chose frail and flawed men to stand in His person. However, now what we demand is, as in everything in this world, from politician to priest, a candidate who is perfect. Apparently no one can fail and there is no room in the closet for any skeletons. But whatever our standard, there is no denying that Christ willed for priests to pastor His people. Thus, our job is to pray for more young men to courageously accept Holy Orders and pray for them to grow into the Heart of Christ so that like the Master who laid down His life, we will have holy priests who willingly lay down their lives for the people whom they serve.

3rd Sunday of Easter Year C 2026

History is not merely a chronicle of events that took place. It is not simply a record of happenings. Instead, history is more a record of salvation if only we look for it. Today’s Gospel is taken from Luke and it details the story of two disappointed disciples of Jesus who decided to call it quits and made the decision to abandon Jerusalem.

Jesus came up to them and invited them to relook at history from the perspective of salvation and to consider what they had gone through, not as a loss but to view it as how God has been at work. They had experienced what they thought to be the failure of the person of Jesus but in light of Sacred Scripture, Jesus pointed out that events happened because God had permitted them and what was supposedly a massive failure was not Christ’s death but His victory. With God there are no accidents.

One of the greatest place to experience God’s presence to us is through the Eucharist. Did not our hearts burn within us as he talked to us on the road and explained the Scriptures to us?

Often we can be overwhelmed by disappointments. Somehow crippled by our materialistic vision of life we are incapable of taking a long-term view of life. A proper long-term view of life must include the Resurrection. Thus the walk to Emmaus became an occasion for Christ to open their minds beyond the disappointment of the present. He not only opened their minds but He accompanied them corporeally.

Oh how nice if Jesus were to accompany us, I hear some said. Especially when we endure disasters, encounter defeats and experience disappointments in life. The fact is, He does. Today is the clearest proof of what He does best. He is with us for He is the Emmanuel. The context for His presence is the Eucharist.

To appreciate how He is present to us, we take a look at dancing. What is it that most attracts us? Not the formless kind in which hands and feet are going everywhere, right? What most fascinates us is when a dancer has coordinated movement that flows with the music. There is rhythm. The same can be said of the Eucharist. It is akin to a dance in which we are drawn into it by the rhythmic movement of the liturgy. But sadly, we generally do not make the connexion between the liturgy and Christ’s Real Presence.

In other words, we generally prefer a formless spontaneity in which what is central to our experience are the palpable emotions or maybe the intellectual coherence. If you read the Gospel passage today, you might not discern that it is actually a description of the Eucharist that we celebrate each time.

Our attention may be drawn towards the two disciples’ disappointment and the consequent movement away from Jerusalem. But if you view it from the perspective of the Eucharist, you might grasp how closely Christ is with us in our experiences most especially when we encounter disappointments.

While He was at table with them, He took bread, said the blessing, broke the bread and gave it to them broadly describes the Liturgy of the Eucharist when we celebrate Mass. The four verbs of taking, saying, breaking and giving correspond to the offertory, the Anaphora, the breaking at the Agnus Dei and the reception of Holy Communion. Just as soon as Jesus broke and gave them the bread, He disappeared and their response was “Did not our hearts burn within us, as He spoke to us on the road and explain the Scripture to us”.

The burning hearts belong to the part of the Mass called the Liturgy of the Word, where we hear God speaking to us through Sacred Scripture and the Homily. If the entire episode of the Disciples fleeing Jerusalem on account of their disappointment basically traces our liturgical steps, it gives pause for us to consider that the Eucharist is where Christ journeys with us especially in our darkest moments. He fulfils the description of Emmanuel, God with us, most radically in the Eucharist.

Often we hear this repeated that “to love God and not to love one’s neighbour is a dereliction of one’s love”. The reality is that the love of one’s neighbour is not necessarily a proof that one has relationship with God. A good communist is theoretically a philanthropist meaning that he or she is a lover of humanity but a good communist does not believe in God. In that sense, the end of this Gospel passage highlights an important aspect of our encounter with the God who seeks us out.

As soon as Christ disappeared from their sight, they recognised Him at the Breaking of Bread. The result was that they could no longer contain their excitement. They had to return to Jerusalem to share the good news of the Resurrection with the other disciples. As they say, the proof is in the pudding. When Christ touches us, we become evangelisers. We bring that good news to others. Not necessarily do we need to bang people’s head with the Bible. Rather, we become the Good News in other peoples’ life.

The thing is this, without the Resurrection, then the Disciples were right in their decision. Cut their losses and leave Jerusalem, start elsewhere. On the other hand, the Resurrection grants us an ability to carry on with life and even be joyful, celebrating that Christ did rise from the dead and He is still with us for as long as we need Him to be. His enduring presence is real through the Eucharist which He has bequeathed to His Church. We dare to be joyful despite not tasting victory because the ultimate triumph is assured by the Resurrection in the Lord.

Divine Mercy Sunday Year A

Today is Divine Mercy Sunday and the readings bid us to appreciate God’s merciful love and to extend that mercy to others. The exercise of mercy in the present context usually means we should be less judgemental.

