Tag Archives: Apostles

May 4 2013

The Holy Spirit: The precious gift of God to the world

Homily for 6th Sunday of Easter 2013 year C

charismatic renewal2Last Sunday I baptised two beautiful little babies. After the baptism I left the families at the sanctuary as they took some photos. I was heading to the sacristy when this little 2-year old kid came running after me. At first I didn’t mind him. But he continued to follow me. Still I didn’t stop to talk to him but then he gave an amazing comment which I never heard from a 2 year old kid before. He said: ‘You put water on Eden’s head before.’ I said ‘Yes I did.’ Then he asked me: ‘Why?’ I was caught by surprise. It is not only because I don’t know how to explain it to him in a way he could understand, but more so because of his age. I can’t believe that little kid had  been observing me as I baptised and even formed an inquiry to himself. I tried to answer him but then another lady caught up with him. She also tried to explain it to him. I  don’t know if that kid got anything out of our explanation. I am not convinced of my answer myself.

I’m sharing this with you because that innocent question of that little kid ‘why?’ evokes something in me as I was reflecting on the gospel for today. Jesus was hinting that he had to leave his disciples. If I were there, I would have also asked like that little kid why does he need to leave. I could have persuaded him to just stay with us on the grounds that we love his company, we love to listen to his words, we love to see him present with us as he is. Like the disciples, we could have said to him: ‘To whom shall we go now, you have the words of eternal life.’ But Jesus had reason to leave. He had to leave to prepare a place for us. He had to leave for the Holy Spirit to be active in us in our journey of faith.

The good thing about his leaving [through his death, resurrection and ascension] is that it opens for us more riches of God. It gives us opportunity to be the reflection of his light to others, just as the sun had to set fully in order for the moon to shine its full brightness. His leaving gives us the gift of the Holy Spirit, the Advocate, the paraclete, our lawyer, who will teach us everything and remind us of all that Jesus told us (Jn 14:23-29). And because of the Holy Spirit we come to see the fullness of God that Jesus has revealed in his life on earth. This same Holy Spirit is one that guides the Church through the centuries. It is the same Spirit of Jesus that sustains us as Church in the midst of persecutions, problems, trials, challenges, etc. It is the same Spirit that serves as the wisdom of the leaders of the Church starting from the Apostles until now. Because of the Holy Spirit, we can proudly say, the Church in which we belong to has been proven and tested by time and experience.

Over the centuries, the Holy Spirit is constantly at work in the Church, in each one of us, and in our human experiences. One concrete example of the working of the Holy Spirit in the Church is in the first reading we have heard today. The Apostles and the elders of  the Church had convened a Council in Jerusalem to resolve the issue of initiating people  into the Church. Apparently, some Jewish converts to Christianity said to the Gentile converts that they need to be circumcised to be part of the Church. This means, they have to follow  the Jewish custom first before coming into the Christian Church. This was the issue. The Apostles resolved this with the help of the Holy Spirit. So the apostles had this notice for the Gentile converts: ‘It has been decided by the Holy Spirit and by ourselves not to saddle you with any burden beyond these essentials: abstention from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from meat of strangled animals, etc.’ (Acts 15:1-2;22-29)

In our time too, there are many ways that the Holy Spirit is at work. The election of Pope Francis is one. He wasn’t one of the ten strong contenders. He is not as young as many would have expected the new pope would be. But now he is showing us a lot of examples, in fact challenging all of us to have a lifestyle check. Another sign of the Spirit at work is this crisis of abuses in power and authority by some members of the Church. In crisis like this,  the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth and of justice, is  working on renewal, and empowering us to assess ourselves and our faith in Christ. The beauty of this Spirit is that it gives us abundant gifts, riches from God. The Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI has reflected on this during his homily at the Vigil with the young people during the World Youth Day in Sydney 2008. The Pope noted that this same Spirit has generously given us gifts that are “working within us, giving us direction and definition in our witness” to Christ and to our faith. The Pope then urged the young people and this is an invitation for us today who are here too: ‘that we turn to the Holy Spirit in order that we find the true meaning of renewal.’ The pope then concluded the homily by these words of assurance: ‘In accepting the power of the Holy Spirit you too can transform your families, communities, and nations.’

So as we continue our celebration today, let us assess our lives. Are we making ourselves available for the Holy Spirit to work in us and through us? Another way to do this is to stop asking ‘why’ do we have to do this,  and to start asking ourselves ‘how we might live out the Spirit of Christ in our daily lives.’

May 28 2011

Reflection for 6th Sunday of Easter 2011

Every time I heard a story of a person who was  put to prison for a crime, but then, have been proven to be  innocent, I feel sad. I wonder why does it take 20 or 30 years for the truth of the crime to come out. I wonder why does this happen, when a person is wrongly accused, is made to suffer in prison for a crime he/she never committed. I wonder why the people who put him/ her in trial could not see the truth when they were still in the process? Today’s gospel somehow offers me an answer to these questions. “The Spirit of Truth” has been blocked by the false witnesses, by the false allegations. The Spirit of Truth, is always there, but it is not welcomed.

