Easter Sunday, Year C, 31.03.2013

Today is the last day of the month of March.

For most of us, we may not think too much about the month of March.

Maybe nothing significant has happened for us during this month and so it is just another month passing on as time flows by.

But if something dramatic, something significant has happened to us that changed our lives overnight, then we will certainly remember the month of March in the year 2013.

One man who would certainly remember the month of March in 2013 is Jorge Mario Bergoglio.

For him, the month of March began by making a trip to the Vatican as one the 115 cardinals to take part in the conclave to elect a new pope for the Roman Catholic Church.

Before he left his homeland Argentina, he told his newspaper delivery vendor that he would see him in about 20 days time.

Yet during those 20 days, things changed so dramatically and significantly for him that he had to change his name from Jorge Mario Bergoglio to Francis!

And he also had to make a long-distance call from Rome to Argentina to tell his newspaper delivery vendor to stop the newspaper delivery because he won’t be coming home.

So probably on this last day of March, Pope Francis would be taking a moment to reminisce about what had happened that changed his life so dramatically.

And let us also pray that he won’t feel homesick and that he likes spaghetti and pizza.

Well, at 76 years old and having only one lung, he would have been thinking of looking forward to a quiet time and enjoying the golden sunset in Argentina.

And then this had to happen. Yet we also must remember that all things happen for the good of those who love God.

Yet it is not that easy to understand this spiritual truth that is found in Roman 8:28.

Even for the disciples that we heard about in the gospel, they failed to understand the teaching of scripture that Jesus must rise from the dead.

For us who are here to celebrate the great feast of Easter, we have the privilege of the revelation of the Resurrection.

But for the disciples, they had to deal with the trauma of the crucifixion and the confusion of the situation.

They saw the dead Jesus being buried in the tomb and now there is news that the tomb is empty! Jesus is not in the tomb!

So what could have happened? Was the body stolen? Where could the body of Jesus be now?

Simon Peter and the other disciple even went into the tomb to look for clues.

It does sound strange for the living to enter into the domain of the dead.

It is almost like saying that we want to take a nap in a coffin!

Jesus rose from the dead into a new life. And He wants us to rise from the past and into the new life of the future.

And here Pope Francis has a message for us. In his Palm Sunday homily he said this: Don’t let yourself be robbed of hope!

It was reported that after his election as pope, he broke tradition and declined the use of the papal limousine and he took the bus with the rest of the cardinals back to their quarters.

Then during dinner they toasted him, and he toasted the cardinals by saying: May God forgive you for what you have done.

Maybe he was just overwhelmed because he was an outsider and not in the running at all, and probably he was wondering if there was a mistake somewhere.

And all those massive problems – the fragmentation of the church, the sex abuse scandals, the squabbling in the hierarchy, the internal corruption – immediately fell on his shoulders.

Yet, Pope Francis did not set about to tackle or to rectify those problems immediately.

But true to his chosen name for his papacy, he set off in simplicity and humility, and in doing so he is helping the Church to rediscover her spirituality.

And he set off with those pair of old black shoes instead of the traditional red “Prada” shoes.

But it is not just about a break from tradition. It’s a setting of directions.

With a small gesture of wearing his old black shoes, Pope Francis is telling us that the Church must be for the poor and downtrodden.
His message is clear – never forget the poor.

For his pectoral cross, he continues to wear the iron one that he had been using since he became auxiliary bishop in 1992.

His “fisherman” ring, the symbol of his authority, is made of silver and plated with gold.

Instead of the popemobile with the bullet-proof glasses as a shield, Pope Francis opted for an open-air jeep and he said that he is protected by angels.

Another mark of his austerity that his fellow Argentineans heeded was the relatively small delegation from his native land. He had told his countrymen not to spend fare and hotel money for his inaugural Mass, but to donate the money to the poor.

Hence, only 19 Argentineans led by the President Cristina Kirchner attended the historical event.

So as we can see, Pope Francis is rising up the call and to the challenge to lead the Church in a renewed spiritual direction of simplicity and humility.

The Church may have entered into the tomb of problems, but Pope Francis is leading the Church to find life outside the tomb.

The month of March has been a dramatic and significant change for him and the Church.

Yet, he is not staying put and reminiscing about the past. He knows he has to keep moving and keep rising towards the Risen Christ.

