Good Shepherd Sunday Year B 2021

The difference between a Catholic and Protestant designation for a “man of the cloth” is the origin of the handle for the 4th Sunday of Easter. Pastor is the term generally used to denote a minister in the Protestant circle. Today is Good Shepherd Sunday. In the Gospel, Jesus clearly paints Himself as the Shepherd who lays down His life for His sheep. It is not surprising that Jesus should endorse a model of servant and self-sacrificing leadership borrowed from an agrarian setting as the pedigree of the ancient patriarchs and prophets was pastoral. Moses was tending to sheep when God called him to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. David was a shepherd boy when the Lord chose him to be King. In other words, these leaders brought with them their shepherding skills as they represented God who Himself, in sacred scriptures, has been described as the Shepherd and the people His flock.

Today is also called Vocation Sunday which traditionally has been dedicated to the promotion of priestly and/or consecrated life. Parishes used to host elaborate bazaars where diocesan seminarians and various religious mingle around to promote the calling to priestly and/or religious life. These days, a shift may have taken place as the emphasis is placed on the universal call to holiness.[1] In other words, every baptised person is called to holiness. There is no such thing as a “higher calling” for the priestly and/or religious vocation. Under this universal clarion, married couples have as much responsibility to answer the call to live the fullness of Christian life and embrace the perfection of charity.

Furthermore, in some parts of the world, vocation to priestly and/or religious life is mostly unheard of. In fact, the more developed the economy is and the more progressive the society is, the more unnecessary is this call. In particular, a priest may have limited utility for people who grieve or those who need to signal a rite of social passage, like baptism, confirmation, marriage and funeral. Otherwise, he is superfluous. This situation basically reflects society’s lack of need for God and fundamentally, it is an indication that God is redundant. More and more the priesthood (and by extension religious life) is becoming irrelevant in a dystopian worldview that has painted God out of the picture.

In the context of this pandemic, there is a yearning detected and also a weakness revealed. Firstly, the general mood is that every nation has been trying to get back to where we were. What were we? From the mouth of Pitbull[2], “No doubt about it”, we are straining to return to that domain where “You can do what you wanna do. And do who you wanna do. Be what you wanna be. Freak who you wanna freak”. We yearn for the life we knew before Covid-19 blanketed us. There is a mental fatigue that comes from this loss of “freedom” and we are craving for the unregimented life we were accustomed to. Such a longing is natural but our Covid response may have just uncovered our unchallenged practical atheism[3]. In a certain sense, humanity wants to get back to an almost “Godless” past rendering any talk of priestly/religious vocation rather mindless. Why should we be concerned about a vocation which is slowly but surely relegated into irrelevance?

Good Shepherd Sunday is perhaps a chance to get reacquainted with the significance of Holy Orders. What is it to be a priest in the context of sacramental theology? It is to be an extension of Christ. According to the Catechism, “…in the age of the Church, Christ lives and acts in and with His Church through the sacraments”.[4]

Since the Sacraments are actions of Christ done through the Church, we can appreciate the powerful instrumentality of Holy Orders. Christ instituted this Sacrament so that He can save humanity. But, in these days as we are rightly reminded of human frailty and moral fragility, there is no currency for the priesthood. Such a despairing sentiment whilst proper actually reveals how poor and dependent we are. This question of why God chooses weak men to serve His Church comes a position of strength, a position which thinks that the strength of the Gospel message lies in the personal prowess of the messenger. But, every single Apostles in the Upper Room was nothing but weakness personified. Peter denied Jesus. Thomas doubted Him. Prior to that, Judas sold Jesus out. The current scandals only illustrate for us that from prince to pauper, no one is immune from the indignity of succumbing to human weaknesses. There is no doubt that everyone from clergy to congregation ought to be more professional. The idea being that weaknesses, heinous human flaws do not invalidate Christ’s means of salvation.

