Reflection for the 2nd Sunday of Easter (Cycle B)
After the introspection of Lent, the encounter of the humbled Christ in his dolorous passion and death, and the solemn celebration of the triumph of his divine love in the resurrection, there remains important questions which seem to be barely asked, obscured in the Easter frenzy of “returning to our usual ways:” Where and how must we proceed from our Lord’s rising from the dead?
The discipline of our Lenten exile is intended to prepare us for what hopefully will be a lifelong mission to serve the kingdom of God, a spiritual exercise culminating in the glorious experience and in an inspiring appreciation of the resurrection. When we have deeply immersed ourselves in the mystery of our Lord being raised from death, then we should recognize the hope that the Spirit gives us in conquering our sins and in overcoming the social structures we created that compelled others to sin.
So, the Easter event does not signify that a “big job has been done,” but that a “big job has yet to be done.”
The failure of any of our efforts to renew ourselves during Lent, or to be renewed during Easter stems not from a fair sharing in the victory of the resurrection, but from an unfair claiming that in the triumph of the Christ, there is nothing else to do but to indulge and bask in its glorious light. Let us always remember that the thrust of this holy season is not only soteriological, but also missiological.
We must ponder and act upon not only on our yearning for salvation, but also on our God-given tasks of re-creation; not only on a spiritual redemption by faith, but also on an imperative of charity by good works. Hence, we must not be complacent that our Lord has already taken up our place on the cross; he is reminding us that we must take the same cross and bear it so that we can continue doing what he did.
Is it not enough that we received mercy, but that we must also decide it is now time to offer it?
Today’s readings are most appropriate in focusing for us the missiological message of Easter. The passage from Acts is an excellent glimpse from the early Christian communities of what the “kingdom of God” is like and should be: Believers who are one in heart and mind in the selflessness and compassion of the prophetic Jesus they loved and adored. Everyone felt the greater responsibility that they must have for everybody else, and that he or she must only be a steward of everything else. Thus everyone knew they must share all possessions in common. And as a result, no one was in dire need, no one was in despair, everyone trusted “God was indeed among us”.
It is therefore in achieving God’s reign of justice and mutual responsibility that they bore – and we can bear – witness to the resurrection of our Lord. It is in this obedience to his divine will, and to the purpose of his undying love for us as John says, that they have – and we can – “overcome the world.”
Now, driven by our Easter zeal, must we not ask for example, why in the midst of all the raucousness of pandemic responses, missed opportunities and failures, we have apparently forgotten the unjust deaths of nine Tumandok leaders in Panay last December 2020, who were simply fighting for the survival of their communities of indigenous peoples? Or why we have already committed to dimmed memories the crackdown that led to the killing of fourteen peasants in Negros Oriental last March 2019, or the cold-blooded murder of nine farmers in Negros Occidental last October 2018, people who like us were simply fighting for their rights in aspiration for a better future? Or why after so many decades of “spiritualized indifference,” we are still unconcerned for all those who died – or are presumed dead – for being lonely voices of the powerless and the oppressed?
Will the “Bloody Sunday” in Calabarzon of March 2021, be similarly abandoned to those who opt not to look, listen or speak about it?
If we are unable to see and believe in the power of the resurrected Body of Christ through the many “small” acts of holy heroism to ensure that no one is left behind, to accomplish the peace that only such a “heaven on earth” can give, then we are as unfortunate as the doubting Thomas. Worse, if we are unable to see that we are actually going against Christ’s power by stifling and suppressing these “little resurrections,” then we are as condemnable as the evil one.
May the eternal Spirit fortify our resolve to do our Christian duties so that upon our dying day, we may exclaim “Dominus meus et Deus meus!”
Brother Jess Matias is a professed brother of the Secular Franciscan Order. He serves as minister of the St. Pio of Pietrelcina Fraternity at St. Francis of Assisi Parish in Mandaluyong City, coordinator of the Padre Pio Prayer Groups of the Capuchins in the Philippines and prison counselor and catechist for the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology.
The views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial stance of LiCAS.news.
Source: Licas Philippines
0 Comments