TUESDAY, SEVENTH WEEK OF EASTERTIDE
Acts 20: 17-27 Ps 68: 10-11, 20-21 Jn 17: 1-11
EARTHLY LIFE, HEAVENLY HEART
As we approach the great Solemnity of Pentecost, the readings present a foretaste of the power of the Holy Spirit. Paul boldly taught publicly and declared to both Jews and Greeks that they must turn to God in repentance and have their trust in Lord Jesus and not on their own strength, knowledge and nobility. The foundation and pre-requisite to receive the Holy Spirit is that we surrender to Jesus and receive what he has to offer without relying on our merits or worthiness.
Paul teaches what he practiced after Christ touched him. He adds that he served the Lord with great humility, tears and amidst opposition from every side. The sole aim of his life now is to proclaim Christ crucified. He did not invent a vocabulary to impress his listeners, but proclaimed the truth that would become a stumbling block to his own fellow Jews. His message irritated the intellectual gentiles who processed the preaching of Paul and concluded that his message about someone rising from the dead was absurd to human reasoning. However, the Holy Spirit revealed to him about the hardships and impending imprisonment. Paul cooperates with the grace of Christ, claiming that his only aim was to “to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given.” Considering the futility of his life before encountering Christ, and the immense joy of knowing him, he declares that all external praise and personal accolades are nothing but garbage and a loss. The only goal in life for Paul, henceforth is to possess the one who touched him.
Christian spirituality can be summed in simple terms: to be in the world but not of it. We do not despise the world but we remain detached from worldly favours, rewards, possessions and power by being attached to Jesus. Paul gives us this example, to live in the world, but to be detached from it as to belong solely to Christ and to belong to him in mind, heart and soul! May we abide in Christ, as Paul did, and prove to be true ‘salt and light of the world.’
Response: You kingdoms of the earth, sing to God.
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