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THE EXAMINER · APR 18 - MAY 08, 2020 · 1 www.the-examiner.org 171 Years A CATHOLIC NEWSWEEKLY - Est 1850 • 171 years of publication • MUMBAI • Vol. 64 No. 15 • APR 18 - MAY 08, 2020 • Rs. 15/- Editor-in-Chief Fr Anthony Charanghat EDITORIAL BOARD: 3 HOPE IN HIS MERCY Managing Editor: Editorial Fr Joshan Rodrigues Members: 4 THE “JOYFUL” MYSTERY OF EASTER! Adrian Rosario Carol Andrade 5 TAKING YOUR PARISH INTO Dr Astrid Lobo Gajiwala CYBERSPACE ASST EDITOR: 7 WHAT TO DO ON DIVINE Fr Nigel Barrett MERCY SUNDAY? ART DIRECTOR: Rosetta Martins 8 LIVING JUSTICE, PEACE AND CONTENTS INTEGRITY OF CREATION ELECTRONIC MEDIA: Neil D'Souza 9 PARISHES STAY STRONG IN THE FAITH ADVERTISING: John Braganza UNDER LOCKDOWN PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY : Fr Anthony Charanghat 11 PANDEMIC RESPONSE: CHURCH IN for the Owners, MUMBAI’S HEART BEATS The Examiner Trust, FOR THE POOR Regn. No. E 10398 Bom. under the Bombay 12 A CLERGY-CENTRED CHURCH OR Public Trust Act, 1950. CHRIST-CENTRED COMMUNITY? AT: ACE PRINTERS 13 BRINGING THE EUCHARIST ALIVE IN 212, Pragati Industrial Estate, TIMES OF CRISIS Delisle Road, Lower Parel, Mumbai 400013 14 TEN WAYS THAT THE POST-COVID Tel.: 2263 0397 CHURCH WILL BE DIFFERENT OFFICE ADDRESS: Eucharistic Congress Bldg. III, 16 SOMEWHERE OVER THE RAINBOW 1st Floor, 5 Convent Street (Near Regal Cinema), Mumbai 400001 17 WHAT’S IN YOUR HAND? Tel: 2202 0221 / 2283 2807 19 "FEED MY LAMBS, TEND MY SHEEP" 2288 6585 20 THE TIME IS RIPE FOR A Email: TRANSVALUATION OF VALUES [email protected] [email protected] 21 A PERSONAL REFLECTION VIS-À-VIS [email protected] THE PANDEMIC (Courier surcharge for individual 23 "JESUS WEPT"(JN 11:35) copies outside Mumbai, Navi Mumbai and Thane @ Rs. 15/-) 26 DARK CLOUDS SUBSCRIPTION RATES-ANNUAL Inland : Rs. 750/- 27 FIGHT THE CORONAVIRUS, (Addl. Rs. 70/- for Postage - All India. Rs. 350/- for Courier Charges for NOT EACH OTHER! Mumbai, Navi Mumbai and Thane Dist Rs. 1000/- for others.) 28 WHAT IS CATHOLIC (Rs. 1750/- for Speed Post charges HOMESCHOOLING? in Mumbai/Navi Mumbai and Rs. 2775/- for Speed Post charges outside Mumbai) This volume is a collec on of ar cles that was published Airmail: Rs. 4250/- on our website www.the-examiner.org as independent (Incl. Postage) write-ups from April 18 to May 8, 2020. No issue digital or otherwise was published during this period. ONLINE E-PAPER: Rs. 610/- www.examiner.in Total Pages Including Cover: 29 Website: www.the-examiner.org 2 · THE EXAMINER · APR 18 - MAY 08, 2020 FFrr AAnthonynthony CCharanghatharanghat esus is Risen, Alleluia!” The Resurrection of our Saviour is the hallmark and defi ning event of our faith. It is the wellspring of our eternal hope that the purity of God’s all-merciful love fl owing "J through us will overcome all things. Given the grip of the COVID-19 pandemic on our global EDITORIAL society, this week’s message of hope in His all-embracing Mercy could not have arrived at a better time. Our Easter celebrations this year have found us all living in a surreal landscape. The worldwide outbreak of the coronavirus has dramatically and suddenly impacted the normal course of our lives over the past several weeks. As the number of cases, the danger to our health and the death toll have all grown, we have been starkly reminded that every life is truly a precious gift from God. Our Lenten experience this year was far from typical. Living out isolation, quarantine, social distancing and the suspension of public Masses were unimaginable concepts during Holy Week. While necessary for the preservation of public health, these measures have negatively aff ected people fi nancially, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. In these times of uncertainty, there is a temptation to sink into despair. The characteristic mark of Lent therefore this year, was that people kept their eyes fi xed on Christ, the crucifi ed and merciful God, as a means of inspiration to encounter the world with charity and good will. Now that Easter has arrived, we must keep our eyes fi xed on the outstretched arms of Christ, the resurrected. He inspires us to receive and to give a love that is boundless. This love is pure. It does not discriminate. It is invincible. Neither contagion nor death can conquer the transforming love and mercy of God. It has been a painful, confusing and trying time, but in Christ and His triumph on the Cross, God’s great love for us prevails. That love transcends our human understanding and is more powerful than we can comprehend. It will never fail us, regardless of where life fi nds us. Right now, life fi nds us in a particularly diffi cult time that has slowed our world to a near stop. Yet, it has also given us an opportunity to rediscover those