And as he said: Don’t let yourself be robbed of hope!

Because all things happen for the good of those who love God.

As we join Pope Francis and the Church to celebrate Easter, let us also hear the call of the Risen Christ.

Yes, let us rise and move on in hope.

Let us move out of the tomb of our problems and failings and let us find life outside of the tomb.

The month of March has been an exciting month. The months to come will certainly be just as exciting, as we move and rise towards the Risen Christ.

Palm Sunday, Year C, 24.03.2013

Isaiah 50:4-7/ Philippians 2:6-11/ Luke 22:14-23:56

Today’s Mass began with a festive and a celebrative kind of mood.

Yes today is called Palm Sunday, and at the beginning there was the procession with palms to commemorate the triumphant entry of Jesus into Jerusalem.

It was also rather chaotic as we also tried to get as quickly to our favourite pew to settle down and also to cool down from the outside heat.

Then came along a very long gospel passage that was read in parts.

The celebrative procession with palms gave way to a solemn mood where we heard of betrayal and denial, agony and pain.

Palm Sunday is also called Passion Sunday.

In short, we can say that the mood in today’s Mass went from “palm to pain”.

And with that, we also enter into Holy Week and we can also say that “the pain is increasing” until it reaches its climax on Good Friday in a painful death on the cross.

Yes, from this Sunday to the next Sunday, we will be  confronted with a mixture of emotions – of joy and sorrow; glorious entry and humiliating exit; life and death.

Yes, we move from palm to pain. Yet it does not stop just there.

Because pain and suffering and death do not have the last say, and neither do they determine the final outcome.

The final outcome is always in the hands of God who will be victorious, and in Jesus Christ who has conquered sin and death.

It is in the humble palm branch that we see the unfolding of pain and suffering and death.

Yet it is also a sign of the victory and glory to come.

As it is, this palm branch will slowly dry up in the days to come.

It will turn from green to a brownish colour.

In the end, it will just be a dried up stiff branch.

Yet in the future, this palm branch together with the other palm branches will be collected and burnt and made into ashes for Ash Wednesday’s imposition of ashes.

So what was thought to be dead and useless will be given a new purpose and a new meaning.

Yes the ashes take on a new meaning and a new purpose and they become a sign of our repentance and conversion.

So as we bring the palm branches home, we also know that these palm branches symbolize pain and suffering.

Yet the hidden meaning in the palm branches is also victory and glory.

So let us be with Jesus in His pain and suffering and death. For in this pain and suffering and death, there is also the hidden meaning of victory and glory.

5th Sunday of Lent, Year C, 17.03.2013

Isaiah 43: 16-21/ Philippians 3:8-14/ John 8:1-11

The past week had been a time of anxiety as well as rejoicing for the Church.

And that was because on Tuesday, the 115 cardinals entered into the Sistine Chapel for the conclave to begin the process of electing a new pope for the Church.

It was certainly not an easy and pleasant task of having to vote for the next pope as it was mentally and spiritually taxing.

But on Thursday, after five rounds of intense voting, the Church was greeting with white smoke from the chimney and the good news of “Habemus Papam!” – “We have a pope!”

Argentinian cardinal J.M. Bergoglio was elected as the new pope and he took the name of Francis for his pontificate.

And as it is, the media is already putting him under the microscope to find out more about him, his lifestyle, his background, his whatever.

Certainly they will try to find some juicy stories about him. But may they also tell us some inspiring and edifying stories about him.

Well the same thing happened to Pope John XXIII who was elected in 1958. Not long after he became pope, he went to the Regina Coeli prison to visit the prisoners there.

And as he was talking to them, he also told them, as a matter of fact, that he had a relative who was jailed for committing some petty crime.

Of course the media was there and they picked up this little piece of juicy news and it was published in the news the very next day.

Well, at least they said that the pope had a relative who had been in prison, and not that the pope had been in prison.

Whatever it is, it goes to show that in everyone’s life, there is some darkness lurking around. Whether it is exposed or not, that is another story.

The renowned preacher and tv evangelist of the 1950s the Archbishop Fulton Sheen, was giving a talk to a group of prisoners.

He said this to them: The great difference between you and me is that you were caught; I was not!

And indeed, what a great difference it was. Yet, to have done something wrong, or committing a crime and not getting caught for it does not mean that no wrong was done or that no crime was committed!

