Category: English

Jesus the Sower

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15th Sunday in Ordinary Time [A]

July 12, 2020

Matthew 13:1-23

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In today’s Gospel, we observe the reaction of the disciples after Jesus spoke His first parable. They were puzzled and confused. Why? because Jesus took a sudden change of method. In previous chapters, Jesus taught them plainly, like in the sermon of the Mount [Mat 5-7], and His teachings were as clear as broad daylight. Yet, Jesus made an unexpected turn that makes many people, and including His disciple lost. What really happened?

To understand the parable, we need to see that parable has been used even before Jesus, in the Old Testament. One of the classic examples is the parable of the prophet Nathan addressed to king David [See 1 King 12]. King David has done unthinkably grave sin by committing adultery with Bathsheba and orchestrating the murder of her husband, Uriah. Then, prophet Nathan confronted David, yet indirectly by narrating him a parable. It was about a rich man who forcefully robbed a ewe of a poor man. Listening to the story, David was infuriated and declared that the rich man should die. Then, Nathan dropped the bomb: “David, you are the rich man!” Fortunately, David was a kindhearted and faithful king, and he repented when he was reminded.

That is the power of a parable. It is an indirect and concealed message to make people think deeper about themselves. Jesus began to talk in parables as Jesus realizes that the opposition of the Pharisees and the scribes were worsening, and many people who just want to be entertained rather than to follow Jesus.

Thus, the parable of the sower expresses the real condition of Jesus’ ministry. The elders and the Pharisees were like the pathway. They heard Jesus’ preaching, but still chose to be under the influence of darkness, and sought to destroy Jesus. Many people were like the rocky ground because they simply looked for Jesus to satisfy their needs. Others were like soil filled with thorns because they followed Jesus for a time, but when the trials came, they abandoned Jesus. Lastly, the rich soil was the disciples.

The parable of the sower is not reflecting different kinds of hearers of Jesus during His time, but it is also revealing the reality of our time. Some of us are like the pathway, perhaps we were baptized Catholics, but we never live as such, and still living in sin. Some of us are like rocky ground. We treat Jesus and His Church as a place of entertainment, and we simply look for ourselves rather than God. Some of us are like soil filled with thorns. We are elated of being Christians, but we do not go deeper in our faith, and when the trials or doubts hit, we easily leave the Lord. And hopefully, many of us are like rich soil. We do our best to receive God’s Word and see to it that it will grow and bear fruits.

The good news is the word of God is exceedingly powerful that even it can bear fruit is the rocky ground. Yet, the initial grace is free but it is not cheap, and we need our part. It is our mission to transform even the rocky ground into the rich soil for the Lord.

Valentinus Bayuhadi Ruseno, OP

Yoke of Jesus

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14th Sunday in Ordinary Time [A]

July 5, 2020

Matthew 11:25-30

finding cross 2From the previous two Sundays, we learn that Jesus lays down the cost of following Him, how to become His disciples. And they are extremely tough. One has to follow Jesus wherever He goes. One must love Jesus above anyone else. One must be ready to suffer persecutions and hardships, carry his cross, and give up his life for Jesus. It is Jesus or nothing at all. However, following Jesus is not all about hardship and sacrifice. Today we hear that to walking with Him, we receive certain “perks” that others cannot even dare to offer.

Today’s Gospel is one of my personal favorites. Here, Jesus is presenting His other side. Last Sundays, we witness Jesus, who is firm and resolve in following the Father’s will, and He demands the same thing from His disciples. Now, He is showing Himself as one who is gentle and humble. He even promises to give rest to those who come to Him. Yet, there is an interestingly powerful point that Jesus makes: that in order to have rest, we need to carry the yoke of Jesus. A yoke is a device placed on the shoulders to carry weight. For Jesus, rest is not throwing away the yoke. We need to carry our yoke, our daily responsibilities, and mission in life. Yet, despite carrying the yoke, it will be easy. How is that possible?

