DIVINE MERCY SUNDAY
(SECOND SUNDAY OF EASTER)

The Emperor Napoleon was moved by a mother's plea for pardon for her soldier son. However, the emperor said that since it was the man’s second major offense, justice demanded death. "I do not ask for justice," implored the mother, "I plead for mercy." "But," said the emperor, "he does not deserve mercy." "Sir," cried the mother, "it would not be mercy if he deserved it, and mercy is all I ask for." The compassion and clarity of the mother's logic prompted Napoleon to respond, "Well, then, I will have mercy."

The Divine Mercy Sunday. The Second Sunday after Easter is celebrated as Divine Mercy Sunday. In 1930, Jesus appeared to Faustina, a Polish Nun, and revealed to her the nature of God’s love. Jesus said to her: “My love is unlimited and available to all, especially to the poor sinners”. Jesus blessed her with a prayer for mercy. Sr. Faustina started a special devotion to the Divine Mercy of Jesus and popularized it. Our Late Holy Father Pope John Paul II encouraged this devotion and in 2000 on the day of her canonization, the Pope advised the universal church to celebrate this devotion on the first Sunday after Easter.

Mercy, another name for God. God is merciful and compassionate. The whole Bible is a series of stories that proclaim the unfailing and unconditional love of God towards humanity. The expressions like “Can a mother forget her infant, be without tenderness for the child of her womb? Even should she forget, I will never forget you. See, upon the palms of my hands, I have written your name; your walls are ever before me” (Isaiah 49:15-16) talk volumes about the nature of God’s love. The Evangelist John beautifully summarized the depth and width of God’s love in the following statement: “ For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life” John 3:16).

Divine Mercy! What does it Means? The word mercy is derived from the Latin word misericordia. Miseriacordia is a combination of two words: miseri and cordia. Miseri means suffering and cordia means heart. Misericordia means a heart that is willing to suffer for others. God is merciful means that God has a heart which is willing to suffer for us, willing to do anything for us.

Jesus, Mercy incarnated. “I desire Mercy not sacrifice, I haven’t come to call the righteous but sinners” (Matthew 9:13). These words of Jesus beautifully explain how much Jesus possesses the heart and mind of God. Paul says: “God, who is rich in mercy, brought us to life with Christ” (Ephesians 2: 4). Sharing the mercy and love of God was Jesus’ mission. Jesus invited everyone “To find rest in him” (Matthew 12:28-30).

The readings for the second Sunday of Easter further substantiate this point. The Gospel (John 20:19-29) talks about two specific actions of Jesus that reflect his mercy and compassion.

1. When Jesus came to the room where disciples were hiding out of fear and remorse, he said to them: “Peace be with you, receive the Holy Spirit”. Jesus did not bring the past. He did not scold Peter for denying Him on the way to Calvary. Transcending the past, forgetting everything that had happened a couple of days ago, Jesus offered them peace and reconciliation.

By offering them the Holy Spirit, Jesus was absolving them from their failures because God the Holy Spirit is the principle agent of sanctification. This is evident, if you recall the prayer of absolution in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. “God, the Father of Mercies, through the death and resurrection of Jesus, has reconciled the world to Himself and sent the Holy Spirit upon the church for the forgiveness of sins…”

2. Jesus showed the same mercy towards Thomas too. When Thomas was reluctant to believe in the resurrection, Jesus came to him, showed his wounded hands and satisfied his desire in the way Thomas wanted.

The way of mercy is the way of Grace. God is merciful. It is not enough to receive mercy from God. We need to show mercy to others. This is evident when Jesus said: “Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy” (Matthew 5:7) and “I desire mercy not sacrifice. I did not come to call the righteous but sinners” (Mt 9:13). The disciples understood this message. After they themselves witnessed the mercy of Jesus, they started a new life style based on the same principle. The second reading (Acts of the Apostles 4:32-35) is the practical application of this new life style. “They took care of each other. There was no one among them who was in need”. Jesus expects us to show mercy to one another. On the day of the final Judgment, the only criterion that Jesus is going to use will be ‘whether we were merciful to one another’ (Matthew 25:40,45). Finally, as the second reading (1 John 5:1-6) states: When we practice mercy in our daily life, we proclaim that we are the children of God.

PASSION SUNDAY Today is Passion Sunday। Today we celebrate the fist passion Sunday where people welcomed Jesus crying out and saying: Hosanna to the Son of David.

Hosanna means ‘Lord save us”. Jesus has already saved us by his supreme act of sacrifice on the cross. Therefore, our challenge today is to own the salvation. Make salvation my own. An important way of achieving this goal is through the celebration of the sacrament of reconciliation. During this week, let us take time to: Discover the stones that suppress us and roll it away Find the bondage and untie it Come out of the tomb and start again.

