Indeed, the 1st Reading portrays the unavoidable growing pains of the post-Resurrection Apostolic community. Even though the Gospel is taken from a time before the Jesus’ Passion and Death, it can still be applied to this situation. The Lord’s Farewell Discourse took place right after He had washed the feet of the Apostles. As He faced His impending death, Jesus exhorted them not to be afraid. He asked the Apostles to trust Him because He is heading towards the eternal homeland to prepare a place for them. When quizzed on how they are able to get there, Jesus replied that He is the Way, the Truth and the Life.
What can we learn from the readings and the Gospel?
Firstly, trust the Lord no matter the shape of the present. The situation of the apostolic community is instructive for us. There has never been a time where the Church was perfect. Instead, Church membership is made up of fallible humanity which in turn undermined the Church’s witnessing. If anything, the brokenness of mankind should be an incentive to pray most especially for the leaders of the institutional Church. The Apostles did not simply select seven deacons but they gathered first to pray before confirming their choices. An action-oriented culture tends to act first and only then pray to sanctify their actions. Prayers should always precede our actions.
Secondly, the absence of the Institution Narrative connects the Eucharist to service. The Eucharist is central to the life of the Church, not just as food for the journey. It nourishes and deepens the spirit of service. Almost instinctively, our focus is directed to the orphans, the widows and the poor. In other words, service is associated with the notion of social justice. But, Christian service should be more “catholic” than merely focussing on the tenets of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. The present environment that preaches D.E.I. makes it next to impossible to speak of anything in a definite manner. The reason is because definition will require distinct demarcation. In a world that is afraid of being excluded, to designate Jesus as THE way would run counter to the current sentiments.
The prevailing canon is that there are as many ways as there are people in the world. Each path requires respect if we were not to incur the condemnation of “bigotry”. In a way, the fear of bigotry has censored our missionary outreach. Our silence contradicts our belief. As Saviour, He is either the Way or He is not. We may try to accommodate as many people as we can but ultimately we will need to draw the line.
Thus, apart from caring for the poor and making sure that the environment is sustainable, service is also towards the Truth. In this sense, Sacred Scripture is never afraid to draw the line. Today, for fear of media backlash and cancellation, we are feeble in drawing our moral boundaries. How can the moral line be drawn to respect every private perversion except those that include children? The service of the truth requires that we be not selective in drawing the line because it is a mistaken notion that children are the last line of defence. The last line of defence is actually the family. Without responsible parenting, perverts will always look for loopholes to exploit, weakness in the boundaries that protect children.
Jesus asked the Disciples not to be afraid as He prepared them for the time when He will no longer be with them physically. He promised the Advocate to guarantee that His Church will always have His Spirit even if the missionary landscape is tough.
The love and service we can offer to this world is one of deep hope—a hope that is founded on Christ’s promise and presence. There seems to be a hopelessness that we need to combat. The fear brought about by the pandemic, coupled with the extreme isolation that was necessary may have also driven the young into a selfishness which is now exhibiting itself. For example, the medical condition of dysphoria could be symptomatic of the hopelessness that the young are feeling about the dystopian future. Every weather variation is packaged as part of climate change and while we do need to take responsibility, this kind of scaremongering can only demoralise a hopeless generation.
How can we offer the hope that is based on Jesus Christ? As JPII told the world, “Be not afraid”, he was not advocating a kind of “stoicism”. Rather, he was encouraging
Catholics not to be afraid because we are in a century of new evangelisation. This means we need to believe in Jesus first our lives. Our lives must show the world that Jesus is The Way, The Truth and The Life. The “new” in the new evangelisation just means that more than proclaiming Jesus in words, we live Jesus in deeds to the core of our being.
It is so much easier to shout slogans and to put out captions. Look at “Laudato si” initiatives. Much energy is spent on talking about it but when it comes to making decisions in favour of environmental justice, we are slow. Many of our Church events still feature single-use plastic. We are good at speaking about climate change but inauthentic in our actions.
