“REGISTERED IN THE DEPARTMENT OF POSTS OF SRI ......2017/04/09 · books of the New Testament. In Galatians 1:12, St. Paul says that the revelation in these books were given to

1 April 9, 2017 EASTER ISSUE The Messenger

“If Christ was not raised from the dead then our preaching is in vain and our faith is in vain” (1 Cor. 15:14).

In these words St. Paul tells us that in essence Christianity is not so much dogmas, laws or practices but a Person – the Risen Lord. The Living Christ is Christianity and Christianity is the Living Christ. On that basis who then is a Christian? Is it enough only to attend religious services and observe laws? If Christianity is the Risen Lord, then it follows that a Christian is a person who meets this Risen Lord in daily events and situations while having a deep and growing relationship with Him. This also is seen in the life of St. Paul. In Acts 9, we are told how the greatest persecutor of Christians became the greatest propagator of Christianity when he dramatically met the Risen Lord on the road to Damascus. What happened to St. Paul needs to happen to all. At the �irst meeting, St. Paul’s relationship and communication with the Risen Lord grew to such an extent that he wrote about thirteen of the twenty seven books of the New Testament. In Galatians 1:12, St. Paul says that the revelation in these books were given to him not by other apostles but directly by the Risen Lord with whom he communicated from moment to moment.

“ R E G I S T E R E D I N T H E D E PA RT M E N T O F P O S T S O F S R I L A N K A” U N D E R N O. Q D / 1 2 8 / N E W S / 2 0 1 7

Easter Issue Sunday, April 9, 2017 Vol 148 No 14 24 Pages Rs: 30.00 Registered as a newspaper

THE CATHOLIC WEEKLY OF SRI LANKA

Easter is the most sublime feast of the Liturgical Year in which we proclaim and celebrate the victory of Jesus of Nazareth the Risen Lord Our

Saviour, over sin and death. We let the words of the an-gels resound in our ears, "Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen" (Luke. 24:5). This year we make this joyful proclamation at a time when we as the Church in Sri Lanka focus our at-tention on St. Joseph Vaz who made Jesus Christ alive in our midst. Easter is an experience for us to discover the joy of believing in Jesus by being in solidarity with the poor and the marginalized. It also invites us to discover that our faith in Jesus is an inestimable gift given to each and everyone of us. Easter is quite a �it-ting season to thank God for our faith in the person of Jesus, the Christ. God has bestowed upon us this unique gift of our faith in God's only begotten Son. Thus, we also need to thank all those who were in-strumental in communicating to us this gift of our faith. The unparalleled mission accomplished by Fr. Joseph Vaz in rekindling the gift of faith echoes in our

minds as we renew our faith in Christ in this Easter. This is also a suitable time for us Priests, Religious and Laity to rededicate our missionary commitment in the footsteps of St. Joseph Vaz, the Apostle of Sri Lanka. . The Risen Lord appeared to His disciples and granted them the gift of peace. True peace is an out-come of justice. We celebrate this Easter at a time in which the people in our country are searching for new paths to establish justice and truth. There is an effort to develop solidarity and reconciliation among the people in our motherland. This could be done only if we respect one another avoiding petty differences and safeguarding each other's dignity. At this Easter, there-fore let us implore the gift of peace and justice upon our dear country and its people. While we thank God and rejoice in the unique gift of peace, let us also be mindful of those who suffer for the lack of the basic requirements of life. In spite of the different schemes for economic development, most of our people seem to be entrenched in poverty. Our Christian discipleship always invites us to care for those in need since it is our duty to recognise the face

Message from Catholic Bishops' Conference of Sri Lanka of Jesus in those who suffer. Our Easter joy must make us recognise ever more deeply the demands of Chris-tian discipleship. We need to do all we can to alleviate the pains of those around us. May they recognise in and through us the joy and the beauty of believing in Jesus and in becoming his disciples. May we become the agents of the peace the Risen Saviour communi-cated to His disciples. 'We wish all our faithful and our readers the joy and the peace of the Risen Saviour!

✠ Rt. Rev. Dr. J. Winston S. Fernando S.S.S.President,Catholic Bishops' Conference of Sri Lanka

✠ Rt. Rev. Dr. D. Valence MendisSecretary General,Catholic Bishops' Conference of Sri Lanka.

CHRIST IS ALIVE – MEET HIM

Catholic Press Holiday Notice Colombo Catholic Press and Book Shop will be closed for business on April 10 to 17 and will reopen on Tuesday April 18. Director

HOLY CHRISM MASSBlessing of Holy Oils will take place on April 10, at All Saints' Church, Borella at 10.30 a.m., presided by the Archbishop of Colombo, His Eminence Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith.

By Marcelline Heenkenda

April 21 ST. JOSEPH VAZ

BIRTH ANNIVERSARY A Triduum of Special Prayers

April 9, 20172 The Messenger EASTER ISSUE

Celebrations for birth anniversary of St. Joseph VazThe birthday of St. Joseph Vaz will be celebrated this year in a special manner, with a triduum of spe-cial prayers lead-ing up to April 21, the birthday of the Saint. In a mes-sage to the Arch-diocesan monthly bulletin, Koinonia, the Archbishop of Colombo, His Eminence Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith has suggested beginning Tuesday April 18, to conduct three novenas with Holy Mass or Benediction, conclud-ing with a procession around the church on Friday April 21. His Eminence has said the triduum could also start on April 21 and conclude on Sunday April 23. His Eminence has requested that the triduum of special prayers be celebrated at parish, school and apostolate levels.

Healing Service at St. Jude's Shrine, IndigollaThe Healing Service at St. Jude's Shrine, Indigolla will be held on Monday April 10, Poya Day at 3.00 p.m. and not at 10.00 a.m. From the month of May it will be held as usual at 10.00 a.m.

Rev. Fr. Jude Sherman FernandoAdministrator

I wish to extend my deep-est condolence on the passing away of the Mah-anayaka of the Sri Lanka Amarapura Maha Nikaya, Davuldena Sri Gnanissara Thero. Being a scholar of repute, the late Prelate has rendered a laudable ser-vice to the Buddha Sasana and the Sangha Sasana. His commitment and ded-ication will remain in the minds of all Sri Lankans for a long time.

He entered the Sasana as a 13-year-old and his labour for the Bud-dha Sasana spans a period

of nine decades. He con-tributed immensely to uplift the spirituality of the people and also made a valuable contribution to Sinhala literature. His demise is a great loss to the Buddha Sasana and the entire country. May he attain Nibbana!

Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith

Archbishop of Colombo

His Eminence condoles passing away of Mahanayaka of the

Amarapura Maha Nikaya As you are aware Good Friday this year falls on the Sinhala and Tamil New Year day, a day of celebra-tion for our non Christian brethren. As Good Friday is decided in advance ac-cording to the Interna-tional Liturgical Calendar of the Church, we are not in a position to change that date. Therefore, when we celebrate Good Friday this year, we should also be aware that it is a time of joyous celebration for our Buddhist and Hindu

brethren. We should then be more mindful of this fact when celebrat-ing Good Friday in areas where there is a majority of non Christians living. As so, it would be neces-sary then to conduct our Good Friday services in a manner that would not hurt the feelings of our non Christian brethren. It is a must that we as Christians celebrate Good Friday. At the same time I appeal to you to or-ganize your programmes keeping in mind that this

is also a special day for the majority citizens of our country.

Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith

Archbishop of Colombo

Notice to all Parish Priests and the Faithful

The Choir of St. Peter's Collegeand the Peterite Chorale

Proudly present

"Celebrate the Saviour"Celebrating the 25th Anniversary

of the Annual Easter Cantata

April 16, 2017 at 7.00 p.mAt the College Chapel

All are Welcome

Launch of Tharakayano DVD First ever Sri-Lankan Passion Play in Ballet style

The launching of the ballet passion play meditation ‘Tharakayano’ DVD will be held on April 9 at 4.00 p.m. at Cardinal Cooray Centre, Negombo. The occasion will be graced by the Apostolic Nuncio in Sri Lanka, His Excellency, Archbishop Pierre Nguyên Van Tot, as the guest of honour. ‘Tharakayano’ was �irst staged in 2012 at Kadolkele Grounds, Negombo and at Nelum Pokuna Theatre in 2013. According to Prof. E. R. Sarachchandra, the ear-liest Sri Lankan Passion Plays were enacted at Pesalai in Mannar and at Duwa and Pitipana in Negombo. These Passion Plays were performed by means of life-size statues inside a large pavilion with a roof about twenty feet high. It was K. Lawrence Perera, the pioneer of the Borelassa Passion Play who brought innovative chang-es in 1924 by using living actors instead of statues as, “[…] he thought that the Passion shows done in Church premises with statues were ‘crude’ and unworthy of so lofty a theme as the passion of Christ” (The Folk Drama of Ceylon, p. 126). It was the Oberammergau Passion Play which in�luenced Lawrence Perera for this innova-tion. But the then Archbishop of Colombo disapproved his further innovation of using women in the cast and the play was banned in 1939.

The Biblical Content and the Symbols of 'Tharakayano' In keeping with the age old Passion Play tra-dition, ‘Tharakayano’ begins with the Creation Story and the Fall of Adam and Eve as depicted in the Book of Genesis in the Bible. But much emphasis is given to the story of the Exodus which is the real Passion Story of the Bible. It is Jesus, the new Moses who liberates the oppressed people of the world as God (YHWH) brought freedom to the slaves of Israel through Moses by releasing them from the fetters of the oppressor, the Egyptian king, Pharaoh. The ‘Crossing of the Red Sea’ is the Passover from slavery to freedom (Exodus, 14: 5-31). The liberated Israelites sang a song in praising YHWH which ends in a convincing praise ‘YHWH will reign forever’ (Exodus, 15: 18), which is the fundamen-tal profession of Israel’s faith. The Serpent, the craftiest of all the wild crea-tures is symbolised as the inner craving of humanity’s greed for Power, Wealth and Prestige. The true biblical meaning of this symbolism is identi�ied with the de-piction of this Serpent again when the disgusted Isra-elites who were marching arduously towards YHWH’s Promise Land refuse to eat tasteless Manna. The people who complained against YHWH and Moses were bitten

by �iery Serpents sent by YHWH. Then Moses, as in-structed by YHWH made a bronze Serpent and set it on a standard. The Israelites who looked towards this bronze Serpent were cured and lived as they agreed not to be deceived again by the Serpent which symbol-izes the unlimited desire for want of Power, Wealth and Prestige (The book of Numbers, 21: 4-9). When Jesus is baptized by John the Baptist at the River Jordan, YHWH’s proclamation in accepting Jesus as His Beloved and Chosen Son is intermin-gled with the fundamental profession of Israel’s faith, ‘YHWH will reign forever.’ Jesus is tempted in the wilderness just after His Baptism. The Cross on the Mount of Calvary is depicted with the Serpent. Jesus who struggles against the temp-tations of Satan which were in contrary to the values of God’s Kingdom, convincingly defeats them with total

Contd. on Pg. 15

Holy Week Choral Presentation

This year's Holy Week Choral Presentation by St. Ce-cilia's Choir of St. Joseph's College Colombo will take place on Monday April 10, 2017 (Poya Day) at 6.15 pm at the College Chapel. It will be held under the patronage of the Arch-bishop of Colombo, His Eminence Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith. The event will retrace Christ's de�iant march to Jerusalem, His Last Supper where He instituted the Holy Eucharist and washed the feet of His disciples, the betrayal, passion, death on the Cross and His glorious resurrection. This they will accomplish through chants, choruses, anthems and congregational hymns. Succinct Scripture readings and apt re�lections will help the par-ticipants experience the agony and ecstasy of the last days of Jesus on earth, emotionally. The award winning Old Joes Choir, as well as the choirs of St. Bridget's Con-vent and Good Shepherd Convent too will be perform-ing in the programme. All are welcome with free entry.

Holy Father's Prayer Intentions

That young people may respond generously to their vocations and seriously consider offering themselves to God in the priesthood or consecrated life.


Rev. Fr. Leopold Ratnasekera OMI.

Christ and the way of life ushered in by Him calls people to reach out in three ways: to one’s true self, to others and �inally to God. Reaching out to

others includes crossing borders in a particularly way towards the most weak, destitute, marginalized and the vulnerable. In his life and wandering through the length and breadth of his home country of Palestine, Jesus’ prime attention and concern was to embrace the sick, those oppressed by the evil spirits and sinners. The Gospel pages are �illed with such striking and amaz-ing stories. Jesus even exposes himself to unnecessary criticism and rude comments of the religious leaders of the time, the Pharisees and the Sadducees, for tak-ing such paths of social contact and encounter. For him, people claim the priority of his compassionate and ten-der attention. Yet, he is accused of being a rabble-rouse, of blasphemy and of chasing demons in the name of Belzeebul! Notice how Jesus approaches the Samaritan woman at the famous historical well of Jacob. While the whole episode is a beautiful manifestation of the gentle patience of Jesus, the woman on the other hand puts on a mask, beating round the bush, concealing her life’s se-crets and standing her ground. It is a long journey for her to reach the Living Water that she is really in need of to slake her crushed spirit and slake her soul’s thirst. Jesus embraces little children and makes them symbols of the Kingdom of God. For, only those who make themselves like little children can lay claim to entering God’s kingdom. He is swift to ward off hypocritical attitudes when confront-ing the Pharisees who brought to Him a woman caught in public sin demanding that she be stoned to death. Je-sus reads their wicked minds and feels disgust at their hypocrisy. He throws an awesome challenge: “Let the one without sin, cast the �irst stone!” They all disappear dumb-founded and recoiling in shame. We are told that Jesus was constantly at prayer, sometimes in the early hours of the morning and at times in the midst of his heavy ministry while curing the sick, driving out the de-mons and preaching. He submitted to God’s will always as we see in the dramatic and touching scene at Geth-samane. He teaches us what prayer is about and how powerful it is when accompanied by sincerity within oneself and humility before God. No wonder then, Jesus condemns the self-ela-tion of the Pharisee who at the threshold of the sanctu-ary brags about his righteous deeds while He praises and marvels at the humility of the publican who not daring to enter the temple stands at the door beating his breast seeking divine mercy on his sinfulness. It is this social outcast, the publican who goes home, justi�ied and not the self-righteous Pharisee. Matthew the evangelist records a series of woes uttered by Jesus against the Pharisees: they are like whitened sepulchers, beautiful outside with nothing but rotten bones and decay. They are like the blind leading the blind leading everyone to the pits of illusion, danger and disaster. They are blind Pharisees who accuse people of the specks in their eyes, while they themselves have beams that blind them to the truth. They lay heavy burdens on the poor. On the contrary, Jesus declares himself as the source of solace, strength and consolation wishing that people learn from him who is meek and humble of heart. He invites all who labour and are heavy burdened promising rest for their weary souls.

