​I would like to start this homily by telling you a story. However I need to warn you that it is a scandalous story. It is about a well renowned Norwegian writer Sigrid Undsted who in 1928 was awarded the Noble Prize for Literature. However four years earlier, in 1924, she scandalised Norway… She became a Catholic. She was 42 at the time. What a scandal!!!
            My Dear Sisters and Brothers. The unexpected conversion of Sigrid Undsted, which scandalised her fellow Norwegians, was a sign of the growth of the Kingdom of God. Her decision to join the Catholic Church was growing in her like a mustard seed. The circumstances surrounding her conversion were not easy. It was happening in the years following the devastating World War 1. Her marriage broke down. Her youngest child was born severely disabled and suffering from epilepsy. Her husband, who left his first wife to marry Sigrid, eventually abandoned her too. Furthermore the Norwegian society was not religious at all. However in the midst of all those tragedies and difficulties Sigrid found the living God. She embraced Jesus Christ as her Lord and Saviour. Her contemporaries were scandalised. For us, her fellow Catholics, her story is another sign that the Kingdom of God has been constantly growing.
            When Jesus was telling those down to earth parables about the seed sown in the land or about the mustard seed, his listeners could connect Jesus’ parables to what they observed. Those parables were drawn from their own daily life. For us gathered at this Eucharist these parables are more than some farming connotations. When we hear these parables we see Jesus, as the divine seed, the beginning of the Kingdom of God, being placed in the ground after his death on the cross. His Resurrection initiated the growth of God’s Kingdom. When he rose to life his disciples were surprised. They didn’t expect it. Our faith, which comes from Jesus’ Death and Resurrection, makes us admire and praise God for his mighty works being accomplished in our midst rather than being surprised that God does these mighty works. We are like a farmer watching the seeds sprouting. If the seeds were sown they will grow. Jesus who was buried in the depth of the earth emerged with new life which was first manifested to his disciples. But it wasn’t a one off event. Over two millennia generations of Christians have witnessed the appearances of Jesus’ new life in the people of their own time.
            As we remember Sigrid Undsted’s scandalous conversion to the Catholic Faith, and the anniversary of her death on June 10, 1949, we acknowledge that in her life the growth of the Kingdom of God occurred. She was famous indeed before she converted. But it is not her fame that made her conversion special. It is what she did with her conversion that it made it special. When the first wife of her estranged husbanded wanted to send her children to an orphanage, Sigird, who had already divorced the man, offered to welcome them into her own home. In addition to her three children she gained three more whom she loved deeply. When I read today’s Gospel I couldn’t help thinking that in her converted life we see a life-giving image of the Kingdom of God which ‘grows into the biggest shrub and puts out big branches so that the birds of the air can shelter in its shade.’ That’s what happened in the life of Sigrid Undsted. We praise God for a wonderful fellow Catholic but there were also three children who because of her conversion didn’t end up orphans, they found shelter in Sigrid’s home like the birds in the parable told by Jesus. They found a loving mother in that scandalous woman. By the way, after her conversion some people started calling her names. Do you know how they insulted her? They called her: ‘The Catholic Lady.’
            My Dear fellow Catholics. Rejoice that you are part of this Kingdom of God. Receive the Holy Communion at this Eucharist so that in you and through you this Kingdom may grow too, so that you too may be called ‘The Catholic Woman’ or ‘The Catholic Man.’ We need more scandals like that, don’t we?

​Imagine that you are on a plane which is about to commence descending. Then you hear from the captain that all people in the air traffic control tower are drunk. Imagine a more interesting situation: there is a bad storm at the destination and all people in the air traffic control tower are drunk. What would be your reaction then? I think you would be looking for your rosary beads after such an announcement.
            My dear Sisters and Brothers. Thinking about a scenario that air traffic controllers could be drunk can be more frightening than watching Air crush investigations. I’ve stimulated your imagination not to frighten you but to introduce you to the Solemnity we are observing in this parish church of ours, the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
            An image of an air control tower is close to what we find in the Bible about the heart, even if the people of the Bible couldn’t imagine flying from one side of the world to another. The heart in the Bible is the ‘control centre’ of the person. It brings together mind, knowledge, thinking, reflection, memory, inclination, resolution, determination, conscience, emotions, passions, religiosity etc.
