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WHAT MUST WE DO?
03 APRIL, 2018, Easter Tuesday
Readings
at Mass
Liturgical
Colour: White.
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First reading
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Acts 2:36-41 ©
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You must repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus
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On the day of Pentecost, Peter spoke to the Jews: ‘The whole House
of Israel can be certain that God has made this Jesus whom you crucified both
Lord and Christ.’
Hearing
this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the apostles, ‘What must
we do, brothers?’ ‘You must repent,’ Peter answered ‘and every one of you must
be baptised in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and
you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise that was made is for
you and your children, and for all those who are far away, for all those whom
the Lord our God will call to himself.’ He spoke to them for a long time using
many arguments, and he urged them, ‘Save yourselves from this perverse
generation.’ They were convinced by his arguments, and they accepted what he
said and were baptised. That very day about three thousand were added to their
number.
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Responsorial Psalm
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Psalm 32(33):4-5,18-20,22 ©
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The Lord fills the earth with his love.
or
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!
The word of the Lord is faithful
and all his works to be trusted.
The Lord loves justice and right
and fills the earth with his love.
The Lord fills the earth with his love.
or
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!
The Lord looks on those who revere him,
on those who hope in his love,
to rescue their souls from death,
to keep them alive in famine.
The Lord fills the earth with his love.
or
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!
Our soul is waiting for the Lord.
The Lord is our help and our shield.
May your love be upon us, O Lord,
as we place all our hope in you.
The Lord fills the earth with his love.
or
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!
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Gospel Acclamation
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Ps117:24
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Alleluia, alleluia!
This day was made by the Lord:
we rejoice and are glad.
Alleluia!
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Gospel
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John 20:11-18 ©
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'I have seen the Lord and he has spoken to me'
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Mary stayed outside near the tomb, weeping. Then, still weeping,
she stooped to look inside, and saw two angels in white sitting where the body
of Jesus had been, one at the head, the other at the feet. They said, ‘Woman,
why are you weeping?’ ‘They have taken my Lord away’ she replied ‘and I don’t
know where they have put him.’ As she said this she turned round and saw Jesus
standing there, though she did not recognise him. Jesus said, ‘Woman, why are
you weeping? Who are you looking for?’ Supposing him to be the gardener, she
said, ‘Sir, if you have taken him away, tell me where you have put him, and I
will go and remove him.’ Jesus said, ‘Mary!’ She knew him then and said to him
in Hebrew, ‘Rabbuni!’ – which means Master. Jesus said to her, ‘Do not
cling to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go and find the
brothers, and tell them: I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God
and your God.’ So Mary of Magdala went and told the disciples that she had seen
the Lord and that he had said these things to her.
WHAT MUST WE DO?
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ACTS 2:36-41; PS 33:4-5,18-20,22; JN 20:11-18 ]
If you were
there among the crowd when St Peter gave his first discourse on the
resurrection of Christ and what it meant with regard to the identity of Jesus,
what would you have done? How would you have responded to the declaration that “The
whole House of Israel can be certain that God has made this Jesus whom you
crucified both Lord and Christ.”? The crowd did not see the Risen Lord,
only the apostles and some disciples did. Neither have we seen the Lord
physically as they did. However, look at their response. “That very day
about three thousand were added to their number.”
To come to
faith in the Risen Lord, we must first find grounds for belief. For the
seed of faith to take place, we must first listen to the testimony of those who
have encountered the Risen Lord. This was what the early converts did. The
crowd that gathered at Jerusalem heard the testimony of St Peter and the
apostles. “Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with
deeds of power, wonders, and signs that God did through him among you, as you
yourselves know – this man, handed over to you according to the definite
plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of those
outside the law. But God raised him up, having freed him from
death, because it was impossible for him to be held in its power.” (Acts 2:22-24)
Secondly,
they heard the arguments to substantiate their claims so that what they saw
could be verified from the scriptures. “He spoke to them for a long time using many
arguments.” So for many of us, before we take the leap of faith, we need
to be convinced before we can be convicted. So St Peter cited from the
psalm of David who prophesied that his descendant would not see
death. “I saw the Lord always before me, for he is at my right hand
so that I will not be shaken; therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue
rejoiced; moreover my flesh will live in hope. For you will not abandon
my soul to Hades, or let your Holy One experience corruption. You have
made known to me the ways of life; you will make me full of gladness with
your presence.” Indeed, we read that “They were convinced by his
arguments, and they accepted what he said and were baptised.”
Having come
to faith in Christ as Lord, the next step is to make an act of commitment. So when they heard
the discourse of St Peter, “they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and
the apostles, ‘What must we do, brothers?’ ‘You must repent.’ Peter answered
‘and every one of you must be baptised in the name of Jesus Christ for the
forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy
Spirit.” So, the action of accepting Jesus as Lord is repentance and be
baptized.
What is
repentance? To repent is to turn away from sin. This is what St Peter
asked of them, “Save yourselves from this perverse generation.”
