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Homily: Pentecost C. Holy Spirit for Zero Waste

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Ecological thoughts are what come to mind as I reflect on Pentecost. Is it because ecology is a topic in fashion? Perhaps! But there’s more to it than just fashion. In fact, the way readings allude to the Holy Spirit I see some connection with ecological vocabulary like: Zero waste. So, I ask myself, how does the coming of the Holy Spirit sustain our hope and make us grow in faith through the ecological initiative of zero waste? Let’s reflect together.


Bible readings
Acts 2: 1–11
Psalm 104: 1, 24, 29–31, 34
Romans 8: 8–17
John 14: 15–26

Culture of Waste

Zero waste sends me to Pope Francis’ speech to the European parliament, 25 November 2014 in Strasbourg, in which he warned against the culture of waste. This is not just about the things that we throw away, but also about persons who, because of illness or age, are downgraded as unproductive. Performance becomes a scale to measure a person’s dignity. The antidote for the culture of waste is the commitment to Zero waste where we make a maximum use of anything. Instead of succumbing to the tendency to throw one thing away and rush to get another one, we may become creative by making the effort to transform any potential waste into something usable and useful. However, to unleash such creativity, we may need first to fight the culture of waste.

Forms of zero waste

We can’t limit zero waste only to constant transformation but can also speak of effective use of what we have at hand. But how can we talk about effective, maximum use of things when planned obsolescence is a reality of what society produces? Manufactured items are a given an artificially limited lifespan, so that people can use them for a time, throw them away and then go and look for latest one. That’s an example of an induced consumerism, indeed, a culture of waste, intended to keep turning the economic wheel. Even worse, such throw-away tendency goes further to touch even the human persons and their relationships.

We may believe no longer in durability of relationship as friends or as couple. Similarly, we may believe no more in the durability of our commitment -we see things only in terms of short time. Here, it’s not just a question of temporality, things that come and go, but despair that may cloud the way we look at ourselves and the world around us.

Think of someone, ever feeling demolished, just because their past relationship didn’t work as they may have wanted it; consider the feeling of obsoleteness of someone who lost their job or because of illness/age. The list is endless of things that may leave us feeling out of date and useless. When we are caught up in such feeling; we end up convincing ourselves that we, and our relationships, are good for nothing but for the waste bin. Culture of waste!  That’s why I wonder, at this Pentecost, how can the Holy Spirit inspire us into some ecological creativity?

Pentecost, breath of creation

The first reading, psalm, sequence and the Gospel acclamation, all of them, bring out clearly the role of the Holy Spirit as: regenerating, reinvigorating or reanimating. The first reading testifies by the charismatic proclamation of the simple Galileans, understood by everyone despite the differences of languages; the psalm speaks of the Spirit as life giving, and according to the sequence, the spirit is the ray of light that comes from above. How assuring, indeed, is a ray of light especially if you have been toddling in darkness! Where there’s slothfulness the Spirit ignites a fire of dynamism. It’s completely new creation that is associated with the presence of the Holy Spirit. Then you can understand the way John presents Pentecost.

On the Easter Sunday Jesus comes to his disciples, confined in the house for fear of Jews, and breaths on them saying: receive the Holy Spirit. It’s a gesture of creation, as God did in Genesis when creating the human person. And by associating the gift of the Spirit and the ministry of pardon and reconciliation, it’s like saying where there’s sin there’s alienation, a kind of death. And so, this ministry in the power of the Spirit is intended to revive those who have been estranged and wounded by sin.  In the pardon and reconciliation is a bold expression that despite what may have happened between us, our relationship has not become obsolete; we can, once again, arrive at holding hands and moving forward together.  Indeed, where is that strengthened and rejuvenated relationship if not the one re-established after past wounds, thanks to pardon and reconciliation?

Celebrating Pentecost

The Holy spirit comes to encourage in our affirmation: zero waste, no more the culture of waste. That means, we become determined to transform, even what may seem to be the worst experience, into something usable and useful. And so, celebrating Pentecost, the coming of the Spirit, we announce not only our hope but also our openness to welcome a new breath in whatever we live today. We express our longing for freshness.

Yes, Lord, at this Pentecost we present to you especially what appear to be the worst of our experiences. It could be our own selves, other persons or things which we are ready to shovel into waste bin. Blow on them your breath of life of your Spirit and we shall have, out of them, something usable and useful. Oh, yes Lord, send us your Holy Spirit and our lives shall be renewed.