It is not our sinfulness but the pretension by which we hide them is preventing us from enjoying salvation।

ROLL AWAY THE STONE AND COME OUT FIFTH SUNDAY OF LENT A funeral director called a man for further instructions about his mother-in-law’s body. “Do you want her embalmed, cremated or buried?” “All the three!’ the man answered promptly. “Do not take any chances”. COMPLETELY FALLEN Our gospel reading for the fifth Sunday of lent is the story of Jesus bringing back Lazarus to life four days after his death. ‘Fourth Day’ has a great theological significance for Jews. According to the rabbinic belief, the soul/ spirit remain with the dead body for three more days after death. On the fourth day, the soul separates from the body and the body begins to decay. Symbolically fourth day represents the picture of a fallen man; someone completely alienated from God, the breath of life. UNWILLING TO GIVE UP We give up, not God. “Don’t go there! There is stench…Situation is too grave.” We too times share the feeling of Martha. God does not! Sometimes he waits at the well for us. At times, he goes out looking for the lost sheep. Even if it requires to travel up to the graveside, he does not care. His love is so great that he wants to give us life in its abundance. Jesus went to the graveside of Lazarus. NOTHING IS TOO GRAVE FOR GOD Nothing is outside the boundaries of God. God can bring forth good out of darkness. He created the universe out of darkness. The prodigal son never thought of a royal welcome from his father. Even when we see no point of return, God sees otherwise. Our problem is that we put limits on the power of God. Trust him, obey Him and then leave the rest for Him; you will see miracles happening. SEEKING OUR HELP God wants to work it out together. Jesus told them to untie Lazarus. Jesus continues this ‘untying ministry’ through the community of the Church. Our salvation is not an individual project. It is a community program. Be part of the community. Seek the help of other part of the Body of Christ Contribute your share to other members of the community

CHRIST-VISION Fourth SUNDAY OF LENT There is story about Buddha, the founder of Buddhism। One day he was meditating sitting under a tree. A soldier happened to go by that way. He did not like the physical make up of Buddha. He said, “You look like a pig”. Buddha looked at him with a smile and responded,” You look like God”. The soldier was amazed to hear that. “Why did you say that?” the soldier asked Buddha. Buddha said, “The whole morning I was meditating on God in my heart. When I see you in that spirit, I could see the image of God in you”.

See the way God sees! This is an important message of our scripture readings for the fourth Sunday of Lent।

Our vision is most of the time colored with too many distractions of the world। Our criteria for seeing, evaluating and judging are different. Very often external appearances influence our judgment. Our first reading for this Sunday very well substantiates this point. Samuel visited Jesse’s home to anoint one of his eight sons as the king of Israel. Jesse, however, presented only seven sons before Samuel. He could not imagine David, the youngest, leading his country. Therefore, he was not bothered to present him before Samuel. God, however, had a different plan. In the eyes of God, David was the best suited among the eight children. “Man sees the appearance but God sees the heart.” Remember the call narrative of the first disciples. In Peter and his brother Andrew, Jesus saw ‘fishers of men’.

If we see the way God see, things will be much better in our world today। To see the world the way God sees, we need to wear the glasses of God. Jesus is God’s eyeglasses for us. He is the light of God. Jesus said, “I am the light of the world those who follow me will not fall in darkness but will have them the light of life.” The Blind man in the gospel story recognized this truth. He came to Jesus and returned home with a new vision.

Many of us are living in darkness। Some of us are not even aware that we are in darkness। Two things are important for a Christ-vision. First, we need to stand before Jesus (in prayer). In his light, we see our true self. What destroys us is not our sinfulness but the pretention in which we hide our sinfulness. Second, like Buddha, we need to meditate on Jesus. We become what we meditate. As Paul says, “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light.”

Like the ancient Gurus of India, let us pray: ASATHOMA SATHGAMAYA (from unreal to real) THAMASOMA JOTHIRGAMAYA (from darkness to light) MRUTHYORMA AMRUTHAM GAMAYA (from death to eternity)

This is a sacred prayer belongs to Sama Veda (HINDU SCRIPTURE)। The spiritual significance that is implanted in this Stanza is an advice given by a Master to his qualified disciple। He asks the disciple to pray the Divine for Its mercy to liberate him from the thralldom of Samsara.

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DECEPTIVE LIVING
THIRD SUNDAY OF LENT

During the last presidential election campaign, one of the candidates said: The fundamentals of our economy are strong. A few days later came the shocking news: The economy is on the verge of collapse. Our tendency is to paint a rosy picture of everything. Once, a little boy said to the priest ‘If everything is wonderful, why is Jesus still hanging on the cross?’ Denial or deceptive living is as old as human history. “I ate the fruit because Eve gave me”, Adam said to God. “I don’t know Him”, Peter said to the woman. “I have no hand in His blood.”’ Pilate washed his hands. Many people are living in denial. As long as a person lives in denial, he/she cannot enjoy change and growth.

The story of the Samaritan Woman tells us the importance of facing the truth. She was living in denial. “I have no husband”, she told Jesus. In fact, she was living with the sixth man. Because she was living in denial, she could not stay with one man. People who live in denial fall into the trap of sin. They commit one sin to cover the other.

