Fifth Sunday of Lent [A]<\/p>\n\n\n\n
March 29, 2020<\/p>\n\n\n\n
John 11:1-45<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Among the five human senses, the sense of touch is the most basic and\nfoundation to other senses. The sense of sight needs to be in touch with the\nlight spectrum. The sense of taste requires to be in contact with the chemical\nin the food. The sense of hearing must receive air vibration or sound waves.\nThis sense makes us a human being, a bodily being. No wonder that many\ntraumatic experiences [even mental problems] are rooted in the lack (or excess)\nof touch. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
God, our creator, understands our fundamental need of touch. Thus, to\nfulfill our deepest desire, He made a radical choice and became a man like all\nof us. Because Jesus is true God and true man, the disciples were able to see,\nhear, touch and feel Him. Yet, He gave a more radical gesture as He offered\nHimself as food to eat and drink to eat, \u201cfor my flesh is true food and my\nblood is true drink [Jn 6:55].\u201d While the pagan deities were feasting on the\nhuman blood and sacrifice, our God does the opposite. He gave up His life so\nthat we may live and feel His love.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Following the example of our Savior, the Church is filled with tangible\nmeans and bodily gestures as a sign and symbols of the divine presence. No\nwonder our churches are equipped with beautiful crucifixes, adorned with\nflowers, and mystified by the burning candle and incense. A sacrament is no\nother than the visible sign of the invisible grace, and sacraments really\nintend to connect to our bodies, like blessed water and oil that touch our\nforehead, the bread that we consume, and words of forgiveness that we need to\nhear. Amazingly, the Church is called the body of Christ, and our call is to\nunite as one people of God around this table of Eucharist. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, the terrible thing befalls our Church. The pandemic caused by the\nCovid-19 is basically reversing the movement of our faith. We are facing a\nreality that touching can mean illness, the gathering may bring disaster, and\nworship may mean death. For the good of the flock, our leaders are forced to\nclose the churches. We now feel the pain of separation from the Body of Christ.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Perhaps, we are like Lazarus who are experiencing spiritual suffering\nand death. Perhaps, we are like Martha who is asking the Lord, \u201cwhy are you not\ncoming sooner?\u201d Perhaps, we are like Mary who cannot do anything but mourns and\nis reduced into silence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Gospel of John tells us that Jesus loves Lazarus, Martha and Mary as\nHis close friends. Yet, Jesus did not rescue Lazarus when he got gravely ill,\nand even Jesus visited them after Lazarus died four days. Jesus allowed\nterrible things to take place in the life of Lazarus, Martha, and Mary, not\nbecause He wanted to punish them, or He does not care, but because He loves\nthem. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In His love, God allows us to endure the sense of losing God, and\nexperience suffering and even death. God knows too well that through suffering,\nwe may love even deeper, we grow in faith, and re-discover God, alive and even\ncloser. After all, there is no true resurrection, unless we enter the darkness\nof the tomb.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My deepest gratitude and prayer for our medical personal who give their\nall in to fight the disease and save lives. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Valentinus Bayuhadi Ruseno, OP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Fifth Sunday of Lent [A]
\nMarch 29, 2020
\nJohn 11:1-45<\/p>\n
Among the five human senses, the sense of touch is the most basic and foundation to other senses. The sense of sight needs to be in touch with the light spectrum. The sense of taste requires to be in contact with the chemical in the food. The sense of hearing must receive air vibration or sound waves. This sense makes us a human being, a bodily being. No wonder that many traumatic experiences [even mental problems] are rooted in the lack (or excess) of touch. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[65,58],"class_list":["post-9354","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-renungan","tag-eng","tag-sunday-reflection"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lubukhati.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9354","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lubukhati.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lubukhati.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lubukhati.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lubukhati.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9354"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lubukhati.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9354\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9355,"href":"https:\/\/lubukhati.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9354\/revisions\/9355"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lubukhati.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9354"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lubukhati.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9354"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lubukhati.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9354"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}