The Holy Spirit is our exit strategy

Pentecost Sunday

Even though the first reading speaks of the Pentecost event as a breaking out and breaking forth from enclosed spaces, comfort zones, secure safe houses and psychological prisons, the gospel takes us back to the scene on the evening of that first Easter Sunday. It’s a very different picture. The motley crew of survivors are holed up in the Upper Room by their own choice and not because they have been subjected to some draconian lockdown enforced by the authorities.

The juxtaposition of the readings is meant to highlight the radical transformation that has taken place after 50 days. On that first Easter Sunday, we see a group of frightened individuals. Their master, teacher and friend has been brutally killed and they wonder who will be next. They are hiding from an unseen, unpredictable, indiscriminate, deadly threat. For their own good and that of others, they are not stepping outside. They have no idea how long they should isolate like this, and they have no ‘exit strategy’ for ending their self-isolation together.

But the scene of the first Pentecost is so radically different. You would never have imagined that these were the same men who cowered in the safety of that room for 50 days. What happened within the span of those 50 days? Day 1, the Risen Lord appears to them in the flesh and continues to appear to different individuals and groups for the next 40 days. Day 40, our Lord ascends to heaven in their sight, a confirmation that He will now be present to them in a more lasting and vibrant way. Then Day 50 comes. As Jews gather in Jerusalem for one of the great pilgrimage festivals to commemorate the gifting of the Law to Moses; the Holy Spirit, promised by Jesus, is finally given to this community of believers and its effect is utterly staggering. The event sends out ripples to the ends of the earth and this is still felt until today. The gift and descent of the Holy Spirit is a power beyond human imagination. It bestows a strength that is far beyond the contingencies and consequences of any persecution, war, pestilence, or any other threat to the human family. The Pentecost event has no equal except for the Incarnation and the Resurrection. What lesson, then, could Pentecost have for our world in the throes of this COVID-19 pandemic?

Though there is some easing of the lockdown with a few people returning to work; our churches, our cinemas, our stadiums, our schools and colleges and to a large extent, our shopping centres are empty. Where has everyone gone? We are in our homes, fearful of an unseen enemy, wondering when it will end and hoping for some good news. We are worried about ourselves, our loved ones and our future. That is why the gospel story has a special resonance for us this year. Though the reasons differ, we find ourselves in a similar situation behind locked doors this entire season of Easter (which began in Lent). Fear of the disease and charity for one’s neighbour have compelled us, and all people of goodwill, to nobly isolate ourselves and dutifully observe self-quarantine.

Even though staying home, may keep this coronavirus out, nothing could prevent our Lord from breaking into our most secure spaces. On the first Easter Sunday, the locked doors of the Upper Room had no bearing on the Lord’s testimony. We are told that the Risen Christ went to His apostles, passing through locked doors and any presumed barriers, and joyfully announced to them the liberating declaration: “Peace be with you.”  In similar fashion, on this Pentecost Sunday, as individual Christians and families are in their homes, united by livestreamed Masses, but away from the physical gatherings of their regular faith communities, the Lord Jesus passes through any distance, and declares to each and every one of His followers: “Peace be with you.” Our Risen Lord who was killed on Good Friday, buried in the tomb for three days, and rose again on Easter Sunday, shows us that the sufferings and sorrows of this world have no authority over Him or the workings of His grace. The Holy Spirit which He now shares with us will also make us invincible and undefeatable in the face of the greatest threats.

In our world today, COVID-19 appears to be an unassailable enemy that has unrestrained power to provoke fear, anxiety, confusion, and to cause pain and death. And like death itself, COVID-19 seems unstoppable. In this arena, however, our Lord gives us the Holy Spirit and shows us His power. He once again reminds us of the authority that comes from above. The Lord summons us to a life of hope and calls us to be instruments of peace, messengers of His gospel, and witnesses of the power of His Spirit in the world. Nothing, not even COVID-19 has changed that or can change that.

In the Upper Room, the Lord concludes His time with the apostles by telling them, “As the Father sent me, so am I sending you.” After giving them this command, He breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” Today, this same commission is once again given to every Christian. The Lord affectionately breathes on each of us, as He sends the Holy Spirit upon us. And the Spirit comes as a help and strength to complete our mission of hope and peace. Our task is to break from the inertia, accept the work, and to do it as best we can. With such faith and the power of the Spirit, we can fling wide our doors and share our faith again with those whom we can see and touch. It is important to be able to touch and hold others, their bodily presence is just as important as their emotional and spiritual presence. During a time of pandemic, however, we have been taught to socially distant ourselves, to avoid all physical contact with others. Let us pray for the day that we will have the ability to touch others again and to be touched by them.

