GOD’S COMMANDS ARE NOT DIFFICULT TO FOLLOW

VI SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME - Matthew 5:17-37

I still remember one day in a seminar with the youth discussing boy girl relationships and the goodness of remaining virgin up to marriage, one of them told me: “Alitufyenga mu kutulesha ifitusansamusha”. God is not being fair forbidding what gives us joy.

This is a common attitude in the world in which we live today. The commandments are seen as oppressive and outdated. People want to decide for themselves what is right and what is wrong, and they reject anybody who imposes rules on them. Many see the commandments as impossible to follow and to obey, because they are beyond the common person. However, they forget that it is impossible to live in a society without rules, and in fact our modern societies are full of rules controlling most aspects of our daily lives, even though we think that we have more freedom than previous generations. In our modern societies, we have lost the sense of community and are dominated by individualism, in which I set myself up as the rule. We exclude God from our lives and from our society, turning the values upside down and then suffer the consequences. We don’t care about the dignity of the others, we only care about profit and influence and power. We don’t care about love, and our hearts are full of lust. Self-indulgence becomes the rule. And when we become our own gods with our own set of values we walk on the way that leads to self-destruction. Humankind is travelling in a dangerous road that may lead to annihilation.

God’s commandments uphold our human dignity and lead to freedom and fulfilment. They are not old fashioned and they are not difficult or nearly impossible to follow. The first reading tells us that: “If you wish, you can keep the commandments, to behave faithfully is within your power.” (Sir 15:15). It is a question of choice: God “has placed before you fire and water; stretch out your hand for whichever you choose. Before each person are life and death, and whichever one chooses will be given.” (Sir 15:16-17)

We should not blame God for the troubles we are in, because they are of our own making. And the book of Sirach  warns us that “He never commanded anyone to be godless, he has given no one permission to sin.” (Sir 15:20)

A wisdom that comes from God

In the world, we need a new kind of wisdom - “not a philosophy of our age, still less of the masters of our age”, because that has shown itself incapable of giving guidance and meaning to  our lives. We need the “hidden wisdom of God” revealed to us in Jesus Christ - a “wisdom that God predestined to be for our glory before the ages began” (1 Cor 2:7),

Doing the will of God

Speaking about the commandments, Jesus said that he did not “come to abolish the Law or the Prophets”, “but to complete them” (Mt 5:17). He did not come to make it easier, but more demanding. And he warns us that “if your virtue goes no deeper than that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never get into the kingdom of heaven.” (Mt 5:20). We may ask what that means, since the Pharisees and scribes were very strict in following the law. With several examples, Jesus explained that we must follow the spirit of the law to the end. The Pharisees were legalists, sticking to the letter of the law. Jesus wants us to pay attention to the will of God, being always ready to obey him.

In his examples, Jesus points out that 

• the Law forbids everything that destroys the dignity of the other and not only murder. The Law demands that we solve conflicts in a peaceful manner and that we must find ways of reconciliation.
• forbidding adultery, the Law forbids the lust that leads to betrayal and adultery, transforming the other into a sexual object.
• divorce is forbidden, except for the cases of unlawful marriage.
• We must be truthful in everything that we say, having no need of swearing, putting ourselves under oath. Our words must share in the truthfulness of the Word, who is the truth.

THEY ARE CHILDREN! NOT SLAVES!

8 FEBRUARY: St. Josephine Bakhita

DAY OF PRAYER AND AWARENESS AGAINST HUMAN TRAFFICKING

Josefina Bakhita

In this world in which we live, human trafficking has become alarming and that is why, on the day of St. Josephine Bakhita, the Pope asks us to reflect on today's slavery, in which millions of people - especially children and women - are treated as objects, bought and sold, being robed of their dignity and rights and made slaves, subject to exploitation and violence.

Josefina Bakhita was a slave who became a saint. She was just a child, when her village was attacked, her mother killed and herself taken as a slave. The trauma was so great that she forgot her name, being called simply by the name given by her masters, Bakhita, which means the lucky one. Later, bought by the Italian consul in Sudan, she was taken to Italy, where she experienced the love of Christ, was baptised, became a free woman, and then entered religious life.

The story of the abducted girl

As we celebrate the feast of St. Josephine Bakhita, it came to my mind the story of a Zambian little girl who attended the church in Lubengele Parish in Chililabombwe. One day, the mother came with her to ask for a Thanksgiving Mass because her nine-year-old girl had escaped from the hands of a kidnapper.

