WE CAN APPROACH GOD WITH TRUST AND CONFIDENCE

XXII SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME - Hb 12:18-24

There are many Christians who put the Old and the New Testaments on the same footing, without making any effort to situate the different writings in the line of the long process of revelation. The letter to the Hebrews makes an effort at stressing the differences and at showing how the New Testament supersedes the Old.

Speaking about the experience of God, the letter points out the radical differences between the two testaments.

In the Old Testament, people experienced God through the "blazing fire, and darkness, and gloom, and a tempest, and the sound of a trumpet" and they heard God's voice as a terrifying voice. Trembling with fear, people remained far away and pleaded with Moses to be the spokesman and the intermediary with God (Ex 19:12-19). Moses himself was in fear before the manifestation of God's glory (Hb 12:18-24).

In the New Testament, the atmosphere is completely different. There is no fear, but joy and celebration. We are being called to climb the holy mountain, to enter the city of the living God and to join the angels, the first born and the spirits of the righteous in the great feast in God's presence and in the presence of Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant. Paul wrote to the Romans in a similar manner, saying: "For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption." (Ro 8:15).

YOUTH ARE BEARERS OF HOPE

In Bemba, there is a saying: Imiti ikula e mpanga, meaning the growing trees are the forest. They are the future. Pope Francis said the same.

"Pope Francis on Wednesday afternoon met with a group of about 500 young people from the Diocese of Piacenza-Bobbio in St. Peter’s Basilica. The youth are on a pilgrimage which is part of their diocesan celebration of the Year of Faith.

The Pope began his greetings by explaining why he agreed to the meeting.

“I did it for selfish reasons, do you know why? Why I like being with you? … Why I like being with young people?” the Pope asked. “Because you have in your heart a promise of hope. You are bearers of hope. You, in fact, live in the present, but are looking at the future. You are the protagonists of the future, artisans of the future.”

Explaining what he meant, Pope Francis said young people have “three desires”: Beauty, Goodness, and Truth.

“And these three desires that you have in your heart, you have to carry them forward, to the future,” he said. “Make the future with beauty, with goodness and truth. Do you understand? This is the challenge: your challenge…you can do it: you have the power to do so. If you do not, it is because of laziness. … I wanted to tell you: Have courage. Go forward. Make noise.

He said making noise means going “against this civilization that is doing so much harm. Got that? Go against the tide, and that means making noise. Go ahead. But with the values of beauty, goodness and truth.”

from http://www.news.va/en/news/pope-francis-tells-young-people-to-make-noise

LATE HAVE I LOVED YOU!

Today we celebrate St. Augustine, who had a great influence in the Church. He was a professor, when finally came to believe in Jesus as the Christ and the Saviour. Later, he would write the book Confessions, which is a reflection on his own life and on God's love. He wrote beautifully about God searching for us and breaking through the darkness of our hearts, until he illumines them with his light. Let us listen to him and learn with him.

Late have I loved you, 

Beauty so ancient and so new, 

late have I loved you!

Lo, you were within,

  but I outside, seeking there for you,

  and upon the shapely things you have made

  I rushed headlong – I, misshapen.

You were with me, but I was not with you.

They held me back far from you,

  those things which would have no being,

  were they not in you.

You called, shouted, broke through my deafness;

  you flared, blazed, banished my blindness;

  you lavished your fragrance, I gasped; 

and now I pant for you;

  I tasted you, and now I hunger and thirst;

  you touched me, and I burned for your peace.

(St. Augustine, from his autobiography Confessions)

HOW EASY IS TO BE SAVED?

XXI SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME - Lk 13:22-30; Is 66:18-21

In need of salvation

In spite of many different beliefs, traditions and religions, at all times and in all generations, people have had a feeling of inadequacy, shortcoming and failure, which led them to search for salvation. We are in need of wholeness and in need of life, which can only be brought to us by salvation. And the question comes: Is it easy to be saved? Will salvation be given to all?

