Growing in Faith (Sunday, Easter 3, Year B, 2021)

-

One point that can’t be overlooked as we celebrate Easter is the fact that it is a story that recounts the foundation of our faith; a story that tells how the Church began. Before Jesus suffered and died, the disciples seemed not to have known who their master is. As Jews, they expected to see a conquering messiah. Remember Peter rebuking Jesus that God forbid that He should suffer (Matt. 16:22). At last, it was very shocking for them to learn that their messiah had been “conquered” on the cross. From the moment of Jesus’ arrest, they refused to identify with Him: they deserted Him. They were disoriented and felt defeated. When Jesus finally died on the cross, all their hope was dashed. When Jesus rose from the dead, the storyline of the faith of the disciples changed from defeat to victory; from uncertainty to certainty; from hopelessness to hope. What happened to them was a resurgence of faith, hope and confidence. The same should happen to us. As we listen to their testimonies, the storyline of our faith journey should also change: from defeat to victory; from hopelessness to hope. Our faith should be stronger.


Our discussion is about FAITH. In his book "His Word Lives", Vima Dasan talks about the four C's of the faith journey: CONFRONTATION, CONVERSION, CONSOLATION and COMMITMENT. Likewise, the readings of this Sunday teach us that the journey of faith is a step-by-step journey; a journey made in four steps or stages as beautifully explained by Dasan, SJ.


There are gracious moments when we must come face to face with the reality of truth. The suffering and death of Jesus unsettled and disorganized the disciples. When Jesus appeared to some of them, He confronted them with the truth of the scriptures that He must suffer and die and rise from the dead. When they were confronted with that truth (the truth of His resurrection and victory over death, injustice, betrayal and denial), they journeyed back to Jerusalem (just like the Emmaus disciples).


CONFRONTATION with truth should result in a CONVERSION of heart: a change of heart and a change of movement. And this brings us to the second stage of our faith journey: CONVERSION. The truth of the scriptures challenged and empowered Peter and other disciples to move from cowardice to courage, from denial to acceptance, from the renunciation of followership to a renewal of commitment to follow Christ. This is what the truth of the gospel does in the heart and life of any person who is ever open to it.


When the heart is converted, there is peace: a state of calm, tranquility and serenity; a certain feeling of freedom from guilt. This is the stage of CONSOLATION. This does not mean that there won’t be problems. There will be; but in the midst of them, there will be peace. Jesus never failed to communicate this peace to His disciples at some of His appearances after the resurrection. Assurance of His peace induces us to be calm, hold our heads high and not to be disturbed, anxious or fearful about the past, the present and the future. The fact that He has risen and is alive should be enough to drive away fear from our hearts. And that is why He showed the disciples His hands and feet, to banish every fear and doubt from their hearts and minds.


When we are consoled and feel the impact of His abiding presence, we cannot but rush into the arena of witnessing, into the battleground of proclaiming the message of hope to a world drowned in hopelessness. When the disciples received His peace and began to feel the abiding presence of His Spirit, they went forth into the world preaching the message of repentance and forgiveness of sins in His name (cf. Luke 24: 48). This brings us to the fourth step of our faith journey: COMMITMENT to preach the good news. In Acts 3:13-15, Peter showed this commitment as He preached about the Risen Lord and the need to turn away from sin. This sketch should help us know how far we have gone in our faith journey.


Prayer:

Lord Jesus, as I journey in faith, may I never lose sight of your abiding presence, Amen!


A Blessed Sunday and Week!



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