FAITH IN THE RISEN LORD WILL LEAD US ON

We had a wonderful Easter Triduum celebration in our Church. The weather was pleasant, and the turnout for Masses and services was overwhelming this year. Lent season preparations and Easter Triduum celebrations have brought spiritual renewal to most of us. Our past weeks journey through Lent and Holy Week were not in vain, but instead, brought life to our faith as we raised our eyes to the Risen Lord as we sang, “This is the day the Lord has made, we rejoice and are glad,”(Psalms 118: 24).

I would like to share with you some insights into what is presently going on in our hearts and in the Catholic Church itself. I realise that every time as we approach Easter (Feast of all feast), there will be some kind of issues that will arise, either attacking our priests, our Catholic Church or our faith itself in Christ. When we hear all these we experience frustrations, sadness and anger.

These past few months, the Catholic Church has been under attack with scandals and sexual abuses. The priesthood and the Catholic Church have been under attack from within and without too.The Catholic Church is going through issues of responsibility, accountability and transparency.The never-ending news reports of abuse scandals involving the highest levels of hierarchy in the Catholic Church has been an agonising and upsetting year for the Church. As a result of this, many Catholics are losing their faith and are contemplating leaving the Catholic Church.

On Monday, 15 April, the first day of Holy Week, a terrible fire occurred at the famous Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. The world was horrified. The Cathedral , named after Our Lady of Paris, is a beautiful Cathedral with beautiful Art Works. The fire that ravaged across this Cathedral broke the hearts of Catholics all over the world especially the hearts of the French people. After the fire, the Cathedral could not be used for Holy Week and Easter Tridium. Here we are so fortunate to have a church building at St Joseph’s in Sentul, where we could celebrate Holy Week and Easter Triduum.

On Easter Sunday, 21 April 2019, the multiple blasts that hit churches and luxury hotels in Sri Lanka, without a doubt, caused a great deal of anxiety and agony to our people’s hearts. Today, it said that 253 people have been killed so far and almost 500 of them were injured badly. It is the worst violence in Sri Lanka since her civil war which ended a decade ago.

Although these are the saddest incidents that took place this Easter, which left gaping holes in our hearts, yet these cannot and will not consume our faith in Christ and the Catholic Church. We are very sure that the Risen Lord will continue to find ways to challenge us and the world through His presence in our hearts and in the Church itself.

Faith is not a building. The worship and prayers and the belief of the people of the church makes faith alive. This year we are celebrating 111 years of the establishment of the parish of St. Joseph. We have come to this church hundreds of times to pray and worship with faith. Our regular presence in the church, in worship and prayer, rebuilds and renews our faith in Christ and the Catholic Church. In order to deepen our faith we take every opportunity to come together in worship and in prayer.

St Paul says that knowing Christ is supreme advantage – I never get tired of telling you these things, and I do it to safeguard your faith. Knowing Christ is far more important and valuable than anything else in this world,(Phil 3:1-11).Our faith in Christ is priceless. Our faith should be more valuablebecause the Lord has risen as He promised. If Christ has not risen there is no forgiveness, no new birth in the spirit, no heaven and no hope. 

Our faith in the Risen Christ gives us a priceless value knowing Him, and also priceless values to our faith, and as such there is no need to be fearful or anxious. Today, He is alive!

GROWING IN FAITH IN THE RISEN LORD

We celebrate the greatest event of our faith – the Resurrection of Jesus.

Thomas missed the first appearance of the Lord on the Lord’s Day – Sunday. A week later, Jesus came and stood among them and said – “Peace be with you”, (John 20:19-31).

Jesus meets Thomas at his place of doubt. Doubt is not a bad thing. There are times in life when doubt is healthy. Doubt is not negative until it leads us to choose not to believe.

The only way to survive our doubts is to believe. To believe in Jesus means to depend totally on Jesus and place our trust in Him completely. Jesus’ presence always makes a difference.

How often do we find ourselves overcome with anxiety and being scared?How often do we wake up at night finding our sleep interrupted by a time of uneasiness and disappointment?

