DRIVE OUT THE DEMONS

Does the feast of the Ascension of Jesus leaving you wondering, ‘Now, what do we do?”

 

There are several different ways that this last appearance of the risen Jesus is pictured in the Gospels. It is a time of completion of the earthy mission of Jesus. He now moves to glory within the Holy Trinity. At the same time, it is preparation time for the disciples to wait to be empowered by the Holy Spirit.

 

Ascension is not only caught in the upward movement toward divine glory. It is directed outward: the disciples are now to carry on the life and the work of Jesus. It is time for the people of the Church to become empowered in their mission. It is time for the people of the Church to become the living extension of Jesus Christ in their own geography and theirown history.

 

One of the signs that they have been empowered by the Holy Spirit is that they will 

 ‘drive out demons!’

 

Our first reaction is ‘this is such old fashion language.’ It does not mean much to us in our highly scientific worldview. We know much better than to believe that there are  such things as evil demons controlling the life and health of people.

 

Step back a minute. Separate the noun used ( the demons) from the reality that is named. It does not matter what kind of label you use to describe evil, the reality is still the same! Evil by any other name is always evil. 

 

Christ sends you into the world to drive out the demons, just as he drove out the demons.

 

Drive out the demon of poverty, that is, where the powerful do not care about the plight of the countless poor, who barely scrap by, within their own societies. Drive out eh demon of indifference where the people with power in all our countries are indifferent to the people at the bottom who struggle with food shortages. 

 

Drive out the demon of war. At the momen, t the entire world is suffering the death and destruction of the people of the Ukraine, in Gaza and in the Sudan. People in power (and with the money) are convinced that war can further their cause and make their country a more powerful country. But what about the women and children who are killed?

 

Drive out the demon of racism. In every country there are is the majority of the people of the same skin color, same religion and education class who structure the society so that people who are different cannot advance. In the painful past there were signs that “blacks need not apply.” Blatant racism! But today it can be more subtle. Your skin color or your religion may be reason to overlook a person with for suitable qualifications for a particular position. The rejection is all based on race!

 

You will be able to label other demons that are active in our society and within the lives of our individual family members. It is not important how you label these evil forces, but whatever the label they are active and forceful. The world is full of  many demons (evil  forces) as there were in the days of Jesus. 

 

The Spirit of Jesus is given to drive, to be a force, to drive out the demons. What demons do you have to deal with?

 

CHRIST: RE-ESTABLISHING THE BALANCE

 

All of the Christian churches  are faced with a challenge in their life and the manner they believe in Jesus Christ. This is an opportunity to get the balance straight in how we live with Christ.

 

For the past thousand years almost all the attention was given to the suffering and death of Jesus. Look at all our images of the event of salvation: it has been the exclusive use of the cross with the dying Christ. If you asked the average Christian in the pew what our salvation consists of they would probably  only outline the cross.

 

List all the pictures and drawings that you have seen of the salvation story and you will see the preponderance of the cross and suffering Christ.

 

This does not match up with the teachings of St. Paul in the New Testament. We are redeemed, brought to God, through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The resurrection is as much a part of our salvation as the death of Jesus.

 

The resurrection is not just Jesus come back to life but by the power of the Holy Spirit this is the sharing of the risen Christ with us, the believers, in the here and now. Resurrection is not only an event that happened on a particular night in history, but the resurrection must now happen in each believer. Jesus Christ must be risen in us. 

 

This awareness is rather weak in the lives of  our Christian people (Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox). All three branches of Christianity are at this creative moment: will we work to give as much attention to the resurrection and to living the resurrection as we have given to the death and cross of Jesus? In order to work toward restoring the balance we need to see that the fifty days of Easter in the liturgical cycle get as much attention and energy as the forty days of Lent. 

 

When we consider the resurrection of Jesus we must be in touch with the dynamic power of this event. The Holy Spirit is giving us the risen Christ in order that our lives be empowered by the life-force of the son of God. Now, what happened in and through Jesus must now happen through the lives of the believers.

