Feast of the visitation of Mary and Elizabeth

A Visitation and A Song

                                   The World waited                                                                And watched for this moment                                                  For many generations.

All the years

And all the prophets

And all the seers

     Bow to the young girl of Nazareth.

Along comes

This Daughter of Zion

Untying the knot of Eve

And by her “Yes”,

This favorite Daughter

Of the Father  

Becomes the Mother of the Redeemer.

Woman of Israel

With Jewish roots,

Stepping out

Of the Hebrew Bible

Changing BC to AD

Stepping into the New,

Changes History.

The mother of the living

Walking softly,

Walking gently

Among us

Is pregnant now

With the Messiah

Emmanuel, God-with-us

The cousin greets the Mother of God

And Elizabeth’s unborn child

Leaps in her womb

Like David dancing

Before the Ark,

Like the messianic leap of joy

Among Isaiah’s poor.

She, the cause of our joy,

The New Ark

Housing the Word,

Chosen and willed

Into Motherhood

Finds her glory, like all mothers,

In being for her Son.

   

Elizabeth speaks chosen words,

“Blessed is the child

You will bear.”

Mary, who carries Jesus,

Carries the Church,

Carries us,

Virgin made Church,

From the beginning.

The new Eve, fashioned in Heaven,

Sings a new song.

Not the ancient one of Eden

But the perfect song

For her Son,

A sign of favor to us,

To the Church forever.

As exalted spouse of the Spirit

She stands out

Among the poor and humble 

Of the Lord,

Her heart full and

Overflowing to the heart of another

Sings her astounding secret.

“My whole spirit is soaring

in the greatness of Adonai.

My very being is joyful

Because of God my Savior.

For God has been aware

Of His lowly one

And because of this

All people will find hope.

All ages will look at this moment

As a blessing for me and for them.

Our Mighty God, in this one great act,

Has done wonderful things for me,

Blessed be He.

His Name, too holy to utter

Blessed be He.

Holy is that Name.

   

His undeserved kindness is for all

Who worship Him in every generation.

His mighty Arm shows His power,

Most of all, in caring for the needy.

He changes the plans of the proud,

In their hardened hearts.

He has brought them down

From their high position

And sets the lowly ones in their place.

Wonders are given to those who long for it

And those, not of opened heart,

Go away empty.

He never forgets Israel or you,

Always full of loving-kindness for us all.

For God promised Abraham and Sarah,

And their family, to be with them always.

He promises us the same.

From now until forever.

We ask you, then,

Virgin Mother of the Savior

To intercede for us.

You who  brought forth

Your son in the flesh

Bring us forth in spirit.

Help us to see your Son

Appearing now in our neighbor

Making all of us one,

Making us Church.

“Blessed are you among women,

Blessed is the fruit

of your womb.” 

 FJV

Sources:

·          Gospel of Luke

·          Vatican Document :Lumen Gentium

·          Francis of Assisi: Prayer to the Virgin

·          Litany of Loretto

Saturday May 31 - Feast of the Visitation of Mary and Elizabeth BLESSED ARE YOU AMONG WOMEN [LUKE 1:39-56]

BLESSED ARE YOU AMONG WOMEN [LUKE 1:39-56]

VISITATION OF MARY

Mary packed her things and hurried off to see her cousin, Elizabeth. She went to help Elizabeth prepare for the birth of her baby, and she probably wanted to ask her for advice in facing her own miraculous pregnancy. When Mary arrived, she greeted Elizabeth with the traditional embrace, but Elizabeth responded in a most non-traditional manner. The baby in her womb jumped, as if for joy, and Elizabeth proclaimed, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!” (Luke 1:42).

Somehow, Elizabeth knew what had happened to Mary. Maybe she had heard through the grapevine, or through a letter from Mary herself. She many have even heard about Mary’s amazing encounter with the angel. But Elizabeth’s “knowledge” about Mary’s situation went beyond simply learning the facts. Luke tells us that when she heard the greeting of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit” and cried aloud these now-familiar words of blessing (Luke 1:41-42). Knowing about an event intellectually and knowing it bay the power of the Holy Spirit are two different, but related things.

The story shows how God longs to reveal Himself and His plan to His people. Our ability to understand biblical truths and moral principles is one important gift from God, but this is only part of our heritage. We are also capable of receiving spiritual revelation and enlightenment from God about these truths and principles.

