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Wednesday, May 20, 2015 - How do I measure my own success? Is my striving to “have more” or to “be more”?

To read the texts click on the texts: Acts 20:28-38; Jn 17:11-19

The prayer of Jesus continues with a prayer for the disciples. In the first verse today, Jesus prays for God’s protection for the disciples and the oneness that they must share. This unity must be like the unity that the Son, Jesus, shares with God, his Father. While Jesus was on earth, he was able to instruct his disciples on this unity and show it in his own words and actions.  Now that he is going to the Father, he entrusts this teaching to God. The “world”, with its own set of values and way of proceeding, will try to draw the disciples away from the teaching of Jesus, much like it drew Judas Iscariot. Yet, he was the one who decided that he wanted to break away from the community and align with the “world” and so, made his choice. The disciples need to be given the same strength that Jesus had and be sanctified in the truth.

It is so easy to be sucked in by all that the “world” has to offer. The lure of money, riches, and the desire to have more, are tempting and inviting. Success is often measured by how much a person has rather than by how much he/she is. This results in a striving to possess more and more even, if at times, it is at the cost of someone else having less than is their due. The prayer of Jesus for his disciples must be read today in this context and we need to constantly ask ourselves if, as his disciples, the prayer that he made is having its desired effect on us.

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Tuesday, May 19, 2015 - Does my prayer show in action? How?

To read the texts click on the texts: Acts 20:17-27; Jn 17:1-11

Chapter 17, from which we will read today, tomorrow, and the day after, is titled “The High Priestly Prayer” of Jesus. However, this may also be seen as a farewell hymn of praise to God. This farewell is not simply the death of Jesus, but is the “departure” from this world, a return to the Father, after completing the work entrusted to him. It is thus a prayer of thanksgiving and confidence. Since is the last prayer before the Passion Narrative, which begins in Chapter 18, it must also be interpreted with this in mind. The intimacy that Jesus shares with the Father shines through every sentence of the prayer. Jesus speaks in this prayer directly to God.

The prayer is divided into three parts. In the first (17:1-5), though it seems that he is praying for himself, what Jesus is really doing is giving thanks to the Father for his graciousness and love. In the second part (17:6-19), Jesus prays for his disciples and, in the final part of the prayer (17:20-26), Jesus prays for those who will believe because of the disciples preaching, i.e. future generations of disciples.

The prayer begins with Jesus adopting a formal posture of prayer, looking up to heaven, and addressing God as “Father”. On the one hand, this shows that Jesus now distances himself from his disciples and, on the other, indicates the intimate relationship that Jesus shares with God. The announcement of the “hour” at the beginning of the prayer points to the fact that the prayer will be directed to God, keeping this in mind. It is the “hour” of glorification because during it, Jesus will obey God completely, and in that obedience, God will be revealed and glorified. Jesus, as Son, has revealed God’s gift of eternal life to all who were willing to receive it. Jesus has completed this work on earth and now, he has to return to the Father in order to complete the work of glorification.

The work of glorification included making the name of God known to all. Jesus has revealed the Father as Father and God as a God of unconditional and bountiful love. The disciples have been able to see God revealed in Jesus and thus, have kept God’s revealed word. Since Jesus is not going to be in the world in the same way in which he was with the disciples, he prays for their protection. This protection is to be manifested in the oneness that the disciples will share to show those who do not yet believe, that Jesus has indeed come from God and is with God.

Prayer is not primarily words, but an attitude. This is what Jesus displays in his prayer. The manner in which one addresses God displays the relationship that one shares with him. “Father” was the most intimate term for Jesus to use and it shows the oneness that he felt with God. Each of us has to find our own intimate term with which to address God. It is important to realize that, after Jesus, God can never be looked at with fear or trepidation, but only with confidence, courage, and hope.

Prayer does not begin with “me” but with God and his glorification. However, the glorification of God is complete when love abounds, because where love is, there God is. The effect of our prayer has to be seen in tangible love, expressed in deeds, like it was in the life of Jesus.

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Monday, May 18, 2015 - When faced with a seemingly insurmountable problem today will you believe that you, like Jesus, will overcome?

To read the texts click on the texts: Acts 19:1-8; Jn 16:29-33

Though the disciples think that they have understood everything that Jesus has said, and that it is plain to them, they actually misunderstand. While Jesus has used many figures of speech to make his points, the disciples mistakenly think that he has used only one. They also do not realize that Jesus had spoken of a future time when he would speak plainly and when things would be clear, and erroneously think of that time as the present. Where Jesus was appealing to the heart, the disciples used their minds. Their knowledge is an intellectual knowledge and thus, focuses only on the present and not on the future. They forget that the whole story of Jesus can only be completed with the departure to the Father. This is why Jesus has to reorient them and remind them again of the “hour”. The “hour” here is the hour of death which will result in the scattering of the disciples. They will all abandon him at his death. Yet, Jesus will not be alone because he knows that the Father will be with him, even if no one else is. Thus, even when faced with the most difficult situation, namely death, Jesus can have peace and this is the peace that he will gift to the disciples. This peace will enable the disciples to stand up to all the trials and tribulations they will encounter.

The last words of Jesus here are words of confidence and hope: “But take courage; I have conquered the world.” Even as he goes to his death, Jesus knows that victory will be his. He will overcome, through his cross, all the negative powers that try to prevent his love from reaching the ends of the earth.

