Monday, 21 May 2018
Sunday, 20 May 2018
Audio Reflections of Monday, May 21, 2018
To hear the Audio Reflections of Monday, May 21, 2018 click HERE
Monday, May 21, 2018 - Is there something that you have been struggling to achieve but have not? Will you pray about it today?
To read the texts click on the texts: James 3:13-18; Mk 9:14-29
The text of today deals with an exorcism after Jesus has come
down from the mountain of transfiguration. It is the only exorcism story in the
second half of Mark’s Gospel.
The disciples are engaged in attempting to cast
out a demon, but are unable to cure the boy and the father of the boy pleads
with Jesus for the cure. However, the father's request expresses doubt and lack
of faith. Jesus responds to the father's request by first chiding him for his
lack of faith. The father responds in what may be words that each of us can
connect with, "I believe, help my unbelief." The father of the boy
includes himself in the unbelieving generation whom Jesus has chided, but
insists that even in his unbelief, he believes. Even this inadequate faith is
enough for Jesus to work the miracle. The cure takes place in two stages. After
the command to leave the boy and never enter him again, the demon does come out
but leaves the boy “like a corpse” (9,26). Jesus then takes the boy by the hand
and lifts him up, which seems to be an indirect allusion to the resurrection.
When asked by his disciples why they were not able to cure the
boy, Jesus points out to prayer as the instrument that must be used when we
need something from God. Prayer is to acknowledge one’s dependence on God.
We sometimes think that we are acting independently and all that
we have accomplished is the result of our own efforts, forgetting that God is
always in the background guiding our way and lighting our path. If we ask for
God’s assistance before we start a task or even become aware of his presence in
the midst of our “doing”, what we do will become more efficacious and even
effective.
Saturday, 19 May 2018
Sunday, May 20, 2018 – Pentecost Sunday – Jesus is leaving only so that he can come back
To read the texts click on the texts: Acts 2:1--11; 1 Cor12:3b-7, 12-13; Jn 20:19-23
The little
boy was taken to the nursery school by his mother. Aware of his anxiety being
abandoned, the boy’s mother leaned down, kissed her son, and said, “Good bye,
my love. No one is leaving.” Each day, his mother would bid him farewell with
those same words. The boy was too young to recognize the paradox, and embraced
his new existence and quickly adjusted to new and frightening surroundings. Day
after day, and week after week, his mother bid the same farewell: “Good bye, my
love. No one is leaving.”
The boy
grew into adulthood, and there came a day when he was confronted with the
reality of having to place his mother in a nursing home. She – now elderly and
frail, with advanced Alzheimer’s disease – barely recognized him, often forgot
to eat, and simply could no longer care for herself. As he departed from her,
leaving her in her new and frightening surroundings, he remembered her words.
He leaned down, kissed his mother, and said, “Good bye, my love. No one is
leaving” – words his mother recognized even though she no longer recognized
him. A tear appeared in her eye, as she clasped his hand and repeated, ”Good bye,
my love. No one is leaving.”
This is
Jesus’ message to his disciples on his departure to the Father: “Good bye, my
love. No one is leaving”.
Jesus is
departing from us, out of our sight. We find ourselves in the new and
frightening surroundings of this life, in a place where we are uncomfortable
and often feel ill-equipped to carry on. And yet, Jesus continues to assure us
of his continued presence through his gift of the Holy Spirit. This is why,
though he said good bye, he is not leaving. This is shown in the Gospel text of
today when he comes to the frightened disciples after his Resurrection, with a
twofold greeting of peace. These disciples, who fled in fear at Jesus’ arrest,
are now themselves forgiven and told to continue his mission from the Father.
Though they abandoned Jesus, he will not abandon them though they failed him;
God’s love will not fail them. Then, reminiscent of God’s action at creation,
Jesus breathes on them, and gifts them the gift of the Spirit and with it the
gift of new life. They have become a new creation.
