WORD 2day: Thursday after Ascension
June 2, 2022: Acts 22:30, 23:6-11; Jn 17: 20-26
Just as the Father is in the Son and the Son in the Father, we are invited to be one in the Father and the Son, through the Holy Spirit. Jesus' prayer for his disciples, that is for us, to the Father has a beautiful challenge to pose to us. The challenge does not primarily consist in doing anything or accomplishing anything great... but it consists in being, just being one with the Lord!
However, it is not that simple. As both the readings explain world at large does not "know" the Lord, or does not identify with the Lord; in a way it stands aloof from, or at times even react against the Lord. The culture of death that prevails, the insensitive economy that rules, the inhuman politics that dominates... are signs of opposition to God and the Gospel. It is in this context that the Lord invites us to bear witness, 'just as in Jerusalem, also in Rome'.
From the religious circles to the political arena, from the academic domain to grass root social praxis, we are called to bear witness to the Lord and to the Lord's good news of love - the love that the Father has for the Son, which is the same love that He has for us! There could be two major problems in carrying out this task given to us: firstly, whether we are clear about what we wish to communitcate; and seconly, as soon as I begin to speak, I am judged by the relationship that exists between my words and my life. No one else needs to judge me; I need not please anyone or present a good figure of myself to the world - but I need to live my life integral: that is my testimony, my first proclamation.
This integrity alone can ensure that we are one with the Lord. Made one through our love for each other, and made one in the Lord because of the immesaurable love that God has manifested to us, we are in the Lord and the Lord is in us! We are made one in the Lord - let us celebrate this mystical union in God, that is the quintessence of Christian faith.