REJOICE IN THE LORD ALWAYS – DO NOT
BE ANXIOUS
As 2025 draws
to a close – Gratitude to God
As the year 2025
draws to a close our hearts are definitely filled with a variety of emotions as
we experience another year going into the aeons and our life becoming shorter
by one year.
Of course, for
most of us – and should be – it’s the emotion of gratitude to God for the
blessings received during the year; therefore, in every parish throughout the
Catholic Church, a ‘thanksgiving service’ on the eve of New Year is an annual
feature. However, when we mean ‘blessings’, we should never think only of
‘material’ blessings, which is normally what’s uppermost in our minds – increase
in wealth, success in business, increased socio-economic security, fulfilment
of academic dreams, recovery from sickness, living in good health, achievement
of other goals of life e.g., marriage, housing, job, etc. which are most
essential for our life, yet not the only ‘blessings’ we should look for.
Our
Spiritual Progress – a Blessing
Very few of us may
consider our spiritual progress as a ‘blessing’ e.g., the ability to face difficulties
and failures in life with greater trust in God, deeper prayer life, growth in
faith founded on an uncompromising ‘yes’ to Christ, overcoming sinful
tendencies, forgiveness given and forgiveness received, broken relationships
restored, inner healing bestowed by the Holy Spirit, growth in the gifts of the
Holy Spirit – wisdom, understanding, counsel, knowledge, fortitude, piety &
fear of God, and the fruits of the Holy Spirit- love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,
goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control (cf. Galatians 5: 22-23). These
are blessings much more valuable for our salvation than all the material
blessings that we consider so important in life. These should bring us much
greater joy and security than all our material possessions can do and these we
have to seek all the time.
The
Blessings of Jubilee Year 2025 - Exhortation from the Letter to the Hebrews
If we spend a
moment to ponder over our journey of the Jubilee Year 2025 we will realize that
the holy year has been truly a year of grace filling us with precisely the
spiritual blessings that we need most on our journey towards the eternal glory
of Paradise.
The Lord has
personally imparted to us in the power of the Spirit the knowledge and
understanding of the eternal mysteries of our salvation by illuminating us as to
what is eternal and what is passing in this world - the way in which every
spiritual person has to judge the things of this world. Everything that God has
given to us in this world is good and to be utilised for God’s greater glory
and the sustenance of our life on this earth, but nothing should be a hindrance
to obtaining the eternal crown of glory that God has prepared for all his
faithful people.
We have been
enlightened by the word that constantly reminds us that “here we do not have a
lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come” (Hebrews 13:14). This is
the meaning of being ‘pilgrims’ on this earth – to know that we are marching
towards our eternal homeland which is our true destiny and have to judge
everything in the light of the eternal treasure that lasts forever and, in comparison
to which, everything that this world can give to us pales into insignificance.
The exhortation
from the letter to the Hebrews (chapters 12-13) can very well characterize the
blessings we received during the Jubilee Year 2025:
We realized that
we are surrounded by a ‘cloud of witnesses’ who have faithfully followed Christ
‘the founder and perfector of our faith’ and have run the race set before them with
endurance by laying aside the weight of sin and looking to Jesus “who for the
joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is
seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:1-2). We too have
to run the race with the same steadfastness.
Such
steadfastness makes for discipline which though painful “yields the peaceful
fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it” (Hebrews 12:11). The
holiness of life to which we are called demands this discipline whereby we ‘see
the Lord’, and thus eradicate all ‘root of bitterness’ from our heart, eschew ‘sexual
immorality’ from our life, and inherit God’s blessings by repenting with tears.
Since our eyes
are set on the ‘kingdom that cannot be shaken’, we live in this world in a genuinely
fraternal love which shows hospitality to strangers, remembers those in prison
and those who are mistreated, hold marriage in honour and never defile the
marriage bed, keep our life free from the love of money, and are content with
what we have. We continuously offer up sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving to
God through Christ and do not neglect to do good and to share what we have,
“for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.” (Hebrews 13: 16).
The
Experience of St. Paul
A sure blessing
that we have received during the Jubilee Year is the experience of St. Paul in
his letter to the Philippians which we can make our own when he speaks of sharing
in the sufferings of Christ and becoming like him in his death so that we ‘may
attain the resurrection from the dead’:
“Not that I have
already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own,
because Christ Jesus has made me his own... But one thing I do: forgetting what
lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the
goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians
3:12-14).
When we are
pressing ‘towards the upward call of God in Christ Jesus’, St. Paul in chapter
4 explains the outcome of such a ‘drive’
in us:
We rejoice in
the Lord always because we know his return is at hand; we are not anxious about
anything, but in prayer and supplication and with thanksgiving we place our requests
before God. And what is the result? The peace of God which surpasses all
understanding guards our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus (cf. Philippians 4: 4-7).