It is human to experience fear. It is human to find ourselves overwhelmed with anxiety, worry, doubt. We need to take the time to allow Jesus to come into our rooms, our hearts and our minds. We need to focus on the Risen Lord who brings us peace – true peace.

Jesus, I Trust in You!

THE RISEN LORD BRINGS LIFE

Every year I look forward to Lent and I promise God to make it a special time for conversion. This year I wanted to make each day of Lent special, to reflect on my relationship with God. Now that it has ended, I find that it is the same as previous Lents, without much impact on my spiritual life. It wasn’t different and personally, I felt that it wasn't as successful as it could have been. I didn’t make much effort to bring my spiritual well-being to greater heights.

Then came Holy Week, and there wasn't much joy and peace. I thought I could recommit once again to amend certain areas of  my life but unfortunately, I have fallen short of my Lenten promises. As we conclude Lent and Holy Week, I realise that all my attempts to make this season a meaningful one, has failed. I feel a little upset and now it is greatly disturbing me. These are feelings and emotions that perhaps some of you might be going through too as we come to the end of Lent and Holy Week.

I recall the story of the two disciples on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24). These disciples were walking away from Jerusalem and going back to Emmaus after the bitter and painful experience of Jesus’ crucifixionand burial. It was a long and difficult walk for them. They were heartbroken and confused, and even though Jesus was walking with them along that road, they didn’t recognise Him. They only expressed their disappointment and hopelessness.

We may be feeling upset or perturbed that we didn’t keep this Lent and Holy Week as a special time for repentance. It doesn’t mean that we will not have an opportunity to celebrate Jesus, who is now risen and alive today. Jesus is alive! He is risen as He had promised (Matt 28:6). He is with us despite whatever feelings and emotions we may encounter now. This is true because Jesus Christ is risen in our midst and one with us. He is not gone from our sight. He is seen through our faith. 

We are in Easter season now and it marks the end of Lent and Holy Week. Easter begins on 21 April, marking the end of Lent and Holy Week. Easter will last through to the celebration of the Ascension (30 May) and it will end with Pentecost Sunday (9 June). All in all, it will be 50 days. Easter is the most important season for us Christians. It is also known as a “Feast of Faith.” As St Paul says, “If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and our faith is in vain… and you are still in your sins.” (1 Corinthians 15:17).

During the next seven weeks of Easter, we shall continue to reflect on God, who raised Jesus. His abiding and intimate presence of the Risen Lord brings life in us. As we know, our life is filled with many ups and downs, joys and sorrow and moments of confusion, but let us continuously be committed to live our Christian faith and say “Yes” to His plan this Easter.

This year the novena and feast of St Joseph our Patron, falls one week after Easter Sunday. We will celebrate a 3-day novena, starting from 28 April to 1 May 2019. We have set our theme for this year – “St Joseph, the Father of New Evangelisation”in line with our parish vision and the Holy Father’s theme –  “Extraordinary Mission Month of October 2019.” We invite all parishioners and friends to join us, as we pray together to St Joseph for his intercession. May the Risen Lord bring success to all our missions and evangelisation work in our families and in our community. May the Lord bless our faith in the Risen Christ.

Blessed Easter to you and your loved ones. Let us celebrate the gift of our Risen Lord with joy, praise and thanksgiving. 

EASTER VIGIL 2019 - "PRICELESS VALUE OF KNOWING CHRIST"

These past few months, the Catholic Church has been under attack with scandals and sexual abuses. The priesthood has been under attack from within and without too. This crisis that the Catholic Church is experiencing is especially predominant in the Western countries. The never-ending news reports of abuse scandals involving the highest levels of hierarchy has been agonizing and it has been a devastating year for the Catholic Church. Consequently, many Catholics are losing faith and are contemplating to leave the Catholic Church.

I have noticed that every time when we are approaching Easter, there will be some issues that will arise, attacking our priests, our Catholic Church and our faith in Christ. When we hear all these we experience frustrations, sadness and anger.