In Jesus who is Word become �lesh, we have received grace upon grace as St. John the evangelist says in the very �irst chapter of his Gospel. He immers-es himself in the waters of the river Jordan requesting baptism from John the Baptist, His precursor so that He can identify himself with all who stepped in confess-ing their sins. John is quick to declare that amidst the immense throng of people �locking to hear him, there stands a carpenter’s son from Galilee who is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, the laces of whose shoes he is unworthy to lose. John now wishes that greater attention be paid to Jesus than to himself for he has accomplished his task of being the voice cry-ing out in the wilderness: “Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight his paths” for the time has come for the decision of repentance and change of heart. The axe is already laid at the root of the trees to cut down those that are not laden with fruit and be cast into the �ire. John refuses to baptize Jesus but at His insistence both bow down to the will of God so that all things may be ful�illed. For Jesus, it was the foretaste of His not too distant baptism on the cross where he would pour out his blood and commend his spirit in obedience, which would be the price of our redemption. As he said: “If He is lifted up, I would then draw all men to myself”. Jesus of Nazareth is the Eternal Galilean. St. Paul addressing the believers in the city of Philippi writes poignantly that the Son of God did not cleave to His divine preroga-tives, but emptied Himself unto obedience of the cross for which cause God exalted Him and gave him a name, that is above every name, at the call of which everyone on earth, under the earth and in the high heavens would go down on their knees and proclaim: “Jesus is Lord!”. The divine teacher thus authenticated his own teach-ing that unless the grain of wheat dies, it will not bear fruit. Jesus was poor for he was an itinerant preacher who made His listeners aware that he had no place even to lay his head though foxes had dens and birds in the air nests to rest. He had come in fact to do his Father’s will and not his own. The theme of this Lent was that Christ became poor for our sake so that in his poverty we are made rich. Our richness consists in the blessings of redemption �lowing from His emptying Himself in love and loving those whom He loved, loving them to the end. Did he not abase himself to go down and wash the feet of his disciples, a mean task usually the lot of the slaves and servants in households when the mas-ter received guests into the house! Jesus wants the dis-ciples too to love as he loved and to wash one another’s feet in humility. Contd. on Pg. 10

A Light from a Sign of Contradiction!

O Perfect Love - All human thoughts transcending

Only one life, it will soon be past; only what is done for Christ will last. I may pass this way but once, so if there is any good I must do, let me do it now, for I may never pass this way again. Re�lections such as these need to be contemplated and acted upon as we begin today, Sunday April 9, the holiest week in history. It begins with Palm Sunday and going beyond the solemn services and rites, we need to re�lect on some signi�icant messages from these historic events. A Palm Sunday, a notable feature is that while kings normally ride on horses or on chariots when they come to the climax of their mission or crusade, the King of kings and Lord of lords turned that upside down. Jesus Christ entered Jerusalem for the climax of the mission of missions, riding on a donkey. He teaches us through this and other events, of the need to be meek and humble even when we hold the highest positions. Jesus also teaches us how changeable human nature is. The crowds which sang ‘Hosanna’ on Palm Sunday were provoked by jealous religious leaders to call for His cruci�ixion �ive days later. The message to us comes through a well-loved song: “Swift swift to its close, ebbs out life’s little day; earth’s joys grow dim, its glories fade away; change and decay in all around I see, O! Thou who changes not, abide with me” On this Palm Sunday let us pray that we will have a deep and trusting relationship with God, knowing He will take care of us in good times and in bad, sickness and in health or at times of triumphs, or tribulations. When we have this deep relationship with God and enter deeper into the experience of His amazing grace, unconditional love and in�inite mercy we will have the power of His Holy Spirit to give such love and mercy to others and therefore cooperate with Christ in transforming the world. In Genesis 1:3 Bible writers tell us that God’s �irst words were “let there be light.” After studying the original text in Hebrew and Greek Catholic Bible scholars believe today the correct translation is not “light” but God’s love or positive energy. The creation story tells us that the sun was created sometime later, (Genesis 1:14) through the Holy Spirit God shares this positive energy, this relationship and connectivity with our spirit, psyche or inner being and with all people. The scriptures also tell us that God hears this energy and connectivity with His creation - all creatures, oceans and rivers, trees and plants and everything in Mother Nature. As we deepen our relationship with God we need to develop a relationship with His creation also and this brings about major questions on whether we have the right to kill animals or cut trees. These are good re�lections for Holy Week. On Good Friday on the Cross Christ Jesus shows us the magnitude of God’s love for all people and creation. In other words the Lord says, “even if you betray, deny or desert me, even if you whip and strip me, even if you crucify me like a criminal of criminals, I will still love you for my nature is love.” O! Perfect Love, all human thoughts transcending. As we experience this eternal love and eternal life through it we are called upon to offer ourselves also to the Lord to take us, bless us, break us and give us to others. For it is in giving that we receive and in dying to ourselves that we rise to eternal life. As we experience this we could meditate on the immortal words of St. Francis of Assisi, “Lord, make me a channel of your peace; where there is hatred, let me sow love;where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; and where there is sadness, joy. For it is in giving that we receive, it is in pardoning that we are pardoned, and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.” As we begin the National New Year signi�icantly on Good Friday let us ask for the power of Holy Spirit to commit ourselves to the four major missions outlined in the vision of Pope Francis - poverty alleviation, the battle against climate change, the peaceful resolution of con�licts with interreligious and interracial dialogue and unity in diversity to achieve these goals.

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April 9, 2017

EDITORIAL

In Jesus who is Word become �lesh, we have received grace upon grace

as St. John the evangelist says in the very �irst chapter of his Gospel. He immerses himself in the waters

of the river Jordan requesting baptism from John the Baptist, His precursor so that He can identify himself with all who stepped in

confessing their sins


By Francis D’Almeida

A few decades ago a curious cover appeared on the

Time magazine with a provocative slogan ‘God is Dead’. The writing was placed against a stark black background with a few specks of light. It was a photograph captured on the night when New York City was plunged suddenly into darkness. A grave technical fault had disrupted the electricity power supply as grid after grid automatically shut down to prevent even a greater disaster. This came about at the end of an era of the American involvement in the Vietnam War that ended in a shameful disas-ter, with panic stricken US marines, the symbol of the nation’s bravery, board-ing helicopters in a mad scramble to escape. Its persistent attempts, with much propaganda hype to portray their military and political interven-tion as a �ight against the Vietcong (a dehumanizing name for the local �ight-ers), who were said to be Godless communists, had failed. The atrocious be-haviour of the US soldiers came alive on world-wide TV channels in real-time. The reckless car-pet bombing of villages not only of Vietnam but also of Cambodia, the massacre of civilians of Mai Lai village and the gruesome photograph of a stark naked Vietnamese girl seen screaming as she �led her village un-der napalm bomb attack made people world over feel raw anguish. How could people who often "in God we trust" become so barbaric, they won-dered. Millions of Ameri-

cans themselves became mobilized against the war and marched on the capi-tal. Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen in an extraordinary gesture went to the White House to plead for the end of the senseless belliger-ency. And then suddenly came the shameful defeat of the United States mili-tary. Thus, the Time magazine, the mouth-piece of America’s col-lective psyche re�lecting the despondent mood of the people declared "God is Dead." "What is the earthly use trusting God who did not bless Ameri-ca suf�iciently to defeat a tiny, puny Vietnam," they seemed to say. Indeed it took years to regain America's trust in God and belief in His existence to re-emerge.

The London Transport Bus Fiasco On the other side of the Atlantic, in London a few years ago, a daring advertisement appeared on the double-decker bus-es proclaiming rather �lip-pantly: “Probably there is no God, so why not enjoy life?" Absurdly enough, it was promoting a brand of ready to eat cereal. “Any advertisement must ei-ther slap or kiss," they say. It was a gimmick intended to kiss the common man on the streets suggesting the absence of God in a nation that daily sang God bless our gracious Queen in their anthem.

"Is God an Illusion?" Recently an emi-nently readable and much thought-provoking book titled, Is God an Illusion? appeared in our stores. It contained a �lowing de-bate arranged accordingly with well chosen sub-top-

ics about the existence or the non existence of God. Supporting the belief in a creator God was the world-renowned Los An-geles based physician, sci-entist cum spiritualist, the Indian born Dr. Deepak Chopra. Arrayed against him was the equally eru-dite mathematician and physicist Professor Leon-ard Mlodinow. The back cover of the book carried a terse remark. "Why is there something instead of noth-ing? What is our place in the universe? Science has slowly but surely chal-lenged religion; yet even as our scienti�ic understand-ing has expanded, some of the greatest questions remain unanswered. Dr. Deepak Chopra has en-tered the debate, sparring with leading physicist Pro-fessor Leonard Mlodinow (who) reasons from the vantage of science, speci�i-cally what quantum phys-ics can tell us, about our world. Chopra however argues that there is a de-sign in our universe and a deep intelligence behind life." Reading through this book one's mind is stimulated by the civilized

manner in which each argues his case. Profes-sor Mlodinow traces the origin of the universe to the singular event (singu-larity) known as the Big Bang that occurred 13.7 billion years ago. He says everything follows the random principle, engag-ing and disengaging until we as the conscious part of the universe emerge to see ourselves as a marvel-ous cosmic reality. The randomness is what made life begin an evolution in-volving genetic mutation and natural selection that brought us, humans to where we are. The chang-es that have taken place by chance, at the DNA level to face successfully the chal-lenges of the environment enabled the organism to reproduce with greater, says Mlodinow. Dr. Deepak agree-ing with the theory of evo-lution challenges the con-cept about randomness. He questions: Can we just lock up many monkeys in a room to randomly type out letters in a typewriter and produce the entire works of Shakespeare af-ter a million years? Evolu-tion is true but isn't there a great design churned out by a grand designer?

The Evolution and the Omega Point in Christ Many would have heard and studied the works of the French Jesuit priest, theologian, paleon-tologist and evolutionary scientist Pierre Teilhard de Chardin who died 80 year ago. Pierre Chardin was one out of the few early Christians to advo-cate the theory of evolu-tion. At the beginning (sadly even now in cer-tain quarters) his books were banned. In Morris West's novel, The shoes of the Fisherman," which turned to a captivating movie later, a priest sci-entist in the mould of Teilhard de Chardin ap-pears. He is questioned at length at an ecclesiastical court headed by a stern cardinal. Responding, he, in an inspiring manner succinctly explains his views on evolution. He ex-pounds his belief that the whole universe is evolv-ing to the ultimate event called the OMEGA POINT in Christ - the God-Man. That is also the sum to-tal of what Chardin held �irmly to be true, arising out of his cosmological view of Jesus Christ. In

fact the late nuclear sci-entist and theologian Ian Barbook, has put forward new ground-breaking studies on the relation-ship between science and religion updating posi-tions taken by Chardin in the light of scienti�ic progress. In fact in 2008 Pope Benedict XVI, a great scholar in his own right delivered a homily where he declared that there was no contradiction between original sin and evolution. Cruci�ixion and Resurrection in theLight of Cosmology Studies in Chris-tology and Cosmology are not strange bed fellows. The universe that began as a single point singular-ity could and should end in another single spot - in the God-Man Christ, ab-sorbing all creation into His glorious self. The sig-ni�icance of our Blessed Lord's cruci�ixion where He hung between heaven (the vast universe) and earth, not only brings us salvation but also points to the ultimate reality in the process of evolution. Thus, His Resurrection gives us the glimpse of the incomparable glory await-ing us at the end of time. Indeed the Cruci�ixion and Resurrection of Christ is a mysterious midway point of our Creator's grand design.

Death of Christ and Death of God

Rejoice!They found the entrance stone rolled back from the tomb, so they walked in. But once inside, they could not �ind the body of the Master Jesus. Luke 24:1-3

THE TOMB IS EMPTY. What does empty mean? It's an absence in want of a presence. Emptiness seeks fullness, begs to be assigned meaning. Every Easter we approach the tomb and �ind it empty. What mean-ing do we assign to this? We can say Jesus was taken by his enemies and we don't know where they've put him. We can say Jesus was taken by his friends and hidden to cre-ate an intriguing mystery. We can say Jesus was never

LENTEN THOUGHTS there at all. Or we can say he is risen from the dead and lives. If we say Jesus lives! then we also say some-thing very signi�icant about emptiness, absence and want. We assign new meaning to empty places like loss, longing, loneliness. We assign new dimensions and pos-sibilities even to death! We rede�ine hope from within our hopeless mortality. And we say something extraor-dinary about the God in whom we place our trust. What we believe as we stand in the emptiness of the tomb shapes everything we hold true about reality. If we say He is Risen! then we're ready to stand in all the lonely places, with all the longing and suffering people. And there, even there, we'll �ind the courage to rejoice.

Idea of the Day

Jesus lives. In me. Now what?

Courtesy: Daily Re�lections for Lent

Easter Special Radio Programmes 2017

Easter Special Programmes will be broadcast by Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation - English Service (97.4 or 97.6) as follows:Programme Presented by Date Time

Palm Sunday Rev. Fr. Tony Martin 09th April 12.30 p.m.

Maundy Thursday Mr. Trevor Ludowyke 13th April 05.30 p.m.

Good Friday Mrs. Maxine Jesudasan 14th April 12.30 p.m.

Holy Saturday Sr. Angella Fernando 15th April 05.30 p.m.

Easter Sunday Mrs. Priyanthi Van Dort 16th April 08.00 p.m.

Presented by National Catholic Centre for Social Communication.

Rev. Fr. Lal Pushpadewa Fernando OMIDirector

National Catholic Of�ice for Social Communication


BiTS &PiECES

By Ariel

The Holy Week has so much rich lit-urgy that com-

memorates so many im-portant events in the life of Christ. We cannot pick and choose which day is the most important. No doubt that the most im-portant event of the Holy Week is the Resurrection, when Christ conquered death and redeemed man-kind from the shackles of

sin. This is the very purpose of the incarnation and His birth in Bethlehem, to redeem the human race from the bonds of sinfulness. On Good Friday we commemorate the sacri�ice of Christ on Golgotha, the hill of the skulls. The Lord be-came both the priest and the sacri�ice on that day: The Lamb of God. Christ became the high priest as well as the victim in His agonizing sacri�icial death. No human being can understand the depth of suffering that Christ underwent to redeem the fallen human kind from the bondage of sin and the slavery of the evil one. Isaiah prophesied the agony that Christ under-went on Good Friday. In his Servant Songs Isaiah says: "Surely he has borne our grief and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and af-�licted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; upon him was chastise-ment that made us whole, and with his stripes we are healed" (Isaiah 53:4-5).

Institution of the Eucharist Holy Thursday marks the symbolical re-enact-ment of the events of Good Friday and Easter Sunday. Paul in his First Letter to the Corinthians gives a ver-batim account of the Last Supper, though he was not present at this event on Holy Thursday. "For I received from the Lord what I also pass on to you: Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed took bread and when he had given thanks, broke it and said, "This is my body given for you, do this in remembrance of me" (1Corinthians 11:23-24). The new covenant which was sealed by His death on Good Friday on Calvary was commemorated on Holy Thursday. Jesus said, "This is the cup of the new covenant poured for you in my blood...” (Luke 22:20). When we attend the Eucharist we renew this new cov-enant which was signed between God and mankind which was sealed (certi�ied) by the blood of the Lamb of God, His own Son. On Holy Thursday we commemorate the institu-tion of the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist. It is also the day of the institution of another important Sacrament: Holy Orders. Without Holy Orders there is no Eucharist. The priesthood of the New Testament was instituted on this day. During the Chrism Mass which is celebrated by the Bishop of the diocese on Holy Thursday this insti-tution is specially commemorated. (In certain dioceses this Mass is celebrated on Monday of the Holy Week to enable as many priests of the diocese can participate.)

Institution of Holy Orders The bishop of a diocese directly shares the Priesthood of Christ, as the apostles did. The other priests of the diocese only share this priesthood of the bishop. They are only the helpers of the bishop who shares the full priestly ministry of the Lord. At the Mass of the Chrism the bishop consecrates the oil that is used by the priests to administer Sacraments such as Bap-tism and Anointing of the Sick. Specially consecrated oil is also used by the bishop during the administration of the Sacraments of Con�irmation and the Holy Orders. The First Reading of the Chrism Mass taken from Isaiah speaks about anointing of priests on the day they receive the Holy Orders. "The spirit of God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me; He has sent me to bring the glad tidings to the lowly, to heal the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and freedom to the prisoners” (Isaiah 61:1-3). In the Gospel of the Chrism Mass the Evange-list Luke puts the same words of Isaiah in the mouth of

the Lord Himself. Here Jesus proclaims Himself as the Redeemer or the Messiah to the audience of His home town, Nazareth. But they do not want to accept the son of Joseph the carpenter and Mary who grew up in their midst as the messiah. Luke says that the crowd in the synagogue "were fu-rious...They got up and drove him out of the town" (Luke 4:28-29).