We remember that Jesus is a carpenter’s son and Himself a carpenter. He knows well that a yoke that does not fit the shoulder will only add more burden and hurt. Yet, the yoke that is designed perfectly to fit the shoulder, will feel easy and even comfortable. This is the yoke of Jesus, a yoke that fits each of us.

The second point is that there is a kind of yoke that can be shouldered by two animals or persons, “a double yoke.” I do believe that this is a kind of yoke that Jesus offers to us. Why double yoke? Because Jesus will bring together yoke with us. He shoulders the yoke with us. And when we feel exhausted, that’s the time He takes over and we find rest.

But, wait, there is more! In the Gospel of Matthew, twice Jesus instructs His disciples to carry something in their shoulders. The first one is to carry the cross [Mat 10:38, and the second thing is the yoke [Mat 11:29]. Jesus seems to make a real connection between the two: His yoke is our cross. If this is true, then the implication is massive. Our daily cross is actually easy because it perfectly fits us and even, Jesus is carrying it with us. I do believe most of the time, it is Jesus who carries our crosses. At first, Jesus sounds exceedingly tough with His nearly impossible demands, especially to carry our cross, but looking our Gospel deeper, we realize that most the time, it is Jesus who shoulders our crosses. That is the reason only His cross, we find the true rest and consolation.

If we find ourselves still burdened and exhausted with our lives, we may ask: Are we carrying the cross of Jesus? Are we bringing the yoke alone and relying solely on our strength? Are we shouldering unnecessary burdens that should be unloaded a long time ago?

Valentinus Bayuhadi Ruseno, OP

Jesus or Nothing

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13th Sunday in Ordinary Time

June 28, 2020

Matthew 10:37-42

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In many cultures like Indonesia, Filipino, and Chinese, to honor our parents is of prime importance. In Indonesia, to highlight the value, a folklore “Malin Kudang” was taught even in elementary. In essence, Malin not only failed to respect his parents, but also deliberately ignored them. Thus, his mother cursed him into a stone. it is just unforgivable to disrespect someone who gave your life and raise you to life.

Respecting the parents is also one of the highest values for the Jewish people. What is remarkable is that they are not honoring their parents because it is something natural to do, but because it is a divine commandment. Going back to the Decalogue, to honor our mothers and fathers is, in fact, the fourth commandment, highest among the commandments regulating the human community. Even the Hebrew word used is “kabad”, which can mean “to honor” but may mean also to glorify. Thus, God instructed the Israelites and Christians as well not simply honor but to glorify our parents.

However, today’s Gospel tells us that Jesus demands even something unthinkable, that if we love our parents more than Jesus, we are not worthy of Him. Peter, Andrew, and John and the rest of the disciples have left their stable jobs and the comfort of their home to follow Jesus, but Jesus even lays down a more radical requirement. To follow Him is not just physically be present with Him, but the disciples have to give their total love for Jesus above everyone else. Who is this Jesus who requires His followers the love beyond our parents?

The answer is not that complicated. Jesus deserves all the love and loyalty we have simply because He is God. In Book of Deuteronomy [6:4-5], Moses instructed Israelites how to love and honor God, “Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone! Therefore, you shall love the Lord, your God, with your whole heart, and with your whole being, and with your whole strength.”

And how did Jesus know that His disciples love Him more than anybody else, and not merely lips service? As proof of their love, Jesus asks them to show this: “take up your cross and follow me!” In Jesus’ time, the cross is a most gruesome torture and execution method and is designed to prolong the agony. In essence, Jesus tells His disciples if they really love Him above all else, they need to be ready to endure prolonged suffering and even die a horrible death for Him. When we face Jesus, the choice is: all for Jesus or none at all.

Does it mean we shall stop loving our parents and children? Does it mean we no longer do good works for others and just stay in prayers for as long as we can? Not at all. Loving God above other things places us in the right perspective and orients us to the right destination. Now we may love others including our family for the love of God. It means that when we love them, we bring them closer to God. Now we may do our works and service for God, not for the sake of gaining personal benefits. When we work hard and we are blessed with success, the first thing we remember is to give praise to the Lord. And, if we encounter roadblocks in our lives or if we need to endure suffering, we are not losing hope because this is also an opportunity to love God even more.

