(A biblical reflection on THE SIXTH SUNDAY OF EASTER – May 25, 2014)

Gospel Reading: John 14:15-21

First Reading: Acts 8:5-8,14-17; Psalms: Psalm 66:1-7,16,20; Second Reading: 1 Peter 3:15-18

In the Gospel, we saw Jesus taking the apostles as they were and where they were. They were mixed up, puzzled, confused and frustrated. They were particularly concerned and distraught because Jesus had said that He would have to leave them. They were suffering the terrifying human fear of being left to face life all alone. There is scarcely anything more frightening than the thought of having to grapple with the problems of human existence all by yourself, with no help, no guidance, no consolation from anyone else. It is the fear felt by the widow without her husband, as her children have gone from home to live their own lives. It is that terrible illness, called “homesickness,” experienced by the young person who has left home for a strange, new school. It is the terror of the small child lost on a camping trip.

Jesus understood how His apostles felt. He wished to make it clear that their fear was groundless as He said, “I will ask the Father and He will give you another Paraclete – to be with you always … I will not leave you orphaned; I will come back to you.” We can see one example of the fulfilment of Jesus’ promise in today’s first lesson. Even after His ascension Jesus did not abandon the people of Samaria, in whose region He had worked miracles during His public ministry. His help to them came from Philip the deacon, who was acting on the impulse of the Holy Spirit, as he responded to Christ’s command to preach the Gospel. Philip left Jerusalem for Samaria. There his preaching met with immediate success. When further spiritual help beyond baptism was needed – that is, the giving of the Holy Spirit by the laying on of hands – Philip and Peter and John came to Samaria and confirmed the new converts.

What happened in Samaria has continued down through the centuries. The promise of Jesus has also been fulfilled in us. We too have received the Holy Spirit, and because of Him we are not left alone. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, the Father and the Son are present within us. But we have to find God even within ourselves. We have to search Him out. We must respond to His presence within us. In a word, we must pray.

If we have the idea that real prayer is only for mystics, or that prayer must be a very complicated formulary with just the right words of theological precision, , we should rid ourselves of that notion. Simple prayers are good prayers. Exalted through the Mass truly is, even here we find simple prayers and we learn just what earnest, sincere prayer should be.

We begin the Mass with the sign of the Cross, “in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” Prayer begin with a recognition of God, and should include an awareness of His presence within us. Most assuredly we stand unworthy before God because of sin. At the very outset of each Mass we are asked to realize our sinfulness. At the celebrant’s invitation we all bowed our heads and tried to prepare ourselves to celebrate the sacred mysteries. As a group of people trying to offer God suitable worship, we humbly asked forgiveness of our sins. That is a theme which continues as we pray “Lord, I am not worthy to receive You, but only say the word and I shall be healed.”

Throughout the Mass we turn to God for help in all the many prayers of petition, especially the Prayer of the Faithful as well as in the presidential prayers at the end of the entrance rite, the preparation of the gifts, and the Communion rite. Each Mass itself is a total prayer or praise and thanksgiving, as the very word “eucharist” signifies.

Even this sketchy survey of the Mass should help us to see that the prayer of the Mass is basically very simple. “God help me … forgive me … thank You” in essence that is our prayer. They help us to be ourselves before God, and they have the advantage of beginning right where we are with God. Simple prayer will help us to find God, so that we need not be left alone in the struggle of life. Our prayer at Mass must carry over into the other activities of our lives. Take the time and make the effort to continue prayer through the week right where you are at any time. In our minds and hearts, if not on our lips, let each of us say “God help me … thank You.” Of course our own words are best, but these three simple ideas are what make up good prayer.

PRAYER: Heavenly Father, it is indeed a terrifying experience to be left all alone in life. Because of the presence of the Holy Spirit within us, however, we need not have that experience, only if we learn to turn to You with simple earnest prayer in all the aspects of our lives. We pray this in the precious name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. Amen.

JAMES, the relative of Jesus (Galatians 1:18-19), did not have an easy job. As leader of the early Church in Jerusalem, he was confronted with the question of whether non-Jewish converts to Christianity should be obliged to follow the Mosaic Law. Many Jewish Christians saw the law as something for Gentiles to embrace along with baptism. Among these, apparently, were some people associated with James (Galatians 2:12). The issue came to a head at a Jerusalem meeting, where both Peter and Paul argued that everyone is saved by grace, not by pursuing a lifestyle of ritual purity (Acts 15:7-12). James was a very devout Jew, but he was willing to listen. Then, persuaded by the apostles’ words, he offered a decision that defended the Gentiles’ liberty and imposed just a few basic requirements.