In the gospel, we heard that the scribes and Pharisees brought before Jesus a woman who had been caught committing adultery.

And they made her stand there in full view of everybody.

And there, they asked Jesus, as a test, what kind of judgement He would pronounce on her.

Would it be death by stoning? Or what? The response of Jesus was rather strange – He bent down and started writing on the ground with His finger.

What He wrote on the ground the gospel did not say. Why He did it the gospel did not say either.

But the scribes and Pharisees were certainly irritated by what He did and by His silence.

So they persisted with their question and they were demanding an answer from Him.

Then came the ground-shaking reply – If there is one of you who has not sinned, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.

Then He bent down and wrote on the ground again.

Maybe that might explain why in the first place Jesus bent down to write on the ground.

It was not so much about what He wrote but why He did it.

He was telling the scribes and Pharisees, and the crowd, and as well as the guilty woman, to “get down to it”.

But of course the scribes and Pharisees didn’t get it because they persisted with their question.

And the reply of Jesus was sharp, pointed and it cut right through their hearts.

Jesus was telling them to get down to it – if there is one of you who has not sinned, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.

And this time round, they got it, and they got down to it. One by one they went away, beginning with the eldest, until Jesus was left alone with the woman.

At least, it must be said that the scribes and Pharisees were honest enough to acknowledge that they had sinned and they did not argue that they were lesser sinners than that woman.

It also must be said that they knew the truth about their sinfulness and hence they walked away without pursuing the matter further.

And who among us can ever say that we have not sinned, regardless of whether it is minor or major sins.

The question is whether our sins are exposed or not.

As Archbishop Fulton Sheen said : The great difference between you and me is that you were caught; I was not!

There is a story of a beggar who was caught for stealing bread, and as a punishment and a deterrent to others, he was sentenced to death.

As the officer lead the beggar to his execution, the beggar told him that he knew a secret of how to make a mango tree grow overnight and bear fruit immediately.

It would be a pity that the secret would be lost if he got executed.

The officer decided to halt the execution and he brought the beggar to the judge, who in turn brought him to the king.

So the king asked the beggar what the secret was.

The beggar replied that for such a miracle to happen, the mango seed must be planted by someone who had not stolen anything before.

So he turned to the officer and said: Would you want to plant the seed?

The officer immediately refused saying that he had shoplifted before.

Then the beggar turned to the judge and asked if he would plant the seed.

The judge declined saying that he had taken things that belonged to others and kept them for his own use.

So the beggar turned to the king and said: O king, then it is left to you to plant the seed.

But the king excused himself by saying that he had taken things without paying for them.

And then the beggar said : So all of you had stolen some things before, and now you want to execute me just because I stole some bread because I was hungry.

Just a story to remind us to get down to it. Yes, we have all sinned, just that we were not caught nor were we exposed for it.

But Jesus did not want to catch us in our sins or expose the wrong we have done to shame us.

He only wants us to be reconciled with Him. Just as He didn’t condemn the adulterous woman, He won’t condemn us either.

Jesus bends down to write on the ground again. Let us also get down on it.

Let us acknowledge our sins and seek forgiveness in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

Let us be healed by Jesus so that we too won’t judge and condemn others.

4th Sunday of Lent, Year C, 10.03.2013

Joshua 5:9-12/ 2 Corinthians 5:17-21/ Luke 15: 1-3, 11-32


Some people have this idea that after they had died and their mortal remains are cremated, they would want their ashes to be scattered.

Some want it to be scattered in the sea, some want it to be scattered in the wind or wherever.

The reasons for doing so are many, but there may be one reason that will sound rather melancholic or sad.

And that is that as time passes by, their memory will also fade from the minds of their next-of-kin and friends.

And in time to come, any indication of their existence on earth will also be forgotten. 

So that’s why they would rather have their remains scattered than have it buried or put into some niche.

In a certain sense, that is quite true because we may remember what happened when the old Bidadari cemetery was reclaimed and the graves had to be exhumed.

There were a number of graves that were left unclaimed and eventually the authorities had to do the exhumation.

It is a sad thought and an even sadder sight of those graves that lie there, forlorn and forgotten.

Yes, time has a way to make people forget about the deceased. 

Maybe that’s where we get the saying: Out of sight, out of mind.

