MAUNDY THURSDAY< CYCLE-A < SERMON >

Eucharist and Washing of Fee

Life in Palestine in the time of Jesus was hard. The popular means of transport was your feet. People walked long distances on rough, dusty roads to go from Galilee to Jerusalem, for example. Travelers often arrived their destinations with sore and aching feet. As a sign of hospitality, the host would see to it that his guests were given a warm foot bath and massage as a way of relieving their aches and pains. This was usually done by the house servants or slaves.

This service of bathing and soothing the tired feet were also provided by the rest houses or inns found at strategic locations along the major roads and highways. Travelers worn out along the way could go into these rest houses and have food and foot bath. Their energy thus restored they would then be able to continue and complete their long journey. That is how such rest houses along the way got the name "restaurants" -- they restored strength to tired and exhausted travelers on the way. The disciples would have understood Jesus washing their feet in light of this cultural background. And for us it is a pointer to the meaning of the Eucharist we celebrate.

Understood in light of the washing of feet, the Eucharist is a place of restoration for people on the way. The life of a Christian in the world is a pilgrimage, a long, hard journey. Along the way we get tired and worn out and we are tempted to give up and turn back. But Jesus has provided us with the Eucharist as a place where we can go in to bathe our aching feet and to be refreshed in body and soul for the journey that is still ahead. When we give communion to a sick person we call it viaticum which means "provisions for a journey." The Eucharist is always a viaticum: in the Eucharist we derive strength to continue our upward journey toward God.

The first and most essential part is to let the Lord wash us. As Jesus said to Peter,

 "Unless I wash you, you have no share with me (John 13:8). 

First, the Lord washes us clean so that we belong to the Lord. Only then are we qualified and empowered to wash the feet of our sisters and brothers in the Lord. When this truth dawned on Peter, he overcame his reluctance and cried out,

 "Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!" (v. 9). 

For this to happen all that the Lord needs from us is simply for us to be there, to present ourselves to him and to let him wash us.

The other side of the coin, which is equally important, is that after our feet have been washed by the Lord, we must go and wash the feet of others. After Jesus had washed his disciples' feet, he said to them:

Do you know what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord -- and you are right, for that is what I am. So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you (John 13:12-15).

Jesus establishes a close link between him washing the disciples' feet and the disciples washing the feet of others. If the Eucharist is the place where the Lord washes our feet, daily life is the place where we ought to wash the feet of others. Eucharist leads to life leads to Eucharist. True Eucharist piety must lead to service of others. Jesus who broke the bread of the Eucharist also washed the feet of his disciples. We must follow his example both at the altar of the Eucharist and at the altar of life.

Palm Sunday-Cycle A

Homily for Palm Sunday

Have you ever received this answer?  “Why don’t you go to Church?”  “Well, because they are all hypocrites.  I know what they do on the weekends.  And some of them do it during the week.  They are all sinners.  I do not want to be around sinners.”  Inside I just chuckle.  It is quite possibly my favorite answer.  As Christians we know that the reason we go to Church is the same, “I am a hypocrite.  I say one thing and do another.  I am a sinner.  I do the things I don’t want, and don’t do the things I ought.”  Here at Church is where all the Hypocrites are welcome.  Here is where all the sinners come together.  Here is where sinner and hypocrite meet Jesus.

Throughout the Gospels one of the complaints against Jesus is that he is seen associated with public sinners.  He eats with tax collectors, he forgives adulterers, he drinks water with Samaritans.  He surrounds himself with sinners and hypocrites.  Jesus, sinless though He was, throws himself into the midst of sin and death.  He gets his hands dirty.

He calls fishermen, tax collectors, zealots, and Samaritans.  He goes out searching for sinners, and when they come to him, he welcomes them with open arms.  He preaches on the hilltop and in the valley.  He preaches from the boat and in the temple.  He is always searching for the next soul.  He desires his message to be for all people and all time.

They go to pray, these sinners who are blinded by their ambition, and the one who serves them all.  He prays so deeply, so immediately, so completely, that he sweats blood, and they sleep.  

Then they come the ones who have called for his destruction.  They come to teach Him a lesson.  They come in the midst of the darkness, in the shadow of night, sinners who are hidden from the light.  A sick sort of community bonded in their desire to stay hidden.  He is betrayed by an act of intimacy.  They arrest him. 

The put him on trial, and refuse to believe the signs they have seen.  The have a blood thirst, a tremendous jealousy because He knows Yahweh as “Abba,” as father.  This cannot be they cannot let it stand.  They mob him over to Pilate.  This sick community has grown and become a mob, crying for blood, shouting for retribution, demanding death.  Jesus has become the scapegoat of the society, of the entire community; everything that is wrong with Jerusalem is His fault.  They hand him over, and Pilate reluctantly acquiesces to their demands.

He gave health and healing to those who asked, and they gave him a cross to bear.  They nail him to the cross in the midst of sinners, one on His right and the other on His left.  In the midst of their dying, one of them joins the mob, “Can you not save yourself and us besides?”  The other asks for forgiveness, clemency, and union.  He saves the repentant thief.  He saves the hypocrite who recognizes his hypocrisy.  He breathes His last, and the Pagan recognizes His innocence.