Saint Paul told the Corinthians that God wanted to reveal to them His secret wisdom, things that “no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the human heart conceived” (1 Corinthians 2:9-10). He also prayed for the Ephesians that God would enlighten the eyes of their hearts so that they could perceive the inheritance that is theirs in Christ (Ephesians 1:18). Likewise, God wants to speak to us. He wants to tell us how much He loves us. He wants to reveal to us His glorious plan of salvation to us His glorious plan of salvation and our part in that plan. Let us God to enlighten us today so that we might know Him in our hearts and so that we might embrace His glorious plan more fully.

Jakarta, 31 May 2014

A Christian Pilgrim

Friday May 30 AS A MOTHER EAGERLY ANTICIPATES THE BIRTH OF HER CHILD [JOHN 16:20-23]

AS A MOTHER EAGERLY ANTICIPATES THE BIRTH OF HER CHILD [JOHN 16:20-23]

We are now in that special time between Ascension Thursday and Pentecost. During these days, let us focus on welcoming the Holy Spirit into our hearts and into the Church, for He is our only hope. During our time on earth, we often “weep and lament” (John 16:20). We struggle with sin and temptation, with pain and sickness and death. Yet our hope lies in Jesus, our Redeemer. The Holy Spirit’s coming to dwell within the hearts of believers on Pentecost was the proof that by His death and resurrection Jesus has reconciled us to the Father and defeated Satan.

When Jesus said good-bye to His disciples, He told them they would experience sorrow and pain in this world, but that they should not lose hope. He compared the pain of this world to the pain of childbirth, where the joy of a new child more than makes up for the anguish experienced during labor. In the same sense, the suffering we experience in this life is temporary, while the joy of heaven awaits those who believe and trust in God.

Our lives are secure in the Father’s hands. Like the disciples, we may mourn over our sin and over the darkness in the world. At the same time, however, we can rejoice in the power and love of our God. We can rejoice because we know Him in whom we have believed, and we are confident that He is able to guard what we have entrusted to Him until the final day (2 Timothy 1:12). As a mother eagerly anticipates the birth of her child, we too can look forward to eternal joy at the second coming, whatever our current situation.

Jesus conquered sin, death, and the world. We can face daily challenges with hope because our lives have been bought and paid for by the blood of our Savior. Since we belong to Jesus, nothing can rob us of our hope. The darkness in the world may grieve, but our hope can remain strong because of the power and love our Father. We can trust that when Jesus returns, our every need will be fulfilled and all suffering will end.

Jakarta, 30 May 2014

A Christian Pilgrim

THE ASCENSION OF THE LORD

I AM WITH YOU ALWAYS [MATTHEW 28:16-20]

THE ASCENSION OF THE LORD

As Jesus was about to ascend into heaven He spoke His final words to His disciples: “I am with you always, to the close of the age” (Matthew 28:20 RSV).

In his study of Matthew’s gospel, Fr. Donald Senior underlines the significance of the “with you” phrase. The beginning of Matthew’s gospel was marked by the revelation that Jesus would be called Emmanuel, that is, God-with-us (Matthew 1:23). This theme of God’s abiding presence in the person of Jesus is now matched at the end of Matthew’s gospel by our Lord’s own promise: “I am with you always, to the close of the age.”

The keynote of Matthew’s gospel, namely God-with-us, explains somewhat why Matthew has no ascension story as such. The evangelists Mark and Luke write specifically that Jesus was taken up to heaven, but not Matthew. Although Matthew sets the scene for the Ascension, he stops short of actually saying that Jesus ascends.

Perhaps this is Matthew’s way of stressing the “staying” of Jesus with us, as opposed to His “going away” to heaven. It may be Matthew’s way of calling attention to our Lord’s new, invisible presence in our midst – a sacramental presence transcending all barriers of time and place, as opposed to his historical, visible presence limited by space and time.

We are dealing here with a paradox, a mystery. In one sense, Jesus has “gone away” by ascending in heaven. But in another sense, he is “still with us” here on earth. Our Lord’s “going away”, His Ascension, is most important to us because it confirms His claim to be God’s own Son; it completes the cycle of Incarnation-Redemption-Glorification; and it gives hope of one day following Him

But equally important to us is our Lord’s “abiding presence”. Whenever we read His word, break His bread, gather to pray in His name, and minister to the least of His brethren, we experience his “being-with-us”, here and now. Whenever we deny ourselves for Him, carry our cross after Him, or suffer persecution because of His name, we know that He is “with us” to support, encourage and inspire us.