There will never be a convenient time to believe, never a perfect moment to preach. The challenge indeed is to proclaim the same Gospel that was preached by Jesus Christ. Every Catholic who lives this Gospel personally becomes an open bible to others. The Church exists precisely to proclaim that Jesus is The Way, The Truth and The Life. Even when her mouth is taped up, still she must continue to evangelise. The message is only credible through our actions.
Finally, with regard to Jesus’ response to His Apostles on being the Way, the Truth and the Life, “Western” thinking struggles with the idea of “definition” because to define suggests that there might be absolutes we need to accept. For example, a US Suprême Court Justice, at her Senate Confirmation Hearing, was unable to define what a woman was. Definition comes from drawing lines. Because we are afraid to demarcate, we continue to lament that the world is imperfect and the result is a withdrawal into selfishness. Without the certainty of defining, we necessarily resort to self-definition, making the “self” an absolute. The Coronation of King Charles III is timely because it reveals the consequence of our “isolating selfishness”. It is incredibly alien in a cosmos where the self is deified to have someone who is held above everyone else. In a way, the Coronation becomes an antidote to “non-defining, yet self-defining” selfishness that seemed to have enveloped the West. We cannot define anything except that we acknowledge the self to be the only definition. During the Coronation, we see that for those who bear arms, there exists someone other than the soldier and his self-interest who demands his allegiance, his loyalty and his service. In a manner of speaking, the soldier would even die for that Commander in Chief rather than choose to preserve his own life. The Coronation helps to make sense of the absolute and defining statement that Jesus IS The Way, The Truth and The Life. It is impossible to be a holy people and a consecrated nation if there were no one out there whose Lordship lays claim over us. Do not be afraid. With Jesus as the Lord and Saviour, we shall be persuasive witnesses of His Way, humble servants of His Truth and gentle lovers of His Life.
It is so much easier to shout slogans and to put out captions. Look at “Laudato si” initiatives. Much energy is spent on talking about it but when it comes to making decisions in favour of environmental justice, we are slow. Many of our Church events still feature single-use plastic. We are good at speaking about climate change but inauthentic in our actions.
There will never be a convenient time to believe, never a perfect moment to preach. The challenge indeed is to proclaim the same Gospel that was preached by Jesus Christ. Every Catholic who lives this Gospel personally becomes an open bible to others. The Church exists precisely to proclaim that Jesus is The Way, The Truth and The Life. Even when her mouth is taped up, still she must continue to evangelise. The message is only credible through our actions.
Finally, with regard to Jesus’ response to His Apostles on being the Way, the Truth and the Life, “Western” thinking struggles with the idea of “definition” because to define suggests that there might be absolutes we need to accept. For example, a US Suprême Court Justice, at her Senate Confirmation Hearing, was unable to define what a woman was. Definition comes from drawing lines. Because we are afraid to demarcate, we continue to lament that the world is imperfect and the result is a withdrawal into selfishness. Without the certainty of defining, we necessarily resort to self-definition, making the “self” an absolute. The Coronation of King Charles III is timely because it reveals the consequence of our “isolating selfishness”. It is incredibly alien in a cosmos where the self is deified to have someone who is held above everyone else. In a way, the Coronation becomes an antidote to “non-defining, yet self-defining” selfishness that seemed to have enveloped the West. We cannot define anything except that we acknowledge the self to be the only definition. During the Coronation, we see that for those who bear arms, there exists someone other than the soldier and his self-interest who demands his allegiance, his loyalty and his service. In a manner of speaking, the soldier would even die for that Commander in Chief rather than choose to preserve his own life. The Coronation helps to make sense of the absolute and defining statement that Jesus IS The Way, The Truth and The Life. It is impossible to be a holy people and a consecrated nation if there were no one out there whose Lordship lays claim over us. Do not be afraid. With Jesus as the Lord and Saviour, we shall be persuasive witnesses of His Way, humble servants of His Truth and gentle lovers of His Life.