Servant of Servants The Apostle John in his Gospel records one of the most profoundly hum-bling events in the life of Christ which he performed on Holy Thursday. He showed by his own example of humility and gave us a mandate to imitate him by following his example. Jesus "... rose from supper, laid aside his garments, and girded him-self with a towel. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel with which he was girded” (John 13:3-5). Later in the Gospel Christ says, "If I then, I your Lord and teacher have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an ex-ample, that you also should do as I have done to you" (John 13: 14-15). In Hebrew tradition washing of somebody's feet is considered an extremely menial task performed by only slaves. On this occasion Christ takes the role of a slave or a servant and voluntarily performs this menial act. It is a lesson in humility and also of sel�less service which was exempli�ied on the cross on Good Friday. The Evangelist Luke puts into the mouth of the Blessed Virgin Mary an ancient Hebrew hymn which ex-

tols the virtues of humility. It says that the Kingdom of God is for the humble and not for the proud. "For He has regarded the low state of His handmaid and from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed...He has shown strength with his arm, He has scattered the proud in the conceit of their hearts; He has put down the mighty from their thrones and has exalted those of low degree..." (Luke 1: 48-52). This reminds us about the passage of Paul in his letter to the Philippians. “Though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be

grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a ser-vant being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human �lesh he humbled himself and became obe-dient unto death, even death on a cross" (Philippians 4:26-28). Holy Thursday's liturgy is important for many reasons. It commemorates the institution of two sac-raments by Christ; the Eucharist and the Holy Orders. It is the day that Christ instituted the fellowship of the breaking of the bread which is the symbol of the New Covenant. The act was continued among the early Christian communities. Today the same custom of breaking of the bread is continued in the Catholic tradition of the Holy Mass. This day is also important because Christ sum-marized the role of every Christian: It is to serve our brothers and sisters with humility; going down on our knees and washing their feet. This is the sign of true Christian discipleship.

Holy Thursday

It was mid-morning of a hot sultry day. Crowds thronged the streets. Men, women and children

waving palms expectation, animation, enthusiasm reg-istered on their eager faces. Cheerful expressions that clearly conveyed their ecstatic delight. They peeped here, they peered there hoping to catch a glimpse of Him whom they were waiting for. Shouts of "Hosanna! Hosanna!" rent the air.The crowds lunged forward waving their palms fran-tically, enthusiastically. There came the Nazarene robed in His simple, white, seamless, garment woven by His mother 'blessed faith in every thread' riding a donkey. The donkey carried His mother through the crowded streets of Bethlehem to the stable when His mother was carrying Him in her blessed womb. The donkey carried Him as a baby in His mother's arms,in their �light into Egypt to escape the horror of the mas-sacre of the innocents by Herod, guided and led by His venerable foster father Joseph the carpenter. So it was but appropriate that on His triumphal journey too the choice should have been a donkey. The donkey had His glorious hour too.

One far �ierce hour and sweetThere was a shout about his ears

And palms before his feet." There were palms waving around the Naza-rene, there were palms strewn in His path, there were palms strung across the roads, there were crowds fol-lowing Him with swaying palms. lt was palms, palms,

all the way. And so the Nazarene made His triumphant entry into Jerusalem.

Jerusalem, JerusalemLift up your gates and sing

Hosanna in the highestHosanna to your king.

He the God-man, who knew the way of the world, would have known this was a farce. That these hosannas would in a few days be followed by

Not this man but BarrabasCrucify Him! Crucify Him!

They would mock, jeer, boo Him out of the city, �log, scourge and crown Him with thorns, don Him in the mockery of a purple robe and subject Him to a most shameful death between two thieves. No matter! This was the triumphal hour for both the Nazarene and His decrepit carrier. He rode on with a serene expression strands of His shoulder length hair wafting across His face like shades of what awaited Him. But then He would rise in triumph on Easter morn. He would triumph over sin and death. He the Redeemer, the Saviour of the world.

Jerusalem, JerusalemSing for the night is o'erHosanna in the highestHosanna for evermore.

Jeannette Cabraal

The Nazarene's Triumph


Entering into Christ’s holocaust We are at the door of Holy Week and Palm Sunday serves as its portico. By means of the liturgy, the Church is gradual-ly preparing us for the full and fruitful cel-ebration of the paschal mystery of Christ. Holy Week celebration is a spe-cial summons for us to intensify that interior process of dying to ourselves in order to resurrect with Christ under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. In this regard, Pope Francis reminds us that inner transformation or conversion is not a mere sentiment we feel inside us. Rather, it denotes a real change the way we think, behave and speak. On one hand, spiritual transfor-mation demands rejection of sin, heeding to the letter those words of Jesus, “Go, and do not sin again" (Jn. 8:11). On the other, it entails a commitment of mak-ing a resolute effort to practice virtues, i.e., doing what is good. The latter is the harder part of conversion. Now, we can prime that process of spiritual transfor-mation by meditating on the Passion of the Christ. If we are to accompany Christ in his glory at the end of Holy Week, we must �irst enter into his holocaust and be truly united to Him as he lies dead on Calvary (St. J. Escrivá, Christ is passing by, 95). Thus, during these days we will accompany Jesus, contemplating Him in our prayers, along his painful way to Cal-vary and his death on the cross.

We are protagonists The Lord asks us, “My people! What have I done, in what way have I of-fended you? Answer me” (Mic. 6:3). I gave you the water of salvation which �lowed from my sorrow to drink and you gave me honey and vinegar. My people, what have I done to you? (cf. Liturgy, Good Friday). We simply do not have any an-swer to that question of our Lord. God has done everything and has given us much more than what we deserve. His Son, Jesus Christ, has done nothing to de-serve the agony of an ignominious death. Our response would simply be a silent offering of our “humble and contrite heart” (Ps. 51:17). With contrition and penance, we wish to relive those bitter hours which Jesus freely chose to suffer for love of us so we could learn to learn Him generously in return. Sorrow for sins is fostered by

meditating on the events of that �irst Holy Week. But as we keep Jesus company, let us not forget that we too were protago-nists in all those horrors, for Jesus bore the burden of our sins (cf. 1 Pet. 2:24), each and every one of them. We were freed from the hands of the devil and from eternal death at a great price (cf. 1 Cor. 6:20), that of the Blood of Christ. Each of us is somehow responsible for all that Jesus went through.

Contemplating Christ’s Cross The Christian custom of meditat-ing on the Passion has a deep rooted tra-dition. It traces back to the very earliest days of Christianity. Many of the faithful in Jerusalem had been eyewitnesses and were present as Christ passed through the streets and alleyways of Jerusalem on the eve of the Pasch. They would nev-er forget Jesus’ sufferings as he made his way to Calvary. Take note that the Evangelists dedicated a good part of their writings to the detailed account of those events. Those were the culminating point of Jesus’ re-demptive mission. Thus, we should medi-tate on our Lord’s Passion constantly, said St. John Chrysostom; “what great bene�it we will gain by doing so. Even if you are as hard as stone, when you contemplate that He was sarcastically adorned; then ridiculed; beaten and subjected to the �i-nal agonies, you will be moved to cast all pride from your soul” (Homilies on the Gospel of St. Matthew, 87, 1). How many people have been converted by heartfelt meditation on the Passion! St. Thomas Aquinas said that the “Passion of Christ is enough to serve as a guide and model throughout our lives” (About Greed, 6). A story goes how the Angelic Doctor, St. Thomas, went to visit St. Bonaventure one day. He asked the latter where he had acquired such good doctrine re�lected in his works. It is said that St. Bonaventure showed him a cruci�ix, which was blackened from all the kisses he had given it, and explained “This is the book that tells me what I should write; the little I know I have learned from it” (cf. St. Alphonsus Liguori, Meditations on Christ’s Passion, 1:4). From the cruci�ix the saints learned how to suffer and truly love Christ. We too should learn from it. We, too, should �ix our gaze on the cruci�ix.

“As a Christian, you should always carry your cruci�ix with you. And place it on your desk And kiss it before going to bed and when you wake up; and when your poor body rebels against your soul, kiss it again" (St. J. Escrivá, The Way, 302). Jesus hanging on the Cross and His Pas-sion should be the frequent themes of our personal meditation, but especially so in these days leading up to the Paschal Mysteries of our redemption.

The Passion reveals God’s mercy The passion and death of our Lord on the Cross are the clearest revela-tion of the mercy of God in favour of men. With reason, we can af�irm that Good Friday is the day of the divine mercy. Spiritually, we contemplate Cal-vary and tune in our hearts with those of Jesus cruci�ied, of the Most Blessed Virgin, of St. John and of the other holy women, in order to commemorate this event which is the source of our salva-tion. Mercy is born when love touches misery. The miseries of men are so many and varied: hunger, thirst, sufferings, ig-norance, errors, etc., and above all, sin. We abandon God through sin, which is the greatest of all miseries. We deny God, the supreme Good, through the sin of atheism, which is the greatest evil, the greatest misery. These miseries are not only present in the personal level, but also in the family and social levels. Persons, families and nations, abandon, deny and rebel against God (cf. Ps. 2). God looks at man sunk in his miseries, and He loves him. Man turns his face away, but God continues loving him and offers him His help. Because, although we may be unfaithful in our love, God remains faithful: He continues loving us. He never gives up on us. How good God is! God’s mercy is boundless “His mercy is from generation to generation" (Lk 1: 50). In her visit to St. Elizabeth, the Virgin Mary proclaimed the mercy of God from generation to genera-tion. The History of Salvation proves this. In Paradise, God is moved by the misery of Adam who has fallen, and promised a Redeemer. He called Moses to free the people of Israel from the slavery of the Egyptians, and later through the cen-

turies He s e n d s p r o p h e t s to proclaim his mercy. God’s love for us in the face of our miseries is especial ly manifested when He gave us His own Son: “So much did He love the world, that He gave His only begotten Son” (Jn. 3: 16). Christ, in turn, revealed to us the mercy of God through his preaching: the parables of the lost sheep, the lost coin, the prodigal son (cf. Lk 15). Jesus’ gestures likewise unveiled the Father’s merciful heart by receiving sinners with affection and pardoning them of their sins, e.g., the adulterous woman, Zacchaeus, the good thief, etc. The self-giving of Jesus grew in intensity as He approaches Calvary. The Gospels tell us how His pains and sacri�ic-es gradually intensi�ied. In the Garden of Gethsemane He voluntarily gave Himself to His enemies; He did not defend Himself against the calumnies and false accusa-tions; He allowed himself to be whipped and crowned with thorns; He accepted the beatings and the mockery; He toler-ated being exchanged by Barabbas, who was a thief and a murderer; He stretched Himself on the cross to be nailed. St. John Paul II wrote: “His love for man, for you and for me, is much stronger than death, much stronger than sin” (Enc. Dives in misericordia, 8). When men fail in their love for Him, He remains faithful and continues loving us. Such is the quality of God’s love for us. Who dares to remain immersed in His sinfulness upon contemplating the Son of God nailed on the cross, so that we could regain our dignity as chil-dren of God? The mercy of God extends from generation to generation, above all, through the Sacraments, especially the Sacrament of Penance. Let us have recourse to the Most Blessed Virgin. She is the Mother of Mercy, because in her, the love of God did wonders in preserving her from all stains of sin, and because, remaining at the foot of the cross, she gained for us, together with her son, the mercy of God. (cf. Dives in misericordia, 9)

MEDITATING ON THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST

The story of Easter in all its glory has been told and re-told countless times during the past 2000 years, starting with the chronicles of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Along the way, these tales have been adorned with a wealth of folklore and legend, thus making myth and symbol play an important part in the narration of Christ's resurrection. From time to time, down through the ages, symbols have come into sharp focus and in this day and age, serve to pinpoint the signi�icance of the Easter season for all of us. "Except a corn of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it abideth alone; but if it dies, it bringeth forth much fruit." In these simple words, Christ summed up the fact that life depends on death and resurrection. Christ was cruci�ied on Passover Day. This important feast in the Jewish calendar was observed in thanksgiving for the deliverance of the Israelites the night before they �led from Egypt. In the Hebrew tradition, food shared together has always been in itself a pledge of friendship and

loyalty. The traditional table is laid with symbolic foods and the stirring story of the Exodus of the children of Is-rael from Egypt is read, so that the Jewish people re-live their ancestors’ dramatic �light from Egyptian bondage. Pride of place on the table goes to the Matzo or unleavened bread called the bread of af�liction, because the Israelites had left in such haste that their women had no time to leaven the bread. Then comes the roasted lamb to commemorate the sacri�ice made by the Israelites in Egypt before leaving for the Promised Land, a roasted egg to symbolise mourning for the destroyed Temple. Maror, or bitter herbs dipped in vinegar, as a reminder of the bitterness of Israel's slavery in Egypt. Charoseth made of chopped almonds, grated apple, �igs, dates, wine, sugar and cinnamon to symbolize the mortar with which the Jews were forced to lay bricks for Pharoah, and which was the colour of common brick and salt water, symbolizing the Red Sea that parted mi-raculously to let the Israelites escape. Innumerable legends and folk beliefs are asso-ciated with the Lenten season and Eastertide. Many of

the ancient liturgical customs of the Early Church are being adapted to give greater symbolic meaning to tra-ditional forms of service. In the Old World, little or no work was done on Good Friday. Household chores such as weaving and laundering were taboo. It was believed to be a good day to graft fruit trees. No self respecting blacksmith would drive a nail because of the use to which hammer and nails were put on Good Friday. Iron, so tradition goes, should not be driven into the ground, for the same reason. The Egg was a symbol of the creation of the world. The Phoenix represented the Risen Christ. It was chosen for the be-lief that it died and came to life again. On Easter Eve, people gathered in a darkened church to remind them of Christ in the tomb, as they wit-ness the making of light when new �ire is kindled. Once the �lame is made, the Paschal Candle is lit, followed by the lighting of other candles in the church. These candles, symbols of Christ as the maker of light, provide an aura of glory that makes a profound impression on the faithful, as they wait through the night, watching for the dawn.

The Symbolism of Easter By Therese Motha

MLIVING FAITHRev. Fr. Daniel Icatlo


Mother of Jesus Mother of Jesus is addressed as ‘woman’. The beloved disciple of Jesus is entrusted to her care (Jn. 19:26). Why is she addressed as woman? Is He disrespecting Mary? Well, the �irst woman is the mother of all living human beings according to the Genesis account. However the �irst woman betrayed our divine son-ship under a tree, the tree of good and evil. However, Mary the new Woman gives birth to a new community and restores the sonship under the new tree of good and evil, the cross. So she gives birth to the mystical body of Christ, the Church. Therefore the

word ‘woman’ is symbolic of the fact that she now has become the Mother of the new creation.

The Death on the Cross Death on the Cross becomes paradoxical and the rejected Messiah becomes the Saviour of the world. He says “I am thirsty.” What does this mean? In the Old Testament the people of Israel are referred as the Vine-yard of the Lord (see Isaiah 5:7). Having planted this vineyard, God came in search of the wine. He manured it, watered it and nurtured it. Nevertheless, what the world or the vineyard gave Him was a bitter wine. To us too, He says, “I am thirsty.” What do we give Him? Are we also offering Him a bitter wine? He says “It is �inished.” He enjoys a sense of accomplishment. Having ful�illed the mission entrusted to Him by the Father He says, “It is �inished.” It is a victorious declaration. The Johannine account says that Jesus’ side was pierced with a lance and at this piercing, blood and water gushed from His side. What is ‘blood and water’? These refer to two of the important Sacraments of the Church’s life: Baptism and Eucharist. Further, God did open the side of Adam to take a rib to create Eve. Simi-larly, the side of the New Adam is opened and the New Eve, the Church is born. The Cross becomes the New “Tree of Life.”