 

The risen Jesus is given to us to bring us to live and share in the very relationship of the Trinity: our lives are to be animated by the love and outpouring of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We give our lives to God as the three persons pour out their lives, their personhood, to the other. Whenever we pray, we are always praying with and in the mystery of the Holy Trinity.

 

When we give of ourselves to care for the poor, the poor with their many faces, we are sharing in the compassion and healing power of Jesus Christ. The life of the risen Jesus is being lived through our hands and the sharing of our hearts.

 

The next time you enter in a worship space look for depictions, drawings of the risen Christ. In our hymns and prayers, count the number of times we focus in on the risen Christ. 

 

We are at this wonderful moment. Will we become a faith community created and energized by the death and resurrection of Jesus. Will we reclaim the balance?

 

 

 

 

 

 

RECENTERING IN CHRIST

 

Our faith, the work of our Church, are one thing: Christ!

 

The majority of people who have gone through the “done the sacraments scene” may not know that their life is meant to be energized and motivated by the very person of Christ. The person of the Son  of God is alive and working through us. 

 

The founding event of the Church, the Pentecost, is the outpouring of the very spirit of Jesus Christ to us, that we may become the living hands and the living face of Jesus. 

 

Be patient with anyone within the Church who thinks that just being good is equivalent to  being a Christian person. There is a lot more than just being a decent human being.

 

As a faith community we are trying to be re-centered in the mystery of Christ. God has become  human in Jesus Christ. He was a working man with callouses on his hands, dirt between his finger nails and suffering under the hot sun. There are many people today who have not come to grips with the humanity of God in the skin of Jesus Christ.

 

Now, his life was  salvific. His suffering and death on the cross were a sacrifice of service and love for the redemption  of humanity. All are now brought before God in the great love and outpouring of the cross. 

 

The other side of this mystery of redemption was the resurrection which is the outpouring of the life and person of Jesus Christ to the believers. The actual person of the Son, the second person of the Trinity, is poured out into the people of the Church. Now, the believers are meant to live and incarnate Jesus Christ. 

 

Do not be surprised if your sister who identifies herself as a staunch Catholic does not know this. You may register her look of surprise when you spell out the truth about Jesus Christ.

 

This Sunday (5^th Sunday of Easter) we are given the life-giving image of the vine and the branches. This Gospel selection is all about you. This teaching of Jesus indicates what you are to be in this world.  “Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me.” (n. 15,4)

 

Teresa of Avila, one of the great mystics of our Christian faith gives us words to understand the mystery of Christ.

 

Christ has no body but yours,

No hands, no feet on earth but yours,

Yours are the eyes with which he looks

Compassion on this world,

Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good,

Yours are the hands, with which he blesses all the world.

Yours are the hands, yours are the feet,

Yours are the eyes, you are his body.

Christ has no body now but yours,

No hands, no feet on earth but yours,

Yours are the eyes with which he looks

compassion on this world.

Christ has no body now on earth but yours.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

JESUS IS VERY CHALLENGIING

 

There is a wise saying from the folklore that cautions us. “Never say anything about another person until you have walked a mile in their shoes.” 

 

The older you become (if you have learnt from the blows and bruises you received while trying to maneuver through life) the clearer you understand how hard life actually is for other people. You do not know how they almost collapsed when a relationship broke up, when they had to declare bankruptcy or when the lost an adult child through a drug overdose.

 

If you live into your eighties or nineties there will be many bruises of old battles fought, scars of failures and some limping from the accidents of life that literally blindsided you. Life takes a lot of energy and determination. There is never room to lie down and just give up.

 

This is where I want to say to everyone who claims to believe in God:  my experience of Jesus has been very challenging. This is not a feel-good religion that just aims to make all of us nice people who respect one another. God is no santy-claus god to drop goodies into our lives. 

 

We begin from the very heart of our God. This is the divinity who cares deeply about us humans. To name God is to stand together with God’s dynamic concern for humanity. This God is never indifferent to what happens on this earth.

 

Jesus is the incarnation of the living God. God is personal. God is touchable. God, in the life, teachings and actions of Jesus is very tangible. So many people  have not encountered the living God. They have not been challenged by the question of Jesus: who do you say I am?

