Words of Encouragement

There is an incident in St. John Chrysostom’s life where he was summoned before the Roman emperor Arcadius and threatened with banishment, he replied, “You cannot banish me, for the world is my Father’s house.” “Then I will kill you,” exclaimed the emperor angrily. “No, you cannot,” retorted Chrysostom, “because my life is hidden with Christ in God.” “Your treasures shall be confiscated,” the emperor replied grimly. “Sir, you can’t do that because my treasures are in heaven as my heart is there.” “I will drive you from your people and you shall have no friends left,” threatened the emperor. “That you cannot do either, Sir, for I have a Friend in heaven who has said, ‘I will never leave you or    forsake you.’”

The Gospel passage for the 5^th Sunday of Easter from John 14:1-12 is Last Supper Discourses. Although the disciples still did not fully grasp what was about to take place, Christ was preparing their hearts by giving them encouragement and consolation in the face of their cowardice, fear, disloyalty, and disillusionment as he was arrested, and crucified. They had all kinds of questions. Jesus patiently answered their questions. Jesus gave them comfort and told them not to be troubled by their heart, don’t be afraid, just to trust in him.

Jesus promised them that “In my Father's house there are many dwelling places. If there were not, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you?” Jesus was talking about the fact that he's going to die, be raised, and ascend into heaven; and then one day he will return in the second coming to take his people to be with him. In John 2:16, while he cleansed the Jerusalem temple, he said, “Take these out of here, and stop making my Father’s house a marketplace” and in Revelation 21:22, hinting the heavenly Jerusalem. We see in Hebrews 21:22, the eternal dwelling place. Jesus promised the disciples eternal life.

Thomas asked Jesus, "Master, we do not know where you are going; how can we know the way?" Jesus told him, “I am the way and the truth and the life.” In reply to Thomas, Christ reminded them that the way to the Father is by knowing Christ and living up to his teaching and example. He is the only way because he is the revelation of the love of the    Father and perfectly revealed for each one of us to achieve holiness and everlasting life. We read in Acts 4:12, “There is no salvation through anyone else, nor is there any other name under heaven given to the human race by which we are to be saved.” As St Augustine famously wrote, "Our hearts are restless until they rest in God."

Then Philip told Jesus, "Master, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us." In Colossians 1:15, Jesus is the visible image of the invisible God, in John 1:15 “He Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us” in 4:24, “God is Spirit, and those who worship him must worship in Spirit and truth” and 3:16 says that through faith we see how Christ’s entire life shows us the heart of the Father and his love for the world.

Jesus came to bring us salvation and offer his life as a ransom for us. We are not capable of paying it in full. So, he took our debt and paid it in full on the Cross. He gave the Eucharist to remain with us and at the second coming he will take us to the heavenly banquet to remain with him. While we are here, we need to possess Jesus the way, the truth, and the life. He gave us the means through the church: a) By actively participating in the Eucharistic celebration and properly receiving the body and blood of Christ in Holy Communion and other sacraments. b) Through daily prayer and daily reading of the Word of God. c) By following the guidance of the life-giving Spirit of God and sharing the faith with others.

We are in years of Eucharistic Revival and maintenance of mission. Like Thomas and Philip, we must dive deeper to know the faith and celebrate the Eucharist. Every time we gather for the Eucharist, we are fed and sent out to proclaim the Risen Lord. As part of the Maintenance to Mission, I formed an Evangelization team in our cluster. In our meeting, we were discussing how we can make our cluster community vibrant. As part of our discussion, we watched a video presentation from Fr. James Mallon. In the video, he explained one of his experiences. He said at the age of sixteen, when he went to the Crosio gathering for a weekend, it was a joy-filled gathering. Everybody talks to each other, with hospitality, and fellowship. When he came for the weekend Mass, no one talks to each other, before the final song is over people started to head out. Something is missing here, don’t you think? A question for us to ponder is, what are we missing? What is our experience? How can we change?