Homily
Once I was having a dinner with a family when I was told: "Father you should get Andrew to sing in the church choir. He's got a pretty good voice. I heard him sing in the shower." Poor Andrew choked. When he got control of the food in his mouth he retorted: "Mum, please stop it. You are embarrassing me." I felt sorry for the fellow so I said: "Don't worry. You are safe. I am not going to drag you into our parish choir. But just think why you sing in the shower.....you feel safe and relax there."
Dear Friends of Jesus gathered tonight to celebrate this Holy Night when The Lord Jesus had the Last Supper with his disciples. In the Gospel it is said only once Jesus sang. He sang after the Last Supper when he was walking with the Apostles out of the Upper Room.
Let's ask what made him sing. Why did he feel secure and safe that night? As we read the story of that final days of him we discover that death was hovering there like a bird of pray. The Evangelist says that darkness covered the land like a shadow of a predator. There is also no doubt that Jesus knew what was going to happen but he still sang. He wasn't out of his mind. When you read the Gospel written by the beloved disciple of Jesus, St John you find out that the Gospel is divided into two parts. The first half of the Gospel is about Jesus' public ministry the second part is about his Passion and Resurrection. In the first part we find that over 50 times Jesus talks about life or about living. In the second part of the Gospel another word becomes more common on the lips of the Saviour, more then 30 times he mentions LOVE. His life is going to be brutally cut short but at this point of the reign of darkness Jesus lives love most intensely. He isn't loosing his life but he sacrifices his life, he offers his life as an act of love for his Heavenly Father and as an act of love for us his human sisters and brothers. That's what made him sing that night when he was walking to embrace the events of Good Friday. It's worth stressing that it wasn't an accident or coincidence. It was his choice coming from his loving heart. Every year thousands of lambs were slaughtered in the Temple. The animals had no choice but the Lamb of God whom we acknowledge at every Mass chose to die so that we could have eternal life.
Dear Friends of Christ. As you enter these Most Sacred Three Days of Easter I beg you, listen to Our Lord singing and may this divine music resounds in your hearts and minds to remind you that the life that is spent for God and others makes sense. That's the only life that makes you sing as you live love. If you think that it is impossible, let me tell you: You can sing even with tears in your eyes. I pray so that the Holy Spirit could powerfully enter into your life as Christ gives up his life for us.
RSS Feed