Seventh Sunday of Easter - MOTHERS' DAY Yr B. May 12, 2024.
Readings
1st: Acts 1:15-17
2nd: I John 4:11-16
Gospel: John 17:11b-19
Theme: "That All May Be One"
My dear people of God, today is Seventh Sunday of Easter, 2024 and MOTHERS' DAY. We warmly salute ALL WOMEN (our dearly loved and cherished Mothers) for the great sacrifices that they made and continue to, make to make us who we are and what we are today. We can never be thankul enough in words to them. May God continue to bless them (both living and dead) and grant deserving rewards to their labor in our lives. We sincerely love and cherish you so much, Mama. Our reflections would take a fair bite on all the readings of today but with a special focus on the Gospel. We should not forget that the whole Chapter 17 of John's Gospel is traditionally called the Priestly Prayer of Jesus. With that awareness, it would help a great deal not to read today's Gospel in isolation as it links directly to the main theme of Jesus' Priestly Prayer - the security, peace and unity of His followers in the world. It is from this general theme that our own sub theme is paraphrased and formulated - "That all may be one". It is also important to keep in mind that Jesus did not pray that His disciples be taken out of the world. That would amount to an escape from the world that God so loves. Jesus prayed that His followers may be secured/protected, experience peace and be formidably united in mind and heart for victory. The kind of Christianity which buries itself in a secluded/withdrawn life would not have seemed Christianity to Jesus at all. Jesus' prayer implies that Christianity be lived out in the rough and stumbles of life. A smooth sea does not necessarily make skillful sailors/swimmers. True Christianity can never mean a withdrawal from the world but a means to equip and fortify oneself for the world; "You are in the world but not of the world". Christianity does not offer us a life in which troubles, trials and tribulations are escaped and evaded, rather Christianity offers life in which troubles, trials and tribulations are faced with determined conviction and conquered.
"Experience", it is said, "is the best teacher." Jesus lived and worked in the world, and fully aware of its storms and turmoils, He prayed that His followers be protected from the inevitable attacks of the Evil One. Jesus knows, from experience, that in this world there is a power of evil which is constantly in opposition to the power and will of God. It is, therefore, heartwarming and uplifting to feel that God is the sentinel (guardian) who stands, all the time, over our lives to guard and protect us from the attacks and assaults of evil. What this means is that our repeated falls and failures are simply due to our attempts to meet and face life with our own strength, forgetting or refusing to seek divine assistance and remembering the ever presence of our protecting God. To be forewarned is to be forearmed. So, Jesus prayed that His followers be consecrated by the truth. This implies two things: that His followers be set apart for a very special task. In the call story of Jeremiah, God said, "Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you; and before you were born I consecrated you" (Jeremiah 1:5). So, the follower of Jesus is specially chosen and set apart long ahead of time. A second thing about consecration is that His followers be equipped/fortified with qualities of mind and heart and character which are necessary for the task. For one to follow and serve Christ one must have something of Christ's enduring and persevering spirit. We must always keep in mind that Christ has called, chosen and sent us out for a special service - that we should love and obey Him, and by life of witness, bring others to do same. A difficult task but "your perseverance will win you your life".
The conditions spelled out in our First Reading by the apostles to guide the choice of Barnabas to take the place of Judas tell us two things about every follower of Christ: First, one must be a witness to the Resurrection in words and in deeds. The real mark of a Christian is not that he/she knows about Jesus but that he/she knows Jesus. Jesus is not merely a figure in a book, he is a living figure in person, and the whole life of a Christian must be a living witness to the fact that he/she has met and experienced the Risen Lord in person, not in books. We can't confuse knowledge with faith. "Knowing about Jesus" is acquired knowledge, "knowing Jesus" is "personal experience", and that is "faith". Let no one confuse the two. Second, the real Christian must be one who lives and walks daily with Jesus. These two conditions make a follower a real branch of the Vine that can bear fruit, fruit that will last, because according to our First Reading, he/she is in God and God in him/her. Of course, a true orange must smell like the tree. If we are in God and God in us, then we must "smell" like God in words and in deeds. It is in view of this that Jesus prayed "That All (His Followers) May Be One" just as He and the Father (and the Holy Spirit) are One. In other words, Jesus prayed for the Unity of His followers. Where there are divisions, where there are discrimination and exclusiveness, where there are unhealthy competitions among Christians and among various churches, the course of Christianity will be badly harmed, the prayer of Jesus frustrated and the purpose of discipleship defeated. Note that Jesus did not pray for uniformity in the name of Unity. Jesus is fully aware that Christians will never worship God in the same language, He is aware that Church structures will differ in times and places, He is aware that Christians of different ages will have different ways of praying. Unity, for Jesus, transcends beyond gender, tribal and political colors. All these, for Jesus, are labels. God comes into His Church to meet practising Christians and not labels (without contents). Christian unity has been badly injured and hindered at our time because people love their own tribes, associations and uniforms more than the church and each other. In the mind of Jesus, "It is only through love that people will know that you are my disciples". Love has no color, no tribal mark, no political affiliation, Love is the binding chain of the unity that Jesus prayed for. Father, keep us one in love just as You, Jesus and the Holy Spirit are One. Continue to pray the Holy Rosary daily. God richly bless you and your family.
Rev. Fr. Thomas L. Debuo - Catholic Diocese of Damongo, Ghana. (0244511306/0243711926)