Visitation and Magnificat

In the Visitation, Mary carries Christ to Elizabeth, but it is Elizabeth that blesses Mary. The Other is my blessing. The poor, the young, the downtrodden, those living on the margins of society... they all are my blessing. “Blessed are the poor.” And Jesus did not say, “Blessed are those who care for the poor.” Unless I become one among the poor, one among the marginalized, I don’t get my blessing. It is they who bless me. I may give Christ to them, but eventually it is they who will save me.

Inspired by the Old Testament tradition, with the song of the Magnificat Mary celebrates the marvels God worked in her. This song is the Virgin's response to the mystery of the Annunciation: the angel had invited her to rejoice and Mary now expresses the exultation of her spirit in God her Saviour. Her joy flows from the personal experience of God's looking with kindness upon her, a poor creature with no historical influence.

The Magnificat celebrates the greatness of God, who reveals his omnipotence through the angel's message, surpassing the expectations and hopes of the people of the Covenant, and even the noblest aspirations of the human soul.

In the presence of the powerful and merciful Lord, Mary expresses her own sense of lowliness: "My soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour, for he has regarded the low estate of his handmaiden" (Lk 1:47-48). The Greek word "tapeínosis" is probably borrowed from the song of Hannah, Samuel's mother. It calls attention to the "humiliation" and "misery" of a barren woman (cf. 1 Sam 1: 11), who confides her pain to the Lord. With a similar expression, Mary makes known her situation of poverty and her awareness of being little before God, who by a free decision looked upon her, a humble girl from Nazareth and called her to become the Mother of the Messiah.

The words "henceforth all generations will call me blessed" (Lk 1:48) arise from the fact that Elizabeth was the first to proclaim Mary "blessed" (Lk 1:45). Not without daring, the song predicts that this same proclamation will be extended and increased with relentless momentum, At the same time, it testifies to the special veneration for the Mother of Jesus which has been present in the Christian community from the very first century. The Magnificat is the first fruit of the various forms of devotion, passed on from one generation to the next, in which the Church has expressed her love for the Virgin of Nazareth.

"For he who is mighty has done great things for me and holy is his name, And his mercy is on those who fear him from generation to generation" (Lk 1:49-50).

What are the "great things" that the Almighty accomplished in Mary? The expression recurs in the Old Testament to indicate the deliverance of the people of Israel from Egypt or Babylon. In the Magnificat, it refers to the mysterious event of Jesus' virginal conception, which occurred in Nazareth after the angel's announcement.

In the Magnificat, a truly theological song because it reveals the experience Mary had of God's looking upon her, God is not only the Almighty to whom nothing is impossible, as Gabriel had declared (cf. Lk 1:37), but also the Merciful, capable of tenderness and fidelity towards every human being.

"He has shown strength with his arm, he has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts, he has put down the mighty from their thrones, and exalted those of low degree; he has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent empty away" (Lk 1: 51-53).

With her wise reading of history, Mary leads us to discover the criteria of God's mysterious action. Overturning the judgements of the world, he comes to the aid of the poor and lowly, to the detriment of the rich and powerful, and in a surprising way he fills with good things the humble who entrust their lives to him (cf. Redemptoris Mater, n. 37).

While these words of the song show us Mary as a concrete and sublime model, they give us to understand that it is especially humility of heart which attracts God's kindness.

Lastly, the song exalts the fulfilment of God's promises and his fidelity to the chosen people: "He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his posterity for ever" (Lk 1:54-55).

Filled with divine gifts, Mary does not limit her vision to her own personal case, but realizes how these gifts show forth God's mercy towards all his people. In her, God fulfils his promises with a superabundance of fidelity and generosity.

Inspired by the Old Testament and by the spirituality of the daughter of Zion, the Magnificat surpasses the prophetic texts on which it is based, revealing in her who is "full of grace" the beginning of a divine intervention which far exceeds Israel's messianic hopes: the holy mystery of the Incarnation of the Word.

