Christ, the New Link (Tuesday, Week 29, Year 2)

-

To travel from Africa to Europe or from Europe to America no longer seems to be as far as it used to be in the past. Before the invention of aircraft, to crisscross from continent to continent was a journey of months. But with the help of aircraft, it can now be made within a space of hours or days. Now, it is not as if the miles separating the continents have been reduced. No! They are still the same but the means of travelling from one continent to another have improved; and the degree of difficulty tremendously reduced because of the invention of aircraft. Countries which seemed to be far apart from each other are now much closer, thanks to the modern means of transportation – aircraft.

In a related sense, St Paul tells the Ephesians and us that all of us who used to be far away from God and from each other have now been brought close to God and to ourselves through the means of Christ’s blood (cf. Eph. 2:12-22). In the “Old Dispensation”, there was hostility between the Jews and the Gentiles. In the “Old Dispensation”, God was seen as someone far removed from humans. In the “former times”, we were hopelessly separated from one another. Between us, there were barriers of hostility, fear and superstition. But in Christ, we have been reconciled with each other and with God. The “old laws”, which were nearly impossible to observe in their entirety, have now been reversed. The new way of relating to God is simpler and more direct. We now need only faith in Jesus, the great mediator. In the person of Jesus, the divine and the human have become one. This one person Jesus is the new link between heaven and earth. In him, we have been reconstituted as sons and daughters of God. 

And so, we should no longer live in fear and suspicion just like those servants in the gospel who their master finds awake doing what they are supposed to do without pretense. In Christ, we have regained that sense of love of God. And as the scripture said, perfect love casts out fear. This love should motivate us to always do what we have been asked to do without pretense. Jesus, our senior brother, has brought peace and made us into a family of love. He can come to us in different unexpected ways: He can come in the form of a young man who has no food to eat; in the form of a widow who has been emotionally ravaged; in the form of someone going through desperate situations in life. As faithful servants, let our loins of service be girded and our lamps of love shine brighter (cf. Luke 12:35) as we relate with such persons of our new family of love, people who are Jesus in disguise. 


            

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Gifts versus the Giver (Monday, Week 20, Year II)

-
Image
A gift, by the virtue of what it is, is given. In other words, there must be a giver. Gift can come or be in the form of a good friendship or relationship, material thing, good job, personal talent, and so on. Every cherished gift is the delight of our eyes, the pride of our power and the desire of our souls. The gifts that we possess should then remind us of the giver. It smacks of arrogance and ingratitude when gifts are used without acknowledging or making reference to the giver. For the Jews, the Temple or Sanctuary was the delight of their eyes, the pride of their power and the desire of their souls. It was a precious gift which they jealously guarded. However, they adorned the Sanctuary but did not truly adore the One for whom the Sanctuary exists. They were too attached to the “gift” (sanctuary) but were completely detached from the Giver of the gift – from Yahweh. Ezekiel prophesied to them that this sanctuary which was their delight will be profaned and taken away from them. M
Read more

Persecution and Triumph, the Two Realities of Christian life (Saturday, Week 33, Year 2, The Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary)

-
Image
The book of Revelation is full of symbols and imageries that need to be carefully interpreted for us to understand the message they communicate. In today’s first reading (cf. Rev. 11:4-12), John was told about two olive trees and two lamp stands serving as witnesses to the Holy One. Who or what do these two sets of witnesses (olive trees and lamp stand) stand for? When we read further in order to understand what happened to these two witnesses, it may be a bit clear to us that the “two witnesses” may be pointing to Moses and Elijah, judging from what they did on earth and what they stand for. Moses stands for the Law; and Elijah stands for the Prophet. Anyone who bears witness as Moses bore witness to the Law of God must be persecuted by the beast as the first reading (from the Book of Revelation) recounted. Anyone who bears witness to the messages of truth as Elijah and other prophets did must be persecuted just as the prophets were persecuted. Persecution is a fate that awaits every
Read more

Enkindle the Embers of Unity, Quench the Fire of Disunity (Wednesday, Week 22, Year A)

-
Image
For some time now, we have heard Paul talk about the spiritual and the unspiritual: what it means to live and operate on the level of the Spirit (the spiritual) and on the level of the flesh (the unspiritual). Paul was very emphatic about this topic possibly because he was addressing a group of people who were too intellectual and academic in their approach to the things of God and all of that. Remember that the Corinthians were Greek; and the ancient Greeks were known to be too particular and more interested in intellectualism, sophistry, philosophy and human wisdom. And we must not forget that Paul has been very suspicious of over-reliance on worldly/human wisdom in understanding and appreciating the things of the Spirit. To rely more on human/worldly wisdom is a sign that one may be operating on the level of the flesh; and to operate on the level of the flesh breeds a whole lot of vices such as division or sectionalism, hedonism, and so on. In today’s section of that letter to the C
Read more