20190421
THE
TRIUMPH OF LIFE, LOVE AND JUSTICE
21 APRIL, 2019,
Easter Sunday
Readings at Mass
Liturgical Colour:
White.
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First reading
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Acts 10:34,37-43 ©
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'We have eaten and drunk with him after
his resurrection'
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Peter addressed Cornelius and his
household: ‘You must have heard about the recent happenings in Judaea; about
Jesus of Nazareth and how he began in Galilee, after John had been preaching
baptism. God had anointed him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and because
God was with him, Jesus went about doing good and curing all who had fallen
into the power of the devil. Now I, and those with me, can witness to
everything he did throughout the countryside of Judaea and in Jerusalem itself:
and also to the fact that they killed him by hanging him on a tree, yet three
days afterwards God raised him to life and allowed him to be seen, not by the
whole people but only by certain witnesses God had chosen beforehand. Now we
are those witnesses – we have eaten and drunk with him after his
resurrection from the dead – and he has ordered us to proclaim this to his
people and to tell them that God has appointed him to judge everyone, alive or
dead. It is to him that all the prophets bear this witness: that all who believe
in Jesus will have their sins forgiven through his name.’
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Responsorial Psalm
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Psalm
117(118):1-2,16-17,22-23 ©
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This day was made by the
Lord: we rejoice and are glad.
or
Alleluia, alleluia,
alleluia!
Give thanks to the Lord for he is good,
for his love has no end.
Let the sons of Israel say:
‘His love has no end.’
This day was made by the
Lord: we rejoice and are glad.
or
Alleluia, alleluia,
alleluia!
The Lord’s right hand has triumphed;
his right hand raised me up.
I shall not die, I shall live
and recount his deeds.
This day was made by the
Lord: we rejoice and are glad.
or
Alleluia, alleluia,
alleluia!
The stone which the builders rejected
has become the corner stone.
This is the work of the Lord,
a marvel in our eyes.
This day was made by the
Lord: we rejoice and are glad.
or
Alleluia, alleluia,
alleluia!
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Second reading
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Colossians 3:1-4 ©
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Look for the things that are in heaven, where Christ
is
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Since you have been brought back to true
life with Christ, you must look for the things that are in heaven, where Christ
is, sitting at God’s right hand. Let your thoughts be on heavenly things, not
on the things that are on the earth, because you have died, and now the life
you have is hidden with Christ in God. But when Christ is revealed – and
he is your life – you too will be revealed in all your glory with him.
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Sequence
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Christians, to the Paschal Victim
offer sacrifice and praise.
The sheep are ransomed by the Lamb;
and Christ, the undefiled,
hath sinners to his Father reconciled.
Death with life contended:
combat strangely ended!
Life’s own Champion, slain,
yet lives to reign.
Tell us, Mary:
say what thou didst see
upon the way.
The tomb the Living did enclose;
I saw Christ’s glory as he rose!
The angels there attesting;
shroud with grave-clothes resting.
Christ, my hope, has risen:
he goes before you into Galilee.
That Christ is truly risen
from the dead we know.
Victorious king, thy mercy show!
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Gospel Acclamation
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1Cor5:7-8
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Alleluia, alleluia!
Christ, our passover, has been sacrificed:
let us celebrate the feast then, in the
Lord.
Alleluia!
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Gospel
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John 20:1-9 ©
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He must rise from the dead
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It was very early on the first day of the
week and still dark, when Mary of Magdala came to the tomb. She saw that the
stone had been moved away from the tomb and came running to Simon Peter and the
other disciple, the one Jesus loved. ‘They have taken the Lord out of the tomb’
she said ‘and we don’t know where they have put him.’
So Peter set out with the
other disciple to go to the tomb. They ran together, but the other disciple,
running faster than Peter, reached the tomb first; he bent down and saw the
linen cloths lying on the ground, but did not go in. Simon Peter who was
following now came up, went right into the tomb, saw the linen cloths on the
ground, and also the cloth that had been over his head; this was not with the
linen cloths but rolled up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple who
had reached the tomb first also went in; he saw and he believed. Till this
moment they had failed to understand the teaching of scripture, that he must
rise from the dead.
THE TRIUMPH OF
LIFE, LOVE AND JUSTICE
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [Acts 10:34.37-43; Ps 118:1-2,16-17,22-23; Col 3:1-4; Jn 20:1-9]
There is in each one of
us a desire for justice and everlasting love. This is what distinguishes us from other
animals. As human beings, created in the image and likeness of God,
our conscience seeks truth and our heart seeks love. Without justice and
love, life has no meaning. We feel devastated when falsehood triumphs
over truth, injustice over justice, hatred over love. Indeed, many of us
give up on life and on relationships because we find that life is not fair to
us. Those who are evil and powerful seem to be more prosperous and are
enjoying life through their unscrupulous ways whilst we suffer injustices and
discrimination because we seek to do things the right way. Most of all,
they seem to be able to get away with such evil deeds while we suffer in
silence.
Hence, when we watch
movies where the good man dies tragically, we leave feeling disheartened,
discouraged, hopeless, sad
and even disillusioned. We feel indignant when good characters in the
movie come to a sad end or are killed in the process of serving the
truth. Such movies only discourage us from doing good or acting justly
because it does not seem to pay. More so for those who do not have hope
for retribution beyond death. We feel justified and happy when the wicked
are given their just dues and the good are vindicated and rewarded. That
is why most movies have happy endings because we all want to see good triumph
over evil at the end of the day. Otherwise, we lose hope in
goodness.
