25 March 2023 – 5th Sun of Lent (Year A) (Sunset Mass)

by Bishop Sebastian Francis

So I would like to revisit my message that I gave to the Diocese four weeks ago and do a bit of a reality check four weeks later.

We are past the midpoint of the Lenten Journey of 40 days. Next Sunday is Palm Sunday and we enter into Holy Week. And two Sundays from now, it is Easter Sunday.

So let us go backwards and look at that message again, mine as well as Pope Francis which is summarised here. And I said it is with delight that I speak to you as we begin the Lenten Journey within the Synodal Journey in this year of the Lord 2023. Two journeys – a Lenten Journey and a Synodal Journey.

Traditionally the church tells us to, you all know it by heart, to pray, fast and do alms giving. So I just simplified it to: To Pray, Fast, To Give, whatever you are inclined or motivated to give by the Spirit. But I would like to include one more, to add one more that I think it is not just about giving, giving, giving, giving, giving. It is also about receiving, receiving, receiving, receiving, receiving. Otherwise you will get burnt out. It is a two-way process.

I remember telling very often to those who work with the poor That there is no one who is so rich that he or she has nothing to receive. And there is no one who is so poor that he or she has nothing to offer, to give. So let us turn everything upside down because the word of God turns us upside down, all our thinking.

Now all this is based, this invitation, is based on a fundamental call. And the call is not the priesthood, not religious life, not to be a bishop or whatever. The call for all of us is baptism. Period.

We must get back to this fundamental call and rediscover that we are all equal as far as baptism is concern.

Baptism comes not just with do, do, do, do, do. Baptism comes first with an identity like an identity card. And that identity, what is the identity that comes with the call which is baptism? It is ‘I am a disciple of Jesus Christ till I die‘. That is it, and go to heaven. And I will be a disciple on earth and I will continue to be a disciple in eternity. That is the identity. It is a permanent mark. It is not a touch and go, hit and run kind of thing.

So before anything else, get the identity right, whether you are a bishop or a priest or a deacon or a religious or a layperson, young or old, and many things will fall into place. You don’t get the identity correct, then you will be fumbling around.

This identity comes with a gift, comes with a gift and I would like to suggest the gift has something to do with fire. You know if I were to ask many of us traditional Catholics what is the symbol of the Holy Spirit, you would most likely say it is a dove. I would like to suggest – change it. You need to go through a paradigm shift in order to appreciate the role of the Holy Spirit. The primary gift that comes with this identity is the Holy Spirit, the fire of the Holy Spirit.

At Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came in tongues of fire, not a dove. Together with the fire of communion, which is the theme of the Synodal Journey, and the fire of mission. I think it is a very different reaction if you just want to remain with the dove and the lovey-dovey feeling about the dove and more often than not you are not at peace. But if the primary symbol, image that is motivating you is fire, then it will probably move in the direction of mission. The fire of mission.

Now this whole journey is not going in circles. It has a destiny. And what is the destiny? The destiny is not the grave in Western Road or wherever our dear ones are buried. The destiny is a person and the destiny is the Father of Jesus Christ. Abba Father. To be embraced by the Father. That is what you and I must wait for. Nothing more, nothing less. That is the eternal destiny, the everlasting destiny. And it is to see the Father face to face.

Pope Francis in his Lenten Message told us two things:-

1. He said, well he reminded us what the Father said at the baptism and at the transfiguration of Jesus (this is God the Father and Pope Francis repeats it). He said: Listen, listen to my son. Please get back to listening. Less talking and more listening. Less doing even I will say and more listening. And whatever you do or whatever you talk is the fruit of listening. So he said in his message, two things only: Listen to my son, Jesus Christ;
2. And after you listen, like Lazarus in today’s Gospel, Rise Up and Do Not Be Afraid.

You know Jesus’s immediate circle of people with whom he spent quality time, if you were to ask me I will say he spent quality time with the twelve apostles.

Why? Because they are going to take over.

Why? Because they are going to continue with this mission. They are the first ones to whom he entrusted the mission. That is why these twelve were there at Pentecost.

