Blessed Easter!!

My apologies for not posting anything this week.  I was left very tired after all the services during the Holy Triduum.  Just a picture below from Wikimedia Commons of a liturgical celebration in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem.  The Easter experience brought forth the Christian faith community.  That’s where it all started: at the tomb or sepulchre of the crucified Jesus.

When a Palm is not a Palm

This year, the parish was supplying real palms for Palm Sunday.  The so-called palms used when I was first baptised were actually not palms but cycads.  Cycads are seed plants that do not have flowers.  Palms are seed plants that have flowers.  Cycads are closer to conifers than to the coconut trees.  Yet, in Singapore, people prefer cycad leaves because they are hard and keep longer than the young and supple palm leaves that we had used in the parish this year.  When I was younger, I was quite upset that we use leaves that are obviously not palms during Palm Sunday.  It was only when I studied in Rome that I realised that Singapore was more privileged than our brothers and sisters in Italy.  In Italy, young olive branches are used during Palm Sunday.  Palms are not readily available there.

A Cycad Plant

A Palm Plant

The problem I had was that I was concerned with the wrong details regarding Palm Sunday.  In the Missal, the title for the Liturgy on Palm Sunday is “Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord.”  What is really important is that we are celebrating the Lord’s entry into Jerusalem with a view of His Passion.  Jesus entered into Jerusalem triumphant, yet knowing that there was a Passion waiting for Him.  Jesus’ conviction of His mission was not due to a simple human courage.  He was able to enter Jerusalem because He totally loved His Father and nothing could prevent Him from obeying His Father, not even death.  As we read in the Passion Narrative that forms a significant part of the Liturgy, Jesus was afraid.  Despite His fear, He was determined to do His Father's will.  Jesus is thus an example to us of Christian moral courage: we act due to the fact that we want to do the Father's will, that we love the Father by obeying Him.  For example, when we give alms, are we doing it because it is expected of us, or because we want to love the Father through loving the brothers and sisters in our midst?

The same people that waved palm leaves to welcome Jesus into Jerusalem became the ones that would later shouted “Crucify him!” Are we like them?  Let us pray that the love and grace that God gives us would lead us to be more like Jesus than to those who called Him King on one day and condemned Him on another.

Joy in Mercy

I did a meditation years ago on the episode of Jesus confronting the crowd with the woman caught committing adultery in John 8:1-11.  I have still not forgotten what happened at the end of that meditation.  I was filled with a joy that I had never felt before.

When one considers the feelings of the woman, perhaps we can begin to realise the joy she felt when Jesus uttered the words, “neither do I condemn you.”  After all, she was probably terrified when she was dragged out of the place where she was caught.  Where was her partner in crime?  Either he had run off, leaving her alone, or he was let off as she was hauled away.  For the former, she must have been extremely disappointed.  He cared only for himself and not for her.  For the latter, she must have been feeling confused.  She could not understand why her captors, who were from the law-abiding sector of Jewish society would take only her.  Then, to her horror, she was dragged into the temple where everyone was.  Her sin would be made public.  Further terror awaited her as she saw that they were leading her to Jesus, this great teacher, whom some people call a prophet.  She was not innocent, she knew.  How could this person not convict her of her sin?

Yet, it was this teacher that would forgive her and give her inner joy.   The teacher had asked that the first person to throw a stone was one who had no sin.  The usually self-righteous Pharisees and scribes moved away one by one.  Then he had looked up and saw no one.  He asked if no one had condemned her.  He took the decision of the majority: He would not condemn her as well.  However, he did acknowledge that she had sinned.  He said, “…and do not sin again.”  A few simple words but powerful ones because he acknowledged that she was not innocent.  She was forgiven, not exonerated.

The feeling that I identified with at the end of that meditation was joy.  I understood it to be joy but not a joy due to relief.  It was a joy that came when one was valued as a human being.  One was not rendered worthless by sin but that by mercy, one’s life had value in a dignity restored.  

Envious of the Prodigal?

I have often asked myself which character I feel the most affinity to in the Parable of the Prodigal Son (Lk 15:11-32).  I wish I could say the father, but I know that I can never measure up to the standard that Jesus had set in the character of the Father.  After all, who can measure up to the mercy of God Himself?!  So, I was left with two: the older son and the younger son.  I am the oldest among my brothers and so there are times I can understand how the elder brother in the parable felt.  However, except for my earliest memories (of which I have very little recall), I do not think I had ever felt jealous of my younger brothers.  Being selfish or stingy was strictly frowned upon as far as I can remember.  There was sibling rivalry but not so much for our parents’ attention.  We had rows over which channel to watch on TV (all rather quiet, of course, for the times when the row was discovered, the television set had stayed switched off), who had higher marks, could run faster, among other things.  Did I have times when I resented having a brother?  I can recall once, when I was probably five years old?  We each had a toy Boeing plane with lights that blinked at the engines of the aeroplane.  My brother, three that time, had plucked out the lights of his plane and his interest gravitated towards mine who still had the lights blinking.  I still remember both my parents telling me to share.  No prizes for knowing what happened next: the lights on my toy aeroplane had their lights plucked out as well.  I was angry with my parents and with my brother.  That feeling was so great that I still remember the incident.  Am I still angry?  I go to my younger brothers for advice without a second thought now.

(You can see a YouTube video of a similar toy here.  It is an advertisement, so I cannot embed it here.)

So, what about the Prodigal Son?  I believe we take on both roles.  When we take on the role of the elder son, we become the envious and self-righteous one.  When we realise that we have been envious and self-righteous, we need to take a step back and look honestly at our lives.  Jesus had said, “Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?” (Mt. 7:3)  I believe that this applies for good and bad things.  Why do you see the one speck of good that your brother has that you do not have, and do not notice the log of good that God has given in your life?  We tend to focus on the ills, the bad experiences and the things we lack in our life.  Knowing the above can motivate us to better our lives but focussing on them without the balance of the blessings, good experiences and things we already have, can cause us to have a really warped view of life.  Furthermore, if we confuse needs with wants, the situation becomes worse.  Do you think that God allowed the smart phone to be invented so that it can become something we cannot do without?  The smart phone is usually a want and seldom a real need.  I know of one person who has survived till today without ever having the need to use WhatsApp.  God allowed the smart phone to be invented to help us make life easier but not to take His place in our lives.

Thus, let us take a step back and look honestly at our lives.  Balance the good with the bad, distinguish between what is really a need and what is simply a want or desire, and then, consider if the Lord really has a few selected favourites.  We will be very surprised to see that while he treats each person differently, each of us is special in His eyes because He created each of us unique.