The priesthood is vital to the mission of Christ in saving humanity. St Paul writing to the Romans, speak of “how others are to hear if no one preaches to them”. In the context of the universal call to holiness, that is, the priesthood of all the baptised, every Christian is to preach with his or her life the Gospel truth. However, two quotes from St John Mary Vianney may help us understand the heart of this particular vocation to the priesthood. Firstly, he says, “There is nothing so great as the Eucharist. If God had something more precious, He would have given it to us”. Secondly, "O, how great is the priest! ... If he realised what he is, he would die... God obeys him: he utters a few words and the Lord descends from heaven at his voice, to be contained within a small host". This second quote must be contextualised especially in an age of personality cult. Instead, it should be read in light of Chapter 6 of John’s Gospel, where Jesus declared to the Jewish crowd, which subsequently abandoned Him, that eternal life is premised on eating His Flesh and drinking His Blood. He did not hedge or fudge on this requirement. The Sacrament of Holy Orders is the guarantee given by Him that the Church will always have the power to confect His Body and His Blood so that our passage to eternal life can be assured.

Holy Orders is necessary for Christ’s earthly mission to save the world. St Pio Pietrelcina said this, “It would be easier for the world to survive without the sun than to do without Holy Mass”. For this reason, we should never stop praying for more vocations in general and to the priesthood in particular.[5]

Today is a day for the appreciation of the Sacrament of Holy Orders. It is not a focus on the person of the priest. Rather, in the light of Easter, the priesthood was instituted by Christ for the mission of salvation. Without the priest, there is no Eucharist. Without the Eucharist, there is no Church. Without the Church, there is no salvation. Christ cannot save virtually. He cannot even save with a magic wand. He saves sacramentally. Through Holy Orders, Jesus gives us His Body and Blood, the only food that can sustain the pilgrim on the journey to eternity.


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[1]Lumen gentium (LG5). Dogmatic Constitution of the Church

[2]Pitbull, aka Armando Christian Pérez, the American rapper in the music video from the TV series Empire, featuring Jussie Smollet.

[3]Simply defined as belief in God but living as if there is no God.

[4]Despite our awe with technology and its powerful applications, salvation does not come from human capability. We tend to forget that programmes, no matter how sophisticated they are in themselves, do not save. It may be true to an extent, as witnessed in history, that Man has, by and large, solved the problem of human hunger. But what happens when human efforts fail? The pandemic gives us the answer on two front. Firstly, human solutions provide the condition for the possibility of human flourishing. Secondly, more importantly, programmes can only do that much. No matter how much it can accomplish, salvation belongs to Christ alone. This means we need Christ. We need the Sacraments.

[5]It is ironical that we idolise people through the cult of personality and yet recoil at the “pedestalisation” of the priest. But this is for a good reason because the person of the priest is NOTHING more than a signpost to the sacred. Sadly, through personality cult, he has been reduced to be a purveyor of preferences. Even if a priest chose to obey the liturgical rites of the Church, that would be read as his “personal preferences”. Instead of pointing to Christ, in the cult of personality, unwittingly, the priest is relegated to pointing at himself. This process itself places a limitation on his effectiveness as a sacrament of Christ.

3rd Sunday of Easter Year B 2021

Tempus fugit! Time flies and we are already at the 3rd Sunday of Easter. A message we can tease out from the Readings is faith in and witness to the bodily resurrection of the Lord. Indeed, there is more to mere believing as we read both the 1st and 2nd Reading.

Firstly, Peter’s message was not accusatory as it was not a charge against the Jews for the crime of “Deicide”. Instead, it was descriptive because he placed the death of the Christ within the context of God’s plan of salvation. Whilst the Jews may have acted out of ignorance, Peter exhorted them not to remain as such. Hence, he called upon his hearers to repent of their sins in order to be saved. John’s advice balances reality of sinfulness with the possibility of forgiveness. The theme of advocacy through the Risen Christ is clearly emphasised which flows naturally into Luke’s Gospel passage. Christ appeared into their midst confirming the age-old prophecy of His Passion, Death and Resurrection for the forgiveness of sins.

Does this feel Lenten? Even though we are celebrating the Resurrection, all the three Readings mention, in one way or another, the fact of sin and the necessity of conversion.

