For your easy reference, the following is a list of weeks and years with their corresponding date:
26 April 2015 – 4th Sunday of Easter Year B
27 April 2015 – Monday of the 4th Week of Easter
28 April 2015 – Tuesday of the 4th Week of Easter
29 April 2015 – Wednesday of the 4th Week of Easter
30 April 2015 – Thursday of the 4th Week of Easter
1 May 2015 – Friday of the 4th Week of Easter
– Saint Joseph the Worker
Life can sometimes pose us with challenges which some of us may find difficult to cope. For example, at some point of our lives, we may be stricken with an illness, due to one reason or another. If we are in such a situation, what would we do? Some may try different doctors, hoping that modern medicine would have some cure somewhere. Some may look for traditional or alternative medicine in the hope that one could be cured. Others may seek the help of medicine men, shamans, and other forms of divination or feng shui, thinking that these may help. But in our pursuit for a cure, how many of us are willing to bring God into the picture? How many of us really do pray earnestly and consistently, asking God to have mercy on us and heal us?
In today’s Gospel, Jesus reassures us: “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God still, and trust in me.” In our efforts to be cured, we may feel anxious, worried, concerned and troubled with what may happen to us. But do we have enough trust in God and in Jesus to heal us? Perhaps the cure may come instantaneously, perhaps it may come slowly, but we should not give up, thinking that God has abandoned us to our predicament. God can heal us according to His time. Are we willing to be patient and let God take care of us?
It is interesting to see how some people try so hard to show how talented, how smart, how great, how clever or how resourceful they are. Such people do so to gain recognition, get the attention of others, perhaps rub shoulders with people who could be of use to them, and also to feed their pride and ego. But if we ponder for a moment: Why do we need to try so hard to show off? What are we trying to prove? Who are we really serving?
In today’s Gospel, Jesus reminds us: “I tell you most solemnly, no servant is greater than his master,
no messenger is greater than the man who sent him. Now that you know this, happiness will be yours if you behave accordingly.” Jesus is inviting us to question our motives in serving others. Sometimes, in our zeal and efforts to serve, we may actually be serving ourselves. This happens when we try to gain glory for what we do, and try to lord it over others, thinking that they are not up to our standards or our expectations.
Let us be mindful of who we are, for we are merely servants and Jesus is the Master. When we acknowledge this fact and do our duty for the glory of God, then happiness will be ours, since we do not need to worry about losing our popularity or prestige. If we really are skillful, talented or capable, we do not need others to praise us or tell us how good we are, since these are gifts from God and we should thank and give praise to God for such gifts.
What does it mean to be a missionary? Some people think that being a missionary means they must go to some remote place where people are primitive and appear to be savages or are followers of some animistic belief, and attempt to bring the good news to them. Sometimes, these people take it upon themselves to go to such places, without being sent or commissioned by a higher authority. But that is not what being a missionary is all about. Being a missionary means one is sent by a church into an area to carry out evangelism or other activities, such as educational or hospital work. The person does not choose where he or she is to be sent, but the church decides (hopefully with promptings from the Holy Spirit). Moreover, being a missionary does not mean only remote areas or areas where people seem primitive are favourable, for one could also be sent to developed areas where people are in need of God just as much as those elsewhere.
In today’s reading, we are told: “One day while they were offering worship to the Lord and keeping a fast, the Holy Spirit said, ‘I want Barnabas and Saul set apart for the work to which I have called them.’ So it was that after fasting and prayer they laid their hands on them and sent them off. So these two, sent on their mission by the Holy Spirit, went down to Seleucia and from there sailed to Cyprus. They landed at Salamis and proclaimed the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews; John acted as their assistant.” From here, we can clearly see that it is the Holy Spirit who sent Barnabas and Saul on a mission. These two did not take it upon themselves to go on mission, but were merely servants and followed what the Holy Spirit commanded them.
Thus, if you think you are being called to be a missionary, be mindful of whether you become one because you have been called by a church and sent to a particular place; or you are trying to become one according to your own interest, own agenda and own purposes. Being a missionary means to be at the service of God according to where the church sees a need, for the ultimate reason is to glorify God, and not for one’s personal gratification or glory.
Some of us seem to think that a particular ministry in church belongs to us. Some try to prevent other people from taking leadership roles in such ministries, and then they complain that it is difficult to bring in new blood to improve on the particular ministry. What these people fail to realise is that the various ministries in church do not belong to anybody. We are serving in such ministries for the glory of God, and not for our own gratification or to show how good or capable we are.
The same principle applies when it comes to preaching the Good News. We are called to preach the Good News to all nations, not just to a certain group of people or to a certain community. In today’s reading, we are told: “Those who had escaped during the persecution that happened because of Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, but they usually proclaimed the message only to Jews. Some of them, however, who came from Cyprus and Cyrene, went to Antioch where they started preaching to the Greeks, proclaiming the Good News of the Lord Jesus to them as well. The Lord helped them, and a great number believed and were converted to the Lord.” As we can see, the reading shows us that the Good News is meant for all, not only are Jews meant to be converted, but even Greeks and others too can be converted.
If this is the case, then we should not try to segregate ourselves according to ethnic group, racial lines, or language. We are supposed to be brothers and sisters in Christ, not brothers and sisters of a particular group in Christ. Are we making effort to come out of our comfort zones and learn to love and live with others as part of God’s family? Or have we still allowed ourselves to be separated, differentiated and segregated, and only care about those within our circle? Has our Christian faith grown to be more of a communitarian one, or are we still individualistic about our Christian faith?