            In our modern society the heart is understood very poorly. It is understood only biologically or romantically. There is even a saying: ‘the heart wants what it wants,’ which means that emotions are beyond any control. Although the modern appreciation of the heart is different to that of the Scriptures there are still some traces grounded in the Biblical faith which has been preserved even today. For example we have a saying: ‘to take something to heart.’ This saying indicates that the heart is larger than romance. At the same time this saying is a reflection of how St Luke wrote about Mary in the Gospel: ‘Mary stored up all these things in her heart.’ Mary kept in her heart everything that was about Jesus. But Mary’s heart wasn’t like a freezer. Her heart was of flesh and what she stored up in her heart was impacting her.
            Her Immaculate Heart was the art of work of God himself. In our collect it was acknowledged that God ‘prepared’ her heart. That’s why her Immaculate Heart was freed from sin. That’s why her Immaculate Heart was not divided. In her Immaculate Heart mind, knowledge, thinking, reflection, memory, inclination, resolution, determination, conscience, emotions, passions, religiosity were united. They were not fighting each other but operating together. That’s why her Immaculate Heart was ‘a worthy dwelling for the Holy Spirit’ as we prayed in our Collect for this Mass.
            I would like to recall now the words of our Blessed Mother from Fatima. On June 13, 1917 the Immaculate Virgin said to the three children: ‘Jesus wishes to establish in the world devotion to My Immaculate Heart. To those who embrace this devotion I promise salvation; these souls will be favoured by God, like flowers placed by me to adorn His throne.’
            There is a photo of Sister Lucia who was one of the three children who spoke to Our Lady in Fatima. In the photo we see the aged nun who cuddles the Statue of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. At the same time it looks like the statue cuddles Sister Lucia too.
            My dear Sisters and Brothers. Today as we glorify God for the great things he did in the Immaculate Heart of Mary I encourage you to devote yourself to this Immaculate Heart. Press your heart against hers so that the grace of a united heart may flow from her heart to yours and ‘the Lord will make both integrity and praise spring up in the sight of the nations.’ Her Immaculate Heart is the beginning of bringing unity in our hearts, so that all those things in our own hearts can work together and thus this interior control tower in us can direct our lives in the ways of the Lord.

​Some years ago I had a conversation with a Catholic who told me that while he enjoyed coming to church he didn’t believe that the bread and wine were the Body and Blood of Jesus. I thought: ‘How empty life must be if there is no faith in the real presence of the Lord Jesus.’
            My Dear Sisters and Brothers! Today we observe the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, Corpus Christi. One could ask? Why do we need a special Solemnity for the Eucharist? Don’t be celebrate it every day? Don’t we have the Lord’s Supper Mass on the Holy Thursday night? We do. The Solemnity of Corpus Christi, the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, is given to us as a gift of the Lord Jesus who gave himself to his Church at the Last Supper under the species of bread and wine as we heard in the Mark’s Gospel. That’s the origin of the Eucharist. The history of this Solemnity of Corpus Christi goes back to the beginning of the Thirteenth century when St Juliana of Mont Cornillon had a vision of the moon in its full splendour with a small fraction missing. The moon was the symbol of the liturgical year. The missing fraction represented the absence of a liturgical feast in which believers would be able to adore the Eucharist so as to grow in faith. The timing of the vision was important as it was the time when some people began questioning the Real Presence. Therefore the Lord offered his Church a means to address the weakening of faith in the Eucharist.
            The Solemnity we are observing today is a divine medicine to heal the weak faith of ours.
            The Solemnity we are observing today is a divine medicine so that as the ordinary bread and wine are being brought to our altar we could have enough faith to see the hands of Jesus Christ taking these gifts of ours like he did take bread and wine at the Last Supper.
            The Solemnity we are observing today is a divine medicine so that as the ordinary bread and wine are being consecrated by the words of Christ: ‘This is my body… This is my blood’ uttered with the power of the Holy Spirt we could have plenty of faith to look at them and to say with St Thomas the Apostle: ‘My Lord and my God. It is truly you.’
            The final touch for introducing this Solemnity to the list of the Church’s celebrations came from a miracle which happened to a German priest Peter of Prague. The priest had lost his faith in the Eucharist. However he approached his dilemma properly. He went on a pilgrimage to Rome. After many days in Rome when nothing was happening he was asked to say a Mass for a group of pilgrims. When he was saying the words: ‘This is my body…’  he thought: ‘It is impossible that this bread could be Jesus’ body.’ Immediately the bread started bleeding. The priest got his faith back and the stained altar cloth was sent to Pope Urban IV who was staying not far from that church. The Pope, who as a young man helped St Juliana present the story of her vision to the local bishop, understood that Jesus wanted a special feast day dedicated to the Holy Eucharist. One year after the miracle of the bleeding host Pope Urban IV established the Solemnity of Corpus Christi in 1264. He wrote: ‘Although the Eucharist is celebrated solemnly every day, we deem it fitting that at least once a year it be celebrated with greater hour and a solemn commemoration.’