It helps to realise that the good news of the Resurrection is not restricted to the obvious phenomenon that Jesus came back from dead. The belief in bodily resurrection must be located within the context of a sacramental life and the mission of the Church.

How so?

In the light of John’s Epistle, keeping the commandments is a sign of one’s faith in the Resurrection. Firstly, it requires a change in one’s life because conversion always has a value which goes beyond the personal. Sin is not only sickly, but it is also sticky. A soul stuck in sin does not inspire. Instead sin is a kind of sickness that sticks as it has the propensity to attract the wrong attention. In other words, it is bad witnessing. This brings us to the next point.

Faith cannot remain within the personal domain. Take a look at the two disciples. They were on an exodus to Emmaus. After their intimate encounter with Jesus on the way, they could not contain themselves as one can imagine them falling over themselves trying to give voice to their experience. From the exhortation of Peter, and from these two returnees from Emmaus, we get a sense that Mission is born of the meeting with the Risen Lord.

The Gospel announces that we now belong to the new creation of Jesus Christ. Our love for Him is the basis for our new state of life. In the context of being a Catholic, our conversion is personally associated with a sacramental life, closely tied to the Church, and intimately linked to Mission. No one is baptised to live alone. One is baptised into the Church to be animated by a sacramental life so as to share her Mission. Both repentance or conversion of life and love for Christ are two sides of a coin. The more we love Jesus, the more we will resolve to change. However,the challenge is that we all like the message of His love for us but may just fail to hear that our love for Him requires a forsaking of our sinful ways. Love for Him is built on repentance and conversion.

Today, we see how the Resurrection experience is intricately related with the kerygma. We are not just proclaiming that He is risen. We are also witnessing that there is a difference in our lives. A life enlivened by the Resurrection is itself a proclamation even if no words were uttered. Of course, in the Gospel, as the two excited disciples described the immensity of their experience, Jesus entered their midst—proof that He is never far from us when we proclaim Him. In fact, our preaching by word or by deed is the palpable sign of His presence. In that way, our lives here on earth must always exhibit a sense of heaven. What is the Resurrection but an expression of the eternal? This quality of eternity gives meaning to our struggles. Without the logic of the hereafter, we may be shouting out empty slogans.

The mission of announcing that the Lord is Risen is clarified by a life without sin or a life in which sin is defeated. Our obedience to God’s commandments becomes our signboards. The saints are not great only for what they did. They are magnificent because they, through grace and in cooperation with grace, have overcome the lure of sin. So, if we were stuck in sin, it might not be possible to direct the world to Christ because we are compromised.

Just like sitting in a bus on a long journey. The landscape can become a humdrum of passing scenery to the extent that one no longer takes notice of it. It is the same with our witnessing. When Christian behaviour is basically “normal” behaviour, no different from what is “socially acceptable”, then what is so attractive about the Christian kerygma? Our bodily resurrection is not only our guarantee of Christ’s redemption and salvation, but also our proclamation. If there is no qualitative difference in being a Christian, then the Gospel of the Resurrection is useless.

It could be that we have become so much more “tolerant” (or unimaginative) in our approach to diversity. It is often heard that all religions are the same. After all, every religion teaches its adherents to do good and each religion promises a kind of heaven. It may also be that we have become relativistic in our assumptions. But more likely, the truth is closer to the lack of conviction on our part of the Gospel proclamation. We do not fully subscribe to it and absent in our behaviour is the coherence of the entire Christian message.

Performative contradiction is the term used for stating a truth whilst differing from it through behaviour. We preach the Risen Christ but we live as if He has not risen. Perhaps risen or not, it is not that central for us. Furthermore, when we claim to represent Christ but have not repented from our sins, it makes for ineffective testimony. Even if we do not think that Christianity is one religion amongst many, weak witnessing makes it so. What has happened is that Christianity may have lost its drawing power because we are living as if heaven does not exist and the Resurrection is just a fancy idea. In other words, we may have the message but few witnesses. We may be packed with worshippers but are hesitant to embrace fully the kerygma.

