23 April 2027 · Syro-Malabar Rite
Open in the Daily Word appAlso: Latin Rite · Syro-Malankara Rite · മലയാളം
“Therefore it says, “Sleeper, awake! Rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”” Ephesians 5:14
In the middle of a page of practical advice, Paul suddenly quotes a few lines that sound like a song: “Sleeper, awake! Rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” Many scholars think this was a hymn sung at Baptism in the first Christian communities. One can imagine the newly baptised coming up from the water while the community sang it over them. The words gather the whole of Easter into three short lines: we were asleep, we were dead, and Christ, the Sun risen from the tomb, has shone on us. Paul has just said that “everything exposed by the light becomes visible”. The light of Christ does not only warm us; it shows us the truth about ourselves, and what is brought into his light is healed. That is why the Church has always loved to call Baptism illumination. In the Easter season the paschal candle stands near the altar in some of our churches, and the newly baptised receive a lit candle: they are sleepers who have been woken and dead who have risen.
Then Paul draws the consequences for daily life. “Be careful then how you live, not as unwise people but as wise, making the most of the time, because the days are evil.” The Christian is awake, and an awake person does not waste the day. He warns against drunkenness, which dulls the mind and wrecks families, and offers another kind of fullness instead: “be filled with the Spirit, as you sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, singing and making melody to the Lord in your hearts, giving thanks to God the Father at all times and for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” The Spirit-filled Church is a singing and thankful Church. Our Syro-Malabar tradition knows this well: the Qurbana is sung, the hours of prayer are sung, and the homes of our grandparents rang each evening with the family prayer and its songs. Paul ends with a word that opens the next section on family life: “Be subject to one another out of reverence for Christ.” Mutual service is the fruit of the Spirit; a home where each gives way to the other for Christ's sake is already full of his light.
The Gospel is Mark's account of the feeding of the five thousand. It is late, the place is deserted, and the disciples want to send the crowd away to buy food. Jesus answers: “You give them something to eat.” They protest that two hundred denarii would hardly be enough. “How many loaves have you? Go and see.” Five, and two fish. Then Mark describes what Jesus does with words every Christian recognises: “Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to his disciples to set before the people.” Took, blessed, broke, gave: these are the very actions of the Last Supper and of every Qurbana. All ate and were filled, and twelve baskets of fragments were left over, one for each apostle, as if to say that the Church will never run out of this bread. Two lessons stand out for this Easter Friday. First, Jesus works through the disciples: he does not drop bread from the sky but asks them to bring what little they have and to hand it out. Second, he feeds the people with abundance: the Risen Lord still gives himself in the Eucharist to all who come, and he still says to his Church in the face of every hunger, of body and of soul, “You give them something to eat.”
Theme: “Sleeper, awake! Rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”
The baptismal light of the Risen Christ, the Spirit-filled life of song and thanksgiving, and the loaves taken, blessed, broken and given.
“Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD has risen upon you.” Isaiah 60:1
“Therefore it says, “Sleeper, awake! Rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”” Ephesians 5:14
Apply: Begin tomorrow with the prayer: Christ, shine on me today.
“O sing to the LORD a new song; sing to the LORD, all the earth. Sing to the LORD, bless his name; tell of his salvation from day to day.” Psalm 96:1–2
“as you sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, singing and making melody to the Lord in your hearts, giving thanks to God the Father at all times and for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Ephesians 5:19–20
Apply: Sing one hymn together at family prayer this week.
“So he repeated, “Give it to the people and let them eat, for thus says the LORD, ‘They shall eat and have some left.’”” 2 Kings 4:43
“Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to his disciples to set before the people; and he divided the two fish among them all.” Mark 6:41
Apply: Offer a skill, some time or a little money to those who feed the hungry.
The Risen Christ shines on us, fills us with his Spirit and feeds us with his Body.
Let us wake, give thanks and bring our small loaves to him.
Take-home resolution: This week, pray each morning for Christ's light, give thanks before every meal, and share bread with someone who is hungry.
Dear friends, today Paul gives us a little hymn, and Mark gives us the feeding of the five thousand.
The hymn says: “Sleeper, awake! Rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” The first Christians probably sang it at Baptism. We were asleep, we were dead, and the Risen Christ has shone on us. That is why Baptism is called illumination, and why we receive a lit candle.
Then Paul says: be careful how you live; make the most of the time; do not get drunk, but be filled with the Spirit, singing psalms and hymns and “giving thanks to God the Father at all times and for everything.” A Spirit-filled home is a singing and thankful home.
In the Gospel, the crowd is hungry and the place is deserted. Jesus says to the disciples: “You give them something to eat.” They have only five loaves and two fish. He takes them, blesses, breaks and gives them through the disciples, and all are filled, with twelve baskets left over.
These are the actions of every Holy Qurbana. The Risen Lord still feeds his people with his own Body, and he still asks us to bring our small loaves and to share them with the hungry.
So today, let us wake up to Christ's light, give thanks for everything, and bring our little gifts to him. He will make them enough. Alleluia! Amen.
Children, Jesus fed five thousand people with five loaves and two fish! He took the bread, said thank you to God, broke it and shared it.
At the Holy Qurbana Jesus gives us the best bread of all: himself. Today, share something with a friend, like Jesus did!
Lord Jesus Christ, Sun of the Resurrection, you woke us from sleep and raised us from death in Baptism; shine on us today. Fill us with your Holy Spirit, so that we may live wisely, sing your praises and give thanks to the Father at all times and for everything. As you fed the hungry crowd in the deserted place, feed us with the Bread of your Body, and make us generous to all who hunger. Glory to you, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, for ever. Amen. Alleluia!