Happy and blessed Easter to all of you!!! Today's topic is the Power of Love. What kind of love will I be discussing? What did the Archbishop say during his homily on Easter Vigil? Well, the love I'll be discussing is the scandalous love of Jesus for mankind. The kind of love that brought Him death, and death is not enough, but death on the cross. That's the most shameful way to die during the Roman empire.
Look at this image I found via Google search. The caption is "If you get wet, you'll get sick." I guess the Lord knows this much better than any of us, especially the getting wet, getting sick part. He chose to come down and live as man on earth. He knew of His mission of being on earth, living and preaching and dying. He knows He will suffer this death in order to grant us mercy. Knowing He'll go through all these, He still came. Knowing He'll be executed by dying on the cross, He still stayed at where He was, asking God to take the chalice away from Him. When God did not answer Him, Jesus stayed to face the death. How courageous is our Lord!!!
By His death, we receive life. By His grace, we receive love. Bishop, in his homily, started with a question: "What is the core value of our faith? What do we believe in?" Simple words, we believe in the power of love, and that's what the whole Triduum we had celebrated last week is all about -- Jesus' love that conquers sin and death.
In life, we often stop and ponder the same question: What's my eyes searching for? Where will my journey lead me to? What am I doing on earth? And Bishop's explanation is that people (everybody, including those we read in New Testament) is constantly searching for something. The Samaritan woman? The lame man at the pool? They are looking for something, but nothing can fill up that thirst they have, because that thirst is the thirst for the love of God. In the first reading last night from Genesis, man was created in the image of God, thus man will always thirst for God's love. Nothing can satisfy that thirst until we come to search for God. A quote from St. Augustine speaks of this: "Our hearts are made for you, O God, and they shall never rest until they rest in You." Bishop said that although we're constantly seeking for God, God is also searching for us in order to give us His love. He is also making that journey to seek us to offer us the love. The act of Jesus dying on the cross for mankind shows that God goes all out to give us the love.
One thing that made me pondered after mass was about our baptism. I wasn't baptised on Easter Vigil that time, but when Bishop directed the points specially for those who will be baptised, I felt touched by the hands of God. He mentioned that when we're baptised, the transformation occurs so that we can be changed and be the children of God. He specifically mentioned about the reading from the gospel of St. Mark about the resurrection of Christ. When the women went to the tomb, they did not find Jesus. Instead, they found a young man dressed in white robe sitting on the stone. He told the women to pass the message to the disciples so that they will go to Galilee, where Jesus will be there to wait for them. This event happened on the first day of the week, and Jesus has resurrected on that day. Thus, in our modernised concept, what I would summarise of Bishop's statement is that the beginning of new life for those who believe in Christ is the day after baptism where we're raised from the death with Jesus.
The second point of the Gospel passage was about the young man in white robe. Remember a young man who was following Jesus after He was arrested by the guards? The man who ran away naked when the guards seized him? This was the same young man dressed in white robe at the entrance of the tomb. This young man came back. So, the question is this: WHO IS HE? Bishop's explanation is that this young man is the newly baptised Christians. Before baptised, we run away from Jesus (just like how the young man ran away from Jesus) but now he's back and he believes in Christ. He has a message for all his disciples to meet Jesus in Galillee. The Lord had ever said that He will gather His disciples in Galillee and the mission to spread the good news started there. And so, us, as baptised Christians, we have already encountered Jesus and be transformed. And if we have been transformed, then we must begin to preach and bring this message to others.
We will have the faith if we have experience the love of God. How do we express our faith to God? My first thought when Bishop asked was "trust in God". But when he gave the answer, I begin to realize that I do experience what he said. Bishop said "GRATITUDE" has to be experienced if we want to know if we have that faith. All the love of God, after we experience it, will generate a feeling of thankfulness. And if we, at that point of time, have yet to feel thankful, we must then pray for transformation to change our heart of stone into heart of flesh. He cited the example of St. Paul (Saul of Tarsus) and how he had written about his gratitude to God when he felt like giving up. God said, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weaknesses..." (2 Corinthians 12:9) Indeed, it was because of that grace of God towards Paul that we have so many wise epistles and letters written by the intelligent apostle St. Paul.
Am I still making sense after such a long post, my dears? Last point of reflection whenever we renew our baptismal vows as a renewal of our faith is this: Are we at the tomb dressed in white robe? Are we thankful to God or not?
I am glad, I am thankful. Though I'm not perfect and never will be, I'm thankful He is with me.
Happy Easter once again. God bless.