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Homily. 7th Sunday of Easter. Jesus prays for You

Homily. 6th Sunday of Easter C. Back to the Original Plan.

Homily. 5th Sunday of Easter C. Time for Essentials

Homily. 7th Sunday of Easter. Jesus prays for You

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Jesus is aware that his disciples will encounter trials in their mission, after his departure. These trials will come not only from outside, but also from within. This is why in his long goodbye speech Jesus takes the trouble to give some instructions which help the disciples to remain focused on their mission. What message does the 7th Sunday of Easter have for us?

Bible readings
Acts 7: 55–60
Psalm 97: 1–2, 6–7, 9
Apocalypse 22: 12–14, 16–20
John 17: 20–26

Recapture of the goodbye speech

Already in chapter 13 of the Gospel of John, by the washing of the feet during the Last Supper, Jesus shows that a disciple is called to live the commandment of love through service. So, whoever wants to be the first should be the servant of all, following the example of the master himself. And that’s why, by analogy, the disciples are called to be configured onto their master, like branches onto the vine, if they are to be fruitful in their mission. And today’s Gospel, John chapter 17, marks the end of this discourse. What is Jesus doing?

Jesus at prayer

With his eyes raised to heaven, he addresses the following prayer to the father: “I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in me through their word; that they all may be one, as you, father, are in me, and I in you” (Jn 17:20). In his prayer, Jesus carries with affection all the generations of Christians. Indeed, it’s comforting to know that Jesus prays for us; he prays for me and he prays for you too. But why this prayer?

It’s because after the departure of Jesus, it is the time of the church that begins. The church will certainly perform wonders, thanks to the Holy Spirit that accompanies it; however, it will also face its reality. Despite the presence of the Holy Spirit it remains, nevertheless, a community of men and women. Yes, we make the effort to stay on the rail of this mission entrusted to us, by remaining docile to the Spirit, but there also times when we leave our human fragility to take control. As a result, instead of serving we fall into scramble for honour and prestige; instead of gathering we divide. It’s enough to look not only at the history of the church but also at my personal history as a Christian. And when we look at our families, we realise that we, indeed, need the grace of unity as Jesus prayed. This is why we need help from the Holy Spirit: to show us the way, to correct us, and to make us remain faithful to the example Jesus left for us.

Love and Unity

Jesus makes this prayer for unity on Holy Thursday, the moment when he gives the new commandment, the commandment of love. It is impossible to live the commandment of love without unity, in fact, unity makes love visible. Therefore, couples who live in love and in unity actualize the prayer of Jesus; faithful to their vocation they radiate the image of God.

Living in unity breaks barriers between us and enables us to live in communion, like God himself is the communion of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. It is this affection of the Triune God that Jesus wishes for us, as the church and as families.  However, this unity is not just a fruit of our effort but also a gift of the Holy Spirit. That is why, this time as we await Pentecost, we could pray for families, couples and friends suffering the effects of divisions so that, by the help of the Holy Spirit, they may find a way of reconciliation.

Yes, Lord, give our families and our churches to live unity as you and the father are one.

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Homily. 6th Sunday of Easter C. Back to the Original Plan.

Homily. 5th Sunday of Easter C. Time for Essentials

Homily. 6th Sunday of Easter C. Back to the Original Plan.

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When I place the First Reading alongside the Gospel I just can’t resist crying out: it begins badly! And it’s not just out there, but right where I’m too. That why I see this 6th Sunday of Easter as an invitation to get back to the drawing board and check out if we are still faithful to the original plan.

Going back to the original plan

Bible readings
Acts 15: 1–29
Psalm 67: 2–3, 5–6, 8
Apocalypse 21: 10–14, 22–23
John 14: 23–29

Keep the kernel of the goodbye speech

In the Gospel, Jesus continues with the farewell discourse, assuring the disciples not to allow themselves to be troubled; for although he’s leaving, he shall come back. Besides, he will send them the advocate, the Holy Spirit, who will remind them of all he has taught. And he leaves them the gift of peace. Indeed, there’s a great deal to highlight from these last words of Jesus, nevertheless, we should take care not to lose sight of the kernel of his message. Remember?