James was flexible enough to part with his ideas of how the Church should be and to be open to the movements of the Holy Spirit instead. Rather than adhere rigidly to familiar patterns of religious practice and tradition, he reflected on the way God was working among non-Jews. Mind you, James did not throw out all the traditional practices. He carefully discerned what would be appropriate for the new gatherings of Gentile and Jewish believers that were springing up. As a result of his respect for God’s unfolding plan, he came to a solution that resolved conflicts and helped preserve the unity of the primitive Church.

How important it is to listen to one another and, even more, to the Holy Spirit! It’s all too easy to fall in love with our own ideas of what the Church should be. But when we love our ideas so much that they distract us from loving God and one another, we become easy targets for dissension. The result is divisions and factions between denominations and within our Church, communities, families, and intimate relationships.

God wants us to experience deep, joy-filled, and loving unity. Jesus Himself asked the Father to make us one, “as We are one” (John 17:11). God will do it – if only we allow Him to make us people who listen, learn, and love.

Jakarta, 22 May 2014

According to Jewish custom, Jews did not invite Gentiles into their homes or visit in the homes of Gentiles. Though Jews lived among Gentiles and met with them freely in the public square, they did not socialize with them, because non-Jews did not follow the rules for ritual purity in the law of Moses. This presented a real problem for the early Church, which was comprised of both Jews and Gentiles. How could they worship together or share in the Lord’s table or associate with each other as members of one community?

At Antioch, many Gentiles had become Christians. Then some Jewish Christians came from Jerusalem teaching that unity could occur only if the non-Jewish Christians became Jews. Paul strongly opposed this view, because he saw that it counted the grace of Christ less important that the Mosaic law for relationship with God.

This controversy may seem old and irrelevant to us. Yet the news that God freely sets us right with Himself through faith in Jesus is just as earth-shattering today as it was two thousand years ago. The fact that Almighty God would forgive all our sins simply because His Son died for us is an astonishing mystery. We are tempted to add something of our own, to offer some penance to persuade God to be reconciled with us. But the good news is that God has done everything necessary to reconcile us with Himself out of His limitless graciousness and favor toward us. All He asks is that we believe in the free gift of His love.

While we must struggle against sin, our strongest battle is one of faith: Will we rely on what Jesus has done for us on Calvary? Can we believe that, on the cross, Jesus dealt a death blow to everything that would stand between us and God? We do not have to persuade God to have mercy on us. If we were to try to merit God’s favor, we would diminish what Christ did for us on the cross. Instead, let us ask the Holy Spirit to expand our experience of God’s mercy. Let us ask Him to melt our hearts and move us to lay our sins before Him.

Jakarta, 21 May 2014

What peace was yours, dear Jesus? You found no peace as the world gives even in the seclusion of Your small home town. Those who should have known You and loved You most personally turned against You; the mob tried to lynch You – to stone You and throw You headlong from a cliff near Your own home. You, the Prince of Peace, never experienced worldly peace.

How dare we ask You for this blessing? Only because You insisted that we share Your peace. What was Your peace – when You asked the Pharisees, “Why do you seek to kill Me?” What peace did You enjoy – as they picked up rocks to throw at You and You hid Yourself and left the temple? What peace di You feel – as You informed Your twelve closest friends that one of them was on the verge of betraying You? By what pact of peace had Your own chosen people rejected You? What peace comforted You – as You prophesied Your cruel sufferings and violent death?

The one peace which Your every word and action bespoke was the perfect peace of being one in purpose with Your heavenly Father. This was Your peace – not as the world gives it – the peace of a right conscience, the peace of unity with God’s will, the peace of an unsoiled love. We understand to some extent what You mean by Your peace, Jesus, when we speak of “making our peace with God.” By that we mean freeing ourselves from all selfish rebellion and restoring our errant wills to union with our Father’s will.

Yours is the only true peace, Lord Jesus, understood clearly by Dante when in his Paradiso he exclaimed, “In His Will is our peace.”

Jakarta, 20 May 2014

(A biblical reflection on THE FIFTH SUNDAY OF EASTER (Year A], 18 May 2014)

Gospel Reading: John 14:1-12

First Reading: Acts 6:1-7; Psalms: Psalm 33:1-2,4-5,18-19; Second Reading: 1 Peter 2:4-9

At the beginning of His public ministry, Jesus had delivered His “Sermon on the Mount” as the program of His Kingdom. At the end of His life He completed and perfected this instruction. There the scene was the horizon, the green hills of Galilee and the shores of its wonderful Sea. Here the sermon saw the closed room of the Last Supper. There the audience was filled with the masses from all different parts of the country, here the apostles were the only witnesses, who He loved with all His heart. He loved them till the end (see John 13:1), till the end of all possibilities, giving them His own flesh and blood, making them priests forever. And still He was not pleased.