Thus, Jesus would tell us today, he is going but,  he would not leave us orphans. In a way, he would not leave us to suffer, to mourn, to be afraid,  even to be falsely accused of anything, because he would send us his precious gift- The Holy Spirit, the one who would lead us to the truth. This Spirit would enable us to go on doing the right, the true and the useful, to  accept our fate, to live joyfully,  correct us, guide us, help us, and the one who would encourage us to even say, “It is better to suffer for doing right than for doing wrong.” So today Jesus invites us to welcome this Spirit that he is going to send us…as our advocate…as our strength in carrying out our mission to the world,  as the Apostles did. If the Spirit of Jesus is in us, then we can proudly claim that we love him, and we can show this love by doing what he asks us to do, to love God and to love our neighbours, as ourselves, and then to love one another.

This sixth Sunday of Easter doesn’t just prepare us for the Ascension of Jesus; it calls us to ponder how much we need the descent of the Holy Spirit of truth to be the counsellor of each of us in this very confused and misguided world. What good is freedom, if we don’t know the truth? A person lost in the desert may be free, but if he has no idea where to find food and drink, he is not free to save his life.

So, in the light of the Holy Spirit, we reflect that we are not really free until truth unlocks our chains of ignorance, false ideas, and false values. Only God’s own truth does that. We take hold of his truth by believing his word. Then light is shed on the path we should freely take, and that is our true good. If we take it, it leads us to the true life given by the one God.

So let’s pray that God would open our hearts to welcome the Spirit of truth, so as to live out our lives in loving God and one another. Let’s continue to celebrate the resurrection of the Son of God, receive his risen body in the Eucharist, and walk his way to everlasting life. 

 

May 21 2011

REFLECTION for 5th Sunday of Easter 2011

JESUS the BEST of all best friends

All of us have at some stage in our lives found a friend who has become our best friend. We hang out together. We do things together. We enjoy each other’s company. We criticise each other. We correct each other. We just love more or less the same thing. We pursue more or less the same interests. And we both hope and wish the friendship does not end ever. Only because, we are best of friends.

But here’s the rub of life. Friends, no matter how strong and firm had to experience some break-ups and hiccups. For instance, my best friend and I had to part ways because he’s got married, moved to live in another place, and I had to enter the seminary. I felt so sad, as he was too, because that would mean for us not going to hang out together again, not enjoying each other’s company again, not doing more or less the same thing together, and just everything would never be same again for both of us. He moved on with his married life and I went on to join the seminary. It didn’t mean however, that our friendship was over. It only meant that our communication would be limited if not completely cut. And true indeed, since he married and I entered the seminary, we never had any communication for the reason that I don’t have his contact details, I don’t know whom to ask about him. And I could sense that this same reason would have hindered him to have any communication with me. It’s really unfortunate. I tried searching him in Facebook, but I couldn’t find him. I googled him, thinking that his name and address might appear in some ways, but nothing. Google and facebook are not the answer to everything because, not everyone has access to them.

Our Gospel today implies friendship. The disciples have formed a special friendship with Jesus, in a more real and intimate way. For them Jesus is their best friend. But here, according to St John, Jesus is still  delivering his message of “farewell” to his close disciples. This declaration saddened and troubled the friends of Jesus. But Jesus assured them, “Do not let your hearts be troubled… I am now going to prepare a place for you…[and] I shall return to take you with me; so that where I am you may be too.”

Here, Jesus showed us the ideal of friendship. A friend is someone who does not just look for his own self-interests but that of his friends. “I am going…but this is for you my friend”, seems to be Jesus saying this to us his friends.

But Jesus would not leave us clueless, wandering,  groping in the dark or leaving on our own until he comes again. He establishes a way of communicating with him, all the time. He said, ‘trust in him and his words’, ‘see him’ as the way; ‘believe in him as the truth; and ‘come to him as the life’ that sustains the friendship. But Jesus also knew that we couldn’t ‘tap’ all these means of communication if there is no direct connection to him. Therefore, he left us this great gift, THE means of communication which no technology on earth, no matter how advanced and complicated, can surpass or even equal- the Holy Spirit. This is his great gift that continues our communication with him our Lord and God, enlivens us  here and now as friends of Jesus, and sustains as we wait in joyful hope for his Second Coming  when he would take us all with him to his Father’s house.

As friends of Jesus, we are also called to be a friend to everyone around us. So we have in our First Reading today, the Apostles, who would not want to  neglect their Ministry or prayer and of Spreading the Word of Jesus- their way of communicating with him-  appointed the first 7 deacons or servants who would help in  taking care of the poor widows of the Greek converts.  In this way, Jesus is to be understood not only as friend to specific group or type of people but to everyone. And this is also a model of our human friendship.

And so, as we continue celebrating the season of Easter, let’s reflect on the way Jesus-the-best-of-our best friends, present to us how to be a friend of God and to everyone around us. Let’s continue the communication. Let’s lay our troubled hearts before him, our best friend, who never lets us down and who never stop communicating with us, even to the extent of laying down his life for us his friends.