St Joan of Arc

Joan of Arc, nicknamed “The Maid of Orléans,” was born in 1412 in Domrémy, Bar, France. A national heroine of France, at age 18 she led the French army to victory over the English at Orléans. Captured a year later, Joan was burned at the stake as a heretic by the English and their French collaborators. She was canonized more than 500 years later, on May 16, 1920.

The daughter of poor tenant farmers Jacques d’Arc and his wife, Isabelle, also known as Romée, Joan learned piety and domestic skills from her mother. Never venturing far from home, Joan took care of the animals and became quite skilled as a seamstress.

Joan of Arc began to have mystical visions encouraging her to lead a pious life. Over time, they became more vivid, with the presence of St. Michael the Archangel and St. Catherine designating her as the saviour of France and encouraging her to seek an audience with Charles—who had assumed the title Dauphin (heir to the throne)—and ask his permission to expel the English and install him as the rightful king.

In May 1428, Joan’s visions instructed her to go to Vaucouleurs and contact Robert de Baudricourt, the garrison commander and a supporter of Charles. At first, Baudricourt refused Joan’s request, but after seeing that she was gaining the approval of villagers, in 1429 he relented and gave her a horse and an escort of several soldiers. Joan cropped her hair and dressed in men’s clothes for her 11-day journey across enemy territory to Chinon, the site of Charles’s court.

At first, Charles was not certain what to make of this peasant girl who asked for an audience and professed she could save France. Joan, however, won him over when she correctly identified him, dressed incognito, in a crowd of members of his court. The two had a private conversation during which it is said Joan revealed details of a solemn prayer Charles had made to God to save France. Still tentative, Charles had prominent theologians examine her. The clergymen reported they found nothing improper with Joan, only piety, chastity and humility.

Finally, Charles gave the 17-year-old Joan of Arc armor and a horse and allowed her to accompany the army to Orléans, the site of an English siege. In a series of battles between May 4 and May 7, 1429, the French troops took control of the English fortifications. Joan was wounded, but later returned to the front to encourage a final assault. By mid-June, the French had routed the English and , in doing so, their perceived invincibility as well.

Although it appeared that Charles had accepted Joan’s mission, he did not display full trust in her judgement or advice. After the victory at Orléans, she kept encouraging him to hurry to Reims to be crowned king, but he and his advisors were more cautious. However, Charles and his procession finally entered Reims, and he was crowned Charles VII on July 18, 1429. Joan was at his side, occupying a visible place at the ceremonies.

In the spring of 1430, King Charles VII ordered Joan of Arc to Compiègne to confront the Burgundian assault. During the battle, she was thrown off her horse and left outside the town’s gates. The Burgundians took her captive and held her for several months, negotiating with the English, who saw her as a valuable propaganda prize. Finally, the Burgundians exchanged Joan for 10,000 francs.

Charles VII was unsure what to do. Still not convinced of Joan’s divine inspiration, he distanced himself and made no attempt to have her released. Though Joan’s actions were against the English occupation army, she was turned over to church officials who insisted she be tried as a heretic. She was charged with 70 counts, including witchcraft, heresy and dressing like a man.

Initially the trial was held in public, but it went private when Joan of Arc bettered her accusers. Between February 21 and March 24, 1431, she was interrogated nearly a dozen times by a tribunal, always keeping her humility and steadfast claim of innocence. Instead of being held in a church prison with nuns as guards, she was held in a military prison. Joan was threatened with rape and torture, though there is no record that either actually occurred. She protected herself by tying her soldiers’ clothes tightly together with dozens of cords. Frustrated they could not break her, the tribunal eventually used her military clothes against her, charging that she dressed like a man.

On May 29, 1431, the tribunal announced Joan of Arc was guilty of heresy. On the morning of May 30, she was taken to the marketplace in Rouen and burned at the stake, before an estimated crowd of 10,000 people. She was 19 nineteen years old. One legend surrounding the event tells of how her heart survived the fire unaffected. Her ashes were gathered and scattered in the Seine.

