FORGIVENESS AND RECONCILIATION ARE THE ROAD TO PEACE

VII SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME - Luke 6:27-38

Saul and David were quite different in their character and their approach to life. Being a king, Saul would like to be recognised as the best in everything. All the others should live in the shadow of his glory and no one else should try to excel in his presence. When the young David offered himself to go alone against Goliath (1 Sam 17), using an easy and clever way to defeat him, the crowds rejoiced and sang his praises. Saul, instead of rejoicing with the achievement of the young man, was filled with resentment and, in a moment of rage, he tried to murder David. Filled with jealousy, Saul could not find peace and started living in a semi-permanent state of depression. David had to run for his life, being able to find companions, organising with them a small army to protect themselves and he became the enemy which Saul went after with his army. However, as a former shepherd, David knew well the mountains of Judah and was able to escape. It was in this seek and hide, that an extraordinary event took place, which reveals David’s character. Saul decided to set camp with his army and overconfident in his power, neglected his own security, making it possible for David to approach him. His deputy Abishai wanted there and then to strike down Saul, but David would not allow it. David had put all his confidence in the Lord and preferred to leave his vengeance in the hands of the Lord. Revenge leads to violence and destroys the pursuit of justice. Forgiveness is the only way to reconciliation, not only at the personal level but also between communities and even between states. Saul allowed himself to become a violent man, which led to his self-destruction. 

In this Sunday’s Gospel, Jesus speaks of a love so strong that gives us the strength and the wisdom to love the enemies. Such love becomes possible only if we learn from God and allow ourselves to be guided by his Spirit. The story of the relationship between Saul and David is a very good introduction to Jesus’ speech on a forgiving love. 

In the book of Leviticus, God proposes to his people an ideal which is a rule of life: "Be holy, for I, the Lord your God, am holy" (Lev 19: 2). In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus actualizes this ideal by telling the disciples. "Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect" (Mt 5:48). And in the Gospel of Luke, Jesus becomes even more concrete, stating the implications of this ideal: "Be merciful, as your Father is merciful." This means that it is impossible to be holy or to reach perfection without being merciful. And being merciful means being willing to forgive and reconcile with the enemy. Jesus gives concrete indications of how to be merciful: Judge not! Do not condemn! Forgive! If we call ourselves and are children of God, we must be like Him, He "who is good even to the unthankful and the wicked." It is as if Jesus left us an impossible task, but we can find everywhere people who bear witness that forgiveness and reconciliation are the only way to peace. And there are politicians who have understood that.

Let us not forget: "the amount you measure out is the amount you will be given back.”

BLESSED ARE THOSE WHO PUT THEIR TRUST IN THE LORD

VI SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME - Luke 6:17,20-26

In this Sunday’s liturgy, the first reading is like an introduction to the gospel. Jeremiah speaks of two possible attitudes towards God, with completely different consequences. We may put our trust in the Lord, thus being blessed and always bearing plenty of fruit or we may rely on the things that surround us and put our trust on our human capacity and our human endeavours, ending up in disaster. Jeremiah doesn’t beat about the bush, but hits the nail on the head:

“A curse on the man who puts his trust in man,

who relies on things of flesh,

whose heart turns from the Lord.”

Before God, we become aware of our own weaknesses and shortcomings, but we do not lose hope since we know that God is by our side and we experience his love and his care. If we turn our backs on God, then we are left to ourselves and soon will come to our wits’ end, in such a way that “if good comes, he has no eyes for it”.

Putting all our trust in human intelligence, we become confident that science will solve all problems and will bring in the fulfilment of all our dreams. However, this optimism may be followed very soon by pessimism, because as it solves a few problems, it creates bigger ones and we may end destroying ourselves and the world we live in. It is as if we curse ourselves when we turn our backs to God and concentrate our gaze on our navel.

In the gospel, Jesus presents two situations with two completely different destinies.

How happy are you who are poor: yours is the kingdom of God. Happy you who are hungry now: you shall be satisfied. Happy you who weep now: you shall laugh. Happy are you when people hate you, drive you out, abuse you, denounce your name as criminal, on account of the Son of Man. Rejoice when that day comes and dance for joy, for then your reward will be great in heaven. This was the way their ancestors treated the prophets.

