Spirituality

A Commentary on  John 12, 20-33: Fifth Sunday of Lent,  March 22, 2015

On our way towards the Holy Week, the most important week in the liturgical year and in Christian life, we are now at the fifth Sunday of Lent. And we read John chapter 12, before getting into the great story of the Passion that begins with Jesus washing the feet of his disciples.

This passage of John’s Gospel presents Jesus in Jerusalem, taking part at the celebrations of a Hebrew feast, together with people coming from several parts of the world. Among those people there were some “Greeks” who wanted to know Jesus, who takes the opportunity to pronounce a brief but very meaningful speech. Let us see:

• “We want to see Jesus”

First of all, let us put our attention on those “Greeks” that wanted to see Jesus. As a matter of fact, when the evangelist writes this Gospel, there were already communities of disciples, Christians, that came from that “Greek” culture, which was de dominant culture of the time, as much as it happens with our today’s “Global-English” culture. This presence of Greek disciples among the followers of Jesus was, in fact, a great cultural and religious jump forward, since Jesus was a Hebrew and stared preaching to them. The proposal of human and spiritual renewal, that Jesus meant for the Hebrews in the first place, became very soon a proposal for other peoples, belonging to other cultures and religious systems.

From this first “opening”, Christian communities opened themselves more and more to new peoples, crossing continuously new frontiers: in Asia, in Europe, in America, in Africa… In every new stage of human history, during the last twenty centuries, new peoples said: “We want to see Jesus”. And after those first two missionaries, Andrew and Philip, many others helped people to encounter Jesus: Paul, Augustin, Patrice, Francis Xavier, Daniel Comboni….and many others.

We are convinced that also today there are many other people and human groups that, over any geographical or cultural frontier, wish to know Jesus, not as theological or philosophical figure, but as a real Person that talks to the heart of every person and every culture; a Person that brings to our life truth, free pardon, unconditional  love, a proposal of brotherhood for all humanity and, and a special clarity about God the Father…

Today, as yesterday, humanity is in need of new “Andrew and Philip”, new missionaries, people who know Jesus personally (not only from the books, but from their experience of life), people who have found the “treasure” that the person of Jesus represents for themselves and for others, people ready to act as “facilitators” so that others come to enjoy the Word, the Love and the Person of Jesus.

• Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies…

When the “Greeks” are introduced to him, Jesus pronounces a brief speech that may seem enigmatic to some, but for me is quite clear and meaningful, if we pay the due attention to it. Let us see:

1. “The hour has come for the Son of man to be glorified.”  Here and in other parts of the Gospel Jesus talks about his  “hour” and his “glory”. I think that in our today’s language, we could speak of “victory”, “esteem”, “acknowledgement”… Jesus, as all of us, needs esteem and acknowledgement. But the big difference is that the “glory” He is looking for is not vainglory or self-boosting; He looks for the acknowledgement that comes from his Father. And He shares this acknowledgement with the disciples, the simple ones, the poor, those who put their trust in the Father.
2. “Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit”. This is a well- known Jesus’ sentence with  a clear meaning: life springs out of sacrifice; glory and triumph comes out of enduring… In the mouth of Jesus, this words speak clearly of his death, that He is ready to accept in the confidence that out of his death will spring new life for humanity.
3. “He who loves his life, loses it…”.  The example of the grain of wheat works for Jesus, but also for all of us. The sentence reminds us of the parable of the talents, in which the lazy servant is rebuked for not making good use of the talent received. Life cannot be lived in fear and laziness . It must be lived with  generosity,  given up in service and love. As a poet said, “life is a gift that we deserve by giving it out”.

These words of Jesus are not only “beautiful” words, but a source of real life, words that come from His own experience of love and obedience to the Father for the benefit of all mankind. Jesus was not afraid to give Himself up to the point of death. He was able to go to death, confident that the Father will transform His death into a source of new life for humanity, as in fact it is happening in us and around us.