After Joan’s death, the Hundred Years’ War continued for another 22 years. King Charles VII ultimately retained his crown, and he ordered an investigation that in 1456 declared Joan of Arc to be officially innocent of all charges and designated a martyr. She was canonized as a saint on May 16, 1920, and is the patron saint of 

Counter-Cultural

“In Him we live and move and have our being; and indeed as some of your own writers have said: We are all God’s children.”

Paul had a difficult time preaching at Athens, the pinnacle of human sophistication. He didn’t like the town. Some Athenians didn’t react well to his street preaching; they called him a talking bird. But some philosophers invited him over to the Areopagus, their great place of discussion and decision making.

Luke doesn’t take kindly to the Athenians, either. About this invitation he notes that they wanted Paul to amuse them. They liked new fads and novel ideas. They were intrigued by Paul’s belief in a resurrection.

Paul’s main theme, however, was not the resurrection. The God he preached was not the God of one group, tribe, or race, but of all people. He was preaching the God in whom all of us “live and move and have our being.”

Paul had prepared his speech carefully, for at that point he quoted Aratus, an Athenian philosopher, who had written: “We are all his children.” If this is true, Paul explains, then we have quite a lot to repent for. If we are going to be judged according to that norm, our uprightness falls far short. Jesus lived that truth to the full; therefore he was raised from the dead.

At the mention of the resurrection most of his audience burst out laughing. Were they laughing at the idea, or did they laugh because they didn’t want to accept the Way of Jesus Christ, a Way that teaches us to love everyone—including our enemies—because we are all in the same way the children of God?

It is a Way that goes against the grain of this world: a religion that is counter-cultural. It is a Way that divides not only those who hear it for the first time, but those of us who are used to it.

To believe in the resurrection is not merely a brainy thing, it needs faith and a heart that accepts God-Mystery.

Holy Spirit: Light and Strength

The Holy Spirit gives us grace to be aware of our sinful ways and to depend on God so that we can live a holy life. (Jn 16:5-11)

Holy Spirit is both light and strength. Grace means light and strength. Holy Spirit is the giver of grace, He is grace himself!

He is light from heaven, He is light of our hearts. He sheds light on everything that is within us and that is in the world. The evil will be revealed, the darkness will be dispelled. We don’t see the light, but we see because of the light. We don’t see the Holy Spirit, but it is because of the Holy Spirit that we can know what is good and what is bad. It is He who manifests the sinfulness and deceit of worldly ways. He operates on our knowledge, to tell us what is true and what is not.

He is also the strength from above. He is the dispenser of all gifts—gifts are always good. He comforts us, nourishes us, strengthens us. He does not only operate in our minds, but He also operates on our wills, to give us strength to do what we know to be good. Our good wills are helped to become good performances if we allow the Holy Spirit in our lives.

He cleanses the hatred, freshens the faded, cures the wounded, heals the diseased, softens the hard ones, warms up the cold ones, brings to the right path those who go astray. Without His light there is nothing other than sin in human life. All the goodness is inspired by the Spirit. If we see goodness it is because the Spirit has already been active—silently active and moving everything towards goodness.

Holy Spirit therefore inspires goodness and holiness within us. He is author of all holiness!

A New Presence

We are in the last week before Ascension. Jesus says, “It is better that I go away. When I go away, I will send the Counsellor (the Helper) to you, and when he comes, he will vindicate the paths of righteousness and justice.”

Jesus’ going away is not an absence of God, but a new presence. This presence is the Holy Spirit, the third Person of the Trinity, who is God from all ages. The coming of the Spirit is associated with Jesus’ glorification: his cross and resurrection. In his glorification Jesus gives us his Spirit.

