THE WORD AS OUR HEAVENLY REMEDY

SATURDAY, FOURTH WEEK OF EASTER

Act 13:44-52; Ps 98:1-4; Jn 14:7-14

The Word of God, Our Heavenly Remedy

God, in his infinite love and mercy, never condemns anyone completely ignorant of his love and salvation but offers every possible help to a soul walking in darkness. To be lost, therefore, is the result of one’s choices through life and never a destiny one fulfils. If we consider it a destiny, it is a destiny coming from our decisions in life. Our natural birth was in sin, for we were all conceived in sin by our parents, the only exception being the Blessed Virgin Mary and Jesus Christ, our Lord. The pristine privilege given to the Woman and her Son was for our remedy and salvation. The Father prepared the remedy for our sinful human condition and made it universally accessible to everyone. Those who lived before the coming of the Woman and her Son were kept from judgment until they had the privilege of choosing their eternal destiny. Hence, we received what God promised Abraham and the faithful patriarchs, but not in exclusion of them. We received it in our natural life. Unlike them, who received the fulfilment of the promise after their natural life. Our Lord teaches us that God is of the living, not God of the dead. We understand that these faithful patriarchs never died, but only in the mortal nature. They lived on in faith and hope of what God promised them.

What kept them spiritually alive even when they had lost their mortal life was the word of God they believed in, which is imperishable. Thus, the word of God is the fulfilment of what it promises. The fulfilment of the promise to Abraham and the other faithful patriarchs was what Saint Paul offered the congregation at Antioch in Pisidia as the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Both Jews and Gentiles saw the truth of the Gospel that Paul and his companion presented lucidly to them. With the presentation of the Gospel as the remedy for our sinful condition, they were allowed to decide their destiny. What prompted the decision of the Jews was not ignorance, confusion, or lack of understanding but jealousy. “When they saw the crowds, the Jews, prompted by jealousy, used blasphemies and contradicted everything Paul said. Then Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly. ‘We had to proclaim the word of God to you first, but since you have rejected it, since you do not think yourselves worthy of eternal life, we must turn to the pagans.” By giving their attention to a secondary matter, the crowd gathered to listen to the Good News and not to the Good News given to them; by taking their prompting from that irrelevant fact, abandoning the heavenly remedy God gave them, they chose darkness over light. As Paul said, they judge themselves unfit for eternal life.

The situation speaks volumes to us. We must never relegate the word of God to the background in any situation or condition we find ourselves in. We must give our first attention to the Gospel and let the light of the word of God illumine our minds and guide us in our choices of actions. To walk in the light of the Gospel characterises the life of a Christian. We declare our knowledge of Jesus Christ and the Father when we do this in any situation. Knowledge of Jesus Christ is to do his bidding. Otherwise, we do not know him. “If you know me, you know my Father too. From this moment you know him and have seen him.” We know the Father from the moment we hear the Gospel and profess faith in what we have heard and seen. To live and walk in the light of the Gospel is to live in the Son of God, who lives in his Father. “To have seen me is to have seen the Father, so how can you say, “Let us see the Father”? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak as from myself: it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work.” The Gospel is the remedy for our sinful human condition, bringing us to live in the Son and the Father.

Let us pray: O God, who in the celebration of Easter graciously give to the world the healing of heavenly remedies, show benevolence to your Church, that our present observance may benefit us for eternal life. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.