WE LIVE IN EXILE, WAITING FOR THE TIME TO LIVE AT HOME WITH CHRIST

XI SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME - 2 Corinthians 5:6-10

St. Paul speaks of his own experience - he feels like someone who lives in exile while being certain of the return to his homeland. Living with an intense longing for his “home with the Lord”, he lives “always full of confidence”.

Speaking of his own experience, Paul gives voice to the experience of all of us. It is true that we live attached to this world and that all we do we do it through our bodies. One day, however, we will depart and our bodies will be given to the earth where they decompose and disappear. Will it be the end? We cannot conform ourselves to such an end. We arrive and then we depart.  Surely, this is not home. It is as if we live in tents (2 Co 5:1), in a temporary dwelling, in the hope of a better place, a permanent home. We live here on earth, motivated and strengthened by hope. And while we live in this land of exile, “we are intent on pleasing him (God)”, so that his will may be done. 

As a warning, Paul tells us that there will be a time for judgement when we “will be brought out in the law court of Christ, and each of us will get what he deserves for the things he did in the body, good or bad.” We are responsible for the choices we made and for our actions. While we are in exile, we must prepare ourselves for our permanent home. If we waste our time and go astray, what are we going to present before Christ?

In this Sunday’s gospel, Jesus tells the parable of the mustard seed, comparing the kingdom of God to it. It is a parable about humble and small beginnings which will lead to a great achievement. The parable speaks of a process of growth, which takes place by God’s grace. Although in exile, we do not live far away from God. We are always under his care. He is the one who gives the growth and who leads us on the right path. Sometimes, it may seem that God has abandoned us and we may feel like being outcast and not only in exile. The people of Israel felt like that many times, but, whenever despair invaded their hearts, God sent a prophet with a reassuring message. We are the tree that God has planted and he will make sure that it is going to produce many fruits.

TAKE RESPONSIBILITY

X SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME - Genesis 3:9-15 

In this Sunday’s liturgy, we read from the book of Genesis about humanity deciding for themselves on good and evil. Those stories about Adam and Eve are stories about ourselves as human beings reflecting on their identity. 

In the middle of the garden of Eden, there were two special trees: the “tree of life” and “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil” (Gn 2:9). While allowed to eat from the tree of life, they were forbidden to enjoy the fruits of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. This means that, although allowed wisdom, they were warned about a special kind of knowledge - the one that decides what is good and evil. In spite of that, enticed by the serpent, they were moved by a big desire to make the experience of that knowledge. They preferred their own judgment to God’s wisdom and so they ignored the prohibition and went ahead eating from the tree. We may ask ourselves why they did not bother about the tree of life and preferred, instead, to have knowledge. Maybe they gathered that with the knowledge they would get a hold on life. Being able to establish the parameters of good and evil, they will satisfy their great desire for power, and they will be equal to God, deciding on good and evil. 

Today’s reading presents the aftermath of acquiring that so special and divine knowledge. They discovered their nakedness and, embarrassed, went into hiding. They became self-conscious and discovered their fragility, their limitations and also their capacity for evil. They were confronted with themselves and felt ashamed. Indeed, how many times, we try to hide ourselves from God, from others, even from ourselves? Aware of what we are and what we do, we judge ourselves and feel judged by the others and we hide, even though we know well the impossibility o hiding. Before sin, Adam and Eve lived in a situation of innocence and harmony; afterwards, with the knowledge of good and evil, their relationship became ambivalent. From comrades in the adventure, always anxious to share new experiences, they became companions of misfortune, full of suspicion, ready to accuse each other. They did not accept responsibility for their deeds; they did not acknowledge their sin; and they did not ask for forgiveness. Adam accused God of bringing that woman to him; she is the seducer who should be blamed. Eve laid the blame on the serpent who deceived her. When anything goes wrong, it's always the fault of somebody else. Instead of apologising, we present ourselves as victims. We are not guilty, we are the ones who suffer the consequences of the evil done by others. There are always excuses and others are always the guilty ones. Instead of punishment, we deserve compassion! However, justifying ourselves by accusing others, we are building our life on a lie, beginning a vicious circle that gradually degrades us, little by little slipping always deeper into evil. The only way to break the vicious circle is to take responsibility for what we do, to recognise our sin and to ask for forgiveness. Otherwise, the game of hide-and-seek will end with us being found naked and that feeling of shame may lead us to acts of violence against others since they are the ones we blame for our shame.

BLESSED ARE THE INVITED TO THE BANQUET OF THE LORD

SOLEMNITY OF CORPUS CHRISTI - Mark 14:12-16,22-26

The solemnity of Corpus Christi is a special celebration of the Eucharist, which comes after the solemnity of the Holy Trinity in order to affirm what we celebrate every Sunday. There is always the danger of getting used to what we do. 

