10-May-2009 Dear Friend,
Everyone has favourites: we like this type of food rather than that type, this game rather than that game, our kind of people rather than those kinds of people. It seems natural that we have favourites. Somehow we tend to believe that God too has His favourites! We also like to think that we belong to the favourites of God. Today we are reminded that all people are God’s favourites! His gifts are for all! Have a grateful weekend rejoicing at being God’s favoured one! Fr. Jude Sunday Reflections: Sixth Sunday of Easter ‘The Spirit of God’s love given to all!’ 17-May-2009 Acts 10: 25-26, 34-35, 44-48; 1 John 4: 7-10; John 15: 9-17; In the first reading from the Acts of the Apostles today we read of the conversion and baptism of the pagan Cornelius and his entire household, which was a turning point in the history of the early church. From then on it became clear that the Church was universal and so it began to spread beyond the confines of Palestine. Through the instrumentality of Peter, Cornelius was converted and he and his household received the gift of the Holy Spirit. When Peter saw that they had received the gifts of the Holy Spirit, he was convinced that God’s gifts were not limited to the Jews and that salvation was open to everyone who believes. God has no favourites, for everyone is a favourite of God, United in Love When Damien the Leper arrived in Molokai, He spent the first few weeks sleeping out under the trees, because he was unable to cope with the stench in the hovels of the lepers. He certainly wouldn’t dare preach to them about God’s love for them because, as they saw it, that would be offensive. He opened his heart to the grace of God and, in no time at all, he came to love them and, through him, they came to believe that God loved them. He smoked a pipe to counteract the stench, but he soon was passing the pipe around for others to have a smoke. He ate food with them from a common bowl, out of which they scooped the food with hands that had no fingers. He caught the disease himself, and he was happy to be able to live and to die for them. Greater love than this no one has. . . Jack McArdle in ‘And that’s the gospel Truth’ The second reading from the letter of John, speaks of the nature of God and our relationship with Him. We are called and challenged to love one another if we say that we are believers, for God is love and if we believe in this God of love, our lives have to be transformed by His love. If we say we believe in God but do not have love in our hearts for our brothers and sisters, we are lying and God’s love and grace is not in us. Love has to be revealed, seen and felt, and this happens when we let his love transform us and make us more loving. Love is seen in our loving actions, the proof of our faith and love of God. God is Love Once there was young man who was having doubts about the existence of God. So one day he paid a visit to a monk who had a reputation for holiness. He asked the monk, ‘Do you believe in God?’ ‘Yes, I do,’ the monk answered ‘On what evidence do you believe?’ the young man asked. ‘I believe in God because I know him,’ came the reply. ‘I experience the presence of God within me every day.’ ‘But how is that possible?’ the youth asked. ‘When we love, we experience God, and doubt vanishes like the early morning mist before the sun,’ replied the monk. The youth thought about this for a while, then asked, “How can I achieve this kind of certainty?’ ‘By acts of love,’ came the reply. ‘Try to love your neighbours; love them actively and unceasingly. As you learn to love them more and more, you will become more and more convinced of the existence of God and the immortality of the soul. This has been tested. This is the true way.’ The monk was only echoing the worlds of St. John: “My dear friends, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love’” Flor McCarthy in ‘New Sunday and Holy Day Liturgies’ Today’s Gospel according to St. John, continues where we left off last Sunday, elaborating on the theme of unity with God and making our lives fruitful like the vine and the branches. The relationship between the Father and the Son is extended to his disciples, who should extend it to others. Love and obedience are mutually dependant, they guarantee union with Christ, and from this union with Christ flows joy. The initiative of the Christian life is with God. It is the Father who starts the process of salvation. We are not called to be slaves of God but friends of the Master. We are friends of God because we share in the life of his son Jesus. Jesus comes and shares everything that he has received from the Father, his Sonship, his life, his Spirit with us. We live his life not because we have earned it or merited it in any way; it is a pure gift of the Father freely given to all who believe in Jesus Christ. Of ourselves, we cannot do anything to be chosen. We did not choose him but He chose us, and will continue to choose us. All we can do is to respond to that choice with gratitude, co-operate with God, and let His Spirit transform our lives and make them fruitful. When we love God and become his pliable instruments, God’s power is at work in our lives so that anything we are of the Father in the name of Jesus will be granted to us. “Today’s liturgy is full of the most simple and yet extraordinary words of love. We feel like remaining silent and allowing these words to take over in our hearts. However, when I speak of love and call God by this name, so many troubling ideas rush into my head! There are so many different ways of loving, ranging from the simple seeking of pleasure, through desire, to love of the most disinterested kind, that is, from the most physical to the most spiritual kinds of loving. As St. Augustine puts it: ‘from the love of self which excludes God to that love of God which excludes self’. By using the unusual word Agape, rather than the word Eros which was more in vogue in the pagan world, St. John tried to express what it is that characterizes Christian love, and the way in which all the ancient values