 

The real Jesus is all about God wanting to transform the human heart. The plan of God is to move human beings  from living and working only for their own self-interest to living and working for the well-being of others. Jesus wants us to stop talking about ourselves and move out to feeding the hungry and binding up lonely wounds. This is not a feel-good religion but the challenge to become involved in the well-being of your fellow human being.

 

The wonderful consequence of living an authentic Christian religion is that the closer you draw towards your God, the closer you will draw toward your fellow human being. A heart that expands in love for God, is a heart that expands in love for the poor with their many faces.

 

I do not want anyone to ever think that “he’s the priest and religion  works well for him.” 

 

No, I am a fellow pilgrim and Jesus challenges my life to move from self-centeredness to compassion for others; from fear of dealing with some of the tough issues of life to embracing courage to look to the survival of the earth, to the struggles of so many others with drug/alcohol addictions and the burdens of old age. 

 

This Jesus is very challenging and I hope I meet up to the challenge!

 

 

 

 

 

 

SURVIVAL OF THE EARTH IS A SPIRITUAL ISSUE

 

Last Monday, April 8, we were blest with an eclipse of the sun. I hope that the thousands of people who were out had a wonderful experience of the moon moving over the sun for three minutes and some twenty seconds. It was an experience that they will never forget.

 

What a wonderful moment to celebrate and rejoice in creation. We are here to enjoy it. 

 

Thoughtful people, who are not afraid to tackle the hard questions of human existence, are painfully aware that the earth is entering into a time of global warming. It will not happen overnight but there is caution that the atmosphere will heat up the point where human beings may not be able to grow food on large parts of the earth. The ocean levels will rise and flood coastal cities (where a significant part of the human population lives).

 

We know the problem and it is us!  

 

All of humanity is challenged. Can we come together as the human race, change our consumption of fossil fuels and move into the life and climate-sustaining future. Every human being is challenged: will we cooperate and move into a surviving future or will we all perish together? 

 

The survival of the earth is a deeply spiritual problem.  How we live and what we value arises from our spiritual values. This challenges our Christian faith. 

 

We must go back into our roots to rediscover that in the very first chapter of the Bible we have the story of creation. It is told in terms of the seven days of creation which leads tohe believer to see that the seventh day as a day of joy o nthe part of God to rest, enjoy and be blest by the entire work of creation. Each day God stands back and recognizes how good creation is. 

 

This is where every believer needs to rediscover that the first act of revelation on the part of God is found in the book of creation. Every leaf, bug, cloud and potato plant reflects and is a share in the goodness and life of God. We need to rediscover how b lest every part of creation actually is. We need to reverence, respect and rejoice in every part of creation. We need to once again rediscover wonder for all parts of creation. 

 

Pope Francis in 2015 published an encyclical (official policy for the Church) ‘Laudato Si.’

It opens for all believers a new sense of compassion, cooperation and wonder for the earth, our common home. The teaching brings together our responsibility to care for the survival and thriving of ever y human being and our care for all parts of creation. This is not an either/or situation but a ‘together’ we must thrive.

 

Do not let any person who claims to believe in the divine off the hook. Ask them how they are working to preserve all of creation and helping all future generations of humanity to live, thrive and enjoy every aspect of creation. How are these people supporting and nourishing the future earth? How do they care for our common hone?

 

I hope you enjoyed the eclipse last Monday. May this event lift up your prayer in gratitude and wonder that we live in such a wonderful world.

 

 

 

MAY YOU BE THOMAS

 

Immediately after  Easter Sunday we are hit with Thomas (the doubting Thomas) who struggles with the reality of the risen Jesus. (Jh.  20, 19-31) This is not just one individual  but he stands for all the disciples of Jesus who struggled with the reality: they knew he was killed on the cross so how could he be alive now? As we listen and pray over this resurrection story, we know that this “is me!” I have doubts and struggles just like Thomas.