The readings lead us to reflect on certain aspects of the Eucharist which we must pay attention to.

• It is the sacrifice of the New Covenant. In the first reading, from the book of Exodus, we hear how Moses offered sacrifices by which the covenant was sealed and ratified. Part of the blood was “cast on the altar” (Ex 24:6) and the other part he “cast it towards the people”, saying: “Behold the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.” (Ex 24:8). In the Last Supper, after giving the cup for his disciples to drink, Jesus said: “This is my blood, the blood of the covenant, which is to be poured out for many. I tell you solemnly, I shall not drink any more wine until the day I drink the new wine in the kingdom of God” (Mk 14:24). In the Eucharist, we offer the sacrifice of the New Covenant and we become part of that Covenant, sealed and ratified with the blood of Jesus Christ.
• Jesus is at the same time the High Priest and the perfect sacrifice. The letter to the Hebrews makes that very clear. Once a year, on the Day of Atonement, the high priest entered the holy of holies taking with him the blood of the sacrifices. Jesus “entered the sanctuary once and for all”, taking with him his own blood, “having won an eternal redemption for us” (Hb 9:12). Jesus’ sacrifice is the perfect sacrifice, acceptable to God. In the Last Supper, Jesus himself interpreted his own death in that manner. Aware of what was going to happen to him, Jesus remained faithful to end and offered his life in total and loving surrender to the will of the Father. Jesus’ death came about as a result of two factors: a) human wickedness that condemned to death the innocent; b) and Jesus’ decision to be faithful to his mission, no matter what the consequences might be. Jesus is the priest who offers the only acceptable sacrifice. At the same time, he is the victim, the sacrifice being offered.
• Jesus offered himself in sacrifice for us. The letter to Hebrews and the gospel make it clear: his blood is “poured out for many”. It is by his death on the cross that we are reconciled with God and the gates of heaven are open for us.
• The solemnity of Corpus Christi is a proclamation of our faith: we accept Jesus’ words for what they say. The bread is the body of Christ and the cup of wine is the cup of his blood, which he offers to us as the bread of life (Jn 6:35). We are called to seat at Jesus’ table and be served by him the food of heaven. We are called to have a share in the banquet he prepared for us. And the invitation is addressed to us: “Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb” (Rev 19:9).

Let us celebrate with thanksgiving the banquet of the Lord.

AFFIRMING OUR FAITH IN THE GOD WHO IS LOVE

SOLEMNITY OF THE MOST HOLY TRINITY - Deuteronomy 4:32-34,39-40

It is always difficult to speak of God. He is the Most High, the one who is always far beyond what we may think or imagine. Whenever we try to approach Him and to reason about Him, we are faced with the mystery. There is a Bemba proverb that says: Apasamikila umutali, umwipi teti asamune (where the tall guy put something, the short one cannot take it out). In spite of that, we do not stop trying and searching. Even the psalms speak of this search: “O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water” (Ps 63:1).

It is God himself - he who called us to life - who makes that search possible. And he is ready to reveal himself to us. In the Scriptures, we find the long journey of God who reveals himself in the history of his people. That’s why the first reading invites us to look back and to remember the history of the people. Yahweh - the God of Israel - is a God who reveals himself by his interventions in human history, transforming it into the history of salvation.

The first reading makes clear the statement that God is one and that there are no gods but God. As disciples of Jesus Christ, we are part of the group of three great monotheistic religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Since Abraham, God has revealed himself as being concerned and committed to humanity. To Moses, he revealed his name: YHWH (Yahweh), presenting himself as the God of the Covenant, who wants to live in a constant love relationship with human beings. The God who loves and saves us is not a lonely and distant God. In the deepest of himself, He is love and love implies relationship. That’s why in Jesus Christ, God revealed Himself as Father, Son and Holy Spirit, or revealed Himself as a relational God, a God who is communion. It is this reality of the God that is communion that we call Trinity. By the Holy Trinity, we do not mean three gods, but one God, who, by relating to people and by calling them to communion with him, revealed himself as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. 

For Islam, Allah (God) is a solitary God, absolutely and eternally alone, closed in on himself and incapable of entering into a love relationship with whom he created. And so Muslims accuse Christians of giving god partners, thus committing the biggest sin (shirk), the only sin that cannot be forgiven, as it is clearly stated in the Quran: “God does not forgive association with Him, but He forgives anything less than that to whomever He wills. Whoever associates anything with God has devised a monstrous sin” (Sura 4:48). For Islam, God is Almighty and the creation manifests God’s power, not his love. 

