12-May-2017 Dear Friend, All of us have had the experience of being lost or losing our sense of direction some time or another in life. Besides the experience of losing one's way, we are sometimes at our wit's end when an unforeseen event or tragedy hits us. We are in these times forced to ask ourselves the questions: "Where am I going?",“What do I do?” ,“Who will show me the way?” I would like to reflect on this theme in the context of the Gospel. Have a discerning weekend! -Fr. Jude Sun. Ref: 5th Sunday of Easter “Jesus is the way, the truth and the life! Let’s follow Him!”14-May-2017Acts: 6: 1-7; 1 Peter 2: 4-9; John 14: 1-12;
In the first reading we are reminded that the early church was not without its share of domestic problems like the ones we have in our own times. The Hellenistic group complained that their poor widows were being neglected in the daily distribution of food. Another problem was that some people were so overworked that they were neglecting other more important duties. The solution was the appointment of deacons who would be responsible for the food distribution task. The way the early Church resolved the problem showed the Church as an organization with an atmosphere of love. What is important is that problems have to be faced openly by discussion and adjustment done in a spirit of prayerful discernment always motivated by Christian values. We’re on our wayGandhi’s ‘Dandi March’ initiated on March 12, 1930, is a landmark in India’s freedom struggle. Gandhi walked with 78 satyagrahis for 23 days from Sabarmati Ashram to the coastal town of Dandi, about 380km way, in defiance of the salt tax imposed by the British. In his ‘My Experiment with Truth’ Gandhi writes that he instructed people “to make salt along the seashore wherever it was most convenient and comfortable.” The 75th anniversary of the event was commemorated in 2005 with Indian and foreign yatris retracing this historic ‘way’. Indeed, great Indian leaders have imprinted wondrous ‘ways’ on the sands of time. –“I am the Way, the Truth, the Life” asserts Jesus. Jesus’ way is an inclusive path of love, service and self-sacrifice animated by ‘right thinking’, and ‘right action’ (Life).Francis Gonsalves in ‘Sunday Seeds for Daily Deeds’ The Gospel contains the farewell discourse of Jesus and is tinged with sadness as well as advice. "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God and trust in me. There are many rooms in my Father's house and I am going to prepare a place for you. You know the way to the place where I am going." Jesus is going but he does not want to leave his disciples, he desires to take them with him, hence he reminds his disciples: "You know the way to the Father.” The "way" is obedience to the teachings Jesus gave and the manner in which he lived his life. The earlier name the Christian community gave itself was "Followers of The Way"; it was not until later, at Antioch, that they were called Christians. But the apostles tended to forget the way. In reply to Thomas' question "How can we know the way?" Jesus does not give a handbook that will answer all their questions, nor does he hand them a book detailing every law. There are no road maps into the future. He does not say "I have a way," nor "I will show you the way." He simply points to himself and declares who he is as a memorable summary of the good news: "I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one can come to the Father except through me." He alone is the gateway to God, the access to the Father. Jesus is the face of God, the heart of God, the word of God. Philip still does not get it. He asks Jesus to "show us the Father" hoping for some extraordinary vision and Jesus replies that whoever has seen him has seen the Father. Jesus stuns them all by claiming that in seeing Him they have seen the heavenly Father. The one mission of Jesus was to reveal the Father. He alone reveals the Father in the 'way' he lives, in the 'truth' of his words and in his 'life'. He reveals the Father in the 'ordinary' things of life, in 'routine' events and 'small' people. The Gospel passage ends with Jesus' renewed call to a deepened faith in Him if not in his words then in his works. He promises that those who believe in him will do the same works that he has done and even more. We know the works of God are to give life and to restore meaning in life or enrich life's meaning. This is our challenge today, to engage in life-giving works rather than death-dealing ones. Be the fuse!On November 26, 1965, Time magazine had a story that can give us all food for thought. An electrical fuse about the size of a bread box failed, resulting in 80,000 square miles along the US-Canadian border being plunged in darkness. All the electrical power for that entire region passed through that single fuse. Without that fuse no power could reach any point in that vast region. Like that fuse box each of us has a tremendous potential for good or evil, which can affect a multitude. Jesus promises us believers all his power and even more. All we have to do is walk the way he walked and be Jesus to a waiting world today! Jesus the Way!All of us have some experience of getting lost and having to ask for directions. We have approached a stranger and asked, “How do I get to such and such a place?” There are three common responses. The person says: “Sorry. I can’t help you. I am a stranger around here.” Needless to say, that’s no help to us. Or the person proceeds to give us a set of complicated directions that leaves us totally confused. That’s not much help either. Or