Alas for you who are rich: you are having your consolation now. Alas for you who have your fill now: you shall go hungry. Alas for you who laugh now: you shall mourn and weep. Alas for you when the world speaks well of you! This was the way their ancestors treated the false prophets.’

These two different destinies are the result of our choices in life and we make our choices according to what we value. All of us long for happiness and are ready to try different kinds of recipes so that we get it. Soon we will discover that there are no human recipes. Riches and power will not bring it and going after all forms of pleasure will not satisfy us. Only the search for truth and goodness, done with trust in the Lord will make life worth living.

Psalm 1 puts it very clearly:

Happy indeed is the man

  who follows not the counsel of the wicked;

nor lingers in the way of sinners

  nor sits in the company of scorners,

but whose delight is the law of the Lord

  and who ponders his law day and night.

In which way are we going to live our lives? Let us put our trust in the Lord.

WHOM SHALL I SEND?

V SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME - Isaiah 6:1-2,3-8

This Sunday’s readings give us two stories of vocation: the vocation of Isaiah and the vocation of Simon Peter. We can read them in parallel in order to discover the similarities and differences. In Isaiah, we are presented with a theophany, in which God manifests himself in all his glory. Like a king, surrounded by his entourage, God is seated in a high throne in his royal hall, while his praises are being sung. The words of that song have reverberated through the ages and we still go on singing them: 

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts.

His glory fills the whole earth.”

As we sing these words, we must become aware that we are in communion with all the generations that came before us and we must sing them with the same sense of awe that filled the heart of Isaiah.

In the Gospel (Lk 5:1-11), everything happened in a simple way. Jesus is presented preaching the word of God and being surrounded by crowds, with the noise, the pushing and the tussling that always happen in such situations. Jesus seems lost in the middle of the crowd and, seeing two boats, he decided to ask for help. He entered into Simon’s boat, “sat down and taught the crowds from the boat”. Here, we find nothing of the glory contemplated by Isaiah. There, God was surrounded by his heavenly court; here, Jesus is surrounded by the most common people, mainly the ones who experience suffering and who look for healing and for salvation. In a way, Simon and his friends represent the whole crowd: they worked in vain, and now they feel tired and exhausted. They would go home empty handed, have a time of rest and then return to the same struggle, doing battle with the waves and the unpredictable sea.

When Jesus finished teaching, he ordered Simon to go out into deep water and to cast the nets for a catch of fish. Simon expressed his disappointment with the results of a night’s work but complied with Jesus’ request. And that brought in a big surprise, that filled him with awe and led him to an attitude similar to the one of Isaiah. In God’s presence and faced with His manifestation, Isaiah recognised his unworthiness. Being  “a man of unclean lips” and living “among a people of unclean lips”, he felt lost. Simon made a similar experience of being in the presence of the divine in a completely different environment, where the extraordinary emerges from the common and blends with the ordinary; and his reaction was the same: “Leave me, Lord; I am a sinful man”. In God’s presence, with his light piercing our hearts, we are made to see our sinful situation. The first reaction may be one of fear and unworthiness; however, that is always followed by a reassuring word. Isaiah was purified by the fire of God’s love and Simon heard Jesus’ comforting words: “Do not be afraid”.

Then, as if in need of help, God made a question which is at the same time a request: “Whom shall I send? Who will be our messenger?” Isaiah gave a clear answer: “Here I am, send me”. And he became one of the greatest prophets. Those words are being repeated and being heard today when there is a big shortage of messengers. How are we going to answer? Simon behaved like Isaiah. Jesus promised him and his companions that they would catch men instead of fish. “Then, bringing their boats back to land, they left everything and followed him”. Are we ready to follow him? Are we ready to become fishers of men? What is going to be our answer?

THERE IS FAITH, HOPE AND LOVE. AND THE GREATEST OF THESE IS LOVE

IV SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME - 1 Corinthians 12:31-13:13

Chapter 13 of Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians is one of the true gems of the New Testament. Indeed, the Hymn of Love is one of the most beautiful and profound passages of the writings of St. Paul. It is part of the discussion on the charisms or gifts which we receive from the Holy Spirit. Paul makes it clear that all charisms are meaningless without love. Only love makes them gifts at the service of the community, building up the body of Christ. Without love, the charisms easily become an exercise in selfishness and a show-off. And this selfish attitude may taint gifts so important as prophecy and faith. Love is the crown of all gifts. This implies that on our own, no matter the effort we make, we cannot achieve true love. Only God, who is love, can teach us how to love, giving us the grace to love with his love. 

