Month: April 2021

JOHN 14:1–6

The disciples are troubled because Jesus had announced that He would soon leave them(chapter 13:33). His absence ,He says,would be temporary and for their benefit. Jesus’ returning to His Father ensures that His disciples would be permitted to join Him there. In His Father’s house are many mansions, monai(Gr.) The abode of Christ and the Father with the Christian is no temporary affair, it is permanent. He will come again: this futuristic presence (futuristic eschatology) makes the event to be thought of as being certain as to be already taking place: realistic presence(realistic eschatology). The idea is ‘where’ Christ is you may also be there: Jesus longs for the manifestation of Himself in the church. When His image shall be perfectly reproduced in His people, then He will come. It is our privilege to hasten the day of glorious homecoming (2 Pet 3:12). Jesus is the Way,the Truth and the Life. By His humanity, He touches this earth, and by His divinity, He touches heaven. He is ipso facto the ladder connecting earth and heaven. There is no other means of salvation (Acts 4:12, 1Tim 2:5). Jesus Himself says “nemo venit ad Patrem nisi per me”. No one comes to the Father except through me.

In the first reading Acts 13:26-33, Paul, without wounding Jewish sensibilities, addresses them as ‘stock of Abraham'(genos Abraam: Abrahamic descent), classing himself with them but telling them that salvation rests upon the work of Jesus Christ and is gained by union with Him.

Reflection by Paul Nzioki Mbatha SC

(Servus Christi)

Friends, in today’s Gospel, Jesus pointedly calls us to humble behavior. “Amen, amen, I say to you, no slave is greater than his master nor any messenger greater than the one who sent him. If you understand this, blessed are you if you do it.”

St. Catherine of Siena once heard the Lord say to her, “Remember that I AM and you are not.” And St. Paul said, “What do you possess that you have not received? But if you have received it, why are you boasting?”

To believe in God is to know these truths. To live them out is to live in the attitude of humility. Thomas Aquinas said that humility is truth. It is living out the deepest truth of things: God is God, and we are not.

Now, all of this sounds very clear when it’s stated in this abstract manner, but we know how hard it is to live out! In our fallen world, we forget so readily that we are creatures, that we have been made from nothing. Then our egos begin to inflate: “I am. I want. I expect. I demand.” The ego becomes a massive monkey on our backs, and it has to be fed and pampered constantly.

That’s why today’s Gospel is so important. We are only messengers, not greater than the Master

First Reading: Acts 13: 13-25

 

Gospel: John 13: 16-20

16 Amen, amen I say to you: The servant is not greater than his lord; neither is the apostle greater than he that sent him.

17 If you know these things, you shall be blessed if you do them.

18 I speak not of you all: I know whom I have chosen. But that the scripture may be fulfilled: He that eateth bread with me, shall lift up his heel against me.

19 At present I tell you, before it come to pass: that when it shall come to pass, you may believe that I am he.

20 Amen, amen I say to you, he that receiveth whomsoever I send, receiveth me; and he that receiveth me, receiveth him that sent me.

There are celibates in the church because of what Jesus said in our Gospel for today. In the world to come, the Savior specified, people will not marry or be given in marriage but will rather be like angels, experiencing a communion so intense and complete that even the richest communion here below will be as nothing. It is according to God’s providence, therefore, that there be certain people who, even now, live in accord with that eschatological hope. This is why the celibacy of priests and religious is a gift for the whole people of God.

Reflection by Bishop Robert Barron

The gospel of Mark is arguably the first gospel to be written. The first words in the gospel carry the message of the story: The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. (Mark 1:1). The beginning… is akin to the opening words of the Bible in the book of Genesis, the creation account. This book, being the first gospel is by the same token talking about creation; new creation beginning with new obedient Adam: Jesus Christ. Gospel (good tidings) had also imperial nuances. When the kings won battles, they would send messengers to announce the good news. So, again, this is the story of a new king, announcing victory over dysfunction and death. Epistemologically the word Jesus comes from Yeshua/Joshua. This man who led Israelites to the promised land and conquered the enemies of Israel to establish them in the land.Christ derives from the Hebrew Meshiach ,the anointed one, like king David, Jesus’ kinsman, who established Israel and conquered her enemies. Jesus Christ is a Joshua figure and a David figure. Jesus is the Son of God not Caesar. Son of God was an imperial title because Caesar Augustus had been a nephew of another Caesar who had been deified, therefore he was the son of god. So, Mark is saying that Jesus is the real son of God, not Caesar. This first verse in the gospels is packed with all this information. Take your bible and revisi it.

Tuus in Christos

Paul Nzioki Mbatha.

This is a private association of Catholic men (18 years and above) who desire to form a secular institute of consecrated life in the Catholic church with the purpose of:

1. Community ie social and spiritual support. Mutual support and admonishing one another. (Proximate and Ultimate purpose)

2. Spirituality: The Baronian Tripartite rule,Spiritual Classics/reading, Spirituality of Prayer and Praise.

3. Mission eg Charity, Evangelization, Praise, Secular Work and Studies.

We desire to be servants of Christ crucified (Servi Christi)

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