EMBRACING THE WORLD AS A SACRAMENT

THURSDAY, Third Week of Eastertide

Reflection from Friar Nicholas Okeke,OP

Acts 8:26-40; Ps 66:8-9,16-17,20; Jn 6:44-51

Embracing the World as a Sacrament

Everything God created or brought into existence has obediential potency to fulfil the divine will. What this means is that as creatures of God, everything does the bidding of God at all times, knowingly or unknowingly, living and non-living things alike. This statement and its meaning are crucial in understanding how everything or every event serves as a sacrament of God’s will. It gives the background to a deeper understanding of the words of our Lord in the gospel. “No one can come to me unless he is drawn by the Father who sent me, and I will raise him up at the last day. It is written in the prophets: ‘They will all be taught by God,’ and to hear the teaching of the Father, and learn from it, is to come to me.” Our Lord implies here that those who interpret the events and things in their lives correctly and act accordingly are taught by God; they follow God’s guidance to gain salvation. To clarify that this is what is meant by his words and not that anybody had heard the voice of God as such, Jesus added. “Not that anybody has seen the Father, except the one who comes from God: he has seen the Father.” Nobody has seen the Father nor heard his voice as such. But we hear the Father every day and see his hand in all things and events of our lives if we have developed the fear of the Lord and a keen conscience. To believe in the presence of God and his divine will in everything and event is to eat of the bread of life; it is to come to Jesus Christ who embodies the divine will as the Eternal Word. “I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the desert and they are dead; but this is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that a man may eat it and not die.” To believe and reverence the will of God in all things is truly angelic and a holy life.

The angel, understanding the will of God for the salvation of the Ethiopian eunuch and many others that will be saved through him, directed Philip towards him. “Be ready to set out at noon along the road that goes from Jerusalem down to Gaza, the desert road.” He set out without knowing why, but he understood that was the will of God. The eunuch who was also following an inspiration had no idea that God was speaking and guiding his way to Jesus Christ for his salvation and others. He was reading the passage on the suffering servant from Isaiah without understanding. The Father was guiding him to Jesus Christ for salvation, as he explained in the gospel. Our Lord came to him through Philip, who preached the Good News and baptised him. A Christian is a bearer of Christ’s light and the sacrament of his presence to believers and unbelievers alike. All events and things in people’s lives or circumstances take a new meaning when considered in the light of the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Through the light from the mysteries of Jesus Christ, we can understand and rejoice in the will of the Father which is truly our bread of life. “But after they had come up out of the water again Philip was taken away by the Spirit of the Lord, and the eunuch never saw him again but went on his way rejoicing.” This joy comes from eating the bread of life that confers eternal life. It is the joy that characterised the life of the early Christians who preached the Good News with joy even under persecution and adverse conditions.

Let us pray: Grant us, Lord, the grace to understand the sacramental nature of everything and every event in our lives through a deeper understanding of the mysteries of our Lord Jesus Christ, so that we may come to fullness of heavenly joy.