A biblical reflection on the SEVENTH SUNDAY OF EASTER, 1 June 2014)

Gospel Reading: John 17:1-11a

First Reading: Acts 1:12-14; Psalms: Psalm 27:1,4,7-8, Second Reading: 1 Peter 4:13-16

The Scripture Text
When Jesus has spoken these words, He lifted up His eyes to heaven and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify Thy Son that the Son may glorify Thee, since Thou hast given Him power over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom Thou has given Him. And this is eternal life, that they know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent. ‘I glorified Thee on earth, having accomplished the work which Thou gavest Me to do; and now, Father, glorify Thou Me in Thy own presence with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was made.”

Last Thursday, we celebrated the Ascension of Jesus into Heaven. Next week, we will commemorate the coming of the Holy Spirit. This intervening Sunday serves as a bridge between these two outstanding liturgical events.

The first reading, from the “Acts of the Apostles”, captures the spirit of the early Church. This vivid account shows the apostles (in fact, the entire Church) gathered in the “Upper Room” for a combination business meeting and spiritual retreat. The pressing business at hand was to select someone to replace Judas. There was an urgency about this, since the Church membership numbered 120 (Acts 1:15). This was the minimum number necessary, in Jewish law, for an official Sanhedrin – a people’s court. The Jewish law also stated that the officers of the organization should one tenth of the membership. A replacement for Judas Iscariot therefore was necessary to make 12 leaders – the one tenth requirement.

This passage also mentions that Mary, Mother of Jesus, was present at this gathering. It’s the last mention of her in Sacred Scripture. She too had been the bridge between the old and the new. Her first scriptural appearance is found in the first chapter of Luke’s Gospel, where she is asked to be the mother of Jesus. Her final appearance is in the first chapter of Acts, Luke’s second book. Here she is the mother of the newborn Church which is struggling to grow. Before she leaves the salvation scene, her work completed, Mary will assist the infant Church to stand and walk on its own, as she had done for the child Jesus.

The “Upper Room” is also an intriguing part of this story. It’s the original central office of Christianity, although as yet the members were not known as Christians but simply as “the Brethren.” They would be called Christians only later, at Antioch (Acts 11:26).

Missing the physical presence of Jesus and anxiously awaiting the Holy Spirit, the Brethren find strength in nine days of prayer in their favorite meeting place. Here they participate in the first novena with the intention of opening their lives to the influence of the Holy Spirit and conditioning themselves to be at His service.

The Church today, now grown to millions of parishioners and encircling the entire world, still calls us to imitate the “Brethren” in a pre-Pentecost novena. As we gather together in the Upper Room – our own parish churches – we can reflect on the long road of the past and our pressing needs for today. Here we can pray that the Holy Spirit will move and direct us – the Christian sisters and brothers of the 21st century.

Short Prayer: Heavenly Father, I pray for the unity of Christians around the world. Send the Spirit anew to Your whole Church this Pentecost. Amen.

VISITATION OF MARY

Mary packed her things and hurried off to see her cousin, Elizabeth. She went to help Elizabeth prepare for the birth of her baby, and she probably wanted to ask her for advice in facing her own miraculous pregnancy. When Mary arrived, she greeted Elizabeth with the traditional embrace, but Elizabeth responded in a most non-traditional manner. The baby in her womb jumped, as if for joy, and Elizabeth proclaimed, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!” (Luke 1:42).

Somehow, Elizabeth knew what had happened to Mary. Maybe she had heard through the grapevine, or through a letter from Mary herself. She many have even heard about Mary’s amazing encounter with the angel. But Elizabeth’s “knowledge” about Mary’s situation went beyond simply learning the facts. Luke tells us that when she heard the greeting of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit” and cried aloud these now-familiar words of blessing (Luke 1:41-42). Knowing about an event intellectually and knowing it bay the power of the Holy Spirit are two different, but related things.

The story shows how God longs to reveal Himself and His plan to His people. Our ability to understand biblical truths and moral principles is one important gift from God, but this is only part of our heritage. We are also capable of receiving spiritual revelation and enlightenment from God about these truths and principles.

Saint Paul told the Corinthians that God wanted to reveal to them His secret wisdom, things that “no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the human heart conceived” (1 Corinthians 2:9-10). He also prayed for the Ephesians that God would enlighten the eyes of their hearts so that they could perceive the inheritance that is theirs in Christ (Ephesians 1:18). Likewise, God wants to speak to us. He wants to tell us how much He loves us. He wants to reveal to us His glorious plan of salvation to us His glorious plan of salvation and our part in that plan. Let us God to enlighten us today so that we might know Him in our hearts and so that we might embrace His glorious plan more fully.

