Gospel Lk. 24:46-53
Jesus said to his disciples: “Thus it is written that the Christ would suffer and rise from the dead on the third day and that repentance, for the forgiveness of sins, would be preached in his name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And behold I am sending the promise of my Father upon you; but stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.” Then he led them out as far as Bethany, raised his hands, and blessed them. As he blessed them he parted from them and was taken up to heaven. They did him homage and then returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and they were continually in the temple praising God.
Homily
I remember being invited to the farewell ceremony of a man who had built a rather successful business from scratch. It was a joyful ceremony but it was made joyful by the attitude of the retiree himself. In his farewell speech he reminded his employees of the founding intuition and purpose of the company. He oozed confidence in the ability of his employees to carry on the business with as much success as he had
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The eradication of sin preached and witnessed to by the disciples results in the restoration of harmony, harmony with God, between individuals and peoples and harmony with nature. Since the fall of our first parents this has been God’s purpose. It is for this that Jesus came into the world. It is for this that Jesus worked and the disciples are witnesses of the preaching of Jesus and its results. They saw with their own eyes the restoration of harmony between individuals and God, between individuals themselves and with nature. The disciples received power from on high, not only to witness to these things through their preaching but also to live courageously that which they preached.
It is important to understand that from the point of view of faith, history is a journey from harmony last to harmony regained. We, the church i.e., the community of the disciples, craft history. As persons and institutions crafting history we are either agents of or obstacles to the restoration of harmony which is God’s purpose in our world. The total eradication of sin and sinful structures from our world, through which harmony is attained, is thus the goal of the church and of all those who are disciples of Jesus. While it is true that this goal will only be realized in the last days, the church and the disciples of Jesus must actively pursue this both as individuals and as institution. As disciples we witness to God’s purpose, the eradication of sin, by actively pursuing this first of all in our own lives, and also in the institutions in which we find ourselves and those in which we have some influence. As members of the church we must take seriously our responsibility to seek to remove or to change all and every structure of sin present in the church so that the church itself can be a model of harmonious relationships for the societies and countries in which it exists. This therefore was the confidence which Jesus Christ placed in the disciples on the day of the Ascension and it is the confidence placed in each one of us as present day disciples. This is the confidence which Christ has placed in the Church.
We have as models the saints who have preceded us. All of them in one way or another tried to remove the structures of sin which held persons in bondage. They did this through health care and education. They did it through the works for social justice and transformation. Here in T&T, we cannot help but remember Servol and project Hope. The examples of these persons must inspire us to engage in the personal and societal transformation to which they gave their time and energy.
As we in T&T discern who should be the persons entrusted with the role of governance, one of the criteria for choosing a leader must be the will or lack thereof and ability or lack thereof also to foster and build harmonious relationships among all of our people. There must also be the willingness to deal with the structures of sin which abound in our society. This is not, it must be remembered, a partisan Christian agenda. All religions, Christian and non Christian alike value harmony and seek harmonious relationships. All religions Christian and non Christian alike abhor the structures of corruption which eat away at the very soul of our society. May we make wise choices for the good of our nation.
Prayer
All powerful and ever-loving God you always wished harmony for your earthly children. Unfortunately the love of self has so often blinded us to the reality that we are made for relationship. Self-centredness however destroys relationships and with their destruction the harmony which is your wish for us disappears. Help us your people to remove every sin and sinful structure from our lives so that harmony may be restored and the confidence which you have placed in us will not have been placed in vain. We ask this through the intercession of Mary our Mother and Jesus our brother and your Son. Amen
