|
WORD FOR MISSION Every week EUNTES.NET
offers
to lay, religious people and priests an itinerary of reflections on the
Sunday Liturgy in a missionary prespective. These are elements for a
missionary meditation, individual or in community, on the Word of God ,
which constantly and surprisingly continues to enlighten, strengthen
and sustain the missionary journey of the Church, for the life of the
World
|
|
To believe in the Risen Lord is commit oneself to humankind Easter Sunday Year B - 12.04.2009
Acts 10:34.37-43 Psalm 117 Colossians 3:1-4 John 20:1-9
Reflections The
missionary messge for Easter is evident: Pasch is the passing
of the
God-Man from death to life; it is the proclamation of a God who dies on
a cross
and rises again, so that all peoples may have life in abundance (cf.
Jn.10:0)!
Easter is the key to the reading of the most tremendous mystery: the mystery
of death and life. The story of the God-made-man reaches its
peak on Calvary, and its light From the experience of a new life in Christ springs the missionary commitment to proclaim and to share. The universal mission to all peoples is born from Easter. Indeed, Jesus sends out the apostles to all the nations in the whole world during the apparitions following the Resurrection: Mt.28, Mk.16, Lk.24, Jn.20. The joyful experience of following the Risen Christ gives birth to the joyful serving of one’s brethren; the commitment to Mission is born and flourishes. To believe in the Resurrection of Christ is to commit oneself to the resurrection of humanity. Two outstanding believers of our day, the Patriarch Athenagora and Olivier Clement, both of whom are working on the front of fraternity and ecumenism, exchange views on the meaning and the consequences of belief in the Resurrection of Jesus for the life of the world and for the Mission of the Church. The following passages illustrate some of the points they made during their dialogues. « - The big problems, the tragical problems facing humanity today – how can they be linked to the miracle of the Resurrection? - A third of humanity is hungry. To the hunger of bodies is united that of the souls: two thirds of the world population has not yet learned to know, to recognize, the name of Christ. In the countries that call themselves Christian there is a huge gap between the Gospel on the one hand and the way Christians live on the other, and on yet another, the things that society seeks, and its tendencies. How can all this be linked to the Resurrection? The answer it evident, obvious! The so-called Christians do not live the Resurrection, and are not risen! They have lost the Spirit of the Gospel. They have made the Church a machine, theology a pseudo-science, Christianity a vogue of fashion. We must rediscover, re-live the burning theology of St. Paul: «... as Christ was raised from the dead, we too (the baptised) should begin living a new life.» (cf Rm. 6,4). If those who believe in the Risen one carry this power for life within themselves, then it will be possible to find solutions to the problems over which people agonise… It is a matter, first and foremost, to form the interior man, to make him capable of an adoration that is creative. We need persons who live an experience, through the Holy Spirit, of the Resurrection of Christ as the light of the cosmos and the meaning of history. From this interior power will burst an effort that will give meaning to human values, to the great social ideas… It is all here: to begin in oneself a new life, to clothe one’s soul with a festive garment. Then we will have our hands full of fraternal gifts for all who suffer, of the famine of the body and also that of the soul. ».
« -But where can we find the Risen One, so as to enter into communion with Him so that streams of living water may flow out from us, as the Gospel says? - Christ is everywhere. From the Resurrection onwards, all human events unfold in Him: they seek him, celebrate him, fight him, deny him, re-discover him. His secret presence, the revelation he brings, have become the ferment of the whole of human existence. Remember Ch.24 of Matthew: “I was hungry and you gave me food… insofar as you did this to one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did it to me…”? Commenting on this passage, St. John Chrisostom tells us that the poor person is the sacrament of Christ, that Christ takes flesh in a poor person. Christ is present every time that there is a true meeting, every time that some love is shown, every time that justice or truth are served in a disinterested way, every time that beauty spreads froth from a human heart. ». (ATHENAGORAS, Patriarch of Constantinople, in Dialoghi con Atenagora by O. Clement, Brescia 1995, pp. 151-155
In the steps of Missionaries - 12/4: St. Zeno, Bishop of Verona. He originated from North Africa, and fought against paganism, Arianism and other heresies, and “brought the city to the Baptism of Christ” He died around 372 AD, and his feast is celebrated in Verona on 21st. May) - 12/4: St. Teresa of Jesus (Juana Fernández Solar, 1900-1920), of the Andes, in Chile. She was a Carmelite nun, and died of typhus at the age of 20. - 13/4: Bl. Scubilion (Jean Bernard) Rousseau (1797-1867), a French Brother of the Christian Schools, who was the “catechist of the slaves” on Reunion Island ( Indian Ocean). - 15/4: Bl. Damian di Veuster (1840-1889), of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts (Picpus Fathers), apostle of the lepers. He died on Molokai Island (Hawaii), and will be Canonised on 11th October 2009. - 15/4: Abraham Lincoln, assassinated in 1865. While President of the United States, he pushed for racial integration and the emancipation of slaves. - 16/4: St. Marie Bernardette Soubirous (1844-1879) who, at the age of 14, received the messages of Our Lady (the Immaculate Conception) at Lourdes in 1858. - 17/4: Blessed Catherine Tekakwitha (1656-1680), virgin, from Quebec (Canada); the first “Red Indian” to be raised to the altars (1980). -
18/4: The first Afro-Asiatic Conference opened in Bandung (Indonesia,
1955), on the subjects of independence and identity of the Countries of
the Third World.
We will be back on 26th April, Sunday II of Eastertide “A Happy missionary Easter to you all!”
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Compiled by Fr. Romeo Ballan, mcci -
Comboni Missionaries (Verona) Translated by Fr. J.M. Troy, mccj Website: www.euntes.net “The Word for Mission” ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ |
in
the empty tomb: for Christ is
Risen! A new life has
begun in Him – a new way to live, to hope and to love has also started
in all
those who believe in Him. From then on, a new way of relationship is
born: with
God, between human persons, with the cosmos, with the forces of good
and evil…
New relationships, a new way of live, new certainties, new methods and
strategies… The world can never be the same, as though Christ is not
risen…