So, let our sacramental worship of God, our obedience to His commandments as expressed through the Church, be our loudspeakers to announce that the Resurrection is real, that there is forgiveness of sin and death cannot be the last word in this life—even more so in this Covid era. When we witness to the Resurrection we will peril and persecution but we have come to know that the final chapter is written by Jesus, Risen and Glorious. He is the basis for our hope, the foundation of our courage even in the frightening face of mortality and the joy of our life. As in the Upper Room, here in this Eucharist, the Risen Christ is in our midst, let us forsake our sins, fix our eyes on Him so as to follow Him to our resurrection.

2nd Sunday of Easter Year B (Divine Mercy Sunday)

Our Lent came to an end last week. It was truly a long season that stretched from last year’s first lock-down. Whatever waves of infection we went through, an apt description is that we have been put on pause for an incredible length of time. When we think Covid, the word almost conjures up a post-apocalyptic carnage of living dead. How so? The daily tallies of infection and death seem to be the central message of Covid, right? No. The pandemic may be associated with death, but Covid is more than anything else a denial of death.

What does denial of death mean in this case?

The short answer is possibly found in an effort to preserve life “at all cost”. This sounds like a diatribe against the biological instinct to survive, but it is not. Whatever preventive strategies that have been rolled out, it feels as if we have just discovered the unpleasantness of death and not only that; it suggests that death by Covid is the most tragic catastrophe to befall a person. The valid observation is, letting go of earthly existence is not easy because we stand to lose everything. For example, if we were not afraid of being forgotten, then why do leaders go through great length to build monuments to memorialise them by? Why were the Twin Towers built? Everyone is afraid of being forgotten. But that is not the worst. More than anything else is an implied fear that beyond death, there is nothing. Policy or technology can only do that much in this mortal pursuit to postpone death or prolong life. In other words, quarantine or vaccination can only stave off death but never prevent it. We may put off death but never rule it out.

This natural fear of death is a situation which can be addressed by the appearance of the Lord today. What characterises the post-Resurrection state of the disciples is the struggle of grief, confusion, fear, and uncertainty. The two disciples on the road to Emmaus were dispirited. In their anguish, there was nothing to hold them back in Jerusalem. But it was not as if those who stayed back fared better. In fact, they behaved like vanquished soldiers who did not know what else to do—when blanketed by sorrow, one is prone to paralysis.

The post-Resurrection appearances of Jesus which confirm that there is life after death are also acts wherein death is denied. Unlike the Covid-craze of attempting to preserve life at all cost, this is a denial which is in tandem with the Easter message—that death is temporary. On the 3rd day, He rose again. This is our credal formula.

The love with which Christ submits to death, has transformed death as failure to death as triumph, from death as evil to death as a good or a gateway of eternity. If anything, Covid should be a compelling memento mori. If Peter fleeing his own execution ran surprisingly into the Risen Christ entering Rome, asked of the Lord, “Quo vadis, Domine?” (“Where are you going, Lord?”), then Covid is our Quo vadis, a timely reminder that the post-Resurrection appearances of Jesus is our reckoning, a chance for us to open the window of our hearts, the doors of our Churches so that fear may escape, and firm faith may enter—we are on a pilgrimage from fear to faith.

Despite severe restrictions, we have never stopped celebrating the Eucharist. We did have two brief periods of interruption, but we quickly returned to a regular albeit scaled down schedule. Over the period of Holy Week and Easter, we did turn people away though it was not from the lack of capacity as it was from the unfortunate congestion of timing. It was the sad and difficult situation of too many wanting to attend at the same time even though we did provide extra services to accommodate those who had wanted to come. The consideration here is that people are still staying away from the actual celebration of Masses preferring the comfort and convenience of virtual spectatorship of the Eucharist from a distance.

Capacity is not a problem we face. Fear is. We have yet to count the cost of this pandemic. Unfortunately and more so for us living next to a huge financial hub. We calculate in terms of the economic losses forgetting that we also have a rise in cases of mental illness, anxiety and domestic violence. All these factor into our attitudes, behavioural patterns and decision makings.

