Bukas Loob sa Diyos Covenant Community
Global Districts
EASTER MESSAGE 2011
Resurrection. From death to life. This may be the summary of the five gospel stories that we read on the Five Sundays of Lent.
The First Sunday describes Jesus’ struggle with Satan in the three temptations in the Desert (Mt. 4/1‐11), a struggle to which all of us are exposed. The Temptation of Jesus is a reflection of the opposition between sin and grace, between death and life. We are challenged to identifyourselves with Jesus who is Life.
The Second Sunday gives us a foresight into the future of our life‐struggles. The Transfiguration of Jesus (Mt. 17/1‐9) is the glory of God shining through the body of Jesus, through his flesh, his person. This same body would later be exposed to flogging, crucifixion and death. This is the death that leads to life. Evil or Satan promises (falsely) to bring life, which eventually ends in death.
The Third Sunday brings us to the “theological conversation” between Jesus and the Samaritan Woman at the Well. It was at that moment when the Samaritan Woman accepted the truth about her life – false or evil marriage – and confessed it before Jesus and her neighborhood that she received light and life. On this Third Sunday, we come to the well and are reminded of the Holy Spirit given to us through the water of baptism.
The Fourth Sunday (John 9/1‐41) is another reflection on the opposition between life and death, sin and forgiveness, truth and deception as reflected in the story of the cure of the man born blind. We are put to the position of choosing, like the blind man, whether to walk in darkness and contribute to the sin of the world or to stand with Christ against the power that seeks to destroy life.
The Fifth Sunday is the raising of Lazarus – from death to life (Jo. 11/1‐45). The theological conversation between Martha and Jesus leads to the resurrection of Lazarus. Strange but true: even in death, Lazarus obeys. Lazarus is freed from sin, evil, death, from anything that holds him captive.
These five gospels invite us to resurrect from death to life, from sin to forgiveness, from darkness to light.
+ ANGEL N. LAGDAMEO
Archbishop of Jaro & BLD Spiritual Director
March 23, 2011
Some may ask why we continue to commemorate Holy Week, and the usual response is that it reminds us of the sacrifice and suffering that Jesus Christ endured to save us and restore us to the image and likeness of God. Those who made a vow to spend the entire paschal event – from the Ash Wednesday to the Holy Week, the Easter Triduum and the 50 days of Easter – in deep reflection will find that their lives are changed forever because there is now a deeper appreciation of what Christ went through for love of us. The feeling that we are special reaches its crescendo during the Easter Triduum because it provides us with the opportunity to understand what it is to be a Christian.
