Love one another

April 24 2016 Sunday homily: Fr.Francis Chirackal CMI

Acts 14:21b-27; Rv 21:1-5a; Jn 13:31-33a, 34-35

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During my priestly ministry I have anointed hundreds of patients who were sick or at the door of death and I have officiated hundreds of funeral services and funeral Masses. One of the expressions I hear is, “He/she is in a better place. He/she was a wonderful person with great love”. I heard mostly this expression from the loved ones of those who lived and left this world after a life of love and faith in God. Their surviving loved ones know that their love towards the deceased one is not over as they have gone to an eternal home, where a loving God welcomes them and one day all will be joined together before that loving God. What helped them to find comfort, was the life of love and faith they lived and left behind for their family and friends. In today’s readings, we are invited to an ever-growing optimism, as John gives a vision of the New Jerusalem, towards which all of us are heading with great expectations. That city of the New Jerusalem, is the source of our hope and strength, to go through any kind of bitter experience in this world.

Our first reading from the book of the Acts of Apostles, gives the picture of the first of three missionary journeys Paul made, sharing his Christ experience with Jews and gentiles. His two and a half year journey was an adventurous one for Paul, as he had to go through several sufferings and hardships while preaching and witnessing to Christ. In the second reading from the book of Revelation, John, saw the new heaven and the new earth- the future abode of the just ones, where all will be happiness and unending peace. Though our earthly intellect is incapable of grasping the heavenly picture, John gives his vision of heaven through different signs and symbols along with certain descriptions. As we see in Jesus’ teachings and John’s visions, there is no room for pessimism in Christianity. The basic attitude of the Christians is optimism. God is in control. God will cure the evils of the world and answer the questions of existence in ways that are beyond our imagination.

The Gospel, tells of the supreme law of Christianity, i.e. ‘love'. The norm of that love is nothing less than the love, which is taught and showed by Jesus himself. It is a selfless and sacrificial love, which needs to be practiced in our day-to-day lives. On Holy Thursday, we saw how His vicar, our Pope Francis, imitated this love from his heart by washing the feet of refugees, transcending the differences of religion, creed, race and regions. We have examples of hundreds of saints and martyrs, who imitated this love in their concrete living situations, which were visible or invisible to the external world. There is always newness in Jesus’ love. Following Jesus’ love has its own unique set of difficulties. But the end result will be victory. It’s a whole new world. God is in charge. We are citizens of the New Jerusalem. While we live in this earthly world looking at the New Jerusalem, optimism must permeate every action of our lives. Sin will never win the final battle. Evil, no matter how powerful it may seem, will never conquer the world. Jesus Christ, has won the battle against evil with His death and resurrection. God is in control. We are the beloved sheep of his flock and our shepherd knows where to lead, how to lead and how to protect us from wolves and enemies. We are the citizens of the New Jerusalem. The New Jerusalem is the Kingdom of God among us and the sole principle is ‘Love and Charity’.

Christian love and charity is not only doing something positive. It also includes preventing certain foreseen evils in our lives and in the life of others, through appropriate support, guidance, corrections and all possible steps to stop evils and wrong doings, wherever it is possible and required, even at the cost of our own comfort, benefit and convenience. Convenient silence against known evils is equally detrimental to the Kingdom of God and we are held accountable. Convenient silence is a product of selfishness carved by evil forces. It is an expression of selfishness and lack of love and charity as it promotes injustice, sufferings and loss of human dignity. Politically right policy is not Jesus’ policy. It is against Jesus’ policy. All of these evil behaviors, go against Jesus’ love, which was totally self-giving and sacrificial, who suffered injustice to give us justice. Jesus, wants us to practice his love in our homes, communities, parishes, dioceses, work places, study centers, and every place we interact with our fellow beings, irrespective of all differences.

Let us keep His word and express our love for Christ, by expressing our love towards, our fellow beings. Let us grow in our citizenship in the New Jerusalem, our eternal city. Keeping our Christian responsibilities in our heart and expressing it in action, let us always go forward towards the heavenly glory, helping our fellow beings find the Kingdom of God, here on earth and life after. God bless you.