The True Gospel of Christ

Monday, 27th week in Ordinary time

October 8, 2018: Gal 1: 6-12; Lk 10: 25-31

I remember once when I had an opportunity to speak to a group which had equal number of Catholics and Non Catholics making up its total.  At the beginning I was a bit conscious of that fact but within a few minutes I resolved the issue within me and stuck to my spontaneity and finally there were so many of those Non Catholic friends who came up to express their gratitude for the insights shared. It was an experience that taught me recently that getting our Gospel right is what truly matters, after all.

The true Gospel of Christ is love: that God loves us and that we belong to God when we love each other. Anything other than this is a deviation... division, hatred, selfishness, exploitation, cheating, manipulation, party politics, false propaganda, character assassinations, judgments, prejudices, categorising persons, branding people...anything that is against love, is against the Gospel of Christ. 

At times suffering, cross and sacrifice are presented as typical traits of Christ's gospel. They could be, provided they are taken within the framework of love. It is not suffering in itself: it would become sadistic! It is not cross in isolation:it would still remain a symbol of shame! It is not sacrifice for its own sake: it would lead to unnecessary ego trips! Suffering out of love one has for the other, Cross as an expression of God's love, Sacrifice as a language of genuine love - those are CHRISTian and those are gospels (good news!).

There is no other Gospel than this, says St. Paul today! Anything that teaches anything contrary would be unchristian. Anyone who needs me, becomes my neighbour. Irrespective of whether I need him (or her) or not, I am expected to play the neighbour. Am I really ready to reach out to the other without considerations of whether or not I know him, or whether or not I like her, or whether or not the other has done anything good to me in the past?