A Via Lucis

BAGUIA

V. We adore You, O Christ, and we praise You.

R. Because by the Wood of the Cross and the Light of the Resurrection, You have redeemed the world.

Eighth station: The risen Lord strengthens the faith of Thomas.

Government leaders question the relevance of the church.

One leader says it will be extinct within a few decades.

Saint Joan of Arc once said that as to the church and our Lord, she has no confusion, for they are one.

Doubt in the church amounts to doubt in the risen Savior.

But as with the Lord, so with the church.

Will people believe because they see? Blessed are those who believe though they do not, the Christ told Thomas who doubted the resurrection until he witnessed the Lord’s apparition.

In Cebu, the church is involved in the fight against trafficking, ecological preservation, healing of drug addicts, rehabilitation of prostitutes.

Is Christ alive in his Body, the church? Saint Thomas Aquinas said: For those who believe, no proof is necessary. For those who disbelieve, no proof suffices.

Ninth station: The risen Lord eats with the disciples on the shore of Tiberias.

The disciples return to their old occupation — fishing. Were they fully convinced that the Christ rose from the dead?

He already appeared to them.

In any case, he appears once more at the edge of the lake, telling them to throw their empty nets to a side of the boat for a catch.

The fish come. Saint John recognizes the Lord. Saint Peter jumps off the boat and drags a net-load of fish ashore.

The Lord has prepared breakfast and invites the apostles to eat with him.

The Resurrection has changed everything.

With the risen Lord, no net will ever be empty, no heart will ever break with its fill of loved ones. Grace and strength are freely available in fellowship with the risen One.

Tenth station: The risen Lord forgives Peter and entrusts him to feed his sheep.

Before the Crucifixion, Peter denied the Lord three times. After the Resurrection, the Christ asks for Peter’s affirmation of his love for him thrice.

He tells Peter: Feed my sheep, feed my lambs, feed my sheep. Saint Paul said the Lord’s call is irrevocable.

To care for the earth is one of the first tasks the Lord assigned to man.

It is a task that has been ignored many times over, but the charge remains — exercise dominion over creation.

The responsibility is more pressing in the face of ecological degradation.

Only when man turns back the tide of waste, pollution, desertification, and other counts of raping the earth will the song of mystics again ring true — every shower and dew, bless the Lord; dolphins and all water creatures, bless the Lord; everything growing from the earth, bless the Lord.

Eleventh station: The risen Lord sends the disciples into the world.

The great commission is for the disciples to go forth, baptize people in the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and to teach them what Christ commands.

With the great commission comes great accompaniment: Behold, I am with always, until the end of the age, the Lord says. We take comfort.

Not only is He alive in the commissioned ones. He is alive in the ones we are called to teach and welcome into his flock.

Twelfth station: The risen Lord ascends into heaven.

When Paradise was closed, an angel with a revolving sword was posted at the gate so that none may enter. Heaven is open again to man.

No sword need block our access.

The innocent One whose side, whose heart was pierced, whose Body was reduced to a pulp in his Passion has hallowed human suffering out of love, removing the power of the sword of exile.

Thirteenth station: Mary and the disciples keep vigil in the upper room for the Spirit’s advent.

The Christ ascended like a friend who goes away to pick up a present for the one he momentarily leaves. The Blessed Virgin was the first present, given at the foot of the Cross. She understands how to receive heavenly gifts, she in fact first received the Giver, so she is the best person to wait with the disciples in the Upper Room for the promised divine present.

Fourteenth station: The risen Lord sends the Holy Spirit.

In a new and generous way, the Christ, with our Father in heaven, fulfills his promise to be with his friends until the end of the age.

He sends the Spirit on the fiftieth day of Easter, and the Church is born, with gifts — wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord; and fruit — love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.