by Fr Francis Anthony
Isaiah 50:4-7
Psalm 21:8-9,17-20,23-24
Philippians 2:6-11
Matthew 26:14-27:66
Theme: Lord, Save Us
Dear friends,
What is your feeling when you have sat through the whole of the passion as recorded by Saint Matthew?
Religion is not just intellectual. Religion is also emotional and it attacks us when we see what is happening. It is very unfortunate. While Jesus was alive, nobody accepted Him as Jesus the Christ. And that caption ‘Jesus the Christ‘ was given according to Saint Matthew by the people after He died.
So my dear friends, we are here on this journey towards holiness. And this journey towards holiness is all covered with anxiety, disappointment, failures and so forth. But we will try our best whatever be the situation to follow that teaching that we had in our catechetical days.
Yes, at times our faith is just intellectual but today’s readings makes us to see another aspect of our life.
In the Second Reading from Philippians, we see Jesus making that journey from heaven to earth. Yes, He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death and death on the cross. Yes, that is the journey that we are trying to enact during this Holy Week season:-
Am I one with this Christ?
Am I a person who is arrogant?
Am I a person who doesn’t take ‘No’ for an answer?
Am I a person I want my way?
If you are heading in that direction, you will never make that journey that Jesus is taking.
As I said in the Hall, He humbled Himself. He did not come as a victorious leader but riding on an ass. A victorious leader will come in on horses. So Jesus is showing us by example how we are to sanctify our lives. The sanctification of our lives begins with humility.
Dear friends, He is there with us and in the First Reading from Isaiah, it said, there the text says:-
He offered his back to those who struck him, my cheek to those who tore at my beard.
Very often, we want to retaliate under the guise of standing for rights. And here we will see Jesus is showing us the other way. It is not by demanding. It is by surrendering. Let us ask our Lord to help us in this journey towards heaven. we are in that journey.
Yes, Christ came to save us and this happened many years ago. we are recalling what is happening to us today. That is what I was saying:-
Let our faith not be intellectual. Let our faith also be emotional.
That it is my sin that has put Jesus on that cross. It is my sin that I have become what I am because I have denied Jesus.
So let us ask our Lord as we go in this Holy Week services on Thursday, Friday, Vigil, let us be united with our Catechumens who will be baptised. There are thirteen of them in the English speaking and four in the Chinese speaking. Let us be one as they make their journey towards Christ. It is not somebody else. They are joining us and let us go out of our way to recognise who they are and to congratulate them and to be a source of inspiration to them.
Click below to listen to the homily and watch the video:-
Click to live-stream Mass on 02 April 2023