Monday 13 May 2013
Gospel
John
16:29-33
Take courage, I have
conquered the world.
The disciples said to Jesus, “Now you are
talking plainly, and not in any figure of speech. Now we realize that you know
everything and that you do not need to have anyone question you. Because of
this we believe that you came from God.” Jesus answered them, “Do you believe
now? Behold, the hour is coming and has arrived when each of you will be
scattered to his own home and you will leave me alone. But I am not alone,
because the Father is with me. I have told you this so that you might have
peace in me. In the world you will have trouble, but take courage, I have
conquered the world.”
I am not Alone
The disciples do not
realise what trial is about to come upon them. They have confidence in themselves
but we need to be dependent on Jesus as he on the Father. At the crucial moment,
they will fail their Master and run for their lives. It will not be a
cold-blooded failure but they will not have the strength to stand up to the
situation. Jesus, on the contrary, lives in union with his Father. He is not
alone. His confidence comes from God. There was no peace for Jesus in this
world. His life was a war with Satan and now the crucial battle has come. He will
face all Satan can do to him without his disciples but not alone. His Father
will be with him. By believing in Jesus, we join in this battle against Satan
and sin. What kind of peace do you look for?
Tuesday 14 May 2013
Gospel
John
15:9-17
No one has greater
love than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.
Jesus said to his disciples: “As the Father
loves me, so I also love you. Remain in my love. If you keep my commandments,
you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and
remain in his love.
“I have told you this so that my joy might be in you and your joy might
be complete. This is my commandment: love one another as I love you. No one has
greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my
friends if you do what I command you. I no longer call you slaves, because a
slave does not know what his master is doing. I have called you friends,
because I have told you everything I have heard from my Father. It was not you
who chose me, but I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that
will remain, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give you.
This I command you: love one another.”
To
Love is to give Oneself
Jesus is our religion. Without him, there
is no Christian religion. Our religion is to love Jesus and commit ourselves to
him. Our religion is to obey Jesus. We do this because of our love for him. Our
service is the measure of our faith. God is love and Jesus is God in human
form. He is the human expression of God’s love. His desire is that those who
believe in him become the human expression of the God’s love. He wants us to
love as he does. This is a love that sacrifices for the good of others even to
the point of death. We should measure the practice of our Catholic Faith by the
love we have for others. The more we show our love for others the closer we
grow to Jesus. In this, we become his friends. Do you see your religion like
this?
Wednesday 15 May 2013
Gospel
John
17:11-19
That they may be one
just as we are one.
Lifting up his eyes to heaven, Jesus prayed,
saying: “Holy Father, keep them in your name that you have given me, so that
they may be one just as we are one. When I was with them I protected them in
your name that you gave me, and I guarded them, and none of them was lost
except the son of destruction, in order that the Scripture might be fulfilled.
But now I am coming to you. I speak this in the world so that they may share my
joy completely. I gave them your word, and the world hated them, because they
do not belong to the world any more than I belong to the world. I do not ask
that you take them out of the world but that you keep them from the evil one.
They do not belong to the world any more than I belong to the world. Consecrate
them in the truth. Your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I sent
them into the world. And I consecrate myself for them, so that they also may be
consecrated in truth.”
Christian
Unity, the Prayer of Christ
Jesus founded one Church. He wanted it to
remain one. His disciples were to be united in fellowship, faith, and worship.
In New Testament times, they put fellowship first. Even when there were great
disputes about circumcision and following the Law of Moses the first Christians
preserved their fellowship. They kept their unity at whatever cost. However, it
has not always been that way. Christians are divided into numerous autonomous
groups. This is against the will of Jesus as expressed in his parting prayer.
It is then sinful. Every Christian must both pray and strive that all believers
be one in fellowship, faith and worship. The world has always been hostile to Jesus
and Christians must give united witness to their belief in Jesus as Lord and
Saviour. Are you concerned about the lack of unity among Christians? Do you
strive as far as you can to create Christian unity?
Thursday 16 May 2013
Gospel
John
17:20-26
That they may be
brought to perfection as one.