Valentinus Bayuhadi Ruseno, OP

Be Not Afraid

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12th Sunday in Ordinary Time [A]

June 21, 2020

Matthew 10:26-33

peter image 2Jesus never promises that the disciple will have easy and prosperous lives. Jesus demands the opposite. After being chosen, the twelve disciples are sent to preach that the Kingdom is at hand, and yet they will not go like any royal emissaries with their military escort. No! They will travel as simple men going on foot and carrying minimal provision. They will rely on the generosity of their hosts, and the worst part is that they are going to face rejection.

Naturally, humans as they are, they are growing fear. Yet, Jesus tells them that this mission is just “on the job training,” because they are going to undergo something even deadlier in the future. True enough, after the Pentecost, they will preach that Jesus is Lord, and they are facing severe rejection, terrible persecution, and even gruesome death. As Jesus teaches them, “the disciples are no greater than their master.” If Jesus, their master, is rejected, insulted, and condemned to death, the disciples will share the same path. Peter is crucified upside down, James, brother of John, is beheaded, and James son of Alpheus, is stoned to death.

Jesus understands their human and natural fear, but Jesus tells them that they shall not fear. Why? The answer of Jesus is simple. Why should we fear dying if we will perish anyway? The choices are whether we die as a witness to Christ or die running from Christ?

Furthermore, Jesus reveals the real reason why we should not be afraid: we have God, who is a loving and caring Father. Jesus gives a lucid yet simple explanation: how God treats a little sparrow. Sparrow is a kind of vertebrates that is practically worthless in the eyes of merchants, but for God, this little bird is His creatures, and when He created something, He has a good plan for it, and He sees to it that this plan will unfold providentially. In the word of Christian Philosopher Peter Kreeft, even God loves mosquitos. If God cares and loves the sparrow, would He not care and love for us? Again, Jesus points out a lovely truth: God knows better than we know ourselves, even He counts our hairs!

When a sparrow falls and dies, it is part of God’s perfect plan, and so when the disciples are experiencing rejections, trials, and even death, it is also part of God’s providence. Yes, often, our sufferings can be absurd. Why do we have to lose someone we love? Why do we suffer from incurable sickness? We do not understand, but even these terrible things in life are also parts of God’s providence.

We may not see it now, but perhaps we may see it at a later time, or perhaps, we never discover the reasons because of our too narrow minds. Yet, in God’s eyes, it is totally making sense. The gruesome death of martyrs, for example, is unthinkable. Still, Tertullian, a Christian apologist in 3rd century, saw it in a deeper perspective and wrote, “We spring up in greater numbers the more we are mown down by you: the blood of the Christians is the seed of Christianity.”

Jesus does not call us to enjoy a prosperous life but to be His witnesses. Though things may turn against us, Jesus tells us not to fear and worry because, in the end, all will work according to His beautiful plan because He loves us.

Valentinus Bayuhadi Ruseno, OP

Christ’s Body and Our Body

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Solemnity of Body and Blood of Christ [Corpus Christi] – A

June 14, 2020

John 6:51-58

eucharist 3The solemnity of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ takes its origin from the initiative of St. Juliana of Liege, who asked his bishop and his friends to honor, in a special way, the institution of the Eucharist, and the real presence of Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament. The institution of the Eucharist itself took place in the Last Supper of the Lord, and every Holy Thursday, the Church celebrates this event. However, since Holy Thursday is an inseparable part of the Easter Triduum, the attention is given to the mystery of the Passion and Resurrection of our Lord. Because of its rootedness in Holy Thursday, the solemnity of Corpus Christi is celebrated on Thursday after the Trinity Sunday. Yet, in several countries, the celebration is moved to the next Sunday to accommodate the greater participation of the faithful.

