Easter Sunday 2007 Reflection: "Christ our Light"

EASTER SUNDAY REFLECTION

April 8, 2007 Solemnity of Easter Sunday of the Lord’s Resurrection (C) – White

First Reading: Acts 10: 34a, 37-43
Responsorial Psalm: Ps 118 “This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it”
Second Reading: 1 Cor 5: 6b-8
Sequence: Victimae Paschali Laudes
Gospel: Jn 20: 1-9

Christ our Light

“Christ our Light! Thanks be to God.” (Procession of the Easter Candle, Easter Vigil) These are the words we echoed during last night’s celebration of the Easter Vigil, when we celebrated the passing over of Jesus from death to life. Christ, our Light, has indeed risen from the dead! Because of his rising from the dead, we should be as much thankful to God as we are joyful. The resurrection of Christ brought us three things that make sensible our Christian life.

1. Light. Out of the darkness of sin and worldliness, Christ brought us into the wonderful world of light. The light of Christ’s Resurrection is ever radiant in our hearts as Christians for this is the foundational stone of our faith. This light of Christ is symbolically represented by the burning flame of our Paschal Candle. Christ is our Paschal Candle, bringing us light of hearts and minds and warmth of faith and life. The challenge for us is how to be of light to others. By preaching the Gospel, practicing it and living by it, we become light to others. We become models of Christ’s light in the world.

2. Love. Christ showed his immense love for us through his suffering on the cross. Out of love for man, Christ chose to die rather than vindicate himself so that salvation will be possible for all of us. The liturgy of Holy Thursday called us to love our brothers by our selfless dedication to the service Christ has left us. The liturgy of Good Friday showed us a model of the perfect love the world has seen in the image of Christ crucified. The liturgy of Easter Vigil showed us God’s immense love to the human nature through the entirety of salvation history. Today, we are called to follow the love brought by Christ’s Resurrection. We are called that in order to love others, we must be able to live by Christ’s Resurrection worthily by following Christ’s mandate of brotherly love, shown in our simple service to our brothers and sisters.

3. Life. Christ brought new meaning to life by his resurrection from the dead. Life is not about living out to the fullest but life is giving up oneself so that others may live. This beautiful image is concretized by Christ himself through the Paschal Mystery we celebrate. The challenge for us now is how to give life to others or simply how do we share our lives with others.

We have a lot of reasons to be thankful to the Father. We thank Jesus for being our light amidst darkness. We thank God for his ultimate plan of salvation. We thank Jesus for giving us three essential things through his resurrection that make sensible our Christian life.

Christ overcame the darkness of death and brought us into the wonderful radiance of light. And so we have the courage, with the apostle Paul, to mock death: “Death is swallowed up in victory. Where, O Death, is your victory? Where, O Death, is your sting?" (1 Cor 15:54-55). Christ will be our light always!

- E.J. Segovia
March 31, 2007
During the Spiritual Exercises for Holy Week 2007

Easter Vigil Reflection 2007: "Living the Mystery of the Resurrection"

EASTER VIGIL REFLECTION

April 7, 2007 Solemn Mass of Easter Vigil of the Lord’s Resurrection (C) - White

First Reading: Genesis 1:1 – 2:2
Responsorial Psalm I: Psalm 104 "Lord, send out your Spirit and renew the face of the earth."
Second Reading: Genesis 22: 1-18
Responsorial Psalm II: Psalm 16 "You are my inheritance, O Lord."
Third Reading: Exodus 14:15 – 15:1
Responsorial Psalm III: Exodus 15 "Let us sing to the Lord; he has covered himself in glory."
Epistle: Romans 6:3-11
Responsorial Psalm & Alleluia: Psalm 118 “Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!”
Gospel: Luke 24:1-12

Living the Mystery of the Resurrection

“This is our passover feast…and rose triumphant from the grave…This is the night when Christ, the true Paschal Lamb, was slain.” (The Exultet)

Tonight, we wonder at the history of humanity. We wonder at the works of our Lord, from the time of creation, his greatest masterpiece, to the time when Christ was crucified and died for our salvation, until the time when we, present here tonight, are called Christians, professing one faith in one Lord. Tonight, we wonder at God’s supreme love for all humanity – his allowing of his only Son to be crucified and his raising of him from the dead, whose mystery we celebrate with profound love in this mass. Tonight is the night of our salvation – when we die with Christ to sin and rise with him to new life. We thank God for the entire history of salvation we recalled during the prolonged Liturgy of the Word.

