Breaking the Word

Friday, March 29, 2013

Good Friday
Ecce Homo

Readings: Isaiah 52:13-53:12; Psalm 30:2,6,12-13,15-17,25; Hebrews 4:14-16,5:7-9; John 18:1-19:42

The power of love is a curious thing.

Make a one man weep, make another man sing.

Change a hawk to a little white dove.

More than a feeling that's the power of love...

Sisters and brothers, I think at least some of you will recognise these words. They are the opening lines to the song featured in the movie Back to the Future, and popularised by Huey Lewis and the News. The song is entitled The Power of Love. Strange as it may seem, I think this secular song can actually help us ponder more deeply upon the significance of something that our liturgy exhorts us to do today.

As you may already have noticed, in our readings and prayers today, there is a significant emphasis on the act of seeing. The first reading begins with the words, see my servant... And it continues by saying that even kings shall see something never told and witness something never heard before. In the gospel, after he has had Jesus flogged, Pontius Pilate presents him to the people with the words, here is the man! In the Latin translation, the words are ecce homo! Behold the man! Look at him! A little later in our liturgy, as we unveil and venerate the cross, we will be chanting these words: Behold the wood of the cross, on which hung the salvation of the world. See! Behold! Look! Pay attention! This is what our liturgy is encouraging us to do today. But what exactly are we supposed to be looking at?

On the surface, it seems that Jesus dies a failure. Even a sinner. And he dies so painfully. So shamefully. An executed criminal. Is this all that we are being asked to look at? If not, then what else? The first reading provides us with an answer by posing to us this question: to whom has the power of the Lord been revealed? The power of the Lord, sisters and brothers. This is what we are being asked to look at today. The power of the Lord. Which is the power of love. A love that leads Jesus, the eternal only-begotten Son of God, to allow himself to be tormented and tortured. Convicted falsely and cruelly crucified. All for love of us. Of you and of me. Today, sisters and brothers, our liturgy tells us not to turn away. Not to be distracted. But to pay close attention. To see more deeply. To behold, hanging on the wood of the cross, Jesus our supreme high priest, who was tempted in every way that we are, though he is without sin. To look at him, remembering that ours were the sufferings he bore, ours the sorrows he carried.

And why, sisters and brothers, should we focus our eyes on this painful sight, if not because, we too wish to experience something of this power? Something of the power of the Lord. Something of the power of love. A power that brings liberty to captives, healing to the afflicted, joy and hope to the depressed and despairing. A power that can move us to forgive those we may have long resented. To reach out to those we may be guilty of neglecting. To share Jesus with those who have yet to meet him. Who have yet to experience the power of his love.

Sisters and brothers:
The power of love is a curious thing.

Make a one man weep, make another man sing.

Change a hawk to a little white dove.

More than a feeling that's the power of love.

As we continue to gaze upon our crucified Lord, how might we allow this power to transform us today?

1 comment:

AnonymousFri Mar 29, 02:51:00 pm GMT+8
As I recalled, not too long ago, I was sitting on the fence,
thinking that the grass should be greener on the other side of the lake.
But, just as I was about to cross the threshold, He used His words
to touch me.. unveiling the truth to me.

Nevertheless, I believe that The Lord has reserved something for me.
I took time to quieten myself, reflect and pray on Psalm 37:4 - Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.

I started to sing to Him,
"Lord I come to You
Let my heart be changed, renewed
Flowing from the grace
That I found in You."

"And Lord I've come to know
The weaknesses I see in me
Will be stripped away
By the power of Your love."

It is true... as I started to see the Truth, and the things that He unveiled it to me, I began to the downside of certain things. A heart full of contrition, sorrow, and yearning for The Lord's love overwhelmed me. I beseeched him to:

"Hold me close
Let Your love surround me
Bring me near
Draw me to Your side.
And as I wait
I'll rise up like the eagle
And I will soar with You
Your Spirit leads me on
In the power of Your love."

I pray that all of us, will continue to let Our Lord's light shine deeply into our hearts, especially to those who desires His healing to open up and surrender totally to Him. Let us sing and give praise to Him like the responsorial psalm of today mentioned:

Let your face shine on your servant.
Save me in your love.
Be strong, let your heart take courage,
all who hope in the Lord.

Peace
Z
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Breaking News: Christmas Season

Next to the yearly celebration of the paschal mystery, the Church holds most sacred the memorial of Christ's birth and early manifestations. This is the purpose of the Christmas season. The Christmas season runs from Evening Prayer I of Christmas until the Sunday after Epiphany or after 6 January, inclusive. The Mass of the vigil of Christmas is used in the evening of 24 December, either before or after Evening Prayer I. On Christmas itself, following an ancient tradition of Rome, three Masses may be celebrated: namely, the Mass at Midnight, the Mass at Dawn, and the Mass during the Day.[R6] Christmas has its own octave, arranged as follows: a. Sunday within the octave is the feast of the Holy Family; b. 26 December is the feast of Saint Stephen, First Martyr; c. 27 December is the feast of Saint John, Apostle and Evangelist; d. 28 December is the feast of the Holy Innocents; e. 29, 30, and 31 December are days within the octave; f. 1 January, the octave day of Christmas, is the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God. It also recalls the conferral of the holy Name of Jesus. The Sunday falling between 2 January and 5 January is the Second Sunday after Christmas. Epiphany is celebrated on 6 January, unless (where it is not observed as a holyday of obligation) it has been assigned to the Sunday occurring between 2 January and 8 January (see no. 7). The Sunday falling after 6 January is the feast of the Baptism of the Lord. ~ General Norms for the Liturgical Year & Calendar, nn 32-38

From 36th Jesuit General Congregation

It is our union with one another in Christ that testifies to the Good News more powerfully than our competences and abilities.... In our individualistic and competitive age, we should remember that the community plays a very special role since it is a privileged place of apostolic discernment.... The Jesuit community is a concrete space in which we live as friends in the Lord. This life together is always at the service of mission, but because these fraternal bonds proclaim the Gospel, it is itself a mission. –Companions in a Mission of Reconciliation and Justice (CMRJ), nn. 7-9.