Jakarta, 31 May 2014

We are now in that special time between Ascension Thursday and Pentecost. During these days, let us focus on welcoming the Holy Spirit into our hearts and into the Church, for He is our only hope. During our time on earth, we often “weep and lament” (John 16:20). We struggle with sin and temptation, with pain and sickness and death. Yet our hope lies in Jesus, our Redeemer. The Holy Spirit’s coming to dwell within the hearts of believers on Pentecost was the proof that by His death and resurrection Jesus has reconciled us to the Father and defeated Satan.

When Jesus said good-bye to His disciples, He told them they would experience sorrow and pain in this world, but that they should not lose hope. He compared the pain of this world to the pain of childbirth, where the joy of a new child more than makes up for the anguish experienced during labor. In the same sense, the suffering we experience in this life is temporary, while the joy of heaven awaits those who believe and trust in God.

Our lives are secure in the Father’s hands. Like the disciples, we may mourn over our sin and over the darkness in the world. At the same time, however, we can rejoice in the power and love of our God. We can rejoice because we know Him in whom we have believed, and we are confident that He is able to guard what we have entrusted to Him until the final day (2 Timothy 1:12). As a mother eagerly anticipates the birth of her child, we too can look forward to eternal joy at the second coming, whatever our current situation.

Jesus conquered sin, death, and the world. We can face daily challenges with hope because our lives have been bought and paid for by the blood of our Savior. Since we belong to Jesus, nothing can rob us of our hope. The darkness in the world may grieve, but our hope can remain strong because of the power and love our Father. We can trust that when Jesus returns, our every need will be fulfilled and all suffering will end.

Jakarta, 30 May 2014

THE ASCENSION OF THE LORD

As Jesus was about to ascend into heaven He spoke His final words to His disciples: “I am with you always, to the close of the age” (Matthew 28:20 RSV).

In his study of Matthew’s gospel, Fr. Donald Senior underlines the significance of the “with you” phrase. The beginning of Matthew’s gospel was marked by the revelation that Jesus would be called Emmanuel, that is, God-with-us (Matthew 1:23). This theme of God’s abiding presence in the person of Jesus is now matched at the end of Matthew’s gospel by our Lord’s own promise: “I am with you always, to the close of the age.”

The keynote of Matthew’s gospel, namely God-with-us, explains somewhat why Matthew has no ascension story as such. The evangelists Mark and Luke write specifically that Jesus was taken up to heaven, but not Matthew. Although Matthew sets the scene for the Ascension, he stops short of actually saying that Jesus ascends.

Perhaps this is Matthew’s way of stressing the “staying” of Jesus with us, as opposed to His “going away” to heaven. It may be Matthew’s way of calling attention to our Lord’s new, invisible presence in our midst – a sacramental presence transcending all barriers of time and place, as opposed to his historical, visible presence limited by space and time.

We are dealing here with a paradox, a mystery. In one sense, Jesus has “gone away” by ascending in heaven. But in another sense, he is “still with us” here on earth. Our Lord’s “going away”, His Ascension, is most important to us because it confirms His claim to be God’s own Son; it completes the cycle of Incarnation-Redemption-Glorification; and it gives hope of one day following Him

But equally important to us is our Lord’s “abiding presence”. Whenever we read His word, break His bread, gather to pray in His name, and minister to the least of His brethren, we experience his “being-with-us”, here and now. Whenever we deny ourselves for Him, carry our cross after Him, or suffer persecution because of His name, we know that He is “with us” to support, encourage and inspire us.

In the familiar story entitled “Footprints” a man at the end of his life wanted to know why in tough times there was only one set of footprints in the sand. After all, the Lord had promised to walk with him all the way. The Lord replied by telling him that He never left him in times of trial. When the man saw only one set of footprints, it was then that the Lord carried him. The Lord was with the man walking in the sand. May the risen Lord be with us all the days of our life.

Jakarta, 29 May 2014

As Jesus kept talking during the Last Supper to His apostles about leaving this world, He noticed that they were overcome by grief. They just didn’t seem to understand why He must go. He told them the sober truth. If He didn’t go, the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit, would not come to them. He would go and send the Holy Spirit to them. What would the Holy Spirit do when He came? He would be their counselor, their consoler. He would guide them in their relationship, in their encounter with the world.