 In the Gospel, Jesus insists that His body is real food, and everyone who wants to have eternal life shall consume His body. We may wonder: why does in His infinite wisdom, Jesus decide to give His body as food for our spiritual nourishment? Why not infuse the grace directly to our souls? The answer may surprisingly simple. It is because our body is real and good. God created man and woman in their fulness human nature, including their bodies, as something very good. Though our body comes from the ground, it has been marvelously designed to receive the bread of God, the spiritual life. Our bodies are fundamentally good, and so good that our bodies are inclined to grace. In the word of St. Augustine, “Capax Dei” (capable of knowing and receiving God).

Since the earliest time, the Church has battling perennial heresy called Gnosticism. In essence, gnosticism teaches there is dualism in our creation, and that the spiritual realm is good and the material world, including our body, is evil. Thus, any material aspect of our humanity has to be disposed of. The Church vehemently opposed this because God has created our material world as good and beautiful. The battle continues in time of St. Dominic de Guzman, the founder of Order of Preachers, who fought the Albigensians [the middle age adaptation of gnosticism). Gratefully, the Albigentians were no more, but unfortunately, the gnosticism lives on.

As Christians, we carry the battle of the Church against the modern-day gnosticism. The kind gnosticism is surprisingly simple without any need to learn a complex system of belief. When we consider our body a mere instrument to achieve success, when we abuse our bodies to feel instant pleasures, when we treat our bodies as mere economic gain, when we say that my body is my right, we unconsciously fall into the trap of this heresy.

But wait, there’s more! The feast of Corpus Christi brings us even greater truth of our body. By becoming man and finally giving His body, Jesus teaches us that body is not only capable of receiving grace, but it is also capable of becoming grace and love for others. In the Last Supper, Jesus has given as a supreme expression that is to offer His own body in love. And yet, to be shared, it has to be broken, and yet despite broken, it is offered in thanksgiving.

 In this time of the pandemic, we are not able to attend the Holy Mass, and we miss a lot the Body of Christ. Yet, the good news is that it is our time also for us to become the Body of Christ for our neighbors in need. Only through sharing our body in love, we fulfill our purpose as bodily creatures created in His image.

Valentinus Bayuhadi Ruseno, OP

Image of the Trinity

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Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity [A]

June 7, 2020

John 3:16-18

Trinity 2We are re-entering the ordinary season of the Church, and one of the greatest feasts within the ordinary time is the solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity. The Church has placed the celebration of the great feast on Sunday after the Pentecost. The reason may not be that obvious, but if we look at the bigger picture, it is nothing but a natural procession of truth. In Easter, we are celebrating the resurrection of Jesus that cements the divinity of Christ. On the Pentecost, we witness the divinity of the Holy Spirit being affirmed [see last Sunday’s reflection]. Now, we are rejoicing for the Three divine persons in God.

The Trinity Sunday is admittedly the most dreaded by many preachers because many are still at a loss of how to show the beauty of this most profound truth, and others are afraid to explain the Trinity because they may spread erroneous concepts. After all, we are facing the source and summit of all mysteries, the mystery of all mysteries. However, it is not the right excuse not to bring forth the beauty of the Holy Trinity. The preachers have to roll up their sleeves and spend more time in researching and preparing our homilies.

In my reflection, I would like to bring you to the Old Testament. In the Old Testament, the reality of the Trinity is hidden in most parts, and yet the sacred truth comes up in the surprisingly key moments. Let us read Gen 1:1-3, “In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. 3 Then God said, “Let there be light,”; and there was light.” The early Christians like St. Irenaeus of Lyon, immediately saw this as Trinity working as one, God, the Spirit, and the Word. The good news is that the creation is the masterpiece of the Holy Trinity, and to a certain degree, it reflects the perfection of the Trinity.

And wait, something more! In Gen 1:26, when God created the man and the woman, God said, “let us create the man and woman in our image and likeness.” This passage is a bit strange because why God, who is one, suddenly self-refer in plural? The Jewish tradition would interpret that God is addressing His heavenly council, the angels, but again, the Christian tradition instinctively saw them as the three divine persons. The good news is that if we are created in the image of God, and if our God is the Trinity, then we are created in the image of Trinity.