we might be lucky enough to meet a kind person who says, “I know where it is. But it’s a bit complicated. I’ll tell you what. Just follow me and I’ll take you there.” Here the person is not content to give us directions and leave us to it. Here is a person who is willing to be our guide. It’s a tonic to meet someone like that. – The way to God is the most important way of all. It’s the way that has baffled many. At the Last Supper the apostle, Thomas, asked Jesus, “Show us the way to the Father.” Jesus might have given a set of complicated directions. He didn’t. He did something better. He said, “I am the way. No one can come to the Father except through me.”Flor McCarthy in ‘New Sunday & Holy Day Liturgies’ An eternal homeIt is impossible to exaggerate the importance of home. But we have to go out into the world to know how lovely our own home is. But imagine if we had no home to go to. Nelson Mandela told of how during the long years of his imprisonment on Robbin Island he had a recurring nightmare. He said: “In that dream, I had been released from prison –only it was not Robbin Island but a jail in Johannesburg. I walked outside the gates into the city and found no one to meet me. In fact there was no one there at all, no people, no cars, no taxis. I would then set out on foot towards Soweto. I walked for many hours before arriving in Orlando West, and then turned the corner towards No. 8115. Finally, I would see my home, but it turned out to be empty, a ghost house, with all the doors and windows open but no one there at all.” Truly, it is impossible to exaggerate the importance of home. When things fail, when we feel tired and lonely, there is always home to go to. It is not only on earth that we need a home. We also need a home to go to when death brings down the curtain on the day of our life. Without such a home life would be a journey to nowhere. For believers, we spend our lives searching for God, and groping our way towards God. To die is to go to God, and to go to God is to go home.Flor McCarthy in ‘New Sunday & Holy Day Liturgies’ He wanted to be a dropout!It was 1950. The old cardinal of Naples was in his office and seated before him was a young priest who was asking for permission to become a drop-out. He wanted to live on the streets of Naples with the alley boys. The old Cardinal could not take it. He knew what life was in Naples: 200,000 out of work; young boys hanging on the streets because their parents were without work. They lived by stealing, begging and black marketeering. They slept on the streets and dodged the police. This young priest, Mario Borelli, wanted to help them, give them a roof over their heads, and a bit of human warmth. That the cardinal could understand. But why must the priest become a drop out himself? Mario knew exactly why: "If I go to these boys as a priest they will spit in my face. They are fearfully distrustful." After ten days the Cardinal approved. Mario went on the streets. He begged, collected cigarette butts and became a vagrant. Gradually he won the hearts of those youngsters. When he found a primitive shelter his youth went with him. They weren't able to do otherwise -they were drawn to him. Mario had something irresistible about him. They had no word for it because it was something they had never before experienced. How could they know that word was love? Perhaps we can now better understand why God became man. He wanted to be one with us! Living life to the fullHenry David Thoreau was an American writer and philosopher. At one point of his life he decided to take time out. He went to live for two years in a shack in the woods in Maine. In his book, Walden, he tells us why. He says, “I went into the woods to confront the essential facts of life, lest when I come to die I should discover that I had never lived.” We should live in such a way that we won’t look back and regret that we had wasted our life. G.K. Chesterton talks about how sad it is when someone dies ‘with all the music inside him.’ We could add: how sad it is to die, with all the life, all the love, and all the joy inside one. Life is generous to those who seize it with both hands. Thoreau says, “Fear not that your life will end; fear rather, that it may never have begun.Flor McCarthy in ‘New Sunday & Holy Day Liturgies’ Have you enjoyed life?There is a delightful Spanish legend that goes like this. When people arrive at the gate of heaven seeking to enter, St. Peter asks them a strange question. He says to each one, “Tell me this. Have you taken advantage of all the earthly joys which God in his goodness made available to you while you were on earth?” If a person answers, “No I haven’t,” Peter shakes his head sadly and says, “Alas, my friend, I can’t let you in –not yet at any rate. How can you be ready for the heavenly joys if you have not prepared yourself for them through the medium of earthly ones? I shall be obliged to send you back down to earth until you learn better.”Flor McCarthy in ‘New Sunday & Holy Day Liturgies’ May Jesus be our way to fullness of life! Fr. Jude Botelho [email protected] PS. The stories, incidents and anecdotes used in the reflections have been collected over the years from books as well as from sources over the net and from e-mails received. Every effort is made to acknowledge authors whenever possible. If you send in stories or illustrations I would be grateful if you could quote the source as well so that they can be acknowledged if used in these reflections. These reflections are also available on my Web site www.NetForLife.net Thank you.