That we die has never been a taboo for man until this pandemic surfaced. We had carried on with life even though we were embraced by the fact of death. If anything, this pandemic has corralled us willingly into a prison of fear. This incarceration may soon result in procedures or protocols which will, if unchallenged or unchecked, take a form which is not unrecognisable—a tyranny in the name of the common good. Forced vaccination and vaccination passports are two good examples of seeming public interest. As it is, public good is already the principle dictating our social conventions as our everyday freedom has been stealthily surrendered under the auspices of returning to “normalcy”.

It is a sad sounding sermon which does not seem to synchronise with the spirit of the season. The other day I got a call from a lady who, for all intents and purposes, have not gone out since MCO1.0. I offered to bring Holy Communion for her and her sister, but she refused for fear of contagion. Is that living or life imprisonment? By no means were these two sisters the only ones.

Brothers and sisters, we are at a crossroad for the fog of fear hangs heavily over us. The thing is, whether we like it or not, death is a portal we must go through. The only passport we need to carry in order to enter eternal life is faith. Hence, Jesus Christ the Lord entered into the confusion of the disciples behind the closed door of despair to strengthen their faith. Jesus coming into their midst is a timely reminder for us. These few post-Resurrection encounters with Jesus can help us see that in Him, eternal life is stronger than death. God’s love revealed in Jesus Christ gives us the strength to hope for the fullness of life in the Kingdom. Covid or otherwise, death is simply a reminder that God’s reign is not yet fully present—the Resurrection is. It is faith that makes present the eternal life which the Resurrection of Jesus Christ has won for us. Therefore, be not afraid.

Easter Year B 2021

As the Paschal Candle processes in, we intone three times “Lumen Christi” as the lights are switched on progressively. If there is a symbolism to be appreciated, then it is this Easter Beacon burning brightly and illuminating the world, banishing the darkness of eternal death. Indeed, it is a jubilation.

What are we celebrating?

The simple answer is the Resurrection of Jesus Christ the Lord. But we may need to take a step back to appreciate a much bigger picture. We begin with an ancient homily that paints Holy Saturday as the great silence. But it is not an empty silence.

“Today a great silence reigns on earth, a great silence and a great stillness. A great silence because the King is asleep. The earth trembled and is still because God has fallen asleep in the flesh and He has raised up all who have slept ever since the world began. . . He has gone to search for Adam, our first father, as for a lost sheep. Greatly desiring to visit those who live in darkness and in the shadow of death, He has gone to free from sorrow Adam in his bonds and Eve, captive with him - He who is both their God and the son of Eve. . . "I am your God, who for your sake have become your son. . . I order you, O sleeper, to awake. I did not create you to be a prisoner in hell. Rise from the dead, for I am the life of the dead”. (quoted in CCC#635).

Christ entered the tomb of death in order that the whole of creation since the beginning of time can follow Him out. St Paul likens the Sacrament of Initiation in the same manner that through Baptism, we follow Him into the tomb in order that we may rise with Him. In other words, in Christ’s Resurrection or in His rising from the dead, we are celebrating, more than anything else, our discipleship. In this way, the Resurrection is therefore not only a joyful observance, but it is a powerful call to discipleship.

To be a disciple, we have to re-examine the Resurrection of Jesus in the light of His death. Otherwise, we may risk an empty or vacuous and meaningless celebration. In order that we have a deeper grasp of this Easter grace of the Resurrection, we borrow an idea found in Dietrich Bonhoeffer book on the Cost of Discipleship. He makes a distinction between what he calls “cheap” and “costly” grace. For him,

“Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline. Communion without confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the Cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate”.

What experience can we draw from life to grasp the difference. The notion of “cheap” grace can be gleaned from our familiarity with a fact of modern marketing—freebies. Our idea of “free gift” is closer to “a thing” we do not need. Like the free plate from the two tubes of toothpaste we buy. In general we have no attachment to this type of a free gift. If it breaks, it breaks. Usually, when we receive a gift we do not need, we will not know how to value it.

