Unity in Christ Jesus

05-16-2021Weekly ReflectionFr. Anthony Okolo, C.S.Sp

Peter in the first reading of today addresses the crowd on the need to find a replacement for Judas who according to Peter “was a guide for those who arrested Jesus”. He was among us and was allotted a share in this ministry, for it is written in the book of Psalms ‘may another take his office.’ Judas was one of the chosen, but betrayed his master by selling Him to the Jews. It is important for us to ask some personal question, what can make us betray our master? One of the weak points of Judas that the Jews exploited was his greed and his excessive love for money. When that was offered to him it became easy for him to fall. What can be a bait that can make us betray ourselves, and betray our faith in Jesus and our Lord. Just like Judas was called and chosen so are we also called and chosen to be an apostle. When we pay less attention to our Master we may lose our position and betray Jesus as Judas did.

Peter then goes further to explain the requirement of filling the place of Judas as he says “Therefore, it is necessary that one of the men who accompanied us the whole time our Lord Jesus came and went among us beginning from the baptism of John until the day on which He was taken up from us, become a witness to His resurrection.” To be a witness we need to accompany Jesus in our everyday lives. Being a witness requires journeying with Jesus along the way in both the good times and bad times.

The Gospel is a long prayer of Jesus for his disciples He was about to leave. The prayer can be divided into three parts. In the first part of the prayer He prays that they may be kept in unity through the name of Jesus. Thus He prays “Holy Father, keep them in Your name that you have given Me, so that they may be one just as We are one. It tells us of His desire and heart for His disciples to be united in His name, in their mission, work and purpose. Jesus knows very well that without unity the work of evangelization would be affected and that is the reason Pope John Paul II made the Unity of Christianity a priority in his pontificate. Unity of Christians was deep in Jesus’ heart, unfortunately the Christian community has failed in this aspect as division has done a lot of harm to the body of Christ.

In the second part He prays that they may share in His joy. “But now I am coming to you. I speak this in the world so that they may share my joy completely.” In Jn 10:10 Jesus declared that He has come so that we His disciples may have life in abundance. To share in His joy is to live a fulfilled life in the presence of God. If we truly wish to have true joy and happiness we must live our lives in Jesus and through Jesus. Then in the third part He prays that they may be protected from evil. “I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from evil. Jesus knows that there would be a lot of opposition to His would be disciples and He prays for our protection. He finally prays that they may be consecrated in the truth. To be consecrated to the truth means to live a Holy life in the spirit of Jesus. It means the disciples must have the heart and mind of Jesus. They must be people different from others by their way of life in the world. Jesus as our master and savior knows that these may pose a lot of challenges for His disciples and that’s why He prays that they be protected.

Happy Sunday to you all.

Fr. Tony Okolo