8th Week, Saturday, June 1
Jude 17, 20-25
Remember the Apostles' words; Pray in the Holy Spirit.
Ralph Martin writes in Hungry for God: "A real estate man I know gets up early in the morning to pray; an aerospace engineer
prays and reads Scripture on his lunch hour; a production manager of a computing firm prays after the children are in bed at night."
Martin goes on to note that if we don't have a prayer schedule, we probably won't pray. When anything becomes important to us, we schedule it into our day. We don't leave it to chance.
We should do the same with prayer. Unless there's a commitment to a fixed time for prayer, there's not likely to be much prayer. That's just how we humans are.
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How deeply committed to prayer are we? "If two people want to become more than acquaintances, they need to agree on definite times and places to get together." Ralph Martin
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AUTHORITY AND PERSON OF JESUS
Introduction
The letter of Jude is close to apocalyptic literature and rather severe toward those who are worldly, unspiritual and causing divisions. Yet, at the same time, he asks that mercy be shown to those who are wavering.
The Gospel shows us the Jewish leaders challenging Jesus’ authority for what he teaches and does because they feel challenged in their own authority. Jesus does not give them an answer because they are not willing to accept him anyway because they only try to justify themselves. They and we cannot understand Jesus unless we encounter and welcome and love him as a person.
Opening Prayer
Lord our God, you are the source of all wisdom. Speak your word to us today and open our hearts to it, that we may learn to look with your eyes to the world and to people and that your wisdom may guide us in all we do. We ask you this through him you sent among us and in whom we believe, Jesus Christ, our Lord.
Intercessions
– That the Church may imitate Jesus and base its authority on service and healing, we pray:
– That those authority may be humble and self-effacing, we pray:
– That we may recognize authority more in goodness and mercy rather than in power, we pray:
Prayer over the Gifts
Lord our God, you have given us your Son, Jesus, to be with us and to show us the way to you. Let him become to us a living person present here among us in these signs of bread and wine, present also in people around us, present in our lives as our companion on the road to you, for he is our Lord for ever.
Prayer after Communion
Lord our God, loving Father, your Son, Jesus, has been with us in this Eucharistic celebration. Give us the wisdom and the humility to accept your Son always on his own terms and with his own authority. May we thus, come to love him more and to live the kind of life he lived among people as the truth and the life and the way to you, our living and loving God for ever.
Blessing
Thank God that we believe in Jesus. May we also accept those who speak in his name. We ask the Lord to increase our faith. May God bless you, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Commentary
Chief priests, scribes, and senior men - These three groups comprised the Jewish governing body, the Sanhedrin. They confronted Jesus over the issue of him chasing out the animal sellers and money exchangers from the temple on the previous day. They ask Jesus “with what authority” he did things and “who had given him such authority”. When authority arises from the position, the power, the money and fame, normally such authority imposes itself and seeks the dominance of the other; tries to subdue the other. Power, money, and fame seek privilege, and even try to control God.
The temple authorities believed that they had already trapped him on the issue of authority. To teach people in the temple are required training under a recognised Rabbi. Did Jesus have the required educational qualifications? They were not aware of any! Hence, the temple authorities wanted to discredit him before the common people and stop him from teaching them in the temple area. Jesus turned the table back on them by questioning them about not accepting John the Baptist. If they were unable to recognise or to accept the divine authority behind the mission of John, they would not have recognised the hand of God behind the works of Jesus. Jesus did not bother entering into further dialogue with them. The ignorant one from Galilee had outsmarted the elites from the centre. Today, the detractors of the Church, use this act of Jesus cleansing the temple against the clergy and church leadership whom they do not like. We do listen to comments such as “If Jesus were to come back to the Church today, he would be chasing out our priests and church-leaders.” But there is a difficulty in such comments: Through such comments, they are trying to assume the role of Jesus and decide what would be the likes and dislikes of Jesus. In other words, they are already passing judgement on others. We too, of course, can have a similar blindness of the temple authorities. When questioned about the baptism of John, they preferred to play ignorant and blind. “We do not know,” was their evasive answer. When we are preoccupied with our social status, power, authority and position, we run into the danger of refusing to see the presence and work of God in situations where we do not want to see it. We refuse to see the hand of God working in people in whom we do not want to see it. But God uses any person, any experience, good or bad, pleasant or unpleasant, to communicate with us. “Help me, Lord, to seek and find and respond to you in every experience of my life.”
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1 June 2024
Mark 11: 27-33
Stand firm in faith
The first reading for today is from the Letter of St. Jude. This letter is often overlooked because it only has one chapter and covers various issues that were present in the community to which it was written. Evidently, some teachers were deviating from the accepted Christian teachings, which led to tensions within the community.
The author reminds his audience that even the apostles themselves predicted that there would be people who mocked and ridiculed the Christian faith. However, he encourages the listeners to stand firm in their beliefs, to remain prayerful, and to persevere in their faith. The faithful are also advised to correct any confusion they encounter and to help those who may have been led astray. The Apostle emphasizes the importance of relying solely on Christ for protection against falling away from the faith.
We can be misled even in today's world. Hence, it's important to be cautious and not blindly accept every new opinion that comes our way. However, being open-minded is equally important. We should be willing to consider new insights into theological positions and be open to changing our perspective if convinced. This is a positive sign of growth.
In today's Gospel, the people who confronted Jesus were not open to a discussion with Him as their minds were already made up. As Christians, we believe that Jesus taught with authority received from God, but we acknowledge that we are not all-knowing. New questions arise every day in our lives, communities, cultures, and nations. However, the Jesus of the Gospels remains the same: "yesterday and today and forever.”
If we face challenges to our faith with joy and courage, we stand upon the truth that leads to eternal life.