In the familiar story entitled “Footprints” a man at the end of his life wanted to know why in tough times there was only one set of footprints in the sand. After all, the Lord had promised to walk with him all the way. The Lord replied by telling him that He never left him in times of trial. When the man saw only one set of footprints, it was then that the Lord carried him. The Lord was with the man walking in the sand. May the risen Lord be with us all the days of our life.

Jakarta, 29 May 2014

A Christian Pilgrim

Wednesday May 28 IT IS THE WORLD THAT IS CONDEMNED [JOHN 16:5-11]

IT IS THE WORLD THAT IS CONDEMNED [JOHN 16:5-11]

As Jesus kept talking during the Last Supper to His apostles about leaving this world, He noticed that they were overcome by grief. They just didn’t seem to understand why He must go. He told them the sober truth. If He didn’t go, the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit, would not come to them. He would go and send the Holy Spirit to them. What would the Holy Spirit do when He came? He would be their counselor, their consoler. He would guide them in their relationship, in their encounter with the world.

The Holy Spirit will prove the world wrong about sin, about justice, about condemnation. He will show by the divine, just and holy life of the Church which He will guide, that Christ was sinless, that He was just, that He did not deserve condemnation. Those who refuse to believe in Him, to obey His commands, are the guilty ones. They are the unjust. They are the ones who stand condemned.

Which side are we (you and I) on? Are we truly sharers in that divine life by our faith, our obedience, our love? Are we among the just of Christ, the righteous? Do our lives bear witness to the holiness of Christ whose members we are?

We have received the Holy Spirit just as the apostles did. He is our advocate too. He is our guide and our consoler. He gives us instructions, guidance and the strength, the courage it takes to live with Christ, with His Church. We need not suffer condemnation. It is the world that is condemned every time we witness to Christ as Lord in our lives by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Jakarta, 28 May 2014

A Christian Pilgrim

Tuesday May 27th BY THE PRESENCE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT, JESUS IS TRULY WITH US [JOHN 16:5-11]

BY THE PRESENCE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT, JESUS IS TRULY WITH US [JOHN 16:5-11]

What a whirlwind three years the disciples spent with Jesus! At first they faced the challenge of grasping who He was and giving up everything to follow Him. Then came the struggle to implement His teachings in their daily lives. Now, they were confronting the greatest challenge of all: Jesus’ departure. Uncertain about the road ahead, they were filled with sorrow (John 16:6). We can imagine that, as they sat listening to Jesus at the Last Supper, the years they had spent with Him looked like a short time indeed. If only they have known earlier, they would have paid more attention, asked Him more questions, and spent more time praying with Him. But now it was all to be taken away.

Yet, Jesus told them, it was only by His going away that God’s plan for them would be fulfilled. Only after Jesus’ departure would the Holy Spirit would carry on the work that Jesus began in them (John 16:7-8). Through the Holy Spirit, they would continue to learn the difference between sin and righteousness; they would go on growing in knowledge of the Father’s love; they would become more like Jesus in everything – all of which, we know from the rest of the New Testament, really happened.

Hard as it may be to understand, we have lost nothing by the fact that we did not know Jesus in the flesh (John 16:7). By the presence of the Holy Spirit, Jesus is truly with us (John 14:16-20). Through the Holy Spirit, we can have as intimate a relationship with Jesus as the disciples had with Him during His earthly life.

Is the Holy Spirit at work in your life today? Have you allowed Him to bring you into the fellowship with Jesus, or are you saddened, as the disciples were, at the prospect of a distant God? Let us believe Jesus’ words about His gift of the Spirit to us! Let us trust in Jesus’ presence this day, and allow His Holy Spirit to envelop us completely.

Jakarta, 27 May 2014

A Christian Pilgrim

Memorial Day - Poem Flanders Field by John McCrae Prayers for our Men and Women Who died for Our Freedom

N FLANDERS FIELDS POEM
The World’s Most Famous WAR MEMORIAL POEM
By Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place: and in the sky
The larks still bravely singing fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the dead: Short days ago,
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved: and now we lie
In Flanders fields!

Take up our quarrel with the foe
To you, from failing hands, we throw
The torch: be yours to hold it high
If ye break faith with us who die,
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields

Composed at the battlefront on May 3, 1915
during the second battle of Ypres, Belgium

On May 2, 1915, John McCrae’s close friend and former student Alexis Helmer was killed by a German shell. That evening, in the absence of a Chaplain, John McCrae recited from memory a few passages from the Church of England’s “Order of the Burial of the Dead”. For security reasons Helmer’s burial in Essex Farm Cemetery was performed in complete darkness.