As in life, so in death, he sought the company and companionship of Sinners.  Anyone passing by would assume that he was the worst of the sinners as he was in the middle.  Pilate labels him for ridicule, “This is the King of the Jews.”  Yes, He is.  He is our King, not because He has the power, not because he is the great judge.  He is our king because God has become man.  He is one of us too.  He came to be in solidarity with the sinner.  He came in self-emptying compassion.  He came to save us.  He came in the midst of sin and death and conquered.  We stand at the foot of the cross and proclaim.  This one is our King.  We order our lives around Him.  He makes all within us right, when He is the center.  This crucified and broken man is our King.  How happy I am to be a hypocrite that he would sit with me.

           

Ash Wednesday -Cycle A

Joel 2:12-18; 2Cor 5:20-6:2; Mt 6:1-6, 16-18.

To help us understand the significance of lent the Church makes use of a sign, the sign of ashes. Ash is blessed and imposed on the forehead of each one of us.

Ash is an object of daily contact. Every one, young or old, come in contact with ash or dust, and everyone knows that it is one of the things of least importance. So the church reminds its members that we are created from Ash and we have to return to ash. In this short span of life the physical body that is the composition hash has been glorified, and made prominent by the presence of the spirit that gives the life breath to the body. So the season of lent reminds us to subdue the desires of the flesh to the demands of the spirit.

Ash is used as a symbol to remind us of our weakness. There have been leaders who wielded enormous power, but only for a short span of life. Then they had to submit to the natural course of death and disintegration. Tenzing Norgay conquered the highest peak, the Himalayas. But when his turn arrived he was conquered by death. Alexander the Great conquered the ends of the then known world. But when his turn came, he had to submit to the unconquerable enemy, death. Sir Ronald Ross conquered, but when his turn came he was conquered by the great enemy, death. All of them returned to dust and decay. So, ash reminds us today that we are week human beings who are granted a short life on this earth.

Realizing this inevitable reality the church places its demands on us: “turn away from sin and believe in the Gospel.” The sign of turning away from sin is indulging in good work. To the Jew the three great cardinal works of religious life were, alms giving, prayer and fasting. In the season of lent the church wants us too to practice these virtue.

It is a strange fact that these three great cardinal good works are done from wrong motives. So Jesus warned his audience, when these things were done with the sole intention of bringing glory to the doer their value was lost.

A man may give arms just to demonstrate his generosity. A man may pray just to make an impression on his fellow men. His praying may simply be an attempt to demonstrate his exceptional piety. A man may fast, not really to humble himself in the sight of God, but to show the world what a splendid self-disciplined character he has. A man may practice good works simply to win praise from men. Then they already had their reward from men, and he does not leave to God a chance to reward him.

There was a rabbinic saying, “Greater is he who gives alms than he who offers all sacrifices.” But often we are tempted to make a show of our generosity. J. J. Westein quotes an eastern custom from the ancient days. “In the east water is so scarce that sometimes it had to be bought. When a man wanted to do a good act, he went to the water-carriers and instructed him: ‘Give the thirsty a drink.’ When the water carrier gave water to the thirsty, the man stood near him and asked,” Bless me, who gave you this drink.” Jesus teaches that he had already enjoyed his reward. Our works of charity must be done in secret. So that God who sees our work will reward us. Johnson, in his own days of poverty, went on slipping pennies into the hands of the waifs and strays that were sleeping in the doorways because they had nowhere else to go. Once Jonson was asked how he could have bear to have his house filled with necessitous and undeserving people. Johnson answered: “If I did not assist them no one else would, and they must not be lost for want.” Here we see real giving. A giving that flows from the heart. A giving that is the fruit selflessness. This is what the church demands us in the season of lent.

Secondly, the season of lent reminds us practice the habit of fasting. To this day in the East fasting is an essential part of religious life. In many cases fasting was a preparation for revelation. Moses fasted for forty days and forty nights before he received the revelation on the Mount Sinai. Daniel fasted as he awaited God’s word. Jesus Himself fasted as he received the ordeal of temptation. St Francis spent days in fast as he waited for the revelation of God. When the body is most disciplined, the mental spiritual faculties become most alert. Fasting is good for self-discipline, and it preserves from becoming the slaves of habit. Above all fasting helps us understand the plight of the needy, and to appreciate things all the more. But fasting has gone completely out of the practice of the contemporary man. We should practice it in our own way. And the reason for it is:

“So that earth’s bliss may be our guide,

And not our chain.”

Thirdly, the season of lent reminds us to spend time in prayer. One of the loveliest rabbinic says is, “He who prays within his house surrounds it with a wall that is stronger than iron.” Jesus emphasized the importance of prayer in His teaching and by His example. In fact, Jesus laid down two great rules for prayer. All prayer must be offered to God, and we must always remember that the God to whom we pray is a God of love, who is ready to answer.