Speaking of love, we should be aware that words are always acquiring new shades of meaning, even though they are related. Nowadays, when the word love is heard - and it is being heard time and time again - many people will think immediately of passionate love and a sexual relationship. Many people may understand love as sexual love. 

The Greeks knew well that there are different types of love and they had different words to name them. Thus eros was used for passionate and sexual love; philia was the love of friendship; storge was the love within the family, the love between parents and children; and agape - word which was adopted by the Christians - to express a universal and free love, an unconditional love, which comes from God and is addressed to the others whoever they may be. Even for the Greeks, the passionate love (eros) could and should grow into philia and storge, giving it a deeper meaning. If the love between two people remains only at the level of passion, then it easily falls prey of selfishness, looking only for personal gratification.

In his letter, Paul used the word agape, implying the highest instance of love, which may include all other types of love, validating them and giving them truth and depth. Agape is a selfless love, by which I commit myself to be at the service of the other. And Paul presents the qualities of this love - fifteen qualities, eight presented negatively and seven positively:

“Love 

is patient 

and kind; 

love does not envy 

or boast; 

it is not arrogant 

or rude. 

It does not insist on its own way; 

it is not irritable 

or resentful; 

it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, 

but rejoices with the truth. 

Love bears all things, 

believes all things, 

hopes all things, 

endures all things.”

This kind of love makes me discover that I find my happiness when I strive to make others happy. When I allow God’s love to take possession of my heart, then my heart finds peace, filling me with a deep inner joy.

This love is eternal as God himself. Faith and hope will disappear. “Now we are seeing a dim reflection in a mirror, but then we shall be seeing face to face. The knowledge that I have now is imperfect, but then I shall know as fully as I am known. In short, there are three things that last: faith, hope and love; and the greatest of these is love.”

May the Lord send his Spirit upon us and fill our hearts with his love, so that his love is always present in our lives, leading us to be witnesses of God’s love in our relationships with the others.

THE CELEBRATION OF THE WORD OF GOD

III SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME - Nehemiah 8:2-6,8-10

Reading the Old Testament, we find that, little by little, worship was concentrated in the Temple built in Jerusalem, where an elaborated system of sacrifices was followed according to strict and detailed rules. The Temple became like the heart of the Nation and the priests, the descendants of Aaron, who served at the temple, had a big say on the policies that affected the lives of the people. However, the Temple was destroyed by the troops of Nebuchadnezzar and most of the population was taken to Babylon as prisoners of war. This was a traumatic experience, which forced the people to search for their own soul and to find new ways of affirming their faith. In Babylon, having no temple and no sacrifices, the Word of God became the only available support of their faith. And so a great effort was dedicated to gathering together the different traditions and the different books. When they were allowed to return, the Scriptures went on being the mainstay of everything else. But not all of the exiles decide to return, and big Jewish communities remained in Babylon and then scattered all over the Persian and later on the Greek empires. In Egypt as well, mainly in Alexandria, there were big Jewish communities. And the synagogues appeared as a house of the community, for the study of the Scriptures and also as a place of worship, which, in the absence of sacrifices, had the reading of the Scriptures as the main form of worship.

The first reading, taken from the book of Nehemiah, describes a big assembly organised by Nehemiah, the governor, and by Ezra, the priest and scribe for the only purpose of reading the book of the Law (the Torah) in public. It was a big liturgical celebration of the Word, something like a big feast of the Bible, in which people are called upon to rejoice. And they were told: “This day is sacred to the Lord your God”.

During Jesus’ time, the synagogues could be found already in many places, like Nazareth (Lk 4:16) and, during the Sabbath, people went there to hear the Scriptures being read. It was in the synagogue that Jesus read from the prophet Isaiah and adopted Isaiah’s words as the programme for his ministry. Later on, the spread of Christianity would start at the synagogues and Paul would always visit the synagogue in order to preach the gospel. When the Christians were expelled from the synagogues, they kept the tradition of reading the Scriptures as an important part of their worship. And so in the Christian liturgy, the celebration of the Word is the first part of the Eucharistic celebration. In many parts of the world, there are many Christian communities who cannot have a priest for the Eucharist and so they gather every Sunday to receive the bread of the Word, making a celebration of the Word of God in a similar manner to that one made by Ezra and Nehemiah. By doing that, their faith is nourished, as they profess it while listening to God’s word, which gives guidance and instruction, calling to a renewed commitment to be true disciples of Jesus Christ.

