A JESUIT'S BLOG
Sunday, 15 June 2025
Monday, June 16, 2025 - How often have you gone beyond the call of duty? Will you do so today?
To read the texts click on the texts: 2 Cor 6:1-10; Mt 5:38-42
The
text of today contains the fifth antithesis. In it, Jesus not only affirms the
thrust of the Law in opposing unlimited revenge, but also calls for a rejection
of the principle of retaliatory violence as well.. In the five examples that
follow (being struck in the face, being sued in court, being requisitioned into
short-term compulsory service, giving to beggars and lending to borrowers) the
one point being made is to place the needs of others before one’s own needs.
The disciple of Jesus is called to go beyond the call of the Law and do more
than it requires.
It
is so easy for us to be reactors. If someone does something to hurt us, we
think that it is “natural” for us to want to do something to hurt him or her in
return. In the text of today, Jesus is calling us to be actors and not reactors
and to do what we do because we think it is right and just and not as a
reaction to someone else’s action.
Saturday, 14 June 2025
Sunday, June 15, 2025 - Oneness in Difference and Difference in Oneness
To read the texts click on the texts: Prov 8:22-31; Rom 5:1-5; Jn 16:12-15
Trinity
Sunday might also be termed Mystery Sunday. This is because the focus on this
Sunday is solely on God, and God is a mystery. He meaning of a mystery is that
there is something about it that we can know, but there is also a great deal
about if that we do not and can never know. We can also know who God is through
the revelation that Jesus Christ has made as Paul points out in the second
reading of today. However, even as we do know something about God it is always
important to realize that God will continue to remain a mystery and that there
is a great deal that we do not and can never know about God because our minds
are too finite to know the Infinite God. Much as we try to understand and
define who God is, we keep in mind that we will always fall short. As a matter
of fact, the more we try to understand the more we realize that we simply do
not know. This does not deter us. Rather it makes us keep wondering about the
mystery of God. We as Christians are fortunate that God has been revealed to us
in a unique manner in the person, mission, death and resurrection of Jesus and
that much of what we know of God, is through the revelation that Jesus has
made.
The
first reading from the Book of Proverbs includes part of this revelation when
it introduces Wisdom as both part of the ordering of the created universe and
its delight. Just as creation is both intrinsic to God and an expression,
delight is intrinsic to the relationship within the Trinity as well as its
effect. The reason for the choice of this reading is to show that Jesus as
Wisdom is both the love and delight of God. Toward the end of her life, Julian
of Norwich penned this short but profound exchange which can be regarded as a
summary of the first reading: “Would you know your Lord’s meaning?” she asks.
“Know it well, love was God’s meaning. Who showed it to you? Love. What did
Love show you? Love. Why did Love show it? For love.” God is love and only
love.
This
is also the love that Paul speaks of in the second reading of today when he
tells the Romans and us that God’s love has been poured into our hearts because
of Jesus Christ and the Spirit that Jesus gives. This love made manifest on the
Cross by Jesus Christ is a love through which a new relationship is established
between God and the whole of creation. It is a love that is unconditional and
given freely and a love which helps us to endure all and any kind of trial and
tribulation.
The
ability to undergo trials is because the Spirit that Jesus promised his
disciple and gave is a life giving Spirit. It is not something given at a
moment in time but continuously and constantly. The gift of the Spirit ensures
that those who believe in Jesus will not be left alone but will always have
help and assistance. It is an indication that God’s presence in Jesus will be
with the community of disciples always. This constant presence of the Spirit of
God made manifest in Jesus is an indication that God is not for the Christian
one who is merely Creator, but also Redeemer and Sustainer. God is Father, Son
and Spirit and Almighty God, Word made flesh and Comforter. God is past,
present and future. God was, is and will be. God is all and in all.
Even
as this eternal presence of God with us and for us is true, it is also true
that three persons in one God indicates community, unity and inclusiveness. God
does not exist in isolated individualism but in a community of relationships.
In other words, God is not a loner or a recluse. This means that a Christian in
search of Godliness must shun every tendency to isolationism and individualism.
