WHY MANY PROPHETS?

XII SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME - Jeremiah 20:10-13

Through Facebook Messenger, I got a message from Mr Malabo in Solwezi, asking about prophets: “Fr. In the Bible, it is said that God raised Prophets in the time of need. Why then do we have so many today that even contradict each other?”

Indeed, nowadays, there are so many people claiming to be prophets and they contradict each other, because many of them are prophets of themselves, not of God. Even in the Old Testament, there were many prophets, even associations of prophets, but many of them were false prophets, misleading the people instead of conveying faithfully God’s word and God’s will.

Moses had warned the people about the appearance of false prophets: 

“But any prophet who speaks in the name of other gods, or who presumes to speak in my name a word that I have not commanded the prophet to speak—that prophet shall die.” You may say to yourself, “How can we recognise a word that the Lord has not spoken?” If a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord but the thing does not take place or prove true, it is a word that the Lord has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously; do not be frightened by it.” (Dt 18:20-22)

There are so many people who enrich themselves while claiming to be prophets. Those are false prophets. There are so many people who look for power while presenting themselves as prophets. Those are false prophets. Jesus told us to look at their actions because a good tree is recognised by the good fruits. In his ministry, is he at the service of the word of God or puts the word of God at his own service or at the service of his masters?  Does he suffer because of his faithfulness to the word of God or he finds prestige and glory through it? Nowadays, as in the past, there are many people who try to play God and put God at their own service, and they are ready to preach strange doctrines and announce wild prophecies about earthly things that have very little to do with the Kingdom of God.

In this Sunday’s readings, we are presented with the prophet Jeremiah. Because of the word of God and of his faithfulness to it, Jeremiah went through rejection and persecution. He complains that even the ones who used to be his friends had turned against him. He even thought of stopping being a prophet, but with his heart full of the love of God, he couldn’t do it. 

Many times, the words of a true prophet are not pleasing to our ears because they challenge our attitudes and question our decisions and our way of life. Being truthful to the word of God, the true prophet puts his trust in the Lord and calls us to conversion. He is not concerned with the wealth of this world, but with a sound relationship with God as the foundation for a sound relationship with the others. A true prophet does not offer easy solutions as if God is ready to do for us what we should do ourselves. He does not preach an easy life, where all our desires become commands to God. Lesa ni mutima kyebele, meaning that we cannot dictate to him what to do.

The true prophet puts his trust in the Lord, as Jesus advises us to do: “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; fear him rather who can destroy both body and soul in hell. Can you not buy two sparrows for a penny? And yet not one falls to the ground without your Father knowing. Why every hair on your head has been counted. So there is no need to be afraid; you are worth more than hundreds of sparrows.” He cares for us and he knows what is best for us.

IN THE JOURNEY OF LIFE, THE LORD WALKS WITH US

SOLEMNITY OF CORPUS CHRISTI - Deuteronomy 8:2-3,14-16

The feast of Corpus Christi (the body and blood of Christ) is a special feast, in which we go in procession through the streets of our towns carrying the Blessed Sacrament. We may ask what is the meaning of that. The first reading gives us the meaning. 

Moses told the people: “Remember how the Lord your God led you for forty years in the wilderness” (Dt 8:2). It was not an easy journey. They got tired, exhausted, hungry and thirsty; and they complained and even revolted against the Lord. However, the Lord provide guidance and protection, water and bread. He never abandoned them and he was always in their midst. 

And this is the experience we want to have. In the procession, it becomes clear to us that life is a journey, and this journey is not a solitary journey, but one in which we walk together, in community, so that we can support each other and lean on each other. If anyone falls, the others will lift him up and give him encouragement to go on walking. And in this procession, we have the Lord in our midst, walking with us and being the centre of our attention. It is from him that our journey receives meaning; he is our source of hope and strength.

The Eucharist is the presence of the Risen Lord among us, dwelling in our midst. He sets the table for us and invites us to become satiated with his food - the bread of life. By eating this bread, we become one with him, sharing in his passion so that we may share in his resurrection.