This explains a lot of things. Indeed, we cannot fully comprehend the mystery, but we surprisingly are very close to this mystery. Trinity is both our origin and destiny. As the image of Trinity, we cannot discover real joy by hoarding things to ourselves. We cannot be selfish and truly delighted at the same time. Like the Father and the Son love each other in the Holy Spirit, we are called to give ourselves to others in life.

Why does the Catholic Church fearlessly defend the sacredness of marriage? Because through marriage, the man and woman may give themselves totally to each other in love. Their love is so strong that love can give birth to life. When this new life [children] come to their lives, their love can grow even exponentially. In loving and giving ourselves, we may find the fullness of our identity, the image of Trinity. Indeed, it is tough, but the good news is that we are designed to give love and life. Holy Trinity is our origin, and Holy Trinity is our destiny.

Valentinus Bayuhadi Ruseno, OP

The Birthday of the Church

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Pentecost Sunday [A]

May 31, 2020

John 20:19-23

pentecost coptic“Happy Birthday!” today is the feast of Pentecost, and today is the birth of the Church. We should rejoice because our Church is getting older by age, but getting ever stronger by vitality and creativity in preaching the Good News. Yet, the question is why we celebrate the birthday of the Church on the Pentecost Sunday?

To answer this, we need to understand the biblical meaning of the celebration of Pentecost and what took place to the disciples on the day the Holy Spirit descended upon them. The word Pentecost means the fiftieth, and the feast of Pentecost takes place on the fiftieth day after Sunday Easter. However, the Christian feast itself is originally a Jewish religious festival: the feast of Shavuot or the Feast of Weeks. The feast took place seven weeks after the grand celebration of the Passover. Together with Passover and the Feast of Tabernacle (Booths), Pentecost are the major pilgrimage festivals that require any male Jews to make their way to Jerusalem. Initially, the feast is agricultural in nature. The people of Israel gave thanks for the successful harvests and offered the fruits of their harvest to the Lord. Yet, it also gained a religious meaning. In the feast of Shavuot, the Israelites commemorate the giving of the Law and the making of the covenant with the Lord God in Mount Sinai.

This explains why many people from different nations gathered in around the place of the disciples: they were pilgrims of Pentecost. This answers a more fundamental question about the identity of the Holy Spirit: Why did the Holy Spirit have to present Himself as fire, and no other image like a dove? If we go back to the Sinaitic event itself, we are going to find something remarkable. When God made His covenant and handed down His Law, He appeared Himself to entire Israel as fire [see Exo 19:18]. The Holy Spirit appeared in fire simply because He was the same God who manifested Himself in Sinai. The Pentecost Sunday reveals the fundamental truth about the Holy Spirit that the promised Paraclete is divine.

In Sinai, the Israelites received the Law and entered into a covenant with the Lord. God embraced them and made them “a priestly kingdom and a holy nation [see Exo 19:6]. Israelites became a nation that belongs to God. In the new Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples and instilled in them the New Law of Love. He fashioned them to be new People of God [see Pet 2:9]. The new community of God’s family has been born!

Yet, these new people are even greater. The Holy Spirit empowered the disciples to preach the Good News to people from different nations and languages. The Pentecost reversed the negative effect of the tower of Babel [see Gen 11:1-9]. When people were so proud of themselves and tried to become like God with their power, different languages turned out to be a curse that divides them. Yet, with the Holy Spirit that transformed the hearts and instilled humility, languages become a blessing that unites the different people.

We thank the Holy Spirit that gave birth to the Church. We give thanks to the Holy Spirit that has called us to part of the new people of God.