In the Office of
Readings of the 32nd Week of the Year the entire week carried ‘Homilies
of a Second-Century Author’ who kept himself anonymous in his writings, yet
gibing us pearls of divine wisdom for our earthly journey. Some excerpts from his homilies:
·
“It is not enough then merely
to address him as Lord. Words alone will not save us... We must acknowledge him,
brethren, not only in words but in the conduct of our lives, by loving one
another, by not committing adultery, by avoiding calumny and jealousy, by
living lives of self-control, pity and genuine goodness. We must be
compassionate to one another and avoid avarice. This is the kind of life by
which we acknowledge him.
·
“While we are still in this
world, let us always be learning to repent. We are like clay in the hands of
the craftsman and just as a potter shapes and reshapes a vessel he is making if
it gets misshapen or broken, but does not occupy himself with it any more once
he has put it in the kiln, so it is with us. While we are in this world, we
must take every opportunity of repentance for our sins. Our salvation depends
on it. Once we have left this world, it is no longer possible to confess one’s
sins or be sorry for them.”
·
“Brethren, let us do the will
of the Father who has called us so that we may have life and practise virtue
more faithfully. And let us part company with wickedness, sin’s
fellow-traveller, and with ungodliness which brings evil down on our heads. If
on the contrary we are intent on doing good, we shall be at peace... Let it be
our concern then to serve God with a pure heart and we shall live good lives...
Therefore let us await the kingdom of God in love and holiness at every hour,
since we do not know the day when the Lord will appear. Let us repent at once,
living sober and upright lives, for we are men of great wickedness and folly...
We are not to curry favour with men, but we should seek the approval not only
of one another but also of those outside the Church by our holy lives: God’s
name must not be blasphemed because of us.”
·
“The Lord says: ‘My name is
blasphemed among the Gentiles but woe to him through whom my name is
blasphemed.’ Why is it blasphemed? Because we do not practise what we preach...
My dear brethren, if we do the will of God our Father, we shall belong to the
first Church, the spiritual Church, founded before the sun and the moon. But if
we refuse to do his will, we shall exemplify in ourselves that saying of the
scriptures, ‘My house has become a house of thieves.’ And let us resolve to
belong to the living Church of life that we may find salvation.”
·
“I regard my counsel about
self-control and chastity as very important indeed because anyone who heeds it
will save himself and help to save me too, his mentor... And so brethren,
everything conspires to make us repent and we must not lose the chance of
turning to Jesus and answering his call. We shall all experience his compassion
if we live disciplined lives and master our souls by not yielding to
self-indulgence... Almsgiving is one form of repentance and a good one too;
fasting is better than prayer; but almsgiving is better than both, because
charity covers a multitude of sins. Prayer is a sure shield against death, and
blessed is the man found perfect in these three ways... almsgiving lightens the
load of sin.”
·
“Let us persevere in the
practice of holiness so that we may finally be saved.”
To be
empty-handed
One important
blessing of the Jubilee year 2025 has been the awareness that ultimately we
have to stand before God empty-handed, therefore selflessness and
generosity should mark our life, not greed and avarice. In this connection, and
as we approach Christmas, I would like to quote a legend attributed to Pope
Francis and narrated by Fr. Alex Rebello in his little book, The Outgoing
Tide. Thoughts at Sunset (Bangalore: Claretian Publications, 2023), pp 46-47.
“At the birth
of Jesus, the shepherds, hurried to the stable with different gifts. Each
brought what he had; some brought the fruits of their labour, others some precious
item. But as they were all presenting their gifts, there was one shepherd who
had nothing to give. He was extremely poor; he had no gift to present. As the
others were competing to offer their gifts, he stood apart, embarrassed. At a
certain point, St. Joseph and our Lady found it hard to receive all those gifts,
especially Mary, who had to hold the baby. Seeing that shepherd with empty
hands, she asked him to draw near. And she put the baby Jesus in his arms. That
shepherd, in accepting him, became aware of having received what he did not
deserve, of holding in his arms the greatest gift of all time. He looked at his
hands, those hands that seemed to him always empty, they had become the cradle
of God. He felt himself loved and overcoming his embarrassment, began to show
Jesus to others, for he could not keep for himself the Gift of gifts.”
DEAR BROTHER,
DEAR SISTER, IF YOUR HANDS SEEM EMPTY, IF YOU THINK YOUR HEART IS POOR IN
LOVE...THE GRACE OF GOD HAS APPEARED TO SHINE FORTH IN YOUR LIFE.