When will we get to this point? Do we have to wait for a cure or a vaccine? I can’t predict when this will happen but what I do know is that there is already an exit strategy, it is already happening now. If there is anything which can defeat this pandemic and whatever other crisis which life throws at us, it is this - the gift of the Holy Spirit to sustain us during life’s journey and the promise of the resurrection at our journey’s end. This is truly the Good News for all of us, at home or out and about, inside or out, now and always.

Sharing in Christ's Suffering, Sharing in His Glory

Seventh Sunday of Easter Year A

If you have been following the Last Supper discourse in the gospel texts for the last few weeks, you would have heard how Jesus had been preparing His disciples for His departure. But today, He is no longer addressing them. He turns His attention to the Father but allows His disciples and us to eavesdrop. In this intimate prayer of Jesus, we are let in on this deep penetrating talk going on in the Godhead. It is God speaking to God: God the Son speaks to God the Father.

Our Lord tells the Father and says that the “hour has come”; the hour where the Father will glorify the Son and the Son will glorify the Father. What is this hour of glory? In John’s gospel, you will hear our Lord mention ‘the hour’ many times. He told His mother Mary in 2:4 that His hour had not yet come. In 4:21-24 He told the Samaritan woman that an hour is coming when true worship will occur. Later, the authorities tried to arrest Him at the Feast of Tabernacles but they couldn’t because His hour had not yet come. And after declaring Himself to be the Light of the World, they tried to nab Him but no one could lay a hand on Him because His hour had not yet come. In the first 11 chapters of John’s gospel anytime the hour comes into view, it’s always spoken of with a reference to the future. But from Chapter 12 onwards, the hour finally arrives. His hour had now come. Our Lord knows that this hour is inevitable because it is the culmination of His mission, but He is also deeply troubled by it. But today, our Lord is ready to face His hour. He now prays to the Father to bring on that “hour of glory.”

What does He mean when He describes this hour as the “hour of glory”? When scriptures speak of the “glory of the Lord”, it is referring to a perceptible utterly awesome manifestation of God Himself insofar as He is revealed in His majesty and power. In the Old Testament, the glory was manifested on Mount Sinai, in the cloud filled with booming thunder (Exod 24:17), and the glory of God filled the tent of meeting or the tabernacle (40:43). When King Solomon built the Jerusalem Temple, the glory of the Lord filled it (1 Kings 8:11). Ezekiel had a vision of the glory of the Lord leaving Solomon’s temple before it was destroyed (Ezek 10:18-19; 11:22-23) and then returning to dwell in a new temple in the end times (Ezek 32:1-5).

But our Lord Jesus Christ redefines the word “glory” (in Greek “doxa”). Rather, than a spectacular awe-inspiring theophany, His glory will be found hidden within that wretched ugly instrument of torture and execution, the cross. Here is the greatest paradox of our faith, the glory of God would be shown forth on the instrument used for His humiliation. The cross reveals the love of the Father, who gives His all, His Son, for the world’s salvation, and the love of the Son, who gives His all, His life, in a perfect act of love and obedience to the Father. There is not a single hint of vain self-glorification in this prayer of Jesus. There is only a mutual total giving of self, between the Father and the Son. As He lifts His eyes to heaven to pray, we see before us, both the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world and the perfect High Priest who offers the perfect sacrifice of Himself on the altar of the cross.

The Jews, the world and many of us would be stunned by this revelation: How could Jesus be glorified on the cross which was a symbol of His humiliation?  If the Devil had any power over us, the cross of Christ would have been the devil’s trophy of victory, the revelation of darkness overcoming light, the end of hope. For His enemies, the cross was the end of His public ministry. After His crucifixion, His followers were scattered, wandering in fear, falling into despair, and empty of all hope. Their love had dissolved into meaninglessness.

But just as our Lord gives us a new twist to the concept of “glory”, He redefines the meaning of the cross for all of us. From the cross Jesus greets us. He gathers to Himself all our suffering, all our pain. He forgives all our sins. From the cross, He establishes the Church as the community of faithful that would both carry on His mission of salvation and make known the presence of His Spirit. From His place of crucifixion, Golgotha, the Place of the Skull, Jesus’ blood pours out onto the very place where Adam is buried, and the blood of Christ redeems Adam and all his descendants. At His death, we come to recognise the Cross as Jesus’ throne, the Cross is revealed as the Tree of Life where He nourishes us with the sacraments and grants us eternal life. At His crucifixion, Jesus reveals the Father in all His resplendent glory, and the Father reveals the Son in all His majesty. On the cross, our Lord “finished the work” which the Father had given Him, the work of our redemption. For this reason, His death on the cross is indeed His “hour of glory.”