More so if the deceased had done something wrong or shameful and brought embarrassment to the family. Then all the more that person’s memory would be erased and forgotten quickly.

There is this story of a noble family who had a great tradition.

Their ancestors came to America on the Mayflower. Their lineage included Senators, industrial CEOs and military heroes.

They decided to compile a family history as a legacy for the later generations, and so they hired a fine author to do that.

But there was one problem – how are they going to talk about that great-grand uncle George, who was executed on an electric chair for committing murder?

So they discussed it with the author and he said that he would handle that part tactfully.

When the book came out, it read like this: Great-grand uncle George occupied a chair of applied electronics at an important government institution. He was attached to his position by the strongest of ties, and his death came as a great shock.

Well, it was nicely put, and without further questions, it would also be nicely covered up.

But of course that’s just a story. Certainly it is not so in real life.

Because wrong-doing and shame are not easily forgotten, neither in life, nor in death.

And that was the issue the Pharisees had in the gospel. They complained that Jesus welcomed tax collectors and sinners and ate with them.

For the Pharisees, those tax collectors and sinners should get lost and get out of sight.

And their sin and shame will be remembered, and it will neither be forgiven nor forgotten.

It was in the face of that kind of attitude and in that stand-off that Jesus told the famous parable of the Prodigal Son.

It was a parable that seemed too good to be true for the younger son and yet at the same time too bad to be fair for the older brother.

Yet we need to remember that a parable is not just a story, regardless of whether it is true or not.

A parable is a story with a heavenly meaning. And in this case, the parable tells us a meaning about ourselves, and a meaning about God.

Well, we know of some people who can be identified with the younger son who had committed such a deplorable act of insult against his father.

We may even think that his sin is unforgivable and that his memory should be erased and not to be mentioned again.

But this is where we need to be jolted to a halt, and realize that we are just like that older son who does not want to forgive his brother nor forget the wrong he had done.

Yet the parable is not about sibling rivalry and jealousy. Neither is it about who got off the hook and how unfair it was.

Rather it is about forgiveness and the task of reconciliation.

And here is where the highlight is on the father, yes the father, who seemed to be pushed to the background in the drama between the two sons.

The parable that Jesus told is often called the Prodigal Son, which means the careless or wayward son.

But the parable can also be rightly called the Forgiving Father.

The parable points out to us that we have that sinfulness of the younger son, and yet at the same time we too have that unforgiveness of the older brother.

But the overriding important meaning of the parable is the unconditional forgiveness of the father.

God our Father forgives us our sins because He wants us to be freed from the clutches of our own sins.

When we don’t forgive a person, we hold that person captive and indebted to us. Unforgiveness is a form of control over a person.

Because we will say things like: Remember what you have done! 

And we make that person feel small and we clutch that person into our hands again.

Maybe that’s why some people want their remains to be scattered. 

They want to be freed from the clutches of their own sins, and they don’t want to be remembered for their wrong doings.

Yet, God wants to forgive us our sins. He doesn’t want us to go down to the grave chained by our sins.

God wants to free us by forgiving us. He wants to remember us, and not our sins.

So let us remember to forgive others. Because we too want to be remembered by others as someone who forgives, just like God who forgives and forgives unconditionally.

3rd Sunday of Lent, Year C, 03.03.13

Exodus 3:1-8, 13-15/ 1 Corinthians 10:1-6, 10-12/ Luke 13:1-9



Last week was a week of happenings, if we had been aware of it, if we had noticed it.

If we ask ourselves “ What happened last week?”, then we might probably remember that, among other things, the month of February ended last week.

Well, it was a unique happening because February has lesser days than the rest of the other months, in that it has only 28 days.

And along with that we may also remember other things. It was on the last day of February, the 28th of February, that the Pope stepped down from the papacy.

So it means that now, we don’t have a pope! But of course, with that, the cardinals are now preparing themselves for the conclave to elect the next pope.

So we don’t have a pope now. And what is our reaction to that?

Well, we can be nonchalant about it. But most of us would be aware of it. And we would have noticed what the media had said about the resignation of the pope.

As a matter of fact, he is the first pope after more than 600 years to resign from office, so it’s really something for the media to talk about.

The media has also speculated on the many possible reasons as to why the pope suddenly resigned from papacy.

The Pope Emeritus, as he is now called, has only said that he is doing this for the good of the Church. What that really means we will probably get to know along the way.

