HE HAS PUT ALL THINGS UNDER HIS FEET

SOLEMNITY OF THE ASCENSION - VII EASTER SUNDAY - Luke 24:46-53

In most of the countries, the Ascension is celebrated this Sunday. We may ask about the meaning of this feast. Do we celebrate a physical ascension or rising into heaven? Nowadays, there are so many things that we are able to raise to the heavens (the skies). The Ascension is part of the resurrection that is the glorification of Jesus Christ: “Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth” (Phil 2:9-10). The ascension expresses the same truth in a more physical and visible way. Being the exaltation and glorification of Jesus, the Son of man, the ascension celebrates as well the elevation of the human being to the right hand of the Father. The Son of God, who assumed our human nature, has taken it into heaven, thus being a promise of salvation to all of us.

It is important to read attentively this Sunday’s gospel and pay attention to the points that Luke puts the stress on.

• the mystery of Jesus passion, death and resurrection. It is in the centre of the mystery of salvation and it reveals God’s love for us.
• the mystery of reconciliation and forgiveness of sins, which is done in Jesus Christ. This must be preached to all nations.
• We are called to be witnesses of this great love of God. We are called to announce Jesus’ death and resurrection and to preach the forgiveness of sins ins Jesus’ name.
• We must be clothed with the Holy Spirit, “the power from on high”, in order to carry out the mission entrusted to us.
• Then, Jesus blessed them “and was carried up to heaven.”
• As Jesus was being taken into heaven, the disciples “worshipped him” and went back full of joy. Like the disciples, we are called to worship Jesus and to spend our lives “praising God”.

According to Paul, Jesus’ glorification is a guarantee of the power God will wield in our favour. “This you can tell from the strength of his power at work in Christ, when he used it to raise him from the dead and to make him sit at his right hand” (Eph 1:19-20).

WE’LL MAKE OUR HOME WITH HIM

VI EASTER SUNDAY - John 14:23-29

As we listen to this Sunday’s gospel, Jesus´sayings touch our hearts: 

• Peace is a gift that Jesus gives us, since he is the prince of peace. The world, being full of pride, envy, jealousy, vengeance and violence that lead to war, cannot give such a peace.  Jesus’ gift of peace is a fruit of love. Feeling truly loved, we are at peace in our hearts.

• “Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid.” Even in difficult moments, we know that we are not alone. The Lord walks by our side, holding us by the hand for us not to fall but go ahead, until we reach our destiny.

• To love Jesus demands that we keep his words. Love implies commitment, and that means to take care of not offending or displeasing the one we love. Our love is an answer to his love. His words are words of love and become a treasure that we guard with all our heart. How can we say that we love him, if we ignore and despise his words?

• To love Jesus is to love the Father, who loves us and wants to dwell in us. Our hearts are the dwelling place preferred by God. We are God’s house and the Temple in which God wants to be worshipped. We must prepare our hearts and keep them clean for God to feel welcomed. To us He comes with his blessings.

• The Father sends the Holy Spirit upon us. He his the Counsellor, the Advocate, who gives us guidance. He “will teach you everything and remind you of all I have said to you.” Through his Spirit, Jesus is with us, ready to save us and lead us to Glory.

 

In the history of our lives and of our world, Jesus is present leading us to salvation. The time will come for a new heaven and a new earth. Then, there will be no temple in the city of God “since the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb were themselves the temple, and the city did not need the sun or the moon for light, since it was lit by the radiant glory of God and the Lamb was a lighted torch for it.” (Rev 21:22-23).

AS I LOVED YOU

V EASTER SUNDAY - John 13:31-33,34-35

We never grow tired of hearing the word love, even though many times it is simply empty. Despite that, we go on dreaming of true love, an everlasting love that may fill us to the brim. Is such love possible? Looking at our human frailty, such love is more than human. Such love is only possible if we receive it as a gift from God because it is divine love.

Nowadays, many people associate love with passion and sex. For that, the Greeks used the word eros. In the end, love is reduced to a passion that lasts but a moment. Is this passion that demands to be satisfied the true love that I long for? It comes and goes… and it disappears in a fleeting moment, leaving me in pain and with a sense of emptiness. 

Many times, the word love is a cover-up for selfishness. I put myself in the centre of the world and everything else should be about me. I behave as if everything should be at my service. In this case, love is not giving and sharing, but receiving and grasping. In the name of love, I impose myself on others and exploit them.

True love expresses and comes from God’s holiness. In Leviticus 19:2, God tells his people: “You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.” As a consequence of this holiness, God gives the commandment of love: “you shall love your neighbour as yourself” (Lev 19:18).

According to this command, self-love is the measure of the love the others. If I feel bad or even hurt about something done to me, then I should not do the same to others. However, the commandment of love demands more than that: I should do to the others what I desire others do to me. It is difficult to achieve that.

In this Sunday’s gospel, Jesus presents us with what he calls a new commandment:

“I give you a new commandment:

love one another;

just as I have loved you,

you also must love one another.”

We may ask where is the novelty of this commandment. It sounds quite old. The call to love is old, but the measure of that love is completely new. We should love not as we love ourselves, but as Christ has loved us. Christ’s love is the ideal for our love. Love led him to put his life at the service of humanity to the point of shedding his life for us. Jesus explained that to Nicodemus: 

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” (Jn 3:16).

In the letter to the Ephesians, Paul wrote:

“Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her” (Ep 5:25-26).

That’s why nothing can separate us from the love of Christ.