To appreciate the Resurrection, we need to acknowledge the reality of sin. But not in the way that we like to commit them even though that may be true for many of us. In fact, some of us have a love relationship with our favourite sin. What it means is that our admission should take the form of accepting that our sins, individual rather than collective, weigh heavily from the Crown of Thorns to the Cross on Calvary. Christ our Scapegoat and Saviour bore the burden of “MY” offences through the winding streets of Jerusalem and every whip across His enervated Body was a stripe for “MY” sins.

The more we desire to celebrate the Resurrection, the more we ought to recognise the price that was paid for it. Without acknowledgement that our sins put Jesus there, what are we celebrating but cheap grace? Here, admission is not unhealthy guilt. It is not meant to be a dark cloud that continually oppresses us. Perhaps to highlight what it means to have a healthy sense of sin, listen to a common rendition of the Act of Contrition.

“Oh my God, I am sorry for my sins. Because you are so good, with the help of your grace, I will try not to sin again”. The operative word here is “try”. What does it mean to try? At best, it imitates the traditional usage “resolve”. I “will” (not future tense but volitional) not to sin again or I “want” not to sin again. But, instead of a firm resolution, what we have here is a rather detached severance from sin, as if one were doing God a favour. In this case, we are not as sinful as God is pathetically "needy". A rephrase might better express this. “Oh my God, I am sorry for my sins. But let me see, because you are so good, I shall do you a favour. I will try not to sin again”. I can safely say that nobody does that at Confession but the unspoken assumption in the prayer does suggest that.

Why?

This formulation exposes a chink in our self-supposition. We are not that sinful after all. Jesus did die on the Cross but not really for my sins. For others, maybe? The truth is, His death paid the price for “MY” sins just like His Risen Body in the Eucharist pays for the price of “MY” eternal salvation. The Blessed Sacrament is truly the medicine of immortality but if we do not count Christ’s death as the cost for this remedy, then this medicine is of no use to us. Just like the unvalued freebie, it might as well just be a health supplement. Something extra but not intrinsically necessary for our wellbeing and definitely not needed for our salvation.

If that were so, our celebration is but an empty victory. We can have fun, lots of it. Or rather, a lot of “eats” (makan) exemplified by the chocolate bunnies and to be fair, the over- eating happens during Christmas rather than at Easter but the point remains.

Addicted to cheap grace, we all want to be comforted by whatever—food is best, sometimes sins too. Nobody wants to be confronted by the reality who he or she truly is—a sinner. However, costly grace which calls us to follow and submit to Christ whole-heartedly requires an honest admission that we are sinners and are sinful. Thankfully, in light of Christ’s costly grace, the fact of our sinfulness is not the final statement of who we are. What liberates is to know that, like the adulterous woman forgiven by Christ, radical repentance is what makes for a better disciple, a faithful follower and an effective evangelist. Only then can our Easter explode with joy. The greater our celebration, the more profound should our appreciation be for the price of salvation. Thus, be wary for cheap grace is always waiting at the corner as a poor substitution for costly grace. It always makes us feel good, but it does no good in the end. Be more aware though that Christ did not die for nothing. "I" (not so much "we") have been saved to copy and imitate Him. He died so that "I" (not so much "we") may follow Him from tomb to triumph, from sin to salvation and from death to life.

Good Friday 2021

Meditating on the Rosary, one is struck by a reality that on Good Friday, Jesus was not the only one who was naked. Indeed, He was stripped, tied to a pillar, and scourged. We may fail to notice that the soldiers too were naked in their aggression. They let loose all their pent-up authoritarian power and rained it upon Jesus. Think of those low-ranking gaol guards who have no qualms venting their frustration on defenceless prisoners.

History is littered with countless expressions of violence in which power is exercised unchecked by civilised or enlightened rules of engagement. A modern equivalent of this phenomenon of untrammelled power is cancel culture.[1] When it is tied to the powers-that-be, you can imagine how powerful it is in the way “truth” can be shaped or reshaped. For example, the notion of “public health experts” and their ubiquitous presence. Who are they? We do rely on them because they are informed resources for dealing with a virulent pandemic.[2]

Which would give you a greater sense of freedom or confidence?

Scenario 1.