            My Dear Sisters and Brothers! As we are offering this Mass on the great feast of Corpus Christi I ask you to accept it as a gift from heaven. The Eucharist is the gift of the Lord given at the Last Supper. This Solemnity of Corpus Christi is the gift of the Lord given to us so that our life can be full to overflowing with faith in the Real Presence of the Lord.

​At Easter Vigil I invited you to search for the signs of the Risen Lord. This is very much a Christian attitude. Since the very first Easter Sunday the Lord Jesus isn’t confined to a tomb.  By a tomb I mean not only the cave hewn in the rock in Jerusalem but all sorts of things like theories, philosophies, challenges, difficulties, doubts created or experienced by individual and societies which suggest that the man called Jesus is just a person from the past.
            Sisters and Brothers! Eastertide which we are enjoying right now is the time of grace. This is the time of grace because, as we listen to the Scripture readings during these sacred 50 days of Easter, we discover that at the beginning of what is now called the Catholic Church was not a committee of some activists who wanted to change the world. At the beginning of our Church is Jesus Christ who was crucified, buried and who rose from the dead.
            The Gospel we have just received takes us again to the Upper Room on the very first Easter Sunday. Someone could say: Why can’t we just move on? The Easter Sunday was two weeks ago. Why we need to dwell on that still? We do dwell on that and we will dwell on that because the Resurrection of Jesus is the sign that new time has begun in the world. That’s why we follow the Risen Jesus who is alive and active. That’s what the disciples who returned from Emmaus discovered when they were running away on Easter Sunday. Jesus was walking with them when they thought that he was finished. In the Gospel today we hear them fully alive because they met the Risen Lord. We can also see how the rest of their group in Jerusalem is coming back to life. They have something in common now, the Risen Lord is in their midst.
            That’s why in the Bible we have the Acts of the Apostles. This Book is read in our churches every day during the Eastertide because it explains how and why the Church came into existence. The Church was established because the Risen Jesus showed himself to the disciples. The Church was established so that it could perpetuate the community in which succeeding generations can meet the Risen Lord as well.
            If you are still searching for a sign of the Risen Lord, if you think that maybe your eyesight is failing you because you haven’t discovered any signs, I tell you this: He is here in our midst!!!! Alleluia!!! When the Scriptures are proclaimed and explained it is the Lord himself who speaks and explains the mysteries of God and human to us like he did to the two disciples on the way to Emmaus.
            When bread and wine are placed on the altar Jesus himself becomes present in his Body and Blood to be consumed by us with faith and love so that we could be united with him when so many things in us and around us attempt to separate us from him.
            At the end of this Mass we will hear the words: ‘God forth, the Mass is ended.’ These words are not like the school bell letting students know that they can go home now. Theses final words of the Mass remind us of what the Risen Lord said to his disciples in the Gospel today: ‘You are witnesses to this.’ You who are hearing these words are witnesses to the Risen Lord because you are coming out of miracle. You are coming out of the Church where you heard the Risen Jesus talking to his disciples. You are coming out of the Church where Christ came right into the depth of your soul when you received his Body.
            My Dear Fellow believers in the Risen Christ. I pray so that each one of us here could always say after attending Mass: I have just been to the feast prepared by my Risen Lord. He opened the Scriptures for us. He opened our minds too to understand Scriptures. He has made our hearts burn with love.
            Jesus is not in the tomb. He is where his disciples are gathered in his name. We have gathered here in his name. We will again gather in his name because we are the people who dwell on the Easter Sunday. Happy Easter.

​            A couple of days ago there was an article in the paper investigating who was responsible for the attempted assassination of Pope John Paul II in 1981. On this Divine Mercy Sunday I want to ask a different question: Who was responsible for inspiring the Pope to visit in the prison and forgive the man who tried to kill him?
            Sisters and Brothers!
            As we gather in this sacred place, by God’s grace we are given access to what happened in the Cenacle, on the Easter Sunday and the following Sunday two thousand years ago.  We find there a group of frightened, disappointed and confused women and men. For them Jesus came and said: ‘Peace be with you.’ Jesus who rose from the dead brought them peace because first he brought them reconciliation from God, God’s mercy.
