God with us and God within!!!

6th Sunday in the Eastertide: 5th May, 2013

The readings today sum up the readings we have been listening to in the past week. There is a kind of a premonition of some feeling nostalgia, which is already there and yet to come. Its a kind of feeling that the students of the Higher Secondary have before they close for their study leave... a feeling of 'lot-to-do' and a feeling of 'are-we'missing-each-other'... Jesus keeps telling his disciples that they need to learn to live on their own, not that he is about to abandon them, but that they have to graduate to the next level. Jesus prepares them too for the same. These are the days when the first communities of Christians were getting together. They felt something uniting them, but still felt all the differences among them. That is the crux of the Word today... we are called to live as a community... a community of persons who feel so united because of something that unites us, something that is with us and within us...inspite of all the differences that is among us.

The fundamentalist group that creates the commotion, the reaction of the rest, the emergency council convened and the heated discussion therein, the misunderstanding between two top leaders, the break-up : we are not talking of some thing that happened in the neighbouring parish these days, but what happened in the Early Church, right in the Acts of the Apostles. We are a community of human persons each with our own ego, our own interests and personality traits. There are differences of opinions and perspectives, without that there is no richness and variety.

I am reminded of a analogy given by Paulo Friere, highlighting the difference between a pavement and a mosaic - both made of smaller units which make up the whole; the former made of units that are of same size and shape to create the uniform pavement that we see on the sidewalks of a road, the latter a grand art formed by tiny parts each in different shape and size and shade adding its uniqueness to bring out ONE GRAND MASTERPIECE. 

To be God's people we are not called to sacrifice our uniqueness, rather we are called to live it to the full - 'I have come that you may have life, and have it in abundance!'(Jn 10:10) We are not called to sweep under the carpet the differences and the disagreements we might have - Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.(2 Cor 3:17) To be God's people all that we need to do is be mindful that we are God's people - that is to be conscious that inspite of our differences we have something that unites us. 

It is the fact that we are called by One Lord - Jesus Christ. It is the Risen Christ who forms the community! The Risen Lord lives with us and within us!

It is the Spirit of the Lord that keeps us together. 'Let your hearts not be troubled!' says the Lord today... When I see in my community human elements of ego and pride, misunderstandings and slandering, discouragements and dirty politics - let your hearts not be troubled... face it with courage, wisdom and grace that the counselor brings you! 

The secret is this:

Feel God living with you and within you: note the way the disciples handled the discussion...'For it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us' ... the expression is fantastic... speaking of the Holy Spirit as someone who lived with them and decided along with them... that is the faith that sustained that holy community! That is feeling God with you and within you!

Fall back on the Community for a discernment: whether you are the leader of the community or one of the members of the community, fall back on the community for a process of discernment. Deciding on one's whims and fancies is not going to help, you have a community convened by God, find God's will as a community for the good of the community.

Find the Light of God illumining your life: the light of the Lord shines on you and you walk in the light! There is no need to confound yourself for in the light there is nothing that is hidden. What is needed is the eyes of faith and a patient heart. The Spirit of the Lord teaches you all that you need to know, provided you feel the Spirit's presence and yearn for the Spirit's direction!

What a People we are - God the Father and Mother, has called us; the Risen Son of God unites us and the the Spirit of the Living God enlightens and leads us! What a People we are! 

Let all the Peoples praise you O Lord! Let all the Peoples praise you!