Along with
the gift of the Spirit is also a commission to forgive or retain sin.”Retaining
sin” is not a juridical act. It is not just the eleven but the “disciples” who
are gathered in the room. John uses the term ‘disciples’ for a much larger
group than the twelve or eleven. This group could also have included women and
so the commission has to do with something that is more than juridical. So this
means that through the gift of the Spirit, the disciples are given power to
take away the sin of the world and unmask and control the power of evil as
Jesus himself did. Through their just and loving actions in imitation of the
Lord, they are to communicate the unconditional love of the Father.
At
Pentecost, as the Acts of the Apostles narrates, the Spirit of God – and
through the Spirit, God’s unconditional love – comes down upon the disciples,
resting on each of them and thereby bringing them and us together once again.
The disciples get a crash course as it were in the language of God. After
Pentecost the days of Babel and confusion are over. The great differences among
us, in culture and background, wealth and poverty, are scattered in “the rush
of a violent wind”. They are burned away by tongues of fire. Their nationality
or culture does not really matter. Each one hears the same message in his/her
native tongue simply because it is a language of forgiveness and love, and the
language of love is one.
The unity
which this love brings is summarized by Paul in his first letter to the
Corinthians. The Spirit is at work in each of us, always fresh and always new,
waiting to be translated into the language of our own lives, into the language
of love.
Our world,
however, is still tongue-tied. Babel, the parable of our first clash of
cultures and failure to communicate, is more than a mythic explanation of the
differences among nations and languages. It is an description of the human
condition itself. We often do not understand one another even when we speak the
same language. We remain stymied by our fundamental inability to accept the
differences among us.
It is only
to a extent that we make an effort to accept the other, no matter how different
or foreign, that we come to understand the language of God. Only then is Babel
turned to Pentecost.
Friday, 18 May 2018
Audio Reflections of Saturday, May 19, 2018
To hear the Audio Reflections of Saturday, May 19, 2018 click HERE
Saturday, May 19, 2018 -Would Jesus point to you as a beloved disciple today? Why?
To read the texts click on the texts: Acts28:16-20, 30-31; Jn 21:20-25
The first two verses of
today’s text shift the focus from Peter to the Beloved disciple. Like he does
elsewhere, with other characters in his Gospel, John reminds the reader of when
the beloved disciple first appeared in his narrative. The question of Jesus to
Peter in 21:22 : “If it is
my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you?” has caused
consternation. John already provides a correction of the misunderstanding that
this disciple would not die and so, this is not what Jesus meant. By using a
favorite word of his, “remain”, John points out what he means by Jesus’ seeming
enigmatic words. This disciple will indeed remain through the words that he has
written in his Gospel. Though he will die a physical death, he will continue to
live in the witness that he has given to Jesus in his Gospel. Just as Peter
will give witness to Jesus by dying a martyr’s death, the beloved disciple will
give witness to Jesus by his Gospel.
The Gospel ends with a
hyperbolic statement which also serves as a warning of how the Gospel and all
of scripture must be interpreted. The Gospel is only a pointer and must be seen
in that light. The person of Jesus is bigger than any writing or Gospel can
ever contain and, no matter how much is said of Jesus, in the final analysis,
it will always be inadequate. This does not mean that we must not say what we
know. Rather, it means that, even as we say what we know, we must realize that
there is much more that we do not know and so cannot say.
There is an obsession with
so many today with prolonging life. These use all kinds of artificial means to
try to look younger. They dye their hair black; get tummy tucks, nose jobs, and
even plastic surgery to remove wrinkles. They imagine that they can cheat death
and live forever. They hardly realize that what is important is not the length
of time one lives, but how one lives in the time given to us. It is quality,
not quantity, that is important. Jesus’ words about the beloved disciple are
not about his living forever, or not dying, they are about the witness that
endures even after he dies. This means that each of us, like the beloved
disciple, has the ability to leave a legacy even after we are gone from this
world. It is up to us to decide what kind of legacy it is going to be.
Saturday,, May 19, 2018 - Acts 28:16-20, 30-31; Jn 21:20-25
Saturday, May 19, 2018 - Acts 28:16-20, 30-31; Jn 21:20-25
Thursday, 17 May 2018
Audio reflections of Friday, May 18, 2018
To hear the Audio reflections of Friday, May 18, 2018 click HERE
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