The BurialJesus is t a k e n d o w n from the Cross and is laid in the bo-som of Mary, His M o t h e r. Well, this is a test-ing mo-ment for her. She

was given lots of promises at the Annunciation saying that her Son would be the Son of God, the King of the kings and that the Throne of His Father David would be given to Him. What happened to these promises? Mary believed that God could ful�ill these promises even at that moment of despair. Her faith challenges us. In the shorter version of the Creed, we pray during the Holy Mass, we say “He descended to Hell.” This is a reference to His burial. Well then, why did He descend to hell? In one of the oldest writings of Easter, we are told that He descended to hell to set the prison-ers free from the bondage of the devil. It says that He meets Adam there and says to him: “Adam, I am your God who for your sake became your son.” He indeed be-came one of us and died for our sake to set us free. How grateful are we to Him?

Have we made any attempt to change our way of life?

The Passion of our Lord according to the Fourth Gospel

begins from the arrest of Jesus on the Mount of Ol-ives and extends to the burial by Joseph of Ari-mathea. John presents Jesus as the one who is in

control of everything. There is no agony in the garden in the Johannine account. Jesus questions the authorities. Even the death awaits His command. “It is �inished” (Jn. 19:30), He says and completes His mission entrusted to Him by the Father. Jesus is not a helpless victim, but He willingly gives Himself up to be cruci�ied. Thus, His pas-sion is purely soteriological. He reveals Himself as the one who bears the name of God “I am He.” Johannine account presents Jesus as an advocate of non-violence, when He reprimands Peter to put the sword back into its sheath (see Jn. 18:11). Peter represents the worldly powers and Jesus the heavenly. Often in life, we think that evil in the world should be overcome by evil. Jesus reminds us that evil can only be overcome by love and love alone.

Cruci�ixion during Jesus’ Time Cruci�ixion was a punishment reserved to the criminals and thieves. It was an act of shame. The vic-tims were hung on the crosses and were ridiculed by the public and the soldiers. Scourging, blindfolding and blood shedding were necessarily associated with the cruci�ixion. The victims were made nude and the scourging was done to both sides of the body. Death by cruci�ixion was slow and prolonged. It was such a pain-ful experience. However, John sees the lifting up of Jesus on the cross as His exaltation to the Father. It indeed is His exaltation and the victory over the evil powers of the world.

Arrest of Jesus It is a night of injustice and terror. The be-trayal of a blame-less person by His intimate friend and the abuse of power by the reli-gious and political authorities are all signs of terror and injustice. This is a night in which the powers of dark-

ness clash with the powers of light. People have failed to recognise the presence of true light in Jesus Christ. He indeed is the light of the world (Jn 8:12). The irony of the story is that they came to arrest the true light of the world taking recourse to torches and lanterns. Often in life, we too fail to see in Jesus the true light of the world. We trust in torches and lanterns without believing in Jesus, the true light that illuminates the world.

The Garden It is in the Garden of Eden that Adam betrayed our divine sonship. For the sonship to be restored, the New Adam Jesus had to be betrayed in a garden. The �irst Adam did not care for the garden and consequently he was banished from the garden, but the New Adam is buried in this garden and is resting. It is symbolic that Jesus requests the soldiers to let the other disciples leave. This shows that He has taken over the brunt of sin on Himself and spares every human being from their impending punishment. In the Johannine account, we �ind Jesus bound. This binding goes on to show that He is the Lamb of God sacri�iced for the forgiveness of sins and reminds us of the faith of Abraham who bound his son to be offered as a burnt offering. God lets His Son to be bound and offered as a sacri�ice for the salvation of the world. He spares Isaac, not His Son. This shows His unfathomable love for His creation.

The TrialDuring the trial, Jesus is not try-ing to hide His identity. He is not timid, but c o n � i r m s His identity, while Peter. His disciple

denies it thrice. Jesus confesses His Messiahship before the highest authorities of His time, while Peter denies it before a servant girl. How often do we also reject Him or hide our true identity as Christians merely to obtain some favours? Jesus is challenging us. What is more ironic in the trial is that Jews refuse to enter the Praeto-rium in order to keep the ritual purity to celebrate the Passover, while demanding the death of an innocent. Well, how many of us are keen to keep the ritual purity by faithfully attending the religious observances, but ill-treat the poor and the oppressed? Ironic! Pilate presents Jesus to the Jews saying, “Do you want me to release for you the King of the Jews?” (Jn. 18:39). However people reject Him and choose Barabbas in His place. People reject the God of love and choose the brutality of Barabbas. Are we different from them? I doubt! On the other hand, Pilate knows the truth, i.e. Jesus is innocent, but refuses to act on it fearing that he will lose his power. Often we too know the truth, but do not act accordingly. Pilate tells Jesus that he has the power to condemn or release Jesus. But Jesus is convinced of the fact that He has to obey none but God. He never gives up on God, because He knows that God never gives up on Him.

Crown of Thorns Jesus is crowned with thorns. What does this mean? Well, in the creation story, we do not �ind God creating thorns. Then, how did the thorns come into be-ing? According to Gen. 3:18 and Gen. 4:12, thorns erupt from the earth as a result of

man’s sin. Therefore the Crown of Thorns is symbolic. Jesus carries the consequences of sin to atone for the sin of humanity.

Exaltation on the Cross “Jesus the Nazarene, King of the Jews” - This is what Pilate or-ders to hang on the top of the Cross. This is written in three languages; Latin, Hebrew and Greek. In Latin, it read “IESUS NAZARENUS REX IUDAEORUM” (INRI). Now these three languages were considered the world languages during the time of Jesus. Therefore it became a universal message – the world has cruci�ied its Saviour, the world

has killed the Author of life. What the world rejected so vehemently is manifested to the world: He is your King.

The Seamless Tunic The seam-less tunic of Jesus is suggestive of the High Priest-hood of Jesus. In the Johannine ac-count, we are told that the soldiers refused to tear the

tunic and divide it among themselves. It is symbolic of the impossibility to divide the Church, the Christian community. Therefore any act of division in the Church is contrary to the Will of God.

THE PASSION OF JESUSAccording to the Fourth Gospel

Rev. Fr. Thilina Geeth GayanStaff - Aquinas College of Higher Studies


By Anton Abeysekera

After the entry of Jesus to Jerusalem, which the Church celebrates as Palm Sunday, very signi�icant events, prophecies and parables are recorded in Scripture during the pe-riod the Church calls the Holy Week. The cursing

of the Fig tree, the Parable of the Wedding Feast, the Cleansing of the Temple, and the prophecy of the destruction of the Temple are some of them. The Parable of the Tenants is another sig-ni�icant Prophecy where Jesus said that we are the bene�iciaries of His King-

dom. Here, a Landowner leases his vineyard to ten-ants and when harvest time came the tenants killed the servants of the Landowner as they came to collect the produce. He sent other servants and again they too were killed by the tenants. Finally he sent his Son thinking “they

will not harm my Son” but he too was killed. He asked the people what will the Landowner do now and they answered: "He will put the men to Death and give the Vineyard to others”(Mark 9) The end of the parable is reproduced Jesus said to them, "Have you never read in the Scriptures: 'The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief cornerstone. This was the Lord's doing, And it is marvelous in our eyes' ? "Therefore, I say to you, the Kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bear-ing the fruits of it. "And whoever falls on this stone will be broken; but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to

powder." Now when the chief priests and Phari-sees heard this parables, they perceived that He was speaking of them. But when they sought to lay hands on Him, they feared the multitudes, be-cause they took Him for a prophet. (ESV12- 9-12) This parable was preached by Jesus a few days before his death and Jesus categorically states that Almighty God will take the Kingdom of God away from the Jews and the Nation referred to as bene�iciaries are the Gen-tiles. An event that took place when He died on the cross further manifests this fact. The Death of Je-sus is recorded in Mat-thew as follows: "But Jesus cried out in a loud voice, and gave up his spirit, and behold! the veil of the Sanctuary was torn in two from top to bottom.The earth quaked, rocks were split and tombs opened”(Matthew 27,50-52). The death of Jesus brought about these phe-nomenon but let us focus on this aspect of the veil as this is most signi�icant as Gentiles were considered outcasts and were not al-lowed to enter the Holy sections of the Temple as

shown in this image of the Temple reproduced. What was the position of the Veil in the Temple and what purpose did it serve? Let us �irst

identify the different sec-tions in the temple during Jesus time. Within the Holy Place of the tabernacle, there was an inner room called the Holy of Holies, or the Most Holy Place. Judging from its name, we can see that it was a most sacred room, a place no ordinary person could enter. It was God’s spe-cial dwelling place in the midst of His people. Dur-ing the Israelites’ wander-ings in the wilderness, as recorded in Exodus, God appeared as a pillar of cloud or �ire in and above the Holy of Holies. The Holy of Holies was a per-fect cube, its length, width and height were all equal

to 15 feet. A thick curtain, the Veil separated the Holy of Holies from the Holy Place. The word “Veil”

in Hebrew means a screen, divider or separator that hides. But what was this curtain hiding? Essential-ly, it was shield-ing a Holy God from sinful man and Gentiles were considered sinful. Whoever entered into the Holy of Holies was enter-

ing the very presence of God. In fact, anyone ex-cept the High Priest who entered the Holy of Holies and would die. Even the high priest, God’s chosen mediator with His people, could only pass through the veil and enter this sacred dwelling once a year, on a prescribed day called the Day of Atone-ment. This curtain, known as the “Veil,” was made of �ine linen and blue, purple and scarlet yarn. There were �igures of cherubim (angels) embroidered onto it. Cherubim, spir-its who serve God, were in the presence of God to demonstrate His Almighty power and majesty.

Contd. on Pg. 13

"And the veil of the Sanctuary was torn in two from top to bottom"

Easter Message from the ArchbishopEaster is the joyful festival celebrated by Christian faithful all over the world according to the Liturgical Calendar of the Church. As St. Paul proclaimed, if Christ was not risen, what does it pro�it my teaching and your believing (1 Cor. 15:14). After a special

preparation for forty days, the Christian faithful cele-brate this feast to absorb the true meaning of the Passion of Our Lord. Christ was born similar to man, except sin and His resurrection is the �inal fruit of His life which He lived in obedi-ence to the Father’s will.

The Risen Lord has en-tered into the eternal life. It tells us that those who live according to the Word of God will also achieve eternal life, �inally. Every Easter, we should be able to keep away from the deeds that test our faith. Instead, we should strive to live our

life according to the Word of God. I invite our faith-ful to live their lives in ac-cordance to the Word of God. I wish all our faithful that this Easter will be a true Passover.

Malcolm Cardinal RanjithArchbishop of Colombo


Holy Week Art from Japan through Ikebana, �lower arrangements

A Holy week meditation through African artistic language

The paintings are taken from the Life of Je-sus Mafa. They include 63 pictures from

the life and teaching of Jesus, viewed by the art-ist as if the events had taken place in a village in Cameroon. It was an initiative undertaken in 1970s by French Catholic missionary François Vidil who worked with Mafa Christian com-munities in Cameroon to create the paintings depicting the life of Jesus as an African man. It was a plan to build a resource that would help Mafa people to teach from the bible in a way

that connects with their community. The proj-ect took a long time to complete. Vidil formed a team of local church leaders, theologians and a carefully selected artist. The team would spend time in Mafa communities, reading bible passages and get-ting people to reenact them. Vidil and his team would photograph their reenactments as the artist sketched them. These sketches and pho-tographs became the basis of the �inal paint-ings in this collection.


1. Some notes on Holy ThurdaysMass does not end. It leads to Hours of Prayer with Je-sus in the Garden of Gesthamane. The Blessed Sacra-ment is taken to the repository for prayer.

2. The special themes of the Massa. The new Commandment of the Love (John 13 – 15)b. Institution of the Most Holy Eucharist, the Paschal

Sacri�icial meal which is now made new in Jesus.c. Jesus assumes the role of a slave.

3. These Symbols could be explained within the current context.a. Laying the garment aside (Jn. 13:4) Jesus emptied Himself of His real status and became

a servantb. Girding with a towel (Jn. 13:4). This was done by slaves. Jesus was prepared even to

become a slave in order to serve others.c. Washing of the feet (Jn. 13:5). He set the example by washing the feet of the

disciples Himself.

4. A suggestion for the Repositorya. A broken host could form the background to the Repository. This could be done with rigifoam. Close to this symbol the following words could be placed: Breaking is to Unite not to divide.

5. For the Hour of Prayera. To be awake with the Lord in the garden.b. The disciples slept.c. To live the struggle of Jesus in Gesthamaned. Father not my will, but thy will be done.e. This act of devotion is not adoration nor Benediction. The Ciboria is not exposed.

Introduction for Holy Thursday It was during the Last Supper, that Jesus insti-tuted the Eucharist, Priesthood and washed the feet of His disiples. Today’s mass leads on to the hours of prayer, Jesus in the Garden of Gesthamane. Today’s Mass ush-ers us to the Easter Triduum. Triduum is a Latin word meaning 3 days apparently was coined by St. Augus-tine. St. Augustine writes that the Most Holy Triduum of Christ cruci�ied, buried and risen captures the essential unity of the 3 days Pascha, the passover. During the Pass over at the 10th plague the angel passed over the blood which was the mark of the Hebrew homes, was a day of remembrance and a feast in honour of the Lord’s hon-our. The Israelites counted all their high festivals from dusk to dusk. And we too follow the same pattern. In the Early Church there was only one feast for the year. The pascha an all night vigil commemorating the whole paschal mystery, the climax of the liturgical year. This evening when we begin this celebration with the sign of the cross there is no dismissal and tomorrow no entrance. These three liturgies celebrated over 3 days are one, and concludes with Evening Prayer on Easter Sunday. On Saturday night at the �inal blessing, we place ourselves with the sign of the Cross.

GOOD FRIDAYA. The passion story is not so much the story of Jesus’s

cruci�ixion as an account of His enthronement, His being ‘lifted up’ (3:14; 8:28; 12:32). It is Pilate rath-er than Jesus who is on trial. The blood and water that �lowed from His side look back to the prophets (Ezekiel 47) and forward to the Sacraments.

B. Reception of Holy Communion today reminds us that the Sacrament is continued in the Church even without the physical presence of Jesus. He is always with us Sacramentally.

C. Good Friday’s Liturgy leads us to the mystical si-lence near the Tomb…

It is a Silence of hope and waiting…A silence that would deafen and defeat sin and death.

It is a silence of deep gratitude and adoration to the Lord cruci�ied for our salvation.

Introduction for Good Friday Today we celebrate the life-giving death of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is not a funeral service. Today the liturgy begins and ends in silence. The Church medi-tates on the passion of her Lord and spouse, prays for the needs of the whole world and worships the cross as the symbol of His triumph over sin and death. To-day’s celebration of the Lord’s passion consists of three parts. The Liturgy of the Word, Adoration of the Cross and Holy Communion. The First Reading applied to Christ, which gives an inspiring account of His suffering and what caused them; our sins. The psalm is an expression of trust in God who is faithful. In the Second Reading we are shown that Christ learnt obedience through suffer-ing and became the source of salvation. The Gospel is the account of the Lord’s passion. Where Jesus bowed and surrendered His Spirit to the Father. The Church enters into a new realtionship with Mary the mother of Jesus.

Prayer of the Faithful (See Missal)

Holy Saturday This is the most holy night of all nights! This is the mother of all holy Vigils. This is the night of Libera-tion from sin and death on which we join millions of others who celebrate Jesus Christ the Risen Saviour of the world.

