04-30-2014, 05:39 PM
EASTER IS GOD’S GIFT OF ETERNAL LIFE TO US WHICH IS GIVEN TO US THROUGH FAITH IN JESUS CHRIST
SCRIPTURE READINGS: ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 5:17-26; JOHN 3:16-21
http://www.universalis.com/20140430/mass.htm
Easter is the celebration of the new life given to us in Christ. This life is more than physical life; it is eternal life, a life with God. The fullness of life implies freedom. But this freedom goes beyond the physical freedom of the apostles when they were imprisoned, as shown in the first reading. Real freedom comes from being set free from fear, sin and slavery. So the fullness of life is to be restored in our sonship with God.
How are we saved? We are reminded that Jesus the Son of God saved us through the paschal mystery in His passion, death and resurrection. By His death on the cross, Christ conquered sin; and by His resurrection, He conquered the greatest feared enemy of man which is death.
What does it take to enjoy this freedom? Faith in Jesus as the Son of God is the pre-requisite. Hence, Jesus told Nicodemus, “God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not be lost but may have eternal life. For God sent his Son into the world not to condemn the world, but so that through him the world might be saved.”
This faith is of course celebrated sacramentally in baptism. Faith is the condition for baptism. This explains why in the second week of Easter, the Church invites us to contemplate on the full significance of baptism. We are still in the period of mystagogia. Especially for the newly baptized who are still fresh from the anointing of the Holy Spirit, they must be taught the full implications of what it means to be baptized.
Faith in Jesus of course is more than just an intellectual or verbal assent to the truth that Jesus is the Son of God. It means a total commitment to the person of Jesus. Hence, to be baptized implies that we are committed to all that Jesus has taught and lived. Sharing in the life of Christ also means living the life of Christ, dying to sin and living a life of grace.
In the light of what we have said, there are then two kinds of people who will not receive eternal life. As Jesus said, “though the light has come into the world men have shown they prefer darkness to the light because their deeds were evil.” The first group refers to the Jewish leaders who were not ready to accept the truth about Jesus. They refused to accept the divinity of Jesus. Instead of submitting to the truth, they chose to eliminate the light completely. Hence Jesus declared that “No one who believes in him will be condemned; but whoever refuses to believe is condemned already, because he has refused to believe in the name of God’s only Son.”
However there is another group of people who, although might know Christ, but do not live in the light. So even if we are baptized but do not live the gospel life, we cannot be saved, for Jesus said, “everybody who does wrong hates the light and avoids it, for fear his actions should be exposed; but the man who lives by the truth comes out into the light, so that it may be plainly seen that what he does is done in God.” Baptism therefore requires that we die to sin and live the life of Christ.
Finally, a sure sign of baptismal faith in Jesus is when we become missionaries of Christ, announcing the Good News. The first reading tells us that when the angel let the apostles out, they were told to “Go and stand in the Temple, and tell the people all about this new Life.” And “They did as they were told; they went into the Temple at dawn and began to preach.” Proclaiming the Good News with our lives is the sure sign of a mature faith expressed in our commitment to Jesus even at the expense of our safety.
Written by The Most Rev Msgr William Goh
Archbishop of Singapore
SCRIPTURE READINGS: ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 5:17-26; JOHN 3:16-21
http://www.universalis.com/20140430/mass.htm
Easter is the celebration of the new life given to us in Christ. This life is more than physical life; it is eternal life, a life with God. The fullness of life implies freedom. But this freedom goes beyond the physical freedom of the apostles when they were imprisoned, as shown in the first reading. Real freedom comes from being set free from fear, sin and slavery. So the fullness of life is to be restored in our sonship with God.
How are we saved? We are reminded that Jesus the Son of God saved us through the paschal mystery in His passion, death and resurrection. By His death on the cross, Christ conquered sin; and by His resurrection, He conquered the greatest feared enemy of man which is death.
What does it take to enjoy this freedom? Faith in Jesus as the Son of God is the pre-requisite. Hence, Jesus told Nicodemus, “God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not be lost but may have eternal life. For God sent his Son into the world not to condemn the world, but so that through him the world might be saved.”
This faith is of course celebrated sacramentally in baptism. Faith is the condition for baptism. This explains why in the second week of Easter, the Church invites us to contemplate on the full significance of baptism. We are still in the period of mystagogia. Especially for the newly baptized who are still fresh from the anointing of the Holy Spirit, they must be taught the full implications of what it means to be baptized.
Faith in Jesus of course is more than just an intellectual or verbal assent to the truth that Jesus is the Son of God. It means a total commitment to the person of Jesus. Hence, to be baptized implies that we are committed to all that Jesus has taught and lived. Sharing in the life of Christ also means living the life of Christ, dying to sin and living a life of grace.
In the light of what we have said, there are then two kinds of people who will not receive eternal life. As Jesus said, “though the light has come into the world men have shown they prefer darkness to the light because their deeds were evil.” The first group refers to the Jewish leaders who were not ready to accept the truth about Jesus. They refused to accept the divinity of Jesus. Instead of submitting to the truth, they chose to eliminate the light completely. Hence Jesus declared that “No one who believes in him will be condemned; but whoever refuses to believe is condemned already, because he has refused to believe in the name of God’s only Son.”
However there is another group of people who, although might know Christ, but do not live in the light. So even if we are baptized but do not live the gospel life, we cannot be saved, for Jesus said, “everybody who does wrong hates the light and avoids it, for fear his actions should be exposed; but the man who lives by the truth comes out into the light, so that it may be plainly seen that what he does is done in God.” Baptism therefore requires that we die to sin and live the life of Christ.
Finally, a sure sign of baptismal faith in Jesus is when we become missionaries of Christ, announcing the Good News. The first reading tells us that when the angel let the apostles out, they were told to “Go and stand in the Temple, and tell the people all about this new Life.” And “They did as they were told; they went into the Temple at dawn and began to preach.” Proclaiming the Good News with our lives is the sure sign of a mature faith expressed in our commitment to Jesus even at the expense of our safety.
Written by The Most Rev Msgr William Goh
Archbishop of Singapore