Valentinus Bayuhadi Ruseno, OP

Pray like Jesus

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7th Sunday of Easter

May 24, 2020

John 17:1-11a

man in prayer 2We are aware that prayer is a fundamental part of Jesus’ life. He prays on a regular basis, and especially when He is preparing to embrace decisive events, like Baptism on the Jordan [Luke 3:21], the election of the twelve apostles [Luke 6:12], transfiguration [Luke 9:28], and the Passion [Matt 26:36–44]. However, we seldom hear what Jesus says in His prayers. In the Synoptic Gospels [Matthew, Mark, and Luke], we are fortunate enough to hear Jesus’ compact and emotional prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane before He enters into His Passion. However, John the evangelist makes sure that we are going to discover what Jesus prays, and it is substantially longer than we ever heard before.

John devotes the entire chapter of His Gospel for this prayer [John 17:1-26]. As expected, He prays to the Father with extraordinary affection and confidence. Yet, what makes it noteworthy is that Jesus does not say only about Himself and His mission, but also prays for His disciples. Jesus is acting as the priest who is interceding on behalf of His disciples. That is why we call this section the high priest’s prayer of Jesus Christ.

From Jesus’ prayer, we unearth some powerful lessons:

Firstly, if prayer is essential in the life of Jesus, it is because Jesus understands that prayer is His line of communication to the Father. Jesus knows well that communication is the key to every flourishing relationship. Perhaps, we fail to see this truth, and that is why we feel prayer is burdensome. We are not eager to attend the mass because we simply understand it as an obligation. We relegate personal prayer to the sideline as we make other things as our priority. Sadly, we immediately blame God if our plans do not work according to our whim, or we even threaten God to grant our wishes. Thus, changing perspective about prayer is crucial and even life-transforming.

Secondly, if prayer is communication, then it should always be a dialogue. Often when we start growing in prayer, we think that we need to always say something to the Lord. I remember one seminarian asked me, “Father, what else should I say if I am running out of words in my prayers?” I told him, “Perhaps, it is time to listen to God.” The next expected question is, “How do I listen to God?” Surely there is no one-size-fits-all answer to this, but I like what St. Jerome says, “You pray: You speak to the bridegroom. You read [scriptures]: He speaks to you.” Yet, we need to remember that dialogue of words is not the end of the communication. The end is the unity of the persons in dialogue. Jesus says, “I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you [John 14:20].”

Lastly, our prayer involves the third person. This is the direct consequence of Jesus’ priestly prayer. Prayer is a dialogue, but just like other dialogue, it may speak about other persons. This is when we pray to God for others. Because Jesus leaves us an example in His priestly prayer, it is all the more imperative for us to care for others through prayers. In time we cannot reach other people who need our help; prayers remain the best way to love them. Indeed the saints in heaven continue to care for us despite not able to physically appear to us through their prayers.

Prayer unites us with God in love and prayer also unites us with people we love in God.

Valentinus Bayuhadi Ruseno, OP

The Paraclete

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6th Sunday of Easter

May 17, 2020

John 14:15-21

holy spirit dove 4In the last supper, Jesus promised the disciples that He would send another advocate to be with them forever. Who is this other advocate?

We all know that He is the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Most Holy Trinity. Yet, how did Jesus describe Him in the Gospel of John, and why did He call the Spirit as such? Jesus named Him as the Paraclete, or in Greek, “Parakletos.” This exceptional word comes from two more basic Greek words, “para” means “at the side,” and “kaleo” means “to call.” Thus, “parakletos” can be understood as someone who is called to be at our side, especially in times of need. It is crucial to see the original setting where this word came: it was the courtroom. No wonder that the word “parakletos” may be translated into English as an advocate like a lawyer who assists us, defend us and speak on our behalf in the legal trial. Yet, as we know, a good lawyer does not only assist within the courtroom, he is there before and after the trial. He gives his advice and prepares us for the proceedings. In the end, he consoles us if we face severe judgment as well as rejoices if we emerge victoriously. No wonder in English, the word “paraclete” can be translated as an advocate, comforter, counselor, and even helper. But why did Jesus choose this image in the first place?