Introduction for Holy Saturday Easter is the principal feast of the Church’s Liturgical year, on this Most Holy Night, the mother of all vigils; the Church waits in vigil, the resurrection of the Lord and celebrates it with the Sacrament of Chris-tian initiation. The Church invites her members dis-persed throughout the world to gather in watchfulness and prayer. This is the Passover of the Lord, where we share in His victory over sin and death. Tonight’s cel-ebration consists of four parts. Service of the light, the Liturgy of the Word, the Liturgy of Baptism and the Lit-urgy of Eucharist. We will begin tonight’s celebration with an ancient custom of lighting the �ire in honour of Jesus, the Light of the World. The paschal candle will be

lit and carried in procession into the church just as the people of Israel were led by a pillar of �ire on their exo-dus journey from slavery to freedom. We shall follow the light of Christ, knowing that we do not walk in darkness. Let us now gather near the main door area, with the candle, to partici-pate in the service of Light.

After having come to the Altar with the Paschal can-dle. Introduction for the Exsult. The exsultet refers to a most ancient evening sacri�ice of praise and thanksgiving sung in honour of the paschal candle. This hymn is about Christ conquer-ing the death brought by Adam’s sin. Heaven is wedded to earth and man is reconciled to God. The Easter Candle symbolizes the Risen Lord it also symbolizes the whole creation namely earth (wax), water and �ire . The Easter candle will be lit throughout the season of Easter (50 days), at Baptisms and funerals.

Introduction for the Readings. (After the exsultet.) The Liturgy of the Word will commence now. The seven readings summarises the History of the Sal-vation. In the �irst reading (Gen 1:1,1:2) we hear all that was created by God. God said and it was so. We too are invited to become part of the new creation. The Second Reading (Exo 14:15-15:1) is about Israel’s exodus from Egypt, from slavery to freedom on dry ground right through the sea. The Third Reading (Is 55:1-11) is as the life giving rains that provide growth and food from the earth, so too all is promised to those who listen to God’s word and repond by seeking the Lord and calling out Him. In the Fourth Reading (Ezek 36: 16-28) the Proph-et Ezekiel announces the end of exile. God will place a new, natural and obedient heart within Israel. Law will not be a matter of external conformity but of an interior dedication. In Fifth Reading St. Paul explains the two movements of Baptism. One. Death to sin and other a new life similar to the Risen Christ (Rm 6:3-11). In the Gospel as it was the custom to visit the tomb, the women come to know that Jesus is risen.

Liturgy of Baptism and Liturgy of the Eucharist The Easter candle, which was lit from the new �ire, will now be plunged into water where the water will be blessed. New members are baptized and all of us renew our baptismal promises, holding our lighted candles. Baptism is once for all celebration of Christ’s resurrection. Through baptism we become Christ’s light for the salvation of the world. The celebration of the Eu-charist is in the fullest sense the Easter sacrament; this is to say the commemoration of the cross and the pres-ence of the Risen Christ. The completion of Christian ini-tiation and the foretaste of Eternal Pascha.

Compiled by: Rev. Fr. Ignatius L. Varnakulasingham

Some Notes, Introductions, Prayer of the Faithful on the Easter Triduum

WHAT THE SEASON OF LENT MEANS TO ME

Lent brings us to think about, the Sacri�ice Our Lord Jesus made Entering this world from His heavenly home to free us from all sin. No doubt He paid a painful price to be cruci�ied on a Cross. To save us and Redeem us, to live a new life and enter our heavenly home above. A BLESSED EASTER TO ALL

Shirani David

Contd. from Pg. 3

A Light from...As Son of Man, in His humble state of the Incarnation, Jesus had come to serve and not to be served. He wishes all those who want to be perfect to follow Him in detach-ing themselves and renouncing excessive attachment to earthly goods, possessions and even loved ones. One must not allow himself to be possessed by them. When the rich young man who was thus invited, failed to face the challenge and as he departed, Jesus felt saddened though He was happy to learn that he had kept all the commandments since his youth. God seems to want the best of us and not what we can give in half-measures and with reluctance. The only way then to enter the light of the Risen Lord and experience Easter, the dawn of new life, grace and Joy in the spirit in the open space of the Kingdom of God, is to look for riches that no brigand steals or no moth destroys. That is why the �irst blessing announced by Jesus on the Mount of Beatitudes runs: "Blessed are

the poor, for theirs is the Kingdom of God." God in Christ reached out to us sinners in love and forgiveness. He is the prodigal father ready to warmly welcome all those who have strayed away squander-ing their lives in debauchery and yet have decided to come back home. Lent is the journey home from the es-tranged land of sin and reckless living and Easter is the banquet readied at the Father’s house. There are plenty of abodes in the house of the Father and Jesus had told us well in advance, that He had gone to prepare a place for His friends with whom He had joyfully shared the great secrets of the Kingdom of God hitherto unseen and unheard. The Risen Lord is ready to support us in our weak faith and unsteady courage, even opening his wounds for the faithless to touch! He is there still-ing storms to a whisper and navigating us to safety. He wants us to launch into the deep for a great draught of abundant �ish. Importantly, the echo of Easter is: “Fear Not, it is I. Peace be with You”. It is the reassuring voice of the cruci�ied and Risen Lord.


Girl's come and help us! Boy's come and help us!

"CRUCIFY HIM” "CRUCIFY HIM" My dear young Builders Today is Palm Sunday and it is the day we remember when Jesus entered into Jerusalem, where he eventually suffered and died for our sal-vation. Like the people in Jerusalem, today, we too stand with palm leaves and wave at Jesus. This is the same crowd that shouted "Crucify Him" In the gospel we read the passion narra-tive of Jesus. As the �irst reading says, Jesus did not utter a word at His Cruci�ixion. He allowed them to �log him, he allowed them to spit upon him, he allowed them to insult him, all because he was obe-dient to the Father and because he Loves us sinners so much. As we stand with others and wave the palm branches today, let us remember that we ourselves deny the Lord so many times. We who shout for joy today are the ones who shout out "Crucify Him!" My dear young builders, Jesus knew then, and Jesus knows now.. He knew that they would deny Him but obediently he allowed himself to be cruci�ied As we begin the Holy Week today, and as we go step by step with the whole church until the resurrection of Christ, let us meditate on the love of Jesus. Just that pure and Unconditional Love that he laid down His own life for us.. How much do we Love Him? Aunty Gerro

THE CASE OF THE EMPTY TOMBMary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: "I have seen the Lord!" And she told them that he had said these things to her. John 20:18 (NIV) Do you like mys-tery stories? When I was a kid, I loved to read mystery books. My favorites were

the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew. I especially liked "The Mystery of the Flying Express" and "The Yellow Feather Mystery." Today we are go-ing to hear the most ex-citing mystery story ever told. I call it "The Case of the Empty Tomb." The story begins very early in the morn-ing on the �irst day of the week. Jesus had just been cruci�ied and buried. Mary Magdalene, one of Jesus' followers, went to the tomb where Jesus was bur-ied. When she got there, she saw that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance. She ran and found Peter and John and said to them, "They have taken the Lord's body from the tomb and I don't know where they have put him." Peter and John raced to the tomb. John got there �irst. He looked in the tomb and saw the linen wrappings lying there. Then Peter arrived

and went inside. He also noticed the linens that John had seen lying there. As he investigated further, he saw the cloth that had covered Jesus' head was also folded and lying apart from the other wrappings. After Peter looked around for a few minutes, John joined him inside. When they were sure that the tomb was empty, they left and went home. Mary stood out-side the tomb crying. As she wept, she looked in-side the tomb and saw two angels sitting there. One of them was sitting at the head and the other at the foot where the body of Je-

sus had been lying. "Why are you crying?" the an-gels asked. "Because they have taken my Lord and I don't know where they have put him," she an-swered. Then Mary turned and was about to leave when she saw some-one standing there. It was Jesus, but she didn't rec-ognize him. "Woman, why are you crying?" Jesus asked her. Mary, thinking that he was a gardener said, "Sir, if you have taken my master away, tell me where he is so that I can go to him."

"Mary!" Jesus said. When Jesus spoke her name, Mary knew who he was. She turned to him and cried out, "Teacher!" "Don't cling to me," Jesus said, "for I have not yet ascended to my Fa-ther. "Go and tell my broth-ers that you have seen me and that I am going to re-turn to my Father and your Father, my God and your God." Mary found the disciples and told them, "I have seen the Lord." Then she gave them the message that Jesus had told her to tell them. And that solves "The Case of the Empty Tomb." The tomb is empty because Jesus is not dead, he is alive! He is risen just as he said! Heavenly Father, the empty tomb is no mys-tery to us. He is risen! We rejoice in his name. Amen.

Sermon4 kids

The Lord's SupperThe Passover had come. Jesus tells Peter and John to prepare the meal in a house. Jesus and the dis-ciples ate together. Jesus said to them, "I have ea-gerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer." While they were eating, Jesus took bread, said the blessing, gave it to the disciples, saying "Take and eat; this is my body." Then Jesus took a cup of wine, gave thanks, and gave to them saying, "Drink from it all of you, for this is my blood of the

c o v e n e n t which will be shed for the for-giveness of sins."

QUESTIONS: What did Jesus tell Peter and John? ..............................What does the bread represent? ....................................What does the cup of wine represent? ........................

Easter Prayer

God made you and God made me,He made the world for us to see.God loves you and God loves me He sent his Son to let us know

Jesus showed us many thingsTo love, to share, to care and consoleTo learn and pray, to give and forgiveAnd promised that He will always be near.

He su� ered and died� en came back to lifeLet us celebrate for He is aliveOh! what a privilege is yours and mine.

The Death of JesusDarkness fell on the whole land and contin-ued until three in the afternoon. Jesus cried out, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" Then he said, "It is �inished," and gave up his spirit. At that mo-ment the curtain of the temple was torn in two. The earth quaked, rocks were split and tombs were opened. The centurion, who was keeping watch over Jesus said, "Truly this was the Son of God!"

QUESTIONS: At what time did Jesus say. My God, my God? ..............

What happened to the temple curtain? .........................

What did the centurion say .................................................

Scripture Memory Quote "On the �irst day of the week, Mary of Magda-la came to the tomb early in the morning, while it was still dark, and saw the stone re-moved from the tomb."

(Jn 20: 1)


R - Rising from the tomb He gave a New LifeE - Empty became the Tomb in Holy Land.S - Saw Mary Magdalene to whom Christ appeared �irst.U - Unending Joy and happiness she experienced.R - Rolled away the heavy stone miraculously.R - Reigning over all He arose with great power and might.E - Easter is a beautiful Day.C - Clad in white Radiant and BeautifulT -Triumphantly He conquered death, sin and evil.I - Into our minds instilled a deep Faith.O - Our Blessed Saviour has won the battle victoriously.N - Now let us Rejoice and place a crown of White Roses on the head of Our Risen Lord and say Thank You a thousand times for saving us from the �ires of hell. Glory and Praise to You Lord Jesus Christ Alleluia

Iris Perera

A Lutheran minister, a frequent vis-itor to Sri Lanka has been telling his friends that Jesus did not rise

from the dead but Gospel stories on res-urrection are symbolic. It is quite possi-ble that not only Lutherans think so but it may be that some other theologians also subscribe to that view. St. Paul addresses this issue in 1 Corinthians 15:44, where he says when buried it is a physical body ugly and weak when raised it is beautiful and strong. He compares it to a seed that dies as a re-sult of which the seed sprouts sto life as a tree (1 Corinthians 15:36). Then in 1 Corinthians 15:6-8, St. Paul recounts the appearances of the Risen Lord to several persons.

Dispute The dispute may be what hap-pens to the outer cover of the seed when life sprouts out of it as a tree. When the spiritual body emerges out of the physi-cal body, the ugly and weak disappears and a beautiful and strong body emerg-es. Some attempts are made to look for traces of the remnants of the physical body that was buried but Gospel ac-counts record that the buried physical body has disappeared. So it is clear that the physical body continues its journey to a spiritual body leaving no trace of the physical body. These matters are dif-�icult to comprehend because the world of the spiritual cannot be explained from the language of the material world. St. Paul in 2 Corinthians 12:1-4, speaks about a person who has heard things which cannot be put into words and things human lips may not speak. The message given is that there are mystical things humans cannot come to know during their own life time. From the Gospel narratives one can take a look at the spiritual body of the Risen Christ which can have sev-eral features that are considered mysti-cal from a pure materialistic view. The spiritual body does not re�lect light con-tinuously which therefore cannot be vis-

ible to human eyes for longer periods of time. It may not re�lect light at all. That is the reason why Hebrews 11:1 empha-sises the things unseen as an essential component of Christian faith and in John 20:29, Jesus emphasises and tells disci-ple Thomas that the faithful who believe without seeing are fortunate. When one closely reads the post resurrection records in the Gospels, the glori�ied body of Jesus was dif�icult to identify. In John 20 :14 it is clearly recorded that Mary Magdelene could not recognise Jesus till Jesus called her Mary. The glori�ied body could not be recognised at the tomb by any one as is recorded by Matthew 28:1-8, Luke 24:1-12, Mark 16:1-7. In Luke where one �inds the walk to Emmaus which Mark records brie�ly in 16:12-13, as a journey to the country side, it is clearly recorded that they could not recognise the glori�ied body of Jesus. Luke then records that what Je-sus said to them was understood by those who walked with Jesus but recognised Je-sus only when He broke the bread at that night (Luke24:31). So it looks like that glo-ri�ied body of Jesus does not re�lect light but sounds emanating from Jesus were

audible. It is also recorded that the sounds triggered a strong reaction in their minds (Luke 24:32). In Luke 24:37 it is recorded that when Jesus appeared to the disciples they thought it was a ghost and Jesus to con�irm He has a physical body had to ask for and eat cooked �ish (Luke 24:42).

Born of the Spirit From the above records it is clear that the glori�ied body of Jesus did not re�lect light and could not be recognised by those who were with Him for almost three years but the sounds were audible. Jesus Himself knew it when He answered Nicodemus. The wind blows where ever it wishes and people hear the sound it makes but do not know the origins or di-rection and it is like that with everyone who is born of the spirit (John 3:8). The resurrected body of Jesus had the same qualities. Jesus then ex-plained that such things are seen in a materialistic world and if Nicodemus could not understand things in the mate-rial world how can he understand things in heaven (John3:12). The same applies to the glori�ied body of Jesus. The glori-�ied body appears suddenly to the disci-ples only. No one knows from where it emerges but from the word sounds those who encounter recognise Jesus. The most dif�icult question to understand is why the glori�ied body of Jesus though dif�icult to recognise by material form but could be recognised by sound was encountered only by those who were followers of Jesus during His life in the human form. There is no record of the glori�ied body appearing to non believers. Even St. Paul only saw a �lash of light that surrounded him and when he responded to the sound Jesus spoke identifying him (Acts 9:4-5). That encounter of Jesus was after Jesus was taken up to heaven (Acts 1:9). During Pentecost Jesus was no longer in the material world but only the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:2). That encounter indicates the

e x p l a n a -tion given by Jesus to Nichodemus about things in this world. So Jesus con-tinues to live in this world as Holy Spir-it till the end of times (Matthew 28:20).

Physics and Mathematics These Gospel records clearly prove that one should not try to under-stand things in a material world based purely on physics and mathematics. There is a lot of confusion as many think mathematics explains things about the material world. This is wrong as math-ematics is only a set of calculations of physical movements of solidi�ied or liq-uid matter. It is used not only in physics but also in economics to test hypothesis. Even in medical sciences it is used. But mathematics in economics known as econometrics could not predict the 2008 world economic crisis. Mathematics may calculate the precise movements of ce-lestial bodies but it cannot predict hu-man behaviour. In trying to understand theol-ogy one studies human conduct driven by man’s inner self and should not be based on mathematical concepts. It is not possible to understand the origins of the glori�ied body of Jesus but one can study the various recorded events to get an idea of some aspects which were sub-ject to visible light and audible sound. But it is known that visible light is only one component of light spectrum and audible sound depends on auditory capacity of human ear. There are other forms of light such as infra red to ultra violet and, sound waves audible to human ear are not the only sound waves that are circulating in the physical world. What is required to follow Jesus is Christian faith as described in Hebrews 11:1 backed by repentance. Then comes forgiveness of sins.