            After gifting them with peace anchored in Divine Mercy he said: ‘As the Father sent me, so am I sending you.’ Where did he send them? To the people who needed forgiveness too. He commissioned them saying: ‘For those whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven; for those whose sins you retain, they are retained.’ The mission which the disciples gathered in the Cenacle received, the mission which the disciples of all times, including us here gathered, have received, is giving to others the mercy we have received from the Lord.
            A week later, when St Thomas joined the disciples, we discover that the disciples did the mission of forgiveness because they didn’t kick Thomas out for doubting their testimony. They embraced with mercy their struggling brother. The Holy Spirit, whom Jesus breathed into their souls, gave them the grace to forgive as they were forgiven.
            The same Holy Spirit didn’t depart after that First Divine Mercy Sunday. The Acts of the Apostles for this our Divine Mercy Sunday show us the believers in Jerusalem who were ‘united, heart and soul.’ For a group of people to be united like that it means that forgiveness was practiced there a lot. Those believers were the people of whom Jesus spoke to Thomas: ‘Happy are those who have not seen yet believed.’ Those believers from the First Reading didn’t see Jesus but they believed him. They lived by that belief. They forgave each other.
            We haven’t seen Jesus either but we are here because we believe. We believe that when we gather in his name he is in our midst. He is here as our Saviour. He breathes upon us the Holy Spirit so that we could have peace in us and be able to forgive those who trespass against us. In a few moments the priest will invoke the Holy Spirit to descend and change the bread and wine into Jesus’ Body and Blood. It does make us feel so close to the Lord, doesn’t it? However if there is still in us resentment and anger towards some people, even if we receive his Body and Blood, we are as far from Jesus as hell is from heaven.
            When I see photos of John Paul II visiting his assassin I see a modern depiction of what happen on the First Divine Mercy Sunday two thousand years ago. I see a believer embracing someone who wronged him. However my faith allows me to see more. I also see the Risen Lord standing there, the Lord who breathed the Holy Spirit on his disciples so that they could forgive. The same Risen Lord I can see there because without the Risen Lord breathing the Holy Spirit people are vengeful as we can see it in our society so often.
            I pray that the Holy Spirit, who will be soon invoked over the gifts of bread and wine, will come to each one of us to be united, heart and soul, because we all have been forgiven and we all are called to forgive. So in the name of our Blessed Lord I say to you:
‘Peace be with you… As the Father sent me, so I am sending you. For those whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven… Do this in memory of me.’

​            A few weeks ago I gave my students a task to prepare a homily for the fourth Sunday of Lent which is also known as the Sunday of Joy, when priests wear rose or pink vestments. What I learnt from listening to their homilies was that the colour is actually rose not pink. Do you know why? Because Jesus rose from the dead he didn’t pink from the dead.
            My Dear Sisters and Brothers! We are here tonight becomes Jesus truly rose from the dead.
His Resurrection fascinates us.
His Resurrection sustains us.
His Resurrection is the reason why we are Christians.
            I was not surprised at the connection my students made between the rose colour and the Resurrection. Since that first Sunday morning when Mary of Magdala, Mary the mother of James and Solome discovered that Jesus’ body was not in the tomb Christians have been on the lookout, not for chocolate eggs but for the signs of Jesus’ Resurrection.
            They have learnt that from today’s Gospel which is like a tutorial. The young man in a white robe was the tutor. The three women were the students. They learnt that the Risen Lord was to be found in Galilee, in that prosaic and ordinary place. The generations of Christians have attended this tutorial too. As they prayed and reflected on the Resurrection Gospel they have learnt that their ordinary and prosaic lives and places were filled with the signs that the Lord rose from the dead.
            That belief that the Risen Lord is in our everyday life has guided the Church in recognising women and men as blesseds and saints. If it weren’t for the Risen Lord how you could explain Maximillian Kolbe offering his life to save a fellow prisoner in the concentration camp? If it weren’t for the Risen Lord how you could explain Mother Teresa of Calcutta and Mother Mary of the Cross Mackillop devoting their lives to the poorest of the poor? In those women and men of our Church we see the signs of the Resurrection.
            However the Church wants us, gathered here to celebrate the Easter Vigil, to look into our own lives now. We may feel that we are far from the holiness of our saints. The message of today is this: You are closer than you may think. St Paul reminded the Christians in Rome and us that: ‘When you were baptised in Christ Jesus you were baptised in his death.’ Our Baptism drew us to the tomb of Jesus. What did we find there? We found ‘a new life’ because our Baptism has united us with the Risen Lord.