things that are truly important. These ominous days will pass. We shall overcome them as a united family of God. So, during this Easter season, let us look to God with renewed hearts and minds more so than ever before. May His love fl ow through us and inspire us to encounter one another with tenderness and mercy. May that same love of Divine Mercy also strengthen us each day with the resolve to see value in ourselves and in one another. A new day will dawn, and we can rebuild through Him who makes all things possible. Pray for those who have died; May they rest in peace. Pray for those in mourning that they may fi nd comfort. Intercede for those who are sick. May they be healed. Plead for the gift of courage for our fi rst responders and health care providers who are on the front lines every day battling this virus, along with our government offi cials who have been working diligently to ensure our safety. May they be strengthened and protected in the course of their daily work to overcome the current global health crisis. All of us owe a debt of gratitude to those working to impede the spread of the coronavirus and eliminate the threat it poses. We must all be united in sentiments of gratitude and blessing. Through the compassion and mercy of God, these ominous days will pass. We shall overcome this scourge together in a spirit of solidarity. Until we can come together again physically as communities of faith, we can remain united through the blessings of technology and social media. In our archdiocese, we have done so with virtual Lenten retreats, live broadcasts of the celebration of Mass and many other prayerful initiatives. These initiatives have created fresh opportunities for the faithful to reignite the domestic church with renewed faith lives, that lead to creative and appropriate action at home and beyond. Easter brings hope to our lives and inspires us to take actions that build a better community and a better world through our interactions with one another. May this Easter season bring us peace and joy. Most importantly, may it strengthen our mutual resolve as people of hope in His empowering Mercy and His redeeming love that goes beyond the justice we deserve. THE EXAMINER · APR 18 - MAY 08, 2020 · 3 DDRR FFIOIO MMASCARENHAS,ASCARENHAS, SSJJ aster, more than Christmas, brings humanity "good everything contrary to God in the Son is experienced as being news of great joy" (Lk 2:10), because it brings to abandoned by the Father… What gives the Son this feeling is fulfi lment St Paul's anointed summary of the Good His inner bearing of the irreconcilable contradic on between E News of Jesus: "For our sake, God made Jesus who the sin He has within Him and the holiness of the Father. As knew no sin to be sin, so that in him, we might become the the embodiment of sin, He can no longer fi nd any support righteousness of God" (2 Cor 5:21). in God; He has iden fi ed Himself with that which God must Paul used shocking language to make us understand the eternally turn away from Himself…" ((Von Balthasar Reader, extent and totality of the self-iden fi ca on of Jesus with M.Kehl SJ and W.Loser SJ, [Crossroad, New York 1982], us human beings. Jesus, the all-holy One, had to iden fy pp.147, 148). Himself with humanity's sins to such a degree that it could truly be said He became sin in some inscrutable, mysterious way! The Way of the Cross was God's invita on to Jesus to love humanity to the highest degree possible, by spiritually iden fying Himself with all the sins of humanity, as though He were personally guilty of them all. By accep ng God's will, the Crucifi ed Jesus became "the juridical personifi ca on of sin" (Jerome Biblical Commentary). The result was that momentarily He could no longer experience His habitual unity with God. "Not coun ng his divine privilege (habitual union with the Father) as something to cling to, he emp ed himself" (Phil 2:6,7). Therefore, in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus was greatly troubled by the prospect that "for our sake" God would make Him who had "no personal knowledge of sin to be sin." It distressed Him so much that "his sweat became like great But it was all worth it, "for our sake." Happily, His fi nal drops of blood falling down upon the ground" (Lk 22:44), and words on the Cross— "Father, into your hands, I commend three mes, He begged His Father to "remove this cup from my spirit" (Lk 23:46) show that having "emp ed himself" me." This solidarity of Jesus with humanity, and His complete out of love for human beings, thus accomplishing God's will iden fi ca on with our sins, reached its climax on the Cross, fully ("It is fi nished" – Jn 19:30), He once again entered into making Him scream out: "My God, my God, why have you in mate union with His beloved Father.