God is present everywhere and always. God is Spirit, that is, God who is mightier the heavens and the universe is within us. God’s seeming absence is in fact a mighty presence: He is present in an atom and He is present in the largest of the galaxies. A silent presence that moves the universe. We live and move and have our being in Him. Without Him we will fall into nothingness.

The work of the Spirit is to remind us of Jesus’ life. From within us He will give us the wisdom and courage to face the world, and to proclaim God’s word.

And the Spirit will convict the world of its unbelief. He will break the unbelief that is within us and that is outside of us. The only way forward is to allow the Spirit to deepen our faith in Jesus. Belief in Jesus is salvation itself. “Sirs, What must I do to be saved? – Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.”

Fundamentalism

“The hour is coming when anyone who kills you will claim to be serving God; they will do this because they not known the Father or me.” (Jn 16:2-3)

We see how true this statement of Jesus is. Fundamentalism even in the name of religion is on the rise. Besides tribalism, culturalism, regionalism and other group biases, fundamentalism in the name of serving God is a sad reality in our world. Wars and violence in the name of religion are becoming common.

Jesus says that this phenomenon of religious fundamentalism is due to ignorance of the true: “they have not known the Father or me.” Even being a Christian you can become a fundamentalist, if you truly do not known the Father or Jesus Christ. The greatest sin one can commit is to be on the surface, to be superficial. Superficiality has to be fought on all levels. Before we point a finger at others’ superficiality, we need to discover in ourselves if there are superficial attitudes. If don’t deal with them or remove them, we too can be superficial which leads to fundamentalism.

Love is not love unless it is free. If we don’t want our love to become manipulation we need to know God more and more deeply. We need to allow him more and more in our lives. Prayer and reading the Word of God are ways to deepen our knowledge, and interiorize what we know about God.

As Henri Nouwen says, “People who pray stand receptive before the world. They no longer grab but caress, they no longer bite but kiss, they no longer examine but admire.” Prayer makes us attentive and sensitive to others. We can become more and more relevant only when we truly pray.

For this, we need the Spirit of truth to be convinced of divine things. We need to ask and beg for God’s help, which is never far away.

St Rita of Cascia (1377 - 1447)

St Rita’s is an exciting story of a wife, mother, widow, and member of a religious community.

Rita (Margherita Lotti) was born near Cascia, in Umbria in Italy. She was married at the age of 12 into the family of Mancinis, despite her frequently repeated wish to become a nun. Her husband, Paolo Mancini was rich, quick-tempered and immoral and had many enemies, especially the Chiqui families. Rita endured her husband’s insults, abuse and infidelities for 18 years and bore him two sons, who grew to be like him.

Towards the end of his life she helped to convert her husband to a more pious way of life, but he was stabbed to death by his enemies not long afterwards. He repented before he died and was reconciled to the Church.

Rita gave a public pardon at Paolo’s funeral to her husband’s murderers. But her sons, along with their uncle Bernardo Mancini (Paolo’s brother), planned to avenge their father’s death. Rita, fearing that her sons would lose their souls, tried to persuade them from retaliating, but they wouldn’t listen. When Rita’s pleas were unavailing, she prayed that God should take their lives if that was the only way to preserve them from the sin of murder. They died of natural causes a year later!

Rita asked to join the convent of St Mary Magdalen at Cascia. She was rejected for being a widow, since the convent was for virgins only, and later given the impossible task of reconciling her family, Mancinis, with her husband’s murderers, Chiquis. She implored her three patron saints John the Baptist, Augustine of Hippo, and Nicholas of Tolentino to assist her, and she set about the task of establishing peace between the hostile parties of Cascia. Popular religious tales recall that the bubonic plague, which ravaged Italy at the time, infected Bernardo Mancini, causing him to relinquish his desire to feud any longer with the Chiqui family. She was able to resolve the conflicts between the families and, at the age of 36, was allowed to enter the monastery. She remained there until her death at the age of 70.