Glorifi ed body of Jesus: Is resurrection physical or spiritual

By P. V. D. Leo Samson

During this season of Lent, many Christians fast, pray and give alms. Some forgo not only food but also

other good things they like. Some give away their new clothes they kept to wear on Easter Sunday or the mon-ey they kept to buy new clothes. The money they col-lect they give to the poor, the needy or for some worthy cause. They do this for the love of Jesus. It is very good. With the money you can also do some evenge-lizing by giving Easter eggs. Buy some eggs with your money. After mid-night Holy Mass boil them and paint them as follows:

Place them in a bowl and dispay it on your table where everyone can see. Offer them to all irrespective of caste, creed or religion. You can take some to the needy, the sick and the suffering, to the Buddhist, Hindu or Muslim friends, to anybody. I am sure those who do not know will ask you

EASTER AND EASTER EGGSwhat these symbols mean. You can start your evangelizing by saying: 1. Jesus has risen from the dead. You see the bare cross with �lowers at the bottom to show the joy of His resurrection. 2. The candle has to burn-out to give light and dispel darkness. Jesus suffered and died for us to dispel the darkness of our hearts and �ill it with His light. We are called to radiate His light to others. 3. The third picture shows a cracked egg. A chick, new-life is coming out we too have to give-up bad habits and try to lead a new life. We have to die to sin and rise to new life - life of grace. Jesus died for all our sins to give us New Life.

Emilda S. Douglas

He is Risen Alleluia


At dawn on the third day after the death of Jesus, two women

who were faithful followers visited the tomb, bringing with them aromatic spices to anoint Jesus’ body, as done customarily. But the inherent divine quality of His body did not neces-sitate such attention and care. At that moment, they were startled by a pervad-ing light of extreme bright-ness that emanated from

what seemed to them to be an apparition of an angel of God. The glow adequately illuminated the territory of the tomb. Speaking to the women, the angel said, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus who was cruci�ied. He is not here, for He is risen as He said. Come see the place where they laid Him” (Matthew 28: 5-6; Mark 16:16). The bright glow and the presence of the angel were intended to impress on them that the message came from God, so that they would believe it. Divine and secular Jesus’ resurrection has two aspects; one is the divine aspect and the other is the secular aspect. The divine aspect is important if humans are to understand why Jesus was born and who He was. Scripture says that His birth and early death were the outcome of di-vine prophecy. His entry to this world, the purpose of His life on earth and His unavoidable sacri�icial death were predetermined by God, to save humans who were in a helpless plight of sin after the fall of the �irst man and woman. That was the reason why He promised a Saviour for humans in the Garden of Eden (Gen 3:15). Jesus was born to ful�il that promise. In its divine aspect, it had reference to all the prophesies that were made during the time of the Old Testament concerning Jesus who is a divine entity and who had to die on the cross to bring salvation to hu-mans, once and for all. His redemptive death envisaged that His body would rise after three days in repose in the tomb by divine will, to contribute in totality to the mystery of salvation of humans and it did rise. From the worldly point of view, the authentic-ity and credibility of the resurrection lie in the fact that it did take place. On the day Jesus rose from the dead, His tomb was left open, not by human intervention and His body was not in the tomb. These facts that occur in the Scriptures cannot be disproved, nor can the oppo-site view be maintained by suppression or distortion of the evidence available.

Jesus’ resurrection contributed in no uncertain terms to uphold the truth of the Gospel He taught. His resurrection identi�ied Him as the Messiah for which He was anointed at His baptism. On that day, God spoke from a bright cloud and gave Him His mission as the Messiah which He successfully ful�illed. (Matthew 3:17). His body after He rose was not a re-creation, but the raising up of His fallen body. Everything essential to His identity was found in the risen body. It was to prove to humans that He rose that He appeared to many in Judea and Galilee. He had a glori-�ied body at that time and in the condition He presented Himself. The people doubted whether He was the Jesus they knew. On one occasion when Jesus appeared to His Apostles, in their panic and fright they thought they saw a strange spirit, but He said to them, “Why are you up-set and why do such ideas cross your mind? Look at my hands and feet and see that it is I myself. Touch me and see for yourselves that a ghost has no �lesh and bones as I have” (Lk 24: 37-40).

Beyond doubt He proved to them beyond doubt that He had risen. His Apostles and other disciples had, in their own judicious view, to believe and accept the Jesus they saw as being the Risen Lord. In His glori�ied state, He had the ability to appear to humans and disappear, His ap-pearances being manifestations of His own divine mo-tive and discretion, until latterly He went back to the outer divine realm to which He rightly belonged. Jesus’ resurrection brought hope to all those who follow His Gospel (Col 1:23). If there was no resur-rection, the Gospel system of salvation would have been a total failure. Apostle Paul in his Epistle to the Corinthi-ans said, “If the dead are not raised, neither has Christ been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith gives you nothing, and you are still in sin” (1 Cor. 15:16-17). This means that Christ’s blood would have had no

atoning power if He did not rise from the dead.

Jesus' Day of Triumph

By E.M. Aldons

Contd, from Pg. 8

And the veil...They also guarded the throne of God. These cherubims were also on the innermost layer of covering of the tent. If one looked upward, they would see the cheru-bim �igures. The Veils before the Most Holy Place were 40 cubits (60 feet) long, and 20 (30 feet) wide, of the thick-ness of the palm of the hand, and made in 72 squares, which were joined together; and these Veils were so heavy, that, in the manuscripts recorded at that time, it was revealed that it needed 300 priests to carry each of them. The objective of the Veil was that of a barrier between man and God, showing man that the holiness of God is sacred and must be respected. The Veil was a barrier to make sure that man could not carelessly and irreverently enter into God’s awesome presence. Even as the high priest entered the Holy of Holies on the Day of Atonement, he had to make some meticulous prepa-rations: He had to wash himself, put on special clothing, bring burning incense to let the smoke cover his eyes from a direct view of God and bring blood with him to make atonement for sins. Image shows the Holy place and the Holy of Holies separated by the Veil “But only the high priest entered the inner room, and that only once a year as mentioned above, and never entered without sacri�icial blood, which he offered for himself and for the sins the people had com-mitted in ignorance” (Hebrews 9:7).

So the presence of God remained shielded from man behind a thick curtain during the his-tory of Israel. However, Jesus’ sacri�icial death on the cross changed that. When He died, the curtain in the Jerusa-lem temple was torn in half, from the top to the bottom. Only God could have carried out such an incredible feat because the Veil was too high for human hands to have reached it and too thick to have torn it.. As the Veil was torn, the Holy of Holies was

exposed. God’s presence was now accessible to all Jews as well as Gentiles. The Pharisees and the Priests minis-tering in the temple that day would have been shocked at this turn of events but, it is indeed good news to us as believers, because we know that Jesus’s sacri�ice and death has atoned for our sins and made us right before God. The torn Veil illustrated Jesus’ body sacri�iced for us thus opening the way for us to come to God. As Jesus cried out “It is consummated on the cross, He was in-deed proclaiming that God’s redemptive plan was now complete. The age of animal offerings was over. The ul-timate offering had been sacri�iced.

Image shows the Holy place and the Holy of Holies separated by the Veil.

Can this broken man on the cross be your hero..?

He spoke of Heaven. He said that He was the son of God. And you chose Him as your hero.

And now..! He falls repeatedly on the ground. A helpless broken man, powerless and helpless. Your hero is as feeble as a de�lated balloon. “Come to me all of you who are burdened, I will give you rest” He once said.And now He Himself is burdened with a cross He Himself cannot carry.Is He still your hero?You said ‘yes’?What? Is it a joke?This massacred lacerated man - your hero?Are you minus your senses?Yes , either you may be pretty stupid to choose a powerless man as your hero, or you may have some special hidden inspiration that ordinary hu-man beings do not understand.There are heroes in the world. There are incredi-ble hulks, spidermen, herculeses, batmen..a whole range of heroes... Even children know that a hero is a powerful man who can do absolute magic or things that others can’t do. Look at your hero!He is immersed in misery, he feels himself drained, like an empty sack, with not even a drop of energy left. Well yes...it is impossible to choose a man of this nature, a weak man.. insulted, scoffed, whipped, beaten and spat on, a man..struggling to climb up to his death-mountain with a cross...rather drag-ging himself than walking...as a hero.How can you?Good thinking! Precise logic! A weak broken helpless man cannot be your hero or my hero or anybody’s hero. We may be foolish to follow Him. But a little bird told me something that de�ies logic. It is not human reasoning. It is very high rea-soning probably only nature and birds could un-derstand. This time the little bird looked like a radiant beau-tiful pristine white pigeon. And the bird was so convinced and so convincing.Your hero should be a person who loves you...someone with a heavenly love and not earthly power.... a genuine love that is unconditional to the truest sense of the word, someone who can give you life and joy on earth and even thereafter.The difference of this hero is distinct. He showed that His kingdom is not a kingdom of this world. We are from the world but not of the world He once reminded. This man is a broken man as a human being, but He broke records in history no other human could.. No one can love some other person more than his/her own self. But this so called weak man proved Himself the strongest by showing that He loved mankind more than His own self, despite man’s wickedness...There is no greater love than giving one’s life for friends He said...Well this broken man broke the history into two. After Christ and Before Christ are names of those two divisions. He did it not with earthly political power, weapons , bloodshed or wielding powers of an army.He did change the path of the history of the world purely by the power of love for the mankind and nothing but love...And I was suddenly convinced that there cannot be a better hero in my life than this wonderful personality – Jesus!

Michael Angelo Fernando


1. From the Sacred Ashes we have now reached the Pas-chal Fire. The Sabbath is long past; the rays of “the �irst day of the week”, Sunday, have fallen on Calvary. The women are at the Tomb; those, who, from a distance, looked on the cruci�ied and dying Jesus, walk to the Tomb; the Good Friday meets the Easter Sunday.

2. At the tomb the angel of the Lord, descended from heaven and dressed in clothing as white as snow sym-bolic of victory, demonstrates and explains to the holy women the cause of the emptiness of the tomb: “for he has been raised.” The cruci�ied Jesus is raised and so, the tomb is empty. This is how he explains the emp-tiness of the tomb. This has been how the Church has over the centuries proclaimed it.

3. This Christian teaching on the emptiness of the tomb raises not a few questions in the minds of many. Was the tomb actually empty? Why was it empty? Do we, Christians, believe in the Resurrection of the Lord, sim-ply because the tomb remained empty? These are just to name a few of the questions.

4. Was the tomb actually empty? We strongly say it was historically empty. It was made empty by God; it was made empty by the Lord’s Bodily Resurrection. We say this with reasons logically valid and factually true.

i. All the four Gospels do attest that the tomb was made empty by Jesus’ Bodily Resurrection (Mark 16; Mat-thew 28; Luke 24; John 20). Hence the Evangelists had believed this. The early Christians and preachers had believed this. We believe this today based on them.

ii. Mary Magdalene is remembered in these Gospels as the basic witness to the �inding of the empty tomb. Thus the story that the tomb was empty and it was dis-covered by Mary of Magdala was part of the historic Christian memory.

iii. If the tomb had not been empty, then Jesus’ disciples could not have preached about the Resurrection. Any Jewish non-believer could have gone and pointed to the body corrupting in the grave. The disciples could preach a risen Jesus because His body had not rotten in the tomb and the tomb had remained empty. St. Paul could write to the Corinthians the living tradition of the Resurrection: “… that he was raised on the third

day in accordance with the scriptures …” (1 Corinthi-ans 15,3-4) simply because the tomb had been made empty.

iv. If the tomb had not been empty, then Jesus’ disciples would not dare to die for a belief in the Risen Lord. Their belief in the Risen Lord could hardly be a lie invented by them as none would dare to die for a lie but for what one is strongly convinced of. The disciples testi�ied to this fact of Jesus’ Resurrection with their blood. Hence the tomb had been actually made empty by God.

v. The tomb could have been found empty, if ‘someone has taken the body’ (John 20). If so, there was no bodily resurrection. Hence it should be possible to �ind the Body. But it never occurred.

vi. The tomb could have been found empty, if, as Jews claimed, ‘The disciples of Jesus stole the body at night’ (Matthew 28,13-15). If so, there was no bodily resur-rection. Hence it should be possible to �ind the Body. But it never occurred.

vii. The bodily Resurrection occurred and hence the tomb became empty. If so, it was not possible to �ind the Body. So it is! Even today none has unearthed any relic of the Body of Jesus. The Lord had been bodily raised up leaving the tomb empty.

viii. The NT attests that the Risen Lord appeared to His disciples. Hence the tomb, “the place where they laid him”, must remain empty, as they believed in a bodily resurrection. Moreover, these Resurrection Appearanc-es and the emptiness of the tomb verify the historicity of the Lord’s Resurrection (CCC # 647).

5. Do we, Christians, believe in the Resurrection of the Lord, simply because the tomb remained empty? The Resurrection explains the emptiness of the tomb, not the other way. The empty tomb is not in itself a direct proof the Resurrection; the absence of Christ’s Body from there could be explained otherwise.

6. Then what does the empty tomb signify? It signi�ies that “… by God’s power Christ’s had escaped the bonds of death and corruption … prepared the disciples to en-counter the Risen Lord” (CCC # 657). It was an essential sign for the disciples. It was the �irst step towards their recognizing the fact of the Resurrection. They realized that the absence of the Body in the tomb was a work of

God, not of man. Thus the Christian proclamation is not fabricated but genuine.

7. “He is going before you to Galilee …”Why is Galilee given this prominence? i. Galilee is the place of Jesus’ public ministry.

ii. Galilee is that of the Gentiles – the people looked down upon/ marginalized. Jesus is in total solidarity with them.

iii. Let us place these words in the ecclesial context of St. Matthew. The Christians, especially the leaders, were leaving the faith due to persecutions. Hence the Evan-gelist tries to show how Jesus was always good towards the twelve disciples. He chose them, patiently instructed them, while some (Peter, James and John) experienced His life quite closely. Yet they did not understand Him fully and left Him, when He most needed them – namely, in the Passion. He died without them. However after the Resurrection, He took the initiative to forgive and lead them to Galilee. There came to be a reunion in the very place, where they had experienced their calling and much of His mission. The lesson to the Christian com-munity is not to be discouraged despite their failure in discipleship, since Jesus is always faithful. This message is much relevant to us as well. Pesach Sameach (Happy Passover)!

Sun: Palm Sunday Is. 50:4-7; Phil. 2:6-11; Mt.26:14-27,66 (or 27:11-54)Mon: Is. 42:1-7; Jn. 12:1-11Tue: Is. 49:1-6; Jn.13:21-33,36-38Wed: Is. 50:4-9a; Mt. 26:14-25Thu: Holy Thursday Ex. 12:1-8,11-14; 1Cor. 11:23-26; Jn.13:1-15Fri: Good Friday Is.52:13-53:12; Heb. 4:14-16,5:7-9; Jn. 18:1-19,42Sat: Holy SaturdaySun: Easter Sunday Acts. 10:34,37-43; Col 3:1-4 or 1 Cor 5:6-8; Jn.20:1-9 or Mt. 28:1-10

Liturgical Calendar Year A 9th April - 16th April 2017

Christ was humbler yet, even to accepting

death, death on a cross. But God raised him high and gave him the name which is above all names.

Palm SundayAid Story. Many years ago a famous general, Duke of Monmouth lived in England. After the de-feat of His army he had to �lee to save his life. During the day he hid in the jungle. But one day his enemies came upon him and followed him to a shepherd’s cottage. The Shepherd changed clothes with him and went out to meet the enemy to give Monmouth time to �lee. The shepherd fought bravely for three hours, with two handed blows right and left until at last he fell exhausted and was killed. In the time the duke had safely �led thanks to the good shepherd. Thereby he escaped and was saved. He was saved at the expense of the life of the shepherd.

