ALL THOSE WHO SUFFER DESERVE OUR COMPASSION AND OUR CARE

XIII SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME - Mark 5:21-43

Humanity has never accepted death as being the natural outcome of our stay here on earth. Within us, there is an intense and deep longing for life to the full. Throughout the ages, all civilisations have tried to deal with death in different ways, always trying to come to terms with it. In the book of Genesis, death is presented as a consequence of man’s disobedience and revolt against God, the source of life. Reflecting on death’s cause, the book of Wisdom accuses the devil of bringing death into the world, due to his envy: “God did make man imperishable, he made him in the image of his own nature; it was the devil’s envy that brought death into the world” (Wis 2:23-24). Looking to God himself, the book of Wisdom tells us that “death was not God’s doing, he takes no pleasure in the extinction of the living” (Wis 1:13). Death is understood as something evil, which comes from the evil one. If we entrust ourselves to God, he will transform our death into life.

If we look at ourselves within the whole creation, we discover that human beings join everything else that is created in falling short of perfection and completion. We are not divine and by ourselves, we are limited, weak and fragile. As humans, our condition is to be mortal. Being created, we live our lives in a body that grows old and will end up in decay. We may try to delay that process, but we are unable to stop it. This earthly life, like all creation, is a gift of God’s love. However, having created human beings in his likeness, God has for us a plan of eternal life, which only can be carried out, in communion with Jesus Christ, since he is resurrection and life.

This earthly life is hard and painful; suffering seems to be always by our side. This Sunday’s gospel presents Jesus allowing himself to be touched by the suffering of ours. It is the suffering of Jairus, the father whose little girl is dying. She represents a suffering difficult to understand and to accept: the suffering of the little ones who have not had time yet to do evil. In such cases, we question God, unable to find an answer. Why do such ones suffer? Jesus felt the pain of that family and forgot everything else in order to go and attend to their plight. And by doing so, he reaffirmed God’s promise of Life. 

Mixed with the story of Jairus’ daughter, we are presented with the story of that woman who suffered for many years from a painful and debilitating condition. There are so many people in the same situation! To live with such limitations is a difficult learning process because we never get used to pain and to suffering. There are many situations in which the patients, like that woman, live in hiding, ashamed of being known or seen by others. That’s why Jesus brought her into the open, for all of us to realise that there are no shameful sicknesses and that all deserve our compassion and our care.

“Hear, O Lord, and be gracious to me!

O Lord, be my helper!” (Ps 30:10)

I THANK YOU FOR THE WONDER OF MY BEING

SOLEMNITY OF ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST - Psalm 139:1-3,13-15

With the Psalm 139, we sing the praises of the Lord, realising how wonderful his works are. It is enough to have a quick look at everything that surrounds us to be filled with awe. In the dark of the night, lifting our eyes to the glittering stars, we feel lost in the immensity of the universe. Indeed,

“When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,

the moon and the stars that you have established;

what are human beings that you are mindful of them,

mortals that you care for them?” (Ps 8:3-4)

However, the wonder which fills our hearts and minds becomes even bigger, when we look at ourselves:

“Yet you have made them a little lower than God,

and crowned them with glory and honour” (Ps 8:5)

Looking at ourselves, we are able to contemplate a mystery much bigger than ourselves, a mystery that speaks of God’s mystery. In touch with the mystery of our being, we are led to guess that we are the project of someone who thought of us and loved us before we ever existed. As “I was being fashioned in secret and moulded in the depths of the earth”, the Lord “knit me together in my mother’s womb” (Ps 139:13,15). Lord, “I thank you for the wonder of my being” (Ps 139:14).

However, nowadays, there is an increasing number of people who feel uncomfortable with themselves, wishing and dreaming of being someone else. There are people who feel imprisoned or trapped in a body they do not like. They are not able to appreciate the affection with which God made them, neither are they able to feel loved. They cannot recognise in themselves the presence of God’s mystery, who called them by name. It is impossible to feel at home with ourselves, when we do not accept ourselves as we are and when we are unable to recognise with astonishment the wonderful work, which God has done in us. Instead of revolting and hating ourselves, we must sing God’s praises. 

There are people who suffer from a delusion of being a person in the wrong body and, instead of being offered treatment for such a condition, they are given the right to construct themselves as they desire, even in contravention of their bodies. The right, which some demand for themselves, to construct oneself against the biological marks that run deep even at the chromosome level, is an abuse of nature that only works when upheld by a continuous treatment with drugs. The rejection of the body and its biological aspects is a sign of dysphoria that should be treated as a sickness, rather than being recognised as a right of choice that will transform me into a person constructed and maintained artificially. 

As we celebrate the solemnity of the birthday of St. John the Baptist, lets us recognise the project which God has for us and give thanks and praise, because of the wonderful way in which he has made us.

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.