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1-Apr-2012
Dear Friend,
Even in the worst of moments what keeps us going is hope. We hope to get better
and be healed, we hope our financial situation, our job will improve; we hope
we will successfully cope with the difficult situations which threaten our
relationships and family. We hope…. Is it false hope? Easter reminds us that
the resurrection of Jesus is the foundation of our home. The darkest night will
pass and we are at the threshold of a new dawn. We hope not because things are
bound to change but God assures us! He is our hope! Have a blessed and happy
Easter! Fr. Jude
Sunday Reflections: Easter Sunday "He has risen from the dead! Alleluia!
Alleluia!' 8-Apr-2012
Readings: Acts 10: 34, 37-43 Colossians 3: 1-4 John 20:
1-9
The first reading from the Acts, is part of an early sermon of St. Peter on the
feast of Pentecost, his very first after the resurrection. He tells us how he
is a witness of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. Without the
resurrection Jesus' life and ours would be a total failure, with the
resurrection every moment of His ministry has new meaning and every moment of
our own can take on new significance. Peter in this sermon reminds his
listeners that Jesus is Lord of all and that his message is a message of hope
and peace. He emphasizes that every believer is called to be a witness of the
Lord's life, death and resurrection. We are called to be witnesses of the
resurrection, but the glory of the resurrection is realized in us only when we
have accepted the many crosses that come our way leading us to new life.
Witnesses of the Resurrection
In the darkest days of Stalinist Russia a special League of the Godless was
established to stamp out the last vestiges of religion from people’s lives. One
Easter morning the Commissar of this League addressed a huge rally in Moscow's
Red Square. He ranted along his usual lines that religion was the instrument of
the bourgeoisie and the opium of the proletariat. At the end of his harangue he
generously offered the mike to anyone who wished to debate with him. Nobody
wanted a one-way ticket to Siberia until one old man made his way forward. He
surveyed his huge audience, cleared his throat and began to sing: "The Lord has
risen." It was the traditional Orthodox Easter greeting. Moved by the old man's
courage, voices from the square swelled up in reply: "He has truly risen."
Religion in Russia was not dead as long as belief in the resurrection of Christ
was not dead in people.
Sylvester O'Flynn in 'The Good News of Mark's Gospel'
The Gospel begins with Mary Magdalene coming to the tomb to anoint the body of
Jesus. She saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb, she runs and
tells Peter: "They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know
where they have laid him." She saw but she did not believe. Peter and John too
did not believe but ran to the tomb to check out for themselves and remained
baffled in their unbelief. Finally they both went into the tomb, they began to
understand the scriptures, they saw and they believed. To 'understand the
scriptures' we have to be people of great hope, in ourselves and in others. The
Gospel tells us that Mary stood outside the tomb, weeping and looking into the
tomb to see, not the risen Jesus but where they had laid his body. "They have
taken away my Lord and I do not know where they have laid him." She was looking
for Jesus in the wrong place, looking for the risen among the dead! She sees
Jesus but still does not recognize
him. Supposing him to be the gardener she said to him, "Sir, if you have
carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away."
Finally Jesus reveals himself to her as he calls her by her name: "Mary!" But
the good news is that the Lord does not give up on us. He will reveal himself
to us and call us by name so that like Mary we can say: "I have seen the Lord!"
Once we have experienced the power of the resurrection nothing will ever be the
same again.
Hopelessness and New Hope
Hopelessness pollutes our life space. So many streams flow into the sea of our
despair. Long term unemployment scars many a heart. Violence awakens fear in
the vulnerable, young and old. Famine gnaws away the fabric of our society.
Scandals in high places erode trust. Infidelity undermines family security. It
gets easier and easier to paint a grim picture of pointless life ending in
disastrous death. The darker the night, the more significant is the torch. The
torch is the risen Christ. This Easter, as perhaps never before, Christ's
message is vital for the people of our time. It is vital because it is
life-giving. It is a message of hope highlighting that the God, who made the
world and its people, has both safely in his hands and his helping is nearer
than the air we breathe. In fact, he is living in our hearts and in our
relationships. He has taken on our human condition even unto death. Rising from
the dead, he has changed utterly the meaning of our
lives. We are made to love to be loved, to reach out in forgiveness,
generosity and trust to every brother and sister, especially those in greatest
need. Following the torch of his example, we are called to keep hope alive for
all those whose lives we touch, hope in the power of God's love working in and
through us for one another. Keeping this hope alive is the privileged calling
and daunting challenge facing us as an Easter People.
Tom Clancy in 'Living the Word'
Lord of Life, and Doctors of Death
Dr. Jayant Patel, an Indo-American was dubbed 'doctor of death' because he
faced charges of manslaughter in over 80 cases in the USA and Australia. Dr.
Patel allegedly lied about his medical qualifications and performed operations
causing innumerable deaths. Similarly, Dr. Amit Kumar performed illegal kidney
operations on about 500 poor unsuspecting victims and sold their kidneys to
rich recipients from the West. History abounds with such 'doctors of death',
besides leaders like Hitler and the so called 'butcher of the Balkans' Slobodan
Milosevic. Besides these killers, we too - consciously or unconsciously -
promote death rather than life. Conversely, Easter exhorts everyone to
celebrate the Lord of Life and defy death. The risen Lord wants us to keep
people alive, to defy every doctor of death, and to replicate the resurrection
by our own life, light and love so that everyone, everywhere, may echo that
Easter song: "Alleluia, Jesus is risen!"