Tonight let us reflect on the beautiful imagery of darkness and light, very well captured by our liturgy of light, when we blessed the fire of Easter and prepared the Paschal Candle, which symbolizes Christ, our pillar of light. The mystery of Good Friday brought gloom and darkness because of the death of the Son of God. Tonight, this darkness is replaced by light because Christ, our paschal lamb, is risen from the dead. The beautiful image of darkness transforming to light symbolizes our hope in the Resurrection, in our own Resurrection from the corruption of worldy sin into the glory of our heavenly salvation. Christ makes us hopeful that through his Resurrection we will be reborn and will be ready for our own salvation. Christ wants us to stop entertaining sin and start a new life in him. The darkness that looms over our old selves should be transformed into light that shines among others. The very beautiful images of darkness and light invite us to become better Christians in the Lord – that through our Lenten observance, we have been changed into worthy people of God, like the Israelites in our readings. Are we ready to live the Resurrection of Christ in our lives?

Tonight, we rejoice at our namesake – Christians. The Liturgy of Baptism that we will celebrate in a while invites us to become one with Christ in Baptism. Through the renewal of our baptismal promises, we are reminded of our participation in God’s plan of salvation. As Christians, we should be able to live a Christian life by our loving service to our brothers and sisters by virtue of our own baptism.

Tonight, we rejoice at the Resurrection of the Lord. With the psalmist, we say with grateful hearts, “This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad!” (Ps. 118)

- E.J. Segovia
March 31, 2007
During the Spiritual Exercises for Holy Week 2007

Good Friday Reflection 2007: "The Greatest Betrayal and Denial the World has ever seen"

GOOD FRIDAY REFLECTION

April 6, 2007 Good Friday – Liturgy of the Lord’s Passion (C) - Red

First Reading: Isaiah 52:13 – 53:12
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 31 "Father, into your hands, I commend my spirit."
Second Reading: Hebrews 4:14-16; 5:7-9
Gospel: John 18:1 – 19:42

The Greatest Betrayal and Denial the World has ever seen

“He was spurned and avoided by people, a man of suffering, accustomed to infirmity, one of those from whom people hide their faces, spurned, and we held him in no esteem.”

The Passion of the Christ, released three years ago by acclaimed director Mel Gibson, gives a vivid and striking narration of the last twelve hours of Jesus before his death on the cross. Today, Good Friday, we once again commemorate the last twelve hours of our Lord. But now, we focus our reflection on the two acts that led to the cross – two acts that pierced the heart of Jesus.

The film opens at the Garden of Gethsemane, when Christ, like any human being, agonized over the coming events and prayed for strength and conviction. However, the more poignant event happens. Judas the Iscariot, the betrayer of Jesus, enters and kisses his master on the cheek – a sign of selling his Lord and Master to the world. More agonizing to Jesus are his words, “See, my betrayer is here,” (Mk14:42), alluding to one of his closest collaborators. Hence, the hardest to Jesus’ heart is the fact that his disciple betrayed him and sold him “like a slave.” There is no corporal torture that happened here to Jesus but there is this emotional torture that took place. This betrayal will lead to a more serious set of events that will eventually lead to the cross.

Another striking sequence but not given much importance in the film is Peter’s threefold denial of Jesus Christ. We know and see that after the arrest of Jesus by the Jewish guards, the apostles fled away except for Peter who followed the procession of Jesus towards the city. While Jesus was being tried in mockery, Peter stayed outside of the high priest’s palace. Three times, Peter was asked if he was with or knows Jesus. He said no. Peter denied his master three times. Peter, who was “the closest to Jesus”, denied him. What a painful thing to know that you were denied by your closest collaborator. Once again, there was no corporal torture that took place. It was the emotional torture that spoke loudly and struck Jesus the most. This denial would leave Jesus alone to suffer, after what he did for his disciples.

Betrayal and denial – two acts that led to the cross. These two acts led to his eventual suffering and death. The suffering of Jesus physically was intense. But what was more intense was the fact that Jesus was tortured, Jesus’ heart was pierced by two of his closest collaborators. These two acts were the most painful to Jesus during his passion.