Jesus gave the disciples a new commandment: that they love one another as he loves them, adding that: it’s by their love that the world will recognise them as his disciples. And in this Sunday’s Gospel the word love come up again. If the disciples love Jesus, they will keep his word, even in his absence. A person who keeps a word, is a person worthy of trust -he remains faithful.  I can’t imagine fidelity other than remaining true to this message of love. Appreciating not only how central, but also how safe, love is; St Augustin couldn’t hesitate to recommend: “Love and do whatever you like”. Why? He was sure, with love there’s no room for harming oneself or others. But what place does love occupy in the teaching we get in the First Reading?

Check the list

In the First Reading,  zealous persons make a journey all the way from Jerusalem to Syria and order to give a good lesson to new converts, spelling out to them essentials if they want to be saved. What’s the position of love on the list? It doesn’t even appear -it’s circumcision and other customs that that feature on the list. Even Jesus is not mentioned. Dumbfounded, we may be saying to ourselves: but how possible?

But where’s Jesus on our own list?

We may be equally zealous in whatever commitment we have taken up in the church or in a movement of our parish. Just look at the list of rules that we propagate and try to make every new member to swallow: where’s the spirit of Jesus in all that? What place the commandment of love occupy? Then, we may just realise that though we do not preach circumcision or the customs of Moses, nevertheless, the message we propagate is not different from that of those of judaizers.

The call of 6th Sunday of Easter

That’s why I see the message of this 6th Sunday of Easter as an invitation to get back to the drawing board and check the original plan. Possibly we will realise that we have slipped off the path. Indeed, on the original plan, that is the message of Jesus, is very simple. It’s love -no more and no less.

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Homily. 5th Sunday of Easter C. Time for Essentials

Homily. 4th Sunday of Easter. A Good Shepherd who Walks Along

Homily. 5th Sunday of Easter C. Time for Essentials

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In the conclusion we often come back to the fundamentals. It’s not just about writing, telling a story or delivering a speech, it’s equally true about our life. At a certain time, we should be able to clarify things for ourselves by posing questions on what we do in life. How then, does this Sunday’s Gospel, apparently strange for Easter season, bring us to the essentials?

Bible readings
Acts 14: 21–27
Psalm 145: 8–13
Apocalypse 21: 1–5
John 13: 31–35

Strange Gospel for Easter

Have we run short of Gospel texts? Is it a confusion? How do we jump from accounts about the risen Jesus back to the time before his passion? No haphazard, it’s planned, deliberate and pedagogic. In fact, there’s one thing in common between the time Jesus addressed these words to his disciples and our stage in this Easter period: it’s time for departure. In the Gospel Jesus is saying goodbye to his disciples before going to his passion, death, resurrection -and eventually his return to the Father. In our case, we draw close to Ascension, which is a departure too. In either case, the message of conclusion is just in order.

But what’s the conclusion?

The conclusion is the time when we come back to essentials. We see it during interviews on TV, when a programme draws to the end, the interviewer invites the interviewee to say, before leaving, the last words for the listeners.  It’s a way of saying, we discussed a lot of things; how do you summarise that? What’s the take-away message for those who have been listening? That’s what we have in the Gospel.

At the end of his earthly life, and before returning to his Father, Jesus gives a résumé of what has been his life, both with the disciples and other people too. It’s like he saying to the disciples: you have heard me preach, you have seen me heal the sick or perform miracles, and you walked with me for the past three years -what meaning do I give to all that? Love. I loved you and I love all those people I met. It’s love that has been the motor of whatever I did.  Surely, you can detect it from the warmth with which he addresses those old men of galilee: my little children.

In order to remember, and indeed to keep the memory of, this time we shared together, I tell you, love one another as I have loved you. It’s not just a sentimental love; we know the emblematic gesture of Jesus in this chapter -he washes the feet of his disciples, love in service. So, he’s talking about love not just as an ideal but rather something lived. Here, in a precise way, we have the kernel of what it means to be Christian; it’s to keep alive this love of Jesus in our daily interactions.

But what about my favourite…?

I don’t know your favourite devotion or the way you express your belonging to Jesus. There are several ways: for some it’s going to mass, others have special devotions to a certain saint, membership in a certain group or movement and others still are committed to a certain cause -the ways are countless. All these are important as long as they help us to keep the faith and advance in our Christian life.  However, Jesus invites us to make a step further. In whatever we do, we should at a certain point be able to identify the kernel, centre, the inner motivation of our action. That is, we should be able to give a response to the question: where’s love in all these? How does my devotion or religieuse practice make visible the love of Christ?