That was the question which someone asked to Jesus: "Sir, will there be only a few saved?" (Lk 13:23). Jesus makes it clear that salvation is not guaranteed and that the way to salvation is not an easy one. We must struggle to enter through the "narrow door", and many will not succeed.

When we speak of salvation, we speak of something that is bestowed on us by God's grace and so of something that we cannot obtain on our own. Salvation is a gift coming from God's mercy and love. However, this gift demands a concerted effort on our side. It is not enough just to open our arms and be ready to receive it. The gift of salvation is like the talents entrusted to the servants; and like good servants of the Lord, we must work hard to make good use of those talents (Mt 25:14-30).

Never take God for granted

One thing is sure, we can never take God for granted. Indeed, he is a merciful and loving father, but he is as well the judge who decides in all fairness and gives each one according to what he deserves. If we take God for a ride, then we will knock a the gate of heaven, only to be told that we do not belong there; and we will be forced to go away.

Jesus warned the Jews that, in spite of belonging to the chosen people, they might be left outside, while others coming "from east and west, from north and south, will come to take their places at the feast in the kingdom of God." (Lk 13:29).

Salvation is offered to all

Salvation is a serious matter that must be taken seriously. On his side, God is ready to offer salvation to all. People will come from everywhere. Salvation is not a privilege of just a few, much less a privilege of a certain group based on race or tribe. Jesus took this universalist approach from Isaiah, who at the end of his book wrote: "I am coming to gather the nations of every language. They shall come to witness my glory." "And of some of them I will make priests and Levites, says the Lord." (Is 66:18,21).

Feeling threatened by the surrounding cultures and being dominated by foreign powers, the Jews closed in themselves, forgetting that they had been chosen to be a beacon of light giving guidance to all in their search for God. They forgot the universalism of Isaiah, to close themselves in their narrow minded nationalism.

God offers salvation to all and all who are ready to accept his gift and work together with him, will manage to enter through the narrow door and see the glory of God's kingdom.

JESUS’ RADICAL DEMAND THAT HE BECOMES THE CENTRE OF OUR LIVES

XX SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME - Lk 12:49-53

Do not expect an easy life

Although he came to bring salvation to the world, Jesus did not come to bring an easy life, and his followers are faced with hard choices. Jesus told his disciples that they must “enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road is easy that leads to destruction, and there are many who take it. For the gate is narrow and the road is hard that leads to life, and there are few who find it" (Mt 7:13-14).

Jeremiah’s life a prophecy of Jesus Christ

This Sunday's readings bring this out very clearly. Prophet Jeremiah, whose life is like a prophecy of Jesus, suffered persecution for his boldness, his courage and his faithfulness in carrying out the mission received from God. He was accused of treason, just because, guided by the Spirit, he was able to read the political situation realistically and advised to accept the less evil of surrender instead of total destruction.

Like Jeremiah, Jesus was rejected, accused and found guilty of blasphemy and treason. He accepted his suffering and death and offered them as a sacrifice for the forgiveness of sins. He did not go blindly into death. He knew that his way of life and the faithfulness to his mission would lead him to shameful death. He said: "There is a baptism I must still receive", meaning the baptism of his passion and death.

Jesus’ message is like a sword

Although he came as a Prince of peace, his message is like a sword (Mt 10:34) that separates and divides people, between those who accept Him and live by his values and those who reject Him and are ready to destroy Him. As followers of Jesus Christ, we are forced to make hard choices in our lives. And those choices may put us in conflict with society in general, with our neighbours and even with our own close relatives.

"Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me" (Mt 10:37) and "whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple" (Lk 14:26). Jesus demands to be the number one in our lives, and nothing at all can supersede him. If we accept Jesus Christ, we have to accept this radical demand that he becomes the centre of our lives, and by accepting it, we will be in conflict with everything that resents or rejects his primacy.

Jesus came to bring fire here on earth, a purifying fire that destroys and consumes everything that is unworthy of God's glory.