            At times it is not easy to treasure this belief. Therefore the Church, who at every Mass says to us: ‘Lift up your hearts!’ invites us today to renew our Baptismal promises. It is truly consoling and uplifting moment to say that in the midst of everything that is happening in my life I choose to be by Jesus’ side. I believe him. I do.
            When you take the Holy Water from this Vigil to your home, bless yourself and your place to remind yourself that in you and in your home there are signs of the Lord who rose from the dead.
            When you take a candle to your home light it there and walk around your place praying so that the light of faith may help you to see the signs of the Lord who rose from the dead.
            From now on I will always think of the Risen Lord when I see the rose colour.
            From now on I will always think of the Risen Lord when I see a rose blooming too, a reminder that the Lord who rose from the dead leads me to my resurrection, when I will too bloom like a rose, because he rose from the dead.
            The world is full of the Resurrection signs. Be on the lookout. Happy Easter!

​            How can we look forward to Easter if there are so many people who are suffering and dying from COVID-19? How can we look forward to Easter if there are so many in NSW and Queensland who are suffering from the recent floods?
            Sisters and Brothers! Thanks to some of our parishioners we have today both: crosses made of palms and branches of palms. We are holding the Passion Sunday in one hand and the Palm Sunday in the other. The crosses focus on suffering while the branches of palms announce the victory. Should we choose one and drop the other? At the time of human family’s suffering more than ever we need to hold up both: the crosses and the branches.
            Hold the crosses up because we mustn’t turn a blind eye on the suffering of our sisters and brothers. These crosses in our hands unite us with those who are suffering at this time. Theses crosses in our hands also unite us with Jesus Crucified. “He was humbler yet, even to accepting death on a cross.”
            Hold the branches of palms up too because “God raised Jesus on high and gave him the name which is above all other names.”
            In our hands now we have the whole mystery of Christ: his Death and his Resurrection. In our hands now we have the whole of our human mystery too, the mystery which includes both the present suffering and the Resurrection to come. This is what God has promised us. This is what God accomplished during that first Holy Week two thousand years ago. This is what God wants to accomplish in us and all people, in our own common hour of need and suffering, therefore he gives us this Holy Week 2021.
            In a short while when the Body and Blood of Christ will be present on this altar we will say: ‘We proclaim your death, O Lord and profess your Resurrection until you come again.” This year, more than ever, we see Jesus suffering in his and ours sisters and brothers. This is what we proclaim. This year, more than ever, we need to believe in his Resurrection in his and ours sisters and brothers. This is what we profess.
            How can we look forward to Easter this year? We can and we must because the vaccine or insurance payment will not heal the wounds people carry in their souls. But the Lord Jesus who refused to come down from the cross so that the Salvation could be accomplished will come to us as the Risen Lord to raise us all up. So don’t be shy to celebrate the Holy Week and Easter. The suffering world needs it. Amen.

​There was an ambitious young man who wanted to become a famous soldier. His name was Ignatius. In a battle he got seriously injured. It put an end to his army career plans. Something similar happens also to many of us, if not to all of us. We dream about things we want achieve. We make an effort to progress. But our plan can get shattered. Is it a tragedy or the time of grace?
            Sisters and Brothers!
            At the beginning of the second part of Lent which is called the Passiontide we listen to the Lord Jesus who declares: ‘Now the hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.’ You may remember the conversation Jesus had with his mother Mary at the wedding in Cana when upon her request to save the wedding reception at which wine run out, he said: ‘My hour has not come yet.’ In the Gospel for this Sunday our Blessed Lord speaks with determination and commitment that ‘his hour has come.’ What is this hour? If we said 60 minutes, would we exhaust its mystery?  If we went deeper and said 3600 seconds would we really get deeper? Or should we say that even the best clock cannot tell us the hour of Jesus?
            Therefore we turn to the Son of God to enlighten us. Jesus then asks us to pay attention to those Greeks from today’s Gospel who said to the Apostle Philip: ‘We should like to see Jesus.’ Can you see and hear what is happening here? God has worked in those Greeks and gave them a desire to see Jesus. This is what Jesus said before: ‘No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me.’ In today’s Gospel we can see and hear that God the Father did that. God the Father drew those Greeks to Jesus. The hour of Jesus began. Now the passing time is measured not just by clocks and calendars but by the working of God in people’s lives.