It takes courage to believe when we are faced with seemingly insurmountable obstacles and difficulties of life. It is at times like these that our faith is tested and tried. It is at times like these when we have to ask ourselves whether we believe that God is still working for our good. To have courage in the face of adversity, to believe in the face of trials, and to trust and have faith when everything seems to be going wrong, is to have the confidence in the Father that Jesus had. This attitude can be ours if we open ourselves to God’s abundant grace and realize the impermanence of all that assails us. It is to know that, like Jesus, we too will overcome the “world”. The movement from present sorrow, pain and trial, to future joy, peace and hope, is possible and even guaranteed because Jesus has overcome.

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Sunday, May 17, 2015 - The Ascension of the Lord - Will we continue his mission on earth?

To read the texts click on the texts: Acts 1:1-11; Eph1:17-23; Mk 16:15-20

The Ascension of Jesus into heaven celebrates the fact that, after completing his work on earth, work that the Father had entrusted to him, Jesus returned to his rightful place at the right hand of the Father, However, this is only one side of the story. The other side is that, before he ascended into heaven, he entrusted a commission to his disciples and to all who believe in his name. This commission was to proclaim to every living creature, till the end of time, God’s unconditional love for them, manifested not only in the sending of his only Son, but also in the Son’s crucifixion, and death. It was a love that was manifested, ultimately, in raising this Son on the third day and granting him his rightful place at the right hand of God.

The first reading from the Acts of the Apostles sets the tone for the universal mission which the disciples are given. Here, they are commissioned to be witnesses, not only in Jerusalem, but to the ends of the earth. However, even as they are commissioned, they are cautioned about two things. The first is patiently waiting for the gift of the Spirit. The second is that it is not for them to know too many details about time, place, and the like.

Their job is only to be witnesses. To use the words of St Francis of Assisi, they are called to “Proclaim the Gospel at all times. When necessary, use words.” Their testimony was about him, not just about what happened long ago and far away. They could not be witnesses unless they had met the Risen Christ – unless their lives had been transformed by him.

This idea is reiterated in the Gospel text of today which begins with the commission of the risen Jesus to his disciples of salvation. The Good News was that God had shown his unconditional love for the world by saving all people in Christ, his Son. The signs that would accompany this preaching and its acceptance were practical signs. These would be shown in action and could be summarized as healing and wholeness. The disciples followed the instructions of the Lord and continued the mission that he had inaugurated.

This Lord, whom the disciples obey, is indeed the Lord of the whole Universe. The second reading affirms that he has been given dominion over all persons, things, and situations and sits at the right hand of God. The Church, which he inaugurated, is his body which continues his work even today.

We need to ask ourselves some serious questions on the feast of Ascension. The first of these is whether we, as Church today continue the mission of Jesus or whether we are still looking up at the sky like the disciples did, until they were reminded that the Mission had to be continued on earth. When we keep looking up to heaven for answers to questions that can be found on earth, we are still looking up to the sky. When we respond theoretically rather than practically to the problems of others, we are still looking up to the sky. When we expect God to do everything for us rather than ask him for help when we are faced with insurmountable odds, we are still looking up to the sky. We need to remove our gaze from the sky and bring it down to earth.

We also need to ask whether our focus is so much on the miraculous that we fail to find God in the ordinary events of life. While it is true that Jesus did promise his disciples that extraordinary signs would accompany belief in him, it is also true that he never used his miracles as proof of his divine identity. As a matter of fact, he consistently refused to give signs. He wanted people to find him and to find God in the ordinary, humdrum, mundane, everyday activities of life. If we are not able to find God in all things and find all things in God, it probably means that we are focusing too much on the extraordinary and stupendous and not enough on the fact that God, in Jesus, is all and in all.

We need to ask ourselves whether, in our enthusiasm to spread the Gospel of God, we have been honest to it or whether we have mangled and distorted it so much that it has become our personal and often bigoted and biased interpretation rather than God’s Good News. When we find that we are spreading the Good News by dint of human might and craft and not by listening to God’s Spirit of openness and sincerity and, when we find that our intentions in spreading this news are selfish and self-centred rather than selfless and altruistic, then we are guilty of not being true to God, to his Good News and to ourselves.

The feast of the Ascension reminds us that we, as disciples of Jesus, are today his body, mind, and heart. Jesus was true to himself and true to his Father. We need to be true to Jesus and true to his Father. If we are, then we can celebrate this feast with great joy knowing, that, though the Lord is in heaven, he continues to be present on earth.

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Saturday, May 16, 2015 - Do you remember to add at the end of your prayer the words “not my, but your will be done”?

To read the texts click on the texts: Acts 18:23-28; Jn 16:23-28

The death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus will be the event that will enable the disciples to pray, not only in Jesus’ name, but like he prayed. Through this event, the disciples will enter into a new relationship with Jesus and with God through him. This relationship will be a relationship of love. As God showed his love for the world in sending Jesus, and Jesus showed his love for the world by accepting the cross, so the disciples have shown love for Jesus and God by accepting and believing that Jesus has come from God.

In the last verse of today’s text the entire mission of Jesus is summarized. Jesus has been sent by God and has come from God. After completing the mission entrusted to him, he is returning to where he has come from: God. The story of Jesus, which began with his coming from the Father ends, but also continues with his ascending to the Father.

Prayer in Jesus’ name and praying like Jesus means to believe, before we receive something, that it will be given to us. It is a confidence that God is on our side. We may not always be able to see at first glance how what we receive is for our good, much like the cross that Jesus carried. However, it means that we continue to trust and believe that all will be well because God is always in control of any and every situation.