On Monday, 15 April, the first day of Holy Week, a terrible fire occurred at the famous Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. The world was horrified. The Cathedral , named after Our Lady of Paris,  is a  beautiful cathedral  with  beautiful Art Works. It is an iconic Cathedral and considered a jewel of Gothic architecture.

The fire that ravaged across this cathedral broke the hearts of not only Catholics all over the world but also the hearts of the French people. The Cathedral was not used for Holy Week and Easter Tridium. Here we are so fortunate to have a church building at Church of St Joseph, Sentul, to celebrate our Holy Week and Easter.

The Notre Dame Cathedral fire burnt a hole in our hearts, yet it can never consume our faith. The never ending reports of sexual abuse scandals and the Notre Dame Cathedral fire, and the latest multiple blasts hit churches and luxury hotels in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday have been agonising our people’s hearts without doubt, but these cannot and will not consume our faith in Christ and the Catholic Church.

Faith is not a building. The worship and prayers of the people inside the church building makes faith alive. The Cathedral is 850 years old and in the past 850 years, millions of people have come to worship and pray in the Cathedral. 

Here, we are celebrating 111 years of the establishment of the parish of St. Joseph. We have come to the church hundreds of times to pray and worship with faith. Our regular presence in the church, in worship and prayer, rebuilds and renews our faith in Christ and the Catholic Church. In order to deepen our faith we take every opportunity to come together in worship and in prayer.

Few days ago, I was listening to the BBC broadcast in English. I heard three words highlighted as headlines in most of the daily newspapers in Europe.

·      Ravages (Badly damaged) – Massive Fire Ravages Paris Cathedral

·      Smoulders (Burn with smoke without Flames) – Paris Mourns As Notre Dame Smoulders 

·      Priceless (So valuable) – Priceless Crown of Thorns Relic Saved After Fire.

The Blessed Sacrament, Holy relics, stained glass and most of the interior remained intact. There is no doubt that the damage is huge, but the most important treasures of the Cathedral were kept safe.

Among the three headlines I was taken up by this word – PRICELESS.

“PRICELESS VALUE OF KNOWING CHRIST”.

St Paul (Phil 3:1-11) says that knowing Christ is everything, “I never get tired of telling you these things, and I do it to safeguard your faith”.

·      The priceless value in knowing Christ – knowing Christ is far more important and valuable than anything else in this world.

·      Pressing on towards the goal – we need to press in to Christ and our relationship with Him with the discipline and determination of an athlete.

Our faith in Christ is priceless. Because of the resurrection of Jesus our faith in not in vain. As St Paul says, “If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and our faith is in vain… and you are still in your sins.” (1 Corinthians 15:17).

Our faith in God is priceless. Our faith should be more valuable than pure because of the Lord has risen as He said. The crucifion and resurection of Jesus Christ made our faith in Jesus priceless.

If Christ be not risen there is no forgiveness, no new birth, no Heaven, no hope. Everything about Christianity is the dream of fools.

Today, He is alive!

Our faith is alive. Our faith has a futurehope.

Easter, that is, the resurrection of Jesus Christ, is the greatest event of all time. It is the most powerful event in human history.

As we come to celebrate the Risen Lord and make our way towards Easter Season, let’s not forget that we are blessed to enter a period of such joy and love because He is Risen as He promised. We have an opportunity to come together continuing to build our faith.

On Good Friday, we celebrated Jesus was sacrificed and crucified on the Cross. The Church is the Body of Christ. The Body of Christ is sacrificed. Christ Himself was sacrificed and crucified on the Cross. Probably the Satan may rejoice in the beginning. But the Lord has defeated the evil at the end. It was the sacrifice of the lamb of God that God brought life to the world.

Today we rejoice because every sacrifice brings new life. Every crucifixion needs resurrection.

Today the Lord is going to resurrect something new in your life. I don't know! You should know yourselves better.