Giving up our sins is the way for us to encounter the Risen Lord. So long
as we live in our sins, we will not be able to encounter Him in the
Spirit. “Those who are unspiritual do not receive the gifts of God’s
Spirit, for they are foolishness to them, and they are unable to understand
them because they are spiritually discerned. Those who are spiritual
discern all things, and they are themselves subject to no one else’s
scrutiny.” (1 Cor 2:14f)
To repent
means to give up our pride in wanting to comprehend God with our finite minds. This was what Mary
Magdalene and the rest of the apostles did. They were still looking for
the Jesus of Nazareth who was dead. That was why the angel said to them.
“Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen.”
(Lk 24:5)
So long as we
keep looking for the Jesus of Nazareth, we will not be able to see the Risen
Lord.
Many of us have preconceived ideas of how the Lord should manifest Himself to
us. We are looking for Him to come in a definite way when He would have
come in other ways. Indeed, we must allow the possibilities for God to
show His face to us. St Paul warns us, “None of the rulers of this age
understood this; for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of
glory. But, as it is written, ‘What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor
the human heart conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him’ –
these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit; for the Spirit
searches everything, even the depths of God. For what human being
knows what is truly human except the human spirit that is within? So also no
one comprehends what is truly God’s except the Spirit of God.” (1 Cor 2:8-11)
To repent
means to come out of our grief. Mary could not see the Lord because she was too
absorbed in her attachment to the Jesus of Nazareth. She was licking the
pain of grief in her life. Twice, she was asked by the angels and
the Lord, “Woman, why are you weeping” And her response was that “They
have taken my Lord away.” She wanted to reclaim the body. But the
Lord is risen. There is no earthly body to recover. But because of
her grief and sorrow that came from her attachment to the earthly Jesus, she
was blinded from seeing the greater reality in front of her, the Risen Lord,
thinking that He was a gardener. If we want to see the Risen Lord, we
must be ready to let go of the past and our attachments, whether to things,
money, status,or people. Then our eyes will be able to see the
greater things the Lord has in store for us.
Repentance is
looking inwards. The next step is to look upward. It is to believe
in Him. This
is the necessary way of faith. Repentance is turning away from something
to someone, that is Christ. Mary Magdalene was led by the Lord to
turn away from herself and to turn to Him. “As she said this she turned
round and saw Jesus standing there, though she did not recognise him.
Jesus said, ‘Mary!’ She knew him then and said to him in Hebrew, ‘Rabbuni!’ –
which means Master.” We must turn to the Lord if we want to encounter
Him. To turn to the Lord means to hear the voice of our Master, to spend
time with Him in intimacy as Mary did. Without listening to His voice, we
will not be able to hear Him or see Him. With Mary, let us be attentive
to the voice of our Lord calling us to Him.
To look
upwards also means to grow from an affective relationship with the Lord to a
contemplative relationship. Mary Magdalene could see the Lord because of her passion for
Him. This is but the starting point of coming to know the Lord.
Many of us come to recognize Jesus as our Lord through some miracles,
especially of healing, enlightenment or salvific and religious
experience. The Lord will reveal Himself to those who love Him.
The psalmist says, “The Lord looks on those who revere him, on
those who hope in his love, to rescue their souls from death, to keep them
alive in famine.” However, we cannot be always clinging to the Lord
on this level of relationship. We need to mature in our relationship from
a physical, tangible and affective level to a contemplative level.
Otherwise, we will still be stuck to the Jesus of Nazareth. This
was why the Lord told Mary, “Do not cling to me, because I have not yet
ascended to the Father.” Clinging to the Jesus of Nazareth will
hinder us from receiving the Risen Lord in a new way when He comes again in the
power of the Holy Spirit. This was what St Peter told the crowd, “be
baptised in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you
will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”
Finally,
encountering the Risen Lord requires us to move out of our comfort zone to the
world.
The Lord instructed Mary Magdalene, “’But go and find the brothers, and tell
them: I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’ So
Mary of Magdala went and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord and that
he had said these things to her.” In reaching out and proclaiming Christ
the Risen Lord to the world, our faith will increase and be strengthened when
we see how the Lord works in the lives of those who come to believe in Him as
the apostles did. We evangelize ourselves by evangelizing others.
Truly, as St
Peter said, “The promise that was made is for you and your children, and
for all those who are far away, for all those whom the Lord our God will call
to himself.”
The Lord is inviting us to come to know Him and believe in Him so that
believing in Him as St John wrote, “you may have life in his name.” (Jn 20:31)
So for those who are still waiting to encounter the Risen Lord, take the
courage to search, to study and to pray. Most of all, wait for Him
in love as Mary Magdalene did. May the prayer of the psalmist be
ours. “Our soul is waiting for the Lord. The Lord is our help and our
shield. May your love be upon us, O Lord, as we place all our hope in you.”
Written by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of
Singapore © All Rights Reserved
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