 

The power of this story is located in our own struggle to find the truth. It is not good enough for the women and disciples of the gospels to claim they have seen the risen Jesus. Now, each one of us must encounter the resurrected Jesus in our own space and time. Jesus must be risen for each one of us!

 

Wise people have taught us that you will only know a truth when you have grappled with the opposite. We have to rub against the opposite. There are people whom you find very difficult to get along with but once you know their story and some of the serious difficulties of their life you will get to appreciate them better. Just as a spark is generated when a piece of metal is struck against a flint will you get a spark to ignite your campfire. Striking opposites generates fire.

 

Thomas leaves no doubt where he stands. “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.” (Jn. 20,25)

 

A week later Jesus appears among the disciples. He commands Thomas: “Thomas, put your finger here and see my  hands.  Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.” (Jn. 2027)

 

We can feel the overpowering sense as Thomas recognizes the risen Jesus: “My Lord and my God.”

 

This appearance event tells us that struggle and doubt are part of the journey of faith. We may have hesitations about living into the reality of the risen Christ. We may have heard the story that Jesus is risen but we do not know what to make of it today.  In front of other believers who believe so firmly there may be guilt feelings that we cannot jump up and affirm  our faith so strongly.

 

It is healthy to struggle with the resurrection of Jesus. In the past we did not stress our need to walk with our people, supporting them as they seek to come to a mature and deeper faith. Somehow doubt and hesitation were regarded as a negative attitude toward Jesus Christ. Today ,we can see the importance that everyone struggles like Thomas to believe and live with the risen Christ.

 

Use your imagination and put yourselves into the shoes of Thomas. What fears do you have? What courage and new insights do you receive?

 

May your journey be like the journey of Thomas. May you come to a faith that is alive and moving as was that of Thomas after his struggles.

 

 

 

THE RESURRECTION IS CENTRAL TO OUR FAITH

 

This is Easter Sunday. This is the high point of our Holy Week celebrations. Christ has died! Christ is risen!

 

In Western Christianity (that is European, North and South American) we need to work had to keep the balance in our spirituality and our focus on the great act of salvation. Jesus truly gave his life as a sacrifice of service and love (bring all humanity to God) and the divine has broken through in the resurrection of Jesus. We must always have both together.

 

Through the past one thousand years the focus has been very strong on the humanity of Jesus. We can imagine his face, his body, his sufferings but we have serious difficulties imaging his resurrection. 

 

The devotion “the Way of the Cross” was always incomplete. We come to the end of the fourteenth station and the dead body of Jesus is placed in the tomb – and we are finished. We walk away. But half the mystery has been neglected! Our salvation is lived and manifested in the events of the resurrection of Jesus. We have always had difficulty getting handles on that one!

 

The resurrection of Jesus is always the revelation of the Son of God to the disciples. Each appearance is a theophany (to use the proper Biblical description).  A theophany is a direct experience of the living God. Each appearance is a revelation, a showing, a showing forth of the very Son of God. Jesus is the second person within the Trinity. The people of the Church must devote as much time and energy to the resurrection as they do to the moments of Jesus’ sufferings. 

 

The resurrection of Jesus is the divine action manifested among the disciples. Now they can see that everything that Jesus said and did was a manifestation of the very person and nature of God. The human Jesus is God in the flesh. What he taught and the miracles he worked are  God’s actions and teachings. Jesus, in all he did and said, is God’s revelation to the human race. 

 

But our celebration of Easter must never be a one day event. It happened on a definite night. It would be a deficit if we marked the Easter event and now lets go on with life. The opposite must now happen within our lives. Now, the resurrection of Jesus must happen in each believer. Each one of us must become the resurrection of Jesus. This happens through our life of prayer; our connection with the living God. This happens through our service to the poor with their many faces. It happens when we take time to walk with the friend who is undergoing cancer treatment. We walk beside them in support, friendship and encouragement. The resurrection must happen in our lifestyle.

 

Have a very happy Easter with your family and friends. But may Easter always be a door opening to a greater life in and with the risen Christ. May our lives be a manifestation of the Risen Christ, moving and active among us.