As Lent is a time to go back to god, let us join with our brothers and sisters in almsgiving, fasting and prayer. May God bless our efforts?

CHRISTMAS< CYCLE-A < SERMON >

The Bottom-Line is Love

When the Second World War came to an end, I was only a boy of 9 years. But I still remember the moment that the news of the end of the war was officially announced. It was night and we children had already been put to bed, but my mother came up to my bedroom and said “we are free!” and she wept. Outside there was the sound of fire-crackers and thousands of people came out. In a wink -- I do not know how people managed -- dancing-floors were laid out in the open air and there were loudspeakers and there was music. And people were singing and dancing, hand in hand, some of them weeping openly without shame and others laughing, mad with joy. And there was a sense of community which later on I never experienced anymore.....because it was peace.....because gone were the days of darkness and anxiety......because the war was over and we were free....

Dear brothers and sisters, I have often thought that -- on a much deeper level and on a much, much larger scale -- something similar happened also when Jesus was born. His birth was a tremendous source of joy and peace which people had never experienced before. People felt: with Jesus a new hope and a new light had entered the world. Gone were the days of darkness and confusion, because we were free and liberated by a prince of peace. Angels were singing, when Jesus was born, so we are told; shepherds left the stable glorifying God. Wise men made their way from far-off countries to fall to their knees when they saw the child. And later on again, people joyfully spread the Good News to other places. It went from Palestine to the rest of the Roman Empire, from the Roman Empire to Europe, from Europe to the Americas and to India and to China and to Japan and to Africa, a gigantic movement that swept through the centuries and set people on fire and kept moving on, until at last it has come to us as we are gathered together here in 1992 with millions of other people all over the world to celebrate the birthday of this wonderful child. What an amazing thing! Is there really any other person who managed to create such an enormous excitement in history as Jesus did?...I remember the text of a Christmas-card I received: “Nineteen centuries have come and gone, and today Jesus is still the central figure of the human race. All the armies that ever marched and all the navies that ever sailed, all the parliaments that ever sat, and all the kings that ever reigned, have not affected the life of men on this earth as much as that one single life of Jesus our Savior.”

Dear brothers and sisters, if that is the case, we may wonder, what exactly is it then in this child, that was able to bring about such a joy and excitement? What is the Good News? What is its message? Well, right now thousands of other preachers may be trying to answer that same question in many ways, but whatever their answer may be, I am sure, their is one bottom-line which will always come out: the Good News of Christ is a message of love. Looking at Jesus, man has finally understood what perhaps secretly, deep down in his heart, he already knew by himself: that the greatest, the deepest, the most everlasting power in the world is love, not money, not physical strength, not worldly power or blind luck or animal instinct, but the great and unspeakable power of love that became manifest -most of all- in Jesus Christ.

I remember a freethinker of the last century who used to say: “If ever I would meet a person who knows all the answers and if I were allowed to ask him a question, it would be: “Is this a friendly universe?” or to put it in other words: “Is the world in which we live a universe with a heart? There is so much suffering we do not understand, so much good that seems to remain totally unrewarded, so much evil that goes on, as it seems, unchecked. Is this a friendly universe? Does it love me? Does it care about me or does it simply follow its mechanical course, totally and absolutely unconcerned with who I am and what I do?” Dear friends, the answer to that question is given to us on Christmas: God loves us. He finds each and everyone so tremendously important, that He did not mind, that He even found it very fitting to strip off all his glory and to come down among us in the humble vulnerable shape of a child. In Jesus God tells us, He keeps telling and spelling it out: no matter who you are, no matter how little you are counted in this world, I love you, I wish to be with you and to stand at your side as your everlasting friend. Once a person feels assured of this love, he has found his deepest source of happiness and peace. As a great catholic thinker once put it: “If anyone would ask me: what is certain in this life?, my answer would be: the love of Christ. Life has taught that nothing else in life can give us that same sort of certainty.  Not people -- not even the best and the dearest ones --; not science, or philosophy or art or any product of human genius. Also not nature, which is so full of profound deception, neither time nor fate. Certain is only what has manifested itself in the child in the crib and the man on the cross: the love of Jesus Christ, this is the beginning and the end of all things.”

Dear brothers and sisters, today, together with millions of others all over the world, we have come together to adore the little Jesus as our Lord and King. Let us praise and thank Him for his wonderful gift of love. But at the same time, let us once again decide to imitate and radiate that love in our own life. The world, as we know, is not in a very good shape and the only way to bring about some change for the better, is not to keep moaning and groaning about the wickedness of the world, but to change the greed and selfishness and pride in our own heart. Once a very old teacher said to his pupils: “When I was a young man, I was a revolutionary. I asked God to give me the grace to change the whole world. When I was middle-aged, I had become more realistic and I asked God for the grace to change at least a few of my friends and my family-members. Now I am old I know I have been wasting my time. There is only one prayer that really matters and I keep praying it every day: “Please God, give me your grace to change myself.” Dear friends, let there be peace on earth and with the help of God’s grace, let it begin with me. May that be our prayer and our new decision today. I wish you a happy Christmas. Amen. (1992)