The Holy Spirit will prove the world wrong about sin, about justice, about condemnation. He will show by the divine, just and holy life of the Church which He will guide, that Christ was sinless, that He was just, that He did not deserve condemnation. Those who refuse to believe in Him, to obey His commands, are the guilty ones. They are the unjust. They are the ones who stand condemned.

Which side are we (you and I) on? Are we truly sharers in that divine life by our faith, our obedience, our love? Are we among the just of Christ, the righteous? Do our lives bear witness to the holiness of Christ whose members we are?

We have received the Holy Spirit just as the apostles did. He is our advocate too. He is our guide and our consoler. He gives us instructions, guidance and the strength, the courage it takes to live with Christ, with His Church. We need not suffer condemnation. It is the world that is condemned every time we witness to Christ as Lord in our lives by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Jakarta, 28 May 2014

What a whirlwind three years the disciples spent with Jesus! At first they faced the challenge of grasping who He was and giving up everything to follow Him. Then came the struggle to implement His teachings in their daily lives. Now, they were confronting the greatest challenge of all: Jesus’ departure. Uncertain about the road ahead, they were filled with sorrow (John 16:6). We can imagine that, as they sat listening to Jesus at the Last Supper, the years they had spent with Him looked like a short time indeed. If only they have known earlier, they would have paid more attention, asked Him more questions, and spent more time praying with Him. But now it was all to be taken away.

Yet, Jesus told them, it was only by His going away that God’s plan for them would be fulfilled. Only after Jesus’ departure would the Holy Spirit would carry on the work that Jesus began in them (John 16:7-8). Through the Holy Spirit, they would continue to learn the difference between sin and righteousness; they would go on growing in knowledge of the Father’s love; they would become more like Jesus in everything – all of which, we know from the rest of the New Testament, really happened.

Hard as it may be to understand, we have lost nothing by the fact that we did not know Jesus in the flesh (John 16:7). By the presence of the Holy Spirit, Jesus is truly with us (John 14:16-20). Through the Holy Spirit, we can have as intimate a relationship with Jesus as the disciples had with Him during His earthly life.

Is the Holy Spirit at work in your life today? Have you allowed Him to bring you into the fellowship with Jesus, or are you saddened, as the disciples were, at the prospect of a distant God? Let us believe Jesus’ words about His gift of the Spirit to us! Let us trust in Jesus’ presence this day, and allow His Holy Spirit to envelop us completely.

Jakarta, 27 May 2014

On May 2, 1915, John McCrae’s close friend and former student Alexis Helmer was killed by a German shell. That evening, in the absence of a Chaplain, John McCrae recited from memory a few passages from the Church of England’s “Order of the Burial of the Dead”. For security reasons Helmer’s burial in Essex Farm Cemetery was performed in complete darkness.

The next day, May 3, 1915, Sergeant-Major Cyril Allinson was delivering mail. McCrae was sitting at the back of an ambulance parked near the dressing station beside the YserCanal, just a few hundred yards north of Ypres, Belgium.

Do you realize how much God likes pouring out His Spirit on unlikely people? He chose Lydia, a prosperous business woman in Philippi, to be the first European Christian. What’s more, God chose Paul – who had once been a raging persecutor of Christians – to preach the Good News to her. The simple fact that Lydia and Paul even met took careful arranging by the Holy Spirit. Europe wasn’t even in Paul’s plans (Acts 16:6-12).

Even today, God continues to surprise. In the 1960s, Saint Pope John XXIII astonished the entire world when he convened an ecumenical council. Most people thought that “Good Pope John” would be a quiet, insignificant leader awaiting a more powerful and important pope. But the Church has not been the same since he opened it to a fresh breeze of the Holy Spirit.

Similarly, no one who knew Dorothy Day as a young woman in New York would have suspected that she would become a servant of the poor in the name of Christ. She was after all, deeply involved in atheist and socialist movements and seemed to have very little interest in religion. Yet today the Archdiocese of New York is promoting her cause for canonization.

God is indeed full of surprises! You can almost hear the Holy Spirit urging us, “Be alert, be open, for I may send you to share the Gospel with the least likely person. That teenager in your neighborhood with the purple hair, tattoos, and multiple earrings just may be my next Lydia. What would you say if I told you to share with him about Jesus?”

God longs to pour His Spirit into every heart, just as He did to Lydia. Are we alert to His movements? Let’s give Him the freedom to work in any way He chooses. Let’s ask the Holy Spirit for His heart and mind so that we might reach out to everyone around us.

Jakarta, 26 May 2014