COMMISSIONED TO PROCLAIM THE GOSPEL

THE FEAST OF ASCENSION: Mt 28:16-20

With Jesus’ return (ascension) to the Father, the apostles might be flooded by a sense of loss, as if they were left orphans, with no one to turn to in hard and difficult times. Indeed, many  times, we see Jesus as someone who is very far away in an unreachable place and we may, like the Apostles, remain stuck gazing into heaven and out of touch with the reality in which live, or then we turn back and forget about Jesus and about heaven. But Jesus reassured the Apostles, telling them: “Remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Mt 28:20). We need to be constantly reminded that Jesus is with us, and that he never abandons us.

The end of the Gospel of Matthew presents the commissioning of the Apostles. And the solemnity of the occasion befits well a commissioning ceremony. They gathered on the mountain, in the appointed place, then Jesus came in, and the apostles worshipped him. It is as if this commissioning took place in a liturgical assembly.

The group being commissioned was small; they were just eleven, the close group of the Apostles. It was to them that Jesus entrusted his own mission, and he did it with authority, leaving no doubts about it, when he said: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” Henceforth, the Apostles are the witnesses and the first ones with the responsibility of proclaiming the Gospel. By the authority received from Christ, they would entrust this same mission to others, so that the proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ may reach all nations.

The first word of command received from Jesus is: Go! meaning that we are sent. The proclamation of the Gospel is never a personal or individual project; it is the project of Jesus Christ and he is the one who sends those he chooses to proclaim his Good News. Go! means as well that the ones being sent should not sit down and wait for people to come. We must go out to meet them. We must take the initiative, as Jesus always did, giving the first step in moving towards people and meeting them wherever they are.

The Apostles were sent to proclaim the Good News and to give witness to Jesus Christ, so that people may know Jesus and recognise in him the Christ and the Saviour. The proclamation of the Gospel aims at making disciples of Jesus Christ.

Once people believe in Jesus Christ and ready to become his disciples, then they should be baptised in the name of the Holy Trinity, that is in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. It is through the baptism, that we become members of the community of disciples, that is the Church, which is the body of Christ.

Once we are members of the community of disciples, then the teaching must go on, so that we may obey everything that the Lord commanded us to do. It is interesting, that the need for this ongoing formation on the faith was already taken into account by Jesus, and that he put it as a responsibility of the Apostles. They were commissioned as the guardians of the faith, being established as teachers of faith, a faith that implies acceptance of Jesus and the decision to follow him, the knowledge of the truths of the mystery of salvation and a way of life that is according to Jesus’ commands.

I WILL NOT LEAVE YOUR ORPHANS

VI SUNDAY OF EASTER: Jn 14:15-21

In this Sunday’s gospel, Jesus stresses three important points in our relationship with him:

Love is in keeping the commandments

And he repeats it again saying: “Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me.” (Jn 14:21).

There is no true love without commitment, and that is shown by the readiness to keep the commandments that protect and uphold love.

Nowadays, many people equals love with lust and pleasure and thinks of love as a boundless freedom. However, they are in search of love where true love cannot be found. The commandments - God’s commandments - are oppressive only for those who are guided by selfishness and who look for nothing else in life but their own self-satisfaction. In true love, the attention of our hearts and our minds is directed towards the ones we love, giving us the courage and the strength to work and suffer for them.

And God’s commandments are about defending and protecting the honour and dignity of the other. There are plenty of human laws that are oppressive, but not God’s command, and certainly not Jesus’ new commandment of love: “that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another” (Jn 13:34).

Speaking about love, St. Paul wrote to the Romans that “love is the fulfilment of the law”:

“Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery; You shall not murder; You shall not steal; You shall not covet”; and any other commandment, are summed up in this word, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law” (Ro 13:8-12)

I will not leave you orphans

And Jesus stresses a second point: “I will not leave you orphans. I will come to you.” (Jn 14:18)

Left alone in this world, many times we may feel lost and abandoned, but in such moments we must remember that we are not alone. Jesus is always by our side as a companion in our journey. He comes to us with his Spirit, the Holy Spirit, who is the Spirit of truth. He comes to us as our Helper and Advocate. He dwells in us, guiding and strengthening us from within. The Holy Spirit is Jesus special gift to us, enabling us to live as children of God, and to be in this old world seeds and witnesses of the new world to come.

Being one with Jesus, we are one with the Father

With the Holy Spirit in us, we will come to understand Jesus’ words: “you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you” (Jn 14:20). We will come to understand this deep communion with God, which is possible in Jesus Christ. 

Being one with Jesus, we are really children of God and become divine, not by our own power or achievement but by God’s grace and love who has decided to elevate us and to share with us his holiness and divinity.

“And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him” (Jn 14:21).

DO NOT FALL INTO DESPAIR

V SUNDAY OF EASTER: Jn 14:1-12

So many times we loose hope and feel lost, and we may fall into despair, unable to find a way out of our troubles and anguishes.

We are only able to pass through suffering, when we see the flashing of light or the brightness of a star, even if distant, in the darkness of the nigh in which we struggle to find a way.