“For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Ro 8:38-39).

Jesus invites us to learn from him to love, putting ourselves at the service of others.

THE GOOD SHEPHERD

IV EASTER SUNDAY - John 10:27-30

Every year, the fourth Sunday of Easter is dedicated to the Good Shepherd. It is Jesus himself who says: “I am the good shepherd, I know my own sheep and my own know me.” (Jn 10:14). The ancestors of the People of Israel - Abraham, Isaac and Jacob - were shepherds, and the flocks were their wealth. Because of their flocks, they lived a semi-nomadic life. And this primordial experience marked the people of Israel for their future history. David, the king who would become the role model for all other kings, was a shepherd in his youth. It is not surprising that the kings and other leaders of the people were considered as shepherds who should take good care of their people. The prophets would give voice to God’s complaints that the shepherds did take good care of the flock (Jer 10:21; 23:2; Ez 34)); in fact, they exploited and used it for their own profit. And then God promised to take action in order to put things straight:

“Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: As I live, says the Lord God, because my sheep have become a prey, and my sheep have become food for all the wild animals, since there was no shepherd; and because my shepherds have not searched for my sheep, but the shepherds have fed themselves, and have not fed my sheep; therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: Thus says the Lord God, I am against the shepherds; and I will demand my sheep at their hand, and put a stop to their feeding the sheep; no longer shall the shepherds feed themselves. I will rescue my sheep from their mouths, so that they may not be food for them.” (Ez 34:7-10).

He will choose a shepherd according to his own heart:

“I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd.” (Ez 34:23). 

Jesus is the Good Shepherd, who gives his life for his sheep. He came to serve, not to be served. Indeed, Jesus is the role model of all shepherds, that is of all leaders. As we celebrate the Sunday of the Good Shepherd, we are called to pray for all those who are in a position of service, for them to be true servants according to Jesus’ manner. We pray mainly for the Pope, the bishops, priests, deacons, catechists and any other kind of ministry in the Church. And we pray for vocations. 

TAKE CARE OF MY SHEEP

III EASTER SUNDAY - John 21:1-19 

There is no doubt about it. With the resurrection of Jesus, the disciples and the apostles in particular changed beyond anything one might expect. Before, they were unable to stand by Jesus during his moments of trial and run away, going into hiding. They were afraid for their own lives and cared only about their safety. Then, after Jesus’ resurrection and after being empowered with the Holy Spirit, they became bold and courageous and they were ready to face the religious leaders of Jerusalem and challenge them to accept the truth: they were guilty of condemning Jesus to death. However, God had proved him right by raising him from the dead “to be leader and saviour” (Act 5:31), so that in him people may find salvation.

This Sunday’s gospel may help us reflect on Peter’s role in the Church. Whenever we read the Gospel of John, we should listen to the meaning hidden in the words because there is always a layer of deeper meaning.

Today’s passage has two sections and they are related. In the first one, we are presented with Jesus revealing himself to a group of disciples going fishing. The group was constituted by seven disciples, making it a perfect group or small community. They stand for the whole Church. In that group - that is, in the Church, Peter took the initiative and the other disciples followed him: “Simon Peter said, ‘I’m going fishing.’ They replied, ‘We’ll come with you.’” Apparently they went to get fish. However, we must remember that Jesus had constituted them “fishers of men” (Mt 4:19). And that is the mission of the whole Church, with Peter and the Apostles in the forefront.

Then, we are told that they worked in vain, since they “caught nothing that night”. That is a common experience in the Church. We may work hard and do our best, to no avail. It seems that everything ends in failure. Maybe we  take Jesus out of the picture, like the Apostles did. We may forget that he is the one in charge. Then, while feeling tired and dishearten, Jesus comes to their rescue, even though they did not recognise him. At Jesus’ instructions, they threw “the net out to starboard” and caught plenty of fish. We should never forget that Jesus´word should be our guide and motivation. Only by obedience and faithfulness to him can we produce abundant fruits.

As they were coming ashore with a heavy load of fish, “they saw that there was some bread there, and a charcoal fire with fish cooking on it.” Jesus had been preparing a meal for them. And for that meal, He asked for their contribution: “Bring some of the fish you have just caught.” Finally he invites them: “Come and have breakfast.” Jesus never gets tired of inviting us to his table: Come an eat. It is at the eucharistic table that we may recognise him and know that he is the Lord.

In the second section, we have the dialogue of Jesus with Peter. First of all, Jesus address him by his former name, Simon. Jesus had given him a new name, indicating a new reality, the reality of the disciple who recognises Jesus as the Messiah and the Son of God and who is ready to proclaim it in public and to give witness to Jesus. However, the reality of Simon, the old man who was an earthly man, remained alive and strong. And for him to be less Simon and more Peter, he had to recognise his sinfulness, his shortcomings and his fragility. The old man is always lurking behind the new man and he may lead  to pride and self-righteousness. If Peter is going to be the shepherd of Christ’s Church, then he must be always on the alert.

Jesus asks each one of us the same question he asked to Peter: Do you love with all your heart? Or are there other loves that have seduced you? Peter answered with sincerity and in truthfulness. However, Jesus insisted and went one asking. Surely, he knows our love for him, but we must say it to become evermore aware of it. We must realise that our love for Christ implies and demands a strong commitment. And then Jesus may entrust to us, as he did to Peter, a role or a mission in his Church. “‘Look after my sheep.”

Let us pray for our Pope Francis, who was called to be the shepherd of the whole flock, the Church.