10th Sunday in Ordinary Time. June 5, 2016 [Luke 7:11-17]
“He stepped forward and touched the coffin; at this the bearers halted, and he said, “Young man, I tell you, arise! (Luk 7:14)”
The bible seems to contain a lot of death. Almost all the characters in the Bible tasted death. Some were lucky and enjoyed peaceful end, like Abraham, David and Joshua. Yet, a lot more endured tragic one. Abel was murdered by his own brother. Moses passed away just at the doorstep of the Promised Land. James the son of Zebedee was beheaded, and countless unnamed individuals who were victims of wars, diseases and calamities. In today’s Gospel, a young man died presumably due to illness and left his widowed mother alone. The Bible time was bad period to live.
We are living in a better world where life expectation is significantly higher than the time of Jesus. With modern medical technologies and well-trained and professional medical practitioners, we are enjoying the greater possibility to live longer. Had the young man of Nain lived today, he would not have died early. Yet despite all these advancements, death remains a most certain reality. As Benjamin Franklin said, “In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes!” This may lead us to think that God is a kind an uncaring God that allows even His people to suffer and receive violent death.
Jesus then came into the rescue and moved by his compassion, He brought the young man to life. To raise people from the death is one of the greatest miracles of Jesus, and this not only recorded in Luke, but in all the four Gospels. This story of young man of Nain resembles the story of the daughter of the synagogue official in Matthew 9 and Mark 5, and the story of Lazarus, the brother of Mary and Martha in John 11. Yet, we understand that the miracle will not last long. The young man would finally die again. Jesus seemed to cheat death and gives false hope to the widow and the crowd who expected the ‘the great prophet’.
Jesus’ miracles are not a quick-fix to many problems we have, but basically pedagogical, meaning they were designed to teach us a core value. Jesus comes into the story precisely to correct the mindset of the people on God. While the sorrowful widow and the lethargic crowd marched toward certain graveyard, a symbol of despair, Jesus stopped them and pointed to a different direction. They cannot find God among the dead, since He is not the god of the dead, but of the living (Mrk 12:27). Undeniably, we are going to die, but live is not about dying, but about living, and living life to the fullest.
Yes, we die every day because of our sins, failures, and problems. Like the crowd, we march hopelessly toward our graveyard and despair. We are crushed by the weight of the financial issues. We are down by heavy workload. We are depressed by difficulties in the family. We forget to live fully as we focus our attention on death. But, we must not be hopeless, because our God is not the god of death, and His Son comes to bring us to life once again. “I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly (John 10:10).”
Together with St. Paul, we shall boldly say, “We are afflicted in every way, but not constrained; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our body (2 Cor 4:8-10).”
Br. Valentinus Bayuhadi Ruseno, OP
One of my personal ministries is to be a blood donor. If ever someone needs a blood transfusion, I do my best to donate my blood and if possible, visit the ailing person. In biology, we learn that blood is a crucial element of our body that transports nutrition and oxygen to various body parts and also fight the harmful elements inside our body. Thus, losing too much blood will bring us to critical condition even death. No wonder that blood is closely associated with life and I hope that a little blood I share, may save lives.
Salah satu pelayanan pribadi saya adalah menjadi donor darah. Jika ada seseorang yang membutuhkan transfusi darah, saya berusaha untuk donorkan darah saya dan jika mungkin, mengunjungi orang sakit tersebut. Dalam biologi, kita belajar bahwa darah merupakan elemen penting dari tubuh kita yang membawa nutrisi dan oksigen ke berbagai bagian tubuh dan juga melawan elemen-elemen berbahaya di dalam tubuh kita. Dengan demikian, kehilangan terlalu banyak darah akan membawa kita ke kondisi kritis bahkan kematian. Tidak heran jika darah berterkaitan erat dengan kehidupan, dan saya berharap bahwa sedikit darah yang saya donorkan, bisa menyelamatkan orang lain.
The mystery of the Holy Trinity is the most foundational yet the most difficult teaching of the Catholic Church. The greatest minds in the Church, like St. Augustine of Hippo, St. Thomas Aquinas and Karl Rahner have attempted to fathom the mystery, but their explanations hit a giant wall. One day, when St. Augustine was strolling along the beach, meditating the mystery of the Holy Trinity, the holy bishop saw a young boy digging a hole on the sand. He came close and noticed that the boy was trying to move the sea water inside that small hole. St. Augustine then told the lad that what he did was futile. Then, suddenly the little boy replied, ‘It is the same thing, when you try to put the Trinity inside your small head.’
My first time to attend a Catholic Charismatic prayer meeting was around 10 years ago in Singapore. It was a gathering characterized by upbeat music and intensified prayers. As the prayer was getting intense, suddenly I witnessed some of participants began to experience kind of trance and utter unintelligible words. For a while I was dumbfounded, but soon realized that they may actually speak in tongue. This may refer to the one of the Holy Spirit’s charismatic gifts, described no less than St. Paul himself. “For one who speaks in a tongue does not speak to human beings but to God, for no one listens; he utters mysteries in spirit (1 Cor 14:2)”
One day, I had an opportunity to converse with one of our security personnel at our convent of Santo Domingo. I asked him if he sees God, what question would he ask of God? His answer went beyond my expectation. In Filipino, he would say, ‘Panginoon, Mahal mo ba ako?’ [Lord, do you love?] Surprised by his question, I inquired further, ‘Why that question?’ He replied in Filipino, ‘Brother, I am poor person with a lot of problems. Sometimes, I don’t really feel His presence and love.’ I realized that his question is not only single isolated case, but question of many people.
The first time God gave His commandment was on the Mount Sinai. To Moses and the Israelites, He made His covenant that He will be their God and they will be His People. And to live as a Holy People, God gave them the Law, famously called the Ten Commandment (Exo 19-20). Then, centuries after Moses, at the Upper Room, in old city Jerusalem, God gave His new commandment. This time, His Law is simpler and yet, more radical than the old one. Jesus handed to them the greatest command: Love one another as He has loved them.
One of the loveliest images of Jesus is the Good Shepherd. It is even more beautiful when we try to bring ourselves to Palestine in the time of Jesus. Life as a shepherd is tough and tiresome. Grass was scarce and the sheep constantly wondered. Since there was not protective fence, the shepherd was bound to watch his sheep for all time, otherwise the sheep would go astray. The terrain in Judea was rough and rocky, and these forced the shepherd to exert extra energy. Not only constant, shepherd’s duty was also dangerous. Wild animals, especially wolfs, were ready to attack and devour the meek sheep. Not only wild predators, robbers and thieves were eager to pirate the sheep.
Reading today’s Gospel in original Greek, we get to appreciate more the dialogue between Jesus and Peter. In English translation, both Jesus and Peter expressed themselves in the same word ‘love’, but in Greek, the word Jesus employed is ‘agapao’ while Peter’s is ‘phileo’. ‘Agapao’ or ‘agape’ refers to unconditional and radical love that every Christian should exemplify. This love is based on freewill and discipline, not just affections. This love empowers to love, to forgive and to have mercy even to our enemies. While ‘phileo’ or ‘philia’ is the reciprocal love of friendship. It is coming from both natural liking as well as firm decision. We make friends with whom we feel close, yet we exert also efforts to get close and understand them. As an old adage say, ‘friend in indeed is friends indeed.’
In Medio Ecclesiae 