One morning, she heard a knock on the door and went to open it. A man asked about her mother, and when she replied that she had gone to the market, he introduced himself as her uncle, her mother's brother, explaining that it was the first time he had come to visit the family and so she did not know him yet. Without the least suspicion and full of joy, she accepted the invitation to take a walk while her mother was in the market. Immediately, they crossed the neighbourhood and went to the main road that goes to Lubumbashi in Congo. He picked up a lift and made his way to the nearest town, twenty-five kilometres far away. Afraid to pass through the middle of the town, he got off the truck and passed through the farthest districts, having entered a market and bought new clothes for the girl. After ordering her to change the clothes, they entered the main road again and got another lift, heading for Ndola, about a hundred kilometres away. When they arrived, he went to a bar and began to drink, ignoring the girl who asked for water. The people in the bar, realising that there was something wrong, asked her who he was and what was going on. Understanding the situation, they called the police, who arrested the kidnapper.

Seeing how fortunate her daughter had been, the mother wanted to thank God for the protection she had received. Cases like this happen a little all over the world, as many children disappear kidnapped and then sold as slaves, many of them becoming sex slaves or end ing up killed to sell their organs or to use parts of their body in witchcraft.

Human trafficking

According to Wikipedia, " Human trafficking is the trade of humans, most commonly for the purpose of sexual slavery, forced labor, or commercial sexual exploitation for the trafficker or others. This may encompass providing a spouse in the context of forced marriage, or the extraction of organs or tissues, including for surrogacy and ova removal. Human trafficking can occur within a country or trans-nationally. Human trafficking is a crime against the person because of the violation of the victim's rights of movement through coercion and because of their commercial exploitation. Human trafficking is the trade in people, and does not necessarily involve the movement of the person from one place to another.

According to the International Labour Organisation (ILO), forced labor alone (one component of human trafficking) generates an estimated $150 billion in profits per annum as of 2014. In 2012, the ILO estimated that 21 million victims are trapped in modern-day slavery. Of these, 14.2 million (68%) were exploited for labor, 4.5 million (22%) were sexually exploited, and 2.2 million (10%) were exploited in state-imposed forced labor.

Human trafficking is thought to be one of the fastest-growing activities of trans-national criminal organizations."

 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_trafficking)

The following maps give an idea of ​​the extent of human trafficking in the world.

TO BE SALT AND LIGHT OF THE WORLD

V SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME - Matthew 5:13-16

Jesus is saying to us what he said to his disciples:

You are the salt of the earth!

You are the light of the world!

With these words, Jesus entrusts us with a special task, but much more than that he calls us to a way of life, in which we become a source of inspiration to others who look to us as their role models. This is not a reason for us to become proud and much less to separate ourselves from the others, but in the middle of the others we guide ourselves by the values of the Gospel, thus becoming witnesses to Jesus and to his Gospel. We cannot be like everybody else, but we are called to be different and to make a difference. The first Christians were well aware of that. That is why in the Letter to Diognetus we find these words:

“Christians are indistinguishable from other men either by nationality, language or customs. They do not inhabit separate cities of their own, or speak a strange dialect, or follow some outlandish way of life. Their teaching is not based upon reveries inspired by the curiosity of men. Unlike some other people, they champion no purely human doctrine. With regard to dress, food and manner of life in general, they follow the customs of whatever city they happen to be living in, whether it is Greek or foreign.

    And yet there is something extraordinary about their lives. They live in their own countries as though they were only passing through. They play their full role as citizens, but labour under all the disabilities of aliens. Any country can be their homeland, but for them their homeland, wherever it may be, is a foreign country. Like others, they marry and have children, but they do not expose them. They share their meals, but not their wives. They live in the flesh, but they are not governed by the desires of the flesh. They pass their days upon earth, but they are citizens of heaven. Obedient to the laws, they yet live on a level that transcends the law.”

If we call ourselves Christians, but behave like many people do, with our hearts full of jealousy and envy, self-centred, and always ready to oppress and exploit the others, then we are not Christians at all. If we do not care for the poor and the oppressed, how can we consider ourselves as followers of Jesus Christ? If like the people of this age, we are ready to behave as the owners of life and as the rulers of our own destiny, ignoring God and turning our backs on him, how can we walk on footsteps of Jesus who cared only to do his Father’s will?

To be the salt of the earth and the light of the world is to be different, ignoring the common trend and putting aside the political correct, so that our hearts are filled only with the love of Christ. 

Christianity became a civilisational and cultural phenomenon and as such it is being rejected by this post-modern society that does not need God. But we should not care much about such Christianity; what we need is to be Christians who live their lives in a relationship of love with Christ; and if we do, then we will become salt and light, being a challenge for this corrupt world.

The first reading from Isaiah 58:7-10 points out the conditions to be light of the world, presenting a programme for us to put in practice. It is like a manifesto setting out the main guidelines for a way of life and for the building of a society according to God’s values, in which there is freedom, the sharing of wealth and the concern for the poor.

