UPLIFTING PRESENCE

Acts 2:42-47; 1 Peter 1:3-9; John 20:19-31

Fr. Leonard shares an insightful experience, which inspired a new meaning about the Resurrection of Jesus. He was a committed pastor and was very busy with the various activities of the parish. One Friday evening he was working at his desk exhausted and did not wish to have any visitors. There was a knock on his door and a young lady asked if she could talk with him. His lips said “yes” but his heart desired to say “no”. Nevertheless, Fr. Leonard stopped his work and listened to the story of the young lady. Her story was long and heartbreaking. In the course of the conversation he realized that it was far more difficult to open up one’s heart than to listen. Hence, he forgot his unfinished commitments and listened with his whole heart. Many hours later, the young lady left Fr. Leonard’s office, as the same person with the same burden as she entered in. However, she left the office knowing that she was not alone and that someone thought she was important enough to be listened to. “For my part”, Fr. Leonard says, “I was reminded that one of the messages of the Resurrection is that we are never alone. I learned that when we make ourselves consciously present to others, when we pay serious attention to them – we resurrect them – we give them new life”.

We have a similar experience in the gospel passage that we heard today. Jesus did not abandon his frightened disciples. After his resurrection, he was consciously present to them, paid attention to their natural fears, recognised their anxieties, respected their doubts, breathed his Spirit on them, gave them new life and a mission to fulfil: “As the father has sent me, so I send you”. Therefore, the disciples are to represent Jesus to the world as Jesus represented the Father to the world.

Jesus confirmed this mission by breathing his Spirit on them. The breathing of the Spirit reminds us of God creative activity. In the book of Genesis we read that God created the human person by breathing his spirit into a handful of clay. Thus, when Jesus breathed his Spirit on the disciples, they became new persons, a new creation in Christ (2 Cor 5:17). They were made a new creation in order to reconcile the world to God. Hence, Jesus gave them authority to forgive sins. This authority to forgive sins has a deeper significance for the Church today. In the prayer Jesus taught his disciples, all of us, every baptised Christian is called to forgive like the heavenly Father. Forgiveness is the condition that Jesus places before his disciples to have an intimate relationship with the Father and with one another. Therefore, all of us as Christians are called to participate in the special mission of creating a human family of brothers and sisters through forgiveness and reconciliation.

The disciples carried out the mission that Jesus entrusted to them and formed vibrant Christian communities. The new Christian communities had four basic challenges:    

To listen to the teaching of the apostles, that is to be attentive to the Word of God and to integrate the Word of God into their daily lives.

To share every thing in common, that is to be concerned about the urgent needs of their less fortunate brothers and sisters.

To break bread, that is to be the Body of Christ and bread broken for others in their families and neighbourhood.

To pray, that is to always live in the presence of God, in order to be a witness in the presence of the people.

In a nut shell, the real challenge of Christian life is to include others in our world of faith, our world of love, and our world of hope. 

The second part of the Gospel insightfully narrates how Jesus included Thomas into his world of faith, world of love and world of hope. His fellow disciples shared with him the good news of the resurrection. Thomas was not prepared to believe. However, he was not the only one who doubted in the resurrection of Jesus. Nevertheless, he is a concrete sample. He demanded for tangible evidence. Jesus had enough love for Thomas to respect his doubt. Jesus, therefore, provided the evidence for his faith. At this moment Thomas – Version Two emerged. He declared “My Lord and My God!” This is a sincere and total surrender to God. Thomas’ search for evidence and his total surrender gave him a sense of hope and a sense of purpose in life. He contributed his share to proclaim the Good News of God’s unconditional love, acceptance and forgiveness.   

Today, the world is also searching and seeking evidence for God’s Presence. There are people who reasonably question the resurrection event. There are those who ask why do you throw your lot with Jesus? A logical answer would never suffice. Instead, if we could learn to include others in our world of faith, world of love and world of hope, we would provide ample evidence for our faith in the living God.  Just give a thought to this. If we have a listening heart, if we could see Jesus in faith, we would soon understand that there are millions all over the world, devastated by sickness, addiction, fear, rejection, violence, anxiety and pain who cry “include me in your world, please”.

Listening to their cry and including them in our world, would resurrect the power of God that lies embedded in their hearts.

Listening to their cry and including them in our world would resurrect the Jesus that lies buried in the traumas of their lives.

