26/04/2009 - 3rd. Sunday Easter Season
- B
1st. Reading Acts 3,13-15.17-19 Psalm 4 2nd. Reading 1Jn 2,1-5 Gospel Lk 24,35-48
"Who is in heaven": Our Father is in heaven, and in heaven evil doesn't
reign, does not enter, and won't stay. In fact Lucifer and his followers were
thrown out of heaven. He came down on earth to create trouble, to seduce men,
and to try to draw men to his hatred against God and in his will to dominate,
he takes away peace and life from those who join him and turn away from the
Father. In heaven reigns only the Father with his love and his will for life,
peace and communion. Saying that the Father is in heaven we affirm his distinct
from creation and its creatures. It is important today to have a clear idea
on this point: I have already referred to it, but I think it is good to repeat.
The unbalance in the spirit of those who adhere to Asian religions is growing
more and more. These religions do not have the revelation of a personal God,
and so they hold that creation itself is divine. These believe that God would
be only foundation of all that one can see and touch. All the earth and all
there is on earth would be divine. Everything would be part of God! Even man
would be divine, though his divinity is hidden. Man needs to find the way to
show it through knowledge, power, and mental powers, physical and psychic exercises.
We can see that this way of thinking deceives, but not all get to see the lie
underneath. Even though, apparently, these faiths are non violent and fascinating,
they would bring down man into a deep solitude, without being able to get into
a relationship with others and above all with God who loves us, speaks to us,
listens to us and forgives us. Therefore, saying "who is in heaven",
we affirm the truth that comes from our faith, that God is different than us,
different than creation, above all and everybody. The superiority of God does
not allow us to doubt him. We can doubt ourselves, our intelligence, our feelings
and thinking. If we doubt of God and his Fatherly love, we would be confused
with uncertainties, away from the truth, deceived by our own littleness and
weakness. Let us say therefore with joy: "Father who is in heaven",
we are sure of you, of you we glory!
The reason of the death and resurrection of Jesus is our salvation that is our
freedom from all that hinders our peace, communion with the brethren and with
God. Sin, that is our disobedience, our pride, impedes this communion. Jesus
accomplished his work and was lifted up by the Father for us, to solve our big
problem. This is underlined for us today by st. John when he says: "…we
have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous one. He is the
expiation for our sins". In order that his intercession on our behalf can
be accepted by God, it is not enough that we know that he came to the world,
but that we are one with him through the obedience of his Word. The apostle
gives us the teachings that he himself heard from Jesus. When Jesus appeared
to his disciples on Easter day, he would say that the fruit of his resurrection
from the dead lies in the fact that "in his name conversion and the forgiveness
of sins will be proclaimed to all the peoples". And so that the apostles
could believe him, he makes himself known by showing the wounds of the cross,
let himself be touched and ask for something to eat.
To come to understand and make ours these words of the Lord, it is necessary
that we separate from the world in which we live: no one speaks of sins anymore,
even though we see them clearly around us. The mentality of today is to justify
all sins, but we know well that sins are the source of disorders and sufferings.
It is necessary and important the forgiveness of sins! Without forgiveness man
cannot hope to live life eternal, won't be able to find the love of God the
Father, won't be able to rejoice neither now, nor ever. With forgiveness we
start to breath, we are lifted up, we start a journey of healing of body and
soul, and above all, we can look to the future beyond death with serenity because
we that there the Father is waiting for us to embrace us with joy and peace.
Forgiveness of sins is preceded by the proclamation of conversion: this is the
proclamation repeatedly done by Jesus of whom he commissioned his apostles.
The First Reading gives us a hint of it. Peter started to propose it in Jerusalem
with great courage: "Repent, therefore, and be converted, that your sins
may be wiped away". He is saying it to those who few weeks before hated
Jesus and put him to death. Today these words are said to us. We need to change
our way of thinking to be able to change our lives. Conversion is in changing
our thinking: we are to go with them beyond, beyond the passing realities of
this world towards those that last in eternity; we are to go beyond our desires
to get hold of God's desires, to go beyond our egoism to enjoy the joy of a
love shared with all the others. With this change of thinking we can then welcome
Jesus as friend, as Lord of our life, as Savior, and have a foretaste of the
promises of God.