However, Christians totally reject any hint of polytheism. We start the creed by saying: “I believe in one God”. The oneness of God and the Trinity may sound like a contradiction in terms, but Trinity expresses the complexity of this one God, who is love. And love implies relationship and communion. The Trinity means that God, being love and communion, is a continual and eternal giving out of himself, without ever being exhausted, always offering himself in total self-giving. Creation is the fruit of this love of God that spills over and overflows, a love that is given and shared. And the human being, created in the image of God, is called to enter into this communion.

SEND FORTH YOUR SPIRIT, O LORD.

SOLEMNITY OF PENTECOST - Acts 2:1-11

At Pentecost, fifty days after Passover, we celebrate the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles, which led to the beginning of the Church with the great mission of announcing the gospel of Jesus Christ. At Pentecost, we celebrate the Holy Spirit and the Church as the new people of God, constituted by Christ, so that there is no Church without the presence and the action of the Holy Spirit.

The first reading, taken from the Acts of the Apostles, narrates how the Apostles made the experience of the Holy Spirit. They were gathered together for a prayer meeting. So the Holy Spirit came upon the Church gathered together. The presence of the Spirit creates community, uniting people together in the name of Jesus Christ. He came “like a powerful wind from heaven” (Act 2:2), similar to that “wind from God”, which “swept over the face of the waters”(Gn 1:2 RSV). This wind from God - which is the Spirit - pre-announces God’s creative action - the creation of a new people based on a New Covenant in Jesus Christ. The wind is the first great symbol of Spirit, and so great it is that in Hebrew and Greek the same word could mean wind or spirit, depending on the context. The Spirit of God may be like a mighty wind (Ez 1:g4) that uproots and destroys everything in its path, indicating the power and the strength of God to overpower the enemy and lead us to victory (Ex 14:21). He may be like a cool breeze that brings comfort, respite and peace, which fill the heart with joy (1 Kg 19:12. Or he may be the breath of life which Gods breathes into us like he did to Adam (Gn 2:7). The Holy Spirit came upon the Apostles as “a mighty rushing wind” in order to shake up the Apostles, so that they could overcome the fear and strengthen the resolve to carry out the mission entrusted to them.

Then, what appeared to be like tongues of fire “rested on each one of them”. “And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit” (Act 2:3-4). This fire brings to mind God’s revelation to Moses in the burning bush, when “the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush” (Ex 3:2). In their travelling out of Egypt, the people of Israel were guided by “a pillar of fire to give them light” (Ex 13:21). When God revealed himself to the people on Mount Sinai, the mount “was wrapped in smoke because the Lord had descended on it in fire” (Ex 19:18). Fire is a sign of the glory of God, which we must approach in awe and wonder. In the letter to the Hebrews, we are told to “offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire” (Hb 12:28-29). But fire may be also linked to punishment, and Jesus, speaking of the Holy Spirit, tells us that “he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment” (Jn 16:8).

The Holy Spirit comes upon us as fire - the fire of love, which propagates itself and consumes everything in love. Although burning within, it cannot be hidden, since it gives light for everybody to see.

The Holy Spirit - the Spirit of the Lord - is the foundation of a new community, the community of disciples who become one body in Jesus Christ. It is as a community of universal dimensions, open to people of all nations, languages and cultures.

Let us ask the Holy Spirit to come again as a strong wind to shake us out of our lethargy, to breed new life in the Church, and to set our hearts ablaze with the fire of love.

EMPOWERED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT, WE WILL GIVE WITNESS TO JESUS CHRIST

SOLEMNITY OF ASCENSION - Acts 1:1-11 

Making the connection to his earlier book (the Gospel), Luke begins the Acts of the Apostles with a summary of Jesus’ ministry and, then, he presents Jesus’ farewell with his last instructions. Jesus sat with the apostles at the table and shared with them a fellowship meal, as he had done so many times. Then he advised them “not to leave Jerusalem”, but to wait there for the fulfilment of the promise of the Father, that is the sending of the Holy Spirit because they will be “baptised with the Holy Spirit”. 

However, the apostles were interested in that conversation. They had earthly ideals of power and wealth, and they remained out of step with Jesus up to the end. They were waiting for the political restoration of the kingdom of Israel and they were bold enough to ask Jesus about it. Jesus refused to give an answer, making it clear that such concern was a waste of time. Instead, he renewed the promise of the Holy Spirit that will give them the power to be his witnesses “to the ends of the earth.” That is their mission - our mission: empowered by the Holy Spirit, we are to be witnesses of Jesus Christ everywhere. Saying farewell to the Apostles, Jesus leaves his mission to them. We are called to lead others to Jesus, so that in him they may find life and salvation.