St Rita is certainly a model for mothers, widows, and religious women. She is widely honoured as a patron saint of impossible or lost causes.

Peace

“Peace be with you! My peace I give to you; not as the world gives peace do I give it to you. Do not be troubled! Do not be afraid!”

Peace is the first gift of the risen Jesus. Even if you have locked the doors, locked your heart and mind, Jesus can walk through them. Jesus can walk through closed doors and hearts to give his peace. He can bring peace to impossible situations.

What is peace? In Jn 14, we have a clue. “Do not be troubled! Trust in God and trust in me! In my Father’s house there are many rooms.” (Jn 14:1-2) A room is meant for resting, refreshing, sleeping for our physical and mental well being. We move in and move out of the room. So peace could be that is what is needed for our spiritual well being. Or, shall we say, resting in God is peace.

The more you are connected to God, the more you are in peace. Peace is a state, a spiritual state more than a feeling. It is a state of rest in God. Not only dead people rest in peace, we too need to rest in peace.

Peace is being at home with God. It is the same as saying, home is where your heart is. A home is not bricks and mortar and cement, but it is about connection with persons, with your loved ones. In the same way, if your heart is with God, or if God is in your heart, then you are at peace. In Is 26:3, we read, “You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.”

Peace is not the peace of the graveyard. It is about life, liveliness, activity, centredness…. Peace can exist even with my problems and troubles. Peace is not the absence of all the problems, it can co-exist with my problems even.

Jesus’ peace is not as the world gives. The world thinks that peace is the absence of war and violence. But that is only partially true. Peace is about living in the presence of God, because His presence itself is our peace. St Paul says, “The Kingdom of God is not a matter of food and drink; but it is justice, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.” (Rom 14:7)

So peace is not self-sufficiency or self-complacency, it is dependence on God. He gives us enough peace for the day, like manna. We cannot store more than we need. We need to “collect” it day to day.

If we are at peace with God, we can proclaim peace. And the Scriptures praise the peacemakers, “Look, there on the mountains, the feet of one who brings good news, who proclaims peace!” (Nahum 1:15) Jesus also proclaims it, “Blessed are the peacemakers, they shall be called children of God.” (Mt 5:9)

Peace is not so much a destination, as it is the means. There is no way to peace. Peace is the way. God promises peace to His people, His faithful servants; He grants us peace if we do not turn to folly and worthlessness. (Ps 85:8)

Today, let us pray for peace in our hearts, in our homes and in the world. We will have peace the more and more we allow God into our lives. “Lord, grant us peace, because all that we have done has been your doing.” (Is 26:12)

A New Commandment

Today we move into the fifth Sunday of Easter, when we rewind to the Last Supper scene and words of Jesus then, where he gives us a new commandment: “Love one another as I have loved you.”

There are hundreds and thousands of definitions of love. And one of the best definitions that gives a lot of sense is Jesus’ own definition. “There is no greater love than to give one’s life for one’s friends.” It captures the essence of what love is. Love is all about sacrifice, and putting others first before oneself.

In the Bible, the moment in which Abraham is asked to give up his son is the first time that love is mentioned by name: "Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love and go to the land of Moriah and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I shall point out to you." Love is given a name in the moment of sacrifice, at the moment in which we face the terrifying possibility of loss. Suffering is the moment when love appears.

And Jesus asks us to love others as he himself loved us. That’s really a great challenge. The measure of love is to love as Jesus himself loved, as God himself loved us. As St Francis de Sales puts it, “The measure of love is to love without measure.” So love is a divine quality.

How to understand love then? Love is a force. It is the most powerful force on earth. It is the energy that sustains the universe, moving us towards a future of resurrection. We can say so many things about love, and try to define love. But it is love that defines God and all of us even. Love can’t be seen or touched, but it is that which every one around us can feel it immediately. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin says, “The physical structure of this universe is love.” So we can say that even what we touch and see and hear is all a result of love, God’s love.