“Who am I to judge?” is a sentiment that has gathered much traction because the world has dug itself into little trenches of self-reference and self-protection. We have gone one step further than the Cartesian Cogito. “I think, therefore I am” is fundamentally “I am the centre of the universe”. As such, I must do what I can to protect that universe. This feels like a full circle. The movement from geo-centrism to helio-centrism to a narrower ego-centrism.

The imperative “Do not judge” is correct because we cannot fully know a person’s intention or motivation. However, we do not live alone without relationship to others and that means that what is available before us are the actions of a person. They form the basis for our judgements.

Instead of drawing lines here and there to determine “judging” perhaps the question “Who am I to judge?” should direct our focus to “encounter” more than to “labelling”. It invites us to meet a person rather than to classify or categorise him or her. Here, we are not talking of condoning a person’s behaviour. Rather it is an invitation to be open to the possibility of encounter and allow us to separate a person from his or her actions. That is important.

However the truth remains that we continually judge. Rather than hiding behind the impersonal “we”, better I speak from my experience. The minute I see a face; I am already assessing a person. Whether I like it or not, I am constantly making assessments and assumptions about a person. Now, here comes a person, who, in my assessment is a sandwich short of a picnic. To be fair, it is a two-way street. People passing my office window will immediately have impressions. Me too when I stare out. “Who is that?” and given the way the person dresses, I am already analysing the situation.

What shall I do? For example, the beggar whom I encounter in the food court, always with the same sob story that I can even repeat word for word. Or the parishioner who will come and the “please, my I have 5 minutes” will stretch into a good 25 minutes and despite my attempts to steer the conversation, the story will move from A to B to C. Therefore the question, “What I supposed to do?” is relevant since I am not supposed to judge. Yet the reality is, I would try my best to avoid that person at all costs.

This is who we are. We are judging all the time. The point is not if we were judgemental but rather how we can encounter each other better and what sort of compassion should we bear each other? That is where God’s mercy can be experienced and appreciated.

His mercy is reflected in the compassion we demonstrate, in the respect towardand in the sensitivity to the needs of others. Having said that, all these actions are not incompatible with judging in the sense that even though we show mercy towards others, it does not exclude the reality that some actions are incompatible with civilised and accepted human behaviour. It also means that we recognise some behaviours are beyond the pale of our religious beliefs. So, the call to be merciful does not negate the truth of what we believe in or the actions we need to take.

Mercy as action towards and on behalf of others fall within two categories—the spiritual acts of mercy or the corporal acts of mercy. In fact, the Church prescribes a list of things we should do and it might be good to re-learn how the Church looks at mercy. Feed the hungry, quench the thirsty, clothe the naked, shelter the homeless, visit the sick and imprisoned, bury the dead. These belong to the time-tested corporal acts of mercy and under Pope Francis, he also listed the care for our common home as a corporal act of mercy.

Corporal acts of mercy are easier to do or realise. What is more difficult to accomplish are the spiritual acts of mercy. Instruct the ignorant or teach them the faith, counsel the doubtful, admonish the sinner, comfort the sorrowful, bear wrongs patiently, forgive all injuries and pray for the living and the dead.

In a climate where everyone believes that he or she knows the best, instructing or teaching is not an easy task. Coupled with a belief that personal autonomy is the supreme authority for one’s behaviour, it is not easy to point out the faults of others, even lovingly. What more, to bear injustice from others and to forgive them.

Mercy is not just what we receive from God nor should we confuse it with “tolerance”. To trust God’s mercy is an invitation to savour God’s love and to repent of our sins. While God’s mercy is infinite, it also means that we seek and receive it with remorse and repentance.

The message of repentance is not always appreciated. When someone is so wrapped up by hurt, the tendency is to avoid the truth and go along with the idea of “accompaniment”. A good example is a divorcee who is in a second marriage. She had been hurt by the first marriage and now the second marriage is considered to be irregular which technically means that she is living in sin. Translated, she is barred from the reception of Holy Communion. The present practice is to turn a blind eye to the irregularity of the second marriage simply because of the fear of reigniting the hurt that comes from the first failed marriage.

There is a confusion which often mistakes passive tolerance of sinful behaviour as mercy. For mercy to be divine, it requires our active and loving intervention to heal an offender rather than accepting or even enabling the offence. It is hard work and not easy.

Finally, it is true that God’s mercy is much bigger than ours. We do not judge only because we cannot always see the bigger picture. But we can judge actions which are incompatible with our faith and the Church’s teaching. We need the courage to call them out but with charity bearing in mind that the salvation of souls remains the Church’s chief duty. Whatever the confusion in terms of what mercy is, the Church still needs to uphold that mercy is inseparable from truth. While it may be uncomfortable, we cannot coexist with wrong doing or sin. For those who betray God, mercy makes a lot of sense. Somehow they are not going to change because we yell at them or even punish them. God’s grace is what they need. For them, we pray and ask God to bless them, not so much that they will change but rather that they may experience the profound healing of God’s mercy and are moved to change in return. The goal of mercy is always directed to the salvation of the whole human person.