Maundy ThursdayAid Story There is a practice still in catholic areas in Ire-land. During the season of Christmas they light a lamp and keep it near a window. The beginning of this prac-tice was during the persecution of Catholics by the Eng-

lish. During that time the priests were in hiding. In the night when they saw a light near a window the priests would come and celebrate the Holy Mass for the people. When the English asked the people why they lit lamps near the window they answered by saying that they did it in case Jesus or Mary would like to have a place to stay; that they can stay in their house. The Eng-lish were alarmed at the foolishness of the Catholics.

Good FridayAid Story During the Viet-nam War a plane dropped a bomb on a Children’s home by mistake. Out of the injured one girl was very serious. The nearby Amer-ican camp sent a Doctor and a nurse to the Home. They requested blood to be given to the girl in order to save her. Nobody came forward except for a boy who want-ed to give blood. While the blood was been taken the boy started to cry aloud. The doctor got a Translator in order to speak to the boy. And she asked why he was

crying. He said that he was afraid because he was go-ing to die once all his blood was taken. She advised the boy that they will not take all his blood. But she asked as to how he decided to give all his blood in order to make that girl live. He said she is my friend.

Easter SundayAid Story A missionary in Shang-hai was ordered out of Red China, and a group of Chinese Catholics came to see him off for Hong Kong. “Have a nice journey Fa-ther; see you again" they called out to him. A policeman came up and scolded them; “Why did you say see you again to that foreign imperialist enemy, that counter revolutionary spy? You will never see him again in this country." One of the Catholics spoke up. If you were a Catholic you would understand. We meant, that we will see him in heaven at the resurrection of bodies.”

Rev. Fr. Ciswan De Croos

Holy Week

“He has been raised from the dead ...” (Matthew 28,1-10)

By Rev. Fr. Don Anton Saman Hettiarachchi


Across the bridge, there's no more sorrow

Across the bridge, there's no more pain

The Sun will shine across the river

And you'll never be un-happy again

This refrain from the much-loved hymn of Jim Reeves is a summary of what Lent and Easter is all about. Yes, we all have sinned, hence suffering is

part of our earthly lives. Lent calls us to be aware of this aspect of our journey here on earth. Christ Himself showed us the path. Without an incarnation this could not have been possible. God became Man.

“ Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and

forty nights, he was hungry.” (Matthew) So, Jesus too knew pain and suffering. He knew hunger, and pain ( much, in His Passion & Death). This is perhaps a negative aspect in our lives. That is why no one wants to suffer. In Franciscan spirituality, Richard Rohr, a Franciscan, speaks of the “Integration of the Negative”. He says” Integration of the negative still has the power to create people who are turning the whole world up-side down. We don’t come to God by eliminating our imperfection, but in fact by rejoicing in it because it makes us aware of our need for God’s mercy and love." Naming it ‘ a spirituality of imperfection’ he says that in a spirituality of imperfection, we have a universal basis for how God “saves” humanity, and perhaps also a clear naming of what God saves us from—which is mainly from ourselves and our own feared and rejected “unworthiness.” Just as we grow by ultimately accepting and for-giving our own failures, we should be able to say about others, “Who am I to judge?”……..Franciscan poverty is when we recognize that myself—by itself—is power-less and ineffective. Within the spirituality of imperfec-tion, the quickest ticket to heaven, enlightenment, or salvation is calmly acknowledged littleness. Then you have nothing to prove, to protect, or to promote. Love your enemy. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neigh-bour and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your heavenly Father, for he makes his sun to rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust” (Matthew 5:43-45). Your enemy always carries the dark side of your own self, the things you don’t like about yourself.

You will never face your own dark side until you em-brace those who threaten you (as Francis embraced the leper in his own conversion experience). The people who turn you off usually do so because they carry your own faults in a different form. Jesus goes on to say, “If you love those who love you, what’s so great about that?” (Matthew 5:46). It’s simply magni�ied self-love. Love the stranger at the gate, the one outside of your comfort zone. Until you can enter into love with the not-me and the non-self, Jesus is saying, you really have not loved at all. And what’s Jesus’ motivation for doing this? Some translations say, it’s to “be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48). A more useful and accurate understanding of the word trans-lated as “perfect” is “whole.” Jesus and Francis met a God who is One, who is whole, who is all-inclusive. Be all-inclusive as your heavenly Father is all-inclusive and all merciful. This is the heart of the Gospel. Jesus’ and Francis’ goal was imitation of a loving, forgiving God. Think of one of your enemies, someone for whom you feel anger, resentment, or hurt. What, about this person most offends or disturbs you? Is it possi-ble this same characteristic is in you, perhaps hidden and unrecognized? When you are able to recognize your own darkness, bring it into God’s loving presence through prayer. As the sense of God’s compassion and acceptance for you grows in your heart and body, ex-tend that warmth to your enemy, embracing them with the same grace you are receiving. Francis of Assisi, like Jesus, refused to exclude things from the garden of grace; there is no exclusion-ary instinct in either of them--except toward exclusion itself! This is at the heart of the Gospel and Franciscan spirituality. Francis had a genius for not eliminating the negative, but instead using it, learning from it, and thus incorporating it. He goes to the edge and the bot-tom of society, he kisses the leper, he loves the poor, he wears patches on the outside of his habit so that every-body will know that this is what he is like on the inside. He doesn't hide from his shadow self, but advertises it. So much of religion has taught us to deny or hide our shadow, which forces us into a fatal split from founda-tional reality. If we begin by distinguishing between the "holy people" and the "unholy people," we end up with what we have now, which is largely an exclusionary re-ligion. We don't have a strong passion about what we are for, but we just know what we are against, what is wrong, what we must not do, and who is sinful. I re-ally wish that was not an overstatement. Franciscan spirituality puts a big exclamation point behind Jesus' words, "The last will be �irst and the �irst will be last" Paul's, "When I am weak, then I am strong" (2 Corinthians 12:10). Upside-downness is at the heart of our message, always prompting us to look more deeply and broadly at things. This opens our eyes to recog-nize God's self-giving at the far edges where most of

us cannot or will not see God, such as other religions, any who are de�ined as outsider or sinner, and even to the farthest edge of our seeing, toward those who �ight us and oppose us--our so-called enemies. Truth, love, and beauty are often found at the lowest, weakest, and most concrete possible levels, like in a frog, a fugitive, or what others might call a "freak." Perfect freedom You have to participate in God's perfect free-dom to be able to see this way! You must grow up to your full stature to �ind the full stature of God (Ephe-sians 4:13). Small souls are incapable of knowing a great God, and great souls are never satis�ied with a small or stingy God. You have to become fully conscious yourself, and then all things will be beautiful. To hate, to fear, or to dismiss is to have fallen into a temporary unconsciousness. Many live their whole lives uncon-scious. Just as we grow by ultimately accepting and forgiving our own failures, we should be able to say about others, "Who am I to judge?" That's quite the op-posite of religion as exclusion! Sometimes, we meet people who have done things that are wrong, sinful, immoral, or "bad"; and yet when we draw close to their particular lives, we �ind that the human heart was most often either sincere, mistaken, or afraid. Inside of that frame they sought apparent good but not the true good. It did make them do some stupid things, for which they are now suffering because evil is its own punishment. But, in fact, the human heart has a kind of tenderness, sweetness, and littleness when you draw close to it, even in its fragility and fear. Jesus is really saying that we are punished by our sins rather than for our sins. Human sin, failure, and imperfection is something to be wept over and pitied, not something to be abhorred or hated. None of us know the wounds that every human being carries and why they do the things they do. As the Jewish philosopher, Philo of Al-exandria, stated, "Be kind to all, because everyone is �ighting a great battle. (Adapted from Franciscan Mys-ticism: I Am That Which I Am Seeking.) So let this Lenten season be a call to us to love as Jesus loved all of His Creation. Let us enter fully into the three great days of lent: the Triduum, and look for-ward to a joy-�illed, peace-�illed Easter, a taste of what will be yours and mine after our journey here on earth.

Note: The thoughts and ideas set out here is from the writ-ings of Richard Rohr. Richard Rohr, O.F.M. born 1943 is an American Franciscan friar ordained to the priesthood in the Ro-man Catholic Church in 1970. He is a known inspira-tional speaker and has published numerous recorded talks and books.

Rev. Sr. Raphael

Lent & Easter

Beyond doubt He proved to them beyond doubt that He had risen. His Apostles and other disciples had, in their own judicious view, to believe and accept the Jesus they saw as being the Risen Lord. In His glori�ied state, He had the ability to appear to humans and disappear, His appear-ances being manifestations of His own divine motive and discretion, until latterly He went back to the outer divine realm to which He right-ly belonged. Jesus’ resurrection brought hope to all those who follow His Gospel (Col 1:23). If there was no resurrection, the Gospel system of sal-vation would have been a total failure. Apos-tle Paul in his Epistle to the Corinthians said, “If the dead are not raised, neither has Christ been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith gives you nothing, and you are still in sin” (1 Cor. 15:16-17). This means that Christ’s blood would have had no atoning power if He did not rise from the dead.

Contd from Pg. 12

Jesus Day of ...Contd. from Pg. 2

Launch of...renouncing of Power, Wealth and Prestige that caused the Fall of Adam and Eve. At the end of the scene the Cross on Calvary is depicted without the Serpent. The Serpent is again depicted when Judas is given the thirty pieces of silver by the chief priests of Sanhedrin for the betrayal of Jesus. After Jesus was arrested by the Roman battalion and the Temple police and all His dis-ciples �led, Judas comes and opens the purse of the thirty silver from which the Serpent comes and strangled his neck. Three women, Jesus’ mother, mother’s sister Mary and Mary of Magdala are seen with the Beloved Dis-ciple at the foot of the cross after the death of Jesus (John 19: 25). An Angel lights a candle from a star that shines on the cross and shares that light with Mary and others. The audience also participates in lighting their candles with all the artists. The lighting of candles symbolises the birth of the �irst Christian Community at foot of the Cross. Finally ‘Tharakayano’ ends with the scene on the ‘Road to Emmaus’ which depicts the Resurrection and the Ascension of Lord Jesus.

The Artists involved in Tharakayano Nearly one hundred young boys and girls per-form various characters in ‘Tharakayano’, the �irst ever Sri-Lankan Passion Play in Ballet style.

Namal Weveldeniya plays a pivotal role as the choreog-rapher. He is a professional in choreography and a teacher of a leading school in Colombo.Dr. Prabath Aloka is instrumental in realizing this dream and plays the role of the Music composer of ‘Tharakaya-no.’ He was also the producer of drama on Jacome Gon-salvez. Aloka is a medical of�icer presently attached to the General Hospital of Negombo.Ranil Fernando, the versatile sculpture of Christian stat-ues is the stage director and costume designer. Wijith Rohan, a senior lecturer attached to the depart-ment of Christian Culture of the Faculty of Humanities in the University of Kelaniya, scripted ‘Tharakayano.’

The guest speakers at Tharakayano DVD launchRev. Dr. Aloysius Pieris s.j.Ravibandhu VidyapathiGhanasiri Peiris / Senarathne PathiranaMalcolm Machado


Metamorphosis 2017By Manesha Fernando

Well, dear read-ers you might wonder what I

am going to elaborate on this Easter Sunday with a rather peculiar topic ‘Metamorphosis 2017’. It is all up to you my dear readers to �ind out what this is all about. So buckle up, fasten your seatbelts, sit back comfortably as we are about to begin our tour in exploring on this topic ‘Metamorphosis 2017’ The word 'meta-morphosis’ is derived from a Greek word which in simple terms means ‘transformation’ or ‘ change in shape’. So the meaning I am going to dwell upon in my writing is ‘Transformation’. Let me explain to you the life cycle of a butter�ly which undergoes a process called ‘complete meta-morphosis.’ Once again a question might pop up in the minds of some of our readers – ‘Is this going to be a biology lesson?’ Well, let us see whether it really just ends up as a theory in biology.

The Butter�ly The butter�ly’s life cycle consists of four stages. They are the eggs, larval stage, nymph stage and adult stage. The fe-male butter�lies, depend-ing on their species, lay their eggs on various leaves of plants. Out of the eggs emerges tiny caterpillars (larval stage) where they do nothing but eat and eat and grow in size. The purpose as to why the caterpillars eat so much is that they store the food within their bodies to

be consumed during the adult stage. Next comes the Nymph stage. The cat-erpillar surrounds itself in a cocoon of silk and this very cocoon at a glance looks lifeless. There are no major changes taking place externally but scien-tists have found out that “within the cocoon, great changes occurs” during this stage. And then �lies the adult butter�ly grace-fully, out of the cocoon, several weeks later.Before I brief you on the great changes that occur within the cocoon, did it ever strike your mind as to why I actually did con-duct a short biology class? Well, before reading fur-ther, you are given two minutes to come up with a reason - exactly and only two minutes given. Our ‘tour Metamorphosis 2017’ continues: Firstly; ‘How does a caterpillar rearrange itself into a butter�ly?’ It is scienti�i-cally found out that the caterpillar “digests” itself within the cocoon. With the help of enzymes, al-most all the tissues are dissolved to make what is called a “soup of cells.” So out of this so-called soup of cells, a new but-ter�ly, a completely new being is reconstructed and brought out into the world. So what does this radical transformation entail? The complete pro-cess of metamorphosis is an analogue to the series of days starting from Ash Wednesday to Easter Sun-day. So throughout our own spiritual process, like the caterpillar did

we “absorb” Jesus’ power and grow big in our spiri-tuality? And like in the nymph stage, did we – the caterpillars surround our-selves within a “cocoon” of God’s grace and subject ourselves to change in fact to great changes from within? And �inally today, on this Easter Sunday can we proudly proclaim that we are “butter�lies” - a transformed being mainly from within?.

The Resurrection Did you know that the most important festival celebrated by us Catholics is none other than the Easter?’ If one were to simply ask the question – “What does Easter Sunday depict?” The simple, yet correct answer would be: “It com-memorates the resurrec-tion of Our Lord Jesus.” So the next question that captures our mind is. “What exactly is meant by the term ‘resurrection’?” Is it merely a concept of a living being coming to life after death? If it were so, the Holy Bible should mention that even Lazarus was resurrected, since he was brought back to life by Jesus. But the Holy Bi-ble does not mention the word ‘resurrection’ in the

context of Lazarus’ inci-dent. Why is it so? It is because in Jesus’ bodily resurrec-tion, His human body is transformed into a glori-�ied body for which there is NO future death. On the contrary, Lazarus was brought back again to his normal body which would suffer death. So Lazarus’ incident is referred to as a mere ‘resuscitation’. Every Sunday Mass, we profess our faith by reciting the ‘Creed’. That itself proves that our faith is reinforced by the resurrection of our Lord Jesus. Let us meditate on these words extracted from the Creed. ‘.....he suf-fered death and was bur-ied and rose again on the third day in accordance with the scriptures.” When you medi-tate on the above set of Holy Words, what is the �irst thought that crosses your mind? Well for me, honestly the very �irst thought that engulfed my mind was that the Holy Scripture is not a mere set of words enclosed within a book, instead it is the very living breath of God. God’s Word, the Scriptures are a gift of light and wisdom. Armed with it along with prayer, we are de�initely given the strength to re-sist temptations. Hebrew 2:18 further assures us of the previous statement. It says: “And now he can help those who are tempted, because he himself was tempted and suffered.”