“Share your bread with the hungry,

and shelter the homeless poor,

clothe the man you see to be naked

and do not turn from your own kin.

Then will your light shine like the dawn

and your wound be quickly healed over.”

“If you do away with the yoke,

the clenched fist, the wicked word,

if you give your bread to the hungry,

and relief to the oppressed,

your light will rise in the darkness”. (Is 58:7-10)

In the second reading taken from the first letter to the Corinthians, Paul puts forward the Gospel of Jesus, as being the Gospel of “the crucified Christ” (1 Co 2:2). Coming closer and closer to him, he gives us the strength to make ourselves the neighbour of those who suffer.

THE MEEK WILL POSSESS THE EARTH

IV SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME - Matthew 5:1-12

The proud is full of himself, having no place for anybody else. He becomes his own god, deciding right and wrong. The others become tools to be manipulated as he wishes, bringing oppression and exploitation. Pride is the root of jealousy, envy and hatred which bring violence between individuals, communities and nations. The others, mainly the ones who look and act differently, are perceived as a threat and looked upon as enemies. In fear, doing all he can to protect himself and to keep the others at a distance, he builds walls. His great values are wealth and power and he is ready to do anything in order to keep his power and increase his wealth.

The proud does not need to go in search of the truth, since he owns the truthNd sets himself up as the rule of truth. His heart does not seek God, because he does not need God. In his pride, he cannot understand that his tower of wealth and power will tumble down and crush him. Excluding the others, he will remain alone, unable to see the light and to find peace. Only the humble will recognize their shortcomings and become aware of their weaknesses; only they are ready to seek help and search for the truth. That's why the prophet Zephaniah calls on them to seek the Lord:

Seek the Lord,

all you, the humble of the earth,

who obey his commands.

Seek integrity,

seek humility:

you may perhaps find shelter

on the day of the anger of the Lord. (Zeph 2:3)

To seek the Lord, we need humility and we need integrity. If our hearts and minds are corrupted by false values, we will not feel the need of seeking the Lord. 

In line with the prophets, Jesus presented a different way, with a new set of values, turning upside down the scale of values accepted by the world. Presented as the new Moses, Jesus went up the mountain to give the charter of the New Covenant for the new people of God. It is the sermon on the mountain or of the beatitudes. Who are the blessed ones?

Blessed are the poor in spirit, the gentle, those who mourn, those who hunger for righteousness, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, the persecuted for the cause of right and for Jesus Christ. However, for all those who follow the wisdom of the world, this is sheer nonsense. Following these values, we go nowhere and achieve nothing. The wealthy and the powerful achieve their greatness by being ruthless and merciless. Doing that, they become oppressors and exploiters, always ready to conquer and dominate. It is not surprising that there is so much violence and so many wars.

Only the humble may work for peace and bring peace. And only the poor in spirit may enter the kingdom of God, because, being aware of his fragility and powerlessness, he is ready to believe and to accept salvation as a gift.

CALLED TO BE ONE

III SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME - 1 Corinthians 1:10-13,17

We are in the middle of the Unity Week, a week dedicated to ecumenism, in which we reflect about the divisions in the Church and pray for unity. 

Reconciliation: For the love of Christ urges us on - is the theme for this year’s week of prayer; and 2 Cor 5:14-20 is the basis of our reflections. The Church, as the body of Christ, is called to unity and Jesus himself prayed for the unity of all those who believe in him (Jn 17:20-21). However, we are divided; and the divisions are so obvious and the groups so many that they have become a stumbling block for many. The different churches that we find are not a sign of diversity, but of opposition in which the ones who claim faithfulness accuse the others of betrayal and apostasy. Many times, the different churches compete with each other and attack each other, as if they are enemies.

Reading the First Letter of Paul to the Corinthians or even reading the Acts of the Apostles and the letters of John, we can see that divisions in the Church have been there since the beginning, as if they are a part of the Church. Many times, we forget that the Church as the community of believers, is made up of human beings, who are sinners, dominated by selfishness and pride, which lead to envy and jealousy, causing endless divisions. 

Through out history, there were many divisions, some of which have perdured through generations. There are still  Nestorian churches, which left the church after the council of Ephesus (431); and there are the Monophysite churches, who rejected the council of Chalcedon (451), present mainly in Egypt, Ethiopia and Syria. Then there was the great division between Catholic and Orthodox, which took place in 1054, due more to mistrust and to political reasons than to differences of faith. Then, in 1517, Luther initiated what is called Reformation with his ninety-five theses criticising Church doctrine and practice. What started as an attempt to reform the Church became an open revolt which tore apart the unity of the Latin Church and led to endless divisions. 

In this year of 2017, the beginning of the Reformation is being celebrated, but it has to be celebrated by all in an attitude of repentance and an effort of reconciliation.