GOD IS RELATIONSHIP AND LOVE

FEAST OF THE HOLY TRINITY - Exodus 34:4-6,8-9

In the Feast of the Holy Trinity, we give ourselves a day to celebrate what is always present, every single day and every single moment of our lives. Speaking of the Trinity, se speak of God as relationship and love, and we speak of him in this manner, because that is the way he has revealed himself to us. We do not believe in three gods. The Christians are monotheists, being part of the Abrahamic religions, together with the Jews and the Muslims. However, we understand God in different manners. Believing that God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit, the Christians affirm God to be communion in diversity. God in himself and within himself is communion and love, which implies relationship. That’s why love and relationships are so important for us, human beings because we are created in the image of God. The faith in the Trinity is an essential feature of our understanding of God and of the understanding of human beings, who are called not only to live in relationships but to enter into a relationship with God.

God in Islam

For the Muslims, the Trinity is an absurd and it is blasphemy, the sin that cannot be forgiven. For them, Allah is supremely alone - a cold and lonely god, who cannot dream of entering into a relationship of love with human beings. For them, the only relationship possible between man and Allah is the relationship of the slave to the master, and the only attitude possible on our side is submission, knowing that he can decide as he pleases, following the whims of his heart. For the Muslims, the central belief of their religion is called tawhid, that is the unicity of God and the worst sin shirk or to give partners to God. The Muslims think that the Christians believe in three gods, being the Father, the Son and Mary (the mother of Jesus). They reject the thought that Allah may be called Father because he never had a wife and he cannot bear children. We mere human beings can never think of ourselves as children of God. God has no children, and we are simply slaves.

“God will never be a God without man”

Even though Muslims and Christians worship only one God, we see ourselves in his presence in a different manner: the Muslims as slaves, and the Christians as children. We are children, not because we are born of the flesh of God (his goodness), but because God, who is love, has decided to adopt us as children and give us the rights of children. That was his plan since the beginning, even before the creation of the world.

Pope Francis tells us that, in Jesus Christ, God revealed himself as the one who cannot live without us. He is relationship and love and his love is so great that is in a continuous outpouring that reaches us.

“Dear brothers and sisters, we are never alone. We can be distant, hostile, we could even profess to be "without God". But the Gospel of Jesus Christ reveals to us that God cannot stand without us: He will never be a God "without man"; It is He who can not stand without us, and this is a great mystery! God can not be God without man: great mystery is this! And this certainty is the source of our hope, which is preserved in all the invocations of our Father.” (Pope Francis, General Audience, 07-06-2017)

WE WERE ALL BAPTISED IN ONE SPIRIT

FEAST OF PENTECOST - 1 Corinthians 12:3-7,12-13

More than ever before, the world we live in is a world divided, with nations fighting against nations and groups against groups. It is a world full of conflicts with ever increasing violence. In our days, there is a lot of violence done as a service to God and in submission to him, as if such a god could be a true God. How can he be called great the god that demands violence and death in order to establish is sovereignty? Such a god is not different from the power of evil, personified in Satan.

We are in need of solidarity and communion, which make peace possible, a peace that is built on justice and mercy. And that is what we celebrate in the Feast of Pentecost, the Feast of the Holy Spirit, who sets our hearts on fire, filling them with love and thus enabling us to announce the good news of peace.

The giving of the Torah

The Feast of Pentecost was originally a Jewish feast called Shavu’ot or Festival of Weeks because it came seven weeks after the Passover (see Lev 23:16). In the Feast of Pentecost, the Jewish people celebrate the giving of the Torah, that is the giving of the Law (the commandments) which set people free and establish them as God’s People. Indeed, we cannot live in peace and be free without the rule of law, God’s Law, which is not oppressive but sets forward the principles that should guide us in building a society in which human dignity is affirmed and respected.

The healing power of the Holy Spirit

With the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, the feast acquired a new and deeper meaning. The Holy Spirit came as a Comforter, a Counsellor, a Healer and an Advocate - the Paraclete. Being the one who sets our hearts on fire with love, he can heal us of our pride and self-centredness, which was the source of division. The disruption and violence which started with the tower of Babel are healed on the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit makes of different nations speaking different tongues one people, the new People of God.

