Don’t loose your vision of Jesus! (HOMILY FOR TUESDAY OF THR 6TH WEEK OF EASTER MAY 2023

HOMILY FOR TUESDAY OF THE 6TH WEEK OF EASTER

Acts 16:22-34; Ps.138; John 16:5-11

Don’t loose your vision of Jesus!

Have you ever found yourself in a situation wherein you were “disappointed” in God for allowing the worse you dreaded and prayed against to happen still? Have you ever felt that all your efforts in following Jesus and obeying His commandments were futile because you felt lonely when you needed Jesus most? Yes, we have had a number of such experiences. But the readings of today, instruct us that our feels at such moments of our lives do not encapsulate the truth about Jesus’ relationship with us. Jesus has not left you just because you felt he has left you. Often times, what seem like awful experiences for us may be part of God’s plan in achieving something great in and through us. But then, how do we distinguish between a challenge that purposefully willed by God and a challenge that is not? The answer is: once we are on the right path and have done our best about the situation, we can consider whatever happens as the Will of God. If we remain faithful and patience, we will later understand why God allowed it to happen.

In the first reading of today Paul and Silas met great persecution in the hands of the Philippians. Thereafter, they were put in prison. Rather than being disappointed in the Lord who promised to be with them till the end of time, Paul and Silas chose to pray and sing while in prison. They would not have prayed and sang if they felt that God had abandoned them. Of course, their imprisonment seemed unfortunate but later on, it became the means through which God ministered to the Jailer and brought him to conversion. If Paul and Silas were not imprisoned, or if they had lost faith while in prison, the conversion of the Jailer would not have been actualized. The miracle of the breaking of the prison gates was not to free Paul and Silas but to first teach the Jailer about the power of Jesus Christ. Beloved, even when the road is all blurred, keep following Jesus; He is leading you somewhere.

In the gospel reading, the disciples were unhappy because Jesus said that he was leaving them soon. But Jesus enlightened them better. If he does not go, the counsellor will not come. The way God has designed the redemption of his children is such that after redemptive act of Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit will come to teach believers how to preserve the redeemed life. So, it was for our good that Jesus should go and come back to remain with us in the Holy Spirit. This wisdom is not something human reasoning can ordinarily comprehend; we need to walk along with Jesus as he teaches us along the road like the disciples on the way to Emmaus. If we get frustrated and stop following, we will loose the opportunity of gaining deeper insight.

So dear friends, no matter the trial you encounter as you travel along the pilgrim way, don’t ever look back; don’t loose your vision of Jesus. Put your eyes ever on Him. For lack of perseverance, many precious beloved ones have lost their way. The psalmist tells us that salvation is possible only in the Lord.