Fr. Milanese is a good teacher. He is able to draw out the common thread that runs through the three readings today so as to help the parishioners make the Bible messages relevant in our daily life.
In the first reading of Acts 14:21-27, we read of the busy itinerary of Ss. Paul and Barnabas who set up new Christian communities and appointed elders to overlook them. In the future, these elders would develop into bishops, a new institution within the growing Church. Of course this is nothing new to us nowadays because we have been living with it for nearly two thousand years. And we are sure that this will continue until the end of the world.
In Revelation 21:1-5, we read of the new heaven and new earth where there will be no more sea! This is radical and totally unimaginable, a total break and discontinuity with the life on earth as we know of today. All of us will live in the new Jerusalem where God will wipe away our tears and be with us forever. So, the end of the world will give birth to a totally new existence beyond our understanding.
In the short gospel reading of John 13:31-35, Jesus gave us a new commandment: that we love one another. At first sight, there is nothing new in this commandment because in the Old Testament, we are told to love our neighbour as ourselves (Leviticus 19:18). What is new is the way we love one another: love one another just as Jesus has loved us. To be explicit, we love one another so much so as to lay down our life when the circumstances demand. Immediately this brings to mind the heroic martyrdom of Father Maximilian Kolbe who volunteered to die for a young man, a total stranger in the German Nazi concentration camp in Auschwitz in 1941. Christians believe in the resurrection of Jesus. Therefore, we are confident that when we give up our lives, God is able to restore our lives to a higher level of being. This much is our faith and our hope. We can achieve it through charity, through loving each other.
However, one thing troubles me. Jesus gave this new commandment after Judas had left. I wonder whether Judas had been excluded from this new commandment. That is to say we love one another, but not traitors. However, were Judas truly excluded, how would our love been complete? You may argue that Judas excluded himself out of his free will. Nobody, not even God, forced him to reject and betray Jesus. Love is a relation and is at least bilateral. If people reject our love, can we force them to love us in return? Of course not. If Judas rejected God, could God still force His grace upon Judas to save him? I am not sure. Perhaps God would still save Judas in a way we would never understand. Judas remains an enigma in Christianity. The role God assigns him must be more than a traitor. Perhaps his role is to challenge our charity. Remember that Jesus washed his feet in the Last Supper (John 13). Judas also had eaten the body and blood of Jesus before he left (Luke 22:19-23). If the thief crucified together with Jesus could gain entry into paradise at the last minute, the more so could Judas gain a chance to repent before he hanged himself and died. I am sure Jesus still loved the traitor. Can we Christians not love those who hurt us? Loving our enemy must be a key to bring out the new heaven and new earth. We cannot give up too easily.
Our domestic helper has left and returned to the Philippines this morning and we have had difficulty hiring another maid to help us with the house chores and take care of my elderly parents. The whole family will surely face a lot of inconveniences, at least before a new maid can arrive. However, with God's grace, this gives our family a good opportunity to support each other and love each other more. The children are eager to lighten up the burden of their mother. God's grace has never left us. Alleluia.
Dear Risen Lord, may Your resurrection carry us to scale greater heights of spiritual life. Amen.
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