And then, “as he said this he was lifted up while they looked on, and a cloud took him from their sight.” This is the way Luke describes the glorification and exaltation of Jesus Christ. He is the Son of God who came down, took flesh and lived among us. Now he is ascending to his glory, the glory he always had as Son of God. The cloud signifies his glory and his divinity, like in the Old Testament (Lev 16:2; Num 9:15; Dt 31:15).

And the passage ends with the last incident. As Jesus was lifted up, the Apostles remained there surprised and astonished, filled with exhilaration, forgetting time and place. It was as if life had stopped and they had already left this world. There are many who seek this experience as if they have fallen asleep, unaware of the surrounding reality, filled with a sense of peace and happiness, untouched by any kind of pain and suffering. We may forget that we are still in the world (John 17:11). And it is to the world that we are sent to be witnesses of Jesus Christ and to proclaim his Gospel. We may look to heaven and be filled with a deep desire of joining Jesus, but in order to achieve that, we must come back to the reality of life to live it according to Jesus’ way. The angels forced the Apostles to do that, asking them a simple but pertinent question: “Why do you stand looking into heaven?” What are you doing here in wonder and ecstasy? With this question, the Apostles were brought back to the reality surrounding them. They had to prepare themselves for the coming of the Holy Spirit and then to carry out the mission entrusted to them.

With the first community of the disciples, we must use this week to prepare ourselves for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

SaveSave

GOD SHOWS NO PARTIALITY

VI EASTER SUNDAY - Acts 10:25-26,34-35,44-48

Reading the Acts of the Apostles, we get surprised and remain puzzled discovering that the first Christian community under the leadership of the Apostles had to be pushed into openness. In the beginning, they remained in Jerusalem, unconcerned with anything else, as if they had forgotten Jesus’ command to go and proclaim everywhere the Good News. Being forced out of Jerusalem by the persecution that followed Stephen’s killing, they went to Samaria and preached the Gospel there. Meanwhile, Saul has his experience of the risen Christ, converts and starts preaching the Gospel. God is preparing the way for the evangelisation of the Gentiles. However, they would not venture into gentile territory and God had to force their hand, leading Peter to the house of Cornelius and granting him and his family the gift of the Holy Spirit. Peter understood that God does not discriminate; in fact, he rejects any tribalist and chauvinist mentality, because for him “anybody of any nationality who fears God and does what is right is acceptable to him” (Act 10:35). Later on, Peter had to justify himself before the community in Jerusalem. After that, some Christians of Antioch became bold enough to speak to the Hellenists about Jesus Christ. It was in Antioch that the Church opened her doors to welcome non-Jews. A big conflict would ensue from this openness, dividing the Church between the Christian Jews strictly faithful to the Law of Moses and the open-minded Christian Jews (like Paul) who mingled with the Gentiles accepting their culture and customs, moulded by the faith in Jesus Christ. In an attempt to heal that division and solve that crisis, the Apostles together with the Elders held a council in Jerusalem. God had taught them a lesson and forced them to realise that “God shows no partiality”. God accepts people from all nations and all cultures, once they open their hearts to Jesus Christ and accept to walk with him towards their Father’s home.

Remain in my love

It is good to read this Sunday's gospel closely - John 15: 9-17 - and find out what Jesus teaches about love. As we read through, we may discover these main points:

1. God’s love - the love he has for his Son, Jesus, who is called the beloved - is the role model for all love. All love springs from him, the fount of love, because He is love.
2. Jesus invites us to remain in love, his love. Jesus’ love is true love, in total self-giving, without any shade of selfishness. That’s why we should remain in his love, so that we may experience love and live according to the choices of love. Indeed, in order to remain in love, one must make a choice, since love implies a commitment and a daily effort so that love may grow.
3. According to Jesus, in order to remain in love, one must keep the commandments. The traditional society knew well that there is no love without rules. There are limits that must set and that should not be overrun. Love implies a relationship and, if in that relationship, my whims become the rules of life, the relationship will be broken, making it impossible to remain in love.
4. The rules of love do not oppress, but they protect and enhance love and life. Jesus has not come to press us. In fact, he came so that his joy may be in us and that our joy may be complete and perfect. Jesus came to show us the path that leads to perfect joy, or to happiness. Often we doubt and think that he deceives us and leads us along paths that stop us from being happy, and so we prefer to choose our own ways, which ultimately lead us to anguish and despair.
5. Love implies a relationship of friendship. Love thrives in freedom. Jesus gives the relationship with his disciples as an example: you are not servants but friends; and between friends, there are no secrets. Everything is shared together. The measure of true love is to be able to work and to suffer to the point of giving one's life for the one we love. That's what Jesus did.
6. Love is fruitful, for it bears fruit and that fruit remains. Love is never sterile because it always leads us to give our best. "Love one another” - is the only commandment given by Jesus.