If our faith is in the risen Christ gives us a priceless value knowing Jesus and priceless values to our faith, we no need to fear of death. Our home is just beyond! If we safeguard our faith then our faith is alive always.

The greatest three words ever written in history are, “He is risen!” He is risen beyond the grave.My Lord has risen from the grave.  Death could not hold him bound.  He is alive!  My Redeemer lives!

May you have a blessed Resurrection Day!

ENCOUNTER AND WITNESS CHRIST DURING HOLY WEEK

We are coming to the end of Lent and Holy Week is near. Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday traditionally marks the beginning of Holy Week. The Church invites us to walk with Jesus in His passion, death and Resurrection. It is one of the most sacred times of the whole year for us, Christians. During Holy Week, we have one more chance to draw ourselves nearer to Jesus and be prepared to celebrate Jesus’ resurrection on Easter Sunday.

The Holy Week liturgy invites us to reflect on how Jesus was abandoned, denied, arrested, cruelly crucified and died on the cross. Jesus’ humiliating death brought new life to the world. We will experience how evil was defeated and witness how humility wins in the end. To fully experience the events of Jesus’ death and resurrection in a meaningful way, we must not simply experience these events as an idea or story, but instead believe that they are the core of our faith in Christ, inviting us to encounter and witness Him.

What’s so important about Holy Week? Jesus was God, He did not count equality with God but emptied Himself, became human – one of us (Phil 2: 5-11). He was fully human and at the same time, totally God. As a man, he was faithful and obedient to his Father. He was not forced to take this journey to Calvary, rather he chose it willingly. He continued to be obedient, even to the point of death. His focus was on the steadfastness of His love for God and for His people. Jesus did it as an act of love.

Let our journey through Holy Week bring new life, new courage and new hope in each of us and in our families and our community. Encounter Jesus everyday, as he walks beside us.

The Holy Father, Pope Francis has released an Apostolic Exhortation entitled “Christus Vivit”– CHRIST IS ALIVE, on 25 March 2019- for our young people. As we celebrate World Youth Day this Palm Sunday, I would like to bring to our young people’s attention, the essence from the above document: youth ministry, faith and vocation discernment.

In this document (composed of nine chapters, divided into 299 paragraphs) the Holy Father encourages the youth not to abandon the Church. In the midst of all these sexual abuse scandals, which have been so disheartening, he reminds the young people to stand beside the Church because “Christ is alive! He is our hope, and in a wonderful way he brings youth to our world.” He wants them to be alive since Christ is alive!

The Holy Father recognisesthat our young people feel the presence of the Church as “a nuisance and even an irritant” because of sexual and financial scandals, and that the priests and bishops are not sensitive to them. As a commitment to their personal vocation, the Holy Father encourages them “to discern their pathway”, “to grow in holiness”, “to make an effort to grow spiritually” and “to seek righteousness, faith, love and peace, (2 Tim. 2:22).”

He also warns them on the use of modern technology which can lead them to isolation, selfishness, lack communitarian aspects and expose them to the worst evils. Instead, he encourages them to pray in silence - discern and listen to God.Finally, Pope Francis wishes that young people “keep running the race” as the Church “needs your momentum, your intuitions, your faith.”

I ask that the young people of the Church of St Joseph, commit to your role as youth ministers - for the present and the future of the Catholic Church. Build bridges of friendship and mutual respect with one another in unique ways. Find your faith and lead our Church to new life! God bless.

HOSANNA

Today, we begin a series that will lead us up to Easter Sunday. Palm Sunday begins the most significant Holy Week of the liturgical year. 

After 6 weeks journey through Lent, the Holy Week has finally arrived for us to reflect the passion story of Jesus. The readings are about the event that marked the start of Jesus’ life - His triumphal entry into Jerusalem. 

The crowd who was shouting “Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord” would, a week later, be shouting “crucify him.” 

Actually, the crowd wanted Jesus to establish an earthly kingdom. Instead, He had come to establish a spiritual kingdom. What Jesus wanted to welcome into their hearts. For Jesus is a Savior of peace! 

