NOW YOU SEE HIM NOW YOU DON’T

No, it’s not a ‘hide and seek’ game, we used to play as children. It’s not even a flashback to Baroness Orczy, ‘The Scarlet Pimpernel’. This time Christ seems to be playing at it. But His message to the Apostles is very profound. He is becoming ‘visible’ in preparation for the time when they have to accept Him, when He becomes ‘invisible’.

He has returned, appeared, in a visible form to disappear again. Christ is helping the Apostles to accustom themselves to His visible form so that in time they will accept Him, accustom themselves to see Him with their eyes of Faith whilst visibly, not seeing Him. Then His presence will be more real, that’s what He wants the world to do.

We all recall His remark to Thomas: “Blessed are you, Thomas, for believing because you have seen, but more blessed are those who believe without seeing.” Blessed are we who recognize His invisible presence by Faith.

As Christ had prepared His friends for His Passion, Death and Resurrection, He is now preparing them for His going to the Father and for His new mode of presence. He did tell them that it was beneficial for them that He goes, or else the Advocate will not come. He told them that he was not going to leave them ‘orphans’ but He will come again. He made it quite clear that the Advocate, the Spirit is not going to replace Him, but to restore and renew His presence, His teachings, in the most intimate way.

The Apostles might have not understood, for the time being, such ‘Good News’, that is they, and we, are going to share in the life of the Blessed Trinity. The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit will abide in them, and in us, and the soul will possess the three-in-one within her. Their eyes will eventually open when they receive the Spirit, and are filled with wisdom and courage to (physically) leave their ‘old Jerusalem’ because they have in them the ‘new Jerusalem’. They carry the spirit of Christ throughout the whole world. “I am with you till the end of time.”

God, once used to abide in their Temple, which was destroyed in the year 70, but God is now abiding in His Word, which the Apostles are spreading throughout the four corners of the world. This is the dynamism of the Church, the visible dynamism shown by those who gave up their lives as martyrs. In them was the presence of Christ.

Death does not cut off the Christian from the world, death unites them with Christ.

RUNNING FOR YOUR LIFE … OR !

Who in his right senses would ever walk right in the enemy’s known ambush. You know that a snare has been laid for you, in a particular place, by certain people who have been shadowing you, for three whole years. You know that they mean to drag you with them and murder you. … and you walk right into their snare. I wouldn’t do it, you would certainly run away, even thousands of miles away from home. Yet, Christ did just that.

He purposely went to Jerusalem, where He knew what was waiting for Him. He knew the right moment when He was being handed over to his enemies, to the Jews. And that was the moment when Judas Iscariot left the Upper Room, after accepting the ‘sop’ from his Master, but before they had dined. For that reason Christ declared: “Now, has the Son of Man been glorified.”
“NOW…”, why now? Because Christ knew that Judas was going out to set the ball rolling, down the hill.

On gathering momentum, downhill, the ball becomes a boulder and it will end in an avalanche. Christ knew all this. He had accepted, out of love for mankind, and in obedience to His Father, with open eyes. Yes, the Son of Man has been glorified. Why, one might ask?

Those who gain glory, who merit glory, who deserve glory, whose name is engraved in gold for posterity, are those who sacrifice their lives and shed their blood in defense of others. Theirs is the glory. We welcome back those who survive, good luck to them and God bless them. But the glory is shared by those who are buried in the soil, in some unknown place. Even though we might never know their names. Theirs is the glory for all eternity.

Christ’s road to glory started when the Iscariot decided to sell Him for thirty pieces of silver. In the process, Christ gave glory to the Father, in His submission to the Father’s wish. The Father’s invisible love has been made visible in Christ, God’s love has been manifested in Christ.

Another point to consider in this Gospel Text is Christ’s Testament to His disciples. He started by calling them: “Little children….” I suppose most of His Apostles were of the same age of Jesus, or even older. Yet He called them, ‘little children’. We have to keep in mind the customs and culture of those days. Christ, in all probability was meeting His friends for the last time, so what He had to tell them, He did right now. He was orally giving out, dictating His last Testament. Imagine a dying father on his death-bed, surrounded by his children and giving out his last admonitions, his final advices. Within short he will not see them anymore. It’s now or never.

The same was with Christ, and He did give them one last commandment. Now we say commandment, because it was a ’command’, it was not an opinion or suggestion. They were taxed, were obliged, they were bound to follow His command. HE commanded them to ‘love each other as I have loved you’. The urgency of this commandment is such that we find it repeated over and over again in chapter 15.