were transformed by it. Christian agape flows essentially from the conviction that God himself has loved us first: ‘God’s love for us’. The crucified God is the very expression of this agape. In the heart of Jesus there was such an energetic love that his outstretched arms continue to embrace the whole of humanity. There was such a capacity for self-giving in him that he gave his life, such a fullness of meaning contained within him, the purpose of his coming was to unite his body to the destiny of humankind. What should Christian loving mean, if not to love others as Jesus has loved us? We should take the initiative where love is concerned and try to see the hidden side of things. We should go out towards those less fortunate than ourselves. We should love right to the end and go on believing in love in spite of every betrayal.” –Glenstal Bible Missal Choosing to Love In everything that he did Jesus kept on choosing to love. He did not choose once upon a time; he chose to love at all times. It drained him. That self-giving quality of divine love is one that can be seen in the lives of many people. One doctor saw it in a way that he can never forget. As a young medical student he watched an unusual operation in a London hospital: It was the first time that this particular brain operation had been carried out in this country. It was performed by one of our leading surgeons upon a young man of great promise for whom, after an accident, there seemed to be no other remedy. It was an operation of the greatest delicacy, in which a small error would have had fatal consequences. In the outcome the operation was a triumph: but it involved seven hours of intense and uninterrupted concentration on the part of the surgeon. When it was over, a nurse had to take him by the hand, and lead him from the operating theatre like a blind man or a little child. That kind of self-giving and concentration on the needs of another reflect something of the quality of God’s love in Jesus. Denis McBride in ‘Seasons of the Word’ Where Love is God is In a certain village in the Swiss Alps there is a small church which has been used by generations of worshippers. Even though it is no work of art, the local people have always had a special affection for it. What is it that makes it so beautiful in the eyes of the people? It is the story of how it came to be built on that particular spot. The story goes like this. Two brothers worked a family farm, sharing the produce and profit. One was married, the other wasn’t. The climate was harsh with the result that grain was sometimes scarce. One day the single brother said to himself, ‘It’s not fair that we should share the produce equally. I’m alone, but my brother has a family to support.’ So every now and then he would go out at night, take a sack of grain from his own barn, quietly cross the field between their houses, and place it in his brother’s bin. Meanwhile, his brother had a similar idea, and said, ‘It’s not right that we should share the produce equally. I have a family to support me but my brother is all alone.’ So every now and then he would go at night, take a sack of grain from his barn, and quietly place it in his brother’s bin. This went on for a number of years. Each brother was puzzled how his supply of grain never dwindled. Then one night they bumped into each other in the dark. When they realized what had been happening, they dropped their sacks, and embraced each other. Suddenly a voice from heaven said: ‘Here I will build my church. For where people meet in love, there my presence shall dwell.’ Flor McCarthy in ‘New Sunday and holy Day Liturgies’ No Greater Love D-Day, June 6, 1994, will stand forever as a day when one of the most daring deeds ever done for freedom took place. In his book D-Day with the Screaming Eagles, George Koskimaki details the heroism of the paratroopers who jumped on that day of destiny. By spearheading the invasion of Normandy, the paratroopers knew that many of them would die from enemy fire in making their drop – either before they jumped, or in the air, or in their landing, or in the open fields. Yet, in spite of knowing that many of them would have to sacrifice their lives, these paratroopers went ahead and did their duty – in fear, but with faith in their cause; not wanting to die, but willing to die for the liberation of Europe. The price paid by these brave men was great. Koskimaki reports that one company jumped with 208 enlisted men and 11 officers, but only 69 enlisted men and 4 officers came back. In a dramatic way these paratroopers demonstrated the meaning of our Lord’s words in today’s gospel: “This is my commandment: love one another, as I have loved you. A man can have no greater love than to lay down his life for his friends.” Albert Cylwicki in ‘His Word Resounds’ Faith Healing In this book The Spirit of Synergy: God’s Power and you, Methodist minister Robert Keck tells how he was racked with pain and confined to a wheelchair by the age of forty. In search of a non-chemical way to manage his pain, Keck explored Christian faith healing, psychic healing, acupuncture, biofeedback and medical hypnosis. Quite suddenly, 80% of his pain disappeared and has not returned. Keck believes that his healing happened when all his research formed a momentary gestalt – that is, a unified peak experience. This was his discovery of synergy, a way of using all the resources of body, mind and spirit for healing and pursuing wholeness. In his holistic approach to health, Robert Keck uses meditative prayer to tap the resources of altered states of consciousness where God’s activity frequently takes place. Keck’s contention is that if God can speak to us through dreams, why not let him heal us through meditative prayer if he so wills? Albert Cylwicki in ‘His Word Resounds’ May we rejoice that God showers His blessings on the good and the bad as well! 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 remodelled web site www.netforlife.net Thank you. Own a website.Get an unlimited package.Pay next to nothing.*Go to http://in.business.yahoo.com/