When people bid farewell, they often reveal their affections more openly and more forcefully than they do during the years they live together. Love, the deepest power of the soul reveals man’s inmost nature. And there was certainly no moment when the apostles were more willing to accept than after the first Eucharist Celebration on earth. Already, humanly speaking, the time was opportune, since it was the custom among the Jews to join in conversation when the paschal meal was over. And in this sublime and fruitful discourse Jesus opened to His apostles (and to us) the very secrets of His heart.

Jesus had to leave, He had to die. That made the apostles sad. But He told them: “Do not be sad. I have to leave you, I have to die in order to establish the everlasting union between you and God. Thus be consoled by this union of life between you and the Father and Me completed by the Holy Spirit which I am going to accomplish by My death.” And then Jesus went on unfolding the essence of this divine union, the relation to Father and Holy Spirit, the glorious future for Himself and for His own. He spoke about the Holy Spirit, the Church and its members who must be one as Father and Son are one. He talked about future persecutions, the nature of the interior life of the faithful ones, the power of prayer. And above all: This sermon was steeped in the mournful tenderness with which Jesus spoke His departing words.

In today’s Gospel Jesus tells His apostles openly that He will leave them, that He will die. But they must not be sad. They shall rather be consoled because through His death Jesus is going to establish the communion of life between God and the apostles, between God and us. There is no heaven for us without Christ’s death. On the other hand, Christ died for all. “In My Father’s house there are many dwelling places” (John 14:2 NAB). This implies: a dwelling place for many. In typical Jewish fashion Jesus also says that His blood was shed for many (Mark 14:24), which means it was shed for all.

Christ will take us for Himself so that we shall be where He is. Ever since He died for us, there is no separation any more between Him and us. Heaven is guaranteed for us. “Christ is the way to heaven, the way to the Father.” Jesus told Thomas. He is the only way to the Father, He is the only mediator. Nobody can reach the Father but through Jesus. Christ is the WAY because He is the TRUTH, revealing the Father to us in His word. The world would be dark without the Gospel. And as always, His TRUTH is not just theoretical knowledge, but life-giving knowledge. Christ is LIFE because He is the TRUTH.

Philip was not satisfied with Jesus’ remark. “Show us the Father and that will be enough for us,” he insisted (John 14:8 NAB). He wanted a theophany as it was granted to Moses (Exodus 33:18) or to Isaiah (Isaiah 6:1ff). But such a theophany is always the exception, not the rule! The normal way is that we see the Father in Christ’s teaching, or for the contemporaries of Christ: in Christ’s works and miracles. They should prove to everybody that Jesus and the Father are one (John 10:30). But of course, all the signs Christ performed were signs, not proofs for Christ’s divinity, for His oneness with the Father. There must be readiness to accept Christ in faith. Jesus told His disciples:“Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me” (John 14:11).

If somebody does not have this faith no miracles will help. In the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, the rich man in hell asks Abraham to send Lazarus back to earth to his brothers and warn them to live a better life. Otherwise death would also take them by surprise as it happened to the rich man. Abraham answers: “They have Moses and the prophets” (Luke 16:29). The rich man gives back: “No, Father Abraham, if someone would only go to them from the dead, they would repent” (Luke 16:30). But Abraham insists: “If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, they will not be convinced even if one should rise from the dead” (Luke 16:31). These brothers would have all kinds of excuses for not changing their lives. They would take the vision of the risen Lazarus as a fake, as an imagination. For a man of good will the Gospel is enough, Christ’s word in the Gospel is enough to see the Father. It is true: “The words I speak are not spoken of Myself, it is the Father who lives in Me accomplishing His works” (John 14:10 NAB). Christ is the way to the Father through His word of the Gospel. Do we take it seriously?

Since Christ is the way to the Father all roads lead to Christ, even there are people who do not know Him yet or do not know Him perfectly and exactly. Christ has a strong power of radiating and attracting people. Since Christ reveals the Father, He is not the completely different, the alien, the God high above us and remote from us. Rather, He is also close to us, since we can get to know Him: We can have trust and confidence in Him.

The union between God and us, however, will not only start in heaven, but will begin already here on earth. This future here on earth will bring a wonderful activities of the apostles, greater than the activities of Jesus. “The man who has faith in Me will do the works I do, and greater far than these” (John 14:12 NAB). What the apostles and what we after the apostles do here on earth is greater than the works of Jesus because they have greater external splendor. The activities of the apostles and those who follow them will be more visible.