Have you ever realized that in those days, no existing culture was ever built on ‘love’? Christ’s idea to build, to launch a religion, a culture, a way of life built on ‘love’ was something unheard of before. It was a new concept. And not simply on love, He did tell them ‘as I loved you’.

Here we have the gist of the so-called ‘Beatitudes’. Of course HE was so right to call the poor in spirit, the meek, the persecuted, the sick, all those who suffer, “Blessed”. It was part of their existing culture to look down upon those who were poor, persecuted, widows, orphans, the meek, the sick, as people who were punished by God. Now Christ is telling them ‘Happy for you’, ‘Blessed are you.’ That is the type, the kind of love Christ had in mind when He commanded His Apostles to love each other. The face of God is MERCY.

Very probable that some of His Apostles expected to hear from their Master that they were going to inherit the power of raising people from the dead, performing miracles, just as He did during His stay with them. No, His legacy was of ‘loving each other as He did love them.’ These other things were, in time, added to them.
Those who love one another on earth will be the creators of each other, because they will be revealing God to each other.

I WAS A BLACK SHEEP, NOW I’M IN HEAVEN

Have you ever wondered why Christ had that ‘bright idea’ to liken us, to .... sheep? He surely knew about all the beautiful and wonderful animals that grace our planet; the mighty, graceful stallion; the beautiful Siberian tigers which even feature in mythology; the elegant, graceful and beautiful swans; the peacocks, with their vibrant iridescent plumage colours; the elegant, regal giraffe, the mighty lion … one could go on forever. No, we were likened to ‘sheep’ … for His fold.

It is worth noting that in the animal kingdom, the ‘sheep’ is probably the most, silly and stubborn of animals. and must be told what to do and where to go, otherwise they'll wander off and get lost. Sheep are timid, fearful, easily panic, dumb stupid, gullible, very vulnerable to fear and frustration, easily influenced by a false leader, vulnerable to mob psychology, easily killed by enemies, constantly need fresh water, fresh pasture, has very little discernment in choosing food or water. Sheep are perverse, stubborn - will insist on their own way, even eating poisonous plants or drinking dirty water, easily "cast" - flipped over on their back, unable to right themselves and will die of starvation if not turned over by shepherd; helpless, don't like to be sheared, and cleaned. They are creatures of habit; get into "ruts", totally dependent on the shepherd for every need.    

Have you enjoyed reading your CV? Great, isn’t it. But one detail is missing; when evening falls, it will be time for the shepherd to take charge of the flock, entrusted to his charge. Whilst grazing, sheep roam about to look for the ideal patches of grass to be nibbled, and very often they separate from their flock. We have to keep in mind that the number of sheep of different flocks might easily number to hundreds. Yet, and here is the first lesson we learn from Christ’s truly ‘bright idea’. The shepherds take it by turn to call out their sheep. Every shepherd has a ‘particular’ call for his sheep, for his followers. In due time all his flock is gathered around him, and they will shortly be on their way to the pen for the night.

All the other shepherds do likewise, and in no time hundreds, sometimes thousands of sheep will find their way following their particular shepherd. And this is the lesson. Fully armed with their CV, these poor creatures, notwithstanding their negative character, have this, one, single benefit which makes us an honour to be in their company. They hear, they listen to their master’s call, voice. Do we ALL listen to our Master’s voice, can we apply that famous label of discography, “His Master’s Voice” ? … Unfortunately, most of us, do not even ‘hear’ the Master’s voice, let alone ‘listen’.

It is very unfortunate that some do not ‘attune’ their receivers, their ears, so that they can pick up every sound sent by the Master. In this world of ours we are continuously bombarded by many a false prophet, by loud jarring sounds, various media which drowns us. We are up against tornadoes, tsunamis and earthquakes which drown the gentle breeze heralding the arrival of the Spirit. Many are becoming accustomed to listening ‘only’ their favourite TV channel, their one and only radio station. Many fall into the trap of believing and accepting ‘new ideas’ by ‘new prophets’. To attune your ears to the voice of the Master, of Christ, we have to read more God’s Love letters, the Holy Scripture. Let’s make it a habit of opening up the Holy Book, especially the New Testament, and choose the line for the day. Print out that line, or scribble it on a piece of paper and put it up on the fridge, where you can see it every moment; put it up on the cooker, in the bathroom, in your bedroom … wherever possible.

The next step is to pray to the Holy Spirit to help you understand and follow that verse. If you are ‘baptised’ the Holy Spirit is within you, pray to Him to awaken in you the gift of understanding. He will sure listen to you. You will be amazed how and when He takes over, you feel that you have become a different person. You will see things clearer, things, which before seemed to be hidden from you,  you will understand what God wants to tell you, you will see people greeting you, you will realise that everyone around you is happy and wearing a smile. You will taste, experience ‘heaven on earth’.  Because the Spirit will take over and free you, He gives you a new life.