The next day, May 3, 1915, Sergeant-Major Cyril Allinson was delivering mail. McCrae was sitting at the back of an ambulance parked near the dressing station beside the YserCanal, just a few hundred yards north of Ypres, Belgium.

	As John McCrae was writing his In Flanders Fields poem, Allinson silently watched and later recalled, “His face was very tired but calm as he wrote. He looked around from time to time, his eyes straying to Helmer's grave." Within moments, John McCrae had completed the “In Flanders Fields” poem and when he was done, without a word, McCrae took his mail and handed the poem to Allinson. Allinson was deeply moved: “The (Flanders Fields) poem was an exact description of the scene in front of us both. He used the word blow in that line because the poppies actually were being blown that morning by a gentle east wind. It never occurred to me at that time that it would ever be published. It seemed to me just an exact description of the scene."
Photo © 2006-2009  In Flanders Fields.ca

Monday May 26 GOD IS INDEED FULL OF SURPRISES! [ACTS 16:11-15]

GOD IS INDEED FULL OF SURPRISES! [ACTS 16:11-15]

Do you realize how much God likes pouring out His Spirit on unlikely people? He chose Lydia, a prosperous business woman in Philippi, to be the first European Christian. What’s more, God chose Paul – who had once been a raging persecutor of Christians – to preach the Good News to her. The simple fact that Lydia and Paul even met took careful arranging by the Holy Spirit. Europe wasn’t even in Paul’s plans (Acts 16:6-12).

Even today, God continues to surprise. In the 1960s, Saint Pope John XXIII astonished the entire world when he convened an ecumenical council. Most people thought that “Good Pope John” would be a quiet, insignificant leader awaiting a more powerful and important pope. But the Church has not been the same since he opened it to a fresh breeze of the Holy Spirit.

Similarly, no one who knew Dorothy Day as a young woman in New York would have suspected that she would become a servant of the poor in the name of Christ. She was after all, deeply involved in atheist and socialist movements and seemed to have very little interest in religion. Yet today the Archdiocese of New York is promoting her cause for canonization.

God is indeed full of surprises! You can almost hear the Holy Spirit urging us, “Be alert, be open, for I may send you to share the Gospel with the least likely person. That teenager in your neighborhood with the purple hair, tattoos, and multiple earrings just may be my next Lydia. What would you say if I told you to share with him about Jesus?”

God longs to pour His Spirit into every heart, just as He did to Lydia. Are we alert to His movements? Let’s give Him the freedom to work in any way He chooses. Let’s ask the Holy Spirit for His heart and mind so that we might reach out to everyone around us.

Jakarta, 26 May 2014

A Christian Pilgrim

Sunday May 25 SIMPLE PRAYERS ARE GOOD PRAYERS

SIMPLE PRAYERS ARE GOOD PRAYERS

(A biblical reflection on THE SIXTH SUNDAY OF EASTER – May 25, 2014)

Gospel Reading: John 14:15-21

First Reading: Acts 8:5-8,14-17; Psalms: Psalm 66:1-7,16,20; Second Reading: 1 Peter 3:15-18

The Scripture Text
“If you love Me, you will keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Counselor, to be with you for ever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; you know Him, for He dwells with you, and will be in you.”
“I will not leave you desolate; I will come to you. Yet a little while, and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me; because I live, you will live also. In that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. He who has My commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.” (John 14:15-21 RSV)

In the Gospel, we saw Jesus taking the apostles as they were and where they were. They were mixed up, puzzled, confused and frustrated. They were particularly concerned and distraught because Jesus had said that He would have to leave them. They were suffering the terrifying human fear of being left to face life all alone. There is scarcely anything more frightening than the thought of having to grapple with the problems of human existence all by yourself, with no help, no guidance, no consolation from anyone else. It is the fear felt by the widow without her husband, as her children have gone from home to live their own lives. It is that terrible illness, called “homesickness,” experienced by the young person who has left home for a strange, new school. It is the terror of the small child lost on a camping trip.

Jesus understood how His apostles felt. He wished to make it clear that their fear was groundless as He said, “I will ask the Father and He will give you another Paraclete – to be with you always … I will not leave you orphaned; I will come back to you.” We can see one example of the fulfilment of Jesus’ promise in today’s first lesson. Even after His ascension Jesus did not abandon the people of Samaria, in whose region He had worked miracles during His public ministry. His help to them came from Philip the deacon, who was acting on the impulse of the Holy Spirit, as he responded to Christ’s command to preach the Gospel. Philip left Jerusalem for Samaria. There his preaching met with immediate success. When further spiritual help beyond baptism was needed – that is, the giving of the Holy Spirit by the laying on of hands – Philip and Peter and John came to Samaria and confirmed the new converts.