With the poor, we can learn what hope and courage mean.... In our communities and apostolates, we hear the call to rediscover hospitality to strangers, to the young, to the poor, and to those who are persecuted. Christ himself teaches us this hospitality. –CMRJ, nn. 15-16.

At the heart of Ignatian spirituality is the transforming encounter with the mercy of God in Christ that moves us to a generous personal response. The experience of the merciful gaze of God on our weakness and sinfulness humbles us and fills us with gratitude, helping us to become compassionate ministers to all.... For us Jesuits, compassion is action, an action discerned together. Yet we know that there is no authentic familiarity with God if we do not allow ourselves to be moved to compassion and action by an encounter with the Christ who is revealed in the suffering, vulnerable faces of people, indeed in the suffering of creation. –CMRJ, nn. 19-20.

(T)he Society must respond more decisively to the Church’s call for a new evangelization, giving special emphasis to ministry to and with the young and with families.... A special gift Jesuits and the Ignatian family have to offer to the Church and her mission of evangelization is Ignatian spirituality, which facilitates the experience of God and can therefore greatly help the process of personal and communal conversion. –CMRJ, nn. 22-23.

In many societies, there is an increased level of conflict and polarization, which often gives rise to violence that is all the more appalling because it is motivated and justified by distorted religious convictions. In such situations, Jesuits, along with all who seek the common good, are called to contribute from their religious-spiritual traditions towards the building of peace, on local and global levels. –CMRJ, n. 28.

Pope Francis has emphasized the fundamental connection between the environmental crisis and the social crisis in which we live today. Poverty, social exclusion, and marginalization are linked with environmental degradation. These are not separate crises but one crisis that is a symptom of something much deeper: the flawed way societies and economies are organised. The current economic system with its predatory orientation discards natural resources as well as people. For this reason, Pope Francis insists that the only adequate solution must be a radical one. The direction of development must be altered if it is to be sustainable. We Jesuits are called to help heal a broken world, promoting a new way of producing and consuming, which puts God’s creation at the center.... The multifaceted challenge of caring for our common home calls for a multifaceted response from the Society. We begin by changing our personal and community lifestyles, adopting behaviour coherent with our desire for reconciliation with creation. – CMRJ, nn. 29-30

From 35th Jesuit General Congregation

From General Congregation 35

By sending us to 'those physical and spiritual places which others do not or have difficulty reaching,' the Pope entrusts to us the task to 'build bridges of understanding and dialogue,' according to the best tradition of the Society, in the diversity of its ministries.
- Decree With Renewed Fervor and Dynamism, n. 6

To be missioned to this work 'at the New Frontiers of our times' always requires that one also be rooted at the very heart of the Church. This tension, specific to the Ignatian charism, opens the way to true creative fidelity.
- Decree With Renewed Fervor and Dynamism, n. 13

In every mission that we carry out, we seek only to be where (Christ) sends us. The grace we receive as Jesuits is to be and to go with him, looking on the world with his eyes, loving it with his heart and entering into its depths with his unending compassion.
- Decree on Identity, n. 15

For ultimately, there is no reality that is only profane for those who know how to look. We must communicate this look and provide a pedagogy inspired by the Spiritual Exercises, that carries people - especially the young - into it.
- Decree on Identity, n. 10

Our ministries of proclamation of the Word and the celebration of the Life of Christ in the sacraments continue to be fundamental for our mission and our lives together as Jesuits.
- Decree on Mission, n. 19

The complexity of the problems we face and the richness of the opportunities offered demand that we engage in building bridges between rich and poor and establishing advocacy links of mutual support between those who hold political power and those who find it difficult to voice their interests. Our intellectual apostolate provides an inestimable help in setting up these bridges, offering us new ways of understanding in depth the mechanism and links among our present problems.
- Decree on Mission, n. 28

Jesuit community is not just for mission, it is itself mission.
- Decree on Mission, n. 41

In this global context it is important to highlight the extraordinary potential represented by our character as an international and multicultural body. Acting consistently with this character can not only enhance the apostolic effectiveness of our work but in a fragmented and divided world it can witness to the reconciliation in solidarity of all the children of God.
- Decree on Mission, n. 43

Faith in Jesus Christ teaches us that self-realization comes from self-giving and that freedom is not so much the power to choose as the power to order our choices toward love. At the same time, love for Jesus Christ and the desire to follow him call us to trusting commitment. Commitment to the Word Incarnate cannot be separated from commitment to the concrete manifestations of the Word that are at the center of our lives, the Church and the Society which exists to serve the Church.
- Decree on Obedience, n. 19