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Dear Friend, Sometimes when we see
people setting out on a journey we are tempted to ask: “Where are you going?
But all of us are constantly on the move, doing things, moving from one thing
to another, engaging in one activity after another and we need to stop and sometimes
ask ourselves: “Where am I going? Why am I doing all that I am doing right
now?” The longest journey is the inward journey, to self and to God. We are
invited to journey with Jesus to God. Have a fulfilling faith weekend! Fr. Jude Botelho |
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In today’s first reading from the Acts of the
Apostles, we see signs of the missionary activity of the Church outside
Jerusalem. While the earlier chapters described the harmonious living of the
Christian community, we now see that as they grew in numbers, problems also
crept up which had to be dealt with by the apostles and elders of the
community. The complaint of some members of the community was that some
widows were being neglected in the daily distribution of food. The apostles
saw their primary duty as being leaders of the community in prayer worship
and evangelization, not as social service or as problem solvers and
administrators. The solution of the early church was to delegate this
ministry to others, yet the criterion for choosing these others would not be
administrative skills but persons full of the Spirit and people filled with
wisdom, both gifts of God. The Christian way is always faith first. In the second reading
Peter’s reminds his fellow Christians that the Christian community is the New
Jerusalem, the new temple, the dwelling place of God. Jesus is the corner
stone of this temple but all are called to be living stones, part and parcel
of this temple of God. Christians are called to be the spiritual house,
united in Christ, and one in His spirit. The Christian is invited to a life
of prayer and good works that give glory to God. We do not have a right to
this spiritual house but the privilege to belong to it through Christ and we
become this house in the measure that we let His spirit permeate our lives. Be the house of God, his dwelling place on earth In today’s Gospel, we see Jesus passionately speaking to his disciples at the last supper on the eve of his darkest hour, the day of his death. His prediction of his betrayal by one of them and his foretelling of his death disturbed the disciples greatly. He tries to reassure them. In spite of knowing that the worst is about to occur, he tells his disciples: “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Have faith in God and faith in me. These words are some of the most reassuring in the whole of the Bible. The faith that Jesus recommends in not an escape from reality, rather, it is a declaration that even if the worse does happen, we will not be destroyed by it. When Jesus refer’s to his father’s house he is referring to the relationship with God. Whoever has faith is in his father’s house. He also makes it clear that there is plenty of room for all types of people in his father’s house, no one is excluded and everyone is welcome. Though there are many ways to the Father’s house and different people journey to the father’s house by various paths, Jesus claims that he is the unique way to God. He came from God and he came to show us the way to the Father: “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life.” I am the way Dr. R.A. Torrey was a great preacher and evangelist
instrumental in bringing many to Christ. But as a young man he had neither
faith in God or in the Bible. He just wanted to enjoy the pleasures of life.
His Godly mother prayed for his conversion and exhorted him to turn away from
his evil and godless life. Torrey became very angry one day and said he was
leaving home never to comeback any more. As he left home his mother pleaded:
“Son, you are going the wrong way, but when you come to the end of the rope,
remember the God of your mother and cry out to him and he will save you.”
Torrey left home and plunged deeper and deeper into sin but with every
additional sinful way his heart was not satisfied. Gradually he began to feel
the emptiness of his life, and his pockets too, began to shrivel up. One day,
he went to his hotel room, took his revolver and laid it to his head
intending to end the misery of his life. Suddenly, he remembered his mother’s
last words: “Son, you’re going the wrong way, but when you come to the end of
the rope, remember the God of your mother and cry out to him and he will save
you.” Right then he fell on his knew and prayed and surrendered his life to
Jesus and experienced joy, peace and new meaning in his life. To the wayward
Torrey, Jesus became his way, to the disillusioned Torrey, Jesus became the
truth, to the Torrey dead in his sins, Jesus became the new life. John Rose in ‘John’s Sunday Homilies’ Paths to God Some people ask how can different paths all lead to God?
When we hear a statement like this we are reminded of the poem by John Saxe.
It is about five blind men in India who are standing around an elephant,
wondering what it looks like. One of the blind men feels the elephant’s side
and says the elephant looks like a wall. Another feels the elephant’s tusk
and says it looks like a sword. A third feels the elephant’s trunk and says
it looks like a huge snake. The fourth feels its ear and says it looks like a
fan. The last blind man feels the elephant’s tail and says it looks like a
rope. Which of the five blind men is right? Perhaps the best answer is to say
that all five of them are right- each from his own view point. Only by
dialoguing together can they get a fuller and clearer view of what the
elephant looks like. Some say this is also the way it is with God. They say:
“The Jews have one insight into God. The Muslims have a second insight into
him. Buddhist have a third, and Christians have a fourth. Only by dialoguing
together can they get a fuller and clearer view of what God is like.” Mark Link in ‘Sunday Homilies’ Keep looking at Jesus A group of boys were trying to see who could make a
straightest track across a snowy field. Only one of them succeeded in making
a path which was almost perfectly straight. When asked how he managed to do
it, he said, “It was easy, I just kept my eyes fixed on the lightening rod on
top of the barn at the end of the field –which the rest of you kept looking
at your feet!” Anthony Castle in ‘More Quotes and Anecdotes’ In the latter part of today’s gospel Philip asks Jesus to reveal
the Father, to show the way to the Father: “Lord let us see the Father and
then we shall be satisfied.” We too sometimes say “How lucky were those who
lived in Jesus’ time. If only we had that chance things would be so
different. If only we had the God experience all would change.” But we know
that among those who did experience the physical presence of Jesus there were
relatively few who followed him. Knowing Jesus in the days of his physical
presence did not bring faith. The works he performed then were signs that
pointed to the greater workings of grace that would follow the days of his
new presence in the church. Jesus claimed to know God in a way that no other
religious leader dared to claim. Jesus did more. He claimed an identity with
God that no other religious leader dared to claim. “To have seen me is to
have seen the Father.” And elsewhere in the Gospel he claims: “The Father and
I are one.” Is Jesus the only way to God? To those who have faith and believe
in Him, He is the only way to the Father. If we live like Jesus we are on the
way to God. Finding Him He came to the Master in sanyasi robes. And he spoke sanyasi
language: “For years I have been seeking God. I have sought him everywhere
that He is said to be: on mountain peaks, the vastness of the desert, the
silence of the cloister and the dwellings of the poor.” “Have you found him?”
the Master asked. “No I have not. Have you?” What could the Master say? The
evening sun was sending shafts of golden light into the room. Hundreds of
sparrows were twittering on the banyan tree. In the distance one could hear
the sound of highway traffic. A mosquito droned a warning that it was going
to strike….And yet this man could sit there and say he had not found Him.
After a while he left disappointed, to search elsewhere. – There isn’t
anything to look for. All you have to do is look. Anthony de Mello in ‘The Song of the Bird’ May we discover in being with
Jesus and acting like Him our way to God! Fr. Jude
Botelho |
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