Bishop of Vasai: Baptisms at Easter, the springtime of the Church
Mumbai (AsiaNews) - During the Easter Vigil, the diocese of Vasai (Maharashtra) will celebrate the resurrection of the Lord, with many adult baptisms. Bishop Felix Machado entrusts to AsiaNews this reflection on the Easter Triduum and the meaning of forgiveness for Christians.
Suffering from the human point of view cannot be explained, for us Christians we are fortunate that Christ not only taught us the meaning of suffering but also through example, and that's what we are celebrating. Suffering is beyond understanding from the human point of view, since it makes no sense to us otherwise. But we have the faith of the church to discover being in union with the Lord, the meaning of suffering.
We should not lose hope, we will see Jesus adored and crucified, he will free us from the meaninglessness of suffering. The injustice and shameful acts committed will not be forgotten, God will judge everything, every penny will be counted.
Look at the crucified Christ, he never uttered a word, he never became bitter, he never took revenge. Why did He say father forgive them, this makes us more enthusiastic of spreading the message of forgiveness. This doesn't mean we are passive to injustice upon us. The message of the cross is very powerful, If people think that we take up arms, multiple our numbers to fight, that would not make us Christians. The church has already done enough, we are doing it in the most Christian way. We should do a self-examination, how are we living our Christian life. The church has given us a very mature way of living our Christian life and doing our mission.
Our Lord Jesus Christ, in teaching us how to pray to God, makes us say that we wish for pardon as we forgive others: "Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us." And if the observance of this law is sometimes hard and difficult, we have not only the timely assistance of the grace of Our Divine Redeemer, but also His example to help us to overcome the difficulty. For as He hung on the Cross He thus excused before his Father those who so unjustly and wickedly tortured Him: "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."
We then, who should be the first to imitate the piety and loving kindness of Jesus Christ, whose Vicar, without any merit of Our own, We are; with all Our heart, and following His example, We forgive all Our enemies who knowingly or unknowingly have heaped and are still heaping on our person and Our work every sort of vituperation, and We embrace all in Our charity and benevolence, and neglect no opportunity to do them all the good in Our power. That is indeed what Christians worthy of the name ought to do towards those who during the war have done them wrong.
“At the Easter Vigil, there will be adult Baptisms taking place, in a parishes in our Diocese ( Only after the completion of the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA) course) and they also have to make an affidavit to give it clearly in writing. The Church neither allures nor forces any one to the Faith. It is overwhelming, that many adults have been requesting to come into the faith. As an Archbishop, it is very heartening to see people searching for God and who have had an encounter with Christ, and have come freely asking to be baptized. The course Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA) takes around one year, and these people are so eager to learn the Faith. These Baptisms also make us proud as Indians of our Constitutional which guarantees Religious Freedom. Recently, there have been many accusations, of forced conversions, and it is fundamental that ‘while t nobody should be forced to convert they should also add what we say not only should nobody be forced against his/her wish to be converted.
The law of religious liberty the freedom of religion is both ways on one hand nobody should be forced against his/her wish and to add to it is no one should with withheld is she or he so wants to convert. I am proud to be Indian.
These baptisms are the spring time of the Church, The history of the church has always been , people have tried to crush there the springtime of the church has always been experienced so in other words people there are limits something not in the power of the human being it is god gift and it will remain God’s gift of the faith”.
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