Love defines God: God is love. The best understanding of God is that He is love. There are some beautiful Biblical verses that remind us of God’s love. “I have loved you with an everlasting love.” “My heart yearns for Ephraim, my favoured son.” “Can a woman forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child of her womb? Yet though she forget, I will never forget you. I have written your name upon the palm of my hands.” “God so loved the world that He gave His only Son that whoever believes in him may not be lost, but may have eternal life.”

The Bible is God’s love letter for us. Page after page proclaims His great love for us. His love has no terms or conditions: He loves us not because we are good. But He loves us because He himself is good, because He himself is love. His love is immeasurable, and that is the only measure we can use to love each other.

A great challenge indeed!

Quality of Life

A long life may be a blessing, but a really long, long life on this earth is not a blessing—it may be even a curse. Think of the various illnesses and weaknesses that could attack us in our very long life. Rather than the quantity, we are certainly interested in a better quality of life: the fullness of life, as Jesus himself promises. We yearn for it, to possess it not only in our afterlife (after our death), but to possess it as much as possible during our earthly life even.

Jesus gives the fullness of life to those who thirst for it here and now, at least a foretaste of what we will be experiencing after our death. Jesus said that we have a heavenly home, that he himself was gladly going there, and that he would take care to prepare for us a place. A place that will be ready once our turn comes to go home, having done our part here on earth.

These are the words that we read in today’s gospel: “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also. And you know the way to the place where I am going.”

There’s a life beyond this one, a house of “many dwelling places,” and Jesus, who died and rose, is going to prepare a place for us. What could be better? The day will come, one way or the other, when the bodies in which we live will no longer support our lives in this world. We are mortal beings imperfect and corrupt; so we will suffer and die. But when that moment comes, Jesus our Savior will be there. It’s a divine promise. And he will take us to where he lives beyond death. Our job is to stay focused on Jesus, who forgives our sins and leads us in the way of salvation.

Jesus himself is the Way, the Truth and the Life. So why fear? To be close to the person of Jesus is to be already on the way. To be close to Jesus is to have attained the truth. (So how can his promises be false?) To be close to him is to have attained life—the fullness of life that he promised, the quality of life that each and every one of us thirst for.

Paul’s Mission Begins

We are continuing to read from the Acts of the Apostles for our first reading these days. Saul, after his conversion and after he begins his missionary journeys, will no more use the Hebrew form of his name “Saul” but will use the Latin form of his name “Paul.” Being aware that he is set apart by the Holy Spirit not merely for his “own people” but that he is sent to all people, especially the non-Jews, he wants to become a universal person, a man for all. For Paul, who was already a Roman citizen (Acts 16:37), it is a further step in becoming integrated into the world of the non-Jews.

Once the mission began, Paul becomes the obvious leader. From our readings yesterday and today, we come to know that Paul and his companions do not stay in Cyprus; they leave behind groups of believers who have been hastily instructed.

When they set sail and arrive on the continent, at the inhospitable area of Perga, John Mark leaves them. Paul’s daring plans may have scared him. They go through the mountain range of modern day Turkey and reach the heart of the province of Pisidia at Antioch (which must not be confused with the Antioch of Syria).

Paul is invited to speak in the synagogue, and in his discourse he returns to the history of Israel (similar to Peter’s discourse in Acts 2 and Stephen’s in Acts 7), which may not interest us but for the Jews there was nothing more interesting than being reminded of this history that they knew by heart and which gave them their identity in the midst of other people. Today Paul presents this history, highlighting a series of facts that gives it meaning and clearly leads to Christ. Paul shows that God’s promises to Israel have been fulfilled in the resurrection of Christ.

We as Christians are invited to be witness if Christ’s resurrection from the dead. Our lives need to be a joyful testimony of resurrection, that God can do the impossible even in our lives. God is in control of our lives and ways, and if only we allow Him into our plans today we can see His marvels and wonders.