May each of you have a wonderful week!

CONFESSION - A GIFT OF GRACE

Lent is a time for conversion. The word in Greek is metanoia, which means a change of heart. The Church invites us to experience the Sacrament of Reconciliation, the sacrament of new beginning, healing and freedom. God’s mercy works in more powerful and incredible ways to make us change our hearts.

In the Sacrament of Reconciliation, our Lord Jesus touches us and heals us. In our Parish, the Sacrament of Reconciliation will take place on Thursday, 11 April 2019 at 730pm. I strongly encourage everyone to participate in it and join as a community to make a good confession this Lent. As we encounter Jesus through this sacrament, we will attain true conversion of heart – a new and clean heart, free from our sins.

Once a month, during the Monthly Priests Recollection, we, the priests have a session on self-examination and reflection, as preparation for our individual confession. As Christian Catholics, we should go regularly for confession, or at least twice a year especially during Lent and Advent. If we don't do confession, we will be easily swayed or bullheaded with our own sinful ways. Confession will open our hearts and minds to God’s way and not our way. Have we been sincerely sorry enough to ask for forgiveness over and over again through confession and do penance in order to have a change of heart?

Why are we keeping our sins a secret for so long? Most of us are just afraid to go for confession because we feel guilty, embarrassed and shy. We rather live a hypocrite life and avoid it as long as possible or we make excuses. We feel shy to meet a priest and afraid that he will misjudge us. However, remember that no matter what terrible and sinful things we have done, the priest will not judge nor will he reveal your sins. Instead, he will assist you and set a new beginning in your life.

We should not let our souls remain contaminated with stain, dust and dirt because of our sins. All our mortal and venial sins, which have wounded our souls, need healing and forgiveness. Jesus is present in the confessional through the priest. When the priest gives you penance and says the prayer of absolution, the penitent’s soul completely heals at once. We walk out of confessional through the mercy of God, consoled and free from all our sins. The Lord will refresh our souls and we receive graces from Christ in order to live a holy life. The more frequent we go for confession, the more graces we receive from the Lord Jesus. God wants our ongoing conversion and for us to be perfect in His eyes.

The Sacrament of Recollection is a great gift of grace; a way to God, a way back to God and to our fellow brothers and sisters. Jesus will be waiting for you in the confessional in the person of the priest, to grant you his mercy in abundance. Do not let fear, guilt or embarrassment dissuade you as you come for confession this Thursday.

How to make confession? Please remember this simple step-by-step formula, as a guide, before going for confession.

1.     Go to the priest and begin with the Sign of the Cross.

2.     Then say, “Bless me, Father, for I have sinned. It has been ____ weeks / months / years since my last confession.”

3.     Tell your mortal and venial sins honestly to the priest.

4.     Then, listen to the advice the priest gives you and accept the penance from him.

5.      Then say the Act of Contrition: “O my God, I am truly sorry for I have sinned against you. By the help of your grace, I shall not sin again.”

6.     The priest says the prayer of absolution and dismisses you with: “The Lord has freed you from your sins. Go in peace." And you respond by saying: "Thanks be to God.”

SIN NO MORE

“Let the one among you who is guiltless be the first to throw a stone at her,” (Jn 8:7)

The Scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery and made her stand in the middle. Jesus does not initially respond to them but remains silent.

They showed absolutely no interest in the woman as a person. They ignored the whole person, and focused only on her sin. They rushed to condemn her act and they dismissed everything else about her life and her personhood.

Jesus did not condemn the woman. He did not belittle, shame, or humiliate her,  nor did He condone her sin. Jesus’ encounter with the woman changed her life forever.  Her past was behind her.  She was ready for a new life.

Lent is a time to examine our conscience and go to confession. First, we confess our sins with sorrow, and then firmly amend and change our life. Otherwise we cannot be forgiven. After confession, let us walk with confidence to go in peace and sin no more.

“What marvels the Lord worked for us! Indeed we were glad!” (Ps 22).