Charity -  The charity of Christ – Luke 10:25-37

On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?” He answered: ” ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”

“You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”  But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’

“Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”

The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.” Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”

Reflection:-

The charity of Christ is the source in us of all our merits before God. Grace, by uniting us to Christ in active love, ensures the supernatural quality of our acts and consequently their merit before God and before men. The saints have always had a lively awareness that their merits were pure grace.

“After earth’s exile, I hope to go and enjoy you in the fatherland, but I do not want to lay up merits for heaven. I want to work for your love alone. In the evening of this life, I shall appear before you with empty hands, for I do not ask you, Lord, to count my works. All our justice is blemished in your eyes. I wish, then, to be clothed in your own justice and to receive from your love the eternal possession of yourself.” -  (St. Therese, Story of a Soul) “

Christ has given us a share in his own life through death on the cross and Resurrection, and so we must be as Christs for one another and give in the same way. “To whom much is given, much is expected.” To those who call themselves Christian has been given more than to anyone else in the world.

“By charity, we love God above all things and our neighbor as ourselves for love of God. Charity, the form of all the virtues, binds everything together in perfect harmony (Col 3:14).” The charity of the Samaritan made him pleasing in God’s eyes, though to Jews he was a heretic and an outcast, judged condemned. The priest, a leader and holy man among the Jewish people fell short in God’s eyes, for he was without charity.

“Christ died out of love for us, while we were still enemies. (Romans 5:10) The Lord asks us to love as he does, even our enemies, to make ourselves the neighbor of those farthest away, and to love children and the poor as Christ himself. Why charity? To share in Gods life and love and thus be happy. Living the virtue of charity bears the fruit of divine love and a foretaste of heaven which is the state of perfect fulfillment and eternal happiness in the presence of the living God.

“The fruits of charity are joy, peace, and mercy; charity demands beneficence and fraternal correction; it is benevolence; it fosters reciprocity and remains disinterested and generous; it is friendship and communion: Love is itself the fulfillment of all our works. There is the goal; that is why we run: we run toward it, and once we reach it, in it we shall find rest.” (CCC 1829)

How is charity lost? God has given us free will, and therefore we must cooperate with his grace and freely choose to do His will. If we choose to break his law with sufficient reflection and full consent of the will, we loose the virtue of charity having sinned mortally. Venial sins weaken charity and can lead to mortal sin. Charity is our greatest gift and our greatest call. St. Pauls hymn on charity mught be the most beautiful in all of Scripture.

“If I . . . have not charity,” says the Apostle, “I am nothing.” Whatever my privilege, service, or even virtue, “if I . . . have not charity, I gain nothing.” Charity is superior to all the virtues. It is the first of the theological virtues: “So faith, hope, charity abide, these three. But the greatest of these is charity.” We must love all, including our enemies, and must pray for them or we are without charity and therefore without God’s love. Let us begin now the regular practice of prayer for our enemies as well as for those who love us that the doors of heaven may not be shut against us.

Our burden and privilege as Christians is to be held to the very highest standards of conduct in thought, word and deed: Christ Jesus Himself. We desire to live abundantly, that is forever, and only in Christ is found such abundant life. If we would live forever we must begin now to live in Christ and persist in this life until the end.

- – – reflection by Fr Abraham Muruppel

Jesus The Teacher — John 7:14-24

Not until halfway through the Feast did Jesus go up to the temple courts and begin to teach. The Jews were amazed and asked, “How did this man get such learning without having studied?” Jesus answered, “My teaching is not my own. It comes from him who sent me. If anyone chooses to do God’s will, he will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own. He who speaks on his own does so to gain honor for himself, but he who works for the honor of the one who sent him is a man of truth; there is nothing false about him. Has not Moses given you the law? Yet not one of you keeps the law. Why are you trying to kill me?” “You are demon-possessed,” the crowd answered. “Who is trying to kill you?” Jesus said to them, “I did one miracle, and you are all astonished. Yet, because Moses gave you circumcision (though actually it did not come from Moses, but from the patriarchs), you circumcise a child on the Sabbath. Now if a child can be circumcised on the Sabbath so that the law of Moses may not be broken, why are you angry with me for healing the whole man on the Sabbath? Stop judging by mere appearances, and make a right judgment.”