The Holy Spirit brings communion

St. Paul, in his first letter to the Corinthians, speaks of the Spirit as the source of communion established in the diversity of all the members of the fraternity. The first work of the Holy Spirit is to lead us to faith in Jesus Christ, because “no one can say, ‘Jesus is Lord’ unless he is under the influence of the Holy Spirit.” (1 Co 12:3). Then, the Holy Spirit gives a great variety of gifts and they are given “for the common good” (1 Co 12:7); they are not given to bring jealousies and enmities or to create infightings within the same group. “For in the one Spirit we were all baptised into one body — Jews or Greeks, slaves or free — and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.” (1 Co 12:13)

It is the Holy Spirit that guides and strengthen us in the work of reconciliation, which is the path for peace and for communion. Communion is only possible when it is built on diversity. If the gifts we received become a source of divisions, destroying peace and harmony, then we are misusing what was given to us, making of them our own property, without any respect for the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

With the Psalmist, let us pray: “Send forth your Spirit, O Lord, and renew the face of the earth.” (Ps 104:30)

HE IS THE HEAD OF THE CHURCH

FEAST OF ASCENSION - Ephesians 1:17-23

As we celebrate the ascension of the Lord, we need to be careful lest we give it a physical meaning and misunderstand the impact and meaning of the ascension. In the Acts of the Apostles, Luke tells us that “as they (the disciples) were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight” (Act 1:9). This going up may lead us to think of going up into the clouds and far beyond the clouds, and we may ask ourselves: Where has he gone?

Whenever we speak, and there is no other way of speaking, we use human language with human concepts that are always formulated taking into account the perception of our senses. But the reality that we perceive is always different from the perceptions we experience. The Ascension is a graphic description of a reality that cannot be touched or measured by our senses. When we speak of the ascension of Jesus, we are speaking of his glorification. In the letter to the Ephesians, we are told that God, “the Father of glory” used his power “to raise him (Jesus) from the dead and to make him sit at his right hand”, in such a way that “he has put all things under his feet and made him, as the ruler of everything, the head of the Church; which is his body, the fullness of him who fills the whole creation” (Ep 1:17-23)

The risen and glorified Jesus Christ, as Lord of the universe and head of the Church, is not far away, but he is with us, becoming a source of hope to all those who believe him and live in communion with him.The glorification of Jesus - the Son of man - is a guarantee of glorification to all those who are one body with him. And this is the Good News that we are entrusted with to take it and announce it to all the corners of the world. Jesus entrusts us with the mission he received: “make disciples of all the nations” (Mt 28:19)

In order to carry out this mission, we need the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, so that we are filled with the wisdom and the power of the Spirit to be true witnesses of Jesus Christ. During this week, let us prepare ourselves to open our hearts to the Holy Spirit, for him to dwell in us and transform us into temples of the living God.

THE COMING OF THE COMFORTER

VI EASTER SUNDAY - John 14:15-21

Confirmed with the Holy Spirit

During Easter Time, we read the book of the Acts of the Apostles. in which we find the beginning of the Church and then the proclamation of the gospel and life of the first Christian communities. It was in Jerusalem that the Apostles first preached the Gospel and it was there that the first Christian community emerged. And it seems that they cared little about announcing the message of Jesus Christ to all nations of the world. However, little by little, the Holy Spirit forced them out. After the death of Stephen, “a severe persecution began against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout the countryside of Judea and Samaria.” (Act 8:1) And so the evangelisation of Samaria began. Later one, the Holy Spirit would force them to open the doors to the gentiles, welcoming people from everywhere and from every race and nation.

Fleeing Jerusalem, many Christians went to Samaria and Philip started preaching there. Many people converted and were baptised “in the name of the Lord Jesus” (Act 8:16). The Apostles, who had remained in Jerusalem, heard about the success of Philip’s mission to the Samaritans and sent Peter and John to confirm them in the faith “and prayed for the Samaritans to receive the Holy Spirit, for as yet he had not come down on any of them” (Act 8:16).

The Spirit of truth

The proclamation of the Gospel, once accepted, is followed by the baptism, but for full communion with the Church and within the Church, there is need of confirmation in the faith with the receiving of the Holy Spirit, and that was done by the Apostles. The Apostles confirmed them and gave them the Holy Spirit by praying for them and laying their hands on them.

The sending of the Holy Spirit was promised by Christ as the “Advocate (Helper or Comforter) to be with you forever, the Spirit of truth” (Jn 14:16).