As from today’s (and tomorrow’s) first reading we understand that God is active in history, first in Israel’s history and then in Jesus Christ and then in the life of the early Christians, and now we are in that line of history where God is entirely involved. He is the source and the end of all these events, but also He is the Way, one who is grounding all these events in history. God is not only at the beginning and the end of every road, but He himself is that Way: the process, the journey, the means by which we can arrive at our final destination.

Our Christian faith is not a brilliant doctrine of some intelligent thinkers, but it is the outcome of what God has done in history, of what God has done concretely in our lives. The resurrection makes a new departure for all human history. Even our broken dreams and shattered lives have a meaning if we allow God into the picture. He can transform everything and everyone! Isn’t this also the meaning of resurrection?

St Matthias, Apostle

While choosing between Matthias and Joseph Justus (also known as Barsabbas), Peter had one criterion, that, like Andrew, James, John, and himself, the new apostle be someone who had been a disciple from the very beginning, from his baptism by John until the Ascension. The reason for this was simple, the new apostle must become a witness to Jesus’ resurrection. The above piece of information opens a window into understanding the large group of unnamed disciples who stuck to Jesus during his lifetime. Matthias (and many others) followed Jesus, and believed in him, went around with him.

Clement of Alexandria says that Matthias, like all the other apostles, was not chosen by Jesus for what he already was, but for what Jesus foresaw he would become. He was elected not because he was worthy but because he would become worthy. Jesus chooses all of us in the same way. He does not call the qualified. He qualifies the called. What does Jesus want you to become?

Do you feel unprepared, or not fully equipped for God’s work? Then you are completely okay to start working for God. The very weaknesses and radical insufficiency of our lives are those that lead us into larger life and love.

So let us not be afraid of our weaknesses and woundedness. Every prophet, every disciple of the Lord felt unworthy for God's work. Our emptiness and our nothingness can in fact be a great blessing. Only thus can we allow the Lord into our lives, and through us into others' lives. What the Lord wants from us is mere surrender. But complete surrender of yourself!

As Richard Rohr writes, "It is as though everything that seemed disappointing and 'fallen,' all the major pushbacks against the flow of history, can now be seen as one whole movement, still enchanted and made use of by God's love. All of it must somehow be usable and filled with potency, even the things that appear as betrayals or crucifixions."

Do you love me?

Simon, a fisherman, at a certain point in his life, encounters Jesus, the Rabbi and miracle-worker, but feels unworthy and sinful in Jesus’ presence. He says, “Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.” Peter faces his own fear and unworthiness. But this encounter profoundly changes him, and at the invitation of Jesus, “Follow me,” he leaves everything and follows the Lord.

And as you know, he becomes Peter, the Rock. On this rock Jesus builds His church. He becomes the first Pope of the Church: Christ’s own Vicar on earth.

Peter was weak. But he was fully for Jesus. His weaknesses didn’t deter him from following the Lord. We see how Peter was converted again and again: he came back to Jesus again and again (as today’s gospel beautifully portrays). Conversion, as we might have guessed, is not a one-time event in our lives; it is a process of changing or transforming one’s heart. It is a heart transplant, a painful process of removing the heart of stone, and replacing it with the heart of flesh for love alone.

Peter tells us today: “Don’t be afraid of your weaknesses. Even I was weak.” We need to embrace our brokenness and woundedness. Perhaps this is our cross. Perhaps this is our death before our final, physical death. And as we learn from Jesus, it is only through death we receive life. Only through accepting the cross we get new life (resurrection).

Three times Peter betrayed the Lord. Three times he had to say, “I love you, Lord.” (This is what we read in today’s gospel.) You know, Lord, that I love you. Three times denial to three times affirmation. Three times, “I don’t know him,” to three times, “I love you, Lord.” Here is someone who moves from fear and wrongdoing, to love and deeper levels of love.

