The Saints Next Door
We are never completely ourselves unless we belong to a people
That is why no one is saved alone.
Rather God draws us to himself, taking into account the fabric of interpersonal relationships present in a human community.
God wanted to enter into the life and history of a people.

I like to contemplate the holiness present in the patience of God’s people:
A) in those parents who raise their children with immense love, B) in those men and women who work hard to support their families
C) in the sick, in elderly religious who never lose their smile.
Very often in is a holiness found in our next-door neighbors, those who, living in our midst, reflect God’s presence.
We might call them “the middle class of holiness.

THE DISCIPLES CAUGHT 153 FISH

Today’s Gospel Reading: John 21:1-14 – EASTER FRIDAY: 6 April 2018

One effect of the Resurrection was the eventual split of the Christian Church away from Judaism. Judaism was conservative because it was built around the Torah Law. That Torah Law could be applied, interpreted and adapted but the psychological posture was that of preserving and keeping the Law. By contrast, Christianity thrust outward from the start. Unlike Judaism, it was intensely missionary. The disciples were sent to all nations (the probable reference of the 153 fish).

The early Church had no hesitation in creating new offices, new rules, rearranging the Jewish liturgy to suit it own purposes and to speak in God’s name. The reason for such energy and creativity was that at its center was not the Torah Law but the Holy Spirit of the Risen Lord Himself.  The Christian Church has a dynamic center. At the center of our spiritual life is not an empty tomb or Torah Law but the Risen Lord Himself. His Spirit is present in our hearts urging us toward deeper faith and wider love.

The spiritual vigor at the center of the Church derives not from a thing, but from a Person — the Risen Lord.

Jakarta, 6 April 2018

A Christian Pilgrim