Jesus’ hour of glory ultimately changes our entire vision of glory and suffering. No one wants to suffer. No one wants humiliation. In a way, all of us want, secretly or otherwise, some form of affirmation, some form of approval, some form of recognition. In other words, we want the glory, not the shame.  But then, our Lord shows us that true glory is hidden under the guise of humiliation. Our Lord includes us in the exchange of glory between the Father and Him. He offers us His cross, the true means to glory. St Peter reminds us in the second reading that when we suffer for being a Christian, we are actually participating “in the sufferings of Christ” and we should “be glad, because you will enjoy a much greater gladness when His glory is revealed.” For Jesus and for His followers, the way to fruitfulness lies through death, the way to gain lies through loss, the way to glorification lies through humiliation.

If any of us had a choice, we would certainly choose to avoid suffering and humiliation. But the truth of the matter is this: Everyone will have trouble. Everyone will suffer. However, not everyone will share in Christ's sufferings. This is the difference we Christians bring into the equation. There is a difference between, simply suffering, and sharing in Christ's sufferings. To simply suffer is pointless. Only by sharing in Christ’s sufferings, can we derive meaning from it, can we find hope in it, and can we see the cross as the true means to glory. Because of Christ’s suffering and death on the cross, we now know that death is not the end, it is merely a doorway to eternal life. As St Peter tells us, “if anyone of you should suffer for being a Christian, then he is not to be ashamed of it; he should thank God that he has been called one.”

Sent on mission

Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord

If you are expecting to hear an account of the Ascension at the end of today’s gospel passage, you will be sorely disappointed. At the end of St Matthew’s gospel, Jesus does not ascend. This seems utterly ironic as the gospel text chosen for this Solemnity of the Ascension. If you want to hear the story of the Ascension you have to read the First Reading taken from the Acts of the Apostles. But that does not mean that the theme of the ascension is entirely absent from the gospel passage. The significance of the Ascension is seen in the parting words of Jesus, ‘And know that I am with you always; yes, to the end of time.’ In these last words, our Lord promises His enduring presence in the Church while she is on mission.

This is where the story in Acts and the ending of St Matthew’s gospel converge. After the Ascension, the disciples returned to the Upper Room, led back to the place where the Eucharist was instituted and it is here, later in the story, where the Church was founded; the place where these disciples will receive the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit. And it is from here, that the Church begins her mission, her members called to be “witnesses not only in Jerusalem but throughout Judaea and Samaria, and indeed to the ends of the earth.”

The Ascension is not just a graphic description of how Christ is lifted up into the heavens but it is an event which is ultimately tied to the mission of the Church. Christ came to fulfill the mission that was entrusted to Him by His Father, a mission which He had accomplished by dying on the cross and rising from the dead. His death and resurrection had opened up for us the way to heaven. Henceforth, humanity is elevated to an unprecedented dignity, the dignity of participating in the Father’s glory. On account of Christ’s ascension into heaven, we now know that the true reason for our existence - our true destiny as human beings - is God Himself. We were made for Him, to be with Him in heaven for ever.

This same mission of leading all to our heavenly homeland is entrusted by the Lord to the Church, to us. Our mission is to lead others to where our Lord and Master has gone before us. This is what the priest prays in the Collect at the beginning of today’s mass, “where the Head has gone before in glory, the Body is called to follow in hope.”

The Upper Room is not meant to be a secure bunker, shielding the disciples from a cruel, hostile and unforgiving world. It was meant to be a launchpad, a planning board room, a sanctuary of prayer in order to prepare the Church for mission. The last thing that our Lord had intended for His disciples is for them to remain locked down in that room for the rest of their lives, frightened of facing the many risks which comes with proclaiming the Good News to the ends of the earth.

Most of us have been under lockdown since the start of the MCO. Lockdowns are never easy, nor are they comfortable. But I think that many of us have now found much security in our present locked down condition, in the safety of our own homes, unwilling to venture forth. I do not think that anyone, not even the government nor the medical experts had envisaged that we would be locked down forever. Since the start of the MCO, the authorities had been very successful in instilling fear of this coronavirus among us, because fear is a powerful motivation for compliance. But, now that it wishes to reopen the economy and encourage us to return to some form of normalcy, it finds itself unable to undo the fear that has been deeply rooted in our psyche. Fear can cripple us, it can stunt growth, prevent us from moving forward and dull the enthusiasm for mission.

Fear can be a tremendous barrier for mission but fear itself is not a bad thing. Fear tells us where we feel the most vulnerable and provide us with an opportunity to place our trust in God. When you are hapless, when all your resources have been exhausted, when there seems to be no other solution, turning to God in desperation seems to be the last option available to the most hardened of unbelievers. And that is why accepting Christ’s commission to “make disciples of all the nations” cannot be purely predicated on our own ability and resources. Just as our Lord did not choose perfect men to be His disciples and apostles, the Church does not need perfect members to carry out Christ’s mission. This is because grace is needed to build on nature, God’s assistance is needed to complete and perfect human effort and ingenuity. Ultimately, we must rely on the grace of Christ’s enduring presence seen in His promise, “know that I am with you always; yes, to the end of time.”