What happened in Samaria has continued down through the centuries. The promise of Jesus has also been fulfilled in us. We too have received the Holy Spirit, and because of Him we are not left alone. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, the Father and the Son are present within us. But we have to find God even within ourselves. We have to search Him out. We must respond to His presence within us. In a word, we must pray.

If we have the idea that real prayer is only for mystics, or that prayer must be a very complicated formulary with just the right words of theological precision, , we should rid ourselves of that notion. Simple prayers are good prayers. Exalted through the Mass truly is, even here we find simple prayers and we learn just what earnest, sincere prayer should be.

We begin the Mass with the sign of the Cross, “in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” Prayer begin with a recognition of God, and should include an awareness of His presence within us. Most assuredly we stand unworthy before God because of sin. At the very outset of each Mass we are asked to realize our sinfulness. At the celebrant’s invitation we all bowed our heads and tried to prepare ourselves to celebrate the sacred mysteries. As a group of people trying to offer God suitable worship, we humbly asked forgiveness of our sins. That is a theme which continues as we pray “Lord, I am not worthy to receive You, but only say the word and I shall be healed.”

Throughout the Mass we turn to God for help in all the many prayers of petition, especially the Prayer of the Faithful as well as in the presidential prayers at the end of the entrance rite, the preparation of the gifts, and the Communion rite. Each Mass itself is a total prayer or praise and thanksgiving, as the very word “eucharist” signifies.

Even this sketchy survey of the Mass should help us to see that the prayer of the Mass is basically very simple. “God help me … forgive me … thank You” in essence that is our prayer. They help us to be ourselves before God, and they have the advantage of beginning right where we are with God. Simple prayer will help us to find God, so that we need not be left alone in the struggle of life. Our prayer at Mass must carry over into the other activities of our lives. Take the time and make the effort to continue prayer through the week right where you are at any time. In our minds and hearts, if not on our lips, let each of us say “God help me … thank You.” Of course our own words are best, but these three simple ideas are what make up good prayer.

PRAYER: Heavenly Father, it is indeed a terrifying experience to be left all alone in life. Because of the presence of the Holy Spirit within us, however, we need not have that experience, only if we learn to turn to You with simple earnest prayer in all the aspects of our lives. We pray this in the precious name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. Amen.

Jakarta, 23 May 2014

A Christian Pilgrim

Thursday May 22 PEOPLE WHO LISTEN, LEARN, AND LOVE [ACTS 15:7-21]

PEOPLE WHO LISTEN, LEARN, AND LOVE [ACTS 15:7-21]

JAMES, the relative of Jesus (Galatians 1:18-19), did not have an easy job. As leader of the early Church in Jerusalem, he was confronted with the question of whether non-Jewish converts to Christianity should be obliged to follow the Mosaic Law. Many Jewish Christians saw the law as something for Gentiles to embrace along with baptism. Among these, apparently, were some people associated with James (Galatians 2:12). The issue came to a head at a Jerusalem meeting, where both Peter and Paul argued that everyone is saved by grace, not by pursuing a lifestyle of ritual purity (Acts 15:7-12). James was a very devout Jew, but he was willing to listen. Then, persuaded by the apostles’ words, he offered a decision that defended the Gentiles’ liberty and imposed just a few basic requirements.

James was flexible enough to part with his ideas of how the Church should be and to be open to the movements of the Holy Spirit instead. Rather than adhere rigidly to familiar patterns of religious practice and tradition, he reflected on the way God was working among non-Jews. Mind you, James did not throw out all the traditional practices. He carefully discerned what would be appropriate for the new gatherings of Gentile and Jewish believers that were springing up. As a result of his respect for God’s unfolding plan, he came to a solution that resolved conflicts and helped preserve the unity of the primitive Church.

How important it is to listen to one another and, even more, to the Holy Spirit! It’s all too easy to fall in love with our own ideas of what the Church should be. But when we love our ideas so much that they distract us from loving God and one another, we become easy targets for dissension. The result is divisions and factions between denominations and within our Church, communities, families, and intimate relationships.

God wants us to experience deep, joy-filled, and loving unity. Jesus Himself asked the Father to make us one, “as We are one” (John 17:11). God will do it – if only we allow Him to make us people who listen, learn, and love.

