1. Easter Vigil at the Franciscan parish of St Mary’s of the Angels was beautiful and moving. It happily expressed the resurrection of Jesus Christians looked forward to throughout Lent.

    When the liturgy ended past midnight, some of us huddled in the midnight cool at the bus stop. We waited in anxious anticipation for a bus. The schedules posted weren’t promising. There was whispered concern: “Will there be a last bus home?”

    Then, a bus came. Its bright lights found our hope filled faces. We trooped up the bus secure in the ride home. “Ah, you see,” an elderly lady said, “this is Easter joy too!”

    Her remark is instructive: it offers me an insight to how I can live my life better in the light of Easter joy.

    My everyday life is sometimes filled with anxiety that the bothered and disappointed disciples must have also faced when Jesus died. Like them, I find myself worrying about the future. When I cannot see the road ahead clearly, the future looks desolate and bleak. At such times, I seek certainty: I want to know that what I believe in or hope for is possible and there. And where death is concerned, I’d like to believe that God is compassionate and heaven is real, especially when I recognize my sinfulness.

    But my faith experience of God reminds me I can hope. My past speaks this truth: his bounty and grace abounds in my life, as it comforts. Yes, I can believe in God’s continuing presence.

    The Resurrection story proclaims this. The Risen Jesus came to his friends when they were unsure and troubled. When he drew near Mary Magdalene in her pained doubt, he called her by name. When he met a grieving Cleopas and his friend on the road to Emmaus, he comforted them with his teachings. And when he came amidst the frightened apostles, he blessed them with his peace. To each one of them, he was now more than friend; he was Lord and Saviour. For each of them, his continuing friendship assured, as it uplifted and transformed.

    And, isn’t this the message of Easter for each one of us: Jesus has risen from the dead, to break sin’s stronghold over humankind because he loves each one of us as friend? Indeed, his love is the love of God in whose eyes we are each worth saving from death and redeemed for eternal life.

    The Gospel readings this Easter Octave will focus our gaze on the Risen Jesus who comes into the midst of his friends. They invite us to appreciate more deeply and with greater certitude how Jesus is indeed God-with-us amidst our daily struggle with apprehension and disquiet, our tussle with an uncertain future and our inescapable death. If we can proclaim the joyful Easter truth that Jesus’ death and resurrection is the fullness of Love revealed to and bestowed upon us, then, how truly blessed we are now to have this hope to remember, celebrate and believe!

    Happy Easter!



    artwork: christ risen from the tomb by bergognone, c1490
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  2. From the beginning of time and space, there has always been light.

    Light dispels the dark. In moments of uncertainty, it assures, guides and brightens. Each day, it allows us to move and live and appreciate the wonders around us. Because there is light to see, we can witness the promised growth that struggles will bear. Light always illuminates the hidden to reveal and enlighten. Indeed, with light, life abounds.

    But humankind has not and still does not see light unless it is refracted. The truth is that we “see” light because we can perceive people, things and nature. All too often, we forget this fact. And so, we take for granted the light in our lives.

    Lent, however, redirects our gaze to the centrality of light not only to life but in faith. On the Fourth Sunday of Lent we read of the blind man whose sight Jesus restored. He now saw his surroundings, and more. With sight, he saw Jesus, who is “the light of the world" (Jn 9:5).

    Jesus is light because he illuminates our knowledge of God and self. When we read of Jesus giving sight to the blind, healing the sick and forgiving the sinful, we are reminded that God is with us, loving us, even in our frailties and infidelities. When we recall Jesus seeking out the lost and the damned and liberating the unfree, we remember our human dignity, imaged beautifully in God’s likeness. In and through Jesus, we do not simply see what is before us as we apprehend, more correctly, what light really is, God’s Love.

    God’s Love is Lent’s assurance that we can turn over a new leaf, even at this late stage of our Lenten preparations. Our journeys of faith can continue because with Jesus we can experience God’s saving love.

    This truth is lost unless we open our eyes to see Jesus as he honestly is, true light for human life. As true light, Jesus teaches us to recognize the redeeming transfiguration God's love wroughts in our lives daily. Humility will allow us to recognize this. Humility however involves more than human will; grace is needed too.

    Grace abounds when we are moved to let go totally of our expectations of what God must be. This can be frightening. Yet, it matures us to name, claim and own the reality that knowledge of God comes to us through the gift of Jesus in our lives. True humility is knowing that nothing you or I can do will ever grant us full knowledge of God and his immeasurable love for humankind. The humble of heart know it is Jesus, particularly, in his death and resurrection, who gives true light for us to see, know and believe in a God who loves without exception and for all time.

    Indeed, when true light awakens us from the amnesia of what we ought to see daily, Easter joy is nothing less that God's revelation to all peoples of his deepest desire that we live in his light, now and always. Is this not worth repenting and renewing our lives for today?






    photo: night light by ed karjala

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"Bukas Palad"
"Bukas Palad"
is Filipino for open palms
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Peace and welcome, dear friend.
I hope you will find in these posts something that speaks to you of the God who loves us all and who always holds us in the palm of his hand. Blessings!
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"Nothing is more practical than finding God, that is, than falling in love in a quite absolute way final way. What you are in love with, what seizes your imagination, will affect everything. It will decide what will get you out of bed in the morning, what you do with your evenings, how you spend your weekends, what you read, who you know, what breaks your heart, and what amazes you with joy and gratitude. Fall in love, stay in love, and it will decide everything."

Pedro Arrupe, sj, Superior General, 1965 - 1983

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is a 50something Catholic who resides in Singapore and works for the Church. He is a priest of the Roman Catholic Church.
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The views I express in these pages are personal. They do not speak for the Society of Jesus or the Catholic Church.
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