Saturday, March 30, 2013

Christ, My Hope. Easter 2013



Something remarkable in the Gospel according to St. Matthew, its beginning and end as well:
“Emmanuel – God with us” - 1:23
“I am with you always, to the end of time” – 28:20
All that lies in between is the most momentous story of the 1st century… A period of unique traffic of two worlds, heaven and earth; a period when God Himself had visited them in Jesus, the Nazarene… A period of turning point in human history when in His infinite love allowed Himself to be put to death by crucifixion, then ROSE FROM THE DEAD and overcame death, the last enemy… HOPE has been rekindled for the human race… the belief in His Resurrection is not something that grew up within the Church, but it is the central belief around which the Church itself grew… the Church continues to proclaim through the ages, “Christ, my hope, has risen…and He is present as a force of Hope through His Church”.

Dear friends,
As we join the chorus of the angels "Do not be afraid! ... He is not here; He is risen [Mt 28:5-6]"; and reiterate with St. Paul, “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death is your sting?” [1 Cor. 15:55], and rejoice with the Psalmist, “This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice in it and be glad!” [Ps. 118:24], we meditate and joyfully sing ‘Christ My Hope’ is risen to fill our hearts with all the riches of Hope.

An Encounter leading to ‘Faith-based Hope’:
St. Augustine in 4th century, on an Easter Sunday had exclaimed, "‘Resurrectio Domini spes nostra’ - the Lord's resurrection is our hope.’ We relive today that event of His Resurrection which changed the course of our lives and human history. Jesus rose again so that we, although destined to die, should never despair with the presumption that with death, life is completely finished. Christ is risen to give us hope, and so life will be victorious at the end.

In the encyclical ‘SPE SALVI – facti sumus’, Pope Benedict XVI engages with the contemporary world, and exposes its sheer nakedness of ‘dictatorship of relativism’ which characterizes itself to build a Society apart from God, to place its hopes in science, and panders  around materialism and acid secularism. The signs of such dangers continue to engulf hearts of men and women of our time, not sparing even those within the Church.

Pope Benedict XVI in the same encyclical poignantly remarks that humanity is redeemed by love… unconditional love. A person needs the certainty which makes him/her say, “neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus” [Rom 8:38- 39]. Such absolute love exists, with certainty, and only in that the humanity is “redeemed”, despite apparent difficulties in human life. St. Paul tells, “Flesh and Blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God” [1Cor. 15:50] and the Church writer Tertullian [3rd century] boldly adds on, "Rest assured, flesh and blood, through Christ you have gained your place in heaven and in the Kingdom of God".

Pope Benedict XVI in the same encyclical throws more light when he said that ‘For in Hope we were saved, [Rom. 8:24], should never be understood as though ‘redemption’ [salvation] is simply given, but rather it is offered to us in the sense that we are given hope, which is certain, joyful and is above all ‘faith-based Hope’ in Him, possible only through an ‘encounter’ with Him, who rose from the dead and  is alive as a force of Hope through His Church.

To hope in the promises of the Risen Lord and to be His disciples is not mere fascination for His moral achievement as few popular personalities opine preposterously. Jesus is more than mere ‘moral hero’. He is the God-man, and ‘one with the Father in His divine nature’ [Jn. 10:30]. ‘It is an encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction’ [Deus Caritas Est, no.1].  An experience and an encounter like Mary Magdalene, who said, ‘Christ My Hope’, is what required for us and the world.

 ‘Christ, My Hope’ – An experience like Mary Magdalene:
With the death of Jesus, the hope of all the Apostles, the disciples and Mary Magdalene including, seemed to have been doomed. But with His Resurrection, something extraordinary happened with convincing proofs, viz. empty tomb and their encounter with the risen Lord, which are attested to by all the evangelists. St. Paul himself teaches [in 1Cor. 15] that Easter faith is the conviction on which the entire edifice of Christianity is built, because the encounters with the Risen Lord by the early Church filled them with Hope, and changed everything: their understanding of themselves and their responsibilities, their understanding of history and of life-beyond death.