Jakarta, 22 May 2014

A Christian Pilgrim

Wednesday May 21 ALL GOD ASKS IS THAT WE BELIEVE IN THE FREE GIFT OF HIS LOVE [ACTS 15:1-6]

ALL GOD ASKS IS THAT WE BELIEVE IN THE FREE GIFT OF HIS LOVE [ACTS 15:1-6]

According to Jewish custom, Jews did not invite Gentiles into their homes or visit in the homes of Gentiles. Though Jews lived among Gentiles and met with them freely in the public square, they did not socialize with them, because non-Jews did not follow the rules for ritual purity in the law of Moses. This presented a real problem for the early Church, which was comprised of both Jews and Gentiles. How could they worship together or share in the Lord’s table or associate with each other as members of one community?

At Antioch, many Gentiles had become Christians. Then some Jewish Christians came from Jerusalem teaching that unity could occur only if the non-Jewish Christians became Jews. Paul strongly opposed this view, because he saw that it counted the grace of Christ less important that the Mosaic law for relationship with God.

This controversy may seem old and irrelevant to us. Yet the news that God freely sets us right with Himself through faith in Jesus is just as earth-shattering today as it was two thousand years ago. The fact that Almighty God would forgive all our sins simply because His Son died for us is an astonishing mystery. We are tempted to add something of our own, to offer some penance to persuade God to be reconciled with us. But the good news is that God has done everything necessary to reconcile us with Himself out of His limitless graciousness and favor toward us. All He asks is that we believe in the free gift of His love.

While we must struggle against sin, our strongest battle is one of faith: Will we rely on what Jesus has done for us on Calvary? Can we believe that, on the cross, Jesus dealt a death blow to everything that would stand between us and God? We do not have to persuade God to have mercy on us. If we were to try to merit God’s favor, we would diminish what Christ did for us on the cross. Instead, let us ask the Holy Spirit to expand our experience of God’s mercy. Let us ask Him to melt our hearts and move us to lay our sins before Him.

Jakarta, 21 May 2014

A Christian Pilgrim

Tuesday May 20 HIS WILL IS OUR PEACE [JOHN 14:27-31]

IN HIS WILL IS OUR PEACE [JOHN 14:27-31]

“Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you” (John 14:27 RSV).

What peace was yours, dear Jesus? You found no peace as the world gives even in the seclusion of Your small home town. Those who should have known You and loved You most personally turned against You; the mob tried to lynch You – to stone You and throw You headlong from a cliff near Your own home. You, the Prince of Peace, never experienced worldly peace.

How dare we ask You for this blessing? Only because You insisted that we share Your peace. What was Your peace – when You asked the Pharisees, “Why do you seek to kill Me?” What peace did You enjoy – as they picked up rocks to throw at You and You hid Yourself and left the temple? What peace di You feel – as You informed Your twelve closest friends that one of them was on the verge of betraying You? By what pact of peace had Your own chosen people rejected You? What peace comforted You – as You prophesied Your cruel sufferings and violent death?

The one peace which Your every word and action bespoke was the perfect peace of being one in purpose with Your heavenly Father. This was Your peace – not as the world gives it – the peace of a right conscience, the peace of unity with God’s will, the peace of an unsoiled love. We understand to some extent what You mean by Your peace, Jesus, when we speak of “making our peace with God.” By that we mean freeing ourselves from all selfish rebellion and restoring our errant wills to union with our Father’s will.

Yours is the only true peace, Lord Jesus, understood clearly by Dante when in his Paradiso he exclaimed, “In His Will is our peace.”

Jakarta, 20 May 2014

A Christian Pilgrim

Pope Francis' Trip to the Holy Land May 24 - 26

Pope Francis has emphasized that the main purpose of his May 24-26 visit to the Holy Land is ecumenical, but many in Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian territories are hoping he will use his diplomatic savvy to make some strong political statements. Here, in their own words, are what some people are hoping for:

A Syrian refugee in Jordan uses art to help process memories. (CNS/Dale Gavlak)

“We hope he will say a word of faith to the Christians, that he will address us with his words to encourage us like his pope predecessors. The second word (we hope to hear) is of justice and peace, addressing the political situation. We are waiting for a word of justice for Israel and Palestinians alike, and then we will pray as well. He will make out of this wish a prayer for all, Jews, Christians, Muslim and Druze and all who live in the Holy Land so this Holy Land will truly become the Holy Land, a land of holiness, of security and peace and reconciliation to all those who live here.” -- Jerusalem’s retired Latin Patriarch Michel Sabbah

