Sermon Thoughts – Easter 2010

Sermon Thoughts – Easter 2010
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We are celebrating Easter again. The great moments of the resurrection of Jesus are now proclaimed with proud. When we analyse the liturgy we see this celebration is close related with the fire element. We start our liturgy (normally) when it is dark. And when we leave the church after this ceremony, there will be light. (Light in the physical sense if it is morning.) Light in the Church; Light of Hope and faith in our hearts…

The Church sees at first the light of the Easter Candle. Then during the Gloria it is properly bright enough. As this happens step by step, our minds too acquire the light of risen Lord slowly.

Light is very much related with the Christian liturgy. The Easter candle symbolizes Jesus. Not only this Easter liturgy, but also the Christmas is related to light, we know it.

Light spreads so fast. We know it. It expels the darkness. It brings new life. All such characteristics attribute a lot to the celebration.

The Greek Orthodox Church celebrates on this day the Blessing of the Fire. In the Church of Holy Sepulchre, in the total darkness, a flame springs up in the very place where the dead body of Jesus once lay. From this flaming torch raised by the patriarch are lit thousands of candles, lamps and tapers so that the vast crowd of the faithful gathered there is transformed immediately in to a sea of light, as if in memory of that hour when those who lay “ in the shades of death” saw the redeeming light fall upon them. Some decades ago it was a custom to carry the torch lit at the Holy Sepulchre, stage by stage, on horseback to Athens, Constantinople, Kiev and Moscow. Together with this Light the good news of the living Jesus was spread.

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The same is experienced in the Gospels narrations. The pious Women come to the Grab of Jesus in the early Morning. This happened on a Sunday Morning in the month of April. And Golgotha was not a safe place for women at that time. It was situated outside the city of Jerusalem. Moreover the memories and pictures of the crucified Jesus and their pains are still fresh. There were also soldiers and a Centurion to protect the Grab, as per the wish of Jews. So the women waited till morning. And they prepared everything to anoint the body of Jesus, according to Jewish custom. It was the typical loving nature of Women expressed in their deeds.

In the garden they recognize the body of Jesus is not there. Again their love is clearly seen here. This news was a fire, a flame in the whole Palestine. Now the fearful disciples are remembering the words of Jesus. Slowly they recognize his resurrection.
This recognition is the central point of Jesus’ Resurrection. Jesus lives. He is powerful than any power on this earth. He is stronger than any rock.

Jesus is the light of the world. He is the one who enlightens the world. Ernest Renan said it in another words: “All history is incomprehensible without Christ”.

The light of Jesus cannot be hidden. It works unceasingly.

This Easter is meaningful, in the realization of this eternal truth. Then we can enjoy the living presence of our Risen Lord in our families.

Then our churches will turn to be lively.

Let us receive His light in to our dark corners of Ego.

Let us entrust our lives in to His hands. He will make it alive with his new life.

Let us pray for the grace, not only in this Easter season.

Let us continue to pray for this grace.

Let us try to live it in our lives.

May the risen Lord bless us for ever! Amen.

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Fr Thomas Kalathil

Good Friday Thoughts on the cross of Jesus

Good Friday Thoughts on the cross of Jesus

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As the cross is made of two pieces of heavy wood, my mind is immersed in two heavy thoughts on the cross of Jesus.  The vertical piece of the cross is the relation to God as it stays vertically; the horizontal piece symbolizes the human nature, as it is parallel to the earth. Many interpret the two dimensions of the cross in this way.

The same divine and human aspects of the Cross of Jesus come to my mind in this Good Friday. How Jesus faced the cross? What was his mind setup then? Such questions come one after another in my head.

In the spirituality we are tuned to the picture of a Jesus, who was weakened by the brutalities of the roman soldiers and the opponent Jews. A poor man, who kept silence in front of the injustice. A human side of Jesus is depicted here.

The pride and the innocence of Jesus were revealed to degradation as his clothes were removed in front of a public.

He was denied some drops of water at his last moments…

What he hears is only denouncements and rejection even in that last hours.

A poor man who cries to God the Father in condemnations?

All these human sides of Jesus are nothing when I meditate on his Power.

In all these bitter moments He was powerful as earlier.

He was sure of his, this moment. Actually he took the human form in order to pass through these situations too. But He was very sure that it was not an end. It is only a stage in his mission.
Or it was only a start. A divine start of something new and divine.

For this divine cause he was willing to offer everything.

Jesus stood in front of the Courts and unjust accusations unmoved, because he was sure of his mission. He was sure of the plan of God the father.

Yes, at last this divine side of Jesus is victorious… We will celebrate it as his resurrection.

Jesus teaches me this truth again and again: There is a cross and suffering behind every resurrection.

My mind is clear now…

I know why he was silent..

I know the value of his cross…

I know how he got his power for these moments…

Let us look at his cross… Let us stop crying for him…He doesn’t want it for him… He asks from us a powerful mind… a powerful faith… to stand against injustice… to fight for the Life…in silence!

- Fr Thomas Kalathil