The experience of Mary Magdalene, the first to encounter the Risen Jesus, is quite significant. She ran to the other disciples and breathlessly announced, "I have seen the Lord!" [Jn. 20:18]. And how moving, and what a cause for hope it is, that Jesus chose to appear first, not to Peter, the leader of the Apostles, or to John, the beloved disciple, but to a penitent sinner [Mark 16:9]. Jesus was the one who helped her to be reborn, who gave her a new future, a life of goodness and freedom from evil. She, like the other disciples, had witnessed to Jesus’ rejection by the leaders of the people, arrested, scourged, condemned to death and crucified. But on that Resurrection morning, her faith is born anew, more alive and strong than ever, now invincible since it is based on a decisive experience. In this world, hope cannot avoid confronting the harshness of evil, the wall of death and the barbs of envy and pride, falsehood and violence. But the encounter with Jesus helps us to experience all of God’s goodness and truth, heals us completely and restores our true dignity. Mary Magdalene went to the tomb while it was still dark, but the darkness did not remain, the dawn broke and God's Son had risen.

No wonder, an ancient Easter liturgical antiphon is attributed to her as if she uttered, ‘Christ My Hope’ – which means all human yearnings find fulfillment only in Him, and that we can hope for a life that is good, full and eternal, for He is alive and now among us. The Apostles and Mary Magdalene were to ‘be transformed’ [Rom. 12:2] and take the Risen One to “all nations” with the knowledge that He would be with them always, [Mt. 28:19].

“I am very happy; he’s a prophet”:
‘Habemus Papam’! Ever since those words were spoken on March 13th from the loggia at Vatican, the media across the globe, the internet world and the world leaders have been tiptoed and abuzz with stories and prognostications about the new Holy Father, Pope Francis, and ‘any’ news of the Church.

Amidst several responses, both Catholic and secular as well to such historic moment, there is ample insight to glean for oneself, and probably to which everyone can join their voices in unison, is a natural outburst by a wheelchair-bound beggar outside St. Peters’ square [at the corner of Via della Conciliazione] who exclaimed, “Sono molto contento; e un profeta” meaning, “I’m very happy; he’s a prophet”. The name ‘Francis’ would aptly fit the joyous outcry of the beggar as a ‘Prophet’ - one who brings about hope from the Lord.

Besides, a few seminal themes Pope Francis has talked about during these days of his nascent papacy those including the need for ‘greater brotherhood in the world’, ‘material poverty’, ‘inter-religious dialogue’, he had also spoken more than half a dozen times concerning the Devil/the Evil One. In his first Mass as Pope, he addressed the Cardinals quoting Leon Bloy [a French writer], “Whoever does not pray to God, prays to the devil’…when one does not profess Jesus Christ, one professes the worldliness of the devil…”; on Palm Sunday, addressing the faithful and youth, the Pope said, “We must not believe the Evil One when he tells us: you can do nothing to counter violence, corruption, injustice, your sins! We must never grow accustomed to evil! With Christ we can transform ourselves and the world”. There are other references to the Devil, to which His Holiness Pope Francis has sought the attention of the Church and the world.  This should not baffle anyone but point everyone to certain critical reflection.

In fact, the talk of the ‘devil’  by Pope Francis, has struck many across the spectrum of Catholic and secular thought, and it is explicitly clear that he is not trying to score points with the contemporary world steeped in materialistic culture. His take on ‘Spiritual poverty’ of the world, which he expounded in his meeting with country diplomats, was on similar lines of the talk on the devil, which disguises itself as such. In fact poverty, both ‘Spiritual and Material’, is the central message of Christianity, which Pope Benedict XVI continually reiterated during his pontificate.

With a dig at the ‘devil’, Pope Francis re-asserts that sin exists in the world, there is something “out there” [an actor, agent and, evidently, as a personal being] that deceives, and so must be fought against to overcome one’s sins and to overcome ‘violence, corruption, injustice’ in the world. He draws the attention of the world to focus on the contest between God and Satan which is central to Christian faith, and hence the role of the Church to exist as to offer HOPE… the Hope which comes from the Risen Lord, who had conquered death and the ‘culture of death’ which Blessed John Paul II fought against, and that which manifests itself in the materialistic culture that the world wants to adorn itself with. Pope Francis teaches us to return to reality, which is Christian Realism, viz. to be committed first to Christ, to ‘encounter Him’. Such encounter not only overcomes the ‘spiritual poverty’ of our times, but leads one to reach out to those in material poverty as well, and foster ‘greater brotherhood’ in the world.