It is this new life in Jesus that we celebrate this Sunday listening to the Word, sharing our way with other disciples in the Community, sharing the Eucharist, serving others in the family, in our working place, in society, going out to the poor or whoever is in need near us or far away…

As disciples missionaries we know that the best way to “gain” our life is to give it up, as Jesus did.

Fr.  Antonio Villarino

Roma

A comment on John 3, 14-21: Fourth Sunday of Lent: 15th March 2015
In this fourth Sunday of Lent, we read a small part of John’s chapter three. This passage of John’s Gospel –and all the new Testament, as a matter of fact- can be understood only if we take into account the Hebrew Scriptures and traditions. Jesus and his disciples were Hebrews who believed that in Jesus’ humanity was incarnated and revealed the merciful love of God the Father. We, as Christian, walk on Jesus’ steps , praying the holy Spirit that He may make us understand that marvellous truth: that in Jesus Christ we meet the saving mercy of the Father.
Our meditation will follow three points:

1.- The snake hoisted on a pole
John tells us that Jesus (elevated on the Cross) is like the bronze serpent that Moses, on God’s command, hoisted on a pole, in order to heal the members of the People of Israel who were bitten by snakes. We can find this story in the book of Numbers, chapter 21. When the Israelites arrived at a certain place (lately bronze snakes were found there by researchers), tired of walking son much in quite difficult conditions, their patience was worn out, they got disappointed and started criticising bitterly God and his Prophet. To make things worse, snakes appeared biting de people and many died.
Before this fact, people acknowledged their wrong attitude, repented and asked Moses to intercede to God on their behalf. As an answer to his prayers, God commands Moses to make a bronze snake and to hoist it up on pole. Looking at that bronze serpent, people bitten by serpents would be healed… Some experts say that this is a tradition received from neigbour (pagan) people and that they adopted, somehow, against the pure faith of Israel.
The story, anyway, was useful to remember the sinful nature of Israel (once and again unfaithful to God) and the many ways God can use to be merciful to a people of sinners –even instruments apparently ridiculous or irrelevant.
As for me, this story reminds me of the many times that I am unfaithful to God. And it reminds me also of the small details, apparently irrelevant, that God uses today to help me out of my sins: a right word in the right time, an unexpected sickness, a piece of music… any small thing can help me to go back to the mercy of God.

2.- Jesus Christ, the “snake” hoisted for our salvation

John makes a reference to this old story, but he does not intend to remain on it. He wants to lead us further and make a big jump in its meaning. He says that in the same way God made use of those bronze images of the killing snakes to restore the wounded, God uses an instrument of death (the Cross) as a means to reveal his mercy and give Eternal Life. Out of sin He is able to produce grace, out of rebellion He is able to produce the saving obedience of Jesus Christ. That is why we look to the Cross of Jesus. In it we see the sign of our sin, but at the same time we see the sign of God’s Mercy and infinite love. In this Mercy and Love we find peace, healing, courage… salvation. There’s no sinful situation that ca not be healed, because, “where there was sin –says Saint Paul- there was the grace”. And God’s love has no limits.

3.- To believe is to live on the light

John says that whoever believes is already saved. Whoever does not believe is like a man that, before a lamp, closes his eyes and refuses to see, because he prefers to close himself in his own pride. The human tragedy is precisely that: sometimes we prefer to live in the darkness of our sin, of our lies, to open ourselves to the merciful power of God, who can transform our sin into an instrument of salvation.
Lent time is a big opportunity to enter into this dynamic: to acknowledge our sins and limits, to raise our eyes to Jesus Christ and to allow the light of truth, the truth of God, to illuminate our whole life. Lent time is the opportunity to allow God to enter our life, purify it and transform it in a life of grace and love.
Fr. Antonio Villarino
Roma

A comment on John 2, 13-25:

