Passion Sunday cycle A

"Clearly, this was the Son of God!"
This was the faith exclamation of the centurion and his men when the witnessed Jesus' glorious death on the cross. For after He breathed His last the earth quaked and tombs were opened. And after His resurrection, those who died rose again and went around town making their rising from the dead known.

This faith exclamation of the centurion was a faith exclamation made because He witnessed Jesus' death - a death that was not like any other death he probably has witnessed on the cross. How much this faith statement could have solved the unbelief of all those who wanted Him dead and crucified. It was because of the Pharisees and the religious leaders and all those people around them who did not believe in Jesus that caused them to be blind to the truth that He was really the Messiah sent by the Father. Only a few. Only those who saw Him up close and were touched by His life and works of healing, teaching and preaching, really believed in Him. However, there were those who were also witnesses to all these and still were to blind to see and so obstinate in their pride that a Messiah could come from humble origins.

Jesus continued on despite the unbelief of people. He had to fulfill the mission the Father had entrusted to Him. And so He went about Galilee and Jerusalem preaching about the love of the Father and teaching the Good News to the poor and the oppressed. He did great wonders and signs: healing the blind, the leper, the deaf and mute, the lame, and raising even the dead to life. However, the Pharisees and the religious authorities of that time rejected His teaching and His claim of being the Son of God. But Jesus was obedient to the will of the Father. Despite the fact that He knew that what He would continue doing will soon lead to His death, He nevertheless said, "Not My will be done, but Your will be done." And so, after the Last Supper, He gave the example of a life of service by choosing a symbol that would teach the apostles to do the same with others: the washing of the feet and the institution of the Eucharist (the sacrament of His total self-giving for all).

We are blessed because we believe in Jesus as the Messiah and as our Savior. We are even more blessed because we believe though we had not seen Him. How terrible it must be for those who already see the good works that He does and yet still do not believe. It has to take a simple centurion and his men to witness the glorious death of Jesus on the cross to exclaim, "Clearly, this was the Son of God!"

Maybe as we begin this Holy Week, we can be called to reflect on how much we believe in Jesus and how much He wishes to save us from our lack of faith and our sinfulness. It is a call now to increase our faith in Him and to see His way as still the way we need to follow in the world today. Though Christianity is being downplayed by many societies that are becoming too secularized, we are called to be the remnant: those who remain faithful to the end - those who like the Blessed Mother's example, and St. John's example, stood at the foot of the cross and was in strong solidarity with Jesus till the end.

5th Sunday of Lent Cycle A Year I

"...whoever believes in Me, though he should die, will come to life"
Many of us at times experience losses in life. They may come in the form of the loss of a loved one, the loss of employment, the loss of a relationship, the loss of a fortune, the loss of health, or any other loss that can bring real sorrow in our lives. In times such as this, we grieve and we become sorrowful. We feel a space in our hearts or in our life that was not there in the first place. And then, if we are not strong enough to endure the loss, we may lose faith.

In the gospel story, Lazarus has died. He, together with his sisters Martha and Mary, was a friend of Jesus. When Lazarus died, Martha felt the loss and expressed it to Jesus when they spoke with each other. Mary also felt the loss and her feeling of grief was intense that she cried together with the others close to their family. Jesus, overcome with compassion and love, felt the loss too. But He asked Martha if she believed in the Resurrection and Martha said, yes. She said that her brother would live again in the end time when all the dead will be brought to life. Jesus at this point wanted to bring her faith in the present when He said that this life is not in the future but now in the present: for He Himself is the Resurrection and the Life. And so, through the power of God, He raised Lazarus back to life.

Sometimes, when we are overcome with our losses and remember so much the past, we forget the gift of life that God gives us in the present. Even if we have suffered losses - the loss of anything very valuable to our life - there is hope. And that hope is realized not in the future but right now in the present through our faith in Christ as the Resurrection and the Life. If we only believe that He will always be our Life as we receive Him in the breaking of the bread during the Eucharistic celebration, we will always live in Him and death shall not be in our hearts and minds. If we believe we shall be forgiven for our sins when we ask His forgiveness and mercy, then life shall be brought back to our souls and light shall dwell in our being. Life in its fullness shall indwell in us if we but believe in Jesus who gives Himself everyday and every moment. We need only to listen to Him in much prayer and contemplation: in the silence, in the reading of the Scripture, in our adoration, and in our moments of solitude.

4th Sunday of Lent, Cycle A Year I

"I came into the world to divide it...to make the sightless see and the seeing blind."
In the gospel today, Jesus is calling all of us, especially those who are sightless, to see Him with the eyes of faith. For those of us who already have a mustard seed of faith, we are called to see Him more as the Truth, the Life, and the Way. We are called to have more faith in Him. There are times in our spiritual journey when we see ourselves as righteous and 'in the right'. When we do so in an attitude of pride and arrogance, we really blind ourselves to the truth that we are weak and sinful. We become so obsessed with the idols of power, money, fame and success that we become blind to the true God in Jesus. Often, we become so when we are too much involved in the affairs of the world that we forget that it is in Christ that we have our strength and our power in life. It will take only a sudden turn of events where we may experience the pain of others, a sickness in the family, or a sudden accident, or a tragedy that we realize how blind we were to the truth that God is really there for us and we refuse to believe that He is so and that we don't need Him. But when we realize that we are wrong and when we realize our sinfulness and our being also in the wrong despite our lawfulness in terms of obeying all the rules of our society, we still lack the love we should show our Lord. And this makes us blind. Accepting our sinfulness and swallowing our pride will make us see Christ as our Savior and Healer and Redeemer of all mankind. If we do not accept our sinfulness and our pride, then what we think that we know and what we assume that we see, really is not and we are really in the darkness. Only the light of Christ's grace can make us see. And we shall indeed see and always return to sight whenever we turn to God in humility and repentance and ask His mercy and forgiveness for the sins we have committed. Then we shall see as clear as the light of day and the light of the Spirit of God shall indwell in us forever. Just as the blind man in the gospel was healed from his blindness, so shall we be healed from our blindness when we turn to Christ alone, and to turn to Him in utter faith and ardent belief in His love and mercy.