By Fr Antony Christy, SDB –
5th Sunday of Easter: May 10, 2020
Acts 6:1-7; 1 Peter 2:4-9; John 14:1-12
God “chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before God in love” (Eph 1:4). That is the core of our identity; we are a chosen race, royal priesthood, holy nation, God’s own people in order that we may proclaim the mighty acts of God, the God who has called us from darkness into his marvelous light (1 Pet 2:9).
What is my identity of myself?
Are we merely people who are looking up to God for some favours? Are we people who wait on God to come and solve our everyday problems? Are we merely people decrying the crisis around us and complaining about it to God? Are we people who are grudging about those around us who are not living up to our expectations, disappointing us, troubling us, not understanding us or causing us grief? Can we take a breath and reflect a moment about what identity God has invested in us and to what level we have diluted in our daily living of our faith.
We are Chosen…
It is not by chance that I am a Christian, I am chosen. Anandhi (name changed) a girl of another faith, came to a priest asking to be prepared for baptism. She was in love with Alfred (name changed), a Catholic and wanted to marry him in the Church. After all the preparation, finally the priest asked her a simple question, “who do you think brought you to this intention of receiving Baptism?” Without any hesitation, Anandhi seemed to have replied, “Alfred.” The priest gently smiled at her and took the opportunity to tell her, ‘It is really Christ who has brought you to Baptism.’
It is the Lord who has chosen us and it is definitely not the other way around: “You did not choose me, but I chose you”, says the Lord (Jn 15:16). It is the Lord who has chosen you and me, and all that we need to do is happily walk holding his hand at times of gladness, boldly walk with the one who strengthens us beside at times of hardships, hopefully walk with the light of the Lord at times of darkness and doubt…all because we are certain and assured that we have been chosen!
We are Chosen to belong…
Last Sunday we celebrated the Good Shepherd Sunday and we would have specially prayed for vocations to Priesthood and Religious Life. That is a special call, a call for a ministry, just like Stephen and the 6 others are chosen today in the first reading for a special task – that is what we call Ministerial Priesthood. But there is another call that is universal… that is the call to Royal Priesthood… each and every one who is chosen in Christ, who is washed in the waters of baptism, is called to this priesthood. Yes! We are all priests unto the Lord! We are Chosen Race, Royal Priesthood… We have a special call to belong to the Lord. That is the crux of this priesthood. The ordained priests are ordained for a special ministry, while all of us share in the priesthood of Christ.
The Priesthood of Christ consists in belonging to the Father. “I am in the Father and the Father is in me” says the Lord (Jn 14:11). The priesthood that we share with Christ is to be in God, the Father and Mother; to belong to God, to be grafted on to God, to remain in God as the branches remain in the wine and give fruit. It is to show at every moment of the our life, in our action, in our choices, in our relationships, in the way we look at challenges and difficulties in life, in the approach to sickness, disease, isolation and death…at every step, belonging to the One who has chosen us and called us.
We are Chosen to belong forever…
In belonging to the Lord, in remaining with Christ, in sharing the priesthood of Christ we inherit the greatest of all patrimonies: a dwelling place in the courts of the Lord. That is what is prepared for us, that if we belong in our life to God, we would belong to God forever – even in death.
At times when we face difficulties and crises, we behave just as any other person – without confidence, without hope, without any faith, without any divine element within us, without any spiritual strength, without really mindful of the fact that we have been saved by the sufferings of the Lord, without acknowledging the fact that we have been healed by the wounds of the Son of God! We are not chosen by a mere almighty power, or a universal force… no, we are chosen by a Person, a Personal God, our Father and Mother, our Saviour and Master, our indwelling accompanier who loves us without conditions or limits!
God our Father and Mother had chosen us, had sent the Chosen One to remind us of our chosenness, and continues to live as chosen people every day of our life. Christ has gone before us to prepare this place for us, and when he comes we should still belong to God, we should still be his Priestly People, that we may receive that dwelling place prepared for us! Every day is an opportunity, through our ordinary tasks and daily duties, by our conscious choices and deliberate decisions, to deepen our belonging to the Lord, to realize we are chosen, that we are chosen to belong to God, chosen to belong forever, as a chosen race, a Priestly People!
Fr Antony Christy is a Salesian Priest from 2005, who has a Masters in Philosophy (specialisation in Religion) and a Masters in Theology (Specialisation in Catechetics). He is currently pursuing his doctoral research in Theology at Salesian Pontifical University, Rome. Walking with the Young towards a World of Peace and Dialogue is the passion that fires him.