Listening to their cry and including them in our world, would resurrect the gifts of the spirit that would otherwise go unnoticed.

Listening to their cry and including them in our world, would resurrect the hope that would change their future for ever.

Listening to their cry and including them in our world, would resurrect the dreams of Jesus for a new world, for a new humanity.

Amen!              

RESERVED FOR GOD

Ezek 37:21-28; Psalm Jer 31:10, 11-12 abcd, 13; Jn 11:45-56

Ezekiel is a temple priest and an inspired prophet, who was deported to Babylon in 597 BC along with others after the destruction of the city of Jerusalem. He was a fellow exile among his own people. His prophesies pointed to the sins and transgressions of the people. He insisted that the exilic situation was their own making and not a punishment inflicted by Yahweh. The situation gave Ezekiel an opportunity to proclaim his prophetic word as well as to perform symbolic actions that enabled the people to reflect on their sinful condition. His messages offered them a sense of hope. It is in this context, the vision of the valley of dry bones takes on a spiritual meaning. It is within the power of the Spirit of God to restore the dry bones back to life. In continuation with the vision of the dry bones, Yahweh instructs Ezekiel to perform a symbolic act of two sticks. The two sticks represents the two kingdoms – the southern kingdom of Judah and the northern kingdom of Israel. Ezekiel joined the two sticks as instructed by Yahweh.

Ezekiel’s symbolic act signified that Yahweh himself would take the initiative to merge the two kingdoms by his own hand (Ezek 37:19). Yahweh would uproot the people from the foreign nations and establish them again in the Promised Land. Consequently, there would be one king and one united kingdom. The people would also be cleansed of their idolatry, apostasy, sins and transgressions. Finally, God would renew the covenantal relationship with his people: “Then they shall be my people, and I will be their God” (Ezek 37:23). Further, Yahweh assured the people of four promises: first, the promise of a secure and everlasting homeland; second, the promise of an everlasting king from the lineage of David to shepherd his people; third, the promise of an everlasting covenant of peace and blessing; and fourth, the promise of an everlasting presence of Yahweh in his sanctuary. The intention behind these four promises is to demonstrate to the nations that Yahweh sanctifies the people of Israel, that is, the people of Israel are reserved for Yahweh alone.

In God’s design, Jesus is God’s chosen servant, who would initiate the process of gathering of all peoples. Jesus and his cross would bring about the communion desired by God as effectively prophesied by Caiaphas, who was the high priest during the time of Jesus. The context of his prophesy was the plot of the Jewish leaders to kill Jesus. The miracle of Lazarus coming back to life drew a few Jews to Jesus, who had witnessed the miracle along with Mary. A few of the Jews reported the miracle to the Jewish leaders, who were disturbed at the impact of Jesus on the common people. They were not able to tolerate any person who would claim to be a Messiah and possessed the power to work miracles. Messianic claims would evoke the sense of patriotism and nationalism among the Jews, causing a riot that would disturb the delicate balance between Rome and the local political and religious authorities. Therefore, Caiaphas suggested that Jesus should be put to death, because it was better for one man to die than the whole nation to perish. The prophetic pronouncement of Caiaphas had a double effect. It evoked memories of the courageous Maccabean martyrs who died for the nation as well as predicted the universal salvific effect of Christ’s death on the cross. Jesus, for the time being, moved away from Jerusalem into the wilderness with his disciples. However, he will return back to Jerusalem and embrace a violent death at the appointed ‘hour’. This hour would bring about the glorification of God and Jesus, the gift of the Holy Spirit and the gathering of those who believe that he is the ‘sent one’ of God.  

Prayer

Abba Father, may we have faith to believe in your presence despite the violence that surrounds us and move forward with courage to create a harmonious world.          

In Jesus’ Name we pray!

GIFT OF RIGHTEOUSNESS

2 Sam 7:4-5a, 12-14a, 16; Psalm 89:2-3, 4-5, 27, 29;

Rom 4:13, 16-18, 22; Matt 1:16, 18-21, 24a

The Feast of St. Joseph offers us sufficient encouragement to live out our Christian faith in the face of conflicts, political oppressions and baffling confusions. It assures each of us that our faith lived out in obedience to God’s will would be fruitful and life-giving. It inspires us to live out our calling, which is unique to each one of us, with the guidance and empowerment of the Holy Spirit.