OUR ROLE MODELS OF FAITH

XIX SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME - Hb 11:1-2,8-12

In chapter 11, the letter to the Hebrews presents some role models of faith. The first one is Abraham, whom Paul calls "our ancestor" in faith (Ro 4:12).

In the history of religious experience, Abraham is considered as the first to go through a radically new experience: his relationship with God is based on faith. From this experience of faith, the letter to the Hebrews stresses a few important aspects:

• Looking at Abraham, we can see that faith implies obedience. Once he heard God's call, he did not waste time  in answering that call and doing what he was told to do.
• Abraham's experience of faith is presented as a journey: he "set out on a journey" (Hb 11:8). The physical journey of Abraham, who lived a semi-nomadic life, is a symbol of his journey of faith. In fact, the image of "journey" plays a very important role in the whole history of salvation. We can remember the journey of the people of Israel from slavery to freedom, and the journey of Jesus towards Jerusalem, that is towards his death and resurrection.
• In this journey, we move forward "without knowing", by trust, sure that the one who called us and guides us will take us to a place of rest. In a way, this "without knowing" is part of the journey of our lives here on earth. We just move forward without knowing what lies ahead. In faith, we do not just move along, as if carried by a powerful but unknown current; instead, we move with hope certain that someone who loves us is guiding us.
• Living by faith means that we accept to be foreigners and to live in tents here on earth. We have no permanent dwelling here on earth; we are just passing by. This attitude leads us to relativize everything here on earth.
• Faith goes together with hope. Faith gives us motivation to move forward, because we do not rely on the present, but always look forward, sure that happiness is waiting for us. We do not concentrate in the past, always desiring to go back to a golden age that disappeared long ago. For us, the golden age is in the future. And this hope gives us the strength and the courage to go on struggling and to move ahead.
• They saw what they had been promised "in the far distance and welcomed them" (Hb 11:13).
• Abraham's faith was put to the test. This being put to the test is part of the experience of faith. In the great test of his life lived in faith, Abraham was found faithful.
• Faith is a total surrender to God, in which we throw ourselves in God's arms, sure that he is the God of life, and has "the power even to raise the dead" (Heb 11:19).

ACCEPT OURSELVES AS WE ARE

XVIII SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME - Ecc 1:2, 2:21-23

All is vanity

The book of Qoheleth (Ecclesiastes) is a book very different from all other books of the Bible. Its words sound like the words of a philosopher looking at the reality of life with very human eyes. Seeing man and all that surrounds him, he does not see anything to be proud of, and he claims: "Vanity of vanities! All is vanity." (Qoheleth 1:2)

According to Qoheleth (the Teacher), we must not live in a dream world and we cannot allow ourselves to be carried away by it. We must accept ourselves as we are, full of limitations and mortal.

Why to pretend to be gods, if we are simple creatures sharing the same fate of all other creatures? Our feet must be well set on the ground. This is the reality: When death takes us away, we will carry nothing with us. Our dreams, our efforts and our own achievements, whatever they may be, like dry leaves will be carried away by the wind. We will be forgotten. We will be no more. "All is vanity"

Remember! You are just a human being!

In the Imperial Rome, the great victories were celebrated with the general and his troops entering the city in triumph. In the general's chariot, holding the crown of victory over his head, stood a slave repeating to him time and again: Remember! You are just a man! We are not gods! We may look up to heaven and dream of establishing there our home, but our feet are on the ground, where we belong.

Jesus Christ is the way

Within our hearts, there is a very strong desire for eternal life and for a share in divinity. However, we can never reach there. We are just mortal human beings, who in spite of all their search cannot find the way to heaven. And we must become well aware of the vanity of our attempts. On our own, we cannot save ourselves. Only God can save us. Surely, he is the one who put in our hearts the deep desire for eternity; but the only usefulness of this desire is to make us ready to accept God's invitation and to open our hearts to him. Only he can give us the way; and the way is Jesus Christ, God's own beloved son.