Third Sunday of Lent, March 8th 2015
This third Sunday of Lent, and the other two that follow we leave out Mark and take up the gospel of John, which separating itself from the Synoptics (Matthew, Mark and Luke) present Jesus in Jerusalem right from chapter two, that we are reading today. Meditating on this reading I share here points:

1) To purify religion
The Temple of Jerusalem –and the City itself- were among the most sacred things for Jesus, a devout Jew, and his disciples. The Temple and the City were somehow like a “sacrament” of the marvellous God’s presence in the life of Israel and its inhabitants. From childhood, Jesus visited and loved them from all his heart, because in those holy places he could see the “imprints” of God’s passing in his people’s history. In the Temple he could find his the two great loves: his Father and his People. So he can say truly with the psalmist: “Zeal for your house will consume me”. And it is precisely this zeal that is causing in him such a rebellion against the state of corruption that religious leaders and merchants had introduced into its rites. Jesus plans to purify the Temple, knowing that God cannot be “trapped” in any institution, even the most sacred one. In fact, later on in the same gospel of John, Jesus will tell the Samaritan woman: “The hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father… The true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth”.
Religious people can be tempted to manipulate or treat superficially holy rites and places. Certainly, we need rites and holy places to pray and celebrate, but, be careful, but don’t try to put them at the service of your interests, individual or collective ones. The disciples of Jesus must always be careful not to follow into the trap of abusing the treasure we have received, rather we must try to purify continuously our religious practices.

2) The sign of the body
When Jews asked him what kind of signs he was doing to justify the deep purification he was proposing, Jesus answered that the sign was his own body, which was to become the true “temple”, the place where God and humanity met “in spirt and truth”. The disciples’ faith has its centre, not in in a geographical place, but in the body of Jesus, o body that went through an extreme suffering and, at the end, experienced the triumph of God.
If in communion with the body of Christ, also our body (concrete expression of our spirit) becomes a place for meeting God: a body able to work, to suffer and to love in a concrete and tangible manner; a body that can go on its knees to adore; a body that bends itself to wash the feet of our neighbour; a body that serves the Poor and the needy; a body that sees, listens and embraces the suffering bodies of many suffering children of God. As Pope Francis says, the sick and the poor are the body of Christ. To serve them is equal to adore God. To abuse them is a blasphemy.

3) A weak faith
John tells us that, when people saw the signs Jesus was doing, many believed, but Jesus did not trust them. In the gospels we can see how much opposition and betrayal Jesus has to cope with, to the point that He ended up practically lonely and abandoned by everyone. Certainly, in the life of Jesus there were moments of enthusiasm, when people were following Him, thinking that He could be a king or a chief useful for their economic, political or religious interests. But Jesus did not allowed himself to be deceived by this superficial enthusiasm that could lead him astray from the mission the Father has entrusted to him. Jesus remained always confident, with the feet on the ground, free, open and faithful to the death, in spite of the inconsistency of those around him.
The temptation of an easy and superficial enthusiasm can affect us also, as individuals or as groups. Each one of us, our own community or the Church as a whole, can be satisfied with a superficial religiosity or even try to try methodological tricks to attract followers, even if they are not very serious ones… This is not the Jesus’ way. He is not too much worried about those who abandon easily nor does he confuse the superficial applause with an authentic faith; he knows, however, how to recognize a sincere faith, “incarnated” in the body of people’s suffering; a faith that transforms a life given out in adoration and service to the “body of Christ”, present alike in the Eucharist and in the Poor.
We pray that the Spirit of Jesus opens us to this sincere, concrete and consistent faith, in spite of our doubts and weaknesses.
F. Antonio Villarino
Roma