Francis Gonsalves in 'Sunday Deeds for daily Deeds'
Light in the Darkness
A few years ago I returned to New Zealand to the scenes of my early ministry. A
friend had asked me to look up his sister who lived in Hamilton, a large town
in the sheep farming province of Waikato. I had forgotten her married name; she
was just known to me as Peg Hyland. I had even mislaid her address. I told the
parish priest with whom I was spending the night about my quest. He had just
arrived in the parish but he thought the person I was looking for lived in a
particular street. We drove down this long street in the dark and were about to
give up when he suddenly brought the car to a halt. "That must be the place,"
he said pointing to a house. "It's got to be it! We don't see much of that sort
of thing here." The house to which he pointed was no different from the others
except that in this one the blinds in the front room were not drawn and there
like a beam we saw a little pin-point of light penetrating the surrounding
darkness. It was a little
red light illuminating a picture of the Sacred Heart. "Try that one," he said,
"and I bet you'll find the one you're looking for!" He was right. When the door
opened to my ring, it was Peg sure enough and her many welcomes 12,000 miles
from home were like music to my ears. As we chatted and drank tea from a
Tipperary tea-pot it became increasingly clear that the light beneath the
picture was the symbol of another light - Christ the Light of the World was a
reality in that home.
James Feeban in 'Story Power'
What Happened to Jesus Will Happen to Us
There is a beautiful movie called 'Whistle Down the Wind'. A group of young
children are playing in a hayshed where they come across a tramp sleeping in
the hay. With his beard and long hair, they are convinced that he is Jesus. One
of the children runs off, collects her kitten, which is sick, and brings it to
Jesus and asked him to heal it. The kitten dies, and the children are really
puzzled why Jesus let the kitten die. This leads them to other questions, such
as why God lets anything or anybody die. They decide to go down to the
parochial house to ask the parish priest. The priest is having his tea when the
children walk in. They asked their question as to why God lets people die. The
priest proceeded with long definitions about life, death, mystery, etc. with
God-words and theological jargon. Convinced that he has done a good job, he
pours himself a cup of tea. There is a lovely scene as the children are
leaving. One little lad pulls his sister by
the sleeve, and whispers, 'Sure he doesn't know either, sure he doesn't!' If
the priest had spoken to them of what happened to Jesus, and what that means
for all of us now, perhaps the children would easily have got the simple
message.
Jack McArdle in 'And that's the Gospel Truth!'
Do Not Be Amazed
The Fourth Wise Man is a movie made for television and based on Henry Van
Dyke's 1895 classic. It begins like a Christmas story but ends as an Easter
story. Martin Sheen stars as the fourth wise man, Artaban, who was late for the
journey the three wise men made to Bethlehem because he stopped along the way
to help someone in trouble. For the next 33 years, he tries to find the
promised Messiah, only to miss him at every turn because he is constantly
getting sidetracked to help people. In his last efforts to find Jesus, Artaban
arrives late one more time at the crucifixion. Jesus has just died on the
cross. At that moment the earthquake occurs and Artaban is struck by a falling
tile. As he lies there dying he is broken-hearted because his quest to find the
Messiah was never realized. Suddenly, the Risen Lord appears to him. Jesus
tells him that for the past 33 years he had, in fact, been found by the fourth
wise man in the person of all the people this
wise man had helped. Whatever Artaban had done to the least of the Lord's
people, that he had done to Jesus himself. This Easter story is retold in
another form in today's gospel. Instead of three wise men seeking the Lord,
with the fourth wise man coming along late, we have three women coming to the
tomb, seeking the Lord who has been crucified.
Albert Cylwicki in 'His Word resounds'
Easter Ceremony in Communist Russia
'Someone at the back of the church lit a candle, a single point of light not
able to pierce the darkness. Then there was another, and another. Swiftly the
flame was passed from one to another. In less than a minute the church was a
blaze of light. Each candle lit up the face behind it, a face marked with
suffering. But now that suffering turned into joy, Because of the certain
knowledge that the Lord has risen. These people do not debate the resurrection.
They have experienced it in their lives. They have not preserved the faith in
hostile surroundings; it has preserved them.' Lord, may your Easter light shine
on us this day, and chase the shadows of the night of death away.'
Flor McCarthy in 'New Sunday and Holy Day Liturgies'
May we experience and believe in His Resurrection even in the darkest night!!
Fr. Jude Botelho
[email protected]
PS. The stories, incidents and anecdotes used in the reflections have been
collected over the years from books as well as from sources over the net and
from e-mails received. Every effort is made to acknowledge authors whenever
possible. If you send in stories or illustrations I would be grateful if you
could quote the source as well so that they can be acknowledged if used in
these reflections. These reflections are also available on my web site
www.netforlife.net Thank you.
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