Speaking to the young people on Palm Sunday, Pope Francis said, “ours is a joy that comes from encounter with the person of Jesus... you bring us the joy of faith and you tell us that we must live the faith with a young heart... do not listen to the devil which disguises itself as an angel! Do not let him steal our hope, the hope that Jesus alone can give... such joy and hope, we must bring to this world, follow Jesus!”

The world stands in need of Hope of the ‘Risen Redeemer’:

Yes, Easter is a time when we thank God who gives us Hope not only for the Life Eternal, but for the gift of each day we spend on earth, which is a preamble to Eternal life. Each new day is an opportunity to live in union with God; we can cherish each day, not as an entitlement, not as drudgery, but as a time to live with God, to love Him, and to praise Him, as the Church prays throughout this Easter Octave, “This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice in it and be glad!” [Ps. 118:24]. Easter Joy should fill our hearts and be percolated into all that we do. We need to imitate our father and founder Don Bosco who lived, as ‘seeing Him who is invisible’.

Yes, Easter is a time when we renew our Baptismal promises and repeat the words of Martha [Jn. 11:27], “Yes, Lord, I believe…” to the question Jesus puts, “Do you believe that I am the Resurrection and the Life?” But quite often, our faith is skin deep and short lived like that of Martha herself, “Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he [Lazarus] has been dead four days” [John 11:39]. Jesus pats on our back and affirms, “Did I not tell you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?” [John 11:40]. Faith-based Hope has immense riches for us, and the ‘Year of Faith’ exhorts us in this regard. But how eager are we to grow in faith and encounter the Risen Lord?

Yes, the world stands in need of Hope of the Risen One:
Aristotle had said, “All human beings desire to know the truth”. In the turning point of human history about three centuries later, God-incarnate in Jesus not only clamed, “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life” [Jn. 14:6], his own disciples acclaimed, ‘grace and Truth came from Jesus Christ’ [Jn. 1:17], and ‘Himself was the Truth’. The ‘encounter’ with Him made the Apostles ‘to go to the entire world’ [Mk. 16:15] and offer radical witness for Him, and thus proffered Hope of the Risen Lord to varied cultures and nations. The ‘pagan’ culture of the Roman Empire, which is more ‘materialistic’ than our contemporary culture, had itself changed through the martyrdom of the early leaders of the Church, Peter and Paul. Its conversion became final when thinkers like St. Augustine found the ‘Truth’ and felt they needed the Church to continue to offer that sense of life and Hope of the Risen Lord for the world.

We live in a culture more and more characterized by falsehood and untruth, and that which tries to hijack the Truth itself. It may be ‘the Devil or the Evil One’ as Pope Francis calls it, or may be the ‘dictatorship of relativism’ as Pope Benedict XVI points out, or describe it as ‘godlessness’ which continues to disguise itself in our world.
Christ has chosen us to be His own possession as Salesian consecrated religious, so that continually ‘encountering’ Him in our everyday life, we may make His light shine forth for the world, and offer it the true Hope He alone can give. Becoming ‘witnesses to the radical approach of the Gospel’, the theme of the GC-27, is a clarion call of the Rector Major to get back to our roots and to understand what it means to be ‘His possession’, and what it means to become ‘bearers of His Light and Hope’. 

Mother of the Risen Redeemer:
We turn to our Blessed Mother Mary, who stands as a model because she is the one, “who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord" [Lk 1:45]. She is the silent witness of Easter and Mother of the Crucified One now risen, and at the hour of pain and death she kept the flame of hope burning. She teaches us also to be, amongst the incongruities of passing time, convinced and joyful witnesses of the eternal message of life and love brought to the world by the Risen Redeemer.

May the Risen Lord bless us with the riches of Hope He offers during this season of Easter, may He accompany us as He did with those ‘disciples on the way to Emmaus’, and continually stir our hearts that we may live each day and every moment of each day as ‘Easter People’, who spread that Joy and Hope for a world that desperately stands in need of. He assures us, “I am with you always, to the end of time”, Mt. 28:20.

Thank you
Papireddy Gade

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