Reflection:-

Jews were astonished at the knowledge and teaching of Jesus, the eternal teacher and they wondered about its origin as He was never been taught. Jesus explains to them the secret of His knowledge. Jesus shows himself as a medium through whom the wisdom of the Father is flowing. Jesus stands for the Father by doing His will and seeking His glory. So Jesus’ teaching becomes the self revelation of the Father.

Jesus finds himself to be in total dependence to the Father, His sender. In other words here Jesus is telling that the source of his knowledge is the Father. Since Jesus is seeking His Father’s glory and doing His will, Father’s wisdom passes clearly through him without any hindrance. Those who do the will of the Father can identify His teaching as coming from the Father because Father’s will is the same. Those who seek their own glory can’t be true always as their selfishness blocks the Father’s wisdom from passing clearly through them.

Jesus, the teacher, shows Jews their problem, i.e they seek their own glory and don’t do the will of the Father. So they can’t understand the source and real meaning of Jesus’ teaching. Every teaching is to be in conformity with the will of the Father and it should give glory to Him. If any teaching is aimed at selfishness and one’s own glory it fails. Jesus tells them that they are trying to kill him as they deny the heavenly source of his teaching and also don’t look into their real message but only in their outward appearance.

Jesus shows this through his act of healing which is in real conformity with the laws of Moses who ordered to circumcise on Sabbath. The will of the Father is obeyed in and through Jesus’s deeds and words, they glorify Him. Jews say that Jesus has a demon. But Jesus shows them that their judgement is wrong. They judge by appearances and so they fail to do the will of the Father because they seek their own glory.

Here Jesus, the teacher, welcomes us to the source of our authenticity. Only in relation to the Father by doing His will and seeking His glory that we can be men of God. Otherwise we may miss the real by incorrect judgement based on appearances. And instead of doing God’s will, we will be blocking His glory by seeking our glory. Jesus the eternal teacher shows us how to be wise by doing God’s will and seeking His glory.

- – – reflection by Fr Abraham Muruppel

Bread of Life — John 6:34-40

Then they said to Him, “Lord, give us this bread always.” And Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen Me and yet do not believe. All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day. And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.”

Reflection:-

After feeding the five thousand, people followed Jesus for earthly bread (6:26). Jesus tells them that I am the bread of life. Then people ask Jesus for it without knowing its real meaning. Jesus teaches them. The term ‘bread’ points to the desires and longings of a person, i.e. his personal needs and aspirations.

As we reflect on our own life we are guided by various desires and aspirations each and every moment. Human life can be considered as a running after of various needs which may be of different levels, spiritual or material. We see people taking different ways to satisfy their desires. There are people and movements, may it be religious or secular, who attract people promising the fulfilment of their life. They offer gratification for the desires by various means. Here lies the place of the ‘Bread of life’.

There is an innate vacuum in us which make us to aspire for. The foundational or basic desire underlying every other attraction is this fulfilment of life.  We often misunderstand it to be the desire for this and that and we run after it as we have seen in today’s Gospel. A person can find fulfilment only in this ‘Bread’ because all other bread we get is of the earth but this is from heaven.

Only heaven can satisfy man because he is spiritual. i.e, the reason for his existence is the spirit in him which God has created for Himself. As St Augustine says ‘Lord, You have created me for You alone, until I reach you my soul is restless’. Earthly bread supports earthly life for a little span of time – whatever may it be. The heavenly Bread – Jesus – only can give the eternal life where we will be no more hungry of thirsty. There all other desires find fulfilment.

How to achieve this real Bread? Go to Him who is the real Bread of life who will not abandon any one of us. As Jesus is fulfilling the will of the Father, seeking His will is the way for us for approaching Him and believing Him. Then we are assured of the will of the Father, i.e. resurrection and eternal life. Let us dignify our inclinations to the desires of senses and earth by realizing the real longing in us for the real Bread of Life.

- – - reflection by Fr Abraham Muruppel