Any repetition is a deepening of commitment. Could these be three answers with three different meanings and increasingly deeper levels of commitment? Perhaps yes. Yes, I do love you… that moves from the head to the body and certainly to the heart. The final answer is certainly a heart level answer. Why do we repeat things? Why do we do certain actions again and again? Why do we say some words again and again? I want to mean more and more. I want to assure those things again and again. This is the movement to habits and eventually to virtues.

Peter affirms his love three times, and interestingly he is given three different missions. Each time it is a different command from Jesus: (1) Feed my lambs. (2) Take care of my sheep. (3) Feed my sheep.

(1) Lambs are the young ones of sheep. The young ones are to be fed and nourished in the Church. Peter as the head of the Church is given this job. (2) He is also given the job of tending and taking care of the sheep, the bigger ones and adult members of the Church. He is asked to shepherd the adults with good example and sound doctrines. (3) Peter, finally, is also asked to feed and nourish the adult members. Perhaps this also points to Peter’s martyrdom. To nourish the Church with his life sacrifice. This may be seen in Jesus’ prophecy of Peter’s suffering and martyrdom, which we read immediately after this: “Truly, truly I say to you, when you were younger, you tied your own belt and went where you wanted. But when you are old, you will stretch out your hands and someone else will put a belt around you and take you where you don’t wish to go.”

In this context, for one final time Jesus tells Peter, “Follow me,” and thus renews his invitation and challenge, how willingly Peter would need to follow him, even unto martyrdom, witnessing through death.

We read from Peter’s life (as given through Scriptures and Tradition), that suffering did not hinder Peter to follow Jesus. He did not betray him again. He gave his life. He gave himself to be crucified—and that too, upside down.

We need to listen to Jesus’ command of “Follow me,” again and again. Peter’s conversion, and Jesus’ forgiveness are stories that need to happen in our lives. God is ever willingly. But are we willing to receive his forgiveness?

The only greatness that gives honour to a human person is forgiveness. This is the story of salvation, redemption. Your own histories and struggles matter! Salvation lies just in them!

Nothing can stop God from loving us. God’s love does not depend on the faithfulness or the worthiness of the object. He loves. That’s all. He is love itself. God does not love us because we are good or worthy. God loves us because God is good, God’s nature itself is love.

And here’s the real surprise, God loves us precisely in our obstinate unworthiness and our repeated betrayals. He loves us when we are still a mixture of good and bad, even as we are only girding ourselves (preparing ourselves) for love.

You are not a perfectly loving person, and God still totally loves you.

(For a reflection on the first part of today’s gospel please see Jesus' Last Breakfast.)

Trusting in God

2nd Week of Easter – Saturday (4 May 2019)

Acts 6:1-7. John 6:16-21.

The earliest Christian communities too had their problems as we see in today’s first reading. “As the number of disciples continued to grow, the Hellenists complained against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution.” Following Christ does not mean that we will be free from all problems. But it does mean that we will be able to deal with them effectively only when we allow God into the picture. We will be able to deal with our problems only with a spiritual view.

It is really interesting to see that the Apostles chose Stephen, a man filled with faith and the Holy Spirit, and others for the work of distribution. The Apostles laid their hands on them—gave them the Holy Spirit—to do their material work. To do some “material” work they were given spiritual strength.

We may think that to deal with material things it would be enough to have material strength and intelligence. We may say that to deal with the world we need mere worldly intelligence. But today’s first reading gives us a clue to change our attitudes if needed. We need God’s Spirit to live in this world in a better way. Without God and His attitudes we can’t be impartial or pure in our motives even while doing material work.

God is needed in our life, whatever work or job we may be doing.

The lesson from today’s gospel is something similar: even when it seems like everything is going against us, we need to trust in Jesus who can walk on water. Nothing is impossible for him. Perhaps our problems will give us the light and strength to see God who is going to be there with us in a way we never expected. And before we know it, we will have arrived at our destination.

“Don’t be afraid. It is I.”