“Everything is political here. We would like for the pope, who is also a high political figure, to use his diplomatic capacity in a situation when the peace process is almost completely halted ... so that world governments will respect international law which should be ... a point of reference for the process.” -- Hind Khoury, Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center executive board member and former Palestinian minister for Jerusalem affairs

“All Palestinians are waiting to welcome the pope. We need a message of justice, of peace of encouragement of hope for the future. We are living in a difficult situation politically with nothing going on but (Israeli) settlements, and with no near perspectives for peace. ... We need ... the pope is to strengthen us and to encourage us.” -- Father Jamal Khader, Beit Jalla seminary rector, Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem

“We hope the pope will bring peace and stability to our troubled region. We long to see Syria return to normal. We Christians want to find encouragement from the Holy Father being in our midst.” -- Abu Reda, Syrian businessman from Damascus living in Jordan

Administrator | May 20, 2014 at 8:38 am | Categories: CNS, Holy Land, papal trip | URL:http://wp.me/peBMy-7TY

Monday May 19 LET HIS SPIRIT GUIDE US [JOHN 14:21-26]

LET HIS SPIRIT GUIDE US [JOHN 14:21-26]

IF we are to be “at home” with the Lord, we also have to follow His rules. To be in an intimate relationship with Him is to become one with Him, and that means being like Him. “Be holy for I am holy” (Leviticus 11:45). In this life, we may never reach the point of complete surrender, but that is what we are called to strive for every day.

We should not fool ourselves into thinking that it is always easy to obey the Lord, but we should also remember His promise to those who do. The entire Gospel of John hinges on the promise: that by coming among us and dying for us, Jesus freely gives us the right to become children of God (John 1:12). He and the Father want to make their dwelling with us, to live with us now and for all eternity! It is because of this staggering love that we should want to please Him in every way possible.

Dear Sisters and Brothers, have you looked in your “room” lately? Try to find a quiet moment when you can be alone with the Lord. Allow Him to take an inventory of your life. Read His word and let it transform you. If necessary, go to confession and receive His mercy and grace. Then, take the next step. If there is something He is asking you to do, just do it! Or if there is something that does not belong in your life, say good-bye to it.

We (you and I) must always remember that the more we know Jesus and the more time we spend with Him, the more we will desire to follow wherever He leads us. Therefore, we must be so thankful that He wants to be with each and every one of us. Let His Spirit guide us in everything we do, say and think.

Jakarta, 19 May 2014

A Christian Pilgrim

Sunday, May 18 JESUS CHRIST: THE WAY TO THE FATHER

JESUS CHRIST: THE WAY TO THE FATHER

(A biblical reflection on THE FIFTH SUNDAY OF EASTER (Year A], 18 May 2014)

Gospel Reading: John 14:1-12

First Reading: Acts 6:1-7; Psalms: Psalm 33:1-2,4-5,18-19; Second Reading: 1 Peter 2:4-9

The Scripture Text
“Let not your hearts be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to Myself, that where I am you may be also. And you know the way where I am going. Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going; how can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but by Me. If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; henceforth you know Him and have seen Him.”
Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and we shall be satisfied.” Jesus said to Him, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you do not know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father in Me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does His works. Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me; or else believe Me for the sake of the works of themselves.
“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will He do, because I go to the Father. (John 14:1-12 RSV)

At the beginning of His public ministry, Jesus had delivered His “Sermon on the Mount” as the program of His Kingdom. At the end of His life He completed and perfected this instruction. There the scene was the horizon, the green hills of Galilee and the shores of its wonderful Sea. Here the sermon saw the closed room of the Last Supper. There the audience was filled with the masses from all different parts of the country, here the apostles were the only witnesses, who He loved with all His heart. He loved them till the end (see John 13:1), till the end of all possibilities, giving them His own flesh and blood, making them priests forever. And still He was not pleased.

When people bid farewell, they often reveal their affections more openly and more forcefully than they do during the years they live together. Love, the deepest power of the soul reveals man’s inmost nature. And there was certainly no moment when the apostles were more willing to accept than after the first Eucharist Celebration on earth. Already, humanly speaking, the time was opportune, since it was the custom among the Jews to join in conversation when the paschal meal was over. And in this sublime and fruitful discourse Jesus opened to His apostles (and to us) the very secrets of His heart.