Lifting up his eyes to heaven, Jesus prayed,
saying: “I pray not only for these, but also for those who will believe in me
through their word, so that they may all be one, as you, Father, are in me and
I in you, that they also may be in us, that the world may believe that you sent
me. And I have given them the glory you gave me, so that they may be one, as we
are one, I in them and you in me, that they may be brought to perfection as
one, that the world may know that you sent me, and that you loved them even as
you loved me. Father, they are your gift to me. I wish that where I am they also
may be with me, that they may see my glory that you gave me, because you loved
me before the foundation of the world. Righteous Father, the world also does
not know you, but I know you, and they know that you sent me. I made known to
them your name and I will make it known, that the love with which you loved me
may be in them and I in them.”
All
to be One in Christ
Jesus prays for all Christians. They should
be one body. This unity is not just a unity by agreement, as the unity of the
world, but the unity that exists in the Trinity. We are to be one because we
all have the same life within us. This is the life of God, which comes to us
through the Holy Spirit. If Christians spoke with one voice, prayed with one
mind and loved with one heart then their witness to Christ would be
irrefutable. Jesus prays that all Christians may share his glory in heaven.
Eternal life is to live with Jesus and to live in the indescribable love of
God. All the saved will be one in Jesus regardless of their denomination on
earth. More important than my denomination is “Do I know, love and serve Jesus
wholeheartedly?” Do desire unity by loving and respecting who believe in Jesus?
Friday 17 May 2013
Gospel
John
21:15-19
Feed my lambs, feed
my sheep.
After Jesus had revealed himself to his
disciples and eaten breakfast with them, he said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of
John, do you love me more than these?” Simon Peter answered him, “Yes, Lord,
you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my lambs.” He then said to
Simon Peter a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Simon Peter
answered him, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Tend my
sheep.” He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?”
Peter was distressed that Jesus had said to him a third time, “Do you love me?”
and he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.”
Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep. Amen, amen, I say to you, when you were
younger, you used to dress yourself and go where you wanted; but when you grow
old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you
where you do not want to go.” He said this signifying by what kind of death he
would glorify God. And when he had said this, he said to him, “Follow me.”
Condition
to be a Pastor
At the Last Supper Peter was full of
untested self-confidence in his love for Jesus. He said,”I am willing to lay
down my life for you”. Sadly, the events of that night proved how little Peter
knew himself. Now things are different. Peter loves Jesus but cannot give
unqualified commitment. He knows his weakness. Gone is his boasting. Jesus
gently gives Peter the opportunity to make up publicly for his threefold
denial. He professes his love three times. Three times Jesus appoints him to
lead and guide his sheep. The sheep belong to Jesus, not to Peter. Jesus is the
shepherd. In his absence, Peter will care for them in his name and in his way:
he will give his life for them. Love for Jesus is the condition for being a
pastor: more love for Jesus more love for his sheep. How do you pastor the
sheep given you?
Saturday 18 May 2013
Gospel
John
21:20-25
This is the disciple
who has written these things and his testimony is true.
Peter turned and saw the disciple following
whom Jesus loved, the one who had also reclined upon his chest during the
supper and had said, “Master, who is the one who will betray you?” When Peter
saw him, he said to Jesus, “Lord, what about him?” Jesus said to him, “What if
I want him to remain until I come? What concern is it of yours? You follow me.”
So the word spread among the brothers that that disciple would not die. But
Jesus had not told him that he would not die, just “What if I want him to
remain until I come? What concern is it of yours?”
It is this disciple who testifies to these things and has written them,
and we know that his testimony is true. There are also many other things that
Jesus did, but if these were to be described individually, I do not think the
whole world would contain the books that would be written.
The Heart of God in the Heart of a Man
We have come to the
end of John’s Gospel. It is the flower of the community founded by the beloved
disciple. He was so close to Jesus that he rested on his breast at the Last
Supper. The members may have thought he would not die and now had to come to
terms with his passing. The beloved disciple has given us deep insights into
the heart of God, manifested in Jesus. We have come met a God who does not
think of himself but only of us. He is our Shepherd. He knows each of us by
name and gives his life for us. He underwent his Passion joyfully that we may
have life in abundance. As he died, he handed over his Spirit to us. Is
religion for you practices, rules and avoiding sin or knowing and pleasing your
God, in Christ, who loves and longs for you?
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