How does one come to the truth? It is by coming to the light of Jesus! Her confrontation with the Word of God (Jesus) changed everything dramatically. In the presence of Jesus, she could not hide her private life anymore. She met Jesus face to face at ‘noon’. The brightness of sun is at its maximum at noon. Who can face the sun at noon? The brightness of the Son of God uncovered her hidden life. Change begins when we allow ourselves to be confronted by the word of God. The Word of God hit Paul on the road to Damascus. He became a new person.

Three things resulted from her meeting with Jesus.1. The moment she accepted her deceptive life style, a new world began to dawn for her. She started thinking about things that really matter. “Where do we worship?” she asked Jesus. She became interested in a higher level of existence. 2. She left the jar. She gave up her old way of living. (Peter and Andrew left their nets and nest and followed Jesus.), We cannot have either ways. 3. She ran to the town and shared her experience with people. She became an Evangelizer.

To be the witness of Jesus is our role as disciples of Jesus. Lent is the time for reality check. Am I living in denial? If so, what do I need to do to come to the light of Jesus? What are the Jars I need to leave behind to drink from the life giving spring? Do I find pleasure in sharing the Good News with others?

HIS PLAN, NOT MY PLAN!
SECOND SUNDAY OF LENT-A

This woman prayed every day: “Lord I am desperately in need of money. Help me to win a raffle”. She said the same prayer every day. After being tired of praying, one day she yelled at God, “God, don’t you care for me? You never helped me win a lottery”. God said, “Woman, I really care about you. I desperately wanted to help you but you never bought a ticket”.

We have dreams. God is there to help us. God promised Abraham a New Land. Jesus showed three of his disciples a glimpse of heavenly life. God is there for us.

How do we reach the ‘promised land’? Our natural human tendency is to catch fish without wetting hands. Peter said,” It is good to be here. We will right away build three houses here”. God did not approve his proposal. Instead, God said to him, “Listen to Jesus.” We are here not to make plans for God but to implement God’s plan for us.

Abraham is our model in implementing God’s plan. When God said ‘Go to a land that I will show you’, he blindly obeyed Him. He was willing to give up his safety and security, and left for the unknown land. His only security was his confidence in God. There is no free lunch. It is not enough to say ‘Lord, Lord’ but we need to live the Word in our daily life. Paul says,” God saved us not according to our works, but according to His own design. Therefore, bear our share of hardships for the Gospel”.

How ready we are to listen to Jesus, the Word Incarnate. Are we willing to give up some our safety and security for doing the plan of God?

TRUST GOD NOT TEST HIM
FIRST SUNDAY OF LENT

Every year we begin the season of lent reflecting on the Temptation Story of Jesus। It has twofold purposes: To help us to realize the areas of human weaknesses and to provide us with tools to handle them.

According to the Gospels Jesus was tempted three times। These temptations represent three basic human drives. They are in the areas of passion, possession and position. We can however approach these temptations of Jesus from different angles.

The first temptation was to satisfy a physiological need with an unconventional and unnatural method। We do not make food from stones. The end does not justify the means. The nature of means is as important as the satisfaction of the desires. God has set an order in the universe. The creation was an act of replacing chaos with order. There is a Divine and natural law. Disruption of that law is against the will of God.

We all have different kinds of hungers! It can be in the psychological, physiological, sociological, or spiritual level। How do we satisfy them? Do we follow the law of God? Are we using the moral principles as guidelines in dealing with some of the controversial issues of our time like abortion, gay marriage and so forth?

The second temptation was to replace God with mammon। I remember watching a Television interview of Tiger Wood. He said something like this: ‘I thought money ruled the world. I worked hard and made money. Money however, ruined my life. I need to return to my religion and shape my life based on my religious principles’.

The third temptation was to use religion for personal advantage। Instead of trusting God and making a commitment, Jesus was tempted to test God to show his influence on Him. There are people who use religion for promoting their personal interest. One Lady told me that she encouraged her son to b e an altar server to improve his stage confidence.

It is vital to be aware that the devil is not tempting us any longer with conventional weapons and materials। The devil has upgraded and modernized his devices. The devil traps us today in a very sophisticated way.The devil’s temptation is something like this. He makes our life busy with too many attractive activities and programs. The devil presents these things as critically important and unavoidable. He convincingly presents religion as a private enterprise and make us believe that God and religion can wait. He drives God away from the center of our life and make it one among many. This attitude is called secularism. A person who is a slave of secularism is like a person who built his house on sand.

Temptations are real. There will be Temptations. Temptation has always a promise but at the heart of the promise is a deception. What are my temptations? What are the few things need my immediate attention? We cannot stop birds flying over our head, but we can prevent them from making nest on our head. How do we do that? Jesus is our model. Jesus defeated the tricks of Satan using the Word of God. Every time Jesus was tempted, he used the appropriate Word from the Scripture. We also have no way other than the path of Jesus to defeat the plan of the Tempter!
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A driver tucked a note under her windshield wiper and dashed off:"I've circled the block for 20 minutes. I'm late for an appointment, and if I don't park here I'll lose my job. Forgive us our trespasses. "Returning, she came back only to find a parking ticket and this note:"I've circled the block for 20 years, and if I don't give you a ticket, I'll lose my job. . . Lead us not into temptation. "