The reason is that Jesus knew that as the disciples preached His Gospel, they would face many trials. Peter and John faced trial before the Sanhedrin [Acts 4:5 ff]. Stephen was accused of blasphemy and stoned to death [acts 7]. And Paul was put under many judgments before he gave up his life for Jesus. In this kind of reality, Jesus did the right thing: to send the Paraclete. The Holy Spirit would be at the side of the disciples facing trials and hardship as they were preaching Jesus. Indeed, it is inconceivable for these disciples to endure and even give up their lives without the Holy Spirit that were at their side.

In our time, as disciples of Christ, we are facing a global trial caused by the virus covid19. Some of us are luckier because we just need to stay at home. Some of us are fortunate because we can enjoy the livestreaming mass, even twice a day! But for many, the pandemic means losing their livelihood and even their lives. For many, they cannot go to the church even when there was no pandemic.

We indeed need the Paraclete, but one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit is that we are also empowered to be a little paraclete to our brothers and sisters. The moment we, the Dominican community in Surabaya, was required to close the church temporarily for the public service, we immediately were eager to provide an online service to our parishioners. We are thankful that many people donate relief goods to our parish, and our parish priests assisted by lay partners work hard to channel this help to those who are in need.

Instead of complaining that we cannot go to the Church or blaming others for the situations, we should ask the Holy Spirit to empower us to become little paracletes and find ways to be advocates, comforters and at the side of our brothers and sisters in need.

Valentinus Bayuhadi Ruseno, OP

Jesus and His Bride in Time of Pandemic

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5th Sunday of Easter

May 10, 2020

John 14:1-12

joseph n maryWe have closed our churches for public service for weeks. We shifted to livestreaming masses, and we are learning to adjust and to give priority to our health and life, we realize our hearts remain troubled. We long to see Jesus in the Most Blessed Sacrament, we desire to receive Him in the Eucharist, we want to serve Him in the churches, and we miss the sacrament of confession. We are unsure when it is going to end and be back to normal.

We are like the disciples in the Gospel. Their hearts were troubled because Jesus was about to leave them. They were having a Passover meal, and it was supposed a festive celebration. Yet, Jesus announced to them that someone would betray Him, and He would be taken away from them. The disciples had thrown everything away and followed Jesus because they were hoping that Jesus, as the Messiah, would overthrow the Roman empire and restore the glory of Israel. They could not square with the probability of utter failure. Were they holding on false hope? Was Jesus a hoax? Were their sacrifices useless? We are like the disciples. After we give everything to follow Jesus, to serve His Church, and to work in His vineyard, we feel He is missing. Where is Jesus when we needed Him most?

Jesus knew His disciples’ hearts and assured them as He did to have in God and Jesus. Yet, what comes after this word of affirmation is that Jesus told the disciples that there are many dwelling places in His Father’s house, and He will go to prepare the places. To comfort the disciples, Jesus did not say that He would come back victorious, or He would destroy all enemies of Israel. He said that He is going to prepare a dwelling place. It is just not making much sense.

To understand this, we need to know the wedding ceremony at the time of Jesus. During this time, the wedding was done in two steps. The first one is the betrothal, and the second stage is the wedding celebration. During the betrothal, the couple has exchanged vows and have become husband and wife in the eyes of the Law, but they have not stayed together in one house. They had to wait for around one year before the final ceremony. After around year, the bride would be brought in procession to the home of the groom, and they will have a week-long celebration. Why one-year wait? The reason is practical. It gives enough time for the man to prepare for the celebration as well as build a proper place for the bride.

One particular image that the Church has in relation to Jesus is that she is the bride of Christ. If we apply this Jewish wedding rite to the Church and Jesus, we discover that betrothal has taken place, but not yet the final step. Jesus is not with His Church because He is Father’s House to prepare the dwelling place for us, His bride.

In the time of the pandemic, our hearts are sorely troubled, and with the churches are closed, we feel that our Lord is taken away from us. Yet, a difficult time can actually be a passage going to the much better dwelling place prepared by Jesus. We may not see yet the better things we will experience, yet Jesus assures us that God is in control. In this stormy life, we may see a beautiful place prepared by Jesus, our groom.

Valentinus Bayuhadi Ruseno, OP