A commentary on Mc 9, 2-8: Second Sunday of Lent, March 1st 2015

In this second Sunday of Lent, we continue reading Mark, but jumping from chapter one to chapter nine, in which Jesus appears nearing Jerusalem, where he is going to have a deadly conflict with the authorities. As always, this texts offers us many point of meditation. I take just three of them:
1) To assume the cross: How difficult it is!
A few verses before this text we read today, Jesus, whom Peter has recognized as “the Christ”, begins to tell the disciples that he is going “to suffer a lot”. The disciples refuse to enter into this perspective: It cannot be that the Messiah has to be killed, and furthermore they are not ready for that; rather, they are thinking of becoming the “chiefs” of the new kingdom Jesus is proclaiming.
Jesus’s reaction is straight: he calls Peter “Satan”, because he represents the temptation of disobedience to the Father, the same temptation Adam had, as well as Israel in the wilderness. Bearing that in mind, we can understand better the scene that Mark is narrating in today’s gospel: Jesus takes by hand his intimate ones and goes with them to the mountain.
I think that we, as the disciples, have great difficulty in accepting the way of the cross, the suffering that goes with our faith-vocation, de failure…That of Jesus, in first place, but specially our own. None of us wishes to suffer, even for a good cause. We think that suffering is “a punishment form God” and we react against it. But it is in those moments, when we do not understand what is happening to us and do not feel like going to church, that we most need to be taken by hand and pray that God reveals to us his nearness and the meaning of what we are experiencing.

2) The Mountain: Divine perspective
Jesus takes his intimate ones to the mountain, they alone. There the disciples have a very especial experience, in which I would like to underline these elements:
-The mountain: Place of God’s revelation in almost all religions. It implies going away from every day’s routine, to get in touch with a non-manipulated nature; a place that helps human beings to go beyond themselves and a self-controlled society; a place where it is possible to open oneself to new realities, including the divine mystery…
-Intimacy: Jesus tries to share with his disciples the most intimate side of his personality, his life and mission. On the mountain he goes beyond the topics and superficialities… Jesus gives out the deepest side of himself: “You are my friends… Whatever I hear from my Father, I tell you”.
-No publicity: Jesus does not want any publicity or communication outside the group. Even, later, he will command them not to tell anybody what they have experienced. There are experiences that one has to keep for himself or, at the most, for the very friends. Those experiences are not to be exposed on TV or even in churches. “Go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father who sees you in the secret of your heart”. Certainly: there are moments for witnessing and communicating, but there are also moments to be completely alone in the face of God “alone”.

3) “This is my beloved Son. Listen to him”
The evangelist narrates a marvellous scene, difficult to understand in its details from our today’s culture, but the global sense is quite clear:
-The disciples come to see Jesus in a new dimension, beyond their experience of him as a man from Nazareth and a wonderful preacher. It is the same experience that Sat Paul narrates in the letter to the Galatians: “The Father has revealed his Son in me”. It is the paschal experience that helped the disciples to understand the way of the cross and the real meaning of Jesus’ personality and mission. It is the experience we have when we “feel” Jesus alive and present in our lives.
-Moses and Elijah talk to Jesus: New and Old Testaments are part of the same story, the same salvation plan. To understand Jesus you have to read the Old Testament and to fully understand the Old Testament you have to listen to Jesus.
-“How good to remain here”: Once and again, the disciples of Jesus, of all ages, experience that the nearness of Jesus warms their hearts. This happened to the ones going to Emmaus, happened to Paul, to many saints and also to us in many occasions. To meet the Lord, on “the mountain”, produces in us a sense of fulfilment and direction, of having somebody always on our side.
-“This is my beloved Son. Listen to him”. The disciples understood that in his friend and Teacher, God was revealing himself in a clear and unique way. We all search for God and for meaning (for a definitive love) blindly and among doubts. Some search in the teaching of, let’s say, Buda; others in new theories (New Age); others still in pleasure, or pride, or success… The disciples had the experience that in Jesus they could see the face of the Father and the best guide for his own life. We are on the steps of those disciples and pray that the Spirit is renewing in us that experience, for our own sake and for the sake of others to whom we are called to be witnesses and missionaries.
Fr. Antonio Villarino
Rome