            When Ignatius, the soldier I spoke about before, was recovering he came across some books about Jesus and Saints. In his hour of disappointment, pain and confusion God came to him and drew him to Jesus like God drew those Greeks from the Gospel to Jesus. Ignatius didn’t become a famous soldier he dreamed about. God however gave him grace to become a Saint. We invoke him now as St Ignatius Loyola. When he was drawn to Jesus God did to Ignatius what was announced through Prophet Jeremiah: ‘Deep within them I will plant my Law, writing it on their hearts.’ God who first wrote the Ten Commandments on the two stone tablets now is doing it on our hearts and souls by giving us his Son Jesus Christ who died and rose from the dead for us and for our salvation.
            This is what we celebrate here at every Mass. We wouldn’t have bread for Mass if it weren’t for some grains which fell into the soil and while dying produced new grains which became flour to make bread. It reminds us of the mystery of Christ. We wouldn’t have Holy Communion if it weren’t for Jesus who ‘was lifted up from the earth’ at his crucifixion. Then and there he was like the grain dying to give new life to us. When we touch the Holy Communion we touch the life which came from the death of some grains but we also touch the life which came from the death of Jesus Christ. What a great mystery to treasure and enjoy!
            To finish this homily I call you to believe that when you think about various situations in your life, whether they are a happy hour or a sad hour, you can say that they are Jesus’ hour. They are the time when God works on you like he did work on the Greeks from the Gospel and like he did work on St Ignatius Loyola. Therefore it is not a tragedy. It is the time of grace.

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​Last Thursday euthanasia laws passed the Lower House in Tasmania. The island state is just about to join Victoria and Western Australia where similar laws already exist. As some people have celebrated this step we, the disciples of Jesus gathering today to celebrate the sacred mysteries of Salvation, receive into this difficult life situation the Decalogue. We haven’t orchestrated it. This Sacred Word of God comes to us on this Third Sunday of Lent.
            Dear Sisters and Brothers! Last Sunday we witnessed the Transfiguration of Jesus. With Peter, John and James we were given a glimpse of Jesus’ glory. This Sunday the Word of God takes us to another mountain, the Mount of Sinai. When we read the preceding verses of the Book of Exodus we discover that ‘there were peals of thunder and flashes of lightning, dense cloud on the mountain and a very loud trumpet blast.’ Into that cloud God called Moses. During that glorious time God revealed to Moses the Ten Words, which we call the Decalogue or the Ten Commandments. Why did God reveal to Moses the Ten Commandments? It was so that people could be transformed into a new creation. God who uttered the Ten Commandments also revealed: ‘I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.’ The glory of God was not limited to those extraordinary events on the summit of the Mount of Sinai but God’s glory shone in the power of God’s hand which led the people into freedom of God’s children. The freedom of the People of God was not accidental but the result of God’s involvement into their miserable situation.
            Today I ask you my fellow Christians to turn to the same all powerful and all loving God who brought his people out of the house of slavery. Let us ask him so that we could have the Ten Commandments deeply engraved in our hearts, minds and will. In the midst of our society, which plunges into slavery of that ancient desire to be like God, to decide on its own what is good and what is evil, we need the power of God’s grace to shine the faith and trust in God’s Commandments which are ‘perfect’ and ‘revive the soul.’
            When we observe these new laws introduced to our society it looks like watching a building where cracks appear and a collapse is imminent. However the words of our Blessed Lord addressed to the leaders of his time come alive in our own time too: ‘Destroy this sanctuary, and in three days I will raise it up.’ The words were fulfilled on those saving days of Good Friday, Holy Saturday and Easter Sunday. The decisions and laws which fracture and destroy our society will not be the last words. The last word belongs to God who from the ruins can and will bring new life which began when Jesus was raised.
            Let us continue celebrating this Eucharist and let us bring into it all the brokenness of our world. This altar will become our Mount of Sinai. The Lord Jesus will reveal himself in our midst under the species of bread and wine. This Body of Christ will be broken when we sing ‘Lamb of God.’ This Body of Christ will be broken in our midst for the healing of our broken world. This sign reveals that the Resurrection cannot be stopped, that the new life is emerging where death seems to be triumphing. As people we have destroyed a lot of sacredness in our world but the Lord Jesus still assures us: ‘in three days I will raise it up.’
            When some people are now drinking champagne to celebrate the passing of the euthanasia laws we, followers of Jesus Christ, like those Israelites who had had the first taste of freedom after being freed from Egyptian slavery, listen to God announcing the Ten Commandments in our own time right now. These Commandments are our taste of freedom and new life. So let us kneel and with deep faith and gratitude let us receive the Fifth Commandment which has been rejected by Tasmanian lawmakers: ‘You shall not kill.’