But we know what he is going to do. He has moved to the summer residence and is spending his days in prayer.

And that should already make us notice something, and become aware of something.

As the Pope Emeritus steps down from the papacy, he steps into something else and in doing so he is also showing us something.

From the highest seat of governance in the Church, he is taking up the simple life of a “pilgrim” and the humble life of prayer.

So the Pope Emeritus is telling us something and teaching us something. Are we aware of it? Do we notice it?

Well, to put it clearly, the Pope Emeritus is showing the Church and the world, the need for prayer in order to bring about the sense of the sacred and the awareness of the presence of God.

Indeed, awareness of the sacred and the presence of the divine begins with noticing the signs.

In the 1st reading, we heard about how Moses noticed a blazing bush but it was not burnt up.

He went on to examine this strange happening and then it was there he encountered the sacred and the divine.

And the Lord told him to take off his shoes because even the ground that he was standing on is holy ground.

Yes, awareness of the sacred and the divine presence begins with noticing the signs.

And it is through simple and humble prayer that we will look, we will see and we will slowly notice.

Moses noticed the strange and unusual sight of the blazing bush that was not consumed by the fire.

Yes, it is easy to notice the strange and the unusual. Almost anyone can notice the strange and unusual.

Yet it takes prayer to open the eyes to notice the usual and ordinary signs and see beyond.

And maybe that’s our problem. We look and we see, but we don’t see beyond.

And that was also the problem with those people who told Jesus about the tragedy of those Galileans whose blood Pilate mingled with that of their sacrifices.

They were probably thinking that those Galileans had committed some grave sin that resulted in their tragic death.

But Jesus refuted that thinking. Yet He also brought them to see further and to look deeper.

Every tragedy can also be a sign to us that life is fragile and that we have to set our lives straight.

Yes, the Lord is merciful and compassionate and He patiently calls us to repentance.

But it also means that the call to repentance is “Now!” and the time for “second chances” may just run out.

Well there is a story about the 28th February. It is a special day of a couple, Alan and Nelly, because it was the date of their wedding.

But from being a loving couple, they have become quarrelsome and taking each other for granted.

It was a vicious cycle of quarreling and reconciling. Although they still loved each other, they have lost the awareness of each other’s needs and also too busy to notice it.

So on the 28th February, Nelly was at home and waiting for Alan to return from work.

But Nelly was expecting Alan to forget about their wedding anniversary and come back late from work.

But at 6pm, the door bell rang, and when Nelly opened the door, there was Alan with a bouquet of flowers in one hand a box of her favourite chocolates in the other.

Nelly was overjoyed that Alan remembered their wedding anniversary and they hugged and sat down and talked about their beautiful times together and making up for their quarrels.

Then the phone in the bedroom rang, and Nelly sighed and went to answer the phone.

A man on the other side to the line asked : Hello, I am calling from the police station. Is this the residence of Mr. Alan?

Yes it is. 

There was an accident and a man died. We got the number from the man’s wallet. We need you to come over and identify the body.

Nelly’s heart sank. But … but ... my husband is here with me!

Sorry, madam. The accident took place at 5pm when the man was crossing the road.

Nelly was about to lose her senses. How could this happen? She had heard about these kind of things. The soul of the person comes to meet you before it departs. She ran out to the hall.

And Alan was not there! Could this have happened to Alan? Could it be true? Has he left her forever? Nelly sank to the floor. Oh, if only she had been given another chance, she would have mended all her faults and loved Alan deeper.

Suddenly there was a noise from the bathroom. Then Alan came out. 

When he saw Nelly on the floor, he asked, “What happened my dear? Oh, I forgot to tell you that my wallet was stolen while I was on my way home.

Well, just a story to remind us that we should never waste a moment to be aware and to notice all the chances to make life beautiful.

We cannot go back to the start and make a new beginning, but we can start now to make a new and beautiful ending.

The Pope Emeritus has resigned and the papacy is left vacant for the time being. He has stepped down from the papacy but yet that is not all.

He has stepped into a life of prayer and he has given us a sign and we must notice it and pay heed to it.

And the sign is that with prayer, we can start now and make a new and beautiful ending for ourselves, for the Church and for the world.

Yes, the Pope Emeritus has given us that sign. Let us join him in prayer to pray for the Church and for the next pope.