THE WEDDING AT CANA

II SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME - John 2:1-11

In the gospel of John, Jesus begins his ministry at a wedding to which he was invited with his disciples. It is as if, in the beginning, the Church is already present: Jesus is the centre of all attention, surrounded by the disciples whom he leads to faith. In the middle of this Church, we find Mary, the mother of Jesus, playing an important role as she pleads with Jesus, bringing forward his ministry of salvation. This passage of the gospel leads our attention in two directions: Jesus at the wedding and the role of Mary. The scene of the wedding brings to memory some passages of the Old Testament, where marriage is presented as a symbol of God’s relationship with his people. God is a true lover who cannot forget his beloved, in spite of her betrayal. When she runs away, he looks for her and seduces her with his love. According to Isaiah (in the first reading), God will call his people “My Delight”, “for the Lord takes delight in you and your land will have its wedding” and “as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you” (Is 62:4-5). At the wedding of Cana, Jesus comes to the forefront as if he is the Bridegroom, revealing his glory to the community of disciples. It is interesting that the passage does not pay attention to the wedding ceremony and concentrates only on the banquet, a banquet in which Jesus provides the best wine, indicating that he is fulfilling God’s Promise: When the time of salvation comes, “the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine, of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined” (Is 25:6). The wedding banquet at a Cana provides a foretaste of the salvation feast in which God’s people will enjoy life and peace. In the wedding at Cana,  we find already the active presence of salvation brought about by Jesus.

Mary, the mother of Jesus, played as well an important role. She was attentive to everything and, noticing the shortage of wine, she decided to do something about it. On her own, she could do nothing, but she knew who could, and approached him. It is interesting that she did not ask, that is, she did not make a formal request; she knew that it would be enough to point out the needs and the shortcomings of all those involved in the wedding celebration. Jesus would not and could not ignore the plight of the people. And Mary went to the servants giving them the only instruction that was needed: “Do whatever he tells you.” This is the same instruction that she gives today to each one of us and to the Church as a whole: “Do whatever he tells you.” This the only condition for the Lord to grant us joy to the full.

Let us learn with Mary to listen wholeheartedly to God’s word and then do what his word tells us to do.

BAPTISED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT

THE BAPTISM OF THE LORD - Luke 3:15-16,21-22

In his baptism, Jesus assumed the role of the Servant of the Lord (the Servant of Yahweh) and he would exercise his ministry in that role. The figure of the Servant of the Lord comes from the prophet Isaiah, where is presented as “the chosen one”, the “one in whom my soul delights”. Being God’s delight, we immediately guess that he is much more than a servant. Since “I have put my Spirit upon him, he will bring forth justice to the nations” (Is 42:1). And “I will give you as a covenant for the people, a light for the nations”. He was chosen to be the liberator and the Redeemer, in order “to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness”(Is 42:6-7).

When John appeared in the desert calling people to repentance, many thought that he was the promised one, the one coming to fulfil Isaiah’s words. However, John himself refused such a role, telling people that he was only baptising them with water and was not even worthy to untie the strap of the Messiah’s sandals. John came to prepare people and his baptism in water is no more than a sign of repentance and conversion. And  John announces the coming of someone mightier than him, who will baptise with the Holy Spirit (Lk 3:16).

And so it happened that, in solidarity with the sinful humanity, Jesus went to John and was baptised by him. As the Servant of the Lord, Jesus, the sinless one, carried our sins (Is 53:12). Just as his baptism was ending, while at prayer, the divine mystery of Jesus came to the front and became manifest: “the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form, like a dove; and a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased” (Lk 3:22).

In the baptism, being anointed with the Holy Spirit and being proclaimed the “beloved Son”, in whom the Father finds his delight, the words of Isaiah came to fulfilment in Jesus. And being the “beloved Son”, Jesus baptises us with the Holy Spirit, so that in him we become children of God.

The feast of the baptism of the Lord must be an occasion to celebrate our own baptism and to reflect upon it. We were baptised with the baptism of Jesus, that is we were baptised with the Holy Spirit, who has marked us with his seal for eternal life