A time period In this tour, now I am going to take all my readers in a “time ma-chine” to the time period where Adam and Eve

lived. In the beginning, God made everything to be perfect because He Himself was perfect. All of us know how God created man and woman. God breathed into the nostrils ‘the life-giving breath’ and along with it He also breathed into us the “choice of free will.” Evil was lurking in the form of a snake, waiting patiently for the opportune mo-ment to inject its venom which is none other than ‘SIN’. Unfortunately, Adam and Eve, disobeying God’s instructions, got deceived by the dark forces of evil. This deadly, poisonous venom of sin started to spread rapidly like a vi-rus, entangling us to the bondage of sin. God, our Heav-enly Father is very lov-ing. He did not give up on man-kind. Instead, He de-cided to prepare an “an-tidote” to forever neutra-lise the stinging power of the venom. That antidote was the death and resur-rection of our Lord Jesus. With the neutralisation of this ‘venom’, we are no longer enslaved to the dark forces. In fact, once again the doors of Heaven were opened, enabling us to attain eternal life. 2 Timothy 1:10 says, “.....Our saviour, Christ Jesus has ended the power of death and through the gospel has revealed immortal life.” Do we believe that Christ Himself has brought us peace? (Ephe-sians 2:14) Or are we still struggling to �ind that inner peace within our-selves? Jesus Christ rather “digested” and “dissolved” like that caterpillar we

met in our tour, but not the cells. Instead His God-liness was “digested” and it was reconstructed with great humility into a man of �lesh and bones. This very humble and meek man underwent suffering which is beyond our imag-ination, was cruci�ied and �inally resurrected. This was indeed a onetime act of humanity and He be-came the Lord of Glory!! Amazing! Stunning! As-tonishing! Christ is indeed our hope and comfort. John 16:33 says: “I have told you this so that you will have peace by being united to me. The world will make you suffer. But be brave!! I have defeated the world.” Are we brave soldiers of the Lord? Is our armour strengthened by the ab-sorption of the power of Jesus’ resurrection? Are we ready for an internal transformation or rather undergo the process of ‘Metarmorphosis 2017’?

'Death is nothing at all'

Recently on the internet, I found an inter-esting poem titled ‘Death is Nothing at all’ by Hen-ry Scott Holland. Let me show you the �irst and the last verse of this poem.

Contd On Pg. 18

Words Jesus addressed to us from the Cross

1. “Father forgive them they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34).

2. "Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise" (Luke 23:43).

3. "Jesus said to His mother: "Woman, this is your son." Then he said to the disciple: "This is your mother," (John 19:26-27).

4. "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (Matthew 27:46 and Mark 15:34).

5. “I Thirst” (John 19:28).

6. "It is �inished" and He bowed His head and handed over the spirit (John 19:29-30).

7. “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit” (Luke 23:46).

Sr. Bernadette Fernando SCC

Words addressed by others to Jesus on the Cross

1. “If you are the king of Jews save yourself” (Luke 23:37).

2. “So you would destroy the temple and in three days rebuild it. Then save yourself if you are God’s son and come down from the Cross” (Mark 15:29).

3. “He saved others let him save himself if he is the Christ of God the chosen one” (Luke 23: 35).

4. “Are you not Christ? Save yourself and us as well” (Luke 23:39).

5. “Remember me when you come into your kingdom” (Luke 23: 42).

6. “In truth this man was the Son of God” (Mathew: 27: 54 Mark 15:39, Luke 23:43).

7. “Wait and see if Elijah will come to take him down” (Mark 15: 36).


• Pope’s message for World Meeting of Families (WMOF)

“Love must be core of family life”

VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis issued a mes-sage ahead of the 2018 World Meeting of Families (WMOF), saying couples and families should root their relationships in the love of God, which then propels them to joyfully share it with others. “I wish to under-line how important it is for families to ask themselves often if they live based on love, for love and in love,” the Pope said in his message. In practice, this means giving oneself, for-giving, not losing patience, anticipating the other, re-specting, as well as living and repeating daily the phrases “please,” “thank you” and “I’m sorry.” Both families and pastors need a re-newed humility that will allow them to learn, to help, accompany, dis-cern and educate people from all backgrounds and situations. “I dream of an

outbound Church, not a self-referential one, a Church that does not pass by far from man’s wounds, a merciful Church that proclaims the heart of the revelation of God as Love, which is mercy,” he said, adding that “it is this very mercy that makes us new in love.” Published March 30 and dated March 25, the Pope’s letter was ad-dressed to Cardinal Kev-in Farrell, Prefect of the mega-dicastery for Laity, Family and Life. The Cardinal was present alongside Arch-bishop Diarmuid Martin, Archbishop of Dublin, the diocese hosting the event, for the March 30 presen-tation of the letter at the Vatican’s Press Of�ice. The World Meet-ing of Families will take place August 22-26, 2018, in Dublin and will follow the theme ‘The Gospel of family, joy for the world’. Given the theme, cateche-sis for the event will focus speci�ically on the content of the Pope’s 2016 post-synodal apostolic exhor-tation “Amoris Laetita.” In his letter, the Pope said organizers have the task of translating in a special way the teaching of Amoris Laetitia, with

which the Church wishes families always to be in step, in that inner pilgrim-age that is the manifesta-tion of authentic life. While discussion on the document is often reduced to footnote 351 of Chapter 8 on communion for divorced and remar-ried couples, both Cardi-nal Farrell and Archbishop Martin said there is much more to the document, which they hope to convey to the families that come. Speaking to jour-nalists, Cardinal Farrell stressed the importance of the role of the laity and local parishes in prepar-ing for the World Meeting of Families, speci�ically when it comes to reach-ing out to those who might have abandoned the Church or no longer attend for a variety of rea-sons. “We need to be a Church that goes out to the peripheries of society, to those people who don’t listen to us at the present moment, to those families many times that have lost their way or don't go to church anymore,” he said. The catechesis done by individual dio-ceses in the lead-up to the international gathering will be especially impor-

tant, he said, adding that it is imperative that this preparation take place in parishes since they are the ones who can better reach families that are far off. “It’s very impor-tant that this take place. It’s not just a gathering of three days, this is an ef-fort of the whole Church,” he said, noting that media also play a crucial role. Laity must also embrace this task, he said, noting that the Church is currently celebrating 50 years since the Second Vatican Council and 30

years since the publica-tion of St. John Paul II’s 1988 apostolic exhorta-tion ‘Christi�ideles laici’ on the vocation of laity. Both of these spoke to the mission of lay people and the co-re-sponsibility of laity in the Church, the Cardinal said. “It’s not just a question of a few priests or a few sisters or a few people en-gaged in the pastoral life of (their parish), but we need to reach out, we are the communicators.” And it is married couples themselves who,

in their different parishes and communities, should be the ones who are re-sponsible for communi-cating this love that we would hope to re-instill in the lives of so many people, that they would go and communicate it to other couples.

EWTN

From the Bible we learn that Jesus began His ministry at the young age of thirty,For three long years He taught and preached the Good News to love each other, even your worst enemy.Many turned from sin and believed in the ‘God of Mercy and Compassion’,They gave ‘Praise to the Lord’, the ‘Glorious God, King of Creation’.

Jesus changed water to wine and gave sight to the blind,The lame did walk, the possessed from evil chains He did unbind.With �ive loaves and two �ish the multitude Jesus fed,He comforted Mary and Martha and brought back Lazarus from the dead.

When the feast of the Passover was near at hand,Jesus rode to ‘Jerusalem’ on a colt and the welcome there was very grand,‘Hosanna to the King of Kings’ chanted the crowds as they waved palm and olive branches, But He knew He would soon be betrayed, a sad and compassionate look had Jesus.

The feet of the twelve Apostles, Jesus washed before the Last Supper,And said “Love each other, Whatsoever you do, do it to the least of your brother.”With His eyes towards heaven, Jesus broke the bread and shared the wine,And told the apostles, “Do this in my memory as you are mine”!

T’was late in the night, when Jesus went up to ‘Gethsemane’,He prayed and wept bitterly, sweat like great drops of blood fell upon His knee.A plot well planned to kill Jesus, the Roman Soldiers did seek,For thirty pieces of silver, Judas Iscariot betrayed Jesus with a kiss on His cheek.

The Scourging at the pillar of our Lord and Saviour was about to begin,A crown of thorns they placed on His head, whipped, jeered, spat upon, such a sad scene, All the way to Golgotha, Jesus carried the heavy burden of ‘The Old Rugged Cross’,He was stripped off His clothes, nailed to the Cross, to suffer and die for each one of us.

Though in pain and agony Jesus cried out “Father forgive them for they do not know.”When He thirst, the soldiers gave Him bitter wine and asked if He wanted more.The criminal who begged for mercy, Jesus promised him paradise thereafter,To His beloved Mother and the much loved apostle, Jesus gave them each other.

T’was about the sixth hour when the whole place grew dark and frightful,The curtain of the temple was torn apart, people screamed, the sound was dreadful. “Father , Father why hast thou forsaken me,” cried Jesus in a loud voice,With a deep tired breath, Jesus yielded His Spirit for you and me, a supreme sacr�ice. And so began that �irst Good Friday, when our ‘Precious Lord’ brought salvation to the whole world,He redeemed us from sin and shame, His death more precious than silver or gold.‘Jesus Christ is risen’, we know and believe He is with us everywhere,We sing His praises daily and cry out joyfully – ‘Alleluia! Alleluia’!

Antonette De Cruze

THE FIRST GOOD FRIDAY

R - Rising from the dead He gave a new lifeE - Empty became the tomb in Holy LandS - Saw Mary Magdalene at �irst sightU - Unspeakable was the joy she experiencedR - Rolled away the stone from tomb miraculouslyR - Radiant and Beautiful clad in whiteE - Easter Sunday brings Joy to everyoneC - Countless Blessings for you and me.T - Triumphantly conquered death, sin and evilI - Into our minds instilled a deep faithO - Our Blessed Saviour reigns over all victoriouslyN - Now let us rejoice, let us repent and sing His Praises.

Alleluia - Allelulia - AlleluiaIris Perera


Death is nothing at all.I have only slipped away

to the next room.I am I and you are you.

Whatever we were to each other,That, we still are.

Nothing is past; nothing is lost.

One brief moment and All will be as it was before only better,

In�initely happier and forever

We will all be together With CHRIST.

This is indeed a very inspirational and heart-warming poem that assures us of our eter-nal life with our Lord Je-sus. One of my favourite Lenten hymns of all time is ‘On a hill far away’ So as we continue our “tour,” I thought why not meditate on the chorus of this hymn?So I’ll cherish the old rug-ged cross

Till my trophies at last I lay down

I will cling to the old rugged cross

And exchange it someday for a crown.

Re�lect on Once again it is time for another medita-tion with some profound questions. One might think for a moment, this article is full of self-awak-ening questions. Yes it is true to a certain extent. But it is really bene�icial that we ask ourselves these questions. Analyse our �laws and offer those very weaknesses to God while we too try to work on them and transform those very weaknesses into our strengths. Do we actually cherish the old rugged cross? Are we actually grateful for this greatest act of love done by Lord Jesus? When problems of various sorts keep stalk-ing us continuously just as a fox stalks a rabbit to

make the rabbit its prey, do we cling to the ‘Old rug-ged cross?’ German writer Goethe said, ‘Everything is hard before it is easy’. Change is de�initely hard but NOT IMPOSSIBLE. Do we, some day hope to ex-change this very cross for a CROWN? Are we wear-ing that passion, that very passion of getting this crown, up our sleeves? In simple words, our transformation in Christ is full of obstacles. That is the undeniable truth. The logics of this world and the logic of the Kingdom of God are like the land and sky. Why do I make such a statement? The logic of this world says: Put yourself �irst, assert yourself, make money, wealth is every-thing. On the other hand, the logic of the kingdom of God says; put yourself last, embrace the virtue of humbleness, put others before yourself, wealth is not everything; instead

it is said by St. Paul that ‘love of money is the root of all evils’ (1Timothy 6: 10). How do we manage to survive between these two logics? Most of us are “spiritually sick” that we have lost our hunger and thirst for the “things of God.” So how do we heal ourselves spiritually, es-pecially on this Easter Sunday? With the resur-rection of our Lord Jesus, radiates the ‘power’ and ‘strength’ that we need to transform ourselves. This God-given power and grace through resurrec-tion must be absorbed just as a sponge absorbs wa-ter. But when the sponge is squeezed, the water is allowed to �low out. In a similar way, when life’s problems strangle us and chain us to a state of help-lessness, we should not let go of the power absorbed from Jesus’ resurrection, just like the sponge let go of the water when it was

squeezed. 1 Peter 5: 8, 10-11 says, “Be alert, be on the watch! Your enemy, the dev-il roams round like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. Be �irm in your faith and resist him...the God of all grace who calls you to share His eternal glory in union with Christ, will Himself perfect you and give you �irmness, strength and a sure foundation’. So let us offer our weaknesses and our helplessness to our Loving Heavenly Father, so that He himself will make us perfect. If we do not have the desire within our hearts to be “trans-formed” then let us pray to the Holy Spirit to �ill us with His Heavenly spirit and to instil in our hearts the necessary desire to transform ourselves and be a better Christian. A Christian who will be a beacon of light in this world full of darkness, a Christian who will be like

“salt” and add taste to the lives of others and as the famous American journal-ist and Catholic convert; Dorothy Day says, a Chris-tian is someone who does everything that is directly or indirectly related to the Corporal and Spiritual works of mercy every day. Finally, I would like to end this so called tour ‘METARMORPHOSIS 2017’ with a verse of the Roman Easter Sequence; ‘Mors et vitae duello, con�lix-ere mirando Dux vitae mor-tuus regnat vivus’ (Death and Life have contended stupendously in a combat, the Prince of Life who died reigns immortal).

Contd From Pg. 16

Metamorphosis ......

Do we really recollect our lives during the season of lent?The Season of Lent is the period of commemoration of the Pascal mystery of our Lord Jesus Christ. As we re-�lect the Passion, the death and the resurrection of our Lord, it is very essential for us to be mindful to contem-plate our lives with the guidance of Him. Although we have come to the end of the Lent season, we still have the time to experience the presence of God in our lives. Don't let this season of Lent be an another period of your time rather make this period in a precious manner to have a real inner change in your life. We, as Christians involve in different religious activities especially in this season, such as, arms giv-ing, fasting, participating in the Way of the Cross and novena services etc. We may perhaps engage in these types of devotional activities in order to be highlighted among people and to get the attention of them. If we have such an intention in doing these things, it is ab-solutely useless of involving in them. But if you follow them with the actual feeling and the meaning, God will

immensely bless us and show His intense care and love upon each one of us. If I just go deep in to this fact, I would say that with all these external preparations, it is also momen-tous to experience an inner change in our lives. Infact it is not easy for us to have a renewal in our internal life. Yet we have to have such a change with a deep rela-tionship with the Lord. As we get the spiritual nourish-ments with the devotional activities, it is much easier for us to be further thrived by them to have an inner change in our lives. Sometimes we may fail to �ind a mo-ment to spend the time with the Lord. But irrespective of our busy schedules, we must �ind at least one hour to have the time with God to open ourselves and experi-ence the presence of God. Nevertheless, we should also be contrite for our sins and ask for pardon for the sins and ask pardon from the Lord Jesus Christ. Besides, we should not at all hesitate in asking for the pardon from God for our sins, as He is eargerly waiting until we come

to him. Therefore, the fact is clear that we should have to change both internally and externally to really feel the warmth of the Lent season. At the same time we are also invited to retreat ourselves and experience a new-ness in our lives with repentant heart in this season of lent. In conclusion, it should be noted that the fresh-ness we experienced during the season of lent, should not only limit to itself but continue in the rest of our life with close attachment with Jesus Christ. As we are in a secular society, we may neglect to keep in touch with God. On such occasions we should have guts to over-come them and respond with the Word of the Lord in a more positive manner. Let us ask for the grace of God to stand still against evil and worldly situations in order to experience His presence throughout our lives.

Sheain Fernandopulle

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“REGISTERED IN THE DEPARTMENT OF POSTS OF SRI ......2017/04/09 · books of the New Testament. In Galatians 1:12, St. Paul says that the revelation in these books were given to