2024-04-06 22:25:47
Peace to you.
Dear brothers, peace and good.
We finish the Easter Octave. Because the resurrection of Christ is something so great that it cannot fit into a single day. More time is needed, a week, to celebrate it, assimilate it and begin to live from the fruits of that transcendental event in the history of humanity. A vigil is not enough, no matter how heartfelt and solemn it may be.
It has been a week since, at the Vigil, our temples and churches were illuminated with the small flames of the lit candles of the Easter candle. With that small gesture, with sharing the flames with each other, the Light of Christ spread, helping us feel part of a community. It is important. Because faith is a personal matter, of course, but, at the same time, it is something more. It doesn’t belong to me at all. It is a community issue, it is an ecclesiastical issue. “Synodality” is fashionable now. This is what the first reading tells us regarding. Because we are believers not only individually, in intimacy, but also in community.
That first reading of the Acts of the Apostles presents us with an image of the primitive community of Jerusalem. They had the same thoughts, even the same feelings, and they had everything in common. The Church of the first centuries was very active, they came together to pray together, celebrate the Breaking of bread and to take care of the needs and problems of each one of those present, and of the absent sick.
In those days, there were no “non-practicing” Christians. Faith had to be lived with words and deeds. Let us not forget that they were very difficult times, of persecution and a lot of pressure from society. Living faith in community was a psychological necessity, even. Together they defended themselves. You had to rely on your brothers, to encourage and protect each other. And in the community, united in prayer, the presence of the Risen Lord was felt more clearly.
Extrapolating from the data, everything has changed a lot – there is no longer persecution, but these are still tough times – but faith needs, as in the beginning, the brothers to strengthen and grow. The Church is not the walls of the building, but, above all, the group of faithful who gather, with joy, frequently, to celebrate their faith in the Risen Christ.
The second reading reminds us how difficult it was for many to accept the death of the Son of God. In the early days, not all believers understood what had happened. God had manifested himself in the Baptism of Jesus and in the miracles he performed. But the one who died on the cross might not be the same one he had preached throughout Galilee. The man Jesus died on the cross, not the Christ, Son of God. Heresies arise, deviations from the true faith.
Therefore, in the second reading we heard “This is the one who came with water and blood, Jesus Christ. Not only with water, but with water and blood.” Because Jesus is the Son of God also at the moment of his death. In Baptism in the Jordan, and on Mount Calvary. It is in that last moment where it is revealed to us to what extent God has become one with man. With his death he also opens the doors of resurrection to us. The Incarnation reaches its maximum expression. He was born, lived and died. Like us. It is still difficult to understand, because she is the maximum expression of love. But it is like this.
And another important detail. Our faith must be unconditional. Not like that of Thomas, who, in order to believe in the resurrection, establishes very precise conditions. It does not mean that faith, our faith, is a merely irrational gesture, which depends on each person’s taste. We have good reasons to believe. At the end of the Gospel, we have been told of the many signs that Jesus did, to show everyone Who He was.
But it is one thing for faith to have its reasons, and another is to try to put conditions on God to believe in Him. We have to enter into God’s logic. Look at the world with his eyes, to find the signs of his love that are in it. That is the way. Live all the events of our lives and live them with peace. The peace that Christ left to his Apostles, and the peace that we can feel, when we trust in God. How maria. Like the martyrs, who knew how to die for Christ in peace.
Faith lived in community, complete faith and faith lived in community. And all with the peace that Christ gives us. It might be the summary of this Sunday’s readings. May we know how to interpret it in every moment of our life, and live it accordingly every day.
Your brother in faith,
Alejandro Carbajo, CMF
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#Commentary #Gospel #Sunday #April
