by Fr Raymond Raj
Isaiah 50:4-7
Psalm 21:8-9,17-20,23-24
Philippians 2:6-11
Luke 22:14-23:56
Theme: The Passion Of Christ
A Catholic priest, someone like me, asked one of the young men during Mass in his parish. The Catholic priest asked this question:
Young man, have you watched the movie ‘Passion of Christ‘ directed by Mel Gibson?
The young man replied, ‘Of course, Father, I have watched it.’
The priest then asked him the next question, ‘Did you cry?’
The young man replied, ‘Excuse me, Father, I am a grownup man. I don’t cry like little babies. I don’t cry like a baby.’
If I may ask you, each one of you here, the same question,
Did you cry after watching or even listening the Readings of the Passion? Yes or no?
Praise the Lord! God is the witness. You cried.
Brothers and sisters in the Lord, crying is a spiritual gift. Always remember this. Crying is a spiritual gift because crying is a human response to the feeling of Holy Spirit.
Brothers and sisters in the Lord, who on this earth would have thought the crowd who welcome Jesus with shouts of ‘Hosanna‘ will betray Him so quickly in exchange of Barabbas? Who thought that? Indeed the shouts of ‘Hosanna‘ was skin deep, superficial.
Speaking of crowd, my dear friends, it is always easy to be part of any crowd, chanting the name of Jesus. Very easy to be part of any crowd. But when it comes to crisis, crisis of faith, the question remains is:
Do we hold on to Jesus? Do you hold on to Jesus in moments of crisis?
The Passion of Jesus moves us, makes us cry because it is we who have inflicted suffering on Jesus. It was not just the Jewish leaders, not just the cruel Romans, but rather you and me.
Brothers and sisters in the Lord, the Passion of Jesus is a great reminder for you and for me today that sin has power to inflict suffering. Write it in your heart today:
Sin has power to inflict suffering to you and to others.
At initial stage, any kind of sin for that matter, sin offers pleasure. But sooner or later, that very sin will inflict suffering to others and also to our own self.
Brothers and sisters in the Lord, Jesus Christ the Son of God became the target of sin. Before the soldiers took the lance and pierced His side, Jesus had already been pierced for our many sins.
Theologically speaking, in Jesus Christ alone God’s love burns up all our sins. Therefore my dear friends, sin is not the last word. When Jesus died, He came before the Father in heaven, showing His wounds. Instead of the Father seeing only our sins, God the Father looks through the wounds of Jesus as an expiation and atonement for you and for me.
So brothers and sisters in the Lord, as a baptised Christian, if the Passion of Jesus does not move you, does not move me to repent, what else will? If the Passion of Christ does not move you, what else is going to move you?
Very often during the Holy Week, we tell ourselves or rather we make promises to God to repent, to surrender ourselves to Him. But reality seeps in on Easter Monday. Reality seeps in Easter Monday. After all the lavish foods and drinks and celebration, you and I return to our former self, our old self for another year. Another year of sins.
Brothers and sisters, if the Passion of Christ and the crucifixion of our Lord does not move you, what else will?
Today in this Holy Mass, we pray for the grace to repent, to change, to become a better Christian that is worthy of the Passion and Sacrifice of Jesus.
And I leave you with these beautiful words to ponder over the Holy Week. Listen carefully:
God the Father is not looking for repayment from anyone of us here. Not repayment. God the Father is looking for repentance. Only repentance.
Amen.
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