The question is now posed on us – Are we going to betray and deny Jesus just as his disciples did? Are we going to leave Jesus to suffer alone? This is what Good Friday is about – challenging us to become better disciples of Christ, being with Christ on his way to Calvary, helping him carry his cross.

- E.J. Segovia
March 26, 2007

during the Spiritual Exercises for Holy Week 2007

Holy Thursday Reflection 2007: " We must have faith, hope, and love in accompanying Christ to Calvary"

HOLY THURSDAY REFLECTION

April 5, 2007 Holy Thursday – Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper (C) - White

First Reading: Exodus 12:1-8,11-14
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 116 "Our blessing-cup is a communion with the Blood of Christ"
Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 11:23-26
Gospel: John 13:1-15

We must have faith, hope, and love in accompanying Christ to Calvary

“This day shall be a memorial feast for you, which all your generations shall celebrate with pilgrimage to the Lord, as a perpetual institution.”

This very night the Lord Jesus Christ started his paschal mystery. Brothers and sisters, welcome to the Paschal Triduum of the Passion, Death and Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is the memorial feast that the Lord has instituted upon us, his Church. This is the very night when Christ offered himself as a ransom for our sins. This is the very night when Christ had to endure all pains and malicious vulgarity that his people imposed upon him. This is the very night when Christ had to undergo the greatest betrayal the world has ever seen. In short, this is the very night when Christ humbly accepted his glorious suffering. Welcome to the Paschal Triduum of the Passion, Death and Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ!

The Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper brings to our attention three things that Christ instituted on the night he was betrayed. On the Last Supper table, Christ broke bread and poured wine for all of his disciples - hence, the institution of the Holy Eucharist. After which Christ rose from the supper table, took off his cloak and washed his disciples’ feet – hence, the institution of Priesthood and Service. After the washing of the disciples’ feet, Christ discussed and taught about Christian Love – hence, the institution of brotherly love. These three foundational institutions are essential to this evening’s celebration and are the keys to understanding Christ’s eventual death on the cross.

The Holy Eucharist is the memorial of Christ’s everlasting gift of himself. The bread we break is symbolic of our breaking of Christ’s body. The wine we drink is symbolic of Christ’s blood which flowed out for the salvation of the world. Our second reading (1 Cor 11:23-26) recounts to us in a vivid way the very words Christ uttered during the institution of the Eucharist in the Last Supper. “Do this in remembrance of me.” The Holy Eucharist is a symbol of our faith. In the Holy Eucharist, we celebrate our lives as Christ’s disciples, accompanying him on the road to Calvary.

The institution of Priesthood and Service is discussed in detail in our gospel (Jn 13:1-15). Jesus got up from supper, removed his garments, and took a pitcher and basin and started washing his disciples’ feet. Priesthood is not limited to the clergy alone. Priesthood is open for all. We can be priests in our own little way. We, too, are invited by Christ to get up from our comfort zones, to divest ourselves of our earthliness, and start serving our brothers and sisters in need. All of us, by virtue of our baptism, are priests. We are called to service. “I have given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you, you should also do.” We are called to have in us the virtue of hope that through our service of others, we will be in full communion with Christ, accompanying him on the road to Calvary.

Brotherly Love or Christian Love seems to be the hardest of all love the world has known. In order for one to love, he must give up what he has and offer it for his brother or sister in need. Not really. Christian Love means to love as Christ did – selfless love. As long as we live a life of love and service for others, we love like Christ. It does not mean that we should be slaves. It means that we should serve others in need. By the simple offering of a bus seat to an elderly person who is sick, we love like Christ. It is like offering our simple joys to the less fortunate. Hence, we show our symbol of love for others. Through this love, we accompany Christ on the road to Calvary.

These three institutions we celebrate tonight make us understand this evening’s celebration in a vivid way. This night is not a simple gathering. This night is the night when Christ prepared us, through these symbols, for his passion and death. In order for us to have a greater understanding of Christ’s Paschal Mystery, we must have faith, hope and love. With these three virtues, we will surely accompany him on the road to Calvary. And with great appreciation, we will be able to celebrate with acknowledging hearts and minds this perpetual institution he gave us.

Welcome, once again, to the Paschal Triduum of the Passion, Death, and Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ!

-E.J. Segovia
March 24, 2007