The only ‘Way’

During this Holy Week, it is more appropriate to write about another kind of law; the law that will help us not only with our life in this world but also the law that will guide us to the next life of eternal bliss.

We all know that during this period we are commemorating the second most important event in the lives of Christians, which is the passion, death and resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. We have already commemorated in December, last year, the happier event of  Christ’s birth, His coming into this world and becoming a human being like us, the “Emmanuel” who will save us and enable us once more to have eternal life that we lost when Adam succumb to the wiles of the devil while in Eden.

In this second event, we are trying to commemorate, to recall, to renew and to relive the life of our Lord Jesus Christ while he is fulfilling the desires of His Father, our one and only God, to redeem us and save us so that after we leave this world, we will be with the triune God, the Father, Son and Holy beholding them in their everlasting Glory together with the our Virgin Mother.

The only way we can reach that destination after our journey in this world is to follow Christ who tells us that He is “the Way, the Truth and the Life.” And we can do so especially by recalling and reliving His passion, death and resurrection which are being recalled and renewed particularly during this Holy Week. These are the times when we should reminisce and feel more deeply how He was unjustifiably condemned to death by Pontius Pilate after unbearably agonizing in the Garden about the impending ordeals and sufferings that He will undergo; how He was tortured and scourged at the Pillar of the Temple; how He was mockingly crowned with thorns; how He courageously took up the Cross and carried it all the way up to Mt. Calvary despite so many debilitating and demoralizing obstacles along the way; and finally, how He was excruciatingly nailed on the Cross which was raised up with Him hanging on it until He died in the presence of His most sorrowful Virgin Mother Mary and beloved apostle John amidst the jeering and taunting crowds.

So in our earthly sojourn, we have to follow Christ who showed us how to reach that glorious destination. And there is every reason for us to believe Him and to follow Him because He really showed us that after dying on the cross, He resurrected from the dead and ascended into heaven to be with His father and Virgin Mother in everlasting Glory and eternal happiness together with all the angels and saints.

As we therefore spend the remaining days of the Holy Week particularly Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday and Easter Sunday, let us try to remove all distractions and impediments that will draw us away from Jesus Christ, our Lord and Redeemer. We should always keep Him at the center of our attention and of our lives. Nothing in this world can be more important and valuable than Him. And this is proven by an interview of the richest man in Singapore aired in social media who declared that “he is a broken man” despite his billions in this world. Something is missing in him. Then, without hesitation he unexpectedly mentioned Jesus! We are really “broken” without Jesus in our lives.

We must therefore keep Jesus in mind for as long as we live. True enough He has given us the law we should follow so that we will reach the other life of eternal bliss in heaven. And this law is the law of Love. “Love God above all things with all our heart, all our minds, and all our strength, and love our neighbors as we love ourselves. Truly, as St Paul said “Love is the fulfillment of the law,” both secular and spiritual.

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