6th Sunday of Easter, Year C, 05.05.2013

Acts 15:1-2, 22-29/ Apocalypse 21:10-14, 22-23 or Apocalypse 22:12-14, 16-17,20/ John 17:20-26

It can be said that Singapore is a relatively safe country.

It is also a “fine” country – for speeding, you will be fined; for spitting, you will be fined; for littering, you will be fined; for jay-walking, you will be fined for breeding mosquitoes, you will be fined.

Still, Singapore is a relatively safe country.  We have a low crime rate. It is also safe to go out at night, so we are relatively safe and secure.

Yet, danger lurks even in safe places. Low crime does not mean no crime. In fact it is when things seem safe and secure that danger can just spring up suddenly.

As it is, our safe and secure country is facing an unexpected and a surprising kind of danger.

Singapore is a highly urbanized country. Yet, despite the fact that we so highly urbanized, we are facing a biological danger –Dengue Fever!

That is quite surprising and unexpected as well. If there are swamps and polluted areas that will be understandable.

But for an almost concrete jungle like Singapore, where did the dengue come from? Where did those Andes mosquitoes come from? It is almost like a mystery!

And the situation has become critical enough, so much so that the NEA has set up a website (www.dengue.gov.sg) to identify the dengue clusters and the number of cases.

And the enemy that is causing this deadly threat is just that small mosquito (Sigh – Why did God create mosquitoes?).

Let us hope that there are no mosquitoes in Church. But we have to be careful.

It is said that mosquitoes are quite religious, because they prey on you.

Having dengue fever is no laughing matter because it can be fatal.
The posters that the NEA has put up have warnings like this: “Danger can be this close”; “It is your life. It is your fight”.

So the danger is not an external danger. The danger is very close because the enemy is very close, and lurking around.

And the enemy does just not suck your blood, it will also suck away your life!

So we have been warned. So we have been told. So are we going to fight it seriously, or are we going to take it lightly?

Yes, danger lurks even in safe places. On the biological level, there is the dengue fever that is caused by those small and tiny Andes mosquitoes!

But what about on the spiritual level? Is there a danger? Where is the danger? What is the danger?

In the gospel, Jesus tells us about this danger in just one line: “Those who do not love me do not keep my commandments”.

It is just one line but it tells us whether we are safe, or in danger.

Jesus said that if we love Him then we will keep His word and God will make His home in our heart.

And where God has made His home, there will be peace in the heart. The heart will feel safe.

Our hearts are made to be God’s home, our hearts are made for peace, our hearts are made for love.

Hence, we have to keep our hearts clean. We have to keep our hearts pure.

St. Teresa, the Patron Saint of our parish has this to say: “A pure heart knows no evil.”

Yet the danger here is that when we are not careful or vigilant, then our hearts can slowly become polluted.

When we are not careful and vigilant, then we let small sins into our hearts.

We may not think much about small sins, but they are like those small little mosquitoes that carry the dengue fever, and they will cause havoc in our lives.

There is this story about the famous painting of the Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci.

Leonardo da Vinci used live models to paint the figures representing Christ and the 12 apostles.

Leonardo da Vinci wanted to paint the figure of Christ first, and he searched laboriously until he found a young man who had a face and a personality that exhibited innocence and beauty.

Thus he painted the figure of Christ. Thereafter, he chose fitting persons to represent each of the eleven Apostles.

Finally, after about three years, Leonardo da Vinci set about to paint the figure representing Judas Iscariot, the one who betrayed Christ.

Leonardo da Vinci searched for man with a hard callous face.
The face would be one that was marked with avarice, deceit, hypocrisy; a face that would represent vicious betrayal.

Finally, among the prisoners in a jail, he found such a man and he asked for that man to be the model for the figure of Judas Iscariot.

After he had finished painting, the prisoner asked Leonardo da Vinci: “Do you recognize me?”

Leonard da Vinci looked hard at him, and the prisoner said: “So you can’t recognize me. Look at me again. I was that same man that you used as the model for painting the figure of Christ.”

The story was that after modeling for the figure of Christ, that man fell into a life of sin and crime, so much so that his countenance was contorted into a face of sin and he looked completely different from before.

The point of the story is that sin has this devastating effect that can change a pure and loving heart into a vicious and polluted pool of evil.

Yes, danger lurks even in safe places. Just as we have to guard against breeding those small mosquitoes that can cause the devastating dengue, so must we guard ourselves against committing those small sins.

Let us cleanse our hearts constantly by going for the Sacrament of Reconciliation, for a pure heart knows no evil.

And as the famous hymn says this: Through many dangers, toils and snares, I have already come. ‘Twas grace that brought me safe thus far, and grace will lead me home.

Similarly, may the peace of Christ keep us safe, and may the peace of Christ keep our hearts pure, so that God will make His home in us.