To be consistent, I can’t conclude without revisiting the essential. Indeed, the mighty of this world have stamps, or seals, as mark of ownership, for Jesus, it’s love. That’s why he tells the disciples: “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” Thank you, Jesus, for this message that reminds of what is essential for a disciple.  

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Homily. 4th Sunday of Easter. A Good Shepherd who Walks Along

 

Homily. 4th Sunday of Easter. A Good Shepherd who Walks Along

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The 4th Sunday of Easter is called the Good Shepherd Sunday during which we read from the 10th chapter of St John’s Gospel where Jesus refers to himself as Good shepherd. By the image of the “shepherd” what message does Jesus want to communicate to us? On this Sunday we are invited to pray for vocations. But for which vocations should we be praying for?

Bible readings
Acts 13: 14, 43–52
Psalm 100: 2–3, 5
Apocalypse 7: 9, 14–17
John 10: 27–30

Role of the shepherd

The shepherd accompanies his sheep to the pastures where they can eat and, possibly also, drink. He protects them from the attacks of thieves and predators. A bad shepherd is one who falls short in these responsibilities. Instead of using the battle to spur on his animals, he uses it to inflict pain; instead of being vigilant he becomes distracted by his personal preoccupations -leaving some of the sheep straying away where they are exposed to danger. And at the appearance of danger, instead of thinking of the security of animals, he runs away for his safety leaving them at mercy of enemies. This the reproach you hear against shepherds in the Old Testament.

Who are shepherds?

In the Old Testament all those who oversee people are compared to shepherds. Often, God is not happy with them for they lack not only the diligence in their job but also the compassion. Instead of being protecting, they exploit. Ezekiel expresses this symbolically: these shepherds devour the fattened lambs and use their skins to make themselves nice clothes. The sick and weak ones are not taken care of and those who stray have no one to search for them.

“You eat the curds, clothe yourselves with the wool and slaughter the choice animals, but you do not take care of the flock. You have not strengthened the weak or healed the sick or bound up the injured. You have not brought back the strays or searched for the lost. You have ruled them harshly and brutally. So, they were scattered because there was no shepherd, and when they were scattered they became food for all the wild animals. My sheep wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill. They were scattered over the whole earth, and no one searched or looked for them” (Ezekiel 34:4-6).

Jesus, incarnation of God the shepherd

Because of such abuse, God resolves to come down and he himself will take care of his flock. In Jesus, the Good Shepherd, we have the incarnation of the tenderness of the Father which several parables testify: parable of the lost sheep, the prodigal son, or the lost coin. If he has a battle of authority is not for beating, neither is it for passing a sentence of condemnation. He accompanies to sustain, encourage and to bring the best of each person, whatever his situation. Think of Zacchaeus, Mathew in the tax booth, or the woman on death row after being caught in adultery. The encounter with Jesus blooms new life in them. That’s Jesus, the Good Shepherd, the image of the father, who accompanies us to bring the best out of us.

Our vocation

So, talking about vocation we can’t limit ourselves to priesthood and religious life; these are but only part of the Christian community in which every person has his place. And whatever our place and role, each person is called to carry out his function with the spirit of Jesus the Good Shepherd. So, this Sunday for vocations, firstly, reminds us how we ourselves benefit from this enabling presence of God in our lives: he accompanies by nourishing us with his word and by his body and blood. And secondly, reminds us of our own mission.

So we should ask ourselves: by my presence in my family, at my place of work or among friends; what kind of shepherd am I? Do I use the baton to smash or to encourage and sustain? The document in preparation of the 2nd synod on the family speaks of the relation of the pastor vis-à-vis the persons facing challenges in their family life:  a pastor should know when to be in front to lead, when to be behind to allow the persons do their own journey or when to be beside them to console them. Indeed, in accompanying we don’t replace the other doing the journey in their place, no; we walk along as companions, as friends.

Let’s pray that we may be, first, the sheep that hear the voice of Christ our shepherd, so that sustained by his tenderness, we may also, in turn, find the energy to be good companions to others, especially those who are walking with difficulty the journey of their lives.

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