Which voice are we listening to? Which gate are we entering through? Sometimes in life, we may be tempted and lured to listen to the voice of the world and all the splendour it appears to offer. But what we see is merely an illusion, something like an advertisement to make something appear greater or better than it really is. When we fall into listening to such a voice, we may find out that we have been duped. What we heard may not quite turn out to be what we expected. If we are not careful, we may even lose our lives just for the sake of something which is temporary and not up to expectations. Why do we allow ourselves to go astray and end up in a mess?
In contrast, Jesus in today’s Gospel is reminding us that He is the shepherd and the sheep follow Him because they recognise His voice. Jesus also reminds us that He is the gate of the sheepfold. As long as the sheep go through the gate of Jesus, and follow His voice, the sheep are safe. The other voices are thieves and brigands, who come only to steal and kill and destroy; but Jesus has come so that we may have life and have it to the full.
The question is: are we still trying to trust in our own abilities and intuition, thinking that we can make our own choices and continue listening and being influenced by other voices? Or are we willing to be cared for and protected by Jesus by listening to His voice and going through His gate. The choice is ultimately ours to make, but let us be aware of the consequences of our actions, as it could be a matter of life or death.
For your easy reference, the following is a list of weeks and years with their corresponding date:
19 April 2015 – 3rd Sunday of Easter Year B
20 April 2015 – Monday of the 3rd Week of Easter
21 April 2015 – Tuesday of the 3rd Week of Easter
22 April 2015 – Wednesday of the 3rd Week of Easter
23 April 2015 – Thursday of the 3rd Week of Easter
24 April 2015 – Friday of the 3rd Week of Easter
Who would have thought that a person, after having been so wicked, mean and nasty towards Christians, could be converted? Who would have imagined that such a person could be transformed from being an ardent persecutor of the Way to an ardent promoter and defender of the Way? Some of us would have thought that such a person was beyond hope or redemption, and some would have been quite hesitant to believe when they hear that such a person had been converted. After all, news of such a person being converted could have been a trap, designed to flush Christians out from their hiding places so that they could be easily captured and imprisoned.
However, today’s reading shows us that such a conversion is possible. Before Saul could enter Damascus to carry out his evil plan, God intervened and caused Saul to fall onto the ground and became blind. Then Ananias (whose name means that the Lord is gracious or that the Lord is compassionate) was commanded by the Lord to go to Saul, lay his hands on him and give Saul back his sight. Ananias was naturally quite hesitant to do so, since he had heard the terrible things and horror stories of what Saul had done. But the Lord replied, “You must go all the same, because this man is my chosen instrument to bring my name before pagans and pagan kings and before the people of Israel; I myself will show him how much he himself must suffer for my name.” With this assurance from God, Ananias did what he was told. He trusted in God’s care and providence and because of this, we see the depths of the graciousness and compassion of God, and we also see the beginnings of an amazing preacher and defender of the Way, Saul who became St. Paul of Tarsus.
What does this incident tell us? Some of us may think that those who persecute us or created tremendous problems for us would get their just rewards. But sometimes the kind of reward such people would get could be quite different from what we expect. Who knows? Such people may be converted just like Saul, and become champions of the Christian faith. We just need to trust in God’s care and providence, since He work wonders far beyond what we could ever imagine.
If you are given the opportunity to do something to your life which would enable you to live forever, would you seize such an opportunity? Some people in the past had turned to different sorts of medicine, elixers, and meditation techniques, in an attempt to live forever. But the fact of the matter is, our bodies are not designed to live indefinitely. Humanly speaking, it does not matter what we try to do, we will die one day. Seeing that physical death is inevitable, what sort of death should we focus on instead?
In today’s Gospel, Jesus tells us: “I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the desert and they are dead; but this is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that a man may eat it and not die. I am the living bread which has come down from heaven. Anyone who eats this bread will live for ever; and the bread that I shall give is my flesh, for the life of the world.” When we eat this living bread, we are actually nourishing our souls and letting God sustain our spiritual lives. It is this spiritual life which we should watch out for, since our bodies will perish but our soul will live on. Are we neglecting our souls and heading towards a spiritual death away from God? Or have we been doing our part to receive the living bread that Jesus is offering us, and giving us spiritual life that lives forever?
Bread is an essential part of a meal for many people. People eat bread, sometimes with different kinds of vegetables, meat and fruits. Sometimes, bread is eaten with different kinds of jam, butter, margarine, peanut butter and other types of spreads. In some cases, bread could be eaten on its own, and some even dip pieces of bread into a cup of coffee, milo, chocolate or some other beverage, or even dip into some form of mixture or sauce. In Malaysia, we can find bread in other forms, such as chapati, roti canai (also known as “roti prata”), naan and thosai. When dipped in dal curry, fish curry or other kinds of curry and sauces, the taste and flavour is enhanced further.
But as we would notice, the kind of bread we eat is nourishing only to our bodies. What about the kind of bread which would nourish our spiritual side, our soul? In today’s Gospel, Jesus tells us: “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never be hungry; he who believes in me will never thirst. But, as I have told you, you can see me and still you do not believe.” The bread which we get for a meal will never satisfy and nourish us completely, since we would become hungry and thirsty again after a while. Jesus is offering us Himself, the bread of life, the kind of bread which would satisfy us both body and soul, provided that we come to Him and believe in Him.
Each day, Jesus is inviting us to partake in this bread of life, the Eucharist, His body, which is real food and real drink, to strengthen us and help us progress in our spiritual journey. It seems strange that there are some who make so much effort to find other forms of bread which satisfies us only temporary, when Jesus is offering us the best bread available and moreover, free of charge. Are we still insisting in going after only worldly bread, or are we making more effort to regularly partake in that heavenly bread for the betterment of our soul?