The themes of Liberation, Promise and Covenant are reflected in all the stories, narratives, and experiences recorded, both, in the Old Testament and the New Testament. The first reading taken from the Second Book of Samuel presents the Promise of God to David through Nathan that the royal throne of David would be established forever through an heir. In the Gospel narrative, Joseph is addressed as the “Son of David” by the angel in his dream. In Matthew’s genealogy of Jesus Christ, it is chronicled that it was through Joseph, the husband of Mary, that Jesus was born, who is called Christ” (Matt 1:2-16). St. Joseph, therefore, is a medium through whom God’s promise to David was fulfilled.

In the Gospel, Matthew records that Joseph was a righteous man. In the context of the Bible, calling a person righteous is the best and highest honour a person can receive. Righteousness signifies being faithful to the demands of covenant relationship to the core. In a way, it is imaging God in the concrete situations of life, for God is always righteous and faithful. In the second reading, St. Paul declares that righteousness is born of faith (Rom 4:13). Therefore, Joseph stands out as an excellent model of faith. In fact, both, Joseph and Mary made an identical act of faith. Mary accepted to be the virgin mother of the Messiah and believed that the Son to be born is conceived of the Holy Spirit. Joseph accepted Mary as his wife because he believed that the child conceived in the womb of his wife was through the power of the Holy Spirit. In their act of faith, Joseph and Mary lived out their own specific calling to share in the mystery of salvation, which was accomplished by Jesus, the Messiah, through the power of the Holy Spirit.

The righteousness of Joseph was born of faith, and his obedience was a spontaneous expression of his faith and total confidence in God. The Gospel narrative points out that Joseph did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him to do: he took Mary as his wife and named his son Jesus. This was just a beginning of a journey of faith, marked with the need for constant and prayerful discernment. We shall reflect on three outstanding characteristics of Joseph to discern how he was obedient in faith. First, he was a dreamer, second, he was a migrant, and third, he was a lover, the beloved of Mary and Jesus.

Joseph the Dreamer

Marcus J Borg and John Dominic Crossan in their book, The First Christmas, point out that the birth of Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew revolves around five dreams through which divine interventions and instructions are communicated. Four out of the five dreams are for Joseph. All the four dreams are life-impacting. The first dream was to accept Mary as his wife, the second dream was to flee to Egypt, the third dream was to come back to the land of Israel and the fourth dream was to change his domestic location to the district  of Galilee. In a world that is suffering from ‘trust deficit’ it is very difficult to imagine and accept how one could make responsible and life-changing decisions based on dreams. This points to a deeper and intuitive level of consciousness, which is being totally immersed in the presence of God. It was his total confidence in the presence of God that gave Joseph the inner certainty to follow his dreams.

Joseph the Migrant

Herod was the Pharaoh of Jesus’ time. His love for power and the fear of threat to his throne, which is engrained in every ruler, was beyond proportions. This, together with the political oppression of the Romans, the complacent attitude of the religious authorities and the plight of the peoples at the margins, created a very depressing environment for the common people to which Joseph, Mary and Jesus belonged to. In such an oppressive situation, the flight to Egypt would have been a very instinctive and intuitive response of Joseph to protect Mary and Jesus. The misery and suffering of the migrants was no better then, than what it is today. Yet, it was only through faith that Joseph survived the ordeal in a strange land among strange people, which would have evoked memories of being slaves in Egypt as well as God’s mighty liberating power.

Joseph the Lover

It is love that flows from an expansive and generous heart, which will take extra efforts to understand the purpose, the vocation, and the mission of a life partner. This magnanimous love, focused on the other, will provide sufficient space for the partner to follow her or his own dream. Therefore, Joseph as a lover strikes a delicate balance between being a guardian and a guide. It is love embedded in the heart of Joseph that allowed Mary and Jesus to follow the path designed by God for them.

In being a dreamer, a migrant and a lover, St. Joseph stands as a model of obedient faith. The learning experiences we can gather from St. Joseph is first, to listen to the voice of God even when we are surrounded by deafening sounds and compulsive distractions. Second, to come out of our complacency in the face of oppressive forces and to be in solidarity with those who resist oppression. Third, to learn to create an ambience and to provide space for others to carry out their mission. In this way, all of us could collaborate with the mysterious plan of God in establishing the Reign of God here on earth.

Prayer

Abba Father, we thank you for the gift of St. Joseph to the Church. May we like St. Joseph allow your customized plan to unfold in the different contours of our life.

In Jesus Name we pray!