In order to reconcile, we must recognise that Jesus is the Head, being therefore the only point of reference and the only way that we must follow. In his letter to the Corinthians, Paul stresses this: 

“I appeal to you, brothers, for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ, to make up the differences between you, and instead of disagreeing among yourselves, to be united again in your belief and practice.” (1 Cor 1:10)

Calling the Corinthians unity, Paul puts forward the gospel of the Crucified Christ. He is the one who died for us, so that we may be reconciled with God and with each other. Being baptised in his name, we were grafted in him, being one with him. Let us go back to Christ, trying by all means to be his disciples, walking on his footsteps.  If all of us walk through the same path, we will be able to recognise each other so that we make the journey together, guided only by Christ.

HE IS THE LAMB OF GOD

II SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME - John 1:29-34

When Jesus came, most of the people did not recognise him as the Messiah who had been announced by the prophets. They were expecting a king full of power and glory, who would liberate the people of Israel and dominate the world, establishing the Kingdom of God.  However, Jesus rejected the kingship and said very clearly to Pilate that his kingdom is not of this world (Jn 18:36). Jesus did not come to be an earthly king. Instead, he chose to be a servant - the Servant of the LORD (YHWH), as the prophet Isaiah had announced long ago.

In Isaiah, there four passages, wich are considered the four songs of the Servant: Is 42:1-4; Is 49:1-6; Is 50:4-9 and Is 52:13 - 53:12. Some people understand these passages as speaking about the people of Israel, but many others read them as referring to the  Messiah presented as a servant, who listens, learns and obeys; someone who is faithful up to the end. The only aim his life is to give glory to the LORD, but he was rejected by all those who should have accepted him. He was a man of suffering, who was crushed by our sins, but who offered himself in sacrifice to atone for us and to reconcile us with God. It is in him that God “shall be glorified” (Is 49:3). 

Isaiah makes it clear that this servant has not come only for the people of Israel, but for the salvation of the whole world:

“It is not enough for you to be my servant,

to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back the survivors of Israel;

I will make you the light of the nations

so that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.” - Is 49:6

This Sunday’s gospel makes clear this aspect, telling us that John the Baptist recognised Jesus as “the Chosen  One of God”, who came to take away the sin of the world. And John gives him a new title, that expresses well his salvific role: the Lamb of God. He his the lamb of the sacrifice, which reconciles us with God and sets us free. Jesus is the true Servant, the Messiah, whose blood is shed for us. He is the lamb of the sacrifice, the lamb of the new Passover. It is by him that the world can find salvation; he is “the light of the nations”, which guides the peoples in the way to life, justice and peace.

The Baptist - true to himself - gave witness to Jesus Christ, saying: “Yes, I have seen and I am the witness that he is the Chosen One of God.” (Jn 1:34).

Being Christians, we are called to stand as witnesses that Jesus is the Saviour of the world. Only he is the true lamb of God who can take away the sin that oppresses the world. Let us approach him to find life and salvation and invite others to this encounter with Jesus, so that everybody may recognise that he is Lord and Saviour.

GOD’S SALVATION IS OFFERED TO ALL

FEAST OF EPIPHANY: Matthew 2:1-12

We are celebrating this Sunday the Feast of Epiphany, also called of the kings or wise men. In people’s imagination, three kings came from the East to pay their respect to the new born Messiah, the King of Peace. However, reading the text, we find that it mentions only the Magi who came from the East, saying nothing about their number and their names. Who were they? We do not know. In Babylon and in Persia, there were people called magi, who were connected with sanctuaries and the study of the stars. For the writer of the Gospel, all that does not matter. It only matters that they were foreigners and that they came looking for the Messiah, so that in him they may find salvation. 

The Magi symbolise all the Gentiles - all those who were not Jews - thought to be excluded from God’s mercy and love. 

Coming from afar, they were guided and strengthened by the hope of finding rest and peace in the new born king. Tirelessly, they went on searching, never giving up. And they were not ashamed to look for help, when they lost direction. For them, no effort was to big compared with the reward of finding that child. Yes, they were looking for a child, because a child is always an affirmation of life and a promise of a better future.

Like them we are searching for life and peace, and can only find them in the infant king, Jesus Christ. The feast of Epiphany is the feast of the universality of God’s plan of salvation. Jesus came for all - Jews and non-Jews. As Paul wrote to the Ephesians: “Pagans share the same inheritance” with the Jews. Indeed, the mystery of God’s love is revealed in Jesus:

“This mystery that has now been revealed through the Spirit to his holy apostles and prophets was unknown to any men in past generations; it means that pagans now share the same inheritance, that they are parts of the same body, and that the same promise has been made to them, in Jesus Christ, through the gospel.” - Eph 3:5-6