Acts 10:34, 37-43 / Col 3:1-4 / John 20:1-9
If we had watched the state funeral last Sunday, we would have remembered that the Prime Minister was the first to give the eulogy.
His beginning words were these – “This has been a dark week for Singapore. The light that has guided us all these years has been extinguished”. He was, of course, referring to the late Mr. Lee Kuan Yew.
Yes, it had been a dark week for Singapore. But even in that darkness, there arose many little lights that showed the emotional side of Singaporeans and also the best side of Singaporeans.
At least it can be said that Singaporeans were united as a nation in bidding farewell to her founding father.
One light was extinguished, but the fire burned on in many other little lights.
Tonight we began our Easter Vigil with the blessing of the fire, a ritual that happens only once a year actually.
The fire was blessed, and from it the Easter Candle was lighted, and it continues to burn in the sanctuary lamps and in the votive candles in the parish house.
The fire is also a symbol of the divine presence of Christ who is the Light of the world.
We also receive that light at our baptism when we were given a lighted candle to symbolize that we are enlightened by the light of Christ and that we are to live as children of the light.
But here is where, if we reflected deeper, there seems to be a contradiction and an opposition of symbols.
We were baptized with water and then we are enlightened by fire.
Water and fire don’t go together. Water extinguishes fire, but fire can also boil water and can eventually evaporate the water.
But in the divine mystery, water and fire take on a combined spiritual purpose in our lives.
Water permeates into stone structures and hence no matter how sturdy a building may be, there will eventually be a leaking problem somewhere.
And in the confrontation between a stream of water and a rock, the stream of water always wins, not through strength but through persistence.
Later we will renew our baptismal promises – we will renounce sin and evil and the devil, and we will also profess our belief in God.
And then we will be sprinkled with holy water. The spiritual significance is that God will shower His love upon us until His love permeates into our hearts until we turn into fountains of living water that will in turn flow to others.
But just as education is not the filling of a pail but the lighting of the fire of wisdom, the cleansing water of God’s love makes us shine with the light of Christ.
The Easter celebration of the Resurrection of Christ also reminds us spiritual powers of fire and water.
Fire gives light and it also radiates warmth. The fire of God’s love is in us so that as children of the light, we radiate the warmth of God’s love to others, and that’s just by being who we truly are – the children of the light.
Being baptized with water, we also take on the spiritual meaning of water, in that clean water is essential for life and so we must be life-giving to others.
Also water is considered as the universal solvent, and so we pour out our lives for others so that we can help them to solve their problems in life.
We will bless the water later and it will be distributed in Holy Water bottles. But the blessed water is not to be kept in those bottles for display or for it to evaporate.
We bring it back to bless our homes, our workplace, bless our children, and also bless ourselves so that God’s love will continue to permeate into our hearts and into our lives.
Last week the light that guided our nation was extinguished and on the day of the state funeral there was, ironically, a heavy downpour, and it was challenging for those who lined the streets to bid their last farewell.
But there was a quote from the blogger Mr. Brown, (who usually makes candid comments and remarks).
He wrote – The rain came down in torrents. No one ran. No one left.
The light may have been extinguished, but it lighted fires in the hearts of Singaporeans.
For us, the light of the Resurrection of Christ is shining into our hearts to light up the fire of love in us.
May the fire of love warm up the waters in which we are baptized and may we go forth and be the life-giving waters for the world.