Muslims and the Paracletos

The Muslims are convinced that Muhammad was announced in the Bible: "O Children of Israel, I am God's Messenger to you, confirming what preceded me of the Torah, and announcing the good news of a messenger who will come after me, whose name is Ahmad.” (Sura 61, verse 6 of the Quran). And so they use the verse in which Jesus speaks of the coming of the “Paracletos” - the Advocate or the Comforter - as referring to Muhammad.

They arrive at that conclusion by saying that “Paracletos” (παράκλητος) is a corrupted word, which took the place of the original one “Periclytos”, meaning “the praised one”, and that is Muhammad since Muhammad means “the praised one”. The problem is that the word “periclytos” does not appear in the manuscripts and Jesus himself made it very clear that he was speaking about the Holy Spirit.

As the day of Pentecost comes closer, we must prepare ourselves to welcome the Holy Spirit into our lives, so that our hearts may be filled with love, enabling us to be true disciples of Jesus Christ.

IN JESUS, THE WAY, OUR HEARTS FIND PEACE

V EASTER SUNDAY - John 14:1-12

Pope Francis came to Fatima in pilgrimage to celebrate 100 years of the apparitions of Our Lady and to declare saints the two siblings Francisco and Jacinta, whose lives were transformed by the experience of God. And since then, during these past hundred years, Fatima has become a place where many people have made an experience of God, which changed their lives. In Fatima, the encounter with Christ and the experience of God has been mediated by Mary, the mother of the Lord. Repeating the words of Pope Paul VI, Pope Francis said: “Indeed, “if we want to be Christian, we must be Marian; in a word, we have to acknowledge the essential, vital and providential relationship uniting Our Lady to Jesus, a relationship that opens before us the way leading to him” (Paul VI, Address at the Shrine of Our Lady of Bonaria, Cagliari, 24 April 1970).” Like in the wedding of Cana, Mary is the one who pays attention to our needs, who address her Son in our behalf and who commands us to do whatever he tells us. And then she hides away. She always avoids the limelight, because belongs Christ.

This Sunday’s gospel makes it very clear that Jesus is “the Way, the Truth and the Life” (Jn 14:6). He alone is the Saviour and it is through him that we become reconciled with the Father; it is in him that we become God’s children. Sometimes, in popular religiosity, one gets the impression that Mary overtakes Jesus as if she was the Way and the Mediator. We put Jesus far away as if he is unreachable and Mary is the one close to us. That’s why the Pope, greeting the pilgrims, asked which Mary is the one that accompanies us and leads us to Jesus? We are “pilgrims with Mary... But which Mary? A teacher of the spiritual life, the first to follow Jesus on the “narrow way” of the cross by giving us an example, or a Lady “unapproachable” and impossible to imitate? A woman “blessed because she believed” always and everywhere in God’s words (cf. Lk 1:42.45), or a “plaster statue” from whom we beg favours at little cost? The Virgin Mary of the Gospel, venerated by the Church at prayer, or a Mary of our own making: one who restrains the arm of a vengeful God; one sweeter than Jesus the ruthless judge; one more merciful than the Lamb slain for us?”

"Great injustice is done to God’s grace whenever we say that sins are punished by his judgment, without first saying – as the Gospel clearly does – that they are forgiven by his mercy! Mercy has to be put before judgment and, in any case, God’s judgment will always be rendered in the light of his mercy. Obviously, God’s mercy does not deny justice, for Jesus took upon himself the consequences of our sin, together with its due punishment. He did not deny sin, but redeemed it on the cross. Hence, in the faith that unites us to the cross of Christ, we are freed from our sins; we put aside all fear and dread, as unbefitting those who are loved (cf. 1 Jn 4:18).”

It is in Jesus Christ that we find peace: “Do not let your hearts be troubled.” (Jn 14:1) It is in him who shared our pain and our sorrows that we find the courage to go on struggling in the sure hope that we will overcome. And the Pope said: “Indeed, God created us to be a source of hope for others, a true and attainable hope, in accordance with each person’s state of life.”

“With Mary’s protection, may we be for our world sentinels of the dawn, contemplating the true face of Jesus the Saviour, resplendent at Easter.  Thus may we rediscover the young and beautiful face of the Church, which shines forth when she is missionary, welcoming, free, faithful, poor in means and rich in love.” (Pope Francis’ homily in Fatima).