The activities of the apostles will be greater because their activities will not be limited to Palestine any longer as was the work of Jesus according to the will of the Father. The activities of the apostles will be greater also because so far Jesus could help them only as pilgrims. Because of His death (“because I go to the Father” [John 14:12] will be the reason for greater activities of the apostles) and resurrection all the restrictions of the humanity of Christ are gone and He can foster the works of His disciples. Also in this sense He is the way to the Father for His disciples.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, I believe that You are the Way and the Truth and the Life, and no one comes to the Father, but by You. Lord, I want to see Your glory at the Holy Mass today – Your majesty, your beauty, and Your goodness. I know that I do not see it as I ought, so I ask You to open my eyes. Jesus, my Lord and my Savior, let me see You! Amen.

St. Margaret of Cortona who feast we celebrate today was born in the year 1247 at Laviano near Cortona in the province of Tuscany. When she was seven years old, she lost her pious mother, who had trained her with tenderness and affection. She was neglected by her careless father, who married again within a short time, and her unsympathetic stepmother dealt harshly with her, so that when Margaret was eighteen years old, she left home to earn her bread among strangers.

She was possessed of rare beauty, and ere long this became a snare for her. For the space of nine years she gave herself up to a life of sin and scandal. Then one day she waited a long time in vain for her accomplice in sin to return home to the place where she lived with him. Presently his dog came to her whining and tugging at her dress. She followed the animal into the heart of a forest, and there she suddenly stood before the blood-stained corpse of the unfortunate man; his enemies had murdered him.

At the appalling sight, Margaret was stunned like one struck by lightning. She was brought to make a total commitment to Christ. Filled with terror she asked herself: “Where is his soul now?” Then and there she firmly resolved in future to be even greater in penance than she had been in sin. Like the prodigal son she returned repentant to her native town of Laviano.

In a penitential garb, her hair cut short, a cord around her neck, she knelt at the door of the church and publicly asked all the congregation to forgive the scandal she had given. Many people were edified at this public humiliation, but her stepmother was all the more embittered at it. She, as well as Margaret’s father, forbade her to enter the parental home again. This reception severely tempted Margaret to return to the road of vice, but God’s grace sustained her. At this point Margaret begged Christ to be henceforth her master, father, spouse, and Lord.

Led by divine grace, Margaret set out on the road, to Cortona, child in hand, seeking a life of penance among the Franciscans. (Eventually her son became a Franciscan). She made a contrite general confession to a Franciscan there, and submitted to the spiritual direction of her confessor. In a poor little hovel she now lived a secluded life, in penance, tears, and prayer, earning her scanty nourishment by hard manual labor.

Again and again she begged for the habit of the Third Order, that she might be recognized by all the world as a penitent. But not until three years had elapsed and she had been severely tried, was her wish granted. She received the habit in 1277. Now her fervor increased, and it is almost incredible what rigorous penances she practiced from then on. Day and night she wept over her sins, and often sobs so choked her voice that she could not speak. Satan made use of every wile and snare to cause Margaret to relapse, but prayer, mortification, and humiliation successfully put him to flight.

When finally, after uninterrupted struggling, she had triumphed over every earthly inclination, God assured her that her sins were fully pardoned and granted her special proofs of His favor. She was favored with the gift of contemplation and a knowledge of the innermost secrets of hearts. In many an instance, even when people came from great distances, she recalled grievous sins to their mind, while her exhortations and prayers were instrumental in bringing about their conversion. Many souls were released from purgatory upon her prayers. Almighty God wrought many miracles through her even in her lifetime. Health was restored to the sick, a dead boy was raised to life, and at her approach evil spirits shuddered and left those whom they possessed.

Finally, after twenty-three years of rigorous penance, in the fiftieth year of her life, God called the great penitent to the Beatific Vision of February 22, 1297. On the day of her death she was publicly acclaimed a saint, and the citizens of Cortona accorded her a magnificent funeral. A church was soon built in her honor, and even before she was canonized, a yearly festival was held in her memory.

Her incorrupt body is preserved in a precious shrine in the Franciscan church at Cortona which bears her name. It is incorrupt even at the present day and frequently emits a pleasant perfume. Several popes have confirmed the public veneration accorded her. Pope Benedict XIII canonized her amid great solemnity in 1728.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, You did bring back Your servant Margaret from the road of perdition to the way of salvation, grant in the same mercy, that we who once were not ashamed to follow her astray may now be glad to imitate her in penance. We pray this in the most precious name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Jakarta, 16 May 2014