It is then that you qualify to become a ‘sheep’ and you will be proud to show your CV, because the most important Qualification you own would be, that ‘You do listen to His voice.’

Let us pray: “Lord Jesus, my Good Shepherd, I admit that I have offended You; Your grace, Your love, Your mercy and Your trust, simply because I was silly and stubborn. I admit at times I behaved as a dumb stupid fool, I was too gullible to follow false prophets. But, thanks to your grace I want to make amends. I ask You, be my Shepherd, accept me in Your flock, make me totally dependent on You. Lead kindly Light amidst the encircling dark. Amen.

IN WHAT CLASS WILL YOUR CHARACTER PLACE YOU?

Are you in the Thomistic class? No wonder, if you find it difficult to believe. But, you have every right to form part of the Church. Are you in the class of the Zebedees? Then you must be a ‘bit’ of a fanatic … remember the ‘fire from heaven’? Yet, you have every right to form part of the Church. If at any time you have denied the Lord, or you are hard-headed, always quick on the draw or hot-headed, then you must be in Peter’s class, notwithstanding, you have every right to form part of the Church. Are you still tied to the traditions of the past? Then you must be in Nathaniel’s class. But you do form part of the Church. If you lead a ‘low profile’ life, unknown by one and all, you must be in the class of the ‘two unnamed disciples’, And, you have every right to form part of His Church.

So the occupants of the boat were ‘seven’, according to the Gospel Text. This number represents ‘perfection’, ‘completeness’. Then, Peter and his six companions must have represented the entire Christian Community, according to the above symbolism. The above imagery is based on the ‘identity or character’ of the seven mentioned disciples. There were, and still are, various types of Christians, who despite their faults and limitations, still have the right to form part of the Church.

In Scripture, seven symbolizes completeness or perfection. On the seventh day God rested from his work, and Creation is finished. Pharaoh in his dream saw seven cattle coming from the Nile. Samson’s sacred Nazirite locks were braided in seven plaits. Seven devils left Mary of Magdala, signifying the totality of her previous possession by Satan; "seven other devils" might enter the purified, but vacant life of a person.
However, on the positive side, there were the seven spirits of God (Rev 3:1). In the seventh year the Hebrew slave was to be freed (Ex 21:2), having completed his time of captivity and service. Every seventh year was a sabbatical year (Lv 25:4). Seven times seven reiterates the sense of completeness. In the Year of Jubilee (at the completion of 7 x 7 years = the 50th year), all land is freed and returns to the original owners (Lv 25:10). Pentecost, the Feast of Weeks, is seven times seven days after Passover. "Seventy," which is literally "sevens" in Hebrew, strengthens the concept of perfection. There are 70 elders (Ex 24:1) in Israel. Israel was exiled to Babylon for 70 years (Jer 25:12) to complete its punishment. "Seventy times seven" (Mt 18:22) reiterates this still further, that the Lord was insisting on limitless forgiveness for a brother’s sin.

The last two Sundays we read about two manifestations of the Lord: one that occurred on Easter Sunday, when Thomas was absent, and the other, eight days later, when Thomas was present. This insistence on the “weekly” rhythm, was how John wanted the Christians to become aware that every time they gathered on the Lord’s Day, to celebrate the Eucharist, the Risen Lord was in their midst.

Now it is clear what Jesus meant when he told his disciples: “Follow me, and I will make you fishers for men.” (Mk 1:17). In fact, here they are at work. Peter is back to do his job, material fishing, but in the theological language of the evangelist, it indicates the apostolic mission of the Church committed to the liberation of people. In the Gospel of Matthew the kingdom of heaven is likened to a net cast into the sea, which collects fish of every kind, and when full it is dragged to shore (Mt 13:47-48). They caught 153 different fishes. BUT, if you look up Revelations, chapter 15, verse3, you will find written: “Great and wonderful are Thy works, O Lord, God Almighty.”

The darkness that accompanies the night has also a negative meaning. “Those who walk at night stumble” (Jn 11:10), “the one who follows me will not walk in darkness” (Jn 8:12) Jesus said. During the night one cannot act or orient oneself (Jn 9:4). Without light, the “fishing” of the disciples cannot get any results.
John wants the Christians of his community to come to understand that Jesus, while being on the “shore,” that is, in the glory of the Father, He is always beside them every day, and continues to resonate his voice, calling, talking, indicating what they should do, irrespective of what class, and what character, they, (we) are.