Jesus had to leave, He had to die. That made the apostles sad. But He told them: “Do not be sad. I have to leave you, I have to die in order to establish the everlasting union between you and God. Thus be consoled by this union of life between you and the Father and Me completed by the Holy Spirit which I am going to accomplish by My death.” And then Jesus went on unfolding the essence of this divine union, the relation to Father and Holy Spirit, the glorious future for Himself and for His own. He spoke about the Holy Spirit, the Church and its members who must be one as Father and Son are one. He talked about future persecutions, the nature of the interior life of the faithful ones, the power of prayer. And above all: This sermon was steeped in the mournful tenderness with which Jesus spoke His departing words.

In today’s Gospel Jesus tells His apostles openly that He will leave them, that He will die. But they must not be sad. They shall rather be consoled because through His death Jesus is going to establish the communion of life between God and the apostles, between God and us. There is no heaven for us without Christ’s death. On the other hand, Christ died for all. “In My Father’s house there are many dwelling places” (John 14:2 NAB). This implies: a dwelling place for many. In typical Jewish fashion Jesus also says that His blood was shed for many (Mark 14:24), which means it was shed for all.

Christ will take us for Himself so that we shall be where He is. Ever since He died for us, there is no separation any more between Him and us. Heaven is guaranteed for us. “Christ is the way to heaven, the way to the Father.” Jesus told Thomas. He is the only way to the Father, He is the only mediator. Nobody can reach the Father but through Jesus. Christ is the WAY because He is the TRUTH, revealing the Father to us in His word. The world would be dark without the Gospel. And as always, His TRUTH is not just theoretical knowledge, but life-giving knowledge. Christ is LIFE because He is the TRUTH.

Philip was not satisfied with Jesus’ remark. “Show us the Father and that will be enough for us,” he insisted (John 14:8 NAB). He wanted a theophany as it was granted to Moses (Exodus 33:18) or to Isaiah (Isaiah 6:1ff). But such a theophany is always the exception, not the rule! The normal way is that we see the Father in Christ’s teaching, or for the contemporaries of Christ: in Christ’s works and miracles. They should prove to everybody that Jesus and the Father are one (John 10:30). But of course, all the signs Christ performed were signs, not proofs for Christ’s divinity, for His oneness with the Father. There must be readiness to accept Christ in faith. Jesus told His disciples:“Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me” (John 14:11).

If somebody does not have this faith no miracles will help. In the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, the rich man in hell asks Abraham to send Lazarus back to earth to his brothers and warn them to live a better life. Otherwise death would also take them by surprise as it happened to the rich man. Abraham answers: “They have Moses and the prophets” (Luke 16:29). The rich man gives back: “No, Father Abraham, if someone would only go to them from the dead, they would repent” (Luke 16:30). But Abraham insists: “If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, they will not be convinced even if one should rise from the dead” (Luke 16:31). These brothers would have all kinds of excuses for not changing their lives. They would take the vision of the risen Lazarus as a fake, as an imagination. For a man of good will the Gospel is enough, Christ’s word in the Gospel is enough to see the Father. It is true: “The words I speak are not spoken of Myself, it is the Father who lives in Me accomplishing His works” (John 14:10 NAB). Christ is the way to the Father through His word of the Gospel. Do we take it seriously?

Since Christ is the way to the Father all roads lead to Christ, even there are people who do not know Him yet or do not know Him perfectly and exactly. Christ has a strong power of radiating and attracting people. Since Christ reveals the Father, He is not the completely different, the alien, the God high above us and remote from us. Rather, He is also close to us, since we can get to know Him: We can have trust and confidence in Him.

The union between God and us, however, will not only start in heaven, but will begin already here on earth. This future here on earth will bring a wonderful activities of the apostles, greater than the activities of Jesus. “The man who has faith in Me will do the works I do, and greater far than these” (John 14:12 NAB). What the apostles and what we after the apostles do here on earth is greater than the works of Jesus because they have greater external splendor. The activities of the apostles and those who follow them will be more visible.

The activities of the apostles will be greater because their activities will not be limited to Palestine any longer as was the work of Jesus according to the will of the Father. The activities of the apostles will be greater also because so far Jesus could help them only as pilgrims. Because of His death (“because I go to the Father” [John 14:12] will be the reason for greater activities of the apostles) and resurrection all the restrictions of the humanity of Christ are gone and He can foster the works of His disciples. Also in this sense He is the way to the Father for His disciples.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, I believe that You are the Way and the Truth and the Life, and no one comes to the Father, but by You. Lord, I want to see Your glory at the Holy Mass today – Your majesty, your beauty, and Your goodness. I know that I do not see it as I ought, so I ask You to open my eyes. Jesus, my Lord and my Savior, let me see You! Amen.

Jakarta, 17 May 2014

A Christian Pilgrim