So, we can feel with the
apostles and the disciples of Jesus. It was then surely not good for
them. It
was the darkest moment of their lives. They walked and lived with Jesus,
their master for three years. They thought He was the Messiah promised by
God and announced by the prophets. This was what Peter said to Cornelius
in the first reading. “You must have heard about the recent happenings in
Judaea; about Jesus of Nazareth and how he began in Galilee, after John had
been preaching baptism. God had anointed him with the Holy Spirit and with
power, and because God was with him, Jesus went about doing good and curing all
who had fallen into the power of the devil.” But their hopes in Jesus to
restore the Kingdom of God were completely dashed with His death on the cross.
So it was a disastrous
end. It was totally
illogical to see their master who was innocent, bruised, scourged, humiliated,
nailed to the cross like a criminal and killed because of the conniving of
wicked and sinful men. Where was God then? Why did not God stand up
for His Son if Jesus were the Son of God or at least the Messiah? Why was
there no justice? Why must good people always suffer and evil people
thrive? We would have also been devastated like them and lost faith in
God. With all dreams and hopes destroyed, we would have given up fighting
against evil and doing good. We might have said, “well, there is no
use.” We cannot fight with the evil and injustices in the world. We
might as well resign ourselves to the situation, or join them like the rest of
the people. Today, many of us are sucked into the secularistic, relativistic
and individualistic culture of the world, because we are unable to stem
it. Our conscience is numbed by the gradual conditioning of the world –
that living a promiscuous life is acceptable; pornography and adultery are the
realities of this world.
But even when we say
such things out of discouragement and anger, yet our hope never dies. Because if we have lost all hope,
then there is no reason to keep on living. Deep in our hearts, we hope
that justice, truth and love will prevail, and goodness triumph over sin.
The women who came at dawn to the tomb of Jesus showed that there was a glimmer
of hope and light still left in them. They never lost hope in
Jesus. With that little light, they went to look for Jesus. Lo and
Behold! They found the stone removed and the tomb empty.
Yet, they were confused
and mystified instead of celebrating when they found the empty tomb. In the midst of their pain and anguish,
the stone of anger, disappointment and sadness prevented them from seeing the
new and surprising reality. Their minds were closed and preoccupied with
their sadness to see the greater things that the Lord was doing, bringing good
out of evil. So long as that stone is not removed, we cannot enter the
tomb to see the Risen Lord. If we want to see the Risen Lord, we need
first to remove the stone of anger, hatred and pride from our lives. If
people cannot accept the reality of the resurrection of Christ, it is because
their hurts and disappointments, and most of all, their intellectual pride,
hinder them from being open to the presence of the Risen Lord in their lives.
This explains why when
the tomb was removed; they were still unable to see the Risen Lord. Even when they did, they became even more
unsettled than ever. It took them time to understand and appreciate the
events that took place earlier on. It was a gradual awakening to the fact
that the Lord was Risen. Peter could not make sense of the
event. He was dumbfounded. The linens that were placed there neatly
suggest that Jesus’ body was not stolen but it was as if Jesus had woken up
from His sleep and tidied His bed and then left the tomb. As if such
signs were not amazing enough, they were surprised by the angel’s announcement.
“Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified.
He has been raised; he is not here.” In Mark’s gospel, the women “went out and
fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them.” (Mk 16:8) St John remarked, “Till this
moment they had failed to understand the teaching of scripture, that he must
rise from the dead.”
We too now must follow
the way of the early Christians in coming to faith in the Risen Lord. Like them, we might not understand the
events that happened in our lives. But if we are docile and humble, we
will come to appreciate the events in the light of faith. God will
gradually reveal Himself and His divine providence in all that happens to us in
life. We might have felt that God has abandoned us or is oblivious to our
pain and misery. But in truth, He has always been there as He did for
Jesus when He was on the cross. The Lord raised Him from the dead.
This was the testimony of Peter and the apostles, “yet three days afterwards
God raised him to life and allowed him to be seen, not by the whole people but
only by certain witnesses God had chosen beforehand. Now we are those
witnesses.” We might not understand and see the big picture yet, but if
we cooperate, God will reveal to us His plans for us.
In raising Christ who
was condemned as a criminal, God endorsed Jesus as the Son of God, and all that
He said and did. With
His resurrection, everything makes sense to us. His death was thought to
be a tragedy, but it was God’s way of destroying death forever by raising Jesus
up. His suffering was not an end in itself but the way to fullness of
life. Death is not the last word. Neither is hatred which is
overcome by love. In His resurrection, we see that justice and truth prevail
in the end. The just and good will ultimately triumph in the end.
So if we feel that doing good is useless as things do not seem to change but
become worse, we need to cling on to faith in the resurrection. In
raising Jesus from the dead, St Peter said, Jesus our judge will render justice
to all. “He has ordered us to proclaim this to his people and to tell
them that God has appointed him to judge everyone, alive or dead. It is to him
that all the prophets bear this witness: that all who believe in Jesus will have
their sins forgiven through his name.”‘
So we must have faith
like John, the disciple Jesus loved.
We read that John “who had reached the tomb first also went in; he saw and he
believed.” Only with faith, can we proclaim that Jesus is Risen.
The empty tomb is just a sign but it is an empty sign without faith. We need to
give meaning to that sign. That meaning is supplied by faith. So if
we want to make sense of our life, our suffering and our pain, we need to go
beyond the tomb and cling onto Jesus, the Risen Lord who gives us hope and
joy. We must see things from the eyes of God and not with our human
eyes. Only in this way can we live beyond this world as St Paul said,
“Since you have been brought back to true life with Christ, you must look for
the things that are in heaven, where Christ is, sitting at God’s right hand.
Let your thoughts be on heavenly things, not on the things that are on the
earth, because you have died, and now the life you have is hidden with Christ
in God. But when Christ is revealed – and he is your life – you too will be
revealed in all your glory with him.” This is our ultimate hope, to be
with Christ forever and share in His glory as we share in His death.
Written
by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All
Rights Reserved
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