It is Me lah!

Yesterday's reading (Jn 20:11-18) about Mary Magdalene's encounter with the Risen Lord reminded me of my experience at this year's Easter Vigil.

Before the Liturgy of the Light, everyone was gathered around the fire at the entrance of the church. I was standing with the Fr Brian and the Altar Servers, waiting for it to start. I looked around and saw a priest in his chasuble standing at the back. I didn't recognise him, and I thought it must be a visiting priest come to join in the celebration. So I went up to him and said "Father, we are about to start, would you like to join us near the fire. He gave a laugh and said "It is me lah!". Then I realised that it was Fr Bosco. He had shaven his head and beard. He looked totally different.

I have heard that Fr Bosco had done this before during Easter, but still the sight before me left me in shock. I found myself staring trying to figure out how the hair and beard could change one's appearance so drastically. I recalled the Mas Selamat posters with him in a beard and clean shaven, and it did not look so different.



Back to yesterday's reading. As I compared Mary Magdalene's experience of the Risen Lord, with my encounter with Fr Bosco's new look, I realised the similarities.

Mary was looking for the dead Jesus' body. I was also expecting a bearded Fr Bosco, the one I was used to.

Mary recognised Jesus when he called her. I also recognised Fr Bosco by his voice, when he said "it is I lah!".

Mary would probably have known that Jesus had said that he would rise on the third day. I knew that Fr Bosco had previously shaved his head for Easter, and many people did not recognise him, and yet when I saw him, it didn't cross my mind.

Looking forward to the last day when I brought before Christ, I know that this scenario will play itself out again.

Though I know that Christ will be different from what I imagine him to be, I will still be clinging on to my image of what Christ should look like, and may not recognise him. I just pray and hope that when that day comes, I will be able to recognise his voice when he says to me, "It is Me lah!."

Here's a video to bring you some joy and laughter.
Jesus Christ is risen indeed.


Click this link if you cannot see the video.

Reflections on the Easter Season

Each year, Lent and Easter occur around the time the Spring season begins. Significant because Spring is the time of new life, when trees start to bud and flowers start to bloom. And so we too celebrate the new life that Christ has gained for us in His death and resurrection.

Spring is also the time when farmers start their sowing and planting to grow their crops to be harvested in Autumn. In preparation for the planting, the land first has to be cleared of rocks, weeds and even the crops from the previous harvest. Then the land has to be ploughed to loosen the soil hardened over the winter as well as to aerate it.

When we look at our spiritual life, this clearing and ploughing is what we do during the season of Lent, when we observe the spiritual exercises of Fasting, Prayer and Almsgiving. These help us to rid our lives of the harmful attachments in our lives as well as to open our lives to a closer relationship with God.


After the land is cleared, the farmer has to decide what crops and fruits he would like to harvest. This of course would determine what seeds he would plant in the field. But as nature has planned it, the plants that grow the quickest after the land is cleared are usually the weeds. These sprout and cover the land rapidly, blocking out sunlight and depriving the planted seeds of nutrients from the ground. Any good farmer would know that ploughing and planting is only half the job. He would have to remove the weeds, water and fertilize the plants that he has planted.

Similarly for us, in our spiritual life, our Lenten exercises are only half the job done. We too have to “plant” certain practices that will bear the fruits that we want to see in our spiritual life. Easter is that season where we start to live out that new life. Not only just planting, but we too have to be aware of the “weeds”, that were cleared during Lent, which have a quick tendency of returning into the “fields” of our lives if we are not careful.

So let this Easter be a time of planting and growing in our spiritual lives, that we may enjoy the fruits and graces that God wants to shower on us.

We are Easter People

This phrase "We are Easter People", is something I sometimes hear when I go for funeral wakes. Often by faith-filled family members who believe that their loved one is in the loving arms of God. We are Easter People, because Christ has died for our sins, and risen over death, and will bring us to eternal life with Him. So all this time, the term Easter people, has always been about celebrating Christ's victory over death, and giving us salvation.

But this year, Easter people has taken on a new meaning for me. It all started with the Vespers on the Feast of St Mark the Evangelist. The Psalter Antiphons were in relation to Mark as the Evangelist and his mission to spread the Gospel a.k.a. the Good News.

I have become a minister of the Gospel according to the bountiful gift of God, alleluia.

I do all things for the sake of the Gospel, to have a share in his blessings, alleluia.

To me this grace was given, to preach to the peoples the unsearchable riches of Christ, alleluia.

Somehow they struck me, especially the second one "I do all things for the sake of the Gospel." I guess because I think it is a struggle for me to see all that I do as for the sake of the Gospel. The more I reflected on it, especially in the following days meditation, I realised that the readings for Easter season focus on the spread of the Gospel, the Good News that Christ is risen.

We have the stories of Mary Magdalene and the Emmaus disciples bringing the news to the disciples. But more importantly the great commission of Jesus, to the disciples to proclaim the Good News to the ends of the earth. And this week in the first readings, we have the stories of Peter, Steven, Philip and my favourite Saul.

Indeed, Easter isn't just about us celebrating this wonderful event for ourselves. It is a challenge for us to live as Easter People, that is, to share this Good News to everyone we meet. Each time in the Mass, when we come to celebrate that paschal mystery, when we partake in the Eucharist, it is so that we can carry that mystery, that Good News out of the Mass, and proclaim it to the world, in the lives that we live. To be Easter people really is to live (or attempt our very best) like the Evangelist

"I do all things for the sake of the Gospel, to preach to the peoples the unsearchable riches of Christ."