Now outside of these twelve, I would say his immediate and closest friends (call them friends, call them companions, whatever you want to call them), would probably be these three you met in today’s Gospel – Lazarus, Martha and Mary. They lived just out of Jerusalem and so whenever he came down to Jerusalem, that was the stopping place where he rested, he had his meals and so on and so forth.

There seems to be a quality of intimacy in his relationship with these three. And so I hope that whatever happened to Lazarus as you heard in today’s Gospel, and Martha and Mary, will trigger off something in you and push you forward to listen and to rise up. And he said “Do not be afraid.” Do not be afraid.

The Synodal Journey as well as the Lenten Journey will climax, especially the Lenten Journey, in two weeks’ time. When it is over and you got to live Lent behind and move forward, the liturgy never allows you to settle down. Keeps you, pushes you continually to move where the Spirit is leading in the liturgical seasons. And it will climax on Easter Night.

And Easter Night will be a night of glorious baptisms of adults, not of children. Children you can baptize them the rest of the year but at Easter Night, it is the night of glorious baptisms throughout the Diocese of Penang, Kelantan, Kedah, Perlis and Perak. And I promise all of them when I met them (I don’t know where I met them for the right of Election, maybe here for the Northern Region and one in Ipoh), I promised them that I will remember to pray for them throughout the forty days of Lent. To remember them every day because as far as I am concern, they are the climax, not me, not you. They are the climax.

They are the reason why we are putting all the effort we are putting in, the motivation is that two hundred or more adults are going to become disciples of Jesus Christ through baptism at Easter Night. And together with Malacca-Johor Diocese and the Archdiocese of Kuala Lumpur (we have the numbers), we will have about one thousand baptism. About two hundred in Malacca-Johor or more, two hundred or more in Penang and about four hundred and eighty or more in the Archdiocese of Kuala Lumpur. So it is not a numbers game but it is a personal choice. And a personal responsibility.

So you will be having several baptisms here in the Cathedral and I will not be with you. So I want to take this opportunity to already wish all of you an adventurous journey ahead to Holy Week next Sunday. And within Holy Week to the last three days which we call the Sacred Triduum or the last three sacred days of Thursday, Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Night. I will be at the Basilica so we will all be united in the Spirit and the focus will be the glorious baptisms of adults.

Of course I invite you to join the Diocesan Caritas Lenten Campaign with the theme “Renew Our Hearts to Care“. Father Joachim told me there will be a little video on that as soon as I finish.

Finally, please pray with me this prayer which I invited you to pray at the very beginning of the journey. And why? Because I do not think the Holy Spirit is about stereo-typing. I think the Holy Spirit has a way of dealing with each one of us uniquely. And therefore, yes we do pray, fast, give and receive. But I would like you to pray this prayer and ask the Holy Spirit personally for your self, not for your girlfriend, or boyfriend, or husband or wife or me for my priest or whoever. For yourself. Take responsibility and say this pray:-

Lord, how are you inviting me, me (Name) to pray, to fast, to give and to receive this Lent 2023?

And just a little warning or a little surprise. The Lord may surprise you with the answer. You may have your own agenda but the Holy Spirit may tell you personally how the Spirit wants you to pray in your situation, in your historical situation, in your geography, in your history, in your context. How the Holy Spirit wants you to pray, how the Holy Spirit wants you to fast. It may be different from Father Joachim. How the Holy Spirit wants you to fast. How the Holy Spirit wants you to give and what to give or where to give or when to give. And how the Holy Spirit wants you to receive, to receive.

So just a little warning. The Lord may surprise you with the answer.

So have a wonderful adventurous journey in the next two weeks ahead of you and culminating at Easter Night here in the Cathedral and throughout the Diocese and throughout the world.

God bless you.

Thank you Caritas Penang headed by Father Joachim and so many of you who are involved. Thank you for the wonderful work you do, not just for the poor but to also help us to reflect and to move forward together.

Click below to listen to the homily and watch the video:-

Click to live-stream Mass on 25 March 2023