God is found in one’s heart but also in community and in relationships. Since
God is present in the now and in the world, it is right and fitting to find God
in all things and all things in him. Thus, the ideal Christian spirituality is
not that of flight from the world away from contact with other people and
society but an immersion into the world with a view to transforming sorrow to
joy, injustice to justice, negatives to positives, darkness to light and death
to life. It is a spirituality which seeks to transform fear into love.
Since
love is Universal, there is no one who is outside the kingdom of God.
We
are all connected and interconnected. Yet, though the Trinity is united it also
embraces diversity. We are not required to be the same. We can be different and
yet united, we can be different and yet one, we can be different and yet
integrated. We are asked each of us to offer our unique gifts for the good of
the community. There is unity even in diversity. There is oneness even in
difference. There are three persons yet one God.
Friday, 13 June 2025
Saturday, June 14, 2025 - When you say, “YES” do you mean YES?
To read the texts click on the texts: 2 Cor 5:14-21; Mt 5:33-37
The
fourth of the six antitheses is completely a Matthean composition. There is no
precedence for the absolute prohibition of oaths in Judaism. Rather, an oath
invoked God to guarantee the truth of what was being sworn or promised, or to
punish the one taking the oath if he was not faithful to his word.
The
Matthean Jesus here rules out oaths completely. He rejects not only false and
unnecessary oaths, but also any attempt to bolster one’s statement claim to
truth beyond the bare statement of it. It is a demand for truthfulness in
everything that one says.
If
we are convinced that we are telling the truth as we see it, there may not be
any need for us to either raise our voices when making our point or to swear or
even to call others to witness what we have said.
Thursday, 12 June 2025
Friday, June 13, 2025 - Will you bother less about your “doing” and focus more on your “being”? How?
To read the texts click on the texts: 2 Cor 4:7-15; Mt 5:27-32
The
text of today contains the second (5:27-30) and third (5:31-32) of the six
antitheses (5:21-48), which appear in the Sermon on the Mount immediately after
the theme. All six while addressing various aspects of the law move the focus
away from the letter to the spirit. Each of the six begins similarly i.e. with
a juxtaposition of what was said (by God through Moses) and what is now being
said (by Jesus to his disciples).
In
this pericope, Jesus reaffirms the prohibition against adultery (Ex 20:14), but
goes beyond i.e. to the intention of the heart.
The
third antithesis about divorce is related to the earlier one about adultery in
subject matter. Deut 24:1-4 assumes the legitimacy of divorce, and in Jewish
tradition divorce was relatively easy to obtain. Jesus, however, prohibits
divorce. Matthew alone adds the exception clause, not found in Mark 10:2-9
which here is more original and reflects the position of the historical Jesus.
There
is sometimes in our understanding of Christianity too much emphasis on what
constitutes and does not constitute sin, and on how far we can go before we
commit sin. The real question we must ask is how far we must go in love.
Wednesday, 11 June 2025
Thursday, June 12, 2025 - Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Eternal High Priest - We can be united even in our diversity
To read the texts click on the texts: Isa 6:1-4,8; Heb2:10-18; Jn 17:1-2,9-14-20
The feast of Our Lord Jesus Christ, The Eternal High Priest was instituted in 2013, to remind us of the High priesthood of Jesus Christ and the effect of that priesthood on the whole world. John tells us succinctly of the purpose of God’s sending his Son into our world “‘For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. ‘Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him” (Jn 3:16-17). This is why God chose the name Jesus for his name because the name means “God saves” (Mt 1:21). God in Jesus is Saviour.
Besides being Saviour, he is also high priest., When he spread his arms on the cross, he did it to embrace the whole word. Paul explains this well when he says to the Corinthians, “in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us” (2 Cor 5:19).
The Gospel reading chosen for the feast is from the latter of the Priestly prayer of Jesus in Jn 17. In these last verses, Jesus prays for his disciples and for us who will believe because of the disciples’ word. If the content of this party of the prayer can be summarized in one word, it would be Oneness, Harmony, Unity, Union. Just as the Father, Son and Spirit are distinct yet united, so are we called to that Unity even in diversity. We do not need to eb uniform to be united., We can be separate and distinct and yet we can be united. We can be of different colours and creeds, we can be of different nationalities and backgrounds and yet we can be one united humanity.
In our world which is torn because of division and
strife, we pray that the feast of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Eternal High
Priest will be an occasion to come together as one family of humans and be united
even in our diversity.