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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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Homily. 2nd Sunday of Easter C. Oh Yes, Lord, I Believe!

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Doubting Thomas that’s the label we stick on those doubt when we tell them something. Incredulity is what we associate Thomas with. On this 2nd Sunday of Easter we meet Thomas again; but isn’t there something more he can offer us?

Oh yes, Lord, I believe!

Bible readings
Acts 5: 12–16
Psalm 118: 2–4, 22–24, 25–27
Apocalypse 1: 9–13, 17–19
John 20 19–31

It’s witness

In the Gospels we have no accounts on the resurrection itself as such, but the narration about those who met the risen Lord. That should give us a hint: we can’t talk of the resurrection like an ideology for which we seek to recruit followers. It’s an experience. Easter is meaningful, and indeed life changing, in the measure that it becomes a personal experience. In that case, we talk of the resurrection in terms of our renewed lives thanks to our encounter, in some way, with the risen Lord. Confessing faith in Jesus in a personal way is something we can emulate from Thomas.

Is Thomas unbelieving?

What I want to retain from the Gospel of this Sunday, among other things, is not as such the disbelieving Thomas, but rather the process through which the disciples, Thomas included, finally come to make this encounter with the risen Lord despite the initial doubts. It’s a process of growth in faith which is equally ours. When Jesus comes the first time Thomas is absent and he doesn’t believe when later the others tell him: “We have seen the Lord.” He responds: “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.” Such apparent disbelief makes us, unfortunately, pass by the beautiful confession of faith of Thomas.

From cultural to personal faith

What I find beautiful is the way Thomas finally confesses faith in risen Jesus in a personal way. Not satisfied with what the other disciples told Thomas wanted his personal experience with Jesus. What’s important the second time Jesus comes is not that Thomas can see the marks of his wounds and insert his finger in his side, but rather the fact he meets Jesus. And there’s no other foundation of Christian faith other an encounter with Jesus. Christianity is about the person of Jesus. That’s why Thomas defies us to identity: what’s the foundation of our faith?

I’m Christian, perhaps, simply because I’m born in a Christian family and I have grown in a country where going to church on Sunday is the fashion. In the end what I call faith may be a sheer habitude that has only a Christian appearance -but never deeper than the skin. And when the cultural tendency becomes secular my Christianity cracks. On the contrary, where there’s a personal touch to faith, I remain steadfast no matter what happens around me. Indeed, we can lament to see how churches have become almost empty in some countries, at the same time, you can’t but marvel at the personal faith which the few remnants radiate. I see in them the Thomas -not in terms of incredulity but in the sense that they confess someone they have met. They can say: Oh yes, Lord, I believe.

Thomas and evangelisation today

Not only does Thomas challenge us in making Easter experience our own, but he also symbolises the challenge of announcing the risen Lord in the world today. Certainly, we shall have hard time explaining the resurrection, which we can’t, but we can inspire others if we can testify the fruit of our own experience with risen Jesus. Don’t simply tell me about it, let me have my own experience. These Thomas of our time are a little bored with sermons; they are on the lookout for experience. They want to hear our own resurrection stories thanks to our faith in the risen Jesus. Thomas pushes us to keep the link between what we profess and what we live. What link?

Perhaps, an experience of liberation.

In the Gospel we have disciples confined in the house, behind locked doors. The encounter with risen Jesus turns these timid and fearful disciples into audacious, zealous apostles -chains are loosened.  Then, I can check, what are my chains: in my personal life, in my family or in my place of work? How does this Easter experience liberate me?

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See also:

Homily: 2nd Sunday of Easter A. Divine Mercy: Jesus, I trust in you!

Homily: 2nd Sunday Easter B: Breath of Creation

Homily. Easter Sunday C. Easter: Discerning Signs of Hope

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