Reminder after reminder that going out might be your last foray or frolic. That there so many fatalities. Anything you touch can be your death. Anyone you touch can be their demise. Finally, if you do not submit to the vaccine you will not be able to travel? You are liable to die.

Or scenario 2.

That the death count arising from Covid-19’s infection is slightly higher than normal. It affects mostly those who have pre-existing conditions. Most who have Covid will recover. Ordinary precautions should include a conscious cleanliness that is not obsessive.

Which one of these two scenarios is easier to the ears, do you think?

See, today we do not only have the “gomen” to deal with, especially authoritarian or tyrannical governments. We also have big techs. Our search engines do not only search but they also direct our searches to the answers which suit them. Coupled with cancel culture, you can imagine how much more power can governments have when they can co-opt the powers of the tech titans?

Picture Jesus standing before Pilate. He was not just a governor. In fact, he was a potentate of Rome and he interrogated Jesus on what truth is. Now, imagine this same Jesus standing before a government of today, one that has the backing of the big techs’ clout of surveillance and supported by cancel culture, can you figure what chance Jesus has on the Truth of who He is. Pilate with his Roman might was a mere kitten compared to the rule of the techno-oligarchs who are dominant enough to censor, silence and finally cancel even the most powerful man in the world--the POTUS.

There is a saying that “A lie told many times over becomes the ‘truth’”. As Mark Twain reminds us that “History is strewn thick with evidence that a truth is not hard to kill, but a lie, well told, is immortal”.[3] The phenomenon of “fake news” is actually facilitated by the "viral-ability" of the electronic medium, that is, the internet and mobile technology. These days, the truth seems to belong not only to the market-place of competing ideas but to the one who shout the loudest, claiming to be the truth of morality, politics, even of Jesus and His Church. The latest example is the social media reaction to the Church's declaration that she has no authority to bless same-sex union.

Like Pilate, faced with the Truth, we too might be too blind to recognise Him. But one fact remains. Truth is not a thing. It is never a possession. We do not own it like in cancel-culture as it seeks to impose its own version of what reality should be and that anyone who dares to dissent from it will be cancelled. Indeed, truth is personal but it is not “subjectively” personal meaning that it should reflect my choices, preferences, likes or dislikes. Rather Truth is “objectively” personal in the sense that Truth is a Person. It is not invested in a person, but Truth is THIS Person otherwise known as Jesus Christ.

Today, Truth stands in front of us battered by those who wield the power to darken the world with lies, hatred and violence. We worship Him who stands against the power darkness and who appears ostensibly vanquished by it. Still, the worship and service of Him is our only protection against the different  competing “truths” that demand our allegiance. There is no way Man can ever withstand the lies of Satan, except in Jesus, with Jesus and under Jesus because He is Truth. Today, Truth is wounded for our sake. If He stood no chance against the might of the Roman Empire, one might be tempted to despair that in the face of an even greater duplicity of gigantic tech-powers, what chance does Truth have? While the power of darkness is overwhelming and He stands seemingly crushed and conquered, the answer is on the 3rd day. He will rise again because Jesus is the only Truth that redeems. He is the only Truth that brings salvation. He is the only Truth that leads to eternal life. Come let us worship Him.

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[1] In rare cases, an exercise in democracy when forcing out dictators. In other cases, the expression of mob mentality.

[2] Let us not be Wikipedia about this. In the sense that this platform democratises knowledge that now instead of a few, everyone can be an expert. There are real experts. We should trust them, but we should never invest infallibility on them. Otherwise, they can be autocrats who burnish their credentials through lab-coats whilst pontificating from their ivory towers. For example, "Who is Bill Gates?".  Is he the saviour of the world? Does he know the way to heaven? By the same token, the question could be asked of the Pope, bishops and priests. Who are these “experts”? The answer is found in the Passion Narrative: “Yes, I am a King. I was born for this. I came into the world for this: to bear witness to the Truth; and all who are on the side of Truth listen to my voice”. The answer is to keep close to Jesus so that we can recognise His voice.

[3]According to Joseph Goebbels who said this during World War II: “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.”