Seated at the right hand of the Father, our Lord Jesus continues His mission of drawing humanity away from the downward spiral of death and corruption so that they may ascend to a place of life and happiness within the heart of God. Christ, though He has ascended to heaven, continues to act through His Church. He does this through each of us. Therefore, our mission is not driven by our own initiative and efforts. If our efforts are able to bear fruit, it is because Christ is our strength, our motivation and our ability to do what we cannot accomplish on our own.

A New SOP of the Spirit

Sixth Sunday of Easter Year A

Like any good leader, our Lord in His farewell speech is laying the foundation and preparing His disciples for the future. He is providing them with the “tools” to face life without Him. A kind of SOP for the Church after His departure.

Our Lord is certainly not painting a nice rosy picture of the future. He does not want them to have any illusions. The world will hate them as it has hated Him. They will have to face persecution just as He did. They will soon be excluded from public worship or prevented from expressing their faith openly. Synagogues and the Temple, their familiar places of worship, will eventually be closed to them. They will have to adapt to radical changes in this hostile new environment. It would not be easy.

So how will they survive? It’s not going to be easy, just like it isn’t easy for the Church of today to make adaptations during this time of social distancing. The early Christians were no different. They will be a community apart from the rest. Social distancing from the larger Jewish community would be forced upon them. What would continue to unite them, give meaning to their lives and provide them with an identity, would be their connexion to Christ. How would they stay connected to Christ after His departure? By keeping His commandments. Just as the Jews would hold on to their religious identity by keeping the Law of Moses, Christians will find their own sense of identity by keeping Christ’s commandments.

The church community which Jesus prepares for them will replace the old temple now destroyed. Christ is the New temple, He is the one who leads us to His Father’s house, where they will experience the presence of God in the fullest sense of the word. Jesus tells them “I am in my Father and you in me and I in you”. The Christian community is where the Father and the Son will dwell and each member will experience the presence of Christ through the Holy Spirit, the “Spirit of truth whom the world can never receive since it neither sees nor knows him; but you know him, because he is with you, he is in you.”

Our Lord’s promise is a good reminder that though the Church has worshipped and continues to worship in buildings made of stone and mortar, it is not these church buildings which define us. Long before Christians worshipped, celebrated the Eucharist and prayed in their churches, they were doing all these in their own private homes. Where Christians gathered in the name of Christ, there was the Church.

While the gospel provides us with a vision of how the Church looks from within, the first reading, from Acts, turns us out to the world. And so we are presented with a picture of the early Christian community in Jerusalem, the example of the Church growing by devoting itself to the teaching of apostolic doctrine, holding property in common, praying and breaking bread in the Eucharist. These fundamental pillars did not just form the basic SOP of the Church, they are signs of the indwelling of God, the Most Holy Trinity.

But the Church does not only exist for itself. Since the Church’s existence is predicated on keeping Christ’s commandments, she must now obey Christ’s command to move out. She can no longer be self-absorbed. ‘You will be my witnesses not only in Jerusalem, but throughout Judaea and Samaria and indeed to the ends of the earth.’ Today, we see Philip living out that commission as he enters the hostile world of the Samaritans and proclaims the Gospel. The Spirit of truth now drives the Church out of its comfort zone. Through the power of the Spirit, the disciples of Christ continue the work of Jesus and the Kingdom of God expands into new territories, both spatial and spiritual.

The SOP provided by Christ in the gospel and in the life of the early Christian community presents us with a perfect model for the Church today. Once again, we find ourselves physically cut off from our churches. We have not been socially shunned but we have chosen to isolate ourselves in order to protect the vulnerable in our community. There is no doubt that this poses many new challenges and difficulties. But the SOP of our Lord and that of the early Christians remind us that hardship can provide us with a great opportunity to grow interiorly and outwardly.

In times like these, it is especially important to remember God’s promise to be with us even when we are unable to be with Him physically in His churches. He who made us, and gave us His own Son for the salvation of the world, will not leave His children in this time of need. Similarly, as we continue to navigate through the many restrictions and limitations imposed by social distancing, we should not let this be an excuse to refrain from reaching out to others and sharing the good news with them. Notice how adversity, persecution and hard conditions did not deter the early Christians from giving witness to the joy of the Risen Lord in their lives. In fact, hardship seems to spur them on to greater heights and zeal.

As we prepare ourselves to return to church for our masses, adapting to new SOPs established to safeguard public health, let us never forget the two fundamental SOPs meant not just for our temporal wellbeing but for our eternal happiness - to grow daily in communion with the Living God by keeping His commandments and to reach out to our neighbours and share the good news of salvation with them. Let’s take care of our health and safety but more importantly, let us be always seriously concerned for the salvation of our souls.