The prophet Isaiah expressed already that situation of hopelessness, when he wrote:

“We grope like the blind along a wall,

groping like those who have no eyes;

we stumble at noon as in the twilight” (Is 59:10).

Indeed, we look for light, but in vain,

until the light of Jesus Christ illumine us

and scatters the darkness in our hearts.

Jesus’ words in this Sunday’s gospel sound reassuring: “Do not let your hearts be troubled.” And he invites us to put our trust in him. If we do so, we will not be disappointed. As we walk through the paths of life, we know that we are not alone. Jesus is our companion of journey, walking in front of us to clear the way. He will make sure that we will arrive at our destination.

In one of the big trucks passing along Solwezi-Chingola road loaded with copper ore, there is this message: “I am not alone!” None of us moves alone along the road of life. We are in the company of so many other fellow travellers, and among them all there is the unseen, but always present and always close companion, Jesus Christ. He is the Way, and in him we find truth and life.

“Do not let your hearts be troubled”. To the Apostles, he repeated time and again: Do not be afraid! I am here with you. We are in good company, and He is a good guide, who cannot miss the way, because he is the Way.

Jesus reminds us that we do not belong here. Here, we are passing by, walking towards our permanent home. In the Father’s house, there are plenty of dwelling places, prepared and ready to welcome us, whenever we arrive.

One day, Jesus will come to take us. He does not want to be separated from us: “I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also”. (Jn 14:3)

I CAME THAT THEY MAY HAVE LIFE!

IV SUNDAY OF EASTER: Jn 10:1-10

In John 10, Jesus presents himself both as the Good Shepherd and as the gate of the sheepfold. Before the people, he said: “Very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep”, and he repeated it once again: “I am the gate.” (Jn 10:7-9), meaning that we must pass through him and in him we can find life and salvation: “Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture” (Jn 10:9). He is the only mediator, or as he said in another occasion: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (Jn 14:6). He is the only Saviour, and only in him we can find life. If we decide to pass through other gate - and there are so many gates - then we will find ourselves out of place.

As a shepherd, Jesus came to put his life at the service of his people, laying it down for all us. “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly” (Jn 10:10).

Jesus Christ and his Gospel are at the service of life, making it possible for us to have it to the full. Many people are afraid of entrusting themselves to Jesus, assuming that they will loose their freedom and will be denied their pleasure and their joy. Jesus came to set us free, enabling us to live in love and find joy in peace and in harmony, brought by this shared love. True love is only possible when we walk in the footsteps of Jesus or when we allow ourselves to be guided by this good shepherd to the refreshing waters of life.

In the Catholic Church, this Sunday is the Vocation Sunday, or it is a Sunday to reflect on God’s call to each one of us - a call to the service of life. Like the Good Shepherd, we are called to put ourselves at the service of the community. Every leadership, be it political or religious, must be exercised in an attitude of humility and service, in which the leader must be ready to suffer so that the people may see a greater good.

Let us pray to the Lord that he may fill all our leaders with the Spirit of Jesus Christ and may grant us many and good leaders, mainly people ready to answer his call to the service of the Gospel.

THE SCRIPTURES LEAD TO JESUS CHRIST

III SUNDAY OF EASTER: Lk 24:13-35

The experience of the two disciples on a journey to Emmaus is the experience of every Christian. Those two disciples going back to the village were filled with disappointment and hopelessness. The time they had moved around with Jesus remained in their hearts as a sweet but empty dream. They had wasted their time and believed in vain. The dream ended up in a nightmare, and they were running away from it.

What is interesting is that in their distress, they allowed a stranger into their lives, sharing with him their disappointment and being challenged by him in return. He challenged them with the Scriptures. We may even be surprised at the rudeness of that stranger who dared to scold them, saying: “Oh, how foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have declared!” (Lk 24:25). Like all the Jews, the disciples were not able to understand the Scriptures, even though they heard them being read every Saturday in their synagogues. Since their early childhood, they had dreamt with a mighty Messiah who would exercise his power in destroying all the enemies of the nation and in restoring the glory of Israel, making of her the guide of all the peoples of the world. This stranger considered such dreams a foolishness. The prophets had spoken of something else: the suffering the Messiah had to go through before entering into “his glory” (Lk 24:26).

And the stranger - the disciples had not been able to recognise him yet - went on explaining the Scriptures and showing how they speak about the Christ. The Scriptures lead to Christ, preparing our hearts and our minds to recognise him and to follow him. And Christ is the key for the interpretation of the Old Testament, so that everything must be read through Christ. Many difficult passages only make sense when understood in the light of Jesus Christ.

It is true that those two disciples were not able to recognise Jesus only with the Scriptures. To know that Jesus is alive and that he is among us, they needed the experience of the Eucharist, when they received the bread of life from the hands of Jesus himself. However, the Scriptures paved the way for that recognition. We must remember that Jesus is the Word, and that he